Why You May NOT Want An Ultrawide Monitor For Gaming 

The description of how going from 16:9 to 21:9 is underwhelming, but going the opposite direction is a huge difference is how I felt getting a high refresh rate monitor. At first 144hz felt no better than 60, until I tried going back to 60.

I can attest to the fact that Dawid was very sad with his previous monitor when he switched back to it after his time with ultra 😅

21:9 is criminally underrated. I swapped to a 1440 144hz 34" a few years ago and I can't go back. Such a nice experience, if you have a pc to push it properly of course. It's not easy to run in some modern titles.

If you play MMOs at all, Ultrawide is amazing. It lets you move UI elements off to the side that you don't need to see 24/7 (but still want to be able to see the information at a glance) and gives you extra FOV.

A lot of games let you adjust the HUD area so stuff like the minimap doesn't get pushed into your peripheral vision. I tend to push the hud to be roughly where it would be in 16:9, which also allows me to crop the capture in OBS if I want to stream or record in 16:9 while actually playing in 21:9

having a vertical 16:9 beside my 21:9, I instantly felt the huge positive impact the ultrawide provided for my daily work the added FOV in ultrawide-supported games, not so much, but it is still very appreciable, especially in exploration-type games like No Man's Sky

I got an ultrawide a few months ago, and my god, it won't transform your gaming experience, but it will definitely enhance it, and in 3rd person games especially its amazing.

I've had a couple of ultra wide screen monitors - kept selling them and getting "regular" monitors until I realize that I actually really like them for gaming - and working - so much space! I've got a Huawei Mateview GT and I absolutely love it. Love your videos - still binge-watching :D

Backlight flashing, overshoting and blury motion is VA panel's fault. When I upgraded from the old LG IPS 1080p ultrawide to 1440p 34" VA, I instantly disliked it for the same reasons. There was a ton of ghosting, black colors were getting smushed, blurry movement etc. But as luck would have it, the monitor had a cluster of dead pixels, so I was able to return it and get IPS 1440p 34" ultrawide and all of the issues were gone. Yes, IPS does have it issues like glow, but its not nowhere near as annoying as having multiple VA problems.

Love the videos! You put so much time and work into them and they make my day better

I have used curved monitors for a while and now I find it hard to use flat. However it is always best to put them on a vesa mount so that you have more flexibility over height and angle. Then it’s amazing. You are right that the curve somehow makes the positioning of the monitor relative to your head more important.

Went ultrawide back in 2017 and haven't looked back (flat though for me not curved). There are some tiny annoyances but ultrawide support has come a long way since even then. Flawless widescreen was almost a must have at that point.

Please do a 32:9 monitor now. I've been using a Samsung 49" Super Ultrawide for the last year for gaming and for work, and will NEVER go back to anything less! I'd LOVE to see your take on it!

I'd love to see a comparison between an ultra wide and standard that are equal in width. I had a 32" monitor, and it was too big for my use case.

I have had a flat LG UltraWide for 4 years now and I love it. Once you start using it, you can't go back to 16:9. Most games support 21:9 now. A lot of the games also allow you to adjust the Hud size/location now, but it never bothered me that much. I would always recommend 21:9 over 16:9. Not sure what to think of the curve as i have never experienced that.

I have a 34" Ultra-Wide and I love it in productivity and gaming. Mine got a Samsung VA Panel with really good colors and contrast. In terms of the UI elements I think in some games you can give them an offset at least in CSGO I know for sure

So, I don't have an ultra-wide configuration but I do use three monitors side by side which is technically wider. When he was describing seeing his room after switching back I can totally understand. Dropping down to even two monitors at this point would feel hella weird.

Some games have Ultrawide options in their settings that can move HUD elements further in. Sometimes this happens automatically, other times you have to enable them. Still other times, and most of the time, really, you just get stuff moved off to the periphery. Mileage may vary depending on the game.

You can always run a custom resolution on the ultra wide and have black bar on the sides, so you have a standard 16:9 ratio screen in the centre

Switched to a 32 inch 1440p 144hz about a month ago and it has a 1000R curve which I really didn't like at first but after a few days I got used to it and absolutely love it it feels kind of like a flat display to me amazing what you can get used to

Linus and dawid upload a gaming monitor video at the same time, weird

Who knew Dawid could take 34 inches?

