Need help choosing a new display

[TofuLion]

Well, as customary for me, i ask my fellow tech heads for advice before making any major upgrades to my rig. this time, i will be replacing my 55 inch tv with an actual monitor.it's a toss up here, while price is an issue, it's never the main concern for me. my main concern is spending my money in the best way possible.

i really like the LG 34UM65, it's 21:9 and 2560 x 1080. coming from a large display, even this seems small to me, but i am starting to understand the advantages of having a smaller screen with higher pixel density. the other candidate is the ROG Swift which is 2560 x 1440 and also 144 Hz with gsync. my single gtx 970 might not be enough for this on the most demanding games, but for most the games i play i actually upscale with DSR to this resolution or higher anyway, and still able break 100 FPS (though i enable vsync to eliminate tearing). < 60 FPS is absolutely unacceptable to me, and tearing is even worse.

to be honest, i spend more time watching movies and conducting more workstation tasks than gaming, but i still have high standards for when i do decide to fire up an RPG or FPS (or combination of the two). the games i do play i will list: COD: AW, ARMA 3, BL:TPS, AC (all of them), Dead Rising 3, Skyrim, Civ 5, and a few older games like minecraft and dishonored (which i actually render at 4K).

so help me out, any suggestions are welcome and appreciated.

 

[i7Baby]

One gtx970 would be fine with either amount of pixels. You'd need 2 x 970s before looking at 4K. For 1440p monitors, see http://www.tomshardware.com/reviews/top-best-computer-monitors,3917.html

eg Overlord Tempest - http://www.amazon.com/Tempest-X270OC-2560x1440-Display-Capable/dp/B00B0G1C6Y/?&tag=bom-tomshardware-20&ascsubtag=[site|thaus[cat|[art|[pid|B00B0G1C6Y[tid|14294367376888395[bbc|LEPRIX - when available

or Planar - http://www.amazon.com/Planar-PXL2790MW-Widescreen-Quad-Monitor/dp/B00CQZ4EQ8/?&tag=bom-tomshardware-20&ascsubtag=[site|thaus[cat|[art|[pid|B00CQZ4EQ8[tid|14294368269206710[bbc|LEPRIX - bit expensive?

I like - http://pcpartpicker.com/part/asus-monitor-pb278q - obtainable and not too expensive.

 

[TofuLion]

i have done a little research, especially on Tom's lists, and i really like the looks of the Overlord Tempest. however, that and the Planar you linked are "currently unavailable". that's why i have narrowed it to the two i listed; i really think the 21:9 34UM65 is my best bet. don't get me wrong, i can spend ~700 on the display, but only if it is actually worth the cost. i would go with the 34UM95, but it's 3440 x 1440 and that's definitely too much for my GPU.

the ROG Swift is a very nice display, and one of the reasons i am hesitant to get it is because i'm not sure if it is big enough for me, watching movies from 10 feet away like i do with my current display

 

[i7Baby]

I think that unless you stick to a 16:9 aspect ratio, you can have trouble when trying to fit stuff on your screen properly.

Monitors are not made for watching movies from 10 feet away. You might as well get a TV.

 

[TofuLion]

well i do have a tv, a pretty good one, but my wife wont let me keep them both in our bedroom

i might be exaggerating with 10 feet, its closer to 5, but even then a 27 inch display seems quite small compared to my 55 inch. that's why i'm prone to go with the 34 inch ultra wide. as far as fitting things on the screen, they have split screen utilities built in, and Windows itself has solutions to side-by-side windows to allow me to multitask with the upgraded width.

 

[i7Baby]

OK. Seems like you've made your mind up.

 

[TofuLion]

fair enough. the part i'm undecided on is if the higher resolution/refresh (and gsync) is better than the larger viewing area.

 

[i7Baby]

If you have a large monitor up close, you'll want higher resolution or it'll look grainy. eg 27in 1440p at 2ft is great. But 27in 1080p at 2ft is yuck.

You also need to work out whether you want TN (good response time = good for gaming) or IPS panel (good colour = good for movies, photos).