Time to decide on a setup: 1 U3011 vs 3x1 U2410/U2311H

Boyiee

Limp Gawd
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May 20, 2010
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Ok, I'm going to make the purchase this week on one of these setups. My options are (highest to lowest):

3x Dell 24inch U2410 NEW $549/per $1647 Total
3x Dell 24inch U2410 NIB eBay $495/per $1485 Total (A03 or A04 waiting on confirmation)
1x Dell 30inch U3011 NEW $1399 Total
1x Dell 30inch U3011 NIB eBay $1288 Total
1x Dell 30inch U3011 Refurb from dell $899 Total (90day warranty)
3x Dell 23inch U2311H NEW $280/per $840 Total
3x Dell 23inch U2311H NIB eBay $269/per $807 Total

I'm currently using 2x Asus VW266H's, one as primary one as secondary, and game in 1900x1200. If I get the 30inch, one of my VW266H's will be used as a secondary. If I go 3x1, I will either give one of the old monitors to my sister and/or sell one or both. Majority of my time is spent on WoW, but I also play Blackops BC2 metro2033 dirt2 and several other games. This computer is my main computer, I'm on it most of the day for schoolwork, gaming, browsing the internet etc. I will probably run the 3x1 setup in Portrait, I currently have an i7 950@4ghz with 2 570's in sli.

I recently made a thread asking how wow handles portrait, got good responses, so my choice really is about price vs. overall enjoyment to be honest. Looking around the forum, people are split, some love their 3x1's, some love their single large monitors, so it really comes down to what's really worth the price out of that list above.

This is half a "help me decide" thread as well as a "which would you get" thread.
 
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I'm a fan of a single monitor setup so my bias naturally pushes me toward the single U3011. I held off and didn't purchase it at retail ($1500) so I ended up getting it with a 25% discount. That should also be taken into consideration as it made my decision easier.
 
U2311H>>3011>>U2410

In terms of image quality the U2311H wil be the only true upgrade. The 3011 will be bigger+resolution and have better viewing angles, but contrast and response time wise the Asus is superior.

Either go 3xU2311H or 1x3011. The U2410 will be a downgrade from your Asus.

Just remember these Dell units tend to have poor Quality Control so don't be alarmed when you get a tinted panel.
 
The U2410 will be a downgrade from your Asus.


That is ridiculous. It doesn't matter if the Asus has 200:1 extra contrast. You are comparing an IPS monitor with a TN monitor. The TN monitor will have major image deviations at the top and bottom of the screen.
 
That is ridiculous. It doesn't matter if the Asus has 200:1 extra contrast. You are comparing an IPS monitor with a TN monitor. The TN monitor will have major image deviations at the top and bottom of the screen.

Just because something says "IPS", doesn't mean it can't suck.

There are a few TNs out there I have seen where there was't much image change at all in off-angle viewing. Was it as good as IPS? No. But when's the last time you played BFBC2 standing on top of your desk?

Too many people automatically discount good panels just because they are TN. IMO, a high quality TN beats the shit out of an IPS with a crappy tinting issue and "sparkly" AG coating (not necessarily directed at the U2410). Again, just my opinion.
 
Most people are smart enough to view their panels head on.

If the OP is allready fine with 2x Asus, the U2410 will be a downgrade.
 
Just because something says "IPS", doesn't mean it can't suck.

There are a few TNs out there I have seen where there was't much image change at all in off-angle viewing. Was it as good as IPS? No. But when's the last time you played BFBC2 standing on top of your desk?

Too many people automatically discount good panels just because they are TN. IMO, a high quality TN beats the shit out of an IPS with a crappy tinting issue and "sparkly" AG coating (not necessarily directed at the U2410). Again, just my opinion.

TN viewing angles have improved, but washout from the bottom and darkening from the top still occurs at a normal viewing distance. IPS delivers a better subjective impression in bright games because of its edge-to-edge image stability.

Most people are smart enough to view their panels head on.

And viewing head-on is exactly where the issue lies for TN.
 
Well that's relieving to hear to say the least, since the 24inch option was the most expensive. I do love my 16:10 now but in portrait with 3x1 it really won't matter.

I also wonder if the 23's being 16:9 if I'll have any annoyance from the closer bezels. Kind of afraid to grab a U3011 refurb to be honest. Might have to shell out more for either the NIB one on ebay or one from dell.

