[Upgrade] AW3418DW vs LG 34GK950F vs Acer Nitro XV273K vs ???

[Minato]

Evening gents,

Just taken delivery of my Ryzen 3600, RTX 2080 system (Video, Pics - if interested). However to take advantage of this system, I need to disconnect it from the ~2010 42" 1080p Sony Bravia that i've been using for a number of years, and connect it to a proper monitor. With that in mind, I would be very grateful for any recommendations. I've been doing a fair bit of reading recently and the above monitors in the title stand out the most - although there are many more mentioned around here/reddit/youtube etc.

Some information about what it'll be used for:

• General desktop/internet browsing: Sharpness and plenty of real estate is essential. For the last few years i've been using the above 42" 1080 Sony Bravia TV as a monitor, at 2560 x 1440 via AMD's virtual super resolution feature. Text is fairly ugly, but having multiple windows(e.g chrome + whatsapp desktop + itunes mini player) all at once is very much enjoyed.
• Photo editing: Photography is a bit of a hobby and I do a fair amount of post-processing in Adobe Lightroom. I don't need to have a professional grade monitor, but something with good colours would be nice. I don't want a TN panel, and i'm leaning heavily toward IPS over VA for this reason.
• Multimedia and Gaming: TV shows, movies, the occasional bit of gaming (single player RPGs mostly, with some multiplayer here and there). I'm not knowlegeable enough to get technical here, but I just want the picture to look good. I've never had a high refresh rate monitor before, and I would very much like to experience it this time around. Not particularly bothered if it's 120Hz or 144Hz.

Future Proofing: My previous system is still going strong after 10 years, and has only been moved on out of necessity and because it was starting to struggle with general desktop usage. I don't like upgrading often, i'd rather spend once and be content for a long while. I totally understand and appreciate the arguments against high refresh rate @4K monitors. Even a 2080TI can't drive 120+fps at 4K max settings, so it makes more sense to pair it with a 1440p monitor. But it can drive 60-80 fps in many games. So what about the 3080ti, or the 4080ti?

My point is, it seems more logical to buy a 4K 144Hz monitor and play on slightly lower settings/resolution for a couple of years, and upgrade the graphics card - which would happen anyway sooner or later when you can push 4K @ 144fps. The alternative is buying a 1440p monitor, and having to then get rid of it in just a few short years to upgrade to a 4K high refresh monitor and upgrade your graphics card. Considering just the above examples where the Acer Nitro XV273K is cheaper than both the Alienware and the LG ultrawides, it seems like a very good idea? But then it's only 27" rather than 34" and that'll be a big drop from my current 42".

Panel Lottery: All of the above have plenty of reports about horrible backlight bleed/IPS glow, with many returns and switches from one to the other. Is there any definitive knowledge of which panels have a higher percentage chance of being good out of the box?

Alternative Monitors:

• Samsung CRG9: Tempting, but I think realistically is just a bit impractical, and it's a VA.
• There's allegedly some Innolux 31.5" 4K 120/144Hz panels coming in Q2/3 of 2020 according to tftcentral, but i'm not interested in waiting a year for them.
• LG 38GL950G: 38" rather than 34", 3840 x 1600 rather than 3440 x 1440, IPS, and native 144Hz. Unknown release date though.
• Asus XG438Q ROG STRIX: 43", 4K, 120Hz. It's basically perfect (VA though not IPS). Unknown release date.

Customer Service & Warranty: Given the high likelihood of needing to return a panel due to either an out of the box issue, or something going wrong with it, the manufacturer having a good reputation is fairly essential. I've heard good things about Dell/Alienware, and not good things about LG.

Many thanks for your help in advance chaps.

 

[Minato]

Thanks for all the advice so far guys. I can't lie i'm still a bit unsure due to the contrasting opinions. Interesting that nobody is favouring the LG 34GK950F over the AW3418DW, it's usually the opposite on reddit etc - although perhaps that's USA availability vs UK?

I agree with @Quartz on the importance of text quality, and @Legend on the productivity benefits of higher resolution. That said, I can't help but feel 27" will be too big of a drop from my current 42" which i've been used to for years. The ultrawides are a couple of hundred pounds more expensive, but I agree with @aoaaron on the immersion factor that the ultrawides give being better than the smaller 16:9 4K screens.

Apparently there's also an update for the AW3418DW coming soon - the AW3420DW which from what I understand is the same panel as the LG 950F but underclocked to 120Hz, as opposed to the 3418DW which is 100Hz and overclockable to 120. Speaking of that overclocking, i've heard about flickering issues and the manufacturer not really supporting the overclock. I know Dell give the 3 year warranty which is good, but it'll be a bit less than ideal if 4-5 years later it dies and it's £1000 down the drain.

 

[Minato]

Ok so clearly I need to go back to the drawing board for this one. After everything i've heard about high refresh rate I thought that was the top of the list for requirements in a monitor. If that's off the table then it's time to start reading about everything else that's available on the market . Although all this said, I will feel a bit silly if I spent the extra money on the RTX 2080 and don't ever take advantage of more than 60fps. The next big game on my horizon is Cyberpunk 2077 - while I don't game that much, it's not totally 0 either.