 How did I move from this to this? Why did I downgrade from an ultra WQHD? And am I happy with a downgrade? The answer is mixed. I'm Rafael from Hardware Sugar and I'm getting nerd out on my nine-year obsession. Big or long? Ang video na to ay handog ni CDKoffers.com Marami kang mahanap na ibat-ibang uri ng software dito may games, apps, activation codes, or Windows 10 Check out our video on CDKoffers in the video description. Mabilis, mura, and, of course, legit dito. Madalil ang mag-order, search for the software you need, add to cart, check out, dan ka sa payment options nila Wala pa isang minuto, finished. May legit working CDK ka na sa software na pinilimo. Bitin ang aming promo code para mahakahuha pa ng extra 20% discount sa purchase mo. Kung naghanap ka ng mura, legit, and original software, check out CDKoffers.com Let me start off with how I got here. No one knows what they really want until they have it. In college, I only cared about having a monitor which worked and didn't have a dead pixel. So, I used a 24-inch Samsung monitor for throughout college. And then, I got a 27-inch model and thought that this is the biggest I would ever need. But, one trip to Japan in 2014 opened my eyes to ultra-wide displays. I didn't know what frame rates were and I didn't care. All I knew was that I wanted my games to be as big and clear as possible. The only problem was that, you could guess, no one had an affordable or much less even an ultra-wide monitor in their shops locally. Finally, on April 11, 2016, I brought home this baby. It cost 49,300 pesos. It was only 60 Hertz, but had a magnificent 34-inch display with a resolution of 3440x1440. I want to emphasize that this resolution is not 4K. It is in between 4K, which is 3840x2160 and WQHD, which is 2560x1440. If it wasn't for the ASUS TUF 3070 I had to review, I would never have felt what it was like to game above 60 Hertz. And I never felt the need to until I tasted the forbidden fruit. I was so impressed with the monitor that I borrowed from our shop that I bought the 32-inch version, which is actually 31.5 inches, for 28,000. That makes my new monitor 21,300 pesos cheaper than my original ultra-wide. My new MSI monitor has a refresh rate of 165 Hertz, but a panel resolution of just 2560x1440. My old setup. Two monitors, whether they are smaller monitors or big monitors, is superior to that of a single ultra-wide monitor. That is why I decided to pair up my ultra-wide with my 27-inch and why I now sport my ultra-wide as my new second monitor. My biggest problem with monitor arms is that while I really love my old Samsung monitors, none of them are Vesa mount compatible. That is why you see that weird clamp frame thing on one of my monitors. And, well, I will rant about this in a different video. Fuck. Safe to say, this is now my latest monitor setup. The first thing you may notice outright is that the monitors are disproportionate. The MSI is quite literally longer and the Samsung is wider. So why did I want a ultra-wide that was 60Hz to begin with? Well, this was like several years ago and to me, what was most important at the time was to have a more immersive experience. So I really liked the idea of having a wider screen and which had a higher pixel density. You actually have a clearer image of the game because of how much more pixels there are. And to me, the refresh rate wasn't important. Maybe it is because not a lot of YouTubers were really pushing at the time for higher refresh rate. But for me, after gaming on, I believe, 60Hz since the beginning, 60Hz was just fine. I honestly did not know what the difference was. I thought it was a lot of marketing. And even when I did go to a computer store which had a higher refresh rate monitor, I may be just toyed with it for a couple of seconds but it never really brought me in. What mattered to me and which I thought mattered to everyone was how big the screen was and how much more pixels there are. And because it had such a big screen, I figured that everything benefited from that. Not just games but even doing stuff like Microsoft Office or internet browsing and so ultra-wide to me meant an upgrade in everything from gaming to doing office work to pretty much even just making my desk look great. I did, however, encounter some problems using a 4K monitor. Firstly, internet browsing in Microsoft Office looked a little bit weird at some points. On Google Chrome or any other kind of browser you would see black bars the right and left because of the immense size of the monitor there was just too much left over space because the content just couldn't fill it up. So it looked strange to have so much space which was wasted. Of course, you could actually make use of the extra space by opening two windows at the same time so that you have a normal sized window on the left for internet browsing and a normal sized window