I've only looked at the HP a little bit, is it a better option than the U3011? I've had one bad customer service experience with HP in the past which sways me a little.
 
OP, if I were you I would go with the U3011. I was running a single 2408WFP and I bought the U3011 recently. I am very happy with it. I have no problems with the monitor, and I do not regret the purchase. I bought mine off of the outlet and the monitor seems to be in perfect condition; however, some have reported receiving ones with dead/stuck pixels, so I would recommend buying new so that you get the 3 year warranty. Also, your rig seems powerful enough so you should not have a problem running most games at native resolution with all settings at max. I have not used a 3x1 portrait setup, but I don't understand why you would want to have black bars breaking up your image. I would say go with the U3011 and keep a monitor like you planned so you have a secondary.
 
go w/ the 30 and save up for 2 more later on....I had 3x20's in portrait and I can't imagine going w/ a 23 w/ 16:9 ratio, the bezels will be very close together

as much as I enjoy having portrait mode for eyefinity, I wanted to have the bezels further apart...
 
TN viewing angles have improved, but washout from the bottom and darkening from the top still occurs at a normal viewing distance. IPS delivers a better subjective impression in bright games because of its edge-to-edge image stability.



And viewing head-on is exactly where the issue lies for TN.

I actually prefer the image on some TN panels over that of higher quality IPS displays, like my 3007WFP-HC for instance. Great color. Great viewing angles. AG coating that bugs the hell out of me. In fact, there are times playing games I actually prefer the Acer H233H to my left. It has almost no color shifting from where I sit, it lacks that AG coating, and the response time is faster. Sure, the Dell has much better color, but the more subdued nature of the H233H actually looks better at times...if that makes any sense.

I guess the viewing angle argument never did much for me since I have always sat in front of my monitor. Color shift may be quite a bit more evident on TN than IPS, but sitting in front of the panel seems to eliminate much of that.
 
go w/ the 30 and save up for 2 more later on....I had 3x20's in portrait and I can't imagine going w/ a 23 w/ 16:9 ratio, the bezels will be very close together

as much as I enjoy having portrait mode for eyefinity, I wanted to have the bezels further apart...

Looking at some screenshots, the bezels aren't TOO bad. Still though, it would be my first time running anything above 2 monitors, and I've always used one single monitor for gaming, never multi.

3532354_f520.jpg
 
I am personally annoyed by the bezels so an eyefinity setup would not suit my taste. Since I only upgrade monitors once every 3 or 4 years, I figured getting a 30" for $1200 was worth it.
 
Turns out the 24inch are A05 if that changes anyone's opinions about them.
 
I am personally annoyed by the bezels so an eyefinity setup would not suit my taste. Since I only upgrade monitors once every 3 or 4 years, I figured getting a 30" for $1200 was worth it.

+1; I agree. and if youare into other things like programming or garphics design, it is much worse.
 
I would go with a single 30".

If you do a lot of word processing then three monitors would be useful.
 
The Dell 30 inch is $1399 from dell, $1288ish off eBay, $899 refurb'd, and the HP is $1219. Whereas the 3 23" would be between $800 and $850 depending on ebay or from Dell. That's a lot more resolution for a lot less price. I don't know if I'm comfortable with getting a refurb, so it really comes down to is the 30inch worth the 100-500$ price difference for gaming.
 
I'm running nvidia sli, so it would be surround not eyefinity. It's either 30" as primary with one of my older monitors as a secondary, or 3x23/24.

I'll be honest. Right now using my 2 asus vw266h's, my secondary is where my internet/apps/etc is except for games. My main monitor is directly centered in front of me, with the other touching it but angled towards me, and I'm getting sick of turning my head to read/post on it. I would still have to do this with the 30inch, and it would make the side monitor even farther away. This issue may cause me to just pull the trigger on the 3x1 portrait setup.

So many people are putting down the U2410's, even if they are A05, I may just go with the 23's and see what happens. Might love it, might hate it, can always change my mind and go with something else and get the money back. It is the cheapest option, after all.
 
