1000 days in 32:9 - A comprehensive review of the Samsung Odyssey Neo G9 and the super ultrawide experience
Posted by simspelaaja@reddit | hardware | View on Reddit | 33 comments
Swoly_Deadlift@reddit
Author kind of highlights a lot of the issues I also had during 2 years of 32:9 monitor use. What drives me most insane about these monitors is that they could be incredibly useful if you could split the display into 3 inputs (16:9 center flanked by 18:9 side displays) but no manufacturers support that.
Switching back to 16:9 took a little time to get used to, but never having to fiddle with window management or dealing with HUDs pushed to the edge of my peripheral vision is worth it to me. I personally don't see any real applications for these monitors outside of sim racing and flight sims.
Lee1138@reddit
This is what I want too. I have gotten far too used to the convenience of 3x 1440p to go back.
Sorry-Joke-4325@reddit
Hello, could you please describe the convenience of 3x 1440p so I can understand?
Lee1138@reddit
I don't like ultrawides for gaming, so personally it's so I can have a game in full screen on the middle monitor, and other things on the side monitors without having to use any management software etc to divide a ultrawide virtually.
Sorry-Joke-4325@reddit
Thanks. I'm not familiar with these issues, so I appreciate you explaining.
Different-Area-7059@reddit
21:9 user here but what helped me with the extra horizontal room is FancyZones (on Windows). Very easy to make a "recursive grid" pattern so I can have my windows in a priority grid, or 2x3 grid, or 2x2, etc.
simspelaaja@reddit (OP)
I'm the author!
This would be a great option, especially if someone made a monitor that uses DisplayPort MST for splitting / picture-by-picture with a single cable.
jonydevidson@reddit
This is already doable on MacOS using BetterDisplay. https://github.com/waydabber/BetterDisplay
Swoly_Deadlift@reddit
As far as I know there's no real convenient way to do it in Windows, especially with full-screen apps. There's no "clean" way to run a game at 16:9 with Discord off to the side on one of these monitors.
simspelaaja@reddit (OP)
After publishing this article I was reminded by a colleague about the existence of Borderless Gaming. I've actually had it on Steam for years, but for some reason never remember to use it with this monitor. Haven't tested it extensively, but it solves the sizing and / or positioning issues with borderless windows, at least in some games.
Swoly_Deadlift@reddit
The taskbar is still a huge issue for that though. There's no way to have the taskbar hidden behind your borderless game window but still visible everywhere else.
Plank_With_A_Nail_In@reddit
goal posts moved.
Swoly_Deadlift@reddit
How is that moving the goal post? How can I utilize the full 1440/2160 pixels in borderless Window mode if the task bar is there pushing my window up off the screen?
simspelaaja@reddit (OP)
A solution is to enable "Automatically hide the taskbar" so it no longer occupies any space. It's a bit awkward if you're not used it to, though.
Strazdas1@reddit
That is not a solution, as it hides it from the rest of the screen too.
Strazdas1@reddit
In my experience borderless gaming has worked great with some game engines and outright unusable with others. Some games would display a black screen with it.
Green_Struggle_1815@reddit
i think it should be doable on linux as well via xrandr.
BlobCow123@reddit
i have a 32” 32:9 and i love it. i can see so much. idc abt the fisheye. i feel cramped on 16:9. tho, i admit, any bigger would be worse
heeroyuy79@reddit
I had to set up a custom 21:9 resolution on mine (3440X1440) for the games that just don't play nice with the full 32:9 because windows gives me 32:9 or 16:9 and nothing else. as for what i mean by "games that don't play nice" It's mostly just the UI stretches across the screen so elements are at the far left and right of the screen - this is literally four foot distance and is a pain to deal with in most games
the two monitors option is nice but it turns off variable refresh rate and I would have to adjust my monitor (physically move the thing) each time I change from two "screens" to one big screen or back, getting a monitor arm would make this easier but one that can actually handle the sheer weighty girth of this thing costs a lot and would have to be correctly installed to prevent accidents
for games that work well at 32:9 I found most modern ubisoft stuff (asscreed vikings, division 2, avatar, skull and bones - during the technical tests at least) have a setting to restrict the UI to 16:9 (or stretch to the full width of the screen),
call of duty of all games lets me set the UI bounds to whatever the hell I want (MW2 is sliders and MW3 had a screen where you drag the bounds yourself) - in my opinion this should be the gold standard for ultra megawide support
hunt: showdown has all UI restricted to 16:9 there is no option to have it not do that
warframe is a mixed bag, you can restrict the gameplay UI but theres some menus that stretch
darktide and space marine 2 have mods that fix the UI and/or the camera
beyond these games I can't really think any others that have some form of "correct" 32:9 support
S0phon@reddit
Racing games.
heeroyuy79@reddit
but it would be a poor racing game that does not expect the triple (or more?) monitor set up
S0phon@reddit
Absolutely not. That's like saying it would be a poor AAA game that does not expect a 5070 Ti or more powerful.
