New monitor advice

Patrick Green

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Nov 6, 2014
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Hi All,

Firstly let me apologise for the wall of text you are about to receive but having trawled the forums for some time now I’m still no closer to deciding what monitor to get (though reading many gfx card threads has help me decide my other question).
This is my current FULL spec:
Iiyama ProLite E2607WS (Current Primary)
ACER S271HL (Secondary for web browsing / TV etc)
Case: Antec 900
PSU: Coolmaster Elite 500w (I think)
Mainboard: Gigabyte GA-Z77X-D3H
CPU: Core i7 3770k
RAM: 2x8gb RAM
HDD: Samsung Evo 840 256gb SSD, and an older WD 500gb
GFX: Currently GTX 460 but soon to be GTX970

Questions and Answers from new monitor layout thread (have deleted those Q not applicable). Oh and I’m likely buying early Dec.
1. What Is Your Country Of Origin?
England

2. What do you plan to do with this monitor?
Play many variations of games (though not many FPS), recently played: Football Manager14, Civ5, Civ Beyond Earth, Total War Rome II, XCOM, (so mostly RTS/Turned based) potentially getting Shadows of Mordor (unless I get it for the xbox) also reasonable Multiuse word processing/excel/web browsing/emails etc

3. What resolution and screen size do you want?
Replacing a 26” 1920x1200 so to feel I’m improving sufficiently to warrant the upgrade I am leaning towards a 27” 1440p.

4. What refresh rate do you want?
Never really seen anything higher than 60, will it make a difference even when playing things at sub 60fps? Always seen higher refresh rates as something that’s more for faster moving action (i.e. high Frame rate shooter). – Though please correct me if I’m wrong.

5. How much are you looking to spend?
No real target, top end would be the ROG Swift I’m just not sure if I can justify the cost with intended usage?

9. How Many Displays Can Your GPU Support Maximum? And what GPU and driver version are you using if applicable?
Will depend which card I get but likely a GTX970

11. Is This Monitor A Primary Display Or A Secondary Display?
Primary


Additional Qs
1) I guess with a 2nd display to get the most out of a higher refresh rate primary I’d have to play fullscreen and have the other display blank? Assuming that having windowed would force primary to refresh at same rate as 2ndary monitor ruining the better quality?

2) Also regarding my secondary monitor, would it be possible to have my TV connected (via hdmi) to the GFX card as a 3rd display but have it optionally in use and mirror the 2nd display when used? I.e. if I want to watch a tv ep etc on it I can use my pc to power 2 2ndary displays of the same image and have it on the large tv instead of the 27” secondary monitor?

3) Is my current 500W psu sufficient to run a GTX970 at 1440p?

Hope that all makes sense, eagerly awaiting some responses.

Thanks in advance.

Patrick
 
Solution
I think the original and curved are both nice monitors. I would personally spend the money on the curved if possible. It seems to be immersive in a special way, which I think Linus did a good job of explaining in his video. It's probably the same difference as if you lined up your three current monitors in a straight line versus applying a slight inward rotation to the outer two on the right and left. My guess is that it's something you'd have a preference for in long-term use. Totally up to you if you go either route, though. You're looking at nice products, so be excited for an upgrade that will last for years to come :)

Patrick Green

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Nov 6, 2014
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Guess the 2560 x 1080 feels like too much of a side grade as the over number of pixels is very close to what im running atm on a 1920 x 1200. Going to 29" seems nice but not sure if things would be starting to get too big considering how close you sit to the monitor?

The 2nd monitor looks fabulous but not sure if i can justify going quite that high on the cost front (that and i'd probably need many new components to do it justice).

I guess its also worth mentioning that im the only user of the display so couldn't care less about viewing angles as i will be sat in front of it when its in use. Dont think light bleed is something im overly worried about either.
 

Eggz

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What kind of new stuff would you need to do the LG justice? I think the 970 would run it at decent settings. Also, monitors are the kind of thing you grow into over time. They stick around as long as several full computer upgrades, and they are where you interface with the computer for hours on end.
 

Patrick Green

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Nov 6, 2014
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Only just noticed that the number of pixels on the ultra widescreen is a massive jump from the 1440p. Might have to look into ultrawides a little more :) Would you think that if i got res of 3440 x 1440 for a primary i could still run my secondary at 1920 x 1080 or would i be best going down to 1 monitor?
 

Eggz

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Yeah, that could totally work. If you get the monitor, try it and see if using the 1080p on the side (or above or whatever) makes sense. I could see use in that in portrait mode for documents or photo previews. Who knows, though, you may find the new monitor to give you plenty of screen realestate. Check out this review from Linus:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CcaktV1iiGk

The review said there was light bleed at the edge, but he had a pre-production model, and that issue is totally fixed on any copy of that monitor you'd buy. He pointed it out in a later video:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Bteq-6D1srs&list=UUXuqSBlHAE6Xw-yeJA0Tunw#t=101

Seems like an awesome bit of hardware that will last a long time.
 

Patrick Green

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Nov 6, 2014
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Watched the reviews, planning on looking into ultrawide screen support for various games before i decide anything as would be shame to find half of what i play wouldnt display right.

I did at first look at the curved model you linked @ £826
http://www.newegg.com/global/uk/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16824005733&cm_re=34UC97-_-24-005-733-_-Product

The older non curved version is £635
http://www.newegg.com/global/uk/Product/ProductList.aspx?Submit=ENE&DEPA=0&Order=BESTMATCH&Description=LG+34UM95&N=-1&isNodeId=1

Do you think the curved model really that much of a step up to warrant a £200 price increase?
 

TheAterix

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Jan 5, 2013
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Can't quote on my phone for whatever reason and,, I'm in the same seat as you, pretty much exactly the same except my budget is lower... I'm currently looking at a 1440p or a ultrawide 2460x1080, I've heard the UW look really good and give you a bit of extra FOV in games but some say its not as good as it sounds... I personally don't think the curved is worth the extra £200 or so, but if you want the sexiness of a curved screen, by all means... But me personally, I'm going to get the LG 29 inch ultrawide...
Hopefully this pays off for me and I have many fun years to come as I was going to go 4k but the last thing I need is the stress and the hassle of crossfire...
 

Patrick Green

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Nov 6, 2014
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Until the ultrawide 1440p was mention in here I was leaning towards the ASUS PB278Q 27" as it seemed a very balanced monitor and one of best options under the rather expensive rog pg278q. I used to have a triple 19" monitor setup at 3x1280x1024 so wouldn't personally consider the standard ultrawide 1080p's and if my calcs are correct you get similar screen real estate on the 1080p ultrawide as you do on a 1440p (but less than what i had with 3 monitors) - for me that would be 1440p all the way but I guess for you it depends on your usage and what your currently running...
 

Eggz

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I think the original and curved are both nice monitors. I would personally spend the money on the curved if possible. It seems to be immersive in a special way, which I think Linus did a good job of explaining in his video. It's probably the same difference as if you lined up your three current monitors in a straight line versus applying a slight inward rotation to the outer two on the right and left. My guess is that it's something you'd have a preference for in long-term use. Totally up to you if you go either route, though. You're looking at nice products, so be excited for an upgrade that will last for years to come :)
 
Solution