on the right for like, for instance, another application. But my mind just didn't work that well with respect to that kind of setup and I actually still preferred just dragging and dropping the second application onto a second monitor rather than splitting it. Sometimes I do split when I really need to but it's very rare. I still think it's a lot faster to just delegate to the second monitor whatever other application you need. So in short, I still stuck with the black bars and I just got used to it over time. What I like about my new setup playing an average of 110 frames per second is really different. It was a myth that one would notice it but it is genuinely such a smooth experience. I'm going to admit that the past three years have been strange because I didn't rank as well as I used to online. I used to chicken dinner on PUBG on average of at least twice a week most of the time solo and even ranked high on battlefield before. But that evaporated quickly and I still have difficulty with the fast paced version of COD. My conclusion is that there are now more gamers in the world using faster refresh rate monitors. Fast refresh rate monitors are really cheap now like the HKC models which have the same refresh rate as mine but only cost 6,000-12,000 pesos. In any case, my FPS gaming scores instantly improved when I began using this monitor and it is next level of fun to finally even the playing field. It isn't just about the frames though. It's also about immersion and this is where I get into cinematic gaming. It is forgivable to be on 60 frames per second if you aren't competitive and if you are here to just enjoy the scenery of a good game like Red Dead Redemption 2. Put it this way, a fancy new 8K TV or whatever TV you have at home probably gives better picture quality than what you see in the movie house. But nothing beats having a gigantic screen which will completely take you away from this world and into the world of the story. That is how I felt when I gamed on my ultra-wide. What I don't like about my new setup is that visually it also feels like a step down. Even though the ultra-wide is still there, it has been relegated to being a backup monitor when it is used to being the workhorse of my desk. I guess I am still used to thinking that bigger is always better and for the most part, that is really true. Why didn't I just get an ultra-wide 4K with 144Hz or above refresh rate then? Because, number one, they're double the price of the MSI I just got. And, the ones that aren't as expensive and which fit my criteria aren't locally sold. Don't be mistaken, however. Brands like HKC and ViewSonic have ultra-wide monitors that are very affordable. But I'm old fashioned and I stick as much as possible to LG and Samsung if I could. I was thinking of going ROG but the prices were just soul wrenching. You could get a quality gaming rig based on the cost of one of these monitors. I also have more difficulty editing videos because my main monitor is now a lot shorter. Not only that, but when I use my ultra-wide as a second monitor, I definitely feel a little neck strain over time. This perhaps can be remedied if I had a mount, but again, my ultra-wide isn't Vesa compatible and the adapter I used prior sucks. Nevertheless, because it is such a great monitor by itself, I didn't have the heart to let it go. What would I recommend if I had to pick between only one of the two? It depends on who you are. If you are a professional, it spends 80% of their time using Microsoft Word, Excel, Google Chrome, video editing, researching and stock trading, then you should really consider getting an ultra-wide monitor. This is especially more important if you are getting into video editing because the extra real estate is a lot of help. Even in Excel, you can see dramatic differences in what you can see and what you can't. If you gain 80% of the time on your PC, then it is okay with 1440p. It is more bang for your buck at this point and you will rarely see the pixelated differences between gaming on 4K and 1440p unless you stop to really magnify specific things. However, I want to point out that for purposes of call of duty, I felt that the world looked more defined on my ultra-wide. However, I must say that the color of the MSI is absolutely 100% superior than that of the Samsung ultra-wide. My final advice is that you should always get a second monitor. But, instead of just getting any big and cheap monitor, consider spending on quality so that the new monitor becomes your primary and the old one becomes your secondary. This way, you can future-proof your setup while at the same time, recycling your old hardware for something practical and useful. If you haven't liked and subscribed, please do so. It really helps and let us know in the comment section below what other videos you want us to do in the future. Happy New Year's everyone!