34" UW Monitor, Need to Supplement w/GPU

[cctaylor88]

I purchased an LG34UC88-b monitor and absolutely love the thing, however my GPU is completely lacking as I have been waiting for the massive storms to clear. Currently have a completely new build less the GPU which is why I am here.

Here's my dilemma, the monitor is incredible but it is Freesync afterall (didn't want to drop an extra $320ish for a Gsync monitor) so I was kind of attached to getting an AMD GPU. After watching a ton of benchmark reviews of the 480 etc, it seems like a fantastic card and all for the price but the 1070 blows it out of the water (yes I know its twice as much). Crossfire/SLI is not an option as I feel games don't support this and it causes more headache than its worth.

So here's my question.. should I wait for the AIB 480s to drop in order to utilize my monitors freesync capabilities or just forget the whole freesync thing, save up a little more, and go for a 1070 down the line. I can't wait for vega (currently running a GTX 760) so that isn't an option. I don't need to max every graphical setting but I dropped a good amount of coin on my new build and want to bring the GPU up to par.

Would I be doing myself a disservice by pairing the 34" UW (freesync) monitor with a Nvidia GPU? What would be the performance difference with an AMD 480 and Freesync enabled vs. a 1070 and no sync to speak of?

 

[xthetenth]

The monitor is priced such that Freesync is a nice positive add-on. It's very likely not going to give an outright better experience with a 480 than with a 1070, but it will make a 480 give a proportionally better experience.

It boils down to whether you want to spend more for that extra performance. You'd get a higher framerate roughly proportional to the money spent, but freesync would make the lower framerate feel better, so if the 480's in the price and performance bracket you were looking at (and you're already okay with the settings and everything that would entail), I'd probably recommend not upselling yourself since you do seem to be price sensitive. Cross shopping different brackets is hard, because my rule of thumb with my freesync screen is that it's a strong tiebreaker, so if they're close I'd go with the AMD every time to get that free boost, but it's down to your preference whether the 480 and 1070 are actually tied.

Whichever way you go, enjoy it (I know you will, ultrawides are amazing, I'm having a great time with my XR341CK and 290 even though I have to turn down some settings/rely on Freesync to smooth out 40 fps framerates, which it does do pretty well at).

 

[cctaylor88]

The monitor is priced such that Freesync is a nice positive add-on. It's very likely not going to give an outright better experience with a 480 than with a 1070, but it will make a 480 give a proportionally better experience.

It boils down to whether you want to spend more for that extra performance. You'd get a higher framerate roughly proportional to the money spent, but freesync would make the lower framerate feel better, so if the 480's in the price and performance bracket you were looking at (and you're already okay with the settings and everything that would entail), I'd probably recommend not upselling yourself since you do seem to be price sensitive. Cross shopping different brackets is hard, because my rule of thumb with my freesync screen is that it's a strong tiebreaker, so if they're close I'd go with the AMD every time to get that free boost, but it's down to your preference whether the 480 and 1070 are actually tied.

Whichever way you go, enjoy it (I know you will, ultrawides are amazing, I'm having a great time with my XR341CK and 290 even though I have to turn down some settings/rely on Freesync to smooth out 40 fps framerates, which it does do pretty well at).

So how is your 290 currently handling the UW monitor? I dumped quite a bit of money into my latest build and I just want it to be reliable for a decent amount of time. My last build was in 2010 and it lasted until this year. I really want to do the same with this build. I was looking into the radeon r9 fury x but those are just too expensive tbh. For that money I think I'd just go with a 1080 but that's not happening. I'd go with a 1070 in any event but I really want to take advantage of freesync. So the FS does make a noticeable difference then? More or less just want to future proof this as much as possible, at least within the "midrange" Idk.

 

[brandonmatic]

I have a LG 34UM67 2560x1080 freesync monitor paired with a 290x. Freesync works great and is a huge improvement when the framerates fluctuate between 45 and 60 (Witcher 3, for example). I think both options are good ones. If I were you I'd probably wait for the AIB 480 cards to come out and see what prices are then. If the 8GB AIB 480 cards are less than $250 and the 1070 cards are still above $420, then I'd go with the 480 and later sell and upgrade in a couple of years. That seems like the way to get the best bang for your buck while having a good system.

 

[cctaylor88]

Well I have always been on team green, some of the AMD cards are more confusing for me naming wise. I am 100% going to wait until AIB 480s, I was looking at some higher end AMD cards but they seem a little pricey tbh, esp with the benches of the 1070/80 showing such fantastic results. For example, was looking into an R9 fury X (to utilize freesync) ... and wow. Never paying that price.

I just feel like I'm in a tough spot but I for sure need to upgrade from my 760

 

[xthetenth]

So how is your 290 currently handling the UW monitor? I dumped quite a bit of money into my latest build and I just want it to be reliable for a decent amount of time. My last build was in 2010 and it lasted until this year. I really want to do the same with this build. I was looking into the radeon r9 fury x but those are just too expensive tbh. For that money I think I'd just go with a 1080 but that's not happening. I'd go with a 1070 in any event but I really want to take advantage of freesync. So the FS does make a noticeable difference then? More or less just want to future proof this as much as possible, at least within the "midrange" Idk.

My 290 is plenty good for now but I'd be making compromises as time goes on if I ran with it for much more than two years. I'm probably going to get a Vega card when they drop because I spend too much money on my computer and no matter how good the price/perf, having spent more on my SSD than my GPU is an ongoing source of shame.

I'd personally recommend that even if you only do full rebuilds every 4-6 years, that you consider upgrading your GPU once or twice in that period even if that means buying a cheaper card now. They gain enough performance over time (alternately the price of a given performance level drops enough over time) that upgrading will mean you don't spend the second half of that time with a card that's long enough in the tooth that it doesn't matter whether or not it was top end. It becomes an especially sound way of doing things if you're willing to sell cards used. An RX 480 is going to be a solid option for a while yet in all likelihood even if a 1070 would outperform it, a 580 would be expected to run even with the 1070, and as the 1070 needs performance most, a 680 would kill it. If you get reasonable sale prices on the 480 and 580 they'd probably cost a similar amount overall. That's how I'd do it, you might have different priorities that mean a 1070 makes more sense. You'd also get the benefit of Freesync, which would even things up in the short term and give a bigger advantage in the long term.

 

[Headfoot]

Get a AIB 480 and wait until Vega drops and upgrade to that. Freesync is totally worth using.

 

[richaron]

Looks like a great monitor, and I'm more than a little jelly, but you must consider the limited Freesync range you're working with (48-75Hz, right?). This is not wide enough for LFC (none of the big IPS are ), so really you don't want to be going below 48 FPS. And on top of that, Freesync will be basically useless above the 75 FPS figure.

Now on plenty of 2560x1440 reviews the 480 can get above the 48 FPS with max/high settings, adding another 30% more pixels will make a big difference, so depending on the game I suspect by tuning settings you could get your ~60 FPS average. What games do you play?

The other option is of course trying to brute force your way to >75 FPS so having Freesync is a moot point anyway.

Assuming an AIB 480 is in the ballpark performance wise; I guess it depends on how much experimenting/tinkering with (and lowering) graphics options your willing to put up with. Saving money is of course a bonus, as is Freesync in action, but more raw muscle also counts with high res screens.

 

[Bacon1]

Get a AIB 480 and wait until Vega drops and upgrade to that. Freesync is totally worth using.

Exactly.

Get a nice custom 480 and wait. You'll spend a fortune trying to buy a gsync monitor and then you'll be forced to only buy Nvidia in the future.

Nvidia will have to support Freesync in the next 2 years or lose a massive amount of sales.

Turn down a few settings in games, you won't notice most of them and the 480 should be able to handle it fine. My stock 290 has held up great @ 2560x1600 and does well with 3440x1440 as well.

 

[xthetenth]

Looks like a great monitor, and I'm more than a little jelly, but you must consider the limited Freesync range you're working with (48-75Hz, right?). This is not wide enough for LFC (none of the big IPS are ), so really you don't want to be going below 48 FPS. And on top of that, Freesync will be basically useless above the 75 FPS figure.

Now on plenty of 2560x1440 reviews the 480 can get above the 48 FPS with max/high settings, adding another 30% more pixels will make a big difference, so depending on the game I suspect by tuning settings you could get your ~60 FPS average. What games do you play?

The other option is of course trying to brute force your way to >75 FPS so having Freesync is a moot point anyway.

Assuming an AIB 480 is in the ballpark performance wise; I guess it depends on how much experimenting/tinkering with (and lowering) graphics options your willing to put up with. Saving money is of course a bonus, as is Freesync in action, but more raw muscle also counts with high res screens.

