3440 x 1440 v 3840 x 1600

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Hi All.

I currently have a 3440 x 1440 monitor but debating of upgrading to a 3840 x 1600, is it worth an upgrade?

I currently have a Dell Alienware AW3418DW (2yrs old) but debating of upgrading to ACER Predator X38P Quad HD 37.5" Curved IPS LCD Gaming Monitor - Black

I have a voucher for where I'm going to be buying it from and would only have to spend around 800 cash
 
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I went the other way :D

Went from the Acer XR34 (that I had for 5 years) to the Alienware AW3821DW. It's a marginal upgrade but an upgrade non-the-less. Whether it's worth it, who knows. The image isn't anywhere near my LG OLED, but it's still good :)
 
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It's just a question of whether it is enough of an upgrade to keep you happy. The AW3418DW was and still is a very good monitor. I would be afraid that it's a hard one to beat.
 
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I went from a Acer X34 to my LG 38GL950, although the DPI is around the same the extra screen size is lush, was worth it for me, plus I went from a 100hz panel to a 160/175 which was nice.

Interesting, I barely notice the extra size at all... When I stop and examine my deskspace I can see it takes up more - but it doesn't really *feel* any bigger... the biggest change to me is going from 75hz Freesync (which doesn't work great now I'm on the 3080) to 144hz G-sync. The HDR is a noticeable change too - the blacks utterly suck on the AW38 'cause it has like 7 vertical zones or something (from what I can see), but the colours definitely pop nicely :]
 
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I'm in exactly the same boat with an AW3418DW which I love.

Eventually I'd like to upgrade to something with a slightly higher refresh rate and maybe HDR but, regards the size, I'm really on the fence.

On the face of it, larger is better but only really for desktop work in my view. When it comes to gaming, I don't think the additional few inches of size are enough to compensate for the additional 24% of pixels that need to be pushed which will tax GPUs that much more.
 
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I'm in exactly the same boat with an AW3418DW which I love.

Eventually I'd like to upgrade to something with a slightly higher refresh rate and maybe HDR but, regards the size, I'm really on the fence.

On the face of it, larger is better but only really for desktop work in my view. When it comes to gaming, I don't think the additional few inches of size are enough to compensate for the additional 24% of pixels that need to be pushed which will tax GPUs that much more.


I think you are right to be. The screen size is not that noticeable really. Nice, but not worth all that extra money and you will take a 15-20% hit on the graphics card. The HDR isn't that great on the 38. Again not worth upgrading for imo. And I am not sure if you already have a high refresh rate whether that little extra is worth it. It's a very expensive monitor with not that much gain for you. The colours are nice on the 38, but they are nice on the one you already have, so, all in all, I would say wait for the next generation unless you don't care about the money.
 
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Thought I may as well jump into this conversation as it's one I'm having in my head at the moment.

Ideally I'd like to keep 3440x1440 as I think it's a nice sweet spot for performance, but the current crop of monitors seems to be pushing to 3840x1600 so I think I'd get a 'better' monitor if I went that route.

The 4 main monitors I'm looking at:
LG 34GN850 - Poor availability, and only g sync 'compatible' meaning the VRR range is only 48-160
LG 38GN950 - Basically as above, but +£500 and have to drive a higher resolution
AW3420DW - HDMI 1.4 is a killer for me as I need a second input for work. It's also arguably poor value compared to its big brother
AW3821DW - The only downside I can see for this is the additional resolution. It's relatively 'good' value if you can get it on a deal or with discount codes.
 
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AW3821DW - The only downside I can see for this is the additional resolution. It's relatively 'good' value if you can get it on a deal or with discount codes.

+1 to this choice. Just picked it up myself... Although since you mention higher resolution as a negative - what GPU are you running? I can say my 3080 is doing just fine - I suspect the 3070 would be fine too for the most part, wouldn't want to run it on less...
 
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A 3080, so yes it would be fine but because I'm not specifically after more resolution it's a performance hit I'd rather not take. But it's ok I guess.

Just out of interest, have you tried running anything at 3440x1440 to see what it looks like?
 
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Thought I may as well jump into this conversation as it's one I'm having in my head at the moment.

Ideally I'd like to keep 3440x1440 as I think it's a nice sweet spot for performance, but the current crop of monitors seems to be pushing to 3840x1600 so I think I'd get a 'better' monitor if I went that route.

The 4 main monitors I'm looking at:
LG 34GN850 - Poor availability, and only g sync 'compatible' meaning the VRR range is only 48-160
LG 38GN950 - Basically as above, but +£500 and have to drive a higher resolution
AW3420DW - HDMI 1.4 is a killer for me as I need a second input for work. It's also arguably poor value compared to its big brother
AW3821DW - The only downside I can see for this is the additional resolution. It's relatively 'good' value if you can get it on a deal or with discount codes.

Wouldn't touch the LG monitors with a bargepole.

Look good on paper but heard so many complaints of dead pixels (no warranty on these), fan noise and atrocious LG support/warranty service.
 
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It's entirely subjective, however the size works well for me filling my field of view without being over powering. The screen seems (to me) brighter and crisper with HDR and 144Hz rather than 100 overclocked to 120. It'll also do 10-bit colour at 120Hz if that's of interest.

All in all it just feels like a "V2" or updated version of what was already a credible screen. If the 3418 rated a 8 of of 10, this would be a 9. Not a "omg it's a no brainer do this now" but certainly worth the update, a noticeable improvement for me and one I'm pleased I did, particularly as I got just short of 550 quid back for the 3418 as well as the discount with Dell.

If you have other things to spend the cash on then this is probably not a priority spend, if you have the cash it will make you say "wow" every time you switch it on :D
 
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