Curved screen

bprat, I don't have an answer for you, but your question only made me think of one thing:

"You see those warriors from Hammerfell? They’ve got curved screens. Curved. Screens."

Curved TV screens are good for controlling reflections otherwise IMO, just a cool conversation piece. In monitors geometry kind of makes Bpratt22's point, you have to be really close and I still don't think it will be like a movie theater but don't have one so...another gadget with no real benefit?

Hi bprat22,

I have not seen one but I have read reviews by many that have them. I don't recall anyone saying they had to be close to the screen. It seems that the curve is not great and they think it helps immersion in a game. I suggest you go to Newegg and read about some of the 34" screens. The Canadian kid that does reviews likes them a lot. Can't think of his name right now.    

Frank

Edited by FrankW - 04 Jun 2016 at 5:41am

Hi bprat22,

The Acer Predator X34 Curved IPS NVIDIA G-sync Gaming Monitor is 32.2 inches wide and I held up a yard stick on my desk to see how big that was. Dang, I have a big desk and 32" is a heck of a piece of real estate.

I just read a bunch of reviews on this monitor at Newegg and didn't notice anyone commenting on the curve. Guess I have to read some more. I can't afford this monitor unless I put up a kidney up for sale.

Frank

I love the Curved monitors. A friend of mine had the original Acer Predator (which was just full of flaws and what not... bad QA at Acer if you ask me). But, all that a side, I thought it looked beautiful and fell in love with the curved screen after seeing it just once.

Given that it's a PC monitor, you'll be fairly close to it. And if you're in that "bubble" where you're close enough to it, it is immersive. It's beautiful, stunning, and it gives you a different feel when you're playing. It's nothing crazy though. But, I truly love the way they look and make me feel when I'm playing, hence why I'm planning on buying ASUS PG348Q as my next main monitor.

looks like to get the full effect you need to add an addition to the house

 @Frank, if we needed to know what we are talking about in this world, it be pretty quiet

This is my recommendation. If a Local Best buy sells curved monitors (doesn't have to be a super fancy one), go and spend some time on it. Like spend a good 30 minutes on there, playing around on the internet... and if there are any games installed on it. Or perhaps ask them to hook it up to one of the gaming display models they have.

It's purely an aesthetic, fun purchase, but fairly expensive so I want to make sure you know what you're getting. Grant it, the new Aura or whatever it's called is actually a great price...and it's upgradeable.

I will say if you're going for the Aura... it's cheap enough, just do it if you want something that has like no cables, takes up no space, but is still "huge".

I say go for it if a large monitor, but no space consuming PC is what you're after. I truly think you'll love the curved ultra wide screen. I just don't think you'd love it for that premium $1000+ price tag on it. Thankfully the Aura actually is priced amazingly.

i received my Asus ROG PG34Q a couple of days ago.  i previously had the Acer 32"4K (returned).  the only game i've played on the ultra wide is The Division.  my experience between the two is that hands down the ultra wide was the better experience for a couple of reasons: 1) at "ultra" settings minimum of high 60's-low 70's FPS and smooth (due to 2k@100Hz) game play; whereas on the 4K monitor i was lucky to get min's in the low 40's with not so smooth game play (due to 4k@60Hz).  2) wider FoV was more pleasant as the 4K image was just too large and the 3rd person perspective was distracting to say the least, taking up a large portion of the 32" real estate.  both are g-sync monitors, so neither had the advantage there.  both screens use the same matte glaze, although i'd swear it wasn't as noticeable (image didn't appear as "grainy" ) on the ultra wide. 

about the "curve": i'm sure this will be entirely subjective.  for me, it helps on these ultra wide monitors.  you still get that wide FoV panorama feel, but with the edges slightly curved inwards it makes it less noticeable that the edges are far to the periphery.  i think it's a definite plus and worth the extra cash. 

now the bad: this has nothing to do with the image quality.  i don't like the orientation of the inputs on this model.  they're hard to get to (i use a vesa multi monitor rail mount) because i can't flip the monitor vertically to get at them.  i also don't like the non standard circular attachment of the stand to the back of the monitor.  i was actually planning on using the stand for another monitor as a replacement and no can do. 

that leads to the next gripe, it states in the official documentation that VESA mounting is supported, but it's clear that Asus designed this monitor to use the included stand.  the stand completes an electrical connection to the monitor that enables the light effects of the stand to work.  if you mount the stand on a VESA mount (like me) that leaves these connections on the back of the monitor exposed.  it clearly states (warning labels) that contact with these can cause shorts. 

on day two of use, i began experiencing issues.  mind you, i have 2 GTX 980ti's in sli, which is more than enough to drive this monitor.  signal/image loss, unable to turn power off/on, unable to register pushes of the OSD buttons, image cutting in and out and some weird image distortion probably related to the overdrive.  had to RMA the thing and will return.  it's too bad, i liked it when it worked.         

Hi db188,

Thanks for an interesting report. I think I have read that the Division was not well optimized. Do you think it might have been a problem with the program rather than the SLI 980ti not up to 4K?

Frank

They have already "unofficially" admitted that The Division is just a poorly optimized game, period. Though it does seem to be running "better" and more smoothly on AMD cards rather than Nvidia cards. Which also contributes to why it runs so much smoother on consoles and not PC.

It's just poor programming on the developers side.