[PCM2]

No, as with the 34GP83A the 34GN850 doesn’t support DSC. There is limited advantage to having a 10-bit monitor when unadulterated 8-bit content is displayed. Reviewers like RTINGS process the gradients in a way that can show potential 10-bit advantages. They explain their methodology here, although I’m still not clear on exactly how they process the gradient. They note some 8-bit models can still outperform 10-bit models in their test. But that’s still ‘processed’ content they use rather than a normal 8-bit gradient. 10-bit models tend to respond better to calibration as well, suffering less additional banding from calibration or profiling which makes significant changes. That could potentially apply even to the factory calibration on some models, if it’s extensive enough.

[uncia]

I’m waiting to hear back from LG regarding the possible release of an updated model with FreeSync instead of G-Sync. Though it would probably be like the 34GN850. I don’t know if they’ll slip a special model in like they did last year with the 34GP83A. I still wish I hadn’t had to give it up. That was an excellent display.

That’s interesting about RTINGS and their process. I tend to trust your reviews most of all, but you don’t have a team to work with, so keeping up with all the new releases does provide a challenge. The 8-bit vs. 10-bit subject is interesting. I’d love for you to do a deep dive exploration on this if you ever have the chance. What kind of work flows might need it, how they’d truly benefit, which would see no benefit, how much is hype and marketing vs. actual advantage, and so on.

You’ve mentioned the Asus VG34VQL1B in another thread. I’d be interested in seeing how it compares to the best IPS options out there, like LG’s. I’ve seen some simple side-by-side comparison photos from people who have managed to purchase one. Though photos are tough to judge by. You don’t know the elements involved, and photographing monitors is difficult enough when you’re just trying to focus on getting an “accurate” representation of one. For instance, if you take a side-by-side with IPS and VA models, the IPS will probably look better depending on the angle alone. So if it is taken slightly off center, yet appearing equal in angle to the LG, it will have more washed out colours simply due to that characteristic of VAs. The IPS will look more vibrant simply due to perspective and not actual reality. Thus such photos can’t really be used to determine much. I’m mostly just wondering how far VA technology has come along and whether it will ever be suitable for my use case. It’s unlikely, but not impossible. The good black production and contrast rating does sound nice, at least on paper. If backlight bleed is tolerable, and VA glow improved over past examples I’ve seen, it might be worth consideration. I’ll probably stick with IPS regardless. I just wish I could see them compared to one another in person. Imagine a world with a monitor showroom like car showrooms. One is to dream.

[PCM2]

I would expect the ASUS and its AUO M340QVR01.0 to be on the level of AUO’s ‘flagship’ panels such as those used in the M350QVR01.7 used in the Acer X35 and PG35VQ. Whilst viewing angle performance and colour consistency can be improved up to a point, you can’t change the physics of light and the fundamentals of how VA panel technology works. It will still be prone to gamma and saturation shifts from a normal viewing position that IPS-type models don’t suffer from. In fact this is reinforced by some recent user feedback I received on the ASUS, from somebody who upgraded from an old Acer X341CK. They upgraded for the extra refresh rate which they’re really enjoying and they also appreciate the wider colour gamut whilst finding the overall responsiveness “tolerable overall”. But they also note seeing shifts in colour that they didn’t get from their IPS model – unavoidable colour consistency issues.

[PCM2]

It turns out the ASUS actually uses a CSOT panel. So we’ve yet to see a 34″ UltraWide based on a new AUO panel in the wild.

[SergioS]

I hope not to go off topic, it is the first time that I write on the forum.
I think the LG 34GN850 is the right monitor for me (mainly used for gaming: I enjoy a large variety of games, excluding the most frenetic fps).

The problem is that it is not easy to have it: after a long time, 10 pieces appeared on Amazon Italy last night, today at noon they had already been sold.
It was sad to see it pass: unfortunately I didn’t have the courage to order it, because the hardware I use now would not allow me to fully enjoy of it (GPU 1060 3Gb, current monitor Samsung C24FG73). A new video card (rtx 3070) has already been booked, but given the current availability I think it will take a long time.

Choosing my hardware I have always tried to maintain the principle of balance, and even in this moment of great innovations I believe that the indications of those who recommend 3060 for FHD, 3070 for 2K, 3080 for 4k are correct (NB: I’m not a fan of Nvidia, but following the evolution of a single brand is challenging enough).

