Super Ultra rev 1a

The speaker discusses their experience using a super ultrawide monitor with a 32x9 aspect ratio. They explain that they upgraded their GPU and decided to also upgrade their monitor. They chose the Aopen Super Ultrawide IPS Gaming Monitor with a 43-inch screen size and a resolution of 3840x1080. They discuss the advantages of gaming on this monitor, such as increased immersion and a wider field of view. However, they also mention some disadvantages, such as poorly optimized games and interface elements being located on the edges of the screen. They also mention the benefits of productivity tasks on an ultrawide monitor, such as being able to have multiple windows open side by side. They conclude by mentioning that the monitor is not suited for all types of content, such as 16x9 videos and some websites that may appear stretched out. This is my first super ultrawide monitor, and it has an aspect ratio of 32x9 while regular monitors have 16x9. And in this video, I will tell you of my experience using a super ultrawide monitor. We will talk about the disadvantages and advantages of using this monitor, and why I no longer want to switch back to the standard 16x9. So, what inspired me to buy this monitor? I recently chose to upgrade my GPU, so I got myself a brand new RTX 4070 Super. It runs cool, and it's obviously good at running the latest games. Even with some ray tracing turned on, it performs great, and it comes with frame generation, like all other RTX 4000 series cards. So after using it for a little while, I later came up with the idea to upgrade the monitor as well. Although I was using a 1440p Acer, which was completely fine with me, I still wanted something new and I had always wanted to try out an ultrawide monitor, something with a 21x9 ratio or more. So when I started looking for an ultrawide monitor to buy, I came across different options from ultrawide 21x9 to super ultrawide 32x9 ratios. And I wondered to myself if I could pull off 32x9. So I decided to be adventurous and why not buy and try it, and in the process share my experience with you guys. So what kind of monitor did I get? I got the 43-inch Aopen Super Ultrawide IPS Gaming Monitor, with a model number of 43XV1C. And no, it's not some Chinese no-name brand monitor or an OEM, but instead it's a subsidiary of Acer. Since Aopen is actually owned by Acer, and even those of you in the US can actually have a look at this monitor on Acer's website under Gaming Monitors. I chose this specific model because it was the best in terms of price to performance ratio in my region, and prices for other models for people outside the US where Amazon is not an option can get really expensive. Besides, most of the other options were VA panels and I was already using an IPS panel anyway, so I chose to find an IPS Super Ultrawide. So for the unboxing, you get a HDMI and DisplayPort cable, you get the monitor stand, and surprisingly a remote controller as well. And with it, you can adjust the brightness, the colors, you can use it to turn it on and off, as well as adjust the volume, which in practice turned out to be very convenient. And there's also an RGB backlight at the back, which can also be customized to your taste. As for the specifications, it's a 43 by 8 inches IPS panel with a resolution of 3840 by 1080, and an aspect ratio of 32 by 9. This resolution is called Double Full High Definition, and is the equivalent of having two 22 inch 16 by 9 displays side by side, but without the bezels. The ports of the monitor support DisplayPort 1.2, HDMI 2.0, and HDMI 1.4. The monitor also boasts a 120Hz refresh rate for the DisplayPort 1.2 and the HDMI 2.0, with the IPS panel having a 93% DCI-P3 color gamut. So in terms of colors, compared to my previous Acer, it's pretty much the same thing. However, the pixel density is worse at 91 pixels per inch against 109 for the old one, but that's to be expected due to the larger screen and the 1080p resolution. It is slightly noticeable, but the pixel count on this resolution is 4.1 million, while the standard 1440p has 3.7 million, so it's more pixels than regular 16 by 9 1440p, but it's less than the ultrawide res of 3440 by 1440, which is 4.9 million. In short, it's slightly more demanding to run than regular 1440p, but not as demanding as ultrawide 1440p. So what's it like gaming on this monitor? When I launched Counter Strike 2 on this monitor for the first time and played a little and compared it with my old monitor, it became clear that this was a new experience, a completely new level of immersion for gaming, because with peripheral vision of the aspect ratio, you get to see much more information than regular 16 by 9. At first, it's a little disorienting, especially if the viewing angle or the field of view is set incorrectly, so you need to carefully set these values with this type of aspect ratio to avoid weird artifacts or distortions on the edges. An adequate value is around 80 to 90 degrees. By the way, look at the minimap. Yes, it is located on the edge, and in some games, the map or any other interface elements are extremely important, and this is one of the disadvantages of gaming on such monitors. Because in most games, there's simply no way to reposition these elements, so you will have to constantly look back and forth just to view the minimap. And if you have ever been caught off guard due to looking at your minimap in a competitive game, then you can imagine just how much worse it would be on a super ultrawide display, so this wouldn't be the ideal monitor if you want to play competitive multiplayer games. In singleplayer games like Cyberpunk 2077 and The Last of Us, where such things do not matter, it's a completely different story. I honestly don't know how to describe it. It looks and feels like an enlarged VR experience. It feels as if you're in the game itself. When I played Cyberpunk for the first time on it, it took my breath away. The scale of Night City feels completely different. Driving a car in the first person around Night City actually feels like you are in the car itself, as you enter a different level of immersion than what you were used to before. If you buy a gaming