I went from a 16:9 to a 21:9 back to a 16:9 (OLED). I really liked the ultrawide. My only issue was that it seemed like there was always a "thing" you had to do or live with when using ultrawide resolutions. Either you must edit the executable to "support" ultrawide, have some screens 16:9 only, or have things like videos stretched. Amazing for productivity though!

Had a 34" 16:9 since 2015, upgraded to 49" 32:9. It is exactly the same when going from 16:9 to 21:9. I was really surprised how big of a chance it was (again).

Dawid i had the exact same reaction as you. Initially wasn't that impressed, was thrown off by the curve, then went back to matching 24in monitors and i realized right away i could never do this again. Awesome vid as always.

usually there is a setting in most games to set up the limits of the HUD this should fix the issue where the info is too much in your periphery.

As a follow up, can you comment on the difference in performance / fps going from 1080P / 1440P to ultrawide and what it means for your GPU ?

i love the FoV i have... im running on a 72" tv and 2 42"s in portrait mode... (im only missing a motion simulator/treadmill) the trick is to sit back far enough so it still takes up most of your active FoV so you can run it at max FoV and use the FoV to its max. the curve makes it easier for your eyes to adjust and focus.

My issue with curved monitors is the view distance limitations. Sometimes I like to sit far away from my monitor to get comfy on a couch and with curved monitors, if you are too far back they're not an enjoyable experience to game on

Switched to 21:9 about 6 months ago. It definitely took a day or two to get used to but it's really hard to go back after that. For office work and media creation the extra space is really usefull when you move your windows to be optimal. For gaming, I really love the peripheral vision for most FPS games (it really helps) and more cinematic 3rd person games.

went from a 23" 1080p to a 3440x1440 34inch ultrawide some time ago. For some reason I often get motion sick. Maybe upgrading to an ultrawide was not the best idea.

If it's your first time with a curved monitor is a bit weird at first but you definitely get used to it. The biggest thing I noticed was with square Windows as they would look arched or curver along the top and bottom but when you're gaming they don't usually have a ton of straight lines that a persistent on the screen so it's a lot less noticeable in gaming.

The HUD issues can be fixed by game developers, in GTA V for instance, the HUD is within the normal 16:9 space, but you just have more screen real estate. So it's the best of both worlds.

I lost my higher than 59.9Htz monitor virginity in 2020. Went to one monitor with 144...the rest take some time to warm up or figure out what life means today

Would a ultra wide be ideal if I lose my peripheral vision? I use two monitors one portrait mode and the other landscape and was wondering if it would be better to get one ultra wide?

I converted to an Ultrawide 1440p monitor about 3yrs ago 🥰👍 and I find going to a standard 16:9 monitor constrictive 😢. I got my brother an ultrawide for his DOTA2 gaming as he’s into some MMORPG / RTS game titles and he said he now prefers the ultrawide aspect to 16:9 as well. I know that ultrawide scan be polarising and disorientating for some, so it’s not for everyone. I love mine for single player titles and some FPS titles 😇🥰🤯

I really like the down to the ground reviews of Dawid, them being sarcastic and still professionel - I really hope he gets more subscribers due to the fact that channels like LTT are getting more and more "sensational" crap that just lost its magic over time - due note that some videos from Linus are still good and valid.

I ran a 48" ultra wide curved monitor for months, then added another 24" monitor either side of it. Now running in 64:9 aspect ratio. No looking back, I love my setup, great for ATS and ETS 2, the 48" curved monitor is my truck windscreen, and the two side monitors are my side truck windows. Complete with Tobii5 head/eye tracker to make the experience even more emersive. Btw, it's not that hard to move maps about ! . Cheers

I just switched to a 21:9 1440p QD-OLED monitor. And I agree that it's a bit disorienting at first. Top tip: Get the program named "Flawless Widescreen" to fix the FOV on games without an FOV slider or where cutscenes have 16:9 and black bars.

