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Dr. Video Games 0031
Jul 17, 2004

Trolling Thunder posted:

Hey, what's up Monitor thread. I'm in the market for a 4K monitor to pair with a 4090... what's a good site to do comparison shopping and all that jazz for monitors? I don't know where to start looking! Thank you and may god's light shine upon you all.

I kind of disagree with some of their scoring methodology and editorial takes, but RTINGS is a good resource for comparing different monitors to each other (or several other types of products).

The main 4K gaming monitors worth considering right now are, in order of least to most expensive:

Gigabyte M28U - Cheap-ish 28" 144Hz. 60hz has some slight inverse ghosting trails on movement, though it doesn't seem very noticeable. It's dipped under $500 a couple times.
Gigabyte M32U - Cheap-ish 32" 144Hz. One of the current thread favorites for just being a pretty good all rounder. Doesn't have the inverse ghosting issue the M28U has. Its all time low was $600, but that was back in April.
Sony Inzone M9 - 27" 144Hz with a low-density FALD backlight (Full Array Local Dimming). We're in HDR territory now. The local dimming helps improve contrast for HDR content beyond what's typical for LCDs. The low density of dimming zones means there's some "blooming"/light halos around bright objects in dark scenes, but it still provides a pretty impactful HDR experience. Good peak brightness too.
Samsung Odyssey Neo G7 - Curved 32" 165Hz. There's also a 240Hz version (Neo G8). It has a high-density FALD—over 10x as many zones as the M9, with better native contrast too. Blooming is hard to notice in most HDR content. It has a rough MSRP, but Samsung runs occasional discounts with the cheapest price we've seen on the Neo G7 being around $900 after discounts. I have the G7, and I like it a lot, but the aggressive curve isn't for everyone. RTINGS punishes this monitor for having low "real-scene" peak brightness, but I've seen it get much brighter than they say in plenty of real content.
Asus PG42UQ - 42" 138Hz OLED monitor. With per-pixel dimming, OLED is just so much better for image quality than LCD. No RTINGS review (yet), so I linked a pretty good text review from TFT Central. OLED panels have excellent motion clarity, near-infinite contrast, and this one gets reasonably good peak brightness. Burn-in is still a risk with OLED when using it as a desktop monitor, though it seems you can mitigate those risks pretty well these days. The monitor launched with some badly configured color modes, but those were fixed in a firmware update it seems.

Honorable mentions:
MSI Optix MPG321UR-QD - 32" 144Hz. It has better HDR color coverage and better max brightness than the M32U, but the HDR is still mediocre overall and I don't like paying extra for features that still aren't very impressive.
All the other 28" 4K 144Hz monitors - There are several other of these from Samsung, Acer, Asus, and maybe others, but they all seem to use the same panel as the M28U while costing a little more.
LG C2 42" - There's been a number of people using this TV as a monitor and that's valid, but the Asus PG42UQ uses the same panel but in proper monitor form with a huge heatsink attached to the rear to help mitigate burn-in and increase peak brightness.
LG 32GQ950 - 32" 160Hz. It's a good monitor, but it's just overpriced for what it is (a fast IPS with lovely local dimming). May be worth considering if they slash the price since it is better than the M32U.

edit: vvvv I suspect LG's upcoming OLED monitors will be 1440p, but we'll find out at CES next year most likely.

Dr. Video Games 0031 fucked around with this message at 03:32 on Oct 22, 2022

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SuperTeeJay
Jun 14, 2015

Hardware Unboxed on YouTube does decent reviews and ‘what to buy’ summaries for gaming monitors.

If you’re thinking of getting a 32”/144Hz monitor for gaming, it seems that the panel used by almost all of them does not have a single overdrive setting that works well across all refresh rates - so you’d have to actively manage its settings to avoid ghosting. No thx.

LG is allegedly going to release 27”/32” OLED monitors early next year but the specs are unknown and OLED as a desktop monitor has its own problems.

