Did I make a mistake?

[tweaks_mcgee]

Hi all,

I recently purchased a new CPU and Mobo, and wonder if I made the right choice.

MSI Pro A Z690 - DDR4
I5 13600k

I have a 6950xt and am wondering if I should have gone with 5800x3D instead? Today I also see 12900k for same price as I paid for my 13600k.

I don't do VR and only have a single monitor planned for the time being, as triples takes up too much space (but that's my plan, to make space for triple). My 1080p/60hz has gotta go, and am not sure what to buy, but 1440p or higher is my plan.

Play mostly Dirt Rally 2.0 and started iRacing recently. Some AC is also in my mix. Any help or tips are appreciated. Thanks in advance.

 

[Neilski]

Nothing wrong with those choices in my view. (All the more so if you were able to recycle existing DDR4.)

 

[Spinelli]

Hi all,

I recently purchased a new CPU and Mobo, and wonder if I made the right choice.

MSI Pro A Z690 - DDR4
I5 13600k

I have a 6950xt and am wondering if I should have gone with 5800x3D instead? Today I also see 12900k for same price as I paid for my 13600k.

I don't do VR and only have a single monitor planned for the time being, as triples takes up too much space (but that's my plan, to make space for triple). My 1080p/60hz has gotta go, and am not sure what to buy, but 1440p or higher is my plan.

Play mostly Dirt Rally 2.0 and started iRacing recently. Some AC is also in my mix. Any help or tips are appreciated. Thanks in advance.

Great choice. For a budget build, I would have picked a used 12600K instead. Later, it could always be sold to upgrade to a Raptor Lake Refresh chip coming in the next 3-6 months (13690K or 13660K or 14600K or whatever they decide to call it) but, ya, great low-cost combo you have there especially if you're using DDR4 you already had or got some for very cheap.

You'll also be able to make some good gains via overclocking your RAM (full tune, not just frequency and primaries) and CPU if you're into that. I've seen people with 13600Ks getting some pretty monster overclocks like 5.5, even 5.6, GHz all-core.

If I'm not mistaken, getting a 5800x3D would mean you're stuck on that platform & CPU for best performance while going with Z690 means you can always upgrade to Raptor Lake Refresh in the future.

 

[RasmusP]

Today I also see 12900k for same price as I paid for my 13600k.

Higher power consumption, lower ram OC.
I'd say you made the right choice

Mobo looks good, ddr4 still makes more sense price/performance wise and the gpu is very good.

The 5800x3D might show higher fps in some games but the raw performance of the Intel is better and the multicore performance is way better.
The 5800x3D would only be the better choice when you mainly race ACC and play the games where it shines.

 

[tweaks_mcgee]

Thanks folks. Feeling better now.

Onto the premium for a 34 21:9 vs a cheaper 32 16:9 for a single 1440p monitor debate LOL

 

[RasmusP]

Thanks folks. Feeling better now.

Onto the premium for a 34 21:9 vs a cheaper 32 16:9 for a single 1440p monitor debate LOL

You could buy a 21:9 1080p?
I can tell you: 21:9 instead of 16:9 is MASSIVE for simracing!
For my 49° vertical FOV it looks like this:

1440p gives quite bit better sharpness/clarity but honestly, it has not much impact on aliasing and the better visuals aren't worth the fps loss.
But I'm reading quite a lot at my pc and for texts, it's a big difference!

 

[Spinelli]

Thanks folks. Feeling better now.

Onto the premium for a 34 21:9 vs a cheaper 32 16:9 for a single 1440p monitor debate LOL

I guess it depends on your budget but I'd really try to get a 38" 21:9 (actually 24:10, a tiny, tiny bit wider than 21:9).

Vertically, a 38" 24:10 is about 1" smaller than a 32" 16:9. So think of it as an "ultrawide version of a 1" shorter than a 32" inch 16:9 monitor...monitor" if that makes sense. The 34" 21:9, on the other hand, is an ultrawide version of a 27" monitor.

If you're fine with the size of a 27" 16:9 monitor then go ahead with the 34" 21:9. If you're looking for something bigger then go for 38" 24:10.

If you have a humungous budget and want to stay with a single screen then just get the LG 45" 21:9 and call it a day, lol.

 

[RasmusP]

Here in Germany the prices for these monitors are:
3440x1440, 120 Hz+:
VA panel = 350€
IPS panel = 680€

3800x1600, 120 Hz+:
Only IPS available = 1180€

I'd like to replace mine for such a slightly bigger one as you mention but they are quite expensive for now

 

[Spinelli]

How about used?

 

[tweaks_mcgee]

I am open to anything... The 34 being only as tall as a 27 is my biggest hold back.

Used is ok but where I live, they are rare to find. I have been looking.

I have a 10x10ft room with a twin XL bed that is 40x82" and my rig... Doors and closet need clearance and have a baseboard heater along one wall. Tempted to do some measuring and moving around and see if I can make room for triple 32 1440p...

 

[pattikins]

Just food for thought. If you have space for 3 x 1440p (11 million pixels) 32" monitors, with eyefinity, it might be worth exploring the possibility of matching up a mixed monitor display, .i.e., UW-QHD (34" 3440x1440 - 109.68 PPI, 0.2316mm dot pitch) monitor with two 27" WQHD (108.79 PPI, 0.2335mm dot pitch). Alternatively, a UW-UXGA (30") paired with two 23" 1080p monitors will come in @ 7.2 million pixels.

 

[RasmusP]

Just food for thought. If you have space for 3 x 1440p (11 million pixels) 32" monitors, with eyefinity, it might be worth exploring the possibility of matching up a mixed monitor display, .i.e., UW-QHD (34" 3440x1440 - 109.68 PPI, 0.2316mm dot pitch) monitor with two 27" WQHD (108.79 PPI, 0.2335mm dot pitch). Alternatively, a UW-UXGA (30") paired with two 23" 1080p monitors will come in @ 7.2 million pixels.