steering wheel, you can take the immersion even higher. However, it's not all sunshine, since many games are not well optimized for ultrawide displays, let alone super ultrawide displays. You end up getting black bars in some games, especially during cutscenes and even in the in-game menu. Even in 2024, developers still optimize their games for 16x9 and ignore 21x9 or 32x9. Even popular games like Red Dead Redemption 2 are extremely poorly optimized for ultrawide gaming, to the point that you not only get black bars on the left and right, but at the top and the bottom as well. Recent games like Alan Wake 2 are also not all the way optimized for ultrawide, so you end up with black bars during cutscenes, but at least you get the fullscreen in-game experience once the cutscene is done. The one upside though, is you can always install a widescreen fix mod to make games fit the entire screen, even when they aren't optimized to do so by default. One example of this is The Last of Us super ultrawide fix that gets rid of all the black bars and actually exposes more details around the scenes that would often be hidden when playing on 16x9. So I decided to compare the aspect ratios and this is what the original 32x9 super ultrawide ratio looks like. And this is what the scene looks like while in 21x9 ultrawide. And as you can see, there are less details exposed in the scene due to the reduction in aspect ratio. And once you compare 16x9 with the ultrawide ratios, it seems like nothing is visible at all. The scene looks less exposed and less immersive. Now do you understand the difference? Tell us in the comments what aspect ratio you prefer and if you would consider giving ultrawide a shot as well. Personally, I am actually going to replay some games just to be immersed in a whole new way because of this monitor. A quick mention on how amazing simulator games and car games look on this aspect ratio. I only had Need for Speed installed when I got this monitor, but that didn't stop me from enjoying the gameplay and how good it all looks as you drive around the city. The only issue I encountered was the rain being poorly optimized for the aspect ratio so the rain would only be at the center of the screen and not all the way at the edges which was somewhat ruining the immersion, but it was still an amazing experience. And this monitor can be an advantage in competitive multiplayer games since you get a wider field of view and can see certain angles in games like Apex, Fortnite and CS2 that would not be visible playing on a 16x9 display. So it's a type of a legal cheat, but it's not ideal to play at max resolution if you care about maximizing performance while playing competitive titles. As for strategy games like Dota 2, you won't get any advantages playing on an ultrawide like you would playing the other games we just discussed. So let's move on to the other part of owning an ultrawide monitor, productivity. So how is it for work and productivity tasks? One thing widescreen monitors are good at is giving you the screen real estate for productivity because you can open 3 windows at once, all side by side and seamlessly be able to get work done way more efficiently compared to trying to do the same on a 16x9 display. It's an even bigger advantage for Windows 11 users since if you pull the window up, you get several options of how to set up your display with different tab alignments so that it makes it super convenient if you need to have multiple tabs open at once. On the left you could have your notes, in the middle you could have your browser and on the right you still have space for another window of choice. In fact this is the highlight of owning an ultrawide or super ultrawide monitor. As a previous 16x9 user, I barely ever used these screen splitting features as much as I have now, so personally my productivity in turn has been greatly improved. I write scripts or make videos faster because now I don't have to jump between applications via alt tab. And it's a pleasure to work in DaVinci Resolve as the entire interface fits easily on the entire screen and you don't need to hide anything to fit most of the timeline. This monitor can also be ideal for traders because you can literally see the entire history of price changes of a particular coin. However, it's not suited for everyone. 16x9 videos don't look as good in this aspect ratio and this is 95% of all the content on YouTube. Even 21x9 movies which are a bit better will leave black bars on the edges as well. Even the browsing experience is not without its issues. Some sites are too stretched out, so it's best to use the browser in windowed mode, that way it looks less awkward. Can I recommend this monitor or the 32x9 aspect ratio? The answer is debatable, since it's not ideal for most people and I can't lean onto one side only, but I got a buzz from the purchase and it in itself is an experience because I got to experience games in a whole new way. And it's definitely more immersive than regular 16x9. The issue with gaming, however, is the lack of optimization for many games. Even recent releases don't fully support 32x9 in all its glory and often leave black bars on the edges while going through in-game cutscenes. And if the game supports 32x9, most games' cutscenes are 16x9 so that is something to look out for. But poor game optimizations aside, a super ultrawide display like this will be very convenient for those who seek a productivity based experience with the need to have multiple windows open without using multiple monitors. And I have selected the best monitors in terms of price to quality ratio for you in the description so you can check them out. By the way, after 2 weeks of use, I decided to switch back to my 16x9 monitor just out of pure interest of what it would feel like after 32x9. And you can't imagine how strange it felt, as if I had downgraded to an old, square 4x3 monitor. And in games, I had already gotten used to the widescreen immersion, so I had to switch back to 32x9. So if you choose to go ultrawide or super ultrawide, it's going to change your level of immersion and productivity for the better so if you're feeling adventurous, give it a shot.