+Uncut Sevens Yeah, mine was the same. Screen was flickering like mad when I tried to overlock to 95Hz. The monitor simply refused to do 100Hz. Beautiful screen though, that's why I'm going to try for another one and hopefully not get a dud.
The weird thing is the price tag actually isn't the biggest deterrent to purchasing this monitor, instead it is its availability. The hassle to search for stock on overstock or directly on the web based retailers isn't worth the hassle.
I have one of those Ergotron mounts for my 27" Asus 144Hz 2K 1ms FreeSync monitor and it's fantastic. If my neck starts hurting, I can adjust the height and angle on the fly, even while gaming, and be ready to go for another 4 hours.
Just grabbed this monitor a few days ago, I love it. Its the best monitor I've purchased yet as well as my first G-Sync. I also just noticed at Microcenter Asus RoG just put out a similar monitor but not sure spec wise how it compares to this. Have you seen that one yet? It took me a while to get used to the buttons on the bottom right. What I do love is the option to choose up to 3 choices of crosshairs in the middle of the screen, works great with first person shooters and not having to scope in gave me a pretty good advantage at CS GO, BF4, etc.
Really solid review. I appreciate addressing the things like QC on other people's units. Something you couldn't do if you were simply trying to get the review up as soon as the product release. Great vid.
Great job on the review Paul! No way I'd pay $1300 for this thing when I could buy an Asus ROG Swift IPS G-Sync screen that'll do 165Hz and have $500 left to go to a new video card. (Yeah, some people don't seem to benefit from the 21 fps difference of 165 vs 144, but some do. Ryan and Allyn of PC Perspective both were pleasantly surprised to find it wasn't just a gimmick but an improvement they could see. And the difference between 100 and 165Hz - assuming you have the video card horsepower to keep it @ 165Hz - simply can't be reasonably denied.) Also, being sold out at this stage doesn't mean it's either all that popular or good (or will be good when all the problems get fixed). Also, the "overclocked to get 100Hz" thing makes me wonder about the panel and controller they used. Why would they even do such a thing? Very clearly 100Hz isn't anywhere near the limit of a good modern IPS panel. I have to wonder about their engineering team, their sales team, and whether or not the monitor is designed to suck up the cash of the relatively wealthy more than it is to provide a premium experience. But the main problem I have with any variable refresh rate monitor sold today is that regardless of which technology you decide to go with you are locked into a single brand of graphics card to get the benefit. I'm simply not going to buy any of them until the monitor manufacturers and/or video card companies solve this issue. This is a good monitor (check out TFT Central's review if you want something more in-depth), and it uses the technology I'd choose if I were forced to (G-Sync), but it simply won't do, even with all the bugs worked out. Too much money for too little benefit.
@paul Great overview of this display. I wanted to say a big thank you for covering what 16:9 looks like on this display. I know it sounds like it would be obvious but not all displays support a 1:1 display without attempting to stretch (regardless of GPU settings) ... the other thing I rarely see covered in reviews is how Picture-In-Picture and Picture-By-Picture are handled on high res displays. These things don't require an extensive overview, but its often hard to find the info on them before purchasing. Even when these displays are in the store, consumers rarely have the option of seeing this. A big thank you for the attention to detail and great product overviews. Best regards!
Well I did it. Pre-ordered one from NCIX US, the only place I saw that had some in stock (they're shipping on the 12th like Paul said). Bought a GTX 980 ti hybrid in anticipation for this monitor, and I'm coming up from a decade old 1080p 60hz ACER monitor. The 980 ti is tearing the crap out of my screen right now though
Of the "big 3" Reviewers -I'm talking about followers not physical size Jay if you happen upon this...Jay, Paul and Linus I think you all cover the details in your own way and focus on the finer points of what is important to you. The reason I mention this is Paul your vocabulary is awesome. You can describe things with metaphor unmatched in review and as weird as you may think some of it sounds I totally get it and understand exactly what you are trying to say. I used to own an MSI build, like the products but lately I'm on nearly all ASUS stuff currently. I'm loving the new X99 Godlike Carbon board so much that I'm thinking of giving my wife the Maximus Extreme VIII and 6700k in exchange for one of those and a 5930k...I digress. Great reviews and keep them coming, it's great to see your perspective. If I could throw in a request? I cannot find a decent memory OC video. I don't want to go into all the timings and get all super complicated but I've found even my G.Skills RipJaws V was able to reduce timings as well as move to the 1T command rate, even though XMP says otherwise, and stay stable. So how do we do this, test this, etc.
I went through 3 of these. each had worse light bleed than the last. I'm not picky about light bleed if it doesn't bother me, but on that monitor is certainly did. mine were all far worse then this review sample. none of them went over 90Hz. I ended up returning it and getting a Dell U3415W. 1/2 the price. 1/4 the light bleed (compared to the best of the 3 predators I had). and I got it to overclock to 85Hz without any problems. much happier with it
I hate to shoot you down but the Dell U3415W and the X34 share EXACTLY the same LG LM340WU2-SSA1 AH-IPS panel :) . You are either lying about having 3xX34's............... or perhaps you got lucky with the specific Dell you have and incredibly unlucky with the X34. IPS glow is not usually a issue for either model under normal operation. The X34 is a MUCH better buy due to G-Sync and higher hz.
Superberino review Paul! Loved the detail you went into and the honesty about issues. I'm starting to wonder if its just better to go for a screen this wide but taller, so basically 16:9 40" TV with 2k or thereabouts. That may be the sweetest spot of all. You can't go bigger because your eyes can't take it in. I'd love to see a roundup of all the monitors and TV's that reach monitor quality level for reading text and so on and so on. It's hard to compare them.
+refreshfr yup. monitors are starting to get popular, the tech and looks of them are improving like crazy. im so happy. tvs are garbage. only some 4k tvs ive seen look breathe taking. monitors have been looking better everytime.