I've been using the Acer X34 Predator that I bought back in 2015ish and I'm still using it today, it was about 1100$ when I bought it but man has this been worth every penny. There are few items in my house that have gotten as much use as this monitor. ZERO regrets 7 years later.

Finally... Wide Dawid

You can still play games in 16:9 if the HUD is awful at 21:9. For me half of my games are amazing in 21:9, one quarter is rubbish and the rest has pros and cons.

I used to have the Samsung 49" 32:9 monitor. Minimaps was a nightmare when trying to game on that massive screen. It was epic playing Forza or Dirt Rally and flight/space sims. Red Dead Redemption 2 had it's moments with the envelopment when out in the wild. But looking at the minimap felt like actually pulling out a real map and scanning for you location. And yes I do miss it...

I recently went ultrawide for office work from a 3 monitor set-up (including laptop display). I discovered that unless you use a window manager utility like FancyZones and using the layout shortcuts, it would have been better using a 27 inch monitor and keep the laptop screen open, at least from how I do my work. There's too many unused spaces when opening two documents side-by-side, it's really distracting when looking from one document to the other. But with shortcuts, I can easily swap from a 3-column screen to 2-column one where one column occupies 2/3s of the screen (good for opening Word and a lengthy Excel file at the same time).

I like that you went back to a 16:9 to see how you felt going away from the 21:9. It's always easy to feel like it's minimal improvement when upgrading but, as the saying goes, "You don't know what you've got 'til it's gone." A few months ago I upgraded from a 1080p TV from 2011 to a 4k TV with HDR. I kinda noticed the upgrade and appreciated it, but I didn't feel it was a game changer. Then a few weeks later I decided to get a secondary display. I got a 1440p standard ratio display that didn't have HDR and I realized that I was already spoiled by 4k HDR. I had to return the 1440p display, even though it was still technically better than the last TV I had played on for 10 years it felt like a big downgrade compared to the 4k. However, your complaint about now seeing your room behind the monitor in your peripheral seems like a non-issue to me lol. To me that just says that your standard display is too small. My 4k is a 55" and it mostly fills up my vision from where I sit, about an arm and a half length away. So even if you get an ultrawide as wide as my TV, now you're missing the vertical part and can see beyond the display that way. And I can usually just scale my UI to free up more visual space in most games. And the ones I can't aren't usually the kind where it matters, anyways.

21:9 ideal for Racing, Flight Sim, or games that scale horizontal over vertical. Some FPS game work great with 16:9 but not a lot in my experience. Example: Worked great with RDR2, not a lot of fast paced vertical movements, but increased peripheral helped in the open world. 21:9 with DOOM eternal is terrible, went back to 16:9

Great review! One of the most honest review I found on RU-vid!

One question regarding what you were saying about the peripheral vision. Does sitting a bit further away from it solve that? I’ve not used a curved one yet so just curious.

Dawid casually writing an essay about fruit flies and their revolt due to poor working conditions 6:05

Once you go ultra-wide, it's hard to go back to a standard monitor. It does take a few days to get use to the curve but once you do, you really don't see it anymore. I have a 32 inch curved monitor and I love how the curve makes the games more immersive to play in.

Still love my BenQ ultrawide. It was a bit expensive 2 years ago, but it's still worth the imperial credits if you buy the same model. Really good for productivity, excellent for movies and TV, and also great for gaming.

Great video as always. We have had our Samsung C49RG QLED 32:9 for 3 years and it has been the best investment in a screen. In games like AOE4 we just play in the 16:9 window and can open Discord and Twitch next to it. But the screen is great for editing our videos.

You should try 49 inch minitor. You will see crazy ultra wide.

i am too early for a sarcastic human being like me and dawid

I have been using the crappy-est 1440p ultrawide for a few years now and I must say that it's probably the best pc upgrade I've ever made. You eventually get used to everything that's horizontal beeing curved and I'm more than happy to forgive the VA-flickering. I'd love to replace it with something better, but everything is either basically identical or triple the price. I doubt that Dell is willing to send you anything, but maybe it's worth a shot to ask for the 34 inch qd-oled screen, which is probably the best pc monitor for gaming.

