Switch from 27" 1440p 144hz to 29" ultrawide 100hz?

biggles

2[H]4U
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It appears that my 27" Acer is going bad. I posted here about it and got no replies. Also emailed Acer, but I suspect it is not fixable. Purchased January 2019, and it looks like the warranty was only 90 days.

I have been offered a 29" ultrawide 2560x1080p monitor from the wife.
https://www.amazon.com/Acer-EI292CU...qid=1632587932&sprefix=acer+29,aps,205&sr=8-3

Questions:
1. Since the ultrawide has 2,764,800 pixels and the old Acer has 3,686,400, is it reasonable to estimate a performance boost in games of 25% since 25% less pixels?
2. The amazon reviews had conflicting info on the refresh rate. Some people said it could be overclocked to 144hz. Is this likely to be true?
3. I do not know much about ultrawide gaming but assume it is not supported on older games. So, do those games just play at 1920x1080 with black bars?
4. My understanding is that many movies are actually filed in 2.35/1 aspect ratio and that this would fill the screen. But is this just for DVD or Bluray? I assume movies from Youtube or Amazon Prime are 16/9, correct?

Any general impressions on moving to an ultrawide would be appreciated. It seems like a popular thing to do these days, so there must be significant benefits.
 
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1. Pretty much yes but there is of course some overhead on calculating geometry and such. Also it depends on your CPU.
2. If people report it with photos it should be true. If anything you can try to use the option and if it doesn't work you can try lower refresh rate like 135Hz
3. Yes, you can use lower resolutions
4. Most YT videos are 16:9. Some wider, some even 4:3

For ultra wide monitor what you will probably want is some software that will split your screen in to more parts so you can eg. watch YT video 'full screen' and browse web or do something else at the same time. Though how well such software work and what you could use I have no idea.

As for monitor itself, are you sure you want VA panel? I find gamma shift pretty distracting.
 
Regarding the VA panel, it is curved so the viewing angles are good sitting in front of it. Will have to test and see how it does from other angles. I had a VA panel before and found the picture to look different than IPS. Not better or worse necessarily, but different.
 
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Ultrawide cannot be beat for office productivity. Gaming depends on the game.
1. No promises on percentage gain, but there should definitely be some gain.
2. I have long stopped relying much on AZ reviews. Too much manipulation going on there on multiple angles. It ain't like it used to be.
3. Depends. Some will stretch and crop top and bottom (think 4k with top and bottom deleted), so you get whole screen filled but things don't fit. Some will do bars on sides. Depends on how the game is, really.
4. Yes, but it's hard to find content in that aspect ratio. Though things are improving. Movies in 21:9 do look much more epic, I hope it catches on.

I would really encourage you to look for 3440x1440 monitors if you can swing that. Might not matter much for gaming, but browsing and productivity will be much better with 1440 vertical lines. I have 34" 1440 at home and 29"1080 at work, very noticeable difference.
You also want to consider pixel size and distance to monitor at your particular setup. Unless you're young with good vision and otherwise invincible, in which case get whatever you can afford.
 
Which mode do people recommend using? The choices are G1 action, G2 racing, G3 sports, user, standard, eco, graphics, and HDR. Is it recommended to use different modes for internet browsing vs movies vs action games like Far Cry?
 
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