LG - 38UC99-W

this is afaik one of the first consumer 3840x1600p displays. it's IPS, it has a 2300r curve, and it's 75 hz with freesync. prad made a great review on it for the technical side [here](https://www.prad.de/testberichte/test-monitor-lg-38uc99-w/). i've used 34" 21:9 monitors as my main monitors since i think 2015, this is the first time i've gotten my hands on something bigger. and holy crap it's amazing! the extra width is nice, but the extra height is a game changer. i don't understand how 38" 24:10 has become this weirdly abandoned form factor. at this size, at a viewing distance of around 55-60cm, the edges of the monitor are well inside your peripheral vision, to the point where i think it's truly wide enough. but as opposed to a 49" 32:9 monitor, now the screen also fills a significant portion of your horizontal fov. before i installed it on the sim rig, i played some doom eternal and some far cry 5 on it, and it's an absolutely gorgeous screen. it's more immersive than on my 34 inch. the 75hz refresh rate is the only downside to this monitor imo. it's a big step up from 60 hz, in these lower refresh rate ranges every herz matters, but next to a 144hz monitor it just doesn't compete. within that limitation, it performs really well though. low input lag, decent motion clarity, and the size makes visibility just beautiful. as a sim racing monitor, no complaints. the size and the curve let me bump the FOV up quite a bit without introducing any distortion. it's obviously not comparable to a triple screen setup or a 32:9 setup (i think 32:9 is optimal for racing games. vertical fov doesn't matter, you get fantastic visibility, but you don't get the headaches that triple screen setups bring). it needs a monitor stand so i can get it a bit closer to the wheel still, but my sim rig had a single 27" 16:9 as a stop gap solution, and the difference in spatial awareness is massive. the 75 hz refresh rate is enough, the only real issue i had was that 75 fps is quite easy to exceed in AC and ACC, even with my aging titan XP. and at 75hz, you really notice tearing. luckily input latency is not so much of an issue here, since most of what i'm reacting to isn't what's shown on the screen, but what i feel from the wheel, so for the first time in what feels like forever i turned on vsync. works great, looks smooth, feels great. in desktop applications, the extra space is glorious, but the mild curve is still mildly annoying. i had a 2400r acer predator x34 for 3 and a half years before i switched back to flat with the hp x34, never missed the curve for a second, and i don't think it's really necessary here either. but the curve isn't really an issue on the sim rig, in fact it's actually a bit of an advantage as it allows for a fev extra degrees of fov. overall, this thing makes me scour the used marked for a higher refresh rate 1600p option. the format is perfection imo. very happy with my purchase, but now my x34 feels small PS: by far, without a shadow of a doubt, the single best monitor speakers i've ever heard. not like a 50 bucks logitech set wouldn't still be better, but it's not a big margin. i don't have any speakers at this setup, and it's good enough to game with the headphones off if i don't feel like wearing them. weird flex, but this was once a 1400 bucks monitor, so they actually put some effort into the monitor speakers. watching tv on just those speakers would be completely fine.

i basically did that side- or even downgrade from fast IPS 34" to relatively slow 38" today. and to be honest, for anything noncompetitive, the difference the bigger size makes is way more impressive than i thought it would be. if this was 144hz i would have a really hard time deciding which one goes to sim rig duty... but i got this for 200 bucks. i get that spending 800+ for something that performs the same as a run of the mill 350 bucks hp x34 would, just bigger, stings quite a bit. a 240hz mildly curved ips 3840x1600 would probably the monitor to end all monitors for me.

everything about it except the refresh rate is perfect imo. i'm gonna try overclocking it later today, don't expect much but you never know. had a cheap 60 hz samsung 34 inch once that actually made it to 104 hz before skipping frames

used and with the usb c port ripped out. which i don't need so perfect for me you can still find this thing new?

honestly, everything apart from the max refresh rate is just stunning on this monitor.

I think the sweet spot is in the 45-50" range for a 5k2k monitor. I've been wanting something in that range for a very long time now. I have a 38" 3840x1600 LG monitor now, and as great as it is, I would love more size and resolution.