In regards to the HUD issue there are at least Some games where you can change its placement from within the settings, switching it from the 21:9 position back to the 16:9 position if you so please. I'm not sure if all games have such an option, but I do know that it's very much a thing!

I completely agree with this video: when I first upgraded from a flat 27" 1080p to a 34" flat 1440p ultrawide, it was a little bit overwhelming but you do adapt to it very quickly. Every game was such a pleasant experience. Now having jumped from 34" flat ultrawide to a Samsung G9 49" curved ultrawide was mind blowing and pretty overwhelming! (especially sitting 2-3 ft from it) League of legends took awhile to get used to which then becomes really awesome (and yes - you do turn your head from side to side just to see the mini map & read chat). Flying, racing, survival simulators such as Forza, Stranded Deep, The Forest and Flight Simulator are just a sight to behold and experience. You will have the biggest smile during the immersion. Finally, farming sims and 2D platformers are amazing to see on ultrawide. The extra vision of the environment is crazy cool and helps with how you envision your farm or what resources are around you. In Terraria you can see so far on either side to plan what you want to do next or see something hostile approaching you with time to react. Afterwards, I have tried to game on a 32" 1080p monitor on another system and just couldn't do it. The realization of being spoiled by having the extra real estate and the immersion provided by the aggressive curvature hit me pretty quick. I can't go back to 16:9 for gaming. All I have to say is get immersed & lost in your games and have fun.

2:03-2:10 what every man dreams of hearing 🤣

About the Moniter problems, the little black dot probably is something from the manufacturer but the other stuff like the blur is ghosting, VA panel monitors tend to suffer from ghosting. Hope that helps

I got two Ultrawide monitors I am constantly using: Acer XR382CQK curved, 75 Hz, 38 inch, 3840 x 1600 resolution 75 Hz and Acer BX340CK flat, 60Hz, 34 inch, 3440 x 1440 resolution which has a 75Hz option but unfortunately only on Windows 7 (use it mostly for my laptop). They both have a really good IPS matrix with great color accuracy, contrast and backlighting and they don't tire my eyes out after long sessions of working, drawing, reading or gaming. I am so used to 21:9 now that I can say that once you go ultrawide you can't go back to 16:9 or the rest. :D Things are much more immersive and your workspace is much easier to organize on the extra width. Unless you play games like LOL or others similar that have non-arrangeable HUD as Dawid mentioned, I would say that 21:9 is better than the standard 16:9.

I've been gaming on ultrawide since 2018, and I CAN'T go back. I love playing single player games with the added immersion, and the extra fov is a huge help for pvp. I've got a 3440x1440 144hz 21:9 monitor and it's simply beautiful

this is why dawid is the best youtuber.

The experience you had going back to a 27" from the 34" is what I experienced when I tried using my 34" again after using a 48" OLED. A big 16x9 is the best of both worlds.

The big downside to ultrawide is game support as you mentioned with the ui in games or having the fov wrong. I really loved my own ultrawide monitor but it's now used as a side screen while I game on a regular 1440 screen again.

I've lost my ultrawide virginity about 5 years ago to a 38" 1600p LG. After 3 years, I went back to normal 16:9 screens. I now have 3 4K screens, which, at least for me, is definitely the better option for a productive workflow.

You should really try the big format gaming displays that Nvidia shills, especially the 42 and 48 inch OLEDs. They are a weird side grade from multi monitor setups and ultrawides, but the sheer immersion is unbeatable.

I've been gaming on an ultrawide for a few years and I love it. I do agree about the mini-map. No matter the game, having to redirect your attention to the mini-map is a good way to get shot. Game makers need to provide the option to get the mini-map out of the corner. I also do photography and the curve doesn't bother me a bit. Unless you're the type that moves your head from side to side (as opposed to turning your neck), the curved monitor provides less perspective distortion than a non-curved.

