1440P (WQHD) vs 2160p (4K) is it worth it?

Hey guys, one question. Is the actual Samsung 28" 4K Monitor with TN panel worth , or should i go with the LG / Dell 34" 21:9 3440x1440 WQHD IPS monitor?

Its really not about the money, original i wanted to spend around 1000€ for one monitor, don't suggest me to buy both i don't shit with money

I did a comp screen on 23" BF4 with "around" 150% res and then one with 200% (4K)

Worth it in what sense?

Your two options are very different. Do you want higher DPI? Or do you want a wider aspect ratio?

Both monitors are going to come with their own set of issues for normal use. Both are going to require some serious graphics card power to make games work. The 21:9 aspect ratio is going to cause problems with some games, but that list is getting smaller all the time.

High-DPI monitors aren't quite ready for prime time on Windows. If you might be using some apps that don't scale well, then you could be squinting a bit more than usual.

I wonder how 1080p screenshot (even if half of it is made by downscaling from 1440p, and another from 2160p) should help deciding or illustrate decision.
As for OP question .. i'd say - for now neither. There were many enough games with aspect issues even with going from 4:3 to 16:10 & 16:9. Given gaming industry stagnation, i often enjoy playing old classic titles, and have no slightest wish to "enjoy" even more problems with even wider aspect of 21:9. 4K might be nice choice, IF: 1) you wouldn't need THAT expensive gaming HW to drive it, 2) if vendors of UHD monitors had started making 36+" ones not that plagued with high DPI issues, 3) if more of UHD TV vendors (Panasonic is exception) including cheapest ones had started making them not just with HDMI 2.0 but also with DP 1.2 MST, so that UHD@60p could be used with current gpu-s.
1-2-3 can be fixed by time, with next gen gpus from nvidia & ati in a year or two, with better price/performancy and native HDMI2 support, with display vendors starting making bigger size monitors adequate for risen resolution, with overall price level dropping.
But if buying now, imho best overall choice is 30". Normal aspect ratio, can be used with current reasonably priced gpu-s.

It's certainly not worth it for the dumbed-down console game that is BF4.

4K movies and general desktop usage is where having 2160 vertical lines makes a difference.

LG 34UM95, hands down

Wider aspect ratio is awesome, not many games have an issue with this, and when they do, you go to www.wsgf.org or www.flawlesswidescreen.org/ and fix them. 21:9 ratio is more natural to how our own eyes view the world, it's cooler, it's more immersive. It's the future.

Look at the TV industry and monitor industry from the early days of 4:3, to 16:10, then 16:9, now 21:9

It's also still using .232 dot pitch and with 3440 x 1440, that's in no way low rez. This monitor is basically 3.5k and giving you 21:9 and not as hard to push.

Panmaster said:

It's certainly not worth it for the dumbed-down console game that is BF4.

4K movies and general desktop usage is where having 2160 vertical lines makes a difference.

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what 4K movies?.

rinaldo00 said:

what 4K movies?.

Click to expand...

There's a bunch of Mastered/restored 4k blueray movies in amazon
http://www.amazon.com/s/ref=nb_sb_noss_2?url=search-alias=movies-tv&field-keywords=4k

Sony has a device that lets you buy and rent and then it downloads to device.
http://store.sony.com/4k-ultra-hd-media-player-zid27-FMPX1/cat-27-catid-All-Internet-Players
http://www.theverge.com/2013/9/4/4693788/sony-4k-video-store-now-available-70-movies-tv-shows

Other idea would be to use a special blueray player or a receiver to upscale a 1080p to 4k.

Netflix is testing the waters offering house of cards streaming at 4k.

ellover009 said:

There's a bunch of Mastered/restored 4k blueray movies in amazon
http://www.amazon.com/s/ref=nb_sb_noss_2?url=search-alias=movies-tv&field-keywords=4k

Sony has a device that lets you buy and rent and then it downloads to device.
http://store.sony.com/4k-ultra-hd-media-player-zid27-FMPX1/cat-27-catid-All-Internet-Players
http://www.theverge.com/2013/9/4/4693788/sony-4k-video-store-now-available-70-movies-tv-shows

Click to expand...

"Mastered in 4K" isn't 4K. It's a marketing trickery.
There's not much 4K media at all apart from movies made by NaughtyAmerica.

ellover009 said:

There's a bunch of Mastered/restored 4k blueray movies in amazon
http://www.amazon.com/s/ref=nb_sb_noss_2?url=search-alias=movies-tv&field-keywords=4k

Sony has a device that lets you buy and rent and then it downloads to device.
http://store.sony.com/4k-ultra-hd-media-player-zid27-FMPX1/cat-27-catid-All-Internet-Players
http://www.theverge.com/2013/9/4/4693788/sony-4k-video-store-now-available-70-movies-tv-shows

Other idea would be to use a special blueray player or a receiver to upscale a 1080p to 4k.

Netflix is testing the waters offering house of cards streaming at 4k.

Click to expand...

The titles may be mastered in 4K, but they're downsampled to 1080p for the Blu-Ray.

You don't need a special blu-ray player or receiver to do the upscaling if the source or display has a built-in scaler. Up-scaling at the source isn't necessarily better than up-scaling at the display (note: I don't know if the Samsung upscales 1080p input).

Netflix is only streaming 4K to certain TVs with built-in Netflix streaming support, IIRC. That will change eventually, obviously, but at the moment they're not making it easy to stream 4K to your own display. In fact, it's hard to even get Netflix to stream 1080p these days.

In short, 4K video content isn't here yet. You'd be crazy to buy a 4K display to watch 4K video content that doesn't exist yet. And as always, future-proofing is a fool's errand.


That said, there are plenty of non-movie reasons to get a 4K monitor IF it makes sense for your workload / gaming. But you can't justify a 4K monitor purchase with 4K video content at the moment.

Man this is a tough one. My FW900 is starting to wear, it's time to slowly look for a replacement for the future. 21:9 looks really nice for productivity but with 4k you get a little more vertical room. If you can wait a little we might see an ips 4k that's more affordable. TN is nice for motion but contrast can color are just not there compared to an ips, The other problem would be color shift from different angles example if you were to recline on your chair. I been tempted to go with one of those 42in 1080p commercial panasonic plasmas before the whole plasma stuff is dried up. I guess power consumption finally killed it when 4k came around. http://www.hdtvtest.co.uk/news/4k-plasma-201311133417.htm
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