Ultrawide dilemma

REDRANGERPWNZ · Dec 1, 2018

Hi guys, I want to buy a new ultrawide monitor for my pc and I'm on the fence what resolution should I aim for (2560x1080 vs 3440x1440). I'm considering Alienware aw3418hw (82ppi) and aw3418dw (110ppi) - both have gsync and +100hz refresh rate.
My spec is gtx1060 6gb, i5 6600, 8gb ddr4. Right now I have 23" fhd (96ppi) screen. I'm pretty sure I wont be able to get +60fps on uwqhd using mid/high settings I'm using right now, so I'd have to scale it down to 2560x1080, but then the image wont be as crisp as native res.
I dont want to upgrade my gpu for at least 2 years, but I might consider new cpu and switching to 2x8gb ddr4 in a while. I use my pc mainly for ac/acc, but I also play other games and do work stuff.
I would like my monitor to be future proof but at the same time I'm afraid 3440x1440 would be too much even for my future mid range gpu (lets call it rtx 3060).
What would you choose? Is ppi of the uwhd enough for gaming and working? Please help

Emery · Dec 1, 2018

Hold off until you can afford both the GPU and the monitor.

Beef36 · Dec 1, 2018

REDRANGERPWNZ · Dec 3, 2018

Thank you for your reply! So I have fired up msi afterburner and did some testing. While playing acc with full field (all settings at high/epic except for mirrors) I get around 99% gpu load on average, while cpu is at 90%.

It looks similiar in ac, but the cpu load is lower (however, I get 100fps+ with full field, and almost every setting maxed out).
If I understand it correctly, the bottleneck for my system in these 2 games is the gpu?
Ram usage never exceeded 5gb, so I guess adding second 8gb wont change a thing.
I have looked up used gtx 1070/1080 prices and they are pretty approachable. It seems like a better idea to change the graphics card (in the first place) instead of the cpu.
What do you think guys?

John-Eric Saxén · Dec 4, 2018

@REDRANGERPWNZ Generally speaking, you always want to be GPU bottlenecked in the sense that GPU usage should be 100% and CPU usage should have some headroom. With the current slow development of CPU's, there has been no improvement in IPC (instructions-per-clock) since your Skylake 6th gen CPU was released, so the only thing that you would potentially gain from is more cores (you could swap your current CPU for a 6th/7th gen i7 and use the same motherboard, this could gain you some performance in thread-heavy titles like ACC).

If you want to game at anything higher than 1080p ultrawide, with current pricing a 1070 Ti or 1080 would probably make most sense. For 1080p ultrawide GTX 1060 is fine.

Nick Gregory · Dec 9, 2018

I run 3440x1440 with a GTX 1080. A 1060 with 2560x1080 would be fine.

REDRANGERPWNZ · Dec 19, 2018

Thank you guys, few days ago I swapped 1x8gb to 2x4gb and got over 15% fps boost in acc. Right now i'm getting ~80fps on average during race with full field (60fps at night+rain). I tried overclocking my 1060 but it didn't change a thing.
I think I will buy 1080p ultrawide and see if ppi is enough for me to enjoy. Otherwise I will simply return it and wait until my pc can handle higher resolutions.

Deleted member 387850 · Dec 21, 2018

If it helps I'm running a 1060 6GB with the Acer X34P which is 3440x1440. In ACC I run all graphics settings at Med with the exception of AA which I set to High. I'm averaging ~65fps in dry/day conditions, although like many people if I run an AI session with too many cars then the CPU starts to bottleneck. In everything else I use like R3E, AC or AMS I just crank the settings up and run capped at 97fps to stay within the G-Sync range of my native 100Hz. No regrets about going 1440p ultrawide with my 1060, although time will tell how well it holds up with ACC once it leaves Early Access!

RasmusP · Dec 21, 2018

suspectmonkey said:
1060 6GB with the Acer X34P which is 2560x1440

*3440x1440

Deleted member 387850 · Dec 21, 2018

RasmusP said:
*3440x1440

Oops... edited! Blame it on "Christmas wind-down"

REDRANGERPWNZ · Jan 1, 2019

Few days ago I have pulled the trigger and ordered Alienware HW3418HW with 2560x1080 panel.
After some testing I'm pretty dissapointed with it. First of all, the pixel density is way too low for me.
Games, especialy ACC, look blurred. On my old monitor the image in ACC is pretty sharp and the game looks great, on the Alienware it looks average at best (I finally understand why some people aren't happy with how the game looks on lower ppi screens). It's better for other sims but still not enough for me.
What's more, the black color is terrible with this panel (ips), it is grey. Additionaly the backlight bleeding is clearly an issue and it is visible in darker scenes.
I'm also surprised how many games don't run ultrawide resolutions in the menus, they are often 16:9.
Luckily I can return it. I guess I will wait to buy a new monitor (this time 3440x1440 and perhaps with VA panel?) for some bigger hardware upgrade. It sucks but oh well, life goes on

REDRANGERPWNZ · Oct 20, 2021

Almost 3 years later update

Last week I got Dell S3422DWG (3440x1440x144hz VA panel) for my new PC. It has nice black levels and uniformity, but due to terrible smearing in UE games (ACC and Kena, tree shadows being the biggest problem), I decided to order LG 34GN850-B (IPS). As expected, it has blb and really bad black levels (I'm used to my oled tv), but there is no smearing and colors are a little bit better than Dell's. In bright scenes (most of my simracing) the image looks really nice, and the G-Sync works great.
After some testing, I decided to keep the LG, however I think its not worth its high price (I paid around 700 euros).
Unfortunately, I don't expect a breakthrough with monitors in a near future, unless LG finally drops monitors with oled panels (fingers crossed).