Budget Ultrawides - A Minefield?

[danny26]

I'm in the process of moving away from the desk and building my first dedicated rig, although I'm restricted by both budget and space. I already have a GTOmega Apex stand so it's a no-brainer to add the rear seat frame and monitor mount and call it a job done, but now I'm spending my days trawling through monitor reviews. My current screen, a 27" 16:9 QHD, is staying put, so I need something dedicated solely to sim racing, although it would be nice to repurpose it in future if I eventually move to triples.

I have about £500 and 85cm of width to play with, so I'm looking at some 34" 21:9 affairs, particularly the Dell S3422DWG, HP X34, and Huawei Mateview GT. At the moment, I'm torn between going for a good tight curve for immersion (1500R on the Huawei), and sticking with flat to get an IPS panel (I hear the VAs are a bit smeary when it comes to darker pictures).

An alternative at the top of my budget would possibly be the Samsung G7 - a 32" 16:9. I'd lose some HFOV, but I'd gain a crazy 1000R curve and apparently the fastest VA panel on the market. This thing has some glowing reviews but I'm cautious of the super-tight curve and the slight lack of width compared to some cheaper ultrawides. I could also spend £200 less on the flat HP, which is a decent amount of beer tokens.

Does anyone have any experience with these screens or this upgrade path?

tl;dr - cheap 34" ultrawides? Curved VA? Flat IPS? 32" G7? Bueller? Bueller?

 

[blekenbleu]

While no doubt being in a minority, I question whether the rear seat frame is a useful upgrade,
particularly with restricted budget and space. With desk chair strapped to a wheel stand,
load cell brake and 13N.m direct drive wheel work fine with no perceived flex.
Also, if you have a chance to try VR before buying an ultrawide, do try.
For those in the EU, Pico Neo 3 is competitively priced...

 

[danny26]

I appreciate the advice, cheers. At the moment I'm adopting a hybrid approach using the stand and my current office desk/chair, but setting it up every time is a bit of a pain. There's also a lot of movement in the chair and I've had to replace its wheels with flat feet to accommodate the load cell pedals, which keeps the thing anchored nicely but is a pain when moving around. I use my current setup for work so I'm hesitant to keep compromising both my sim racing experience and my work environment by going for more 'best of both worlds' solutions, so separating the two entirely seems to be the way forward. Budget-wise it's only about 300 quid for the frame, seat and monitor mount, which I'm happy with, and it gives me the option to expand further later down the line.

As for VR - I've owned an Oculus CV1 for a good few years now and the sim experience is unmatched even with the old low-res screen, but no matter how persistent and patient I am with trying to get my VR legs, I just end up sick within minutes. Desk fans, ginger root, short daily sessions, I've tried the lot for years and had no luck, so I'm hesitant to splash out on something like a Reverb or Quest. VR's obviously brilliant but I just don't have the stomach for it.

 

[stigs2cousin]

To take the opposite stand I´d say that getting a stable rig is worth the money and circumstance.
You´ll have a defined seating position and can build up muscle memory.

( Not to mention you can just jump in and drive, no need to fuss around with straps and put everything away again to work )

Monitorwise can´t help you, sorry for that.

When getting away from the PS4 on TV started "the right way" with 27" triples.
(BTW, these need a footprint of ca 140x70 cm)

I don´t know if 24" are still a thing ( and if you could fit them) but that would be better than an Ultrawide in my opinion. No Idea how much space they would need ??

OH, and if the 84cm are in a corner or between furniture, could you place the rig in an angle or with the seat to the wall to find more room for monitors?

MFG Carsten

 

[danny26]

Cheers Carsten, that's some solid advice.

I did look at triples but my sim PC is also my work PC so I'd be running a total of 5 monitors, which creates some awkwardness with daisy-chaining DisplayPorts etc. Getting 3 decent 24" screens would probably fit within the budget but a bit of pythagorean magic tells me I'd still need over a metre of space to get them all in alongside my desk (which is where I'm limited in terms of width).

 

[dandry98]

tl;dr - cheap 34" ultrawides? Curved VA? Flat IPS? 32" G7? Bueller? Bueller?

So I have some specific luck with the exact sort of monitor and aspect ratio you describe. I have a 34" UWHD MSI monitor I got on a damaged box special at a local electronics store for $290 USD. It is a 144hz 1ms response monitor and I'll be honest, I love it. With my monitor arm on a desk, I can set it just past the wheelbase and won't run into it with the wheel and can get really wide FOV. Using a calculator, I run actually 3 degrees less FOV than I'm recommended based on size/distance from my eyes, I don't need the extra view. I get 67 degrees just fine and with some camera adjustment, it looks as good as any G9 set ups I've seen.

Quality is astounding and color is very nice as well. All around the absolute best budget option for me, looking back.

 

[danny26]

So I have some specific luck with the exact sort of monitor and aspect ratio you describe. I have a 34" UWHD MSI monitor I got on a damaged box special at a local electronics store for $290 USD. It is a 144hz 1ms response monitor and I'll be honest, I love it. With my monitor arm on a desk, I can set it just past the wheelbase and won't run into it with the wheel and can get really wide FOV. Using a calculator, I run actually 3 degrees less FOV than I'm recommended based on size/distance from my eyes, I don't need the extra view. I get 67 degrees just fine and with some camera adjustment, it looks as good as any G9 set ups I've seen.

