After much consideration, I have decided to forego G-Sync for now and buy the LG 34UM95 monitor. Since it has 240% more pixels than my 1080p monitor, I am going to upgrade to a GTX 980 (using a 670 now). I also plan on buying a new SSD, the Samsung 850 EVO 500GB (been using a 120GB for years). I have a few questions, though.

Why I Choosing This Monitor:

I would like to upgrade my display for a more immersive gaming experience. Many of the games I play, such as League of Legends, World of Warcraft, and Civilization 5, support the 21:9. A game I am interested in playing, Wildstar, supports the resolution, too.

I can also use the real estate to work on my thesis as having a word document and a .pdf journal article open and full-size at the same time as browsing scholarly journal databases... yeah, it'll help.

Also, this display has wall-mounts and, once I upgrade again a few years from now, I imagine using it as a TV and it still being of value.

Upgrading From

I have been using this monitor for almost three years:

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16824009316

So this will be a big upgrade. I am also normalized to 60Hz and a 5ms response time, so those "issues" with the 34UM95 won't affect me.

Video Card

I am currently using a GTX 670, so I will need more power to viably play games on ultra with nice settings on that monitor. I believe I am going to buy a GTX 980. I won't have bottlenecking from my CPU as I have a 3570k clocked at 4 GHz, so that won't be an issue. I considered a GTX 970 (for $200 less I definitely considered it!), but I am really leaning towards a 980 because, from the research and reading I have done about the 34UM95, is that the memory bandwidth of a 980 is substantially better for the 34UM95. The GTX 980 uses 4 GB bandwidth solid, while the 970 uses 3.5 GB + 512 MB segments. From what I have read, gaming with ultra settings at a higher resolution (1080p is 2 MegaPixels, 3440x1440 is 5.3 MegaPixels, whereas 4K is 8 MegaPixels... so 3440x1440 is closer to 4k than it is 1080p) really stresses the bandwidth past the 3.5 GB mark of the 970, and that stress usually results in negative visual effects in gaming (crazy screen tearing or something similar, forget this part of what I read). Plus, a GTX 980 would help power newer games on that monitor, such as Wildstar. I'd also feel better about having a higher minimum frame rate, if not so much a higher average.

Anyways

I plan on installing the SSD first and getting that up & running & good, then installing the GTX 980 and updating drivers. I then intend on disconnecting from the internet so Windows doesn't automatically download drivers for the monitor (which apparently screw it up), and installing the monitor with the drivers LG includes. Is this a sound way to install these three pieces of hardware?

Which GTX 980 would you guys suggest? I've been using the Gigabyte 670 Windforce and it has worked well, but I have had a very positive experience with EVGA (my old 8800 used to own TF2 & WoW & Bioshock back in the day).

Did I get the wrong impression from graphics card memory bandwidth and why I should take the 980 over the 970? I've read, pretty much everywhere, that the 970 destroys the 980 in performance/price, which I believe in (reason I got a 670 and not the 680 a few years back). Am I putting $200 & faith into smoke in mirrors?

Does anyone here actually use this monitor? How is it?

Also, I realize a G-Sync version of this monitor with a curve and 75Hz refresh rate is coming out in September for $1400, but this is significantly cheaper (will be $800 after taxes) and available now for me to work on my thesis and play games over summer. I start back at graduate school in September! Plus I feel better about using a flat monitor for a TV later on rather than a curved monitor (at least for this size of a TV, whereas I may prefer a curve to a 70").

Thanks so much for taking time to read this topic & answer questions/comment.

This post was edited by Interesting on May 13 2015 01:50am

all games u listed
aren't crysis graphics

980ti is out in weeks
next gen gpus will be such a huge leap
who cares about playing lol on med

I'm more concerned with playing WoW on ultra with all of the bells & whistles, getting into a raid with 25 people, and having the bandwidth of the 970 fall short to where I experience big-time tearing that requires a restart to fix. Not to mention Wildstar, or if I play BF4 or newer games (lot of the GTX cards come with Witcher 3 & Batman redemption coupons).

Should I wait to purchase a graphics card as the release of the 980ti will probably push the prices of the other cards significantly lower?

wow is more of a cpu hog
bf4 is dead
and even when a 980 at that res is iffy
http://www.guru3d.com/news-story/amd-radeon-r9-390x-to-skip-computex-launches-at-e3.html

I think I might wait and pick up a GTX 980 Ti if they really are releasing it in the next few weeks. For $100 or so more than I was planning to spend on the 980, I think it'd be a good investment.

Have you looked at the Titan X?

I have but it is hard to justify the price tag. The monitor I'm buying is only about 2/3 as demanding as 4K, and a 980 would power it just fine for almost all of the games I would want to play today. However, if prices may drop on the GTX 980 within a month, or the GTX 980 Ti is released for ~600, I'd rather wait for the GTX 980 Ti. The Titan X is overkill for non-4K 60Hz.

There is also an issue of my power supply. I have http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16817182132 which has been in use since October 2012, though not in very much use. I'm totally confident plugging in a 970, strongly confident plugging in a 980, feel-good about a GTX 980 Ti, but iffy on the Titan's draw on a 2.5 year old 650 W supply. So even going for the Titan I would tack on another $150-200 for a new power supply, at which point it just gets silly for technology that will become outdated within five years. At least the monitor can be a TV in the kitchen five years down the road, whereas the graphics card will be of little value or use.

If the Ti is released soon and there is stock, I believe I will purchase it. If it is released, drives down the price of the GTX 980, but is out of stock, then I'll happily pick up the GTX 980 instead. I'd probably pick up a nice GTX 970 if it wasn't for the bandwidth issues for high-resolution gaming performance on it.

This post was edited by Interesting on May 13 2015 11:19pm

If money isnt really an issue, Check out this acer that's coming out soon.


http://www.tftcentral.co.uk/news_archive/33.htm#acer_xr341ck

Yeah that's the dream monitor I want (I mention it at the end of my original post). However, it costs $600 more than the 34UM95 AND it doesn't come out until September. With the top-end monitor availability issues of recent years it could be hard to snag one before the Holiday season or even 2016. I'm going to have a ton of time this summer and need to work on my thesis and get back to gaming, so I want something for now and the next year.

It's not out of the realm of possibility that I buy that monitor sometime next year and make the 34UM95 an office monitor or a TV. Heck, the 34UM95 was $1200 (maybe even $1300) when it launched earlier in 2014 and its price has dropped considerably. I imagine G-Sync and Freesync monitors to do the same as the market saturates over the next couple years.

This post was edited by Interesting on May 13 2015 11:41pm

tbh i skimmed through your first post lol

Unfortunately there's about a $150-200 price tag along with the g-sync hardware.. But as someone who currently has a g-sync monitor i have to say, It is WELL worth it. Especially when you start getting into higher resolutions that tend to have fps fluctuations.

Afaik the curved acer is supposed to release early august & will be around $1,200 not $1,400.