• Light/Dark
  • Ever wanted an RSS feed of all your favorite gaming news sites? Go check out our new Gaming Headlines feed! Read more about it here.
  • We have made minor adjustments to how the search bar works on ResetEra. You can read about the changes here.

21:9 monitors and competitive advantage

jukeboxhero2396

jukeboxhero2396

Member
Dec 25, 2018
3,077
This is something that has always been interesting to me. For those that don't know 21:9 or "ultrawide" monitors have an increased amount of view in games. Overwatch forces 21:9 as 16:9 as it is when seen as a competitive advantage, while games like fortnite don't. While 16:9 monitors can go up to 240fps, that to me is a competitive advantage as well.

I just think it's interesting that we still use 16:9, ultrawide monitors to me are definitely superior. I know the price point is high, but it'll be interesting to see if ultrawide becomes more main stream.
 
jediyoshi

jediyoshi

Member
Oct 25, 2017
5,126
Meanwhile on CSGO you have a non-insignificant amount of pros that play sub-HD, 4:3 stretched and you end up with this

 
OP
OP
jukeboxhero2396

jukeboxhero2396

Member
Dec 25, 2018
3,077
I have an ultrawide and the real estate on the screen is absolutely amazing. Being able to multitask is fantastic
 
BRSxIgnition

BRSxIgnition

Community Resettler
Member
Oct 25, 2017
1,596
I just got an ultrawide for the holidays and I'm loving it. Next up is upgrading my pc so it can play games at that reaultion and aspect ratio at 120fps...

Out of the two I wonder which is really the larger competitive advantage - ultrawide 120fps or 16:9 240fps.
 
Last edited:
WillyFive

WillyFive

Avenger
Oct 25, 2017
6,979
Depends on the game.

Some games don't support ultrawide well, so you get the image cropped instead of expanded, and the UI becomes stretched and sent to the edges of the screen, making it harder to see.
 
medyej

medyej

Member
Oct 26, 2017
6,437
I've used an Ultrawide for a few years now. You can get some wider FOV but in multiplayer games that's not necessarily an advantage, that's why you see so many pros running stretched 4:3 and whatnot. Fortnite especially makes better use of vertical FOV than width, so much so that they had to enforce standard aspect ratios awhile back on competitive playlists because of so many people playing stretched 4:3 or others.

Ultrawide is mainly great for immersion in single player games, in multiplayer its cool but the times I would say it's been an advantage has been negligible, nothing compared to other stuff that people use like high refresh rate, higher fps, better mice, etc.
 
Rickenslacker

Rickenslacker

Member
Oct 25, 2017
8,415
lol I was gonna bring up the weird CS groupthink for 4:3 but I see it's already been brought up. That mindset has infected other games too, it's ridiculous.
 

Deleted member 1594

Account closed at user request
Banned
Oct 25, 2017
5,762
Higher FPS is a bigger advantage than the little bit of extra view you get with ultrawide. IMO. It's not being used in competitive games for a reason.

I like ultrawide personally, mostly for single player games actually, but I don't think you get a competitive advantage with it in multiplayer.
 
spam musubi

spam musubi

Member
Oct 25, 2017
9,380
there are so many ways to get an advantage on PC (FOV change for example, or better performance or better mice) that stuff like this shouldn't be that big a deal. Most people aren't good enough for something like this to matter. And in a professional setting people play on standarized gear anyway. You can't equalize the PC ecosystem.
 
Fiddle

Fiddle

Banned
Oct 31, 2017
1,627
144hz vs 60hz is a much larger advantage than Ultrawide. I hate that Overwatch limits this. So annoying, one of the many reasons why I havent played in a long time.
 