I had switched to curved 34" ultrawide a few years ago and for most games I absolutely love it. I had a smaller 29" UW that I had picked up on a prime day bargain that had become my primary work monitor due to the ability to have essentially two 5:4 screens side by side which feels like the best configuration for my workflow (lots of terminal work). The only annoyances for me are when I watched 16:9 content; I didn't notice the curve at all in productivity but definitely prefer it for gaming where it makes for a more relaxed, natural-feeling field of view. That being said, I got bit by the 4K bug and recently went to a 43" 16:9 and I flip between which I prefer...for FPS I still prefer the UW I believe (even though you can fake the aspect ratio with a custom resolution on a large format display).

First of all, weird to see Cooler Master doing a monitor, secondly, have been forced to using 32" ultrawide at work but personally prefer having two smaller discreet 24-27" monitors for productivity.

You know the monitor is expensive when it comes with all the display cables

What keyboard are you using with the ultrawide monitor in this video? I'm really looking for a good keyboard that is quiet and feels good to type on for work from home stuff and gaming.

You're awesome. This was the most entertaining yet still very helpfull review I've seen in a long time. Thx bro🤜

giggity

I just bought the gigabyte 3440x1440p curved ultra wide monitor and it’s been great so far the only complaints I have is that there’s so color smearing when I scroll too fast or up and down on steam. I paired it with my 3080 the performance toll can be a bit much some times but man do games look insane. This monitor had me finishing cyber punk, assassins Creed origins,days gone, and now sleeping dogs. I got it on sale for $350 and I love it. When ever I feel the fps hit is too much I switch it to 1440p with black bars especially when playing competitive games. I do wish Picture in Picture worked a bit better. I too recently lost my ultra wide/curved virginity

I had a 27" curved 1440P monitor In recently upgraded to a 28" 4K IPS flat panel. After several days gaming with the curved monitor filtered very natural, I felt no ice cream And it did feel engaging in immersive. Part of me does miss the curved monitor and a part of me adores gaming at 4K.

21:9 is really good for certain games like racing games or games where the FOV is a crucial need and if you do editing and such then ultrawide is a must have.

I upgraded from a 24inch monitor to a 34inch ultra wide monitor earlier this year because I work from home and didn't want to have a dual monitor setup at home. Definitely is better for productivity and gaming in my opinion. The curved screen may seem awkward at first but it not only makes gaming feel more immersive but it also allows you to sit closer to the screen. A flat 34inch monitor would require you to sit further away to see the whole screen. The versatility of an ultra is good too because you can also change the screen to run at 16:9 resolutions if you want to for some reason. You can either leave the black bars on the sides or stretch the resolutions out across the screen. The main downside I have experienced is the need to upgrade my graphics card since I went from gaming at 1920x1080 to 3440x1440. 1440 ultra wide is about 25% more pixels than 1440 so you need a fairly powerful graphics card to run games at good frame rates. You can usually see 10-20 less fps at 1440 ultra wide compared to 1440. I don't see myself ever going back to 16:9 gaming now.

I play on Ultrawide for 5 years now. I wanted to switch to a 27" 165Hz IPS Panel for competitive gaming. After I tried the 16:9 Display for about a week, I returned to the 100Hz ultrawide. I missed it so much from gaming, productivity, and media consumption aspect. Even doe my Ultrawide panel was quite a bit worse than the 16:9 IPS panel I switched to. So i will not go back to 16:9, even if its a bit better for try-hard gaming but I prefer the immersion and extra real estate you get from 21:9. As a tip in most games you can move the HUD more towards the centre like BF or COD, that it's not that far away from your eyes.

I have the 49 inch g9 wide screen and i love it. It takes a while to get use to it but they work pretty nicely.

Gaming on the Odyssey G9 (32:9) has completely changed how I game. Like you had in this video, the overshooting is really the thing that bothers me. No matter how hard I try, I cannot get rid of it. Realistically, I do think 21:9 is the sweet spot, but 32:9 def has its place. Just waiting for more OLED options now.

I have a curved 27 inch 240hz 0.5ms rt monitor, with a va panel and the coloring is amazing. My second monitor is mainly just used for discord and things like that, its a curved 24 inch 75hz 1ms rt with an ips panel.