+Tanzu15 I wanted to try 4K gaming since the price of monitors were coming down and I managed to get a G-sync one refurbished for $450 on newegg and I couldn't be happier, 4K is truly incredible for gaming
Personally I would still have a lot of use for a rear USB hub, because I like to keep my external and my printer plugged in (wireless is inconvenient for stupid reasons out of my control) as well as my peripherals, and would love to have some micro cables ot a second SD adapter on an extender cable easy to access as well.
Thank you for being honest and unbiased with your reviews. I can't stress enough how important that is to me.. I've unsubscribed to so many channels because they sold out and just do whatever it takes to make the most money. A little integrity goes a long way. You, Jayz Two Cents, and Lon Seidman are my favorite tech reviewers for this very reason.
Great review Paul, thanks. I'm staring at this very monitor right now and I agree almost completely with your assessment. Mine does have just a little bit of backlight bleed in the same places as yours and just a little bit of a warmer colored glow in the lower left that I see in yours as well. I also have just a little bit of coil whine when displaying a bright white image but can't hear it over even a little bit of background noise so it's not worth complaining about IMO, even for the price. I honestly don't think it's worth $1300 but when you're first to market with a combination of fancy technologies I suppose you can charge what you want. lol it's my shiny toy for the quarter and I'm not buying any more toys for a few months. It's also my understanding that a lot of the stock that initially went out to retailers was pulled for a firmware update to fix an issue where half the screen wouldn't wake up after going to sleep. I got mine after 2 weeks on back-order.
Amazing monitors, 21:9 with at least 100hz, 3440x1440 and even G-sync.. I really like how moniotor tech is moving forward again lately.. I got a Acer XB270HU earlier this year, also a amazing monitor, gonna wait a few years now until the 21:9 gets a bit more mainstream with cheaper and better offerings and also videocards will be fast enough to drive them to the max with 1 card.. Then it will surely be my next screen upgrade.. Right now the XB270HU combination with a single GTX980Ti is perfect for me..
Paul, you do PC monitor reviews but don't have a monitor calibration tool? I'm not a big time PC hardware review guy, but I still took the trouble to save up and buy a Spyder5 Elite. It made a huge difference with my Acer X34 and XB271HU! Colors are way better now vs. stock. Calibration even helped reduce the IPS glow on both monitors (though the XB271HU hardly has any glow and no bleed at all). Do yourself a huge favor and buy a Spyder5 Elite or similar monitor calibration tool now!
Thank you so much for this review. It is clear, precise and you cover a lot of things. I really enjoyed watching this and listening to your thoughts on this particular product. Will definatly watch other videos from you.
Great review Paul! I appreciate your honest 'no bullshit' approach with reviewing this monitor, and try your best to not over-sell it with crap like "The best gaming monitor I've ever used!!". Keep up the good work.
Paul I think your camera has a dead pixel in the sensor 7:53 (look at the white pixel moving arround the screen with the video in fullscreen). Really good review btw, I think is the best I have seen of this monitor so far (better than Linus and Jays) :)
+Vadim Viehoff no because it's only on this video hahaha I tried to watch the video in my phone and I can't see it in the tiny screen, I think you need to watch it fullscreen on a relatively big screen (mine is 27") and I'm sure it's not my monitor because the white pixel is bigger than the actual pixels in my monitor (I have the Rog Swift).
That sucks hearing some can't reach 100hz, but i took the plunge and bought a slightly used one for 999 euro's. Was about to get the Z35 but hearing all the bad stuff about sucks! So i found a seller for the X34 and got him to down the price a bit.
I have a Vizo 55 inch television that cost 600 that does 105 Hz (although it is rated to do 120 Hz; can not figure out how to get it that high. I may have to lower the resolution from 2800x2000 in order to get it to go higher). It is awesome and at first I thought the huge size would be too big for my desk also in my face. It has not caused any problems and also allowed me to spend the money that I would have spent on a monitor on other projects. Until there is a monitor that meet my demands and is calibrated to not cause a heavy load on my graphic card I will stick with my current setup (has to be true 4k $$$, 30 inches or higher, oled, 250Hz, Full RGB Range, 5ms response time, Come with a good stand, and not cost a down payment for a house or car).
Hey Paul. Love the review. I'm in the market for an ultrawide monitor but I don't want to be tied down to gsync or freesync. Would the Dell be my best choice?
I really like that you give a shout out to other tech channels and recognise when they've made a good review (e.g. HardwareCannuks). Classy stuff Paul.
I really like 21:9 panels. But for productivity, I can't see spending this much over either a dual or triple 16:9 screen setup. Currently at 3x1080p 22", and would love to upgrade to 3x1440 27". When I could get 3 IPS displays with similar spec within the same ballpark as one of these, I just can't see this above a novelty.
good review P, although I've spent roughly $1800 for 3 ASUS MonItors in the past and waiting patiently for the new Matrix cards to hit, I don't think I would bust a move on this Predator X34 just yet, although It's a bit pricey I could see it takes the place of two monitors and maybe that's the justification IDK.
Great video but thats not backlight bleed that more IPS glow which is a panel characteristic, for backlight bleed which is a build quality issue. This glow in the corners is caused by your angle of vision when viewing the screen and is because of the pixel structure on the IPS panel. This IPS glow is a "feature" of nearly every IPS-type panel on the market, so as a buyer you should be expecting
Non of the Reviews have talk about the inherent problems with IPS, the Ips is very pronounced on this unit and some people will confuse it with backligh bleed, if you are sensitive to Ips glow stay clear of this unit by al means
If anyone is interested in this monitor or any 21:9, check it out with your bare eyes, because I was quite surprised the vertical view is feels too narrow in that ratio and I did not notice until I get to use real product in front of me. And it is almost annoying when you play fps. I had 32 inch 16:9 monitor side by side. Interestingly 32 inch looked larger.. Of course more natural.
+masknecr There are limits to the field of view without extreme fish eye effect. On a 4:3 screen you can push it to about 100 degrees, which gives ~75 degrees vertical FOV. On 21:9 you can go up to about 115 degrees which is ~50 degrees vertical FOV. Even 16:9 is not great, but it's a justifiable compromise for driving games. For first person shooters I'd still pick a 4:3 resolution and leave black bars on the sides to get the extra vertical FOV.
