What monitor!!?? So Many Options!

[ben.hendley]

Hi There,

 

I have recently built the following rig:

MSI Z170A Krait Gaming 3x Intel Z170 (Socket 1151) DDR4 ATX Motherboard

Gigabyte GeForce GTX 1080 G1 Gaming RGB 8192MB GDDR5X PCI-Express Graphics Card (GV-N1080G1 GAMING-8

Intel Core i7-7700K 4.2GHz (Kaby Lake) Socket LGA1151 Processor - Retail

Corsair Vengeance LPX 32GB (2x16GB) DDR4 PC4-19200C16 2400MHz Dual Channel Kit - Black (CMK32GX4M2A2

 

I am now looking at monitors and realising how out of depth i feel with them! I have a budget of about £600-800GPB ($750-1000). My primary use it for productivity - From CAD to rendering. My secondary use is gaming (mostly new fps/battleground/survival etc).

 

I have been researching for a day or two. Watching youtube reviews, reading blogs etc. I like the idea of 34'' 21:9 @ 1440 res but I wonder if I am missing out on 75hz+ gaming. So then i look at 34'' 21:9 @ 1080 but then I wonder if I am missing out on 1440 res... All the meanwhile only having a casual understanding of freesync vs g-sync for the 75+hz gaming options I have.

 

I could really do with some help if at all possible. 

 

Many thanks,

A man in complete confusion.

[JamesHewitt]

Ultrawide would seem like a good choice. Gives you a load of space to do work with etc. Mine was 899 pounds and it can do 100hz with Gsync.

 

https://www.scan.co.uk/products/34-acer-predator-x34a-curved-qhd-nvidia-g-sync-gaming-monitor-ips-60hz-(100hz-oc)-3440x1440-4ms-tilt

 

the a is a newer version with a few stand improvements etc, hence lack of reviews. It's amazing and i've had no issues.

[ben.hendley]

Thank you James!

 

I had seen the x34's and was wanting to avoid the big spend but given the rig was so expensive, i probably shouldn't grumble too much at stretching my budget. 

 

I am also ok with second had stuff as long as the panel is intact. Cannot seem to find many x34s though. (probably a good sign?)

[JamesHewitt]

3 minutes ago, ben.hendley said:

Thank you James!

 

I had seen the x34's and was wanting to avoid the big spend but given the rig was so expensive, i probably shouldn't grumble too much at stretching my budget. 

 

I am also ok with second had stuff as long as the panel is intact. Cannot seem to find many x34s though. (probably a good sign?)

My brother has a really nice 34 inch ultrawide with 10bit. It was around 600 i think but only 60hz, no g-sync or fancy things like that. I'll check what it is in a bit.

[ben.hendley]

Thank you again James. I found a LG 34UC98-W for £350 + delivery which is almost half price (which is 10bit, 3440x1440). However, after watching some reviews, they are not favorable for gaming. 

[JamesHewitt]

This is the one he has. https://www.scan.co.uk/products/34-lg-34um88-ultra-wide-monitor-ips-3440x1440-5ms-300cd-m-speakers-displayport-v12-2xhdmi-v20-thunde

[ben.hendley]

Amazing info James. Thank you. 

[BSpendlove]

30 minutes ago, JamesHewitt said:

This is the one he has. https://www.scan.co.uk/products/34-lg-34um88-ultra-wide-monitor-ips-3440x1440-5ms-300cd-m-speakers-displayport-v12-2xhdmi-v20-thunde

I also have this monitor and I have to admit, I wasn't very proud when I spent the money, but 2 weeks later I don't regret a single thing. It's a bloody good monitor at 3440x1440 and I'm glad I didn't spend £900+ on the Asus premium ones... 

[ben.hendley]

One last quick question James - on my Rig specs, do you feel the 100hz overclock on the X34a is a safe option for performance in modern games at good settings?

[JamesHewitt]

11 minutes ago, ben.hendley said:

One last quick question James - on my Rig specs, do you feel the 100hz overclock on the X34a is a safe option for performance in modern games at good settings?

I have a  980ti and i'm getting constant over 60-100 fps. I don't notice drops either so pretty sure you'll be fine. 

[ben.hendley]

Magic - thank you james. My bank will be crying.

[JamesHewitt]

Can fully relate, I just got this monitor a few days ago. It has g-sync, so basically a really fancy g-sync which works much better with your monitor and GPU, causing it to look smoother in general. As a result, frame drops aren't as noticeable and lower frames are easier to play on.

 

You will have to lock it to around 98 frames though, or have your settings so high you don't go above a 100. If you go above your monitor refresh rate it turns v-sync on and g-sync off, causing tearing and issues. Nothing weird about frames when you go higher over 60, it just gets smoother and smoother so don't worry about "98"