So here’s the question: is the choice of the 3070 correct for 3440×1440? or would it be necessary to climb to use it correctly?

I don’t have big budget problems, but I don’t like to throw my money away on minor improvements, or that I will never be able to appreciate.

Thanks for your help!

PS: Buying a new monitor has always been a nightmare for me – definitely the hardest hardware to choose. For this reason I want to express all my gratitude to those who take care of this forum and this site. Thanks again!

[PCM2]

Hi SergioS,

I don’t see this as off-topic, you bring up a relevant question which others will surely be interested in as well. It is indeed annoying seeing some monitors available for such short periods of time, it certainly makes recommending them tough! But if you’re able to wait for the 34GN850 to re-appear, hopefully with your RTX 3070 at the same time, that should be fine. Please remember to use our link if you can, when the time comes.

The 3440 x 1440 resolution is fairly demanding, but closer in how taxing it is on the GPU to 2560 x 1440 than 3840 x 2160 really. I’m sure you can see that from the numbers. A bit of a simplified way of looking at things, but you’ve got ~5 million pixels to push vs. ~3.7 million (WQHD) or ~8.3 millon (‘4K’ UHD). I also like to discourage use of the term ‘2K’ on these forums as it implies 2560 x 1440 is half of 3840 x 2160. But that really isn’t the case. The thing to remember about the 3440 x 1440 resolution and the overall experience it provides is that you can certainly reduce some settings with minimal visual impact. Gaining a good amount of performance and benefiting from the aspect ratio and overall pixel density all the same. I used to cope fine with that resolution with a few compromises on my GTX 1080 Ti – and that’s less powerful than the RTX 3070. You’ve got VRR technology on your side (‘G-SYNC Compatible Mode’) to make the dips in frame rate less bothersome as well. I’m sure you’re used to this from your current Samsung and know how it feels when frame rate drops away.

[SergioS]

Thank you very much for your kind reply: 3070 will be ok. And I will not fail to follow the link, it is really the least I can do for all this valuable information.
And I also apologize for the 2k! I understand that it sounds like a blasphemy in the face of all the analytical work you do. For people like me maybe there should be a pcmonitors.info “for dummies” (I’m joking of course! For serious understanding things can’t be oversimplified)

I still have only a few questions.
The LG 34GK950G is available on Amazon Italy, very similar. If I buy it, would I at least be able to effectively test its correct functioning with my 1060?

The second question is this (comes from your suggestion): in games, isn’t generally overrated the desire to keep all settings on ultra ?

For example RDR2 does not allow me to play with my 1060 3Gb at 1920×1080 resolution due to the low vram (the game automatically sets itself to lower values, such as 1680×1050 and does not allow you to go up further). So I tried to turn all the settings down to near minimum, but I gained very little vram available and was not allowed to set 1920×1080. But I was struck by the fact that the overall feeling in game was not that different than with the ultra settings! I’m wrong? (… ok, every game is different, and maybe you can’t generalize)

Thanks again!

[PCM2]

The GTX 1060 has a similar featureset to my old GTX 1080 Ti. It supports full G-SYNC models like the 34GK950G just fine plus the whole feature set of the monitor using DP 1.2.

I completely agree that chasing ‘Ultra’ settings is pointless most of the time. Even with my RTX 3090 I’ll rarely just put everything on Ultra if I’m using a high refresh rate and high resolution monitor. I just don’t feel the performance compromise is worth it for what can be a completely unnoticeable visual improvement. I tend to put things like textures and perhaps a few other things like particle effects on ‘Ultra’. But I don’t automatically put everything on ‘Ultra’ unless it’s a title I know I’ll be able to easily max out the refresh rate of the monitor. For single player gaming I’m more likely to put things on ‘Ultra’ just because those dips in frame rate will matter less – but even then I like to tweak things to gain performance if it has minimal visual impact. DLSS support on the RTX30 series is something I quite enjoy using on some titles as well, it has quite a dramatic positive performance impact and depending on the title you lose very little visually. 🙂

[uncia]

Sergio, is the 34GP83A available where you are? It’s virtually the same as the 34GN850, with only a few features missing. The HDMI port is limited to 85Hz, not that you’d use it anyway with an NVIDIA video card. HDMI 2.0 doesn’t support G-SYNC. It’s also missing the HDMI cable and USB hub cable. As far as I can find from customer reports, there’s no other distinguishable difference between the two models, but it costs $200 USD less than the 34GN850. It seems to be an Amazon-exclusive model from LG. They can’t keep them in stock, so you can’t get one right now on Amazon in the U.S. I had one and loved it. There was a defective displayport, or I’d still have it.

