4K vs 21:9 monitors

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ggp759

Limp Gawd
Joined
Feb 12, 2008
Messages
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Recently i moved from a Qnix 1440p semi-glossy to a Dell 3415W. The experience was amazing even if i had to do some fixing with some games. I could not stand the backlight bleed though so i send it back.

I ordered the Samsung S34E790C that is a VA panel. It had better contrast and better response times than the Dell. Also no backlight bleeding and input lag less than 10ms according to various reviews. Just some minor clouding.

This was my first VA panel though and the gamma shift was driving me crazy as its a fairly big and of course wide moitor. Also the Samsung's coating was not smooth. It had a hazy, sparkly look that was bothering me so i send it back as well.

After that Nvidia announced Titan X and i have one coming my way.

The question is:
Do i get a 4k monitor like the Asus PB279Q or the Benq BL3201 PT or just order another Dell 3415W?
The 4K panels i mentioned i chose because of reviews and especially input lag readings.

The Asus has around 7ms according to pcmonitors.info and the Benq around 14ms according to prad.de.

What bothers me though is that 4K is again a 16:9 ratio so aside from the increased resolution games will still be in 16:9.
The Dell on the other hand its 21:9 and that is way more immersive especially in gaming not to mention productivity.

Does 4K have the wow factor of a 21:9 panel?

I cant wait for the Acer that is 21:9 144Hz and free-sync because for all i know it could as well be a TN panel and free sync i have no use for with an Nvidia gpu.

Thanks very much for any input guys. Really appreciate it.
 
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ggp759 said:
Recently i moved from a Qnix 1440p semi-glossy to a Dell 3415W. The experience was amazing even if i had to do some fixing with some games.
I could not stand the backlight bleed though so i send it back.

I ordered the Samsung S34E790C that is a VA panel. It had better contrast and better response times than the Dell. Also no backlight bleeding and input lag less than 10ms according to various reviews. Just some minor clouding.

This was my first VA panel though and the gamma shift was driving me crazy as its a fairly big and of course wide moitor. Also the Samsung's coating was not smooth. It had a hazy, sparkly look that was bothering me so i send it back as well.

After that Nvidia announced Titan X and i have one coming my way.

The question is:
Do i get a 4k monitor like the Asus PB279Q or the Benq BL3201 PT or just order another Dell 3415W?
The 4K panels i mentioned i chose because of reviews and especially input lag readings.

The Asus has around 7ms according to pcmonitors.info and the Benq around 14ms according to prad.de.

What bothers me though is that 4K is again a 16:9 ratio so aside from the increased resolution games will still be in 16:9.
The Dell on the other hand its 21:9 and that is way more immersive especially in gaming not to mention productivity.

Does 4K have the wow factor of a 21:9 panel?

I cant wait for the Acer that is 21:9 144Hz and free-sync because for all i know it could as well be a TN panel and free sync i have no use for with an Nvidia gpu.

Thanks very much for any input guys. Really appreciate it.
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FTFY, I think

+

Looks like you have tons of money and no ability to settle on anything, so get a 4K and a 21:9 monitor.
 
runs2far said:
FTFY, I think

+

Looks like you have tons of money and no ability to settle on anything, so get a 4K and a 21:9 monitor.
Click to expand...

Not for nothin and just my 2 cents here, but this response fucking sucks. Who cares if the guy has tons of money and you don't? He asks legitimate questions and was depending on [H] for some help. If you don't have a constructive answer (as I am giving you) then shut the fuck up and go troll someone elsewhere!

Back on topic. OP I am asking the same questions you are (and yes i have the money) and hope that some of our very intelligent and experienced [H] brethren have some well thought out answers.
I'll be watching.
 
Fire488 said:
Not for nothin and just my 2 cents here, but this response fucking sucks. Who cares if the guy has tons of money and you don't? He asks legitimate questions and was depending on [H] for some help. If you don't have a constructive answer (as I am giving you) then shut the fuck up and go troll someone elsewhere!