The Dell 30 inch is $1399 from dell, $1288ish off eBay, $899 refurb'd, and the HP is $1219. Whereas the 3 23" would be between $800 and $850 depending on ebay or from Dell. That's a lot more resolution for a lot less price. I don't know if I'm comfortable with getting a refurb, so it really comes down to is the 30inch worth the 100-500$ price difference for gaming.

The U2711 is $899 before any coupons though...
 
So many people are putting down the U2410's, even if they are A05, I may just go with the 23's and see what happens. Might love it, might hate it, can always change my mind and go with something else and get the money back. It is the cheapest option, after all.

Not many, only NCX who loves to troll it in every thread where this monitor gets mentioned, then tipically recomends the u2311h with all sort of links, even over the u3011, the funny thing (appart from my english) is that he never have used an IPS screen.
 
Not many, only NCX who loves to troll it in every thread where this monitor gets mentioned, then tipically recomends the u2311h with all sort of links, even over the u3011, the funny thing (appart from my english) is that he never have used an IPS screen.

Reviews exist for a reason genius, to tell us what is good and what isn't. Don't need to own one to make a conclusion.

Any joe moron can say "I own XXX LCD and love it," that doesn't change the fact that it could be an over priced peice of trash with quality control issues.

It is a FACT that the Dell U2311H has superior image quality to the U2410 and 3011. Nothing to do with personal bias.



In the OP's case it's really going to depend on if the bezels are annoying for an eyefinity set-up.
 
Reviews give opinions in a context, genius. Apparently you dont notice this, thats why you see shitty TN panels with "very good" results, that doesnt mean they are better than a superior panel tecnology with a "good" rating. I dont care about contrast if viewing a TN with your head straigh on you see a gradient, sides looks brownish, top is dark, bottom is washed, lean back a little a you see a crushed image, THIS is fact. But you recomends over "the piece of trash" IPS monitors because review tell you that TN is very good and ips is good only.
We need more IPS, VA screens, not more TNs for christ sake.

Now its different to say : "i think this is better than" or more accurate, "reviews say this is better", than "This monitor rocks, the other is a piece of trash" like you do, thats is simply wrong.
 
Reviews exist for a reason genius, to tell us what is good and what isn't. Don't need to own one to make a conclusion.

Any joe moron can say "I own XXX LCD and love it," that doesn't change the fact that it could be an over priced peice of trash with quality control issues.

It is a FACT that the Dell U2311H has superior image quality to the U2410 and 3011. Nothing to do with personal bias.

In the OP's case it's really going to depend on if the bezels are annoying for an eyefinity set-up.

30 > 23. 30" is bigger than 23" so therefore it is better. :D
 
Reviews exist for a reason genius, to tell us what is good and what isn't. Don't need to own one to make a conclusion.

Real world use always trumps reviews. Why? Because everyone's needs and perception is different. I have stuff that sucked and reviews were great, and stuff that was great and the reviews suck.
Hands on experience is always recommended. A person shouldn't let a website tell them what's best for them, they can decided that on their own.

If a person tailors their purchase to their needs, they're more likely to be satisfied with their purchase no matter what the reviews say.
Also, each review has variable results unless something is noticeably different, even then each review will leave a person will different feelings about a product.
 
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I'd like to echo some of the bezel concerns. I have a 30" and I really can't imagine playing anything with 2 massive streaks of black placed vertically. I'll give 3x1 a shot when manufacturers make those bezels much smaller.
 
I got my 3007WFP-HC from Dell as a refurbished model for $750 out the door, IIRC.

The awesome part was that Dell at the time (not sure if it is still the same) apparently classified a box with a dent/hole in it as "Refurbished". My box had a small gash in the side of it and that was it. Everything inside was still sealed and unopened. No scuffs, no scratches. Completely unused. A +$500 discount for a dented box. Also got it in 3 days standard shipping.