It takes time to feel comfy with the curve monitor yes. My first one was a dell and it’s still my daily, I LOVE IT. I doubt I’ll ever go back to a standard display again.

I used to use stacked ultrawides haha, great for music making, having gone back to one ultrawide and a normal monitor hurts still a little :) But yeah it's very hard to go back to normal if even able to..

21:9 user for a couple years now. A couple things to add I feel are overlooked: 1-You can cut down the resolution to 16:9 if absolutely necessary for a game, just run black bars on the side. Can be done through software or on some monitors' input menu. It is an extra step and hassle, but it does allow you the option. 2-Media consumption on 21:9 is glorious. Most modern movies are shot in 2.39:1 which is very close to 21:9, and when using apps like Netflix or HBOMax, they will fill out the entire screen for full cinematic picture (no annoying black bars like a 16:9).

Great to know! Thanks! Something I learned while trying to use track IR is that it really wears you out moving so much. It was triggering my arthur. I therefore started appreciating the smaller range of where my neck had to move and I never looked back (literally). I could see it being similar. It is just harder for your brain to process. Maybe it is different for you because you wear glasses and they are naturally curved to help you see the edges? Also is LOL moddable? Like can you move your UI around at all? For the games where you want it smaller just choose a smaller resolution and problem solved. I still want to try it but IDK I hadn't considered these things, so thanks for that!

Widescreen was game changer for me, ultra wide also great for editing videos and photos since the color accuracy is solid (I should tune the thing) Also HDR is great, I am now going out of my way to play HDR movies or games

When I switched to UW1440p after years of waiting, it was everything I imagined.... at first. But after a few weeks, the novelty of a new kind of display was gone as I got used to it. And like David, I never want to go back. My old 16:9 1440p monitor is just now a 2nd screen in portrait mode.

If you're at the correct distance from your monitor you should not even notice the curve, it's purpose is to give you the possibility to see every part of the screen from the same distance. And the hud can be adjusted on most games (with game settings or even mods).

You have to lower the fov in this kind of display so you get a more consistent image instead of a "fish eye" image

I have one question. I am looking to upgrade my old 32" 720p TV for a monitor, it will be just for sim racing. My PC has a rtx 2070, i was thinking about doing triples 32" 1080p, but then read about PPI, will triples 27" 1080p have a good image quality? Or is it better to go for an ultrawide 1440p? My main game is Assetto corsa competizione and i have no ideia if the GPU can take an ultrawide 1440p. I have no intention of doing upgrades on the PC over the next years.

After I bought my first ever ultrawide, an Alienware AW3423DW OLED, I can never go back to a flat 16:9 screen ever again. They are that good.

very useful video, thank you! it changes a lot compared to most youtubers

You get used to the cuve on the desktop after a few days of using the monitor. I actually went from a curved 34" back to a flat 34" ultrawide, and I am missing the curve. It kept almost everything in the field of view for gaming.

Recently just got a 34" Asus TUF Ultrawide and upgraded from a 16:9 27". Love the upgrade and could never go back!

I just got an ultrawide 2 weeks ago as well and love it a lot especially for cinematic games and also movies (since their mostly in 21:9) and I do play a lot of moba games but just use 16:9 to play them.

I still haven't got an ultrawide monitor yet either, so thanks for your honest review.

I have two Gigabyte G32QC curved 32" displays side by side. I've been gaming on them for almost 2 years and have been happy with them. I seem to recall that they took a little getting used to. No Man's Sky was great on them.

How is the moba experience if you switch to borderless windowed mode with the game centered in the middle at 16:9?

I've been using ultrawides for almost 5 years now and whenever I have to use a normal 16:9 monitor at work or at friend's place I really miss my ultrawide. I use my monitor for everything, coding, video editing, gaming, web browsing, watching movies. And it is really great for all of that except for movies and videos that aren't in the 21:9 aspect ratio. Most movies are and most youtube videos aren't. But you really get used to it very quickly.

Been running ultra wide curved both at work programming and at home for 3 years. It's awesome for productivity and gaming. For cad work that I do sometimes it is highly recommended with a non curved display. On a curved display the feeling that a line is not straight is there all the time.