Back on topic. OP I am asking the same questions you are (and yes i have the money) and hope that some of our very intelligent and experienced [H] brethren have some well thought out answers.
I'll be watching.
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Thanks man. As you said this has nothing to do with money. Thanks for your support on this.
 
Fire488 said:
Not for nothin and just my 2 cents here, but this response fucking sucks. Who cares if the guy has tons of money and you don't? He asks legitimate questions and was depending on [H] for some help. If you don't have a constructive answer (as I am giving you) then shut the fuck up and go troll someone elsewhere!

Back on topic. OP I am asking the same questions you are (and yes i have the money) and hope that some of our very intelligent and experienced [H] brethren have some well thought out answers.
I'll be watching.
Click to expand...

runs2far said:
FTFY, I think

+

Looks like you have tons of money and no ability to settle on anything, so get a 4K and a 21:9 monitor.
Click to expand...

Thanks for fixing it. Now i fixed the original post according to your suggestions. Its not that i have tons of money its that i want the best option for the money am paying.
 
I kind of understand what runs2far was perhaps aiming at.. And it is that when you spend 1000+ moneyz on the gpu, which is less significant component than monitor, then it almost begs for you to spend 2000+ on monitor/s..

Just like traditional wisdom dictates to spend roughly twice as much on audio speakers than you spend on a receiver.. Speakers are simply more important..

That being said, as far as I understand all curved Dell 21:9 monitors suffer from bleeding to certain degree.

Have you considered those 40" screens like Philips BDM4065UC or those new Samsung curved/flat TVs?
 
ggp759 said:
I cant wait for the Acer that is 21:9 144Hz and free-sync because for all i know it could as well be a TN panel and free sync i have no use for with an Nvidia gpu.
Click to expand...

Grab the 27" Acer XB270HU now and once the 34" Predator is launched decide what you want to do.

the 40" VA monitors have less gamma shift than the Shamesung, and use a less grainy coating. But 40" is big enough that neck pain becomes a concern.

I doubt that any IPS panel for 31+" can be built without substantial backlight bleeding. Either live with it or give up on IPS for very large monitors.

It is very hard for a monitor to reach the technical trifecta: good gaming behavior, good color reproduction and good contrast. Currently the most balanced are the Acer XB270HU and the Eizo Foris FG2421. There is not a single monitor of higher resolution with comparable gaming capabilities.
 
the Acer XB270HU looks very interesting....I plan on doing a trip display set up. But I think with the Predator I can run a dual display and it would be amazing. Now for the GPU since hardly anything can power those 34 inchers.
 
I personally prefer the 21:9,

4K is still a bit too stressing on the GPU and you need at least 40+ to get rid of scaling.

21:9 is amazing from productivity's standpoint, and just has a wow factor.
 
i had the LG 34UM95 for a little while before I went back to a Dell U3014. While the added width of 21:9 was nice, the reduced vertical real estate made for an overall less immersive experience, IMO.
 
Thanks for the opinions guys. The Acer is still not available in Europe plus i have a screen with the same resolution. No that interested in the Hz battle. The Philips 40 inch 4k is too big for a monitor imo. I have accepted that large IPS will have bleeding. Bleeding i can live with after experiencing the gamma shift of the Samsung.
 
The 34" 144 Hz 21:9 Acer will be a game changer. Nothing out there will compare for the gaming sector. I'll have the 27" Acer Predator to hold me over until it's released.
 
ggp759 said:
The Philips 40 inch 4k is too big for a monitor imo.
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Aside from the fact that driving 4K for gaming requires a hell of a system, this is the main issue I ran into when choosing a new monitor. To truly enjoy 4K without UI scaling (which to me is a requirement since the majority of the programs I use don't work with UI scaling as of yet) you need a monitor that is close to 40" unless you have really good peepers. With proper scaling that worked with everything I need it to, 27- 32" could be totally fine, but right now, it needs to be big. I'm getting used to my 34um95. It's hella wide and imagining the extra headroom from a 4K seems ridiculous. Ridiculous in an awesome way, granted, but for day to day use? 21:9 is just more reasonable for most people looking for "bigger" and I don't have to buy a new graphics card to enjoy it.