Invalid Validation
Jan 13, 2008




So I’m thinking about getting a new computer and I was wanting to get a dual monitor setup for the first time. I use it mostly to game and I wanted an extra monitor for like watching videos and stuff. Now I believe I can do that with an ultra wide as well? What’s the general consensus people come down on UW vs Dual monitor?

Cabbages and VHS
Aug 25, 2004

Listen, I've been around a bit, you know, and I thought I'd seen some creepy things go on in the movie business, but I really have to say this is the most disgusting thing that's ever happened to me.

Trolling Thunder posted:

Hey, what's up Monitor thread. I'm in the market for a 4K monitor to pair with a 4090... what's a good site to do comparison shopping and all that jazz for monitors? I don't know where to start looking! Thank you and may god's light shine upon you all.

https://www.amazon.com/AORUS-Monitor-3840x2160-Display-Response/dp/B09886GDFD

not as good a deal as the 799 I paid newegg but there's still a $200 rebate available as far as I know, if you can wrap your head around something like this as a desktop display. This was my solution.

AARP LARPer
Feb 19, 2005

THE DARK SIDE OF SCIENCE BREEDS A WEAPON OF WAR

Buglord
Thank you all for taking the time out to respond -- I really appreciate it.

I'm on a pos 60hz TCL 43" 4k tv so I'm not intimated by monitor size. I have a few map painting games I play at full size (Civ looks beautiful), but otherwise I play in a smaller 1440 window so I don't get nauseous.

Take care, everyone.

ijyt
Apr 10, 2012

Invalid Validation posted:

So I’m thinking about getting a new computer and I was wanting to get a dual monitor setup for the first time. I use it mostly to game and I wanted an extra monitor for like watching videos and stuff. Now I believe I can do that with an ultra wide as well? What’s the general consensus people come down on UW vs Dual monitor?

I use an ultrawide exclusively after having dual monitors, and unless you plan to play in a window I'd recommended going with the dual monitor setup. I love UW for gaming but not if I want to game and have something on the side. Patiently waiting for a matching 27" 4K QD-OLED to go with the ultrawide now.

xgalaxy
Jan 27, 2004
i write code

ijyt posted:

I use an ultrawide exclusively after having dual monitors, and unless you plan to play in a window I'd recommended going with the dual monitor setup. I love UW for gaming but not if I want to game and have something on the side. Patiently waiting for a matching 27" 4K QD-OLED to go with the ultrawide now.

You can always get dual ultra wides 😂

Cabbages and VHS
Aug 25, 2004

Listen, I've been around a bit, you know, and I thought I'd seen some creepy things go on in the movie business, but I really have to say this is the most disgusting thing that's ever happened to me.

xgalaxy posted:

You can always get dual ultra wides 😂

three of them, in vertical orientation, stacked side to side

Saukkis
May 16, 2003

Unless I'm on the inside curve pointing straight at oncoming traffic the high beams stay on and I laugh at your puny protest flashes.
I am Most Important Man. Most Important Man in the World.

xgalaxy posted:

You can always get dual ultra wides 😂

Top and bottom setup should work fine.

Wibla
Feb 16, 2011

Saukkis posted:

Top and bottom setup should work fine.

Even better if you have flanking 27"s in portrait :sun:

CordlessPen
Jan 8, 2004

I told you so...

Invalid Validation posted:

So I’m thinking about getting a new computer and I was wanting to get a dual monitor setup for the first time. I use it mostly to game and I wanted an extra monitor for like watching videos and stuff. Now I believe I can do that with an ultra wide as well? What’s the general consensus people come down on UW vs Dual monitor?

Yeah, as has been said, if you want to use a UW as you would 2 screens you're going to have to run everything windowed and that's probably going to get annoying. 21:9 is nice to game on for a wider FOV and it's a nice compromise if you want dual-screen productivity without taking too much desk real estate, but if your plan is to game at 16:9 and play videos on the side I think you should definitely go with 2 monitors.

