"Downgrading" from 28" 4k to 34" ultrawide.

With the PG348Q coming out, I'm considering switching from my 28" 4k gsync, but I'm worried about losing my pixels.

Has anyone here made a switch from a 27/28" 4k to, say, the X34 Predator? Did you notice the loss of detail?

Many of the advantages I have heard for the ultrawide do not apply to me:

1) Easier to drive. (Have SLI titans, so that's not an issue.)
2) 100hz instead of 60. (Don't play FPS, 60 is fine for me.)
3) More space so more productivity. (I don't do anything productive.)

So just on pure screenshot eye candy, in games with high quality textures, is the loss in res/pixel density highly noticeable? Or is that loss minor enough that the wider view makes up for it?

Thank you.

If those advantages of the ultrawide screen do not apply to you, which ones do?

So far it sounds like you've got a list of reasons not to upgrade.

Sick, widescreen landscapes in my RPGs. 21:9 for movies.

To be clear, I'm sold on the size/ratio. I want it. I'm just worried about degrading my picture too much to get it. I

Dude. If you have that setup (and clearly cash, cause the PG348Q is overpriced as fuck) why not go mid to high end 4K TV like a Samsung JU6700/7500/9000, 40-45"? You'll be hitting 60+ FPS nearly always, so G-sync is near to pointless, you'll get a bigger image and better blacks -- so far as I know all G-sync monitors are either TN or IPS right now, no VAs, but I don't know what you have specifically.

Kyle has a JU6700 and swears by it. If that's not a recommendation worth considering I don't know what is. The only reason I have my Dell U3415W is because JU6700 are insanely overpriced to buy locally for me, and I refuse to get a 4K TV shipped to me to try as a monitor after going through like... 8 of them in 2 months a while back.

I will say, I really enjoy 21:9 and it's a far better experience than I had on any of the 4K TVs I tried, so I don't regret it (and can't afford what is effectively another $600-800 for G-Sync, that's just stupid). I'm not trying to turn you off to it. If you're willing to give up G-Sync and have the grunt to move the pixels at at least 60FPS, though, you can even run 3440x1440 on most 4K TVs.

Also worth noting, because of the hdcp copy protection on blu-rays, you can't just play a retail movie in its native 21:9 format. You'll have to manually decrypt and re-encode the file, or acquire from some other aspect-ratio friendly source.

IMO, it sounds like you might be better suited by purchasing a larger 4k screen, and then when you want that wider FOV, running a custom 16:9 resolution. I'm in support of 21:9 and plan on buying an Acer Z35 when I can, but from how you describe your computer usage, 4k sounds like the right choice.

Eh, problem with those, for me, is more logistical than anything else. 34" is already pushing it. 40" is going to get me too many strange looks/comments.

I went from the LG 27 inch with Freesync to the Acer 34 inch widescreen with Freesync. I like the widescreen better except when games or videos don't support 3440x1440 resolution. For those games I had to create a custom 2560x1440 and it has black bars on the left and right of the screen. Really I only play one game with that issue though, Heroes of the Storm, so I'm not that concerned with it. YouTube videos are mostly 16:9 so on the rare occasions I put those full screen I have the bars again. Everything else 21:9 is great.

Dan UCF said:

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99% of recent titles I've tried, at worst the main game supports 21:9 but the cinematics are stuck at 16:9, resulting in letterboxes on the sides during them. Some games have fixes available, either stand-alone or via the Flawless Widescreen app. This makes a huge difference, but isn't without consequence -- I've seen several crashes from Dragon Age Inquisition while using the Flawless Widescreen patch, and suspect other games will sometimes have issues as well. Over all though, I enjoy the size, I enjoy the aspect ratio, and I recommend it if you aren't happy with a 40"+ 4K TV as a monitor, 100%.

Dan UCF said:

I went from the LG 27 inch with Freesync to the Acer 34 inch widescreen with Freesync. I like the widescreen better except when games or videos don't support 3440x1440 resolution. For those games I had to create a custom 2560x1440 and it has black bars on the left and right of the screen. Really I only play one game with that issue though, Heroes of the Storm, so I'm not that concerned with it. YouTube videos are mostly 16:9 so on the rare occasions I put those full screen I have the bars again. Everything else 21:9 is great.

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Thanks for the feedback. i assume that LG is 4k? Did you notice the resolution loss much?

I actually have a 34" Dell and am looking at going to one of the Korean 43" IPS 4k panels. Ultrawide is great and relatively easy to drive, but keen to try something else now.

Poodles said:

Eh, problem with those, for me, is more logistical than anything else. 34" is already pushing it. 40" is going to get me too many strange looks/comments.

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I work in a office of about 150 developers, I got a 39" 4k seiki tv I use for development. After the first week nobody said anything. After about 2 months my boss got one too because he liked it. I doubt anybody will care longer than a few days.