There are three types of people in the world: those that game on two or three (or more) monitors, those that use 21:9 instead… and those that still only get their gaming enjoyment via one ‘all in one’ monitor. For those that use three monitor setups, the Nixeus NX-EDG34S probably will not be replacing their existing setup. With that said, and in our opinion, a 21:9 like the EDG 34S for the ‘center’ monitor with a typical 16:9 on either side is pretty darn close to gaming nirvana.
For those who already have used 21:9s the Nixeus NX-EDG34S will be a great step up over earlier generation 21:9s. The combination of easier to drive resolution (versus 4K) combined with buttery smooth response rate that is basically ghost and blur free is incredibly enjoyable. It is right up there with the best 21:9 monitors we have used in the past that cost twice as much as the EDS 34S. The lowered asking price in no shape, nor form, means a lowered gaming experience. Within moments you will be sucked in to your fantasy world of choice… just like you would be if you have paid a lot more for a different manufacture’s 21:9.
With all that said, it is the last group that the Nixeus NX-EDG34S is tailor made for. With an asking price of under 600 USD… it is extremely easy to ‘take a chance’ on this big bad boy. You will not regret it. If all you have used is a single 16:9 27-inch monitor it is actually hard to describe how much more enjoyable games are. When you sit in the sweet spot it is extremely easy to lose track of time. You will feel like you are in the game, not playing the game. The width and curvature simply engages you full eye sight and your brain like small monitors can never do.
The downside is you will need more video card horsepower to get the true experience. Yes, this is not a 4K monitor, but if you are coming from 1080P (~2million pixels) or even 1440P (~3.87 million) this monitor sports nearly 5 million (4.95 to be slightly more precise). That does take horsepower to push the frame rates to 48FPS. It is not as bad as 4K monitors (~8.29 million pixels) but it is more than you are probably used to. When looking at charts keep in mind that 1440P results are going to about third higher and 4K is about 125 percent lower than what 3440×1440 frame rates will be.
Now with that said FreeSync 2’s Low Frame Rate compensation (LFC) can double frames to push things up and keep the game from stt…sttt…stttuuuring. The downside is if you think you can get by with say 24 frames you are not going to love things as much. Our personal rule of thumb is that once you hit the low 40s / high 30s things turn into magic, but 50 is a good number to hit. As such you may have to dial down a setting or three. This in turn will be noticeable as this is a lot of real-estate, and you will be sitting close to the EDG 34S. This means eye candy matters. This is issue is not just a Nixeus NX-EDG34S issue, rather it is all 34 or 34inch 21:9s.
(original image courtesy of Abvex)
The other issue, once again with all 21:9 resolution monitors, is that older games may be a bit hit or miss in their compatibility with this somewhat oddball resolution. In most cases the most noticeable ‘huh that looks different’ issue will be with on screen displays. For instance, Borderlands 2 works and works well with 21:9… but some of the on screen display items will be a bit closer to the center than you may be think the ‘should be’.
(original image courtesy of Vicrooloo)
Borderlands 3 on the other hand is a newer game and looks a lot, and we mean a lot, better. In most cases, the best adjustment you can make is to increase Field of View… and take full advantage of all that screen real-estate.
Pre-rendered cutscenes will also invariably have black bars on each side… and maybe top and bottom as they are usually encoded at 1080P. Neither issue should be a deal-breaker, but older games may have the occasional gremlin. In return for these quirks… you get a Field of View that is simply breath taking. Running and gunning in nearly any game is just amazing. Scenic vistas on top of mountains, sitting on a beach looking at the ocean (or your boat burning on said ocean), anything ‘scenic’ will give you an emotional response that is almost visceral. Few people who try 21:9 ever go back; or at least never go back to smaller monitors for gaming duties.
(original image courtesy of UHDpaper.com)
For those who think that this 4ms monitor will be a downgrade compared to their existing 1ms TN ‘gaming’ monitor… think again. Yes, it is 4ms response rate vs 1ms… but to put that in perspective the typical blink of an eye is 100ms or more. Even 144FPS is over 6.9ms per frame. Put simply, most people will not notice a major difference between 4ms and 1ms. What everyone will notice is color fidelity. VA is simply in a different league compared to TN monitors. Colors on a VA panel simply ‘pop’. Images will be crisper and clearer. Shadows deeper and richer. All of which makes gaming immersion easier and more enjoyable. In this regards VA is much more like more expensive IPS monitors… but faster.
Watching movies on a 21:9 will also require a few… adjustments. All movies are in 16:9 (or 4:3 in some rare cases). Even ‘Imax’ movies are re-encoded with black bars to make them fit a 16:9 form-factor. As such, you will have to make one of two decision: either live with large black bars on either side of the image, or use software to ‘stretch’ the image the full 3440×1440 dimensions. Considering the fact you will be upscaling from 1080P to 1440P… adding in a horizontal stretch to the vertical will make some movies more ‘interesting’. At further distances (e.g. typical movie watching distances) the stretch will become second nature and you will quickly ignore it. Of course, for movie aficionados such statements are hearsay of the highest order… so your mileage will indeed vary.
In either case, the combination of a good color pallet with color accuracy is sure to please. Here the differences between 4ms and 1ms are once again moot. Movies are played back at usually 24 frames per second (41.67ms), sometimes 30 (33.33ms) and occasionally 60 (16.67ms). All of which will be laughed at by this 4ms response rate monitor.
For more ‘mundane’ tasks such as word processing, photo editing, and spreadsheets the 21:9 formfactor can be considered a nice bonus. You can easily have two windows side-by-side and watch your productivity soar (or plummet if the second window is displaying our Discord server). What will take a bit of getting used to is trying to edit photos and/or add in straight lines on a curved surface. The trick to this takes time and experience. At first your productivity in such tasks will drop but over time will be back to the same levels they were on your previous flat monitor. For less skill intensive tasks the added screen real-estate will be a boon.
Overall the EDG 34S would not be our first choice for movies, let alone day to day tasks, but it would be for PC gaming. This is the raison d’être of this monitor, buy it knowing this and loving this laser like focus and you will not be sorry.