I wish they would have redone the predator z35 to display a resolution of 1440p, it had a much more appealing and aggressive design with all that awesome red.
I have this screen and love it...but a gripe, I hate the fact that the entire screen is not used completely, you can always see this black border around the entire screen which is about 1-2 cm, you can see it in the video.
Though I have been looking at ultra wide monitors, I have a question for you that my help me out. Do I pick up one of these monitors to replace the three I have already? or keep the rig of 3x Samsung S27A950D 27-Inch Class 3D LED Monitor? Look forward to your response Paul.
They need to have more inputs. For example, I am using a Display Port for PC and HDMI for Xbox, many people also have a Roku or a Chromecast or even another console. You have to give people at least 3 HDMIs.
+acerimmeh 21:9 will never be useful for gaming. 16:9 itself was a compromise between 4:3 TV content and 21:9 cinema content. Computer displays was a smaller market and simply followed what TV's were doing due to economies of scale. On a 4:3 display you can have ~100 degrees horizontal FOV without obscene fish eye distortion. On a 16:9 you can perhaps go up to about 110 degrees horizontal FOV at the same distance and screen area. That represents a massive loss of vertical FOV. 21:9 will give very little additional horizontal FOV, but greatly shrink vertical FOV. It won't make sense in anything but racing games and low FOV console style games. The future is VR. You might not understand until you have experienced it for yourself. Sony morpheus is 8:9 tallscreen per eye; Oculus used to be 8:9 tallscreen but is rumoured to use ~4:3 in the CV1 prototypes; Vive is 1:1 circular. Even in the cinema; when you want an immersive experience you use IMAX, which is 1.43:1 (closer to 4:3 than 16:9). 21:9 exists because it is easier and less expensive to build cinemas wider rather than taller and 21:9 looks poor on a 4:3 CRT TV, hurting the 1950's and 1960's era film viewing experience on TVs and theoretically driving movie audiences to the cinema.
+EpicJonah I have and it's terrible. You can't get enough vertical FOV for anything; even racing games where most of the action is along the horizon and widescreen should be an ideal fit is terribly claustrophobic.
Still an early day for this type of wide curve monitor. Hopefully soon all the manufacture will start doing it. I had enough of 3 panels, I rather have one ultra wide panel.
+fetB G-sync definitely adds to the price, but I think the refresh rate does too... and I don't think they do separate manufacturing runs of 75Hz and 100Hz monitors, they make the panels and then test to see how fast they can run, then set aside the faster ones to be used in a premium product with a premium price. GPUs do it all the time -- EVGA Classified, ASUS Matrix, Gigabyte Xtreme Gaming series cards all use binned-for-overclocking GPUs
I am debating between this and the Acer Predator 27" WQHD ? I will be only gaming/web browsing on this PC, I mostly play RPGs, ARPGs, SIMs and RTS games. What do you guys think will be a better choice? PC: 1080ti, 32gb ram 3200 mhz, OC 8700k
Really on the fence about getting this or a Samsung UN48JS8500/UN40JU7500 for christmas. Both are about the same price but I can also use the Samsung as a televison. I guess the question is if g sync and 100hz is really worth giving up a larger better looking screen for.
+StylinRed If they cut things like speakers and USB out, the price would only drop by a tiny amount and people would then bitch about such an expensive monitor not even having USB etc.
+adamaj74 I have never. Not once. I have ne-var used a USB port on a peripheral. Ever. Motherboard I/O and that's it. I can't imagine a reason to plug something into a monitor.
almost every ultrawide that's come out in the past few months came out at around 1000. But I've seen the LG panel drop on sale pretty low (700ish on massdrop) pretty frequently, so I'd rather just wait for this monitor to hopefully drop as well when a competitor releases a similar product. If not, there's always the 40" 4k for $600... and with all that money I'd save, I could buy the second 980ti to make the games playable on it. :)
I have a GTX 2080 TI and need to get a better monitor and I think I have my choices down. Between the LG 27GL850 and the Gigabyte Aorus Fi27Q-P which one would you choose Paul?
Hi. Just wondering. is there a disadvantage when you overclock the monitor? Or will it be just the same with a native 100hz monitor? Because x34p will be released this year with a native 100hz. If ever there is no disadvantage with a monitor overclocked to 100hz, i'll buy just the x34 instead.
the Underglow would go good with my led under lighting around my setup, but sadly that price makes my wallet shiver with fear, and I already gouged it a few months ago with my 970 :D
Hey Paul, I dunno if you are interested in this but how about trying to see what the best low budget high UHQ monitors are. For example i am using a 28" 16/9 B286HK 4k (2160p) 60FPS acer monitor which was around 350-500$ at the time of this comment, works rather well for me, but then again I have gotten used to a few things that one should not be used to. (ghosting for example also its not IPS but rather TN, but those a fair job hoolding itself up at the price that it is offered). So like I said, I don't know if you are interested in this sort of stuff, but just a idea that I wanted to throw out there.
The DisplayPort on the Acer X34 is actually 1.2a :D Also, that is NOT backlight bleed. That is IPS glow. And yes, you can play Blizzard games at 3440x1440 by running the game in Full frame windowed mode. I can verify this works with Diablo 3 and gives you a huge advantage with being able to see that much more rendered parts of the game while moving around.
you mentioned the 980 and the Ti.. does that mean that the 970 would not be so good or recommendable for this display. I ask because my rig has a 970 in it?!
looking to replace my 2 24in 1080 p 59hz panels just upgrade my 660ti sli setup for a 980ti and think this monitor would be great just after getting 980 ti cash going to be tight
I really wanted this monitor. So bad. But, hearing that acer still doesn't seem to have good quality control just kept me from buying. I ended up getting a u3415w instead. While it doesn't have g-sync I was able to get to overclock to 80 Hz. And I only paid $760 for it on black friday special.
hey Paul Im looking at buy the z35. I game daily on a triple 22" dell monitors about 9 years old. I have a ZOTAC GTX 980 TI AMP! EXTREME. so im thinking of moving to a single gaming monitor and or or two (1080p min) side monitors in portrait. but I also work in coreldraw, ai, photoshop, for graphic designs for wraps and signs and so on. so I was wanting to know if the curve mess with the true shape of things on the monitor. or should I stay with a flat monitor for that productivity. Thanks ~Nick
hey paul I really trust your opinions and I want to ask you a question if I get the acer z34 can I run it not at its natural resolution but rather at 2560x1080p until I finish my new build ?? Il still use its natural res for most games but when I play competitively I want to run it at 2560 is this possible ???? Hopefully you see this
Do You keep the products you review? sic monitor tho i wish I had the money for it. I'm still spending money on my pc build. hoping to have something like this in the future.
