Should I get a 4K or Ultrawide monitor

[EunSoo]

Hello! I am looking for a monitor to supplament my Dell S2716DG.  My Dell is my main monitor that I use for all of my gaming right now. But I want to get an IPS monitor for Netflix, Youtube, better multitasking and for After Effects, Illustrator and Photoshop and the occasional story game. My budget is $700 and it would be nice if it had good out-of-the-box colors as I don't have my calibrator anymore. And my PC has a i5 6600k and a GTX 980.

 

Now on to the 4K vs Ultrawide part. This use-case sounds like it was meant for an Ultrawide for me but my concern is that its just going to be too big of a setup as I would have  4.5ft of screens with the Dell and the Ultrawide and that seems excessive and even overkill. I also have some other stuff on my desk that could get in the way of such a large display and I don't think I need so much screen area. Also, the increased PPI of nearly 50% from 1440p to 2160p seems like it would help counteract the less screen area so I could have a lower scaling setting. So if anyone has some experience between the 2 resolutions, I would like to hear it. Thanks!

Edited September 27, 2017 by SCGazelle

[Thinkfreely]

For gaming that 980 would struggle hard on a 4k monitor, might be fine for editing purposes. However with the ultrawide I think that will be a better investment in terms of real estate for working on projects, and you will still be able to get decent FPS.

[Mira Yurizaki]

I would say the 4K monitor if you work on high resolution content just so you can see more of an image at 100%. But the effective desktop resolution is still going to be 1440p if you're doing 27" and need scaling. But most things will at least look sharper.

[Shipht]

10 minutes ago, SCGazelle said:

Hello! I am looking for a monitor to supplament my Dell S2716DG.  My Dell is my main monitor that I use for all of my gaming right now. But I want to get an IPS monitor for Netflix, Youtube, better multitasking and for After Effects, Illustrator and Photoshop and the occasional story game. My budget is $700 and it would be nice if it had good out-of-the-box colors as I don't have my calibrator anymore. And my PC has a i5 6600k and a GTX 980.

 

Now on to the 4K vs Ultrawide part. This use-case sounds like it was meant for an Ultrawide for me but my concern is that its just going to be too big of a setup as I would have  4.5ft of screens with the Dell and the Ultrawide and that seems excessive and even overkill. I also have some other stuff on my desk that could get in the way of such a large display and I don't think I need so much screen area. Also, the increased PPI of nearly 50% from 1440p to 2160p seems like it would help counteract the less screen area so I could have a lower scaling setting. So if anyone has some experience between the 2 resolutions, I would like to hear it. Thanks!

Ultrawide doesn't work in 95% of games, so it would be a stupid purchase.

[ono]

38 minutes ago, Shipht said:

Ultrawide doesn't work in 95% of games, so it would be a stupid purchase.

Doesn't sound like the primary purpose though.

 

My setup is a 34" LG ultrawide 1440p and a 55" LG OLED 4K TV. But I only use one screen at a time. I can't comment on working on the 4K screen since I only use that one for gaming. I use the ultrawide for everything else. I haven't done the calculation but a 34" ultrawide is like dual two smaller monitors (17"?), and I'm fine with that. I do some Lightroom on most of the screen and like a third for YT or Netflix fine. The longer view is probably great for video production. The increased PPI from 1440p to 2160p is negated some since you need to scale up the UI to a similar level to be usable anyway.

 

However you already have an existing monitor so the value of basically having "three" screens on your desk if you go ultrawide is lesser. I don't really know why you'd need that much real estate for your use case. Only people I know with a ton of screens are those immersive gamers or day traders.

[paps511]

Ultrawide.

I went UW about a year or so ago, and I'm never looking back.

[Brett_Bst]

95% is a bit much, I have a UW and it plays and scales in most games just fine, to me I think 4k is a waste, even the 1080ti just about holds 60fps and in the most demanding games cant even do that, that will then need trhe settings turnt down which defeats the point of running a 4k moniter, a 970 will struggle to run 4k @high let alone ultra, whats the point of 4k if settings are lower to allow the fps ? for creation then 4k would be good but so is UW so I think it comes down to what you like more, detail or space/creation or gaming. Yes I was one of them that spent stupid amouts of money on a 3440x1440 Ultrawide lol but wouldn't change it to 4k until atleast seeing what volta can do

[EunSoo]

1 hour ago, Thinkfreely said:

For gaming that 980 would struggle hard on a 4k monitor,

90% of gaming is going to be happening on my Dell monitor, so I don't care much whether my PC can game on it. Only the occasional game that would be better on an IPS instead of 144hz would be played on the new one.

2 hours ago, M.Yurizaki said:

But the effective desktop resolution is still going to be 1440p if you're doing 27" and need scaling. But most things will at least look sharper.

 

2 hours ago, ono said:

The increased PPI from 1440p to 2160p is negated some since you need to scale up the UI to a similar level to be usable anyway.

I hear all the time that there isn't much of a benefit from 1440p to 2160p at 27". Is that a thing? If so, could I save some money by just getting a 1440p monitor like the Dell U2717D which also has the same stand as my S2716DG which would be nice.

1 hour ago, paps511 said:

Ultrawide.

I went UW about a year or so ago, and I'm never looking back.

Is the ultrawide your main monitor? Do you game mostly on it? I'm not going to be gaming much on this second monitor.

[Mira Yurizaki]

Just now, SCGazelle said:

I hear all the time that there isn't much of a benefit from 1440p to 2160p at 27". Is that a thing? If so, could I save some money by just getting a 1440p monitor like the Dell U2717D which also has the same stand as my S2716DG which would be nice.