Rizific

Rizific

Member
Oct 27, 2017
5,950
deft said:
4:3 stretched to 16:9 makes the models wider on screen, making it easier to react and track lateral movement.
Click to expand...
Click to shrink...
And there's also pros that don't even stretch at 4:3 and opt for the black bars and keep it true 4:3 /shrug. This whole "competitive advantage" thing has always been a joke to me. There's always someone out there with better stuff than me, higher fps, higher res, bigger screen, better monitor, etc etc. I'm still alive and doing just fine.
 
KDR_11k

KDR_11k

Banned
Nov 10, 2017
5,235
Kinda depends on whether the game's FOV is defined horizontally or vertically, no? If it's horizontal then ultrawide just cuts off the top and bottom.
 
discotrigger

discotrigger

Member
Oct 25, 2017
561
I would totally back up 21:9 being the default in future games and adding black bars to monitors with a 'taller' ratio. However, I do feel like the advantage that additional field of view gives you is probably overstated in the first place.
 
caff!!!

caff!!!

Member
Oct 29, 2017
3,030
I play truck sims, where the wider FoV does help, but anything high action would tunnel your focus to a smaller portion of the screen.
 
Jazzem

Jazzem

Member
Feb 2, 2018
2,684
discotrigger said:
I would totally back up 21:9 being the default in future games and adding black bars to monitors with a 'taller' ratio. However, I do feel like the advantage that additional field of view gives you is probably overstated in the first place.
Click to expand...
Click to shrink...

How do people find this on say a 27 inch monitor? It's something I'm considering trying out when I upgrade to that size screen. I sit pretty close if it helps!
 
Stop It

Stop It

Bad Cat
Member
Oct 25, 2017
6,350
God I remember when DICE refused to support 16:9 for Battlefield 2 because it was seen as "cheating".

It's utterly silly. The overall effect is pretty much a wash, especially when FOV is a thing.
 
Mars People

Mars People

Comics Council 2020
Member
Oct 25, 2017
18,192
BRSxIgnition said:
I just got an ultrawide for the holidays and I'm loving it. Next up is upgrading my pc so it can play games at that reaultion and aspect ratio at 120fps...

Out of the two I wonder which is really the larger competitive advantage - ultrawide 120fps or 16:9 240fps.
Click to expand...
Click to shrink...
I would imagine the higher frame rate would always win.
Less input lag.
 
Furnace Inferno

Furnace Inferno

Member
Oct 28, 2017
483
arcadepc said:
For complex car simulators more expensive solutions like special chairs, fanatec driving wheels and multi-monitor set-ups are the preferred way
Click to expand...
Click to shrink...
Nah multi/monitors suck IMO, having a bezel as part of the image has never made sense to me and breaks the immersion. For the racing games that don't support VR I got a 32:9 super ultra wide which for me is a much better solution.
 
hoserx

hoserx

Member
Oct 27, 2017
1,172
Ohio
I got a 21:9 34" 3440x1440 over the last couple weeks and I suck just as much now at competitive FPS as I did before. Maybe more, to be honest. I don't care though, I'm really digging the screen.
 
Dimajjio

Dimajjio

Member
Oct 13, 2019
782
I've just set up a custom resolution of 3440x1440 to run on my 4K TV. This should give a 21:9 ratio but I'll have black bars at top and bottom. I'll see what all the fuss is about.
 
Pargon

Pargon

Member
Oct 27, 2017
12,014
It's not really an advantage. If you increase the FOV on a 16:9 display, you can get the same horizontal view with more vertical.
What's actually a problem is developers defining FOV horizontally rather than vertically, and limiting how high it can be set.
On my ultrawide monitor, I need an HFOV of about 122° for things to be comfortable. A lot of newer games limit it to around 110° for some reason.
While 122° may sound a lot, it's only 74° if FOV is defined vertically - equivalent to 90° on a 4:3 display.

Another problem is that many games don't adjust their viewmodel with FOV, so you end up with HUGE weapon models and/or weapon models which are cropped on ultrawide, even if the rest of the game looks fine.
That disconnect can make me motion sick, since you have the game at 122° FOV, but the weapon model at something low like 70°.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.