Does mixing vertical resolutions work fine with eyefinity and/or nvidia surround?
I have no experience but I though the final image must be a rectangle, which is then split where the bezels are with the bezels being "cut out".

 

[pattikins]

I'm not 100 percent sure about the UW-QHD combo (it should work in principle - probably needs more research). About 5/6 years ago, I combined a 29" (21:9) with two 23" (16:9) using a R9 390/Vega 56 (using Eyefinity). The vertical resolution/monitor heights matched up nicely. The major downside, however, was changing brand (1080ti).

 

[RasmusP]

I'm not 100 percent sure about the UW-QHD combo (it should work in principle - probably needs more research). About 5/6 years ago, I combined a 29" (21:9) with two 23" (16:9) using a R9 390/Vega 56 (using Eyefinity). The vertical resolution/monitor heights matched up nicely. The major downside, however, was changing brand (1080ti).

But did they have the same vertical resolution or just the same heights?
I'm a bit confused
I know that 3440x1440 + 2x 2560x1440 should work nicely without issues. But I'm not sure about 3440x1440 + 2x 1920x1080.

 

[tweaks_mcgee]

Anyone heard of the MSI MAG401QR? 40" UWQHD with IPS and 155hz. Has the height of a 32" 16:9, but wider. Not many reviews out there tho.

 

[RasmusP]

Anyone heard of the MSI MAG401QR? 40" UWQHD with IPS and 155hz. Has the height of a 32" 16:9, but wider. Not many reviews out there tho.

Wow, looks great on paper and is something "fresh" to the market!
It's not available in Europe and the news articles about it are only 6 weeks old.
So I didn't hear about it but it seems to be quite nice! Might make for a great center monitor when using triples!
It's flat, which is good. Triples with curved monitors are always a bit weird.
The curves give nice immersion, but you get distortion since the sim is rendering everything to a flat "viewport", which is then simply bent by the monitor.
Like bending a printed photo.

I'm still waiting for a setting that switches the engines to render to a curved viewport where you type in your screen radius.

 

[pattikins]

But did they have the same vertical resolution or just the same heights?
I'm a bit confused
I know that 3440x1440 + 2x 2560x1440 should work nicely without issues. But I'm not sure about 3440x1440 + 2x 1920x1080.

I should've been clearer. My previous Eyefinity setup was: 16:9 (1920*1080 - 23")|21:9 (2560*1080 - 29")|16:9 (1920*1080 - 23"), i.e., 6400*1080 (+ bezel correction). The vertical resolution was the same across all monitors. I used the dpi/dot pitch from the 21:9 center monitor to determine the diagonal of the (16:9) side monitors, and panel height. I'm sure there is a better way of doing it, but this method at the time worked for me.

 

[RasmusP]

I should've been clearer. My previous Eyefinity setup was: 16:9 (1920*1080 - 23")|21:9 (2560*1080 - 29")|16:9 (1920*1080 - 23"), i.e., 6400*1080 (+ bezel correction). The vertical resolution was the same across all monitors. I used the dpi/dot pitch from the 21:9 center monitor to determine the diagonal of the (16:9) side monitors, and panel height. I'm sure there is a better way of doing it, but this method at the time worked for me. View attachment 665894View attachment 665895

Thanks for the clarification!
I did something similar when helping a friend finding 2 vertical side monitors for his main monitor.

But I didn't find that calculator for some reason and solved it with 2 equations, 2 unknowns and put that into excel.
Sadly the result was that there aren't any monitors matching this.
He found an old 60 Hz 5:4 Monitor at work though, which comes close enough and was free..

I think there's a market vor vertical monitors matching 27" and 32" 16:9 monitors with same ppi (1080p/1440p) and 100 Hz+.
Probably the wrong forum for these "office" thoughts though

 

[Spinelli]

MSI MAG401QR

What is your budget for the monitor/s?

I have the new LG 45GR95QE-B. It's OLED, 45", 21:9, 800R, 240 Hz, HDR, etc.

In my opinion, it's the best single-monitor gaming setup on the market for multiple reasons.

However, in the end, I'm still just looking at a "flat piece of paper". The monitor could have a resolution of 16K, with 10,000 nit brightness, at 1,000,000 Hz, and 0.0000000000000000001 ms pixel-response time but, in the end, it's still just 2D. I'm still just looking at, basically, a moving drawing. If you want your game to actually "feel" & look like a truly real, physical world instead of essentially a moving drawing, you need to get something that's capable of 3D / stereo vision.

If you go that route, you have two choices. Nvidia 3D Vision with single or (preferably) triple 27" monitors or a VR headset.

If you go with triple 3D monitors, you'll have to visit the 3D Vision forums and download fixes in order for newer games to look right since official Nvidia support dropped a few years back. This is the method I did until 8 months ago (when Ireplaced it with a VR headset) and it was freaking brilliant and I miss it a lot (except when I wear my VR headset).

If you go with a VR headset - I recommend this unless you're hardcore about 3D and want to deal with the fixes/patches and forums involved with 3D monitors - then I can only personally recommend Pimax due to the incredibly small h.FOV on all other headsets.

If you're not interested in either of these options (3D monitor/s or VR headset) then I won't mention them anymore here but, ya, what's your budget?

 

[tweaks_mcgee]

The 40 inch is definitely a big consideration. I think if I chose triples, it would be 3 identical ones.

There is an Acer Nitro 32 XV320QU is a 170hz IPS 1440p on sale for $300CAD right now. Three of those and the ASR triple stand. I may just do it. Big buy, but get what I want.