I’m in the market for a new monitor and I wanted to get a ultrawide, I almost exclusively play videogames on my PC. I found some good candidates, but because of price I’m heavily leaning towards a flat panel instead of a curved one, namely AOC U34G3X.
Is a flat ultrawide panel much worse than a curved one for gaming? I’ve used flat panels since they started selling it, but the longer diagonal scares me a bit. I’m currently using a 27" flat panel.
I was looking for a big UW, and likely would have gone with a slight curve, but went with a 42” 4k 16:9 (flat) instead. Basically as wide as most UWs I was looking at, but with extra space top and bottom. Gaming on it can be kind of a cinematic experience. Just another thought for you!
Not at all! Worst case, just move it a little farther from you. Mine is mounted on the wall that my desk sits up against. With my slide out keyboard tray, I’m around 3.5’ from it.
I have a flat panel ultrawide, for me, curved was a pain in the ass when your dealing with straight lines, you need to be in the hot spot where the viewing angle is perfect. Excel can be a headache with a curved monitor, as can photo and video editing as things can look warped and shit when your not sat in the ideal position.
Thanks for the insight! I forgot to mention that I use my PC for gaming and web browsing for the vast majority of the time. Apart from this, I take it there aren’t big drawbacks to a flat ultrawide?
Just get an IPS with as high of a refresh rate as you can.
I went from a 24" 1080p display to a 32" 1440p ultrawide and quickly discovered that my aging PC can’t do 1440p on anything other than low in most games. Something to keep in mind.
I’m also upgrading other parts of my PC, and already researched what it will be capable of (should be able to get 100+ fps @ 3440*1440 high-ultra details on most games I play).
After a long debate I think I’m almost certain it will be a RX 6800XT, as I don’t really need the extra nVidia bits like Ray Tracing, and also price per performance is a bit better with AMD cards (at least in my country, since the 6800XT gets more FPS than a 4070 while costing 10% less). Also not very fond of nVidia after the various stuff they pulled with the release of 40-series cards, and last but not least, I’m going to switch to Linux permanently and AMD drivers are a tad better in that regard. Your mileage may vary a lot from mine haha so if you want RT, and can find nVidia cards at more reasonable prices, I think a 4070/4070ti should be good enough for ultrawide 1440p, especially with DLSS
I’m glad someone already advocated for flat, but I’ll advocate for curved. I found that with even a 27 inch non ultrawide flat if you’re too close the screen feels like it’s curving the opposite way (obviously isn’t but that’s the experience). What’s key here is how close you sit to the monitor. Flat screens are great from a distance. Curved is great for immersion, but you need to sit in a sweet spot to fully take advantage.
I don’t end up doing any of my coding full screen so that’s not any issue for me. neither an issue for any design work personally even if I full screen my work.
I guess I’m sitting at the right distance since my flat 27" feels just right, I think the distance between me and the screen is around 65+cm. I haven’t played on a curved screen ever, but I can imagine that the curvature helps a lot with immersion; issue is, the cheapest curved monitor I can find with comparable specs is almost twice as much, and I can’t stretch the budget that far!
I have a 34" curved one at home and a 34" flat one at work. I do CAD work on both from time to time.
The curve was annoying initially because straight lines looked curved but once I got the monitor to the proper height, it went away.
At work, the straight one bothers me now because the edges of the monitor are farther away than the center and it makes everything look smaller when snapped to the sides.
Makes sense! Apart from the edges issue, which I reckon shouldn’t bother me as much as it bothers you, since I’m going from flat to flat, do you think there would be other bigger issues/annoyances with a flat screen that I wouldn’t have with a curved screen? If not, I guess I’m basically set on the AOC I mentioned in the OP, since it’s very cheap and has everything I need!
I’m not that social and play SP games almost exclusively, so three monitors would be overkill and definitely over budget (the ultrawide I want to buy is $300 converted); even if I wanted to keep my current monitor, finding two 1080p that would match its ugly colors and all other stuff would be a huge hassle, and I’d still have to bear the ugly side bezels on the middle monitor. A ultrawide sounds like a better choice in my case!
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I was looking for a big UW, and likely would have gone with a slight curve, but went with a 42” 4k 16:9 (flat) instead. Basically as wide as most UWs I was looking at, but with extra space top and bottom. Gaming on it can be kind of a cinematic experience. Just another thought for you!
