Q&A Your opinion on ultrawide monitors

[Big_Al]

Hey folks, so at the end of the month I'm getting myself a new monitor to go along with my new RTX 2080 and I've already got the one I want more or less chosen. But then I got to thinking about ultrawide monitors and honestly, I've never given them much thought or consideration.

My question is how many of you own and use ultrawide monitors and what do you think of them ? How many games support ultrawide, how do you find it day to day etc ? I like the sound of them in theory but I guess my main concerns would be games that don't support ultrawide (like do they stretch or give you black bars ? Black bars I could handle no problem, stretching absolutely not) and how much GPU power needed to run them and get decent framerates.

Basic a curiosity thread I guess to get your experiences.

 

[Blizniak]

I love mine. I'd say most modern games support or can be forced to work in ultrawide. Those that don't usually give you black bars on the sides that disappear very quickly to my eyes. There are some exceptions like say Overwatch where you actually see less in ultrawide so you'll want to run that in 16:9 regardless. As far as performance if you look at benchmarks ultrawide 1080p is going to be in the middle between regular 1080p and 1440p and ultrawide 1440p is going to be between 1440p and 4k.
Personally I'm running gtx1080 with a 3440x1440 monitor and can get pretty much everything to at least 60fps, sometimes with a little bit of tweaking in the settings.

 

[uraizen]

A lot Most of the games I personally play that would benefit from ultra-wide don't support it. Despite the appeal I would never get one simply because of that. So I just rock dual monitors instead.

 

[freshVeggie]

As cliche as it sounds. Once you go ultrawide, you can't go back.
Of course, you can, but it feels like a major downgrade. So, you'll be miffed about the slim selection of UWS monitors and how disproportianllymore expensive they get. But since you have a 2080, I doubt you'll have to care, haha.

But I don't regret it a bit. The expanded FOV across all genres is very cool. Not only FPS.
And it equally, maybe even more, changes your non-gaming PC experience. Multitasking becomes noticeably better.

 

[Blizniak]

And it equally, maybe even more, changes your non-gaming PC experience. Multitasking becomes noticeably better.

This too, it can't substitute having 2 monitors but it adds a ton anyway. Watching movies without black bars is also amazing.

 

[IBJamon]

I honestly can't decide between going this route and a larger 4k monitor/TV. I have a 2080 Ti so power isn't an issue. I just know that many games don't support it, and I do want the bigger size. It's a tough one.

 

[Kvik]

At the moment I'm using a 27" G-sync monitor with a native resolution of 2560x1440, so I'm pretty much still sitting comfortably for the next few years. However, I'm definitely considering getting a 21:9 monitor for my next upgrade cycle. I feel it's the most logical upgrade path compared with getting another 27" monitor with 2160p native resolution. Although, I'm aware that my emulated games won't be able to take advantage of the extra screen real estate, except perhaps for Citra/Desmume with side-by-side layout.

I do have a number of items in my wishlist for this dream monitor though:

• Screen size should be between 32"-34". Larger than this would mean that I need to get a bigger desk which I don't really want to do.
• Native resolution of 3440x1440 at the very least. Or, ideally 5120x2160. I figured 2x 1080Ti should be enough to drive this resolution so I don't have to upgrade my GPUs simultaneously.
• Supports Gsync, as much as I hate to give Nvidia more money, it's been such a joy using my Gsync monitor I couldn't imagine using a monitor without one.
• IPS panel at the very least. Although the color accuracy is great, one of my biggest concern when I got my current monitor was the IPS backlight bleed. Even though it does have it, I was lucky it wasn't as apparent as some of the examples posted in the Gsync thread on GAF back then.
• At least 120Hz refresh rate with 4ms response time, maximum. You might say that this is wasted on a non-FPS player such as I, but you're wrong. I do need it. Playing Trails of Cold Steel I/II in turbo mode at 120 fps locked was a revelation and I won't sacrifice that, ever.
• HDR10 support with a wide color gamut. While I'm aware HDR on PC is still spotty at best, I have hopes that the tech will keep improving since HDR is already an awesome piece of tech on TV. I believe it belongs in the PC-space as well.

If I were in the market for a 21:9 monitor today though, I would probably go for the Acer X34 Predator X34 . The price is steep in my country ($1200 AUD) and its screams "gamer gear" like no other, but a monitor arm could eliminate that stand which I'm not a big fan of.

 

[IBJamon]

I personally think the DPI/PPI of a 27" 1440p monitor is absolutely perfect. So, keeping that PPI, a 4k monitor becomes 43". So a 4k@43" @ 120Hz might be nearly the perfect monitor. Or at least one of many options.

 

[OSatan]

For work they are amazing, for gaming the industry will never care for them.

 

[Durante]

It really depends on a few factors

• Do you primarily play larger "AAA" games or large-scale PC productions? Those generally support 21:9 natively these days, while with more niche games it's hit-and-miss. Even that is getting better though, with e.g. Valkyria Chronicles 4 having really good ultrawide support. (And of course Durante ports are good about it as well )
• Do you mind tinkering a bit? Because for many older and newer games without ultrawide support there are mods to make it happen. E.g. I played all of Nioh in ultrawide.
• Is this for gaming only or general use? In case of the latter, it can be really good for fitting 2 or even 3 applications on the screen, though Windows could be better about the latter.

I enjoy my Samsung CF791 for general use (even more so now that I can also use variable refresh rate on it, which I never expected to happen!).

 

[Le Pertti]

I love ultra wide! Though mostly for gaming, wasn't as nice when working on it, since I mostly edit photos and photos usually have the aspect ration of 3:2 it felt claustrophobic.

 

[Big_Al]

Thanks for all the opinions folks, it's very much appreciated. I think for now I'm going to stick with jumping up to a 144hz 1440p monitor, lets me get higher framerates too which is something I'm looking forward too. I will probably make the jump to ultrawide in a few years time but for now I think the jump from 1080p to 1440p will be enough Of course I'm still interested in reading about anyone elses experiences!

It really depends on a few factors

• Do you primarily play larger "AAA" games or large-scale PC productions? Those generally support 21:9 natively these days, while with more niche games it's hit-and-miss. Even that is getting better though, with e.g. Valkyria Chronicles 4 having really good ultrawide support. (And of course Durante ports are good about it as well )
• Do you mind tinkering a bit? Because for many older and newer games without ultrawide support there are mods to make it happen. E.g. I played all of Nioh in ultrawide.
• Is this for gaming only or general use? In case of the latter, it can be really good for fitting 2 or even 3 applications on the screen, though Windows could be better about the latter.

I enjoy my Samsung CF791 for general use (even more so now that I can also use variable refresh rate on it, which I never expected to happen!).

For your questions I guess the best answers are I don't mind tinkering at all (been doing it since I was a kid with MS-DOS and Wolfenstein 3D, that's when I first started playing games and how I got into PC gaming) and it would be used for a bit of everything. I play loads of AAA games and smaller indies. I spread myself around many many things

 

[IBJamon]

I have officially been ruined forever, I have a 43" 4K monitor on my desk (only 60Hz, but still) and don't think I can go smaller again. If I want, I can add black bars for ultrawide. But it is truly amazing.

 

[Flandy]

They're really cool but I don't think they're for me. I used to have one but eventually downgraded back to 16:9. I found that after a while the extra screen space from 21:9 would sort of just bleed into the background and I'd stop noticing it. Because of that I'd rather go 16:9 and save myself the extra frames. Now 21:9 cutscenes on the other hand look fucking amazing and it's a shame that most games I tried would letterbox their cutscenes even if they supported 21:9 in the rest of the game

 

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