+Liger-Zero I would like to see an open universal standard and I think freesync is more likely to be that. I think g-sync has a bit better feature set and support right now though.
Paul's Hardware thanks for you opinion. im currently using aoc 27" 3d monitor and i barely use the 3d function. even if i do use this function, 95% of the time is on movie. recently, i kind of want to get a slim monitor, curved monitor looks nice but high refresh rate monitor also nice. but current market offers very limited number of curved and 144hz monitor. should i get either a curved or high refresh rate monitor, or wait for another year?
Just a simple question Paul, how often do you even game? With all that hardware? I am positive you do not have the time to game. so what is the point of all that hardware that costs more than my house? And yes I know that you can render faster and save more time, but yeah just a thought.
Well he gets sent hardware by companies who sponsor the video. So essentially even though ASUS sent him something which he doesn't need, he will include it because 1. They sent it to sponsor his build video 2. Why not? I'm sure he does game though. All work no play makes Paul a dull boy ;)
+Blade Mastr I usually game on Tuesday nights, and aside from that I get at least a half-hour to an hour in on 3-4 other nights throughout the week. I try to stop "working" after 10PM and I'll jump into some gaming.
Really well made review! :) It was nice you mentioned about some of the problems people been having with this monitor. I'm gonna think twice before buying this one. Like should I really wait a bit for those issues to be resolved or wait for the Asus model to come out which is presumably going have quite similar specs than this Acer model.
+TheLoneRecon Gaming You should read some reviews first though since its a disaster out of the box. Source: every forum out there including overclockers.
+Viper I got lucky. My model was almost perfect besides slight backlight bleed in one corner, but it's not noticeable unless looking for it. Other than that Picture is gorgeous along with 165hz refresh.
best x34 review so far! from the other review's, i liked yours allot paul! good stuff mr. now patiently waiting on your review of the upcoming asus ROG Swift PG348Q monitor.
I'd pay gladly... but only for the unit that you got. There's no chance in hell that Nvidia didn't totally recheck and recalibrated your unit before sending it to you. Even with little light bleed, I'm sure it's the best as can be. The problem is that they don't use the same components or material for every unit. The probably made 100 units with the best materials and components and reserved them for reviewers. That's why you had no problem with overclocking. That's actually very smart of them, don't you think? Gotta keep the cost low and the reviews high, right? When you, the reviewers start to test actual units that are sold to us chumps, that is when they will start to respect their customers. Does one person in this comment section think that they didn't supercheck this monitor with professional calibration tools before sending it for review??? I'm sure that even Paul, Jay and Linus are aware of this!!!
Thanks for the fabulous review and the honesty. Just one point, Price should not be a pro or con... It should be mentioned but not judged, unless it is ridiculous, which in this case it is not. I bought the Asus for just under €1000 (~$1100) and am totally satisfied... A friend of mine bought a €450 TV from that PR China company which sponsored the European Football Championship and we managed to watch about 15 minutes of the game before telling him to F**k himself and retiring to our local bar which hasLG TVs (just to show that price should never be an absolute). From my experience with the Asus PG348Q, I also own two Asus PG279Q, I can say that the price is totally reasonable, more so than its 27" "little" brothers (which cost me about $850 each). I do get to "Cherry Pick" my monitors so no quality control issues. I would also like to set something straight, and am surprised LG has permitted the abuse of their technology for marketing purposes to go on for so long... These panels are not IPS, they are AHVA panels from AUO, as you know, and should come with the warning that "AHVA Panels have very poor quality control and tend to suffer from back light bleed and yellow or brown stains", as attested and proved by all professional panel reviewers. In my case, I get to pick from the best of the lot, so those issues are mitigated. From what I have seen so far ASUS must be seriously pressuring AUO since the quality of their 27" monitors is far superior to that of the 27" from ACER which from the batches I've see is unacceptable (in 25 Predators assembled I would, as a client, only accept 5 of them... So many where the flaws). Still, it is totally unacceptable that a customer shoving out between $800 to $1400 is still subjected to the infamous "lottery" or "bad production runs". Wish they where True IPS (like your Leonidas) made by LG, the only manufacturer which builds IPS Panels. Wish LG (or consumer protection groups) would sue both AUO and Samsung for misleading information and fraud. Cheers.
I use Samsung 40" tv... BTW this video was totally needed and ilustrative to me, help me out to understand that to have gsync or free sync I Certanly Wait until it became a stander in the near future about 5 years from now
"The back of this monitor is black, glossy plastic, which should never be used on anything." So true. I wish hardware/electronics manufacturers would stop using it on EVERYTHING.
They don't ship it at 100Hz because not all panels are able to reach 100Hz.. Eg. Mine
ouch...
Yea that's the most bs marketing ever. Imagine if they did that to CPU's
+bob guy To 95 Hz, when i set it to 100, the image rapidly flickers on and off.
+Uncut Sevens
Yeah, mine was the same. Screen was flickering like mad when I tried to overlock to 95Hz. The monitor simply refused to do 100Hz. Beautiful screen though, that's why I'm going to try for another one and hopefully not get a dud.
+Will Stancil Unfortunately shipping a 34" monitor across the world is not an option for me, so I have to live with what I got :(
If you buy it now you save $9! right now its only $1290! what a steal!!!!!!
Who needs my arm and leg?
+Dah_v O you're deadpool cant you grow another set?
