These ultrawide gaming monitors are both under $250, making the curved vs flat decision a tricky one
Acer Nitro EDA343CUR | 34-inch | 1440p | 100 Hz | VA | FreeSync | $279.99$229.99 at Amazon (save $50)
Big ultrawide monitors are a great way to make games even more immersive and enjoyable. The EDA343CUR doesn't have the fastest panel we've seen, but you're getting a huge amount of screen for the money.
Acer Nitro XV340CK | 34-inch | 1440p | 144 Hz | IPS | $299.99$249.99 at Newegg (save $50)
If curved panels aren't for you, then go flat and in this case, go faster and IPS-er with Acer's XV340CK model. At just $20 more than the EDA343CUR, it's a tricky choice though.
So you want an ultrawide gaming monitor, then? You've decided that you want to step up the level of immersion in your games and realize one of the best ways to do this is to fill your peripheral vision with epic graphics and action. But do you go with a curved monitor or a flat one? Should it have a VA panel for better contrast or an IPS panel for better color reproduction? Those are tricky questions to answer, but at least you've got two great deals on Acer monitors that can fill your ultrawide needs.
To begin with, they're both 34 inches in size, with a 21:9 aspect ratio and a resolution of 3440x1440. That's 33% more pixels than regular 16:9 1440p monitors but 40% less than a 4K one, so you're getting a nice balance between improved visual fidelity and increased workload on the graphics card.
The Acer Nitro EDA343CUR is the cheaper of the two, despite having a 1000R curved screen. That's because it uses a VA panel with a refresh rate of 100 Hz, so it's not the fastest you can get. But anything over 75 Hz gives your eyes a much nicer time, and VA panels are great for high contrast ratios and dark black levels.
For $20 more, though, you could go with the Acer Nitro XVC340CK which has a totally flat screen, using an IPS panel rated at 144 Hz. That's better for your eyes and IPS panels do have better color reproduction than VA ones. A few of us in the PC Gamer office think that if you're going to
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