Sub $200 Ultrawide Monitors

AdvocateOfNyx · December 15, 2019

Just to start this off - yes, I have posted on here looking for monitors before. After my last post, I essentially decided that I needed to do more research and I should probably wait a little longer to see what happens on Black Friday. Well, circumstances change, and around the time of Black Friday other things took priority over a monitor with the limited funds I had available to me. That being said, I should have some extra cash I can spend some time in January, but not a lot.

I've done a good amount of research and I think that I curved ultrawide would be great for me. I mostly do esports gaming and play RPGs, but also need something that I can use for homework, and some light photo and video editing. I will probably keep my old 1680x1050 monitor I got secondhand as a second display for watching videos and looking up guides while gaming. I am coming from a 40" TV, so I wanted something pretty wide to fill up that space.

Here are my requirements for a monitor:

Spoiler

1080p vertical resolution (limited by pc specs)

less than 4ms response time (coming from 8ms)

around or greater than 90hz

30" or bigger

21:9

curved

under $200

This Sceptre 30" curved ultrawide seemed to meet most of my criteria, but I was wondering if anyone had any advice. Should I avoid this monitor for some reason? Is there a better deal or something out there? I figured it was better to ask then to buy and regret.

Here are my PC specs for reference:

Spoiler

PCPartPicker Part List

Type	Item	Price
CPU	Intel Core i5-6500 3.2 GHz Quad-Core Processor	$225.47 @ Amazon
Motherboard	MSI Z170A PC MATE ATX LGA1151 Motherboard	$347.75 @ Amazon
Memory	Crucial 16 GB (2 x 8 GB) DDR4-2133 Memory
Storage	Kingston SSDNow UV400 240 GB 2.5" Solid State Drive	$59.56 @ Amazon
Storage	Western Digital Blue 3 TB 3.5" 5400RPM Internal Hard Drive	$73.99 @ Newegg
Video Card	PowerColor Radeon R9 280X 3 GB TurboDuo Video Card
Case	Raidmax Smilodon ATX-612WB ATX Mid Tower Case w/500 W Power Supply
Power Supply	Thermaltake SMART 750 W 80+ Bronze Certified ATX Power Supply	$72.98 @ Amazon
Wireless Network Adapter	Asus PCE-AC55BT PCIe x1 802.11a/b/g/n/ac Wi-Fi Adapter	$44.97 @ Amazon
	Prices include shipping, taxes, rebates, and discounts
	Total	$824.72
	Generated by PCPartPicker 2019-12-15 12:53 EST-0500

dizmo · December 15, 2019

I'd pay the extra $20 for the Viotek.

https://www.amazon.com/VIOTEK-GNV30CB-30-Inch-Curved-Monitor/dp/B07WHSW195/ref=pd_cp_147_2/145-8746423-4389962?_encoding=UTF8&pd_rd_i=B07WHSW195&pd_rd_r=5c3bc340-2a95-406c-a05d-0230b05a6926&pd_rd_w=lQwGh&pd_rd_wg=GXqFI&pf_rd_p=0e5324e1-c848-4872-bbd5-5be6baedf80e&pf_rd_r=51V95DQZEE1RVYXAXTPA&psc=1&refRID=51V95DQZEE1RVYXAXTPA

AdvocateOfNyx · December 15, 2019

42 minutes ago, dizmo said:

I'd pay the extra $20 for the Viotek.

https://www.amazon.com/VIOTEK-GNV30CB-30-Inch-Curved-Monitor/dp/B07WHSW195/ref=pd_cp_147_2/145-8746423-4389962?_encoding=UTF8&pd_rd_i=B07WHSW195&pd_rd_r=5c3bc340-2a95-406c-a05d-0230b05a6926&pd_rd_w=lQwGh&pd_rd_wg=GXqFI&pf_rd_p=0e5324e1-c848-4872-bbd5-5be6baedf80e&pf_rd_r=51V95DQZEE1RVYXAXTPA&psc=1&refRID=51V95DQZEE1RVYXAXTPA

Okay, so I understand there are different ways to calculate response time, however the one you linked said 4ms and the one I originally had said 1ms. Isn't the 1ms better? I don't really see the advantage, but I may be missing something big.

Edit: I am just blind, it's 144hz. Okay, so it comes down to 144hz vs 1ms response time?

dizmo · December 15, 2019

20 minutes ago, AdvocateOfNyx said:

Okay, so I understand there are different ways to calculate response time, however the one you linked said 4ms and the one I originally had said 1ms. Isn't the 1ms better? I don't really see the advantage, but I may be missing something big.

Edit: I am just blind, it's 144hz. Okay, so it comes down to 144hz vs 1ms response time?

You can't really base a monitor on the numbers the manufacturer provides you; they're very rarely accurate.

You'd have to find in depth reviews for both monitors to really get a feel for response time, but I don't believe the Viotek has any, and I doubt the Spectre does.

The Spectre doesn't list if it's a VA or TN panel. You'll only really get 1ms response times from a TN.

Regardless of that though, I'd go with 144hz over a "claimed" 1ms response time any day.

AdvocateOfNyx · December 15, 2019

1 hour ago, dizmo said:

You can't really base a monitor on the numbers the manufacturer provides you; they're very rarely accurate.

You'd have to find in depth reviews for both monitors to really get a feel for response time, but I don't believe the Viotek has any, and I doubt the Spectre does.

The Spectre doesn't list if it's a VA or TN panel. You'll only really get 1ms response times from a TN.

Regardless of that though, I'd go with 144hz over a "claimed" 1ms response time any day.

Here is one I found for the Spectre. The problem is I'm not exactly sure what everything means. Seems to me that the biggest problems it lists are pixel response time and motion blur, which, well, sorta sucks... But I can't seem to find anything similar for the Viotek. Just some Reddit threads talking about it. Still, might consider it as a 144hz option. I don't seem to be getting over 144 fps in many games lmao, but maybe next year when I'm planning on upgrading my rig it'll come in handy.