But 3 years down the road when there's a slick 4k 32" with IPS and 144hz for 500?...and if scaling is fixed? Yes please.
 
The Dell 3415W is a 34" 3440 x 1440 monitor with 109.68 PPI. Using the PPI Calculator, I find that a 40" 4K monitor has 110.15 PPI which is close enough.

So, just get a good 40" 4K monitor and use Nvidia's GPU scaling to have it display 34440x1440 using 1:1 pixel mapping. You'll have black bars on all sides, yes, but you'll have the same 21:9 area as the 3415W, so you get to have both in one monitor.

I'm doing 1920x1080 at 18.75" on my 25" 2560x1440 Dell U2515H and it works great.
 
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Vega said:
The 34" 144 Hz 21:9 Acer will be a game changer. Nothing out there will compare for the gaming sector. I'll have the 27" Acer Predator to hold me over until it's released.
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What if its a TN panel? :)
 
Vega said:
The 34" 144 Hz 21:9 Acer will be a game changer. Nothing out there will compare for the gaming sector.
Click to expand...


Knowing that Vega is as [H] as it gets, i believe that the 34" Predator will only last until 24" 1440p 144Hz come out and he tries again triple monitor 4320x2560@144Hz and quad Titan X:eek:
 
evilsofa said:
The Dell 3415W is a 34" 3440 x 1440 monitor with 109.68 PPI. Using the PPI Calculator, I find that a 40" 4K monitor has 110.15 PPI which is close enough.

So, just get a good 40" 4K monitor and use Nvidia's GPU scaling to have it display 34440x1440 using 1:1 pixel mapping. You'll have black bars on all sides, yes, but you'll have the same 21:9 area as the 3415W, so you get to have both in one monitor.

I'm doing 1920x1080 at 18.75" on my 25" 2560x1440 Dell U2515H and it works great.
Click to expand...

This. If you don't care about faster than 60hz response, get a 40" 4K panel and play at UW 1:1 settings, and you'll get the same screen real estate for gaming with a larger display available for productivity / movies / etc.
 
I've tried 2560x1080 on a 1440p display and it looked off for some reason. Scaling just didn't seem 1 to 1
 
Feel free to call me a troll, I stand by my answer.

OP does not seem to be low on cash and want a monitor that is perfect on all fronts.
No monitor is perfect, there are limitations to all choises and that is why we have moltiple panel technologies, resolutions etc.

I suggest he/she gets two monitors one 21:9 and one 4K, each will have some flaws but together they should be able to satisfy the OP.
 
runs2far said:
Feel free to call me a troll, I stand by my answer.

OP does not seem to be low on cash and want a monitor that is perfect on all fronts.
No monitor is perfect, there are limitations to all choises and that is why we have moltiple panel technologies, resolutions etc.

I suggest he/she gets two monitors one 21:9 and one 4K, each will have some flaws but together they should be able to satisfy the OP.
Click to expand...

I was just wondering and needed someone else's opinion. I appreciate yours and thanks for the input. Whether am low on cash or not though its none of your business.
 
meraki1990 said:
4K is still a bit too stressing on the GPU and you need at least 40+ to get rid of scaling.
.
Click to expand...

I beg to differ. The reviews of the 27-28" 4k monitors reported that text is legible using the 125% DPI scaling, which translates to ~= 135 PPI. at 3480x2160 resolution, this PPI would be somewhere around 34-35"... unfortunately there is not a single 4k panel at this size to test the hypothesis.:(

On the other hand we do have 24" and 25" 2560x1440 monitors on sale, with a PPI around 122-125. Those are probably very close to human reading limit, but being of smaller size, we can sit closer than to a 34"-40".
 
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