I got this monitor 2 weeks ago and i have never been so happy
The weird thing is the price tag actually isn't the biggest deterrent to purchasing this monitor, instead it is its availability. The hassle to search for stock on overstock or directly on the web based retailers isn't worth the hassle.
+AdventDeath rumor has it they have a wider release coming Dec 12, we'll see if that pans out
+Paul's Hardware ...Did you just..
Wow.
+Paul's Hardware lmao
This was easily the best review out for this product. Outstanding job! Loved it, mostly going over the cons and how in depth that portion was.
good that you are so open about your sponsors!
Still holding out for a 48:9 11520x2160 curved panel. I can dream, right?
Why would I want to play Minecraft at that resolution?
+DiehlGames woooosh
How was what he said even a joke?
I'll never understand UA-cam comments... It's not a place for the educated I guess.
+DiehlGames Minecraft isn't for educated people either
What a classy move linking to all your reviewer friends who've also reviewed it! Cooperation not competition! :D
I really enjoyed the review. Thank you for taking the time to do it and also for being very upfront with the review.
+unnerv76 you are very welcome, glad you liked it!
I have one of those Ergotron mounts for my 27" Asus 144Hz 2K 1ms FreeSync monitor and it's fantastic. If my neck starts hurting, I can adjust the height and angle on the fly, even while gaming, and be ready to go for another 4 hours.
Just grabbed this monitor a few days ago, I love it. Its the best monitor I've purchased yet as well as my first G-Sync. I also just noticed at Microcenter Asus RoG just put out a similar monitor but not sure spec wise how it compares to this. Have you seen that one yet? It took me a while to get used to the buttons on the bottom right. What I do love is the option to choose up to 3 choices of crosshairs in the middle of the screen, works great with first person shooters and not having to scope in gave me a pretty good advantage at CS GO, BF4, etc.
Really solid review. I appreciate addressing the things like QC on other people's units. Something you couldn't do if you were simply trying to get the review up as soon as the product release. Great vid.
Didn't know you watched APL's Twitch. That's awesome glad to know your apart of the best chat on twitch!
+Travis Van Keuren (Trav Tech) I needed some Twitch chat to demo, I wasn't expecting the Best Chat On Twitch to be available but Scott came through
Excellent review Paul. You really killed it with this one. (directed, relevant, to the point).
Great job on the review Paul!
No way I'd pay $1300 for this thing when I could buy an Asus ROG Swift IPS G-Sync screen that'll do 165Hz and have $500 left to go to a new video card. (Yeah, some people don't seem to benefit from the 21 fps difference of 165 vs 144, but some do. Ryan and Allyn of PC Perspective both were pleasantly surprised to find it wasn't just a gimmick but an improvement they could see. And the difference between 100 and 165Hz - assuming you have the video card horsepower to keep it @ 165Hz - simply can't be reasonably denied.) Also, being sold out at this stage doesn't mean it's either all that popular or good (or will be good when all the problems get fixed). Also, the "overclocked to get 100Hz" thing makes me wonder about the panel and controller they used. Why would they even do such a thing? Very clearly 100Hz isn't anywhere near the limit of a good modern IPS panel. I have to wonder about their engineering team, their sales team, and whether or not the monitor is designed to suck up the cash of the relatively wealthy more than it is to provide a premium experience.
But the main problem I have with any variable refresh rate monitor sold today is that regardless of which technology you decide to go with you are locked into a single brand of graphics card to get the benefit. I'm simply not going to buy any of them until the monitor manufacturers and/or video card companies solve this issue. This is a good monitor (check out TFT Central's review if you want something more in-depth), and it uses the technology I'd choose if I were forced to (G-Sync), but it simply won't do, even with all the bugs worked out. Too much money for too little benefit.
My favorite review of this monitor thus far. Great job.
@paul Great overview of this display. I wanted to say a big thank you for covering what 16:9 looks like on this display. I know it sounds like it would be obvious but not all displays support a 1:1 display without attempting to stretch (regardless of GPU settings) ... the other thing I rarely see covered in reviews is how Picture-In-Picture and Picture-By-Picture are handled on high res displays.
These things don't require an extensive overview, but its often hard to find the info on them before purchasing. Even when these displays are in the store, consumers rarely have the option of seeing this.
A big thank you for the attention to detail and great product overviews. Best regards!
Well I did it. Pre-ordered one from NCIX US, the only place I saw that had some in stock (they're shipping on the 12th like Paul said). Bought a GTX 980 ti hybrid in anticipation for this monitor, and I'm coming up from a decade old 1080p 60hz ACER monitor. The 980 ti is tearing the crap out of my screen right now though
Of the "big 3" Reviewers -I'm talking about followers not physical size Jay if you happen upon this...Jay, Paul and Linus I think you all cover the details in your own way and focus on the finer points of what is important to you. The reason I mention this is Paul your vocabulary is awesome. You can describe things with metaphor unmatched in review and as weird as you may think some of it sounds I totally get it and understand exactly what you are trying to say.
I used to own an MSI build, like the products but lately I'm on nearly all ASUS stuff currently. I'm loving the new X99 Godlike Carbon board so much that I'm thinking of giving my wife the Maximus Extreme VIII and 6700k in exchange for one of those and a 5930k...I digress.
Great reviews and keep them coming, it's great to see your perspective. If I could throw in a request? I cannot find a decent memory OC video. I don't want to go into all the timings and get all super complicated but I've found even my G.Skills RipJaws V was able to reduce timings as well as move to the 1T command rate, even though XMP says otherwise, and stay stable. So how do we do this, test this, etc.
I went through 3 of these. each had worse light bleed than the last. I'm not picky about light bleed if it doesn't bother me, but on that monitor is certainly did. mine were all far worse then this review sample. none of them went over 90Hz. I ended up returning it and getting a Dell U3415W. 1/2 the price. 1/4 the light bleed (compared to the best of the 3 predators I had). and I got it to overclock to 85Hz without any problems. much happier with it
I hate to shoot you down but the Dell U3415W and the X34 share EXACTLY the same LG LM340WU2-SSA1 AH-IPS panel :) . You are either lying about having 3xX34's............... or perhaps you got lucky with the specific Dell you have and incredibly unlucky with the X34. IPS glow is not usually a issue for either model under normal operation. The X34 is a MUCH better buy due to G-Sync and higher hz.