Plus, for the price of a gaming UW you can get a much nicer 16:9 gaming monitor and a decent video-watching monitor, you can decide to go for one IPS and one VA, you can have one of your screens set to portrait if that fits your needs... I'd definitely go for 2 monitors.

K8.0
Feb 26, 2004

Her Majesty's 56th Regiment of Foot
Yeah, the price premium on ultrawide is absolutely insane. You're generally going to spend nearly twice as much for nowhere near twice as much monitor. The only ultrawide I think there's a good case for right now is the Alienware, and that's because it's a QD-OLED with a refresh rate significantly better than other OLEDs, not because it's an ultrawide. Aside from that, you should almost certainly go 27" 1440p or 32" 4k over 34" 1440p. And never give up dual monitors, it's too drat good. Maybe if you don't game and you want to get a giant 4k and use the corners of it, sure, but for gaming purposes having a monitor to have chats, video, data and such on that you can ignore or glance at while you game is too useful.

Invalid Validation
Jan 13, 2008




Sound good thanks.

tehinternet
Feb 14, 2005

Semantically, "you" is both singular and plural, though syntactically it is always plural. It always takes a verb form that originally marked the word as plural.

Also, there is no plural when the context is an argument with an individual rather than a group. Somfin shouldn't put words in my mouth.

Invalid Validation posted:

So I’m thinking about getting a new computer and I was wanting to get a dual monitor setup for the first time. I use it mostly to game and I wanted an extra monitor for like watching videos and stuff. Now I believe I can do that with an ultra wide as well? What’s the general consensus people come down on UW vs Dual monitor?

Why not both

Or ultrawide with two 32” 4K monitors

You could have *all* the screens

Shipon
Nov 7, 2005

Taima posted:

Hey yall!

Since I just upgraded my GPU with a 4090 I decided to spin off my existing 3080 into a HTPC/gaming rig/ Sound Voltex rig.

I play Sound Voltex which requires a vertically aligned 1080p display like so:



Here's my question, could anyone help me figure out the best monitor/TV display to use here? Around 36 to 42 inches would be ideal, but it could be smaller or bigger if that's where the best deals are, or if that allows me to get something that works better overall.

The ideal display would be 4K or 1080p, regular aspect ratio for a television/monitor, and ideally allow easy switching between landscape and portrait.

Hopefully nothing too expensive, since this will primarily just be for Sound Voltex and maybe for general gaming if my wife wants, but if I can get something good for a little extra $$$, fine.

Any thoughts? Thank you! Easy switching between landscape and portrait, via whatever mechanism, is very important here.

e: Actually I probably prefer a 4K display here but would be totally ok with 1080p if the price is right.

Do the new versions of Voltex support high-refresh rates? I bet that feels pretty nice to play on

ijyt
Apr 10, 2012

Holy poo poo Dell's delivery estimates are insanely conservative.

Originally had a delivery date of the 2nd of December, bumped to the 24th of October, and it's out for delivery *today*. The gently caress.

Volguus
Mar 3, 2009

ijyt posted:

Holy poo poo Dell's delivery estimates are insanely conservative.

Originally had a delivery date of the 2nd of December, bumped to the 24th of October, and it's out for delivery *today*. The gently caress.

Under-promise and over-deliver. Better than the other way around.

Lockback
Sep 3, 2006

All days are nights to see till I see thee; and nights bright days when dreams do show me thee.
Dell and HP have had a couple years of really screwy supply chain. I think it's mostly cleaned up now but there are still some hitches in some places, so they almost always give super long estimates if there is any doubt. I'm pretty sure if we closely tracked their delivery estimates we could potentially predict a Chinese invasion of Taiwan.

CordlessPen
Jan 8, 2004

I told you so...

ijyt posted:

Holy poo poo Dell's delivery estimates are insanely conservative.