LG seems to have improved pixel responsiveness and backlight bleed with this model over the 34GK950G. That and it has a 144Hz refresh rate (overclockable to 160Hz), while I believe the 34GK950G is limited to 120Hz due to G-SYNC constraints when LG released it. Adam, feel free to correct me if I’m wrong here on anything. Good luck with your monitor buying saga, Sergio!

[PCM2]

Unfortunately the 34GP83A is a North America only product, not available in Europe where Sergio is based.

[SergioS]

Thanks Uncia for your suggestions. The model you indicated is not available in Italy, and the 34GK950G last week was on Amazon (sold by Amazon) for € 899, now only from marketplace sellers (minimum price 1149 € – maximum price 1984,66 €!). I am so disgusted with the current market situation!

[uncia]

Sergio, I’m sorry to hear that. I have the same problem here. I was finally going to purchase the 34GP83A again, and suddenly it’s only marketplace sellers who have it on Amazon, for more than $1,000 USD. I’ve gotten so tired of the tech market. I can’t even upgrade my graphics card because of what’s happening.

Keep watching Amazon, and good luck getting your hands one a monitor. I would suggest purchasing an extended warranty though, just because LG only provides 1 year. That’s usually the time a monitor fails, if it’s going to. Right when the warranty has run out. Of course, there’s really no telling with these things. It truly is a game of chance.

[SergioS]

Thanks again Uncia, but in Italy all purchased products are covered by a 2 year warranty, so at least this shouldn’t be a problem.
Today I received the communication that the booked 3070 is finally available (unfortunately not with Amazon). Unfortunately, the price is almost double the one recommended by Nvidia for the founder editions, but it is a custom (MSI trio), and therefore I don’t think the price will drop very soon. I have 3 days to confirm the order and I hope that in the meantime something will appear on Amazon, but I think I will confirm (also because it seems to me that the prices of all the other components of the new pc are constantly increasing since a few months ago I started to to plan).
Anyway, now that the “engine” is available, it becomes possible to get the new monitor as well, but I’m really confused.

I must also apologize because in the previous post I had indicated LG 34GK950G, but I was wrong because I wanted to indicate LG 34GN850 (… sure that if the monitor names were a little simpler life would be better!). But reading the forum I see that the 950 is not recommended for a few reasons, and the 850 is no longer available here. I don’t know, I’m considering VA panels.

(NB: actually this whining of mine doesn’t have much to do with technical discussions, so I won’t be offended if it gets deleted)

[PCM2]

I did wonder if mention of the 34GK950G was a mistake as it has been discontinued officially for a little while now. And you’re right that I wouldn’t recommend it due to Quality Control issues and that I feel newer models like the 34GN950. I won’t delete the ‘whining’ as it reflects the wider feelings of many people at the moment. This includes me as it makes it incredibly difficult to recommend specific monitors when they’re only popping in stock so briefly. I just hope the 34GN950 returns in stock for you shortly, but I know you can only wait so long now your RTX 3070 is waiting for you.

[SergioS]

Just one more question, before putting the IPS aside.
I apologize if it’s an explicit question about the purchase, but my brain is throttling after reading so many datasheets.

Can the Acer Nitro XV340CKPbmiipphzx be a viable alternative to the LG 850?
I agree that it has a slightly lower frequency and is less bright, but it is immediately available and costs € 580 (which means € 568 less than the LG, which is sold for € 1149 in the marketplace, or € 900 when it is – rarely – available sold by Amazon) .

Otherwise, my alternatives would be, in order of preference, GIGABYTE G34WQC-EK, AOC CU34G2X, ASUS TUF Gaming VG34VQL1B, Samsung C34G55T.