Superberino review Paul! Loved the detail you went into and the honesty about issues.
I'm starting to wonder if its just better to go for a screen this wide but taller, so basically 16:9 40" TV with 2k or thereabouts. That may be the sweetest spot of all. You can't go bigger because your eyes can't take it in. I'd love to see a roundup of all the monitors and TV's that reach monitor quality level for reading text and so on and so on. It's hard to compare them.
"Granted he says that a lot" Linus says that almost every monitor review .-.
+Jlg823 To be fair, there has been A LOT of improvements in gaming monitors lately: high-refresh IPS, high-resolution high-refresh, and so on...
+refreshfr yup. monitors are starting to get popular, the tech and looks of them are improving like crazy. im so happy. tvs are garbage. only some 4k tvs ive seen look breathe taking. monitors have been looking better everytime.
+Tanzu15 I wanted to try 4K gaming since the price of monitors were coming down and I managed to get a G-sync one refurbished for $450 on newegg and I couldn't be happier, 4K is truly incredible for gaming
+Tanzu15 I remember the last time I went to best buy the only good looking TV I could spot out right away was an IPS panel and the OLED ones
+Jlg823 To be fair, Linus is terrible.
Personally I would still have a lot of use for a rear USB hub, because I like to keep my external and my printer plugged in (wireless is inconvenient for stupid reasons out of my control) as well as my peripherals, and would love to have some micro cables ot a second SD adapter on an extender cable easy to access as well.
Thank you for being honest and unbiased with your reviews. I can't stress enough how important that is to me.. I've unsubscribed to so many channels because they sold out and just do whatever it takes to make the most money. A little integrity goes a long way. You, Jayz Two Cents, and Lon Seidman are my favorite tech reviewers for this very reason.
Great review Paul, thanks. I'm staring at this very monitor right now and I agree almost completely with your assessment. Mine does have just a little bit of backlight bleed in the same places as yours and just a little bit of a warmer colored glow in the lower left that I see in yours as well. I also have just a little bit of coil whine when displaying a bright white image but can't hear it over even a little bit of background noise so it's not worth complaining about IMO, even for the price. I honestly don't think it's worth $1300 but when you're first to market with a combination of fancy technologies I suppose you can charge what you want. lol it's my shiny toy for the quarter and I'm not buying any more toys for a few months.
It's also my understanding that a lot of the stock that initially went out to retailers was pulled for a firmware update to fix an issue where half the screen wouldn't wake up after going to sleep. I got mine after 2 weeks on back-order.
Amazing monitors, 21:9 with at least 100hz, 3440x1440 and even G-sync.. I really like how moniotor tech is moving forward again lately.. I got a Acer XB270HU earlier this year, also a amazing monitor, gonna wait a few years now until the 21:9 gets a bit more mainstream with cheaper and better offerings and also videocards will be fast enough to drive them to the max with 1 card.. Then it will surely be my next screen upgrade.. Right now the XB270HU combination with a single GTX980Ti is perfect for me..
Paul, you do PC monitor reviews but don't have a monitor calibration tool? I'm not a big time PC hardware review guy, but I still took the trouble to save up and buy a Spyder5 Elite. It made a huge difference with my Acer X34 and XB271HU! Colors are way better now vs. stock. Calibration even helped reduce the IPS glow on both monitors (though the XB271HU hardly has any glow and no bleed at all). Do yourself a huge favor and buy a Spyder5 Elite or similar monitor calibration tool now!
love the production quality of this video. looking good!
as always, an awesome review. thanks Paul!
Best review of this monitor I've seen. Top job Paul, great video.
Thank you so much for this review. It is clear, precise and you cover a lot of things. I really enjoyed watching this and listening to your thoughts on this particular product. Will definatly watch other videos from you.
I have an LG 29UM55 ultrawide IPS and it's awesome , it is 2560*1080 and a bit smaller but I paid it only 240€ and I can say it's worth every penny !
You can force games to use 21:9 through the nvidia control panel. It works with most games.
Thanks Paul, LOVE the glossy comment. Completely agree!
+Yellow even when tastefully done it will still get micro-scratches as soon as you look at it
Paul's Hardware One would think they would learn by now.
Great review Paul! I appreciate your honest 'no bullshit' approach with reviewing this monitor, and try your best to not over-sell it with crap like "The best gaming monitor I've ever used!!". Keep up the good work.
+Erick Ramirez thank you very much Erick!
12:03
LOL, that's me having commented last on the "multiple problems with X34" forum
I am now immortalized !
Paul I think your camera has a dead pixel in the sensor 7:53 (look at the white pixel moving arround the screen with the video in fullscreen).
Really good review btw, I think is the best I have seen of this monitor so far (better than Linus and Jays) :)
+Vadim Viehoff no because it's only on this video hahaha
I tried to watch the video in my phone and I can't see it in the tiny screen, I think you need to watch it fullscreen on a relatively big screen (mine is 27") and I'm sure it's not my monitor because the white pixel is bigger than the actual pixels in my monitor (I have the Rog Swift).
those black bars on 16:9 really show the black-light bleed
That sucks hearing some can't reach 100hz, but i took the plunge and bought a slightly used one for 999 euro's. Was about to get the Z35 but hearing all the bad stuff about sucks!
So i found a seller for the X34 and got him to down the price a bit.
I have a Vizo 55 inch television that cost 600 that does 105 Hz (although it is rated to do 120 Hz; can not figure out how to get it that high. I may have to lower the resolution from 2800x2000 in order to get it to go higher). It is awesome and at first I thought the huge size would be too big for my desk also in my face. It has not caused any problems and also allowed me to spend the money that I would have spent on a monitor on other projects. Until there is a monitor that meet my demands and is calibrated to not cause a heavy load on my graphic card I will stick with my current setup (has to be true 4k $$$, 30 inches or higher, oled, 250Hz, Full RGB Range, 5ms response time, Come with a good stand, and not cost a down payment for a house or car).