Score. lol
 
Ok, I'm going to make the purchase this week on one of these setups. My options are (highest to lowest):

3x Dell 24inch U2410 NEW $549/per $1647 Total
3x Dell 24inch U2410 NIB eBay $495/per $1485 Total (A03 or A04 waiting on confirmation)
1x Dell 30inch U3011 NEW $1399 Total
1x Dell 30inch U3011 NIB eBay $1288 Total
1x Dell 30inch U3011 Refurb from dell $899 Total (90day warranty)
3x Dell 23inch U2311H NEW $280/per $840 Total
3x Dell 23inch U2311H NIB eBay $269/per $807 Total

I'm currently using 2x Asus VW266H's, one as primary one as secondary, and game in 1900x1200. If I get the 30inch, one of my VW266H's will be used as a secondary. If I go 3x1, I will either give one of the old monitors to my sister and/or sell one or both. Majority of my time is spent on WoW, but I also play Blackops BC2 metro2033 dirt2 and several other games. This computer is my main computer, I'm on it most of the day for schoolwork, gaming, browsing the internet etc. I will probably run the 3x1 setup in Portrait, I currently have an i7 950@4ghz with 2 570's in sli.

I recently made a thread asking how wow handles portrait, got good responses, so my choice really is about price vs. overall enjoyment to be honest. Looking around the forum, people are split, some love their 3x1's, some love their single large monitors, so it really comes down to what's really worth the price out of that list above.

This is half a "help me decide" thread as well as a "which would you get" thread.

I was kind of in the same boat recently with a hodge podge of monitors (I had a Soyo 24" VA panel and a HP24W IPS panel and wanted to get something ideal for gaming).

What I decided on is pretty much the ideal solution (IMO), and fits roughly into the budget of a set of 3 U2410s. I went with a single refurb U3011 and three refurb 2007FPs. I get the best of both worlds with this setup - I have a nice large, color-accurate display for all my photo editing and general purpose use, a large single display for gaming that doesn't support eyefinity (there's quite a bit of that still), PLUS an eyefinity setup (in portrait) for that "wow" factor in compatible games. The entire thing cost about $1350 with tax and shipping ($950 for U3011 - $50 amex credit + 3x$150 shipped for the 2007fps = $1350).

As a bonus, it makes one gigantic 6440x1600 display (with bezel compensation), since the pixel pitch on the 2007 and 3011 are exactly the same, and when you put the 2007s in portrait, you get a nice even 4:1 display. Also, neither the U3011 alone (obviously) nor the three 2007s are as difficult to drive as three 1920x1200 panels for a video card. My 6950 crossfire setup does just fine. I can run Crysis on max settings with 2x AA in eyefinity, whereas when I tested a 3x(1920x1200) setup, it was struggling.

Sorry, I know I'm selling it pretty hard, but I just pulled it together and I'm really stoked about how it turned out. After using it for a week or so it gives me more benefits than I anticipated too - I really like having a 1600 pixel vertical for web browsing and other list-based viewing.

Regardless of whether you go for this setup, I personally think paying on the order of 33% extra just to get a 3 year warranty instead of a 90 day warranty is really excessive. In 10+ years of buying refurb monitors, I've never once had a problem with one, and most times they come boxed up with accessories just like new. Typically stuck pixels and so forth that are going to occur within 3 years are going to happen in 90 days. It's not as if it's sold "as-is" or anything. So my thought is to go for the refurb (in any scenario).

My 2c.
 
that's what I did

setup2010.jpg


but then I wanted more...this is [H], so I sold my 3x20's and bought another 3007 wfp-hc, waiting on the weekend until I purchase my 3rd 3007 =P and going portrait w/ it...VEGA is a bad influence
 
Does anyone know if the following setup would work with Nvidia Surround?

Dell 3007wfp-hc (left) - Dell U3011 (middle) - Dell 3007wfp-hc (right)
Dell 3008wfp (left) - Dell U3011 (middle) - Dell 3008wfp (right)

Thanks.
 
yes it will work, not sure about their bezel management, but they share the same resolution
 
+1; I agree. and if youare into other things like programming or garphics design, it is much worse.

Actually, I program and don't find any issue with having bezels between the monitors.
There's no reason I would want my programming space to be wider than 1080 pixels per page since it's just about the right size for my eyes to scan a line of code. With three portrait monitors I can run 3 colums at once, or 2 with one panel for other stuff like word/vision open for documentation.

I do agree that graphics editing would suck with three portrait 1080p screens compared to the one large landscape 30".
 
Yeah that almost guarantees that I'm going to go with the 30". $1124 for it is awesome.
 
24 x 3 is too small...30 x 3 is too big.

20 - 30 - 20 would be the best option. Hopefully Nvidia and AMD can provide that someday.

I would go with 1 - 30" monitor.
 
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