Originally had a delivery date of the 2nd of December, bumped to the 24th of October, and it's out for delivery *today*. The gently caress.

Not even close to that extent, but Newegg(.ca at least) does an annoying version of this: when you order something, on the product page it tells you a pretty accurate estimate of the delivery date based on your postal code, then when you go through the order and choose your shipping option it usually gives you that same estimate, but after you confirm and pay the very first thing you see in huge, bold, red letters is an estimated delivery date a week later than the previous estimates, but then your things arrive at the date of the first estimate so it's all good.

Enos Cabell
Nov 3, 2004


ijyt posted:

Holy poo poo Dell's delivery estimates are insanely conservative.

Originally had a delivery date of the 2nd of December, bumped to the 24th of October, and it's out for delivery *today*. The gently caress.

It's awesome when it's a new monitor showing up early at your house. It's very much less awesome when it's a truck full of 600 monitors and 300 desktop PCs showing up a week earlier than expected to an empty loading dock and no staff on site to unload and inventory it. Dell logistics is a freaking joke, they manage to miss almost every delivery window we've ever gotten from them.

ijyt
Apr 10, 2012

They're also using UPS and they have never, ever delivered to my address correctly so guess Monday it is.

e: Oh man it arrived. Oh man is it such an upgrade over the PG348Q, Like goddamn. This is the single biggest "wow" I've ever had when upgrading PC poo poo, and no weird bubble wrap marks, no dead pixels. Just a perfect display.

I'm so happy I ordered this crazy thing.

ijyt fucked around with this message at 18:54 on Oct 21, 2022

Dr. Video Games 0031
Jul 17, 2004

The Asus PG42UQ seems like a really good display, but the firmware has been a mess.



There have been a number of issues with their various color mode and HDR presets that they've mostly seemed to have sorted out by now, but now there's this. Get your poo poo together, Asus.

Dr. Video Games 0031 fucked around with this message at 23:28 on Oct 22, 2022

actionjackson
Jan 12, 2003

any thoughts on this one? this is for a display to connect to my MBA, which I did confirm supports 4K. I don't need anything fancy, just looking to finally upgrade from my 1080p one. I don't do anything special on my monitor, except play a few ps4 games. i currently have a 27" viewsonic 1080p. the only other requirement was 100x100 VESA mount (I won't be using the stand)

I do use the monitor speakers for my ps4, it looks like the ones on these aren't great (I'm hardly an audiophile though)

https://www.newegg.com/p/N82E16824011408?Item=N82E16824011408

this is another option i'm considering, and a bigger size. also i love the aesthetics which is more important for me than most people

https://www.newegg.com/viewsonic-vx3276-4k-mhd-32-uhd/p/N82E16824116140?Item=N82E16824116140

actionjackson fucked around with this message at 03:01 on Oct 22, 2022

ijyt
Apr 10, 2012

Dr. Video Games 0031 posted:

The Asus PG42UQ seems like a really good display, but the firmware has been a mess.



There have been a number of issues with their various color mode and HDR presets that they've mostly seemed to have sorted out by now, but now their latest firmware versions essentially brick the monitor on some GPUs if you try to use 138Hz. Just amazing.

This seems to be an ASUS thing in recent memory, their hardware is great but the software is always rough. My X570-I BIOS was rough as hell until a solid year after release.

ijyt
Apr 10, 2012

Is it worth upgrading to W11 for auto-HDR alone?

actionjackson
Jan 12, 2003

two smaller questions

my mount says 32" max. am i getting into risky territory using a 32" or should I be fine - the monitor is well under the weight limit

when I connect to my work machine using remote desktop, obviously with a 32" i'll have more screen space, but the resolution I see is a function of the graphics card in the computer I connect to, and remote desktop.. right? not sure if it's one or the other, or both.

flatluigi
Apr 23, 2008

here come the planes

flatluigi posted:

I want to replace my main monitor, since it's getting some dead pixels and was fairly cheap to begin with.