Hey Paul. Love the review. I'm in the market for an ultrawide monitor but I don't want to be tied down to gsync or freesync. Would the Dell be my best choice?
Paul, if this is too expensive, which monitor is the best bet? Are there 30"+ widescreens that are great for gaming?
I really like that you give a shout out to other tech channels and recognise when they've made a good review (e.g. HardwareCannuks). Classy stuff Paul.
I really like 21:9 panels. But for productivity, I can't see spending this much over either a dual or triple 16:9 screen setup. Currently at 3x1080p 22", and would love to upgrade to 3x1440 27". When I could get 3 IPS displays with similar spec within the same ballpark as one of these, I just can't see this above a novelty.
Hey Paul, if you get your hands on a new Corsair Scimitar mouse I think a quick review video would be awesome!
I was watching this video and I got startled when you said my name at 0:22 did not expect that hahaha
good review P, although I've spent roughly $1800 for 3 ASUS MonItors in the past and waiting patiently for the new Matrix cards to hit, I don't think I would bust a move on this Predator X34 just yet, although It's a bit pricey I could see it takes the place of two monitors and maybe that's the justification IDK.
Great video but thats not backlight bleed that more IPS glow which is a panel characteristic, for backlight bleed which is a build quality issue. This glow in the corners is caused by your angle of vision when viewing the screen and is because of the pixel structure on the IPS panel. This IPS glow is a "feature" of nearly every IPS-type panel on the market, so as a buyer you should be expecting
Non of the Reviews have talk about the inherent problems with IPS, the Ips is very pronounced on this unit and some people will confuse it with backligh bleed, if you are sensitive to Ips glow stay clear of this unit by al means
Great review!!! One question I have is: how big is the FPS drop between this monitor and regular 1440 ??
If anyone is interested in this monitor or any 21:9, check it out with your bare eyes, because I was quite surprised the vertical view is feels too narrow in that ratio and I did not notice until I get to use real product in front of me. And it is almost annoying when you play fps. I had 32 inch 16:9 monitor side by side. Interestingly 32 inch looked larger.. Of course more natural.
+masknecr There are limits to the field of view without extreme fish eye effect. On a 4:3 screen you can push it to about 100 degrees, which gives ~75 degrees vertical FOV. On 21:9 you can go up to about 115 degrees which is ~50 degrees vertical FOV. Even 16:9 is not great, but it's a justifiable compromise for driving games. For first person shooters I'd still pick a 4:3 resolution and leave black bars on the sides to get the extra vertical FOV.
Very nice review, good job Paul.
I wish they would have redone the predator z35 to display a resolution of 1440p, it had a much more appealing and aggressive design with all that awesome red.
I have this screen and love it...but a gripe, I hate the fact that the entire screen is not used completely, you can always see this black border around the entire screen which is about 1-2 cm, you can see it in the video.
Though I have been looking at ultra wide monitors, I have a question for you that my help me out. Do I pick up one of these monitors to replace the three I have already? or keep the rig of 3x Samsung S27A950D 27-Inch Class 3D LED Monitor?
Look forward to your response Paul.
I advise you guys to wait for the second shipment of the predator x34. Too many problems with the first shipments. Unless you are lucky.
They need to have more inputs. For example, I am using a Display Port for PC and HDMI for Xbox, many people also have a Roku or a Chromecast or even another console. You have to give people at least 3 HDMIs.
16:9 had little support by games while transitioning from 6:4 monitors. 21:9 is on the rise and will be the new standard in years to come.
That moment when an Indie game has 21:9 support and a AAA game like Fallout 4 doesn't. So sad.
+acerimmeh 21:9 will never be useful for gaming. 16:9 itself was a compromise between 4:3 TV content and 21:9 cinema content. Computer displays was a smaller market and simply followed what TV's were doing due to economies of scale.
On a 4:3 display you can have ~100 degrees horizontal FOV without obscene fish eye distortion. On a 16:9 you can perhaps go up to about 110 degrees horizontal FOV at the same distance and screen area. That represents a massive loss of vertical FOV. 21:9 will give very little additional horizontal FOV, but greatly shrink vertical FOV. It won't make sense in anything but racing games and low FOV console style games.
The future is VR. You might not understand until you have experienced it for yourself. Sony morpheus is 8:9 tallscreen per eye; Oculus used to be 8:9 tallscreen but is rumoured to use ~4:3 in the CV1 prototypes; Vive is 1:1 circular.
Even in the cinema; when you want an immersive experience you use IMAX, which is 1.43:1 (closer to 4:3 than 16:9). 21:9 exists because it is easier and less expensive to build cinemas wider rather than taller and 21:9 looks poor on a 4:3 CRT TV, hurting the 1950's and 1960's era film viewing experience on TVs and theoretically driving movie audiences to the cinema.
+EpicJonah I have and it's terrible. You can't get enough vertical FOV for anything; even racing games where most of the action is along the horizon and widescreen should be an ideal fit is terribly claustrophobic.
Still an early day for this type of wide curve monitor. Hopefully soon all the manufacture will start doing it. I had enough of 3 panels, I rather have one ultra wide panel.
Paul, why do you imply the G-Sync one features binned panels. Isn't it more likely that it cost 200 more due to the G-sync modul?
+fetB G-sync definitely adds to the price, but I think the refresh rate does too... and I don't think they do separate manufacturing runs of 75Hz and 100Hz monitors, they make the panels and then test to see how fast they can run, then set aside the faster ones to be used in a premium product with a premium price. GPUs do it all the time -- EVGA Classified, ASUS Matrix, Gigabyte Xtreme Gaming series cards all use binned-for-overclocking GPUs
Good guy Paul: puts the specs on the thumbnail.
+Yearlaren I hope it's not too busy, I was worried it looked busy
Very good review. Subscribed!
I'll stick with my XB278HU. It was 500 bucks less and is still awesome. Just wish it had an HDMI as well as displayport.
I am debating between this and the Acer Predator 27" WQHD ? I will be only gaming/web browsing on this PC, I mostly play RPGs, ARPGs, SIMs and RTS games. What do you guys think will be a better choice?