The XR341CK has a wide enough range for LFC actually, and I make use of it sometimes. I think that keeping framerates over 48 is definitely doable but would mean working with settings sometimes, and particularly demanding games may mean going a bit below High. It's still going to be a great experience for the price though.

 

[cctaylor88]

Get a AIB 480 and wait until Vega drops and upgrade to that. Freesync is totally worth using.

So you yourself use Freesync? I ask because I have never used it but my UW supports it. But on the other hand the 1070 seems like a great option so I'm really b/t a 1070 or a 480 with FS... thoughts? What freesync setup do you currently use?

 

[cctaylor88]

Looks like a great monitor, and I'm more than a little jelly, but you must consider the limited Freesync range you're working with (48-75Hz, right?). This is not wide enough for LFC (none of the big IPS are ), so really you don't want to be going below 48 FPS. And on top of that, Freesync will be basically useless above the 75 FPS figure.

Now on plenty of 2560x1440 reviews the 480 can get above the 48 FPS with max/high settings, adding another 30% more pixels will make a big difference, so depending on the game I suspect by tuning settings you could get your ~60 FPS average. What games do you play?

The other option is of course trying to brute force your way to >75 FPS so having Freesync is a moot point anyway.

Assuming an AIB 480 is in the ballpark performance wise; I guess it depends on how much experimenting/tinkering with (and lowering) graphics options your willing to put up with. Saving money is of course a bonus, as is Freesync in action, but more raw muscle also counts with high res screens.

So I get the majority of what you are stating but some of it is over my head. I do understand that the range is 48-75 like you said but I don't really understand when/how freesync will kick in.

Are you saying unless I'm able to perfectly find that FPS range while gaming then FS just won't work at all?

You believe I should skip the 480 and just get more muscle, possibly the 1070

 

[cctaylor88]

Exactly.

Get a nice custom 480 and wait. You'll spend a fortune trying to buy a gsync monitor and then you'll be forced to only buy Nvidia in the future.

Nvidia will have to support Freesync in the next 2 years or lose a massive amount of sales.

Turn down a few settings in games, you won't notice most of them and the 480 should be able to handle it fine. My stock 290 has held up great @ 2560x1600 and does well with 3440x1440 as well.

Having Nvidia support Freesync sounds nice and all but they are currently the king of the market IMO, even tho I want to stay AMD loyal. What makes you say "in the next 2 years or lose a massive amount of sales" Why wouldn't they be losing sales right now? I think their sales are soaring. What changes in two years?

Yeah I do like the idea of the 480 to Vega route, but it sounds like the freesync "range" on my monitor is limited and the 480 might not even utilize Freesync?

 

[guachi]

Yes, your freesync range is limited. I looked up various freesync monitors and the 55Hz minimum of your monitor is about the minimum I saw (tied with previous LG models).

And the 75Hz maximum isn't very high, either. Though IPS and 1440 are both so much better than TN and 1080 that it's a fair trade in my estimation.

Given the high minimum framerate, You might not wish to buy a 480 unless you hack the LG to accept lower (and you can) and wait for Vega. Alternatively, you can lower settings to boost framerates.

I've seen freesync in action all of once, but it was really nice. Really nice. Also, your monitor is fantastic.

I don't know what kind of games you play, but buying a custom 480 in a few weeks isn't a bad idea. Probably with 8GB considering your resolution. There are probably enough games that you play where you'll get some benefit from freesync. And if you don't because of FPS either above 75 or below 55 then you can be happy you didn't spend much extra (if any) for freesync and you are using a really good monitor (from what I can tell).

Yes, you could wait for Vega, but why wait months when you can wait days? Or you can buy a 1070. If they are even in stock at a reasonable price. And never use freesync. And spend $200 more. When you could just take that $200 and buy four games.

 

[Ackmed]

I just got the Asus PG348Q 34" curved monitor and looking at the NV 1070 for my new build. The 1080 is sold out almost everywhere and to me not worth the money difference. I have traditionally been an ATi guy, but will always get what is best. Since my monitor has Gsync and not Freesync I really have no choice.

But I am not building until mid September so maybe the 1080 will actually become more available and drop in price, we'll see.

 

[Ackmed]

Received the monitor today, very amazed by it. Came from a 24" WS, huge step up. Frustrated that some games choose not to support it, but the games that do look amazing. Very easy to set up, controls are good, FPS counter and reticle are nice touches too. System isn't fast enough to push it, but going to wait till Sept to build as I will be out of town for a month. Just in time for Battlefield 1!