Quality is astounding and color is very nice as well. All around the absolute best budget option for me, looking back.

Thanks for the advice! I started leaning towards the big 16:9 panels but I read your post late last night and decided to drive up to one of the big e-tailer showrooms this morning and you're right - the ultrawides are so much better at filling your view than even the super-curved 32s, especially with a nice gentle curve like 1900R. I think I'll save up a bit more for one of the nice curved IPS displays.

 

[RasmusP]

So I have some specific luck with the exact sort of monitor and aspect ratio you describe. I have a 34" UWHD MSI monitor I got on a damaged box special at a local electronics store for $290 USD. It is a 144hz 1ms response monitor and I'll be honest, I love it. With my monitor arm on a desk, I can set it just past the wheelbase and won't run into it with the wheel and can get really wide FOV. Using a calculator, I run actually 3 degrees less FOV than I'm recommended based on size/distance from my eyes, I don't need the extra view. I get 67 degrees just fine and with some camera adjustment, it looks as good as any G9 set ups I've seen.

Quality is astounding and color is very nice as well. All around the absolute best budget option for me, looking back.

Sounds great!
I guess you run the monitor at 144 hz without gsync or freesync and just let the fps be whatever they are?

May I ask the distance from your eyes to the center of the monitor? Sounds reeeeally close! I'd like to lean forward to the same distance and check the view since I also have a 34" ultrawide

 

[RasmusP]

Thanks for the advice! I started leaning towards the big 16:9 panels but I read your post late last night and decided to drive up to one of the big e-tailer showrooms this morning and you're right - the ultrawides are so much better at filling your view than even the super-curved 32s, especially with a nice gentle curve like 1900R. I think I'll save up a bit more for one of the nice curved IPS displays.

Definitely!
There are quite some use cases where more height is better but simracing is probably the last on that list.
Or rather fallen off!

 

[RedBull48]

Thanks for the advice! I started leaning towards the big 16:9 panels but I read your post late last night and decided to drive up to one of the big e-tailer showrooms this morning and you're right - the ultrawides are so much better at filling your view than even the super-curved 32s, especially with a nice gentle curve like 1900R. I think I'll save up a bit more for one of the nice curved IPS displays.

I currently utilize a triple config in which I have a 34" ultrawide in the center paired with 2 x 27" on the sides. Personally I love having the ultrawide in the middle as it offers such a wide range in your mid focus. I use a gigabyte panel with a 144hz refresh 1ms response and I find quite affordable. I have been exceptionally happy with my monitor in it's about 1.5 years of use. Here is a link if you would like to review it.

Gigabyte 34" curved ultrawide

 

[SIMPSON Taylor]

I currently utilize a triple config in which I have a 34" ultrawide in the center paired with 2 x 27" on the sides. Personally I love having the ultrawide in the middle as it offers such a wide range in your mid focus. I use a gigabyte panel with a 144hz refresh 1ms response and I find quite affordable. I have been exceptionally happy with my monitor in it's about 1.5 years of use. Here is a link if you would like to review it.

Gigabyte 34" curved ultrawide

I have the same gigabyte 34" (excellent screen BTW, for the price) and have been playing with the idea of adding a pair of 27" screens to the side.

What model are you using for the 27" and do they align well/have similar color, contrast, etc?

 

[danny26]

Here is a link if you would like to review it.

Gigabyte 34" curved ultrawide

I have the same gigabyte 34" (excellent screen BTW, for the price)

Thanks for the input! I'm a big fan of the smaller Gigabyte monitors I already own so this is definitely on the list. And I love the idea of using 27" panels on the side to create a wide triple setup one day

 

[RedBull48]

I have the same gigabyte 34" (excellent screen BTW, for the price) and have been playing with the idea of adding a pair of 27" screens to the side.

What model are you using for the 27" and do they align well/have similar color, contrast, etc?

I use Gigabyte G27QC's on the sides. In vertical dimension the monitors have about a .1" difference however due to the vesa mounts being slightly different I was able to line them up by offsetting them with the profile arms and using Sim lab vario vesa mounts. After adjusting the slight differences in stock color profile I find them to be nearly identical, at least to my eye.

Gigabyte 27" curved monitor
SimLab Vario Vesa Mounts

I have also attached a picture to give you a reference.

 

[dandry98]

Sounds great!
I guess you run the monitor at 144 hz without gsync or freesync and just let the fps be whatever they are?

May I ask the distance from your eyes to the center of the monitor? Sounds reeeeally close! I'd like to lean forward to the same distance and check the view since I also have a 34" ultrawide

I am about 6" less than my shoulder to my fingertips away, its kinda hard to measure without help so this is my best guess. For me, that is 26" i think? just a bit over 2 feet I know that much.

And yes, I run at 144hz and go for max display quality. For me, the closer to real life the important details look the better, and Ive had the best, consistent experience going for as high settings as I can with no DLSS and no frame cap with a heavy overclock on my 3060 XD