New or Used 30" Monitor

Ok, so I've come to the conclusion that while I want more than 1920x1080 for gaming, 5760x1080 is way too much for me.

I'm thinking that 2560x1600 would be a good midpoint. I'd rather not have 3 monitors on my desk.

I've been looking at the Dell Ultrasharp U3110 and amazon has it for 1182 with prime shipping or I can get it off of Ebay for $819 and free shipping. It comes with a 90 day warranty.

So the question is, which would you get? How long is the warranty for a new one?

I'm also open for suggestions on any other monitors that can run 2560 x 1600. I mostly game. Playing MMOs and some shooters like BFBC2, BF3, CoD.

Thanks in advance.

For the money I'd get the new one. That is a lot of money to spend to only get a 90-day warranty IMHO. The new ones come with a three year warranty.

Also 2560x1600 is ~4 million pixels and 1920x1080 is ~2 million so you still need some video card power to run that resolution. I have two GTX570's in SLI and can run 5760 x1080 for Fallen Earth (MMO). I like the triple screens space for the inventory and map screens. I drop down to a single 1920x1080 monitor for more intense titles (ex. BF3 beta Rage). Video memory is a big one at higer resolutions. My cards are the 1.2 GB RAM variety.

Thanks for your input. I have 2 x 580 1.5GB in SLI so I should be good with that.

I like the extra space too especially in rift, where I can open the map and put it off to the side. I tried going back to 1920x1080 but I lose so much space and 5760x1080 is just too much.

Yeah, I was thinking the same, for $300 more I get 3 years.

Now, if I buy it from Amazon.com, I still get the same warranty, correct?

Lukee said:

Thanks for your input. I have 2 x 580 1.5GB in SLI so I shoulf be good with that.

I like the extra space too especially in rift, where I can open the map and put it off to the side. I tried going back to 1920x1080 but I lose so much space and 5760x1080 is just too much.

Yeah, I was thinking the same, for $300 more I get 3 years.

Now, if I buy it from Amazon.com, I still get the same warranty, correct?

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If it is new from Amazon I'd assume that is does have the full warranty but I'd verify that if I were you.

EDIT: You might want to check out this one too seems a little cheaper:
Dell UltraSharp U2711 27-inch Widescreen Flat Panel Monitor - Max Resolution 2560 x 1440 (WQHD)

I'm pretty sure that I will buy a 30" monitor, but now I have this question....

Dell U3011

http://www.amazon.com/Dell-UltraSha...GF1O/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1318345962&sr=8-1

or

HP ZR30w

http://www.amazon.com/Smart-Buy-30I...NMJA/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1318346018&sr=8-1

Lukee said:

I'm pretty sure that I will buy a 30" monitor, but now I have this question....

Dell U3011

http://www.amazon.com/Dell-UltraSha...GF1O/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1318345962&sr=8-1

or

HP ZR30w

http://www.amazon.com/Smart-Buy-30I...NMJA/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1318346018&sr=8-1

Click to expand...

I'm not sure sorry. In case you wanted to try I did make a DIY quad monitor stand for my desk it's in the Nvidia surround link in my signature. I only mention it because you said you tried surround right? Without the stand it was a pain but with the stand it is a lot more managable. I spent around $50 on the pipe etc. at home depot.

Nice stand. I wish I was handy like that.

I like the triple monitor setup, but with 2x580s, they get pretty hot when I crank up the settings. I was trying out the BF 3 beta the other night and the cards got too hot that I lost video. Had to reboot. I run the monitors at 120Hz. None of the games that I play right now are getting more than 60 FPS with the settings cranked up so the 120Hz does nothing for me at the moment. I guess I can turn the settings down, but it kinda defeats the purpose when you have cards like that.

My options are to either upgrade the cards to run that at a good enough framerate OR get a monitor that will still allow me to get good FPS but I dont want to be stuck with 1920 x 1080.

I've thought about getting a 3rd 580 1.5 or 6990+6970, 2 x 580 3GB, 3-6970 2GB, 3 x 6950 2GB, 2 or 3 GTX 570 2.5GB and now also thought of the 2560 x 1600 monitor. None of those solutions are cheap, so just trying to get information and see which way to go.

I'm all over the place, I know, sorry. Just a bit confused and trying to come up with a solution.

I understand. One thing in your favor is that the longer you wait the cheaper sthings get or newer tech comes out.

I am waiting on the next gen Nvidia cards hoping that the next "GTX670?" has 2.5 GB of RAM. I am only using cheap 60Hz LCDs so getting 60+ FPS is fine for me. I do like the idea of the 2560x1600 or even 2560x1440 monitor with maybe one more 1920x1080.

One thing to be aware of with 30" vs 27" is that with a 30" you can pair them with 20" 4:3 monitors in portrait with the same horizontal resolution of 1600 and very similar physical size. It can be hard to go from three monitors to one even if the resolution of the one is 1.98 times as large pixel wise as each screen on the old setup.

Here is a pic of the boarder between my 3007wfp-hc and 2007fp I couldn't get a well lighted pic without flash




also by using softTH you can game on non matched monitors on some games.

here is someone with the exact same setup I currently have gaming at 4960x1600

I have a Dell 2407 and want a 27", but they moved to 16:9 rez which is a dealbreaker, imo.

I hear what you are saying about the bezel's lining up. Mine are not that close but when I play I hardly notice.

For MMO's I use the side monitors for the stuff I look ocasionally at but not the main action. Even with them sized a little differently I still get the free space in the center screen so I can see all the action. Ie main screen for health, aciton bar and basics. Side screens for map, inventory and chat.

In a FPS like BFBC2 I use the side more to look around corners with out going around (H4X! lol) and to pick up movement of enemies. It is annoying to have the map so far out on the side in BFBC2 sometimes.

As far as 4:3, I think all manufacturers are standardizing on the 16:9 of HDTVs. That's why 1920x1080 is cheaper as well as 2560x1440. I'm sure you can still get 4:3 and even 16:10 but they are getting more and more expensive if new. ie 2560x1600 is becomming 2560x1440 just like 1920x1200 is now 1920x1080. This kind of sucks if you want a 'taller workspace' instead of wider. I guess you can always turn all the 16:9 monitors into portait mode but (to me) the bezel is still a distraciton. What we need is wrap around monitors that are really projectors onto a curved screen. that would be cool if they could work it out like IMAX!

16:10 is completely useless for gaming.

Games are made for 16:9 and should be played in 16:9. If you dont you will screw it up for you in some way or another.

High Tech said:

16:10 is completely useless for gaming.

Games are made for 16:9 and should be played in 16:9. If you dont you will screw it up for you in some way or another.

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I wouldn't go that far, but I do agree that 16:9 is the format of the future. There are still plenty of 'new' games that support 16:10 and 4:3.

It wasn't that long ago that you could not play a lot of FPS games in widescreen because the game developers saw it as an "unfair advantage". BF2142 comes to mind.

I have found that mixing formats can be an issue if you run Nvidia surround. For example I have currently have one 1600x900 monitor and three 1920x1080's. The 1600x900 gets set to 1920x1080 all the time when I alt-tab with Nvidia surround running. There are some other issues if you run a 1920x1080 game in 5760x1080 mode. New Vegas doesn't like it.

I saw that ebay listing, i think if you read it further down, theres info about a few dead/stuck pixels. Check craiglists if you want used. I got my U3011 with 2.5 year warranty left for $925 Was bought brand new by owner

Well, I scored a refurbed Samsung 305T for $455. Picked it up yesterday and it looks really nice!! Happy so far.