PS: it would now also be available ALIENWARE – AW3420DW (sold by Dell Italy on offer at € 819 against the € 1311 official price list, and has the gsync module)

[PCM2]

The XV340CK P is certainly a viable option and one which I specifically recommend as a budget IPS alternative to the VA models in this thread. It’s covered more extensively from a general purpose usage perspective in this thread but a lot of the points raised there apply to gaming as well. It has a flat screen, which some would prefer but others would find less desirable – especially on such a wide monitor. It also has a narrower colour gamut than the other options so has a lower vibrancy and saturation potential. But it offers a large step up in pixel responsiveness and also colour consistency when compared to the VA alternatives.

The BOE IPS-ADS panel it uses isn’t really at the level of the LG Nano IPS panels used by the curved IPS UltraWides. The colours aren’t as vibrant, consistency isn’t quite as good and the screen surface isn’t quite as smooth. It gives a ‘rich and natural’ look to things which some actually like and prefer to the oversaturated representation that a wide gamut offers. I’ve had plenty of positive feedback about the Dell AW3420DW and it’s one I recommend considering if you’re happy with its pricing. It isn’t as responsive as the newer LG models or models using the same newer generation panels. Dell pushes it quite hard even using the lowest overdrive setting, so you get quite a bit of overshoot in places. Tough to say whether it’s worth paying more for that over the Acer and depends on your own priorities really, it certainly isn’t outright ‘better’. 🙂

[PCM2]

The LG 34GP950G is listed for ~$1300 USD. It is now confirmed to have 56-zone local dimming – and is a G-SYNC Ultimate model, with VESA DisplayHDR 600 support.

[drtim]

I use my monitor most for productivity and reading. In saying that, I can see upgrading to have VR capacity in the future, and the monitor is presently used for movies/videos regularly. I am looking at either the LG 38WN75C (recommended productivity monitor here) or the LG 34GP950G (not listed as a recommended gaming monitor here). I am leaning towards the LG 34GP950G. Do you think the LG 34GP950G would be as good for productivity and reading as the LG 38WN75C? Thank you.

[PCM2]

There is a productivity advantage to a 37.5″ 3840 x 1600 screen compared to a 34″ 3440 x 1440 screen, because you get extra ‘desktop real estate’. But whether that extra screen space is required is another matter. Many people are pretty happy with 2560 x 1440 for productivity, so 3440 x 1440 will be considered sufficient by most. Anything more can be considered a bonus. 🙂

I don’t really feel the 34GP950G justifies an extra $400 over the 34GP83A which we recommend as a gaming option, incidentally. Or over an alternative with G-SYNC module like the Acer X34 S. All you get is mediocre VESA DisplayHDR 600 – based on user feedback I’ve received it’s not exactly the best implementation for darker content. It tends to be rather bright-biased and the dimming zones can be set to a setting which is either pretty ineffective or one that’s hyper-aggressive without the ability to set between the two. It can give some nice ‘pop’ to brighter content and adds a bit of ‘dynamicness’ to the experience still. Depends what you’re after in that respect and it is certainly a unique product. But be under no illusion – it’s not a particularly compelling HDR experience that’s offered here even for the VESA DisplayHDR 600 level.

As a sidenote, I’ll shortly be reviewing the BenQ EW3880R which is like their version of the LG 38WN75C with the inclusion of a wider colour gamut and some BenQ-specific features. It’s limited to 60Hz, but as usual there will be a section of the review focusing on the screen size and resolution. So there will be some images there showing the sort of ‘desktop real estate’ you can expect from the screen. You’d be able to compare that with 34″ 3440 x 1440 models we’ve reviewed where the reviews have similar sections.

[drtim]

The BenQ EW3880R looks interesting. However, in saying that I am not hung up on a 38″ monitor. I am ok with a 34″ monitor. I think that is more than ample for my needs. Which monitor do you think is easiest on the eyes for reading? BenQ EW3880R vs LG 38WN75C vs LG 34GP950G? I am really leaning towards a great all rounder monitor. I want it to be easy on the eyes because the monitor will be used more for productivity and reading than any other purpose. In saying that, it will also be used for movies/videos and possibly VR in the future.

I was leaning towards the LG 34GP950G because it had local dimming, G-SYNC Ultimate, VESA DisplayHDR 600, and a Reader Mode LBL. However, I am not sure that you think these extras are worth it? I thought that the LG 34GP950G monitor is a better monitor than the LG 34GP83A, but possibly that is not the case?

[Author]

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