I have good specs with a 2060 and do a lot of gaming so at least 1440p, a good refresh rate and response time, and some sort of decent HDR support are what I'd like; the other stuff like panel type and gsync/freesync support and the like are all stuff I don't have any experience with looking into to differentiate what's meaningless buzzwords and what's features I'd actually like to have so advice there would be nice.

I'd like to spend less than $400 on it; I'd be fine waiting for sales next month to see what I can pick up for a big discount if people have suggestions on that front, but I'd also rather spend money today and try to get a replacement by the end of this week if possible so suggestions along those lines would be preferred

Dr. Video Games 0031 posted:

This is a pretty tough request. "Decent" HDR sadly doesn't really exist in the PC monitor space for under $400. I think ideally you'd be looking for an HDR 600 display that doesn't really impress with its contrast but it at least gets decently bright, but I don't know of any monitors that fit the bill. We generally advise that you ignore HDR entirely when shopping in this price range. I've posted this before, but I think the Acer XV272U KV is likely the best 1440p monitor beneath $400, currently $280 on Amazon. [...]

I did end up picking that up off of amazon and it was going to arrive today, except instead i got a surprise email saying it was delayed to late november at least instead + I decided with that I should check back in and/or wait until black friday sales, and canceled. Still would like a new monitor sooner rather than later, so suggestions are good.

if it helps I think I might've just wanted better color depth, or something? better contrast, like you said? as i mentioned in my previous post the buzzwords kind of get away from me, but even basic HDR feels like it'd be an upgrade over my current monitor. I probably should've linked y'all to the specs of the monitor I'm looking to replace so you can point at what obvious deficiencies it has that i probably should be looking at for an upgrade

edit: looks like the colors are just in fact worse on the one i'm looking to replace (it's only 8 bit without even FRC, and that model you suggested is 10), so if that's mostly a baseline improvement on most monitors these days that's more of what I want, I guess? still, I use the monitor for all the media watching I do so HDR would be nice, and even a subpar version of HDR would be better than the zero HDR my current monitor handles

flatluigi fucked around with this message at 19:25 on Oct 22, 2022

Elem7
Apr 12, 2003
der
Dinosaur Gum

Dr. Video Games 0031 posted:

The Asus PG42UQ seems like a really good display, but the firmware has been a mess.



There have been a number of issues with their various color mode and HDR presets that they've mostly seemed to have sorted out by now, but now their latest firmware versions essentially brick the monitor on some GPUs if you try to use 138Hz. Just amazing.

Is there another source on the bricking because I'd just read that as you need to power the monitor off and on. I'm on week 2 with mine and I've had to do that a half dozen or so times when for whatever reason the monitor wouldn't wake on key press. Annoying but not a huge deal for how infrequently it happens, especially since there's a remote.

vanilla slimfast
Dec 6, 2006

If anyone needs me, I'll be in the Angry Dome



Hi thread, looking for a recommendation to replace my primary monitor. It's fine, but I'm finding myself wanting a bit more out of it.

For some background on my setup. At the start of the pandemic I built a gaming PC to sit alongside my work laptop (a MacBook pro). Originally I was using an LG Ultrafine 5k that I brought home from work, but I had no way to hook it up to the PC without going down the rabbit hole of thunderbolt passthrough and I just couldn't be bothered.

So I took the LG back to my office and replaced it with a Dell S3220DGF which is a curved 32" 1440p gaming monitor that supports up to 165hz - it's been fine, but I spend about 90 percent of my time on my work computer, so having a better fidelity on the main screen would be to my benefit, but I would like to still be able to use it for gaming when time allows. I work in software so most of the time I have code, terminals, and browsers open on my main screen.