PC: 1080ti, 32gb ram 3200 mhz, OC 8700k
Really on the fence about getting this or a Samsung UN48JS8500/UN40JU7500 for christmas. Both are about the same price but I can also use the Samsung as a televison. I guess the question is if g sync and 100hz is really worth giving up a larger better looking screen for.
$1300 monitor, still has speaker which nobody ever used on a monitor since 2000.....cmooooooon, stop putting speakers on luxury monitors !
Why do you care? just don't use them
+Bluepengie cuz it can cut down on the price
+StylinRed If they cut things like speakers and USB out, the price would only drop by a tiny amount and people would then bitch about such an expensive monitor not even having USB etc.
+adamaj74 I have never. Not once. I have ne-var used a USB port on a peripheral. Ever. Motherboard I/O and that's it. I can't imagine a reason to plug something into a monitor.
+Nineunbuffed I agree. But people would still bitch, either way.
almost every ultrawide that's come out in the past few months came out at around 1000. But I've seen the LG panel drop on sale pretty low (700ish on massdrop) pretty frequently, so I'd rather just wait for this monitor to hopefully drop as well when a competitor releases a similar product. If not, there's always the 40" 4k for $600... and with all that money I'd save, I could buy the second 980ti to make the games playable on it. :)
I have a GTX 2080 TI and need to get a better monitor and I think I have my choices down.
Between the LG 27GL850 and the Gigabyte Aorus Fi27Q-P which one would you choose Paul?
Appreciate the honesty, Paul. Great review. I'll stay with my 30" 2560x1600. Price doesn't justify the cons.
Hi. Just wondering. is there a disadvantage when you overclock the monitor? Or will it be just the same with a native 100hz monitor? Because x34p will be released this year with a native 100hz. If ever there is no disadvantage with a monitor overclocked to 100hz, i'll buy just the x34 instead.
Hi Paul i just got the PG278Q I"ll keep my 2560x1444p i love it
most movies are in the 2.35 1 aspect ratio and not 16:9 as you have stated..only tv shows are shot in 16:9(most of them are anyways) 10:16
And here I am with my 60hz, TN, 16:9, 1080p display...and for now those specs are great for me.
the Underglow would go good with my led under lighting around my setup, but sadly that price makes my wallet shiver with fear, and I already gouged it a few months ago with my 970 :D
Hey Paul, I dunno if you are interested in this but how about trying to see what the best low budget high UHQ monitors are.
For example i am using a 28" 16/9 B286HK 4k (2160p) 60FPS acer monitor which was around 350-500$ at the time of this comment, works rather well for me, but then again I have gotten used to a few things that one should not be used to. (ghosting for example also its not IPS but rather TN, but those a fair job hoolding itself up at the price that it is offered).
So like I said, I don't know if you are interested in this sort of stuff, but just a idea that I wanted to throw out there.
I Just assumed the not shipping at 100hz was because of the hdmi 1.4 port can't just plug and play that cable at 100hz.
Damn, look at that oscillation and shaking at 3m14 mark. It would need a 3rd party mount for sure.
The DisplayPort on the Acer X34 is actually 1.2a :D Also, that is NOT backlight bleed. That is IPS glow. And yes, you can play Blizzard games at 3440x1440 by running the game in Full frame windowed mode. I can verify this works with Diablo 3 and gives you a huge advantage with being able to see that much more rendered parts of the game while moving around.
you mentioned the 980 and the Ti.. does that mean that the 970 would not be so good or recommendable for this display. I ask because my rig has a 970 in it?!
looking to replace my 2 24in 1080 p 59hz panels just upgrade my 660ti sli setup for a 980ti and think this monitor would be great just after getting 980 ti cash going to be tight
Very nice review, man!
Keep up the great work! ^_^
Paul, amazing video as always. Thank you sir.
I really wanted this monitor. So bad. But, hearing that acer still doesn't seem to have good quality control just kept me from buying. I ended up getting a u3415w instead. While it doesn't have g-sync I was able to get to overclock to 80 Hz. And I only paid $760 for it on black friday special.
could you provide a link for the wallpaper? it looks awesome
hey Paul Im looking at buy the z35. I game daily on a triple 22" dell monitors about 9 years old. I have a ZOTAC GTX 980 TI AMP! EXTREME. so im thinking of moving to a single gaming monitor and or or two (1080p min) side monitors in portrait. but I also work in coreldraw, ai, photoshop, for graphic designs for wraps and signs and so on. so I was wanting to know if the curve mess with the true shape of things on the monitor. or should I stay with a flat monitor for that productivity. Thanks ~Nick
hey paul I really trust your opinions and I want to ask you a question if I get the acer z34 can I run it not at its natural resolution but rather at 2560x1080p until I finish my new build ?? Il still use its natural res for most games but when I play competitively I want to run it at 2560 is this possible ???? Hopefully you see this
Next year Black Friday I will absolutely get one.
Do You keep the products you review? sic monitor tho i wish I had the money for it. I'm still spending money on my pc build. hoping to have something like this in the future.
+Paul's Hardware could you please review the LG 24MP88HM monitor. I could'nt find any reviews online, and your reviews are really helpful. Thanks
hi paul, which side you think has the better future? g-sync or free sync monitor?
+Liger-Zero I would like to see an open universal standard and I think freesync is more likely to be that. I think g-sync has a bit better feature set and support right now though.
Paul's Hardware
thanks for you opinion. im currently using aoc 27" 3d monitor and i barely use the 3d function. even if i do use this function, 95% of the time is on movie. recently, i kind of want to get a slim monitor, curved monitor looks nice but high refresh rate monitor also nice. but current market offers very limited number of curved and 144hz monitor. should i get either a curved or high refresh rate monitor, or wait for another year?
Just a simple question Paul, how often do you even game? With all that hardware? I am positive you do not have the time to game. so what is the point of all that hardware that costs more than my house? And yes I know that you can render faster and save more time, but yeah just a thought.
Well he gets sent hardware by companies who sponsor the video. So essentially even though ASUS sent him something which he doesