Dual Monitor (27") vs. Widescreen (38") : which is "better" ?

[Ariortega]

Hello friends,

I'm about to get me either a RTX 3070 or a RTX 3080. After that I will definitely get me a new monitor. Current monitor is a 27" 1080p / 144Hz IPS LG.

My question: would you guys go for a dual monitor setup like 27" 1440p 144Hz IPS ( Alienware AW2721D) plus my current LG or one big monitor like the Alienware AW3821DW which is 38", 3840 x 1600, 144Hz and also IPS?

Are there any disadvantages to a dual monitor setup? I would use the 1080p LG for OBS / Youtube / etc. and the 1440p for gaming / watching series & movies.

I'm not a professional content creator, just a guy who records gameplay on OBS, watches series, movies and does other casual stuff on PC.

I'm grateful for every opinion / share of experience.

[Fake]

Triple monitor gaming. Do it. If you are satisfied with your LG 1080p monitor, get 2 more.

[_I_]

for multimon setups, its best to use the same displays if you can
or same dpi/pitch so things do not scale when dragging windows across displays

[Ariortega]

thank you very much for that info mate, didn't know that. But even if someone has same displays for a multimonitor setup, are there any downsides in comparison to one huge, widescreen monitor?

[_I_]

shape or usage

having a 2nd display is good for looking at walkthroughs or other stuff while gaming

an ultrawide 24-32:9 can give better peripheral views, but not supported by all games

[SagaxRabbit]

I've found that watching movies/series and playing games on the same PC with multiple monitors have the side effect of sound being a mess. Either you have to turn down the game's sound and music to listen to the other media and miss half of what is going on in the game, or turn down the other media's sound to listen to the game's sounds and miss out on what's going on in the other media.
Experiences may vary regarding this but it is something that I have encountered a few times on my setup and now I rather just play games or just watch other media instead of having both on at the same time, unless the latter is something that doesn't require any attention and isn't really distracting while I am playing a game. (like watching someone play a game and chatting on Twitch...while I am playing a game as well)

[Guydodge]

if your going to run anything 1440 res and overi highly recommend the 3080 even then @4k your fps will be below 100 most of the time on most new AAA games on high/ultra.4k is still not a reality for high res high fps gaming regardless of what some may say.27 @ 1440 144hz
is still the sweet spot IMO.once you use 2 monitors you can never go back.

[Ariortega]

thx for all the infos and inputs so far lads, really appreciate it. I have to say that 27" appears to be a little too small for me, since I really like to sit back in my couch and watch my series / movies. That's approximately 2,5m away from my monitor. Maybe 2x 32" monitors or a single 38" widescreen. An OLED tv is currently not of interest, even with LG going to release a 42" this year.

One would be bound to "only" 120Hz and still the risk of burn-in. And some people say, that a 4k tv doesn't scale down very good to 1440p.