I always considered 38" at 3840x1600 to be the sweet spot in terms of ppi and vertical screen real estate. The GX9 is an upgrade to both which makes it the top choice until the higher ppi 39" versions arrive later this year

The 38 inch lgs fit the bill

Hey LG! I’ve had the 38” LG IPS and now have the original 45” OLED! I’d say my sweet spot is probably the 45”. It has the perfect vertical resolution and the curve is super immersive. While I currently only use it for gaming I think it’d be cool to do a review of the 3440x1440 and the 5k2k side by side in productivity apps to help clear the muddy waters in the PPI conversation. Thanks!

I've got an LG 38" ultrawide and I really couldn't go back to anything lower, so that is my current sweet spot. I am terribly curious about the next generation of incoming OLEDs though, especially since my screen has a scratch on it that is impossible to ignore.

I guess you can put it to preference…. I don’t like 27” 4k.. text is too small and trying to get text to look good and not be too big to lose the 4k size…. It’s just not good. Basically, a 3440x1440 at 39”.. the text will be bigger. The actually benefit is just bigger size but the use screen is still the same as a 34” 3440x1440. If you want a bigger monitor and proper resolution, look at 38” 3940x1600 or the new 45 5k2k. When looking at monitor, you shouldn’t just look at size … you need to look at resolution to size. 4k - 32”+, anything smaller may give more ppi but the actual image size will be bad visually.. if you can’t see it well since it’s too small, what’s the point. 34” - 3440x1440, this seems to work really well. It’s not just me but many others who use it. Higher res may work for this size but… it may have the same issues as too high res for the size. We won’t know until it comes out and people try it. 38” - 3840x1600, this seems to be a proper size to res. It’s also a great work size due to the higher height resolution. The unfortunate part .. it’s not a standard size so they are expensive and most are older models. Nothing new for this size/resolution. 39” - these are mostly cheaper 3440x1440 due to bad resolution to size. There are more expensive versions as you can see but not worth it in my opinion. -other res may exist but the most likely one is 3440x1440 49 - 5120x1440, 2 1440p monitors basically. This is a popular 32:9 monitor size and from users… it seem to work well. This may get 5k2k versions and that might work really well thought the size maybe a little different. There are other sizes but those are the basic ultrawide sizes that I have seen. -57”, this is a nich size for ultrawide so didn’t add this. If you got this, you know you want it.

The LG 5K2K on my desk is such big step up from the LG 38” UW IPS. I’m spending way too much time on gaming since I upgraded. Love it!

Using a 38 3840x1600 and works great. Imo it will be fine until series 7k.

GUI monitor can be whatever you want. However, generally, people recommend having your reference monitor in the center, so having a GUI monitor to left and to the right of it makes more logical sense. I run a 38" LG ultrawide and a Flanders DM250 to the right of it.

38in LG ultrawide it’s IPS 🔥 gentle curve

Lookup va black level smearing before you go with a VA panel. I'd recommend checking out a video of say the Dell 34 inch VA panel as that's basically what you will end up with. Specifically look up black level smearing on any VA panel you are browsing. If you go cheap it could be worse than that. If you can't stand the black level smearing an IPS should be midrange for the price. There are plenty of options at 144 Hz. If you can get one I'd say go for the LG 38 inch 1600 p monitor as that is my daily driver for 3 years. I actually own the Alienware one but it's the same panel just 144 Hz and I'm not sure how common Alienware is as a brand in Europe. Otherwise you can go with an OLED 34 inch but they are expensive. I'd guess easily $1000 Euros. Imo increase your budget a bit for your monitor of choice. It's gonna usually last you 5 years. So an extra $200 can go a long way for peace of mind.

I have a 9800x3D and just got a 9070xt and I play on a 3840x1600 38" ultra wide, it's dope

Having used a 38" 3840*1600 extensively for work I've been waiting for a long time for an OLED ultrawide to meet or beat that resolution. I'n my opinion anything less than 1600 vertical pixels is insufficient for productivity usage so I've been extremely excited to try 45" at 5k2k for some time!