Criteria:
- 32" curved
- 4K resolution
- High refresh rate (at least 120hz)
- Multiple inputs (at least 1 DP and 1 HDMI)
- Freesync/Gsync compatible (I have an RTX3070)
- HDR is a bonus, but not required. This current monitor has it but it honestly looks like rear end in Windows which I think is more of a Windows issue

I don't have a budget for this, but it seems like the Samsung Neo G7 is the best bet here. I don't mind spending the money if the panel is as good as everyone says it is, given that I spend at least 8 hours a day on it. The only reason I haven't pulled the trigger is that it doesn't seem that anyone sells it locally such that I can check it out in person first.

So, any other recommendations, or votes of confidence for the G7? Especially when wired up to a MacBook Pro?

vanilla slimfast fucked around with this message at 20:23 on Oct 22, 2022

Dr. Video Games 0031
Jul 17, 2004

flatluigi posted:

I did end up picking that up off of amazon and it was going to arrive today, except instead i got a surprise email saying it was delayed to late november at least instead + I decided with that I should check back in and/or wait until black friday sales, and canceled. Still would like a new monitor sooner rather than later, so suggestions are good.

if it helps I think I might've just wanted better color depth, or something? better contrast, like you said? as i mentioned in my previous post the buzzwords kind of get away from me, but even basic HDR feels like it'd be an upgrade over my current monitor. I probably should've linked y'all to the specs of the monitor I'm looking to replace so you can point at what obvious deficiencies it has that i probably should be looking at for an upgrade

edit: looks like the colors are just in fact worse on the one i'm looking to replace (it's only 8 bit without even FRC, and that model you suggested is 10), so if that's mostly a baseline improvement on most monitors these days that's more of what I want, I guess? still, I use the monitor for all the media watching I do so HDR would be nice, and even a subpar version of HDR would be better than the zero HDR my current monitor handles

I would've kept that Amazon order until I had something else to buy because you never know with them, their estimates can change a lot. But anyway, your old monitor seemed fine, but yeah, color is a big weakness of TN panels. More color depth helps improve gradients while wider color gamut coverage improves vibrancy. That newer Acer monitor is quite a bit more vibrant than the one you have owing to its wider gamut. The other monitor I would've recommend is no longer on sale, and I can't find any other particularly great deals right now, so I feel like we're just kinda waiting for black friday or something.

I want to say though that subpar HDR is often not better than zero HDR. At best, you'll notice only a slight improvement between HDR on or SDR with higher panel brightness (maybe better color vibrancy). At worst, you end up with crushed blacks and clipped highlights or maybe a washed-out image, resulting in noticeably worse image quality than SDR.

Elem7 posted:

Is there another source on the bricking because I'd just read that as you need to power the monitor off and on. I'm on week 2 with mine and I've had to do that a half dozen or so times when for whatever reason the monitor wouldn't wake on key press. Annoying but not a huge deal for how infrequently it happens, especially since there's a remote.

That came from someone else who had the monitor in a discord server I'm in, but looking back it seems they were being hyperbolic. Still seems like an annoying issue though.


vanilla slimfast posted:

Hi thread, looking for a recommendation to replace my primary monitor. It's fine, but I'm finding myself wanting a bit more out of it.

For some background on my setup. At the start of the pandemic I built a gaming PC to sit alongside my work laptop (a MacBook pro). Originally I was using an LG Ultrafine 5k that I brought home from work, but I had no way to hook it up to the PC without going down the rabbit hole of thunderbolt passthrough and I just couldn't be bothered.

So I took the LG back to my office and replaced it with a Dell S3220DGF which is a curved 32" 1440p gaming monitor that supports up to 165hz - it's been fine, but I spend about 90 percent of my time on my work computer, so having a better fidelity on the main screen would be to my benefit, but I would like to still be able to use it for gaming when time allows. I work in software so most of the time I have code, terminals, and browsers open on my main screen.

