16:9 vs 21:9 for gaming

[TheOnlyNexus]

Hey guys,

 

I was just thinking about buying a new monitor. It should either have a screen ratio of 16:9 or 21:9. Could you explain me the great differences between these two and reason, which one will be better for gaming

 

Thanks in advance!

[squirrl]

Hey, Please do a google search (linustechtips 16:9 vs 21:9) and you will find a LOT of existing LTT forum threads with this question since it pops up all the time.

 

Edit: Here, i'll link some to you

 

 

 

 

[Glenwing]

12 minutes ago, TheOnlyNexus said:

Hey guys,

 

I was just thinking about buying a new monitor. It should either have a screen ratio of 16:9 or 21:9. Could you explain me the great differences between these two and reason, which one will be better for gaming

 

Thanks in advance!

One is 1.77x wider than it is tall (16:9) and the other is 2.38x wider than it is tall (21:9). Most games scale by horizontal ratio, so a wider ratio will allow you to see more on the screen at once, so generally 21:9 is considered better for gaming.

[TheOnlyNexus]

Thanks a lot!

[Zyndo]

16:9 and 21:9... the differences are simply the shape of the screen. MOST modern TV's, monitors, and any other display device that advertises itself as a "widescreen" display, is 16:9. a 21:9 is an ultra-widescreen. It has a MUCH more rectangular shape than any standard 16:9 display. The advantage of this when it comes to gaming, is it gives you a larger view of the available game. In an RTS that means you get more left-right viewing area on your map/terrain. In FPS games that means you get to see enemies in your peripherals that otherwise may not be in your field of view.

as for which is better when it comes to gaming, that really depends on what kind of games you play. If you primarily play FPS games, or racing games, or other games where field of view is critically integral to your performance in the game, then having a 21:9 monitor can help significantly.

However some games have bad UI scaling when it comes to 21:9 ratios, and other games like RTS games are more difficult to play on a wide screen like that since you need to move your mouse around alot more in order to scroll your screen, or click buttons you need to click.  Then there is the issue of compatibility. MOST games nowadays support 21:9, and its becomming more and more common as we move forward. But not all games will natively support it, so you may occasionally be stuck running your game ina 16:9 ratio with black bars on the side of your screen. and in RPG's or games that have alot of cutsceens in them, MOST of these cutsceens are going to be shown in 16:9, resulting in more black bars. Watching videos on youtube or netflix can also run into this issue alot. Again, as we go forward, more and more content is being supported in 21:9, so this will become less of an issue in the future, but for now its something to keep in mind when you purchase.

But your question was about gaming. And most people typically recommend the 21:9 is a better gaming aspect ratio since it allows you to view more of your surroundings, giving you a more immersive gaming experience (especially if you get a curved monitor), and a slight competitive edge.

[Zyndo]

9 minutes ago, squirrl said:

Hey, Please do a google search (linustechtips 16:9 vs 21:9) and you will find a LOT of existing LTT forum threads with this question since it pops up all the time.

Guys with no life like me would have nothing to do if people would actually use google instead of going to a forum and asking other people to google things for them

[TheOnlyNexus]

Thanks again for the advice! 

 

Would this monitor:

 

AOC C3583FQ

 

Be a good choice? (Don't want to spend too much money)

[Zyndo]

2 minutes ago, TheOnlyNexus said:

Thanks again for the advice! 

 

Would this monitor:

 

AOC C3583FQ

 

Be a good choice? (Don't want to spend too much money)

Its not a bad one.... there are two catches to 21:9... they tend to be more expensive, and you tend to need better GPU hardware in order to run them properly, due to their higher resolutions.

What GPU, CPU, and RAM do you have in your system? (just to give me a ballpark of what you could want or need)

[TheOnlyNexus]

GPU:  R9 380X (Upgrading to 1070/80 or future cards in winter)

CPU: i7 6700

RAM: 16GB Dominator Platinum DDR4 @ 3000Mhz + 8GB G.Skill Ripjaws V @ 2800Mhz

 

 

Price should be around 580$ (520 Euro)

 

Curved would be awesome

[Zyndo]

Well if you have your heart set on getting a Nvidia card, there isn't a whole lot of sense in getting this monitor. You could probably get something cheaper if you get a monitor without adaptive sync. This monitor comes with Freesync, which is an adaptive sync technology that works ONLY with AMD cards (Nvidia also has G-sync, but its much more expensive on monitors with it enabled). if you intend on sticking to AMD, then this could be a fine monitor if you are okay with the resolution it runs at (which honestly isn't a big deal if you game with even a small amount of AA on)

[Zyndo]

I need to get to sleep though. I'm too tired to monitor shop for you at 5 in the morning. I shall try to hit you up tomorrow though if you need another recommendation. The monitor you suggested is decent though if you don't mind paying for freesync. and freesync is pretty good to have if you stick to AMD cards. buying an RX480 should be able to run this monitor quite well if you want it to (or you could wait for an AMD card to be released that has a little more horsepower)

[TheOnlyNexus]

Thanks!

 

I'm familiar with it, that FreeSync is only supported by AMD cards and the Nvidia contrary is G-sync. But G-Sync monitors are way too expensive in my opinion. 

 

If there's a good AMD card coming out soon, I might aswell choose to buy this one instead of Nvidia.

 

Thanks for helping me, though!