That’s great, thanks for the reply! So, you don’t have issues with such a large screen that you think a curved one wouldn’t have?
If your 42" is great for gaming, I don’t see how my 34" can’t! Well, unless you don’t use it at a traditional desk setup, but like a TV istead
Not at all! Worst case, just move it a little farther from you. Mine is mounted on the wall that my desk sits up against. With my slide out keyboard tray, I’m around 3.5’ from it.
That’s great, glad to hear that! I will sit a bit closer, but my monitor is also going to be smaller! Can’t wait to play on it
I have a flat panel ultrawide, for me, curved was a pain in the ass when your dealing with straight lines, you need to be in the hot spot where the viewing angle is perfect. Excel can be a headache with a curved monitor, as can photo and video editing as things can look warped and shit when your not sat in the ideal position.
Thanks for the insight! I forgot to mention that I use my PC for gaming and web browsing for the vast majority of the time. Apart from this, I take it there aren’t big drawbacks to a flat ultrawide?
Just get an IPS with as high of a refresh rate as you can.
I went from a 24" 1080p display to a 32" 1440p ultrawide and quickly discovered that my aging PC can’t do 1440p on anything other than low in most games. Something to keep in mind.
I’m also upgrading other parts of my PC, and already researched what it will be capable of (should be able to get 100+ fps @ 3440*1440 high-ultra details on most games I play).
Thanks anyway!
What graphics card are you going for? I’m in the process of specing out my next PC but the graphics card is causing me a headache
After a long debate I think I’m almost certain it will be a RX 6800XT, as I don’t really need the extra nVidia bits like Ray Tracing, and also price per performance is a bit better with AMD cards (at least in my country, since the 6800XT gets more FPS than a 4070 while costing 10% less). Also not very fond of nVidia after the various stuff they pulled with the release of 40-series cards, and last but not least, I’m going to switch to Linux permanently and AMD drivers are a tad better in that regard. Your mileage may vary a lot from mine haha so if you want RT, and can find nVidia cards at more reasonable prices, I think a 4070/4070ti should be good enough for ultrawide 1440p, especially with DLSS
I’m glad someone already advocated for flat, but I’ll advocate for curved. I found that with even a 27 inch non ultrawide flat if you’re too close the screen feels like it’s curving the opposite way (obviously isn’t but that’s the experience). What’s key here is how close you sit to the monitor. Flat screens are great from a distance. Curved is great for immersion, but you need to sit in a sweet spot to fully take advantage.
I don’t end up doing any of my coding full screen so that’s not any issue for me. neither an issue for any design work personally even if I full screen my work.
I guess I’m sitting at the right distance since my flat 27" feels just right, I think the distance between me and the screen is around 65+cm. I haven’t played on a curved screen ever, but I can imagine that the curvature helps a lot with immersion; issue is, the cheapest curved monitor I can find with comparable specs is almost twice as much, and I can’t stretch the budget that far!
Thanks for the insight, though! Appreciated
I have a 34" curved one at home and a 34" flat one at work. I do CAD work on both from time to time.
The curve was annoying initially because straight lines looked curved but once I got the monitor to the proper height, it went away.
At work, the straight one bothers me now because the edges of the monitor are farther away than the center and it makes everything look smaller when snapped to the sides.
I prefer the curved one now.
Makes sense! Apart from the edges issue, which I reckon shouldn’t bother me as much as it bothers you, since I’m going from flat to flat, do you think there would be other bigger issues/annoyances with a flat screen that I wouldn’t have with a curved screen? If not, I guess I’m basically set on the AOC I mentioned in the OP, since it’s very cheap and has everything I need!
Thanks!
I use the Acer Predator Z35, curved widescreen. I’m very happy with it, but I’ve never tried a flat widescreen.
That was what I wanted to get, incredibly gorgeous monitor with amazing specs, but way too expensive for me right now!
I went the easy maximum-compatiblity route:
I end up using it with the game on the middle monitor, the right is the browser, the left is chats.
I’m not that social and play SP games almost exclusively, so three monitors would be overkill and definitely over budget (the ultrawide I want to buy is $300 converted); even if I wanted to keep my current monitor, finding two 1080p that would match its ugly colors and all other stuff would be a huge hassle, and I’d still have to bear the ugly side bezels on the middle monitor. A ultrawide sounds like a better choice in my case!
Thanks for the input though!