Criteria:
- 32" curved
- 4K resolution
- High refresh rate (at least 120hz)
- Multiple inputs (at least 1 DP and 1 HDMI)
- Freesync/Gsync compatible (I have an RTX3070)
- HDR is a bonus, but not required. This current monitor has it but it honestly looks like rear end in Windows which I think is more of a Windows issue

I don't have a budget for this, but it seems like the Samsung Neo G7 is the best bet here. I don't mind spending the money if the panel is as good as everyone says it is, given that I spend at least 8 hours a day on it. The only reason I haven't pulled the trigger is that it doesn't seem that anyone sells it locally such that I can check it out in person first.

So, any other recommendations, or votes of confidence for the G7? Especially when wired up to a MacBook Pro?

The Neo G7's superior picture quality mainly comes into play for HDR content. When working, you'll actually want to disable the local dimming entirely, most likely. It still has a nice VA panel with far less dark-level smearing than all other VA panels, but it's not gonna blow your mind for 90% of what you do it sounds like. I don't know of any other curved 4K high-refresh-rate monitors worth getting to be honest. I'm pretty biased against VA in general though (most curved monitors), unless they're Samsung's high-end Odyssey panels.

Dr. Video Games 0031 fucked around with this message at 23:39 on Oct 22, 2022

flatluigi
Apr 23, 2008

here come the planes

Dr. Video Games 0031 posted:

I would've kept that Amazon order until I had something else to buy because you never know with them, their estimates can change a lot. But anyway, your old monitor seemed fine, but yeah, color is a big weakness of TN panels. More color depth helps improve gradients while wider color gamut coverage improves vibrancy. That newer Acer monitor is quite a bit more vibrant than the one you have owing to its wider gamut. The other monitor I would've recommend is no longer on sale, and I can't find any other particularly great deals right now, so I feel like we're just kinda waiting for black friday or something.

I want to say though that subpar HDR is often not better than zero HDR. At best, you'll notice only a slight improvement between HDR on or SDR with higher panel brightness (maybe better color vibrancy). At worst, you end up with crushed blacks and clipped highlights or maybe a washed-out image, resulting in noticeably worse image quality than SDR.

it's mainly that I absolutely know there'll be good deals on monitors closer to black friday and I know a little better about monitors now so I can get a better concept of what I'd like (see: color gamut vs HDR). It'll give me a bit more of a chance to save up a little more money, as well, and maybe get a bigger monitor on a better deal (4k instead of 1440p, maybe, even)

Canine Blues Arooo
Jan 7, 2008

when you think about it...i'm the first girl you ever spent the night with

Grimey Drawer

Invalid Validation posted:

So I’m thinking about getting a new computer and I was wanting to get a dual monitor setup for the first time. I use it mostly to game and I wanted an extra monitor for like watching videos and stuff. Now I believe I can do that with an ultra wide as well? What’s the general consensus people come down on UW vs Dual monitor?

I have big , noisy opinions about this, but I'll spare you most of the lecture and keep it short.

The major variables at play here are available space, primary use case, and budget / what you want to solve for.

If you have limited horizontal space on your desk, or your primary use case is something like working in a DAW or something with a timeline, the an UW probably provides the superior experience. However, if you're primary use case is almost anything else, dual 16:9s is likely the superior experience. Especially for games, many just don't work well with UW, and several UI elements tend to be placed in the corners of screens which means you have to move your eyes more to see that information.

When it comes to most games. You should sit in front of a screen at a normal distance and ask yourself if your eyes can meaningfully resolve all the important information on the screen. If it can't, the dimensions of your panel are too big. If you have to move your head at all, then it's WAY too big.

Also, managing two windows on two monitors is just so much nicer.

funkymonks
Aug 31, 2004

Pillbug
Can anyone comment on how dark games like Cyberpunk at night, Control, etc look on a Neo G7 or G8?

I am on the fence with that and a 42” OLED but it’s going to be a real struggle to get the 42” to work with my workspace.

Anti-Hero
Feb 26, 2004

funkymonks posted:

Can anyone comment on how dark games like Cyberpunk at night, Control, etc look on a Neo G7 or G8?