The reality is that most people do not have a triple monitor + cockpit setup. Most people have a cheap Logitech bolted to their desk with a 27" work + gaming monitor. Some fancier people have VR or an ultra wide.
Only those with money and more importantly space have a full triple monitor setup.
Strazdas1@reddit
It would indeed. AAA games are supposed to push the envelope in graphical fidelity. Designing an AAA game without settings that make use of a 5070ti or better is you not actually making AAA anymore.
heeroyuy79@reddit
I was more pointing out that because the racing enthusiast scene likes their triple monitors a decent racing game would support such a set up
because a triple monitor setup is usually presented to windows as "one big monitor" via the graphics driver the good 32:9 support is a by-product of this support
Swoly_Deadlift@reddit
Anyone who has spent a good amount of time in iRacing has experienced getting absolutely waxed by some Brazilian dude playing on a Logitech G27 and 60Hz 1080p monitor. Triples are nice to have if you care about maximum immersion and have the space to justify it, but honestly just for the sake of simplicity I think a single 32:9 monitor is the way to go. You can have an entire cockpit on wheels that only requires a power cable and DisplayPort cable to set up, which is nice to have since a lot of sim racers don't have a dedicated PC just for racing games.
chapstickbomber@reddit
My own experience with the G9 has been great. If you use a normal FOV, you get mega fisheye and it is all wasted. Many games you have to set the FOV to minimum and then it looks pretty good, you have the advantage of having larger targets because the low FOV but still have normal peripheral.
BlueGumShoe@reddit
Wow what a great writeup. Super detailed. The FOV stuff is interesting and doesnt get discussed that much for some reason. Game rendering techniques affect how well a game will match the type of display you have in terms of size, resolution, panel shape and ratio.
The reality is that any game that is viewed from a human perspective (fov) is going to have an issue with ultrawide resolutions unless the game has been designed to accommodate them.
I had an ultrawide like 9/10 years when they were first really becoming more popular. It was fun when I could get it to work for games, but I spent a lot of time in config files trying to hack some solution together. I got rid of it after about a year. Whats crazy is that reading stuff like this, its a lot of the same issues I was dealing with like a decade ago!
Yeah more games support it technically, but then you get into all the issues with hud and perspective and all that. And I had no window snapping tools back then but it seems like even now they aren't a perfect solution.
I keep toying with the idea of getting another one for my next monitor, but its probably not going to happen. Everything is built for 16:9 and until that changes I dont think its worth it, unless you are building a sim rig or have 5 spreadsheets open all day.
Neuromancer23@reddit
So many people misunderstanding the main issue with 32:9 - it's not about where the hud ends up etc.
The main problem is the way games are rendered using rectilinear projection because they are meant for flat screens, which results in severe distortions/warping on curved or non 16:9 monitors.
For 32:9 to be great, we need 2 things:
- Monitor manufacturers wake up and stop putting ridiculous curves on them. You only need a very subtle curve to deal with large flat monitors looking bent backwards, ideally it would be a dome.
- All games going forward support panini reprojection
Old-Benefit4441@reddit
As the article admits, a lot of games and applications don't properly support the resolution. I think 34" ultrawides are okay but if you want more than that you're better off with 42" 16:9 OLED. Supported by everything and you still get the field of view filling screen. In fact unless you play games wearing Robocop cosplay, the 42" 16:9 is probably a lot closer to your field of view than a 49" 32:9 is.
DutchieTalking@reddit
Looking into my options when I got a new monitor, I went from 34" to 43". VA, though. But otherwise the same. Takes getting used to. But it's wider and taller. And just far less issues with gui and movies and such. I never lose screen estate, only gain.
A 32:9 just seems to like way too much.
Old-Benefit4441@reddit
I have a 48" LG C1 cause the 42 didn't exist yet. I'd probably get the 42 next time. The 48" is decent and nice for multitasking because it's like having 4 x 22" 1080P monitors but for some games especially older ones without adjustable field of views it can feel a bit big and it dominates your desk even if it's a big desk.
ketamarine@reddit
68 minute read = NOPE
JapariParkRanger@reddit
Username checks out