Ultrawide 21:9 vs 16:9 IPS

[sherman9800]

Hey all, I was hoping to get some input on what everyone thinks would be the best monitor to get.

I was able to snag a RTX3080 recently and wanted to upgrade my 27 inch 1080p 144hz monitor to something different.

 

Currently I also have a dual monitor setup of an older 27 inch 75Hz Asus paired with the above monitor. I also hook up a 55 LG CX OLED that I connect from time to time for video content and when I want to game on the oled.

 

I'm debating between either a 34 inch 1440p ultrawide or a 27 -32 inch 1440p 170-240Hz monitor. I am not enjoying the 1080p on a 27 inch screen anymore.

 

I barely have the space on my desk for a 34 inch ultrawide.

 

Games I play:

Blizzard games

COD Black Ops Cold War

Witcher 3

Mass Effect

Civilization

Age of Empires

Horizon Zero Dawn

Assassin's Creed

 

Would I benefit from the ultrawide? I will be working from home on this screen as well so some productivity would be nice but not necessarily a super need.

 

Id prefer to stick to IPS as VA smearing sucks and I have the OLED for deep darks and contrast anyway.

 

Thanks for any advice.

 

[GuiltySpark_]

Ok, so I've said all this before but since you're in the market I will absolutely say it again. I went with a 3440x1440 ultrawide back in 2017 (PG348Q) and absolutely fell in love. I will never go back to 16:9.  

 

I play most of the same games you do and they're all flawless and I can't describe how awesome open world games feel on an ultrawide. 

 

I came from a old 30" Dell that was 2560x1600 and even then, the difference was incredible for gaming. You coming from a 1080p display I think you're about to have your socks knocked off. A 3080 will devour any game at 3440x1440 so I think you'll have a great experience. My panel is quite old at this point and "only" 100Hz but with the games I play and GSync, it doesn't bother me in the least.

 

Because I've had this for so long I've thought recently about upgrading but the only displays that I see as upgrades are the new crop of 3840x1600 1440Hz+ ultrawides, however the specific LG model that I'm eyeing up is $1600 so that'll have to wait for a bit.

[dizmo]

I went ultrawide. Will never go back, unless it's for a 48" "monitor".

[RAS_3885]

I absolutely love my ultrawide and will find it hard to go back. Productivity and gaming (at least the games I play) is just on another level.

[BobVonBob]

I've been using a 34 inch ultrawide for a few months now, and it's been fantastic for both gaming and work. If you've got a store nearby that stocks them, I would really suggest going there to see them in person. Ultrawide isn't for everyone, especially if you're looking at a curved one since the combination of the two feels very different from a 16:9 flat screen. For what it's worth I would suggest going curved, since the edges on a flat ultrawide are just too far away in my opinion.

 

Some negatives, in games that weren't designed with ultrawide in mind the UI will often be way off in the distance, and you're likely to have even more trouble with FOV sliders if you're sensitive to that stuff. Basically everything made before 2014, and a not insignificant amount of new games, will have some quirks.

[sherman9800]

I am about 1 hour from a microcenter and can go take a look at them on the weekend.

I have been to the microcenter a number of times and looked at the monitors but that was a few years ago so can only vaguely remember the ultrawides on display.

I think I will have to go look and try. I did see at a Best Buy the ultrawides there but they were the not so great 29 inch 1080p versions that were not so hot.

 

The ultrawide is appealing as it gives both size and pixels.

[xg32]

it depends on whether you value ultrawide or colors more

 

I have 4 recommendations, msi mag27qrf-qd for 1440p 165hz

 

asus PG279QM for 1440p 240hz

 

LG 34gp83a-b for ips ultrawide

 

pg35vq for VA ultrawide+hdr

 

The first 2 monitors has the best colors/refresh/response time balance, the 3rd one is pretty much just for the ips ultrawide experience and the 4th one is the best all-around curved monitor with hdr for a reasonable price.

 

For the games you play there won't be much diff btwn the 1st and 2nd monitor for double the price. Personally i recommend the pg35vq if price and VA isn't an issue for you.

[Moraisu]

I have been a very early adopter of ultrawide, starting from my old 29' 1080p 60hz LG monitor, one of the firsts to hit the market, if I am not mistaken, however, there is a issue with going to a ultrawide display and that is perception of quality and that is one of the main issues with helping someone get a new monitor to someone. 

 

In short, ultrawide is amazing but the market is not kind to those who embrace the 21:9 format, let's get the most obvious part out of the way, yes, 21:9 is fantastic for gaming, using resources such as PCGamingWiki you can easily see what type of support a game has for 21:9 or how to adapt it to run on 21:9, most games support it or are easily made to support it, now.. here comes the but and a it's a big one..

 

Good ultrawide monitors are expensive as hell, I am still on a 34' 1080p 144hz IPS LG monitor, it's 4 years old and I can't upgrade it because its direct upgrade path, the LG UltraGear 34' 1440p 164hz IPS costs 800 €, as the current version of my model costs around 400 €, for that same price you can buy the 27' 1440p 144hz IPS LG model.. so, yeah..

 

The other issue is the perception of quality, it is very hard going from 144hz to 60hz, such as going from 1440p to 1080p, the same is true with going from 21:9 to 16:9, that is the reason why I am still at 1080p, yes, the boost to 1440p would be amazing but I can not drop the 21:9 format, neither the 144hz IPS panel, it's fantastic in Flight Simulator 2020, amazing for FPS and just for everyday use..

 

When i comes to games, there is ultrawide support, but it can be slow to be adopted and sometimes its implementation can be rather weak or not even adopted at all, thankfully that is not the case with most games but there are some games that just will not work properly in 21:9, mostly older games and oh.. if you love J-RPGs or Japanese games in general stick with 16:9, most J-RPGs have a very poor implementation of 21:9, take the recent Persona 4 Golden, no 21:9 support, want to play Metal Gear Solid V in 21;9? Looks great but you need to be running scripts in cheat engine to use the UI and even then it's limited 16:9, same thing with Resident Evil Revelations 2, Metal Gear Rising, Dragons Dogma Dark Arisen, those games can run at 21:9. somewhat but the UI will not.. 

 

As for the games you play, Blizzard hates 21;9, it does not run on Overwatch, Diablo 3 does not support it anymore from what I understand, Diablo II Resurrected will not support it, the rest of the games do support it, Civilization 4 looks great, love The Witcher 3 on it, Mass Effect looks fantastic

 

 

TL:DR: If you have the cash, go for a 34' 1440p 160hz / 144hz IPS monitor, most recent games fully support it, even surprisingly a lot of older games do as well but there is always be that game that will not run at all.. I mean, you can just run it at 16:9, 16:9 in a 21:9 34' is the same as running a 27' 16:9 monitor.. so yeah.. that considering that a 27' 16:9 costs half of what a 34' 21:9 costs.. 

 

In a personal note, some of the games that will just not run properly at 21:9 that I have not mentioned already and that I would love to play properly are God Eater 3, most of the Disagea series, all the Tales of have issues with the UI, Metal Gear Rising, all of the Sword Art Online series and most fighting games will not support it.