I am on the fence with that and a 42” OLED but it’s going to be a real struggle to get the 42” to work with my workspace.

Paging Doctor Videogames.

I’m in the same boat as you, friend.

Taima
Dec 31, 2006

tfw you're peeing next to someone in the lineup and they don't know

Shipon posted:

Do the new versions of Voltex support high-refresh rates? I bet that feels pretty nice to play on

They sure do! 120fps support on the new cabs (which you can find online for home use)

Dr. Video Games 0031
Jul 17, 2004

funkymonks posted:

Can anyone comment on how dark games like Cyberpunk at night, Control, etc look on a Neo G7 or G8?

I am on the fence with that and a 42” OLED but it’s going to be a real struggle to get the 42” to work with my workspace.

I can't tell you how it compares to OLED, but I can say that dark games have been great with it in my experience. Shadow detail is slightly crushed in HDR, but it's still legible and the highlights really pop in dark scenes. Blooming has not been noticeable for me in real content, but I also wear glasses that sorta naturally bloom anyway, so it's all the same to me. And it's a massive improvement over my old IPS that had grey blacks and obnoxious IPS glow.

funkymonks
Aug 31, 2004

Pillbug

Dr. Video Games 0031 posted:

I can't tell you how it compares to OLED, but I can say that dark games have been great with it in my experience. Shadow detail is slightly crushed in HDR, but it's still legible and the highlights really pop in dark scenes. Blooming has not been noticeable for me in real content, but I also wear glasses that sorta naturally bloom anyway, so it's all the same to me. And it's a massive improvement over my old IPS that had grey blacks and obnoxious IPS glow.

Ok thanks. I know blacks won’t be as good as OLED, it was the blooming I was more concerned about. Blacks are bound to be better than what I have now which is an IPS with no zones and glow for days. Gonna give it a shot!

Dr. Video Games 0031
Jul 17, 2004

Yeah so, you will notice it when it's bright white on black, like a white logo on a black background or text in dark-mode UIs. In actual games and movies though, I've never been taken out of the experience by blooming. It's probably there to some extent, but it's masked by the dynamic nature of the content and the fact that games will often have some built-in form of blooming anyway, so it just hasn't been obvious and noticeable in my experience. Walking through a dark alley full of bright signs was really impressive in Cyberpunk. And when I try to generate a worst-case scenario to force blooming to happen, it's pretty faint. You do need to be fairly centered on the display, though. The backlight zones become more noticeable when you're sitting off-center.

edit: Though I would wait for a sale. It drops down a couple hundred dollars pretty often, and you can get another ~$200 discount from samsung.com's "offers program" if you want to go that route.

Dr. Video Games 0031 fucked around with this message at 03:36 on Oct 24, 2022

vanilla slimfast
Dec 6, 2006

If anyone needs me, I'll be in the Angry Dome



Dr. Video Games 0031 posted:

The Neo G7's superior picture quality mainly comes into play for HDR content. When working, you'll actually want to disable the local dimming entirely, most likely. It still has a nice VA panel with far less dark-level smearing than all other VA panels, but it's not gonna blow your mind for 90% of what you do it sounds like. I don't know of any other curved 4K high-refresh-rate monitors worth getting to be honest. I'm pretty biased against VA in general though (most curved monitors), unless they're Samsung's high-end Odyssey panels.

Thanks for responding. Can you clarify why I’d want to disable local dimming in a work context? I’m not super well versed on the newer tech

And what would be a high-end Odyssey panel if not this one? The G8 ultra wide?

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Shipon
Nov 7, 2005

vanilla slimfast posted:

Thanks for responding. Can you clarify why I’d want to disable local dimming in a work context? I’m not super well versed on the newer tech

And what would be a high-end Odyssey panel if not this one? The G8 ultra wide?

Local dimming looks real bad on anything that isn't a movie or cutscene - glaring portions of the screen that are brighter than others while doing any sort of productivity work.

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