The effective workspace if you use 150% scaling is the same as 1440p. However, for media editing purposes, this can still allow you to see more pixels of the content your working on at 100% zoom (assuming the app is not being scaled via interpolation)

[ono]

4 minutes ago, SCGazelle said:

I hear all the time that there isn't much of a benefit from 1440p to 2160p at 27". Is that a thing? If so, could I save some money by just getting a 1440p monitor like the Dell U2717D which also has the same stand as my S2716DG which would be nice.

Is the ultrawide your main monitor? Do you game mostly on it? I'm not going to be gaming much on this second monitor.

You should check if you have any shops with those res and sizes to check if it is perceptible to you. And try to use the same viewing angle and distance at your home. Your personal visual acuity is obviously a factor. I probably couldn't tell the diff, but I need to up my prescription

[EunSoo]

28 minutes ago, M.Yurizaki said:

The effective workspace if you use 150% scaling is the same as 1440p. However, for media editing purposes, this can still allow you to see more pixels of the content your working on at 100% zoom (assuming the app is not being scaled via interpolation)

hmmm... I'll see how I like that. As @ono suggested, I'll see if I can see what each resolution would look like in person.

[hammer3339]

8 hours ago, Thinkfreely said:

For gaming that 980 would struggle hard on a 4k monitor

a 980 would struggle hard even on an ultra wide 1440p display, thats still a heck of a lot of pixels to push o.0

[EunSoo]

11 minutes ago, hammer3339 said:

a 980 would struggle hard even on an ultra wide 1440p display, thats still a heck of a lot of pixels to push o.0

Gaming is my last priority for this monitor. I already have a 1440p that I use for gaming, this one is going to be used as a secondary monitor and for content creation tasks.

[Klemmbrett]

14 hours ago, hammer3339 said:

a 980 would struggle hard even on an ultra wide 1440p display, thats still a heck of a lot of pixels to push o.0

I own a EVGA 980 SC paired with a i5 6600K and im using a 1440p screen. I get smooth 60 frames per sec at very high to ultra settings@1440p in games like dishonored2, gta5. But both the CPU and GPU are overclocked. However back to the topic i would i would say why not go for a second 27 inch 1440p display of the same type you are currently using? 2160p  Netflix wont work anyway on this hardware since only Kaby Lake CPUs and 10xx generation of Nvidias GPUS have support for HDCP 2.2 and u have to use windows 10 with the edge browser and also the 4k screen you plan to use has to support HDCP 2.2.  

[paps511]

22 hours ago, SCGazelle said:

Is the ultrawide your main monitor? Do you game mostly on it? I'm not going to be gaming much on this second monitor.

the UW is my only display at my home. I use it for work, school (I have since graduated), watching netflix etc, and games.

The amount of horizontal realestate is perfect for multitasking. its like having 2 5x4 monitors without the bezels. Its also 1440p so everything looks fantastic on it

[hammer3339]

4 hours ago, Klemmbrett said:

I own a EVGA 980 SC paired with a i5 6600K and im using a 1440p screen. I get smooth 60 frames per sec at very high to ultra settings@1440p in games like dishonored2, gta5. But both the CPU and GPU are overclocked. However back to the topic i would i would say why not go for a second 27 inch 1440p display of the same type you are currently using? 2160p  Netflix wont work anyway on this hardware since only Kaby Lake CPUs and 10xx generation of Nvidias GPUS have support for HDCP 2.2 and u have to use windows 10 with the edge browser and also the 4k screen you plan to use has to support HDCP 2.2.  

this is an ultra wide, it has the better part of 35% more pixels than a normal 1440p display, gtx 1080s can struggle to push v high to ultra on them, speaking as someone with a 1080 ftw 2

[Klemmbrett]

13 hours ago, hammer3339 said:

this is an ultra wide, it has the better part of 35% more pixels than a normal 1440p display, gtx 1080s can struggle to push v high to ultra on them, speaking as someone with a 1080 ftw 2

Makes sense but when playing most games wont give you the option to play in 3440*1440 you would still look at a native resolution of 2560*1440 with 2 black bars left and right in 98% of all cases. But i wonder that a 1080 FTW2 struggles to deliver frames smooth 60 fps at that Resolution.  

[Twitchstick]

Get an ultrawide. I have a S2716DG as well. Next to it I have a U3415W which is a ultrawide. It's an awesome combination. The ultrawide can handle content creations thanks to its accurate colors and is awesome for watching movies on. Be aware though that YouTube will have black bars on the sides in fullscreen mode. 

[ono]

3 hours ago, Twitchstick said:

Get an ultrawide. I have a S2716DG as well. Next to it I have a U3415W which is a ultrawide. It's an awesome combination. The ultrawide can handle content creations thanks to its accurate colors and is awesome for watching movies on. Be aware though that YouTube will have black bars on the sides in fullscreen mode. 

Where do you get ultrawide video content? I forgot what I tried when I first got my ultrawide more than a year ago, but I recall YouTube and maybe Netflix you could get a browser extension to crop. Or you could use your monitor settings to do so. I think BD movies encode the black bars as well. The HBO Now site was buggy in full screen mode on ultrawide. I forget the status of Vudu. Probably didn't work natively because my solution was just to use my monitor's cropped or zoom mode, I forget what they called it. I haven't done any of this recently since I know got a 55" 4K TV, so I don't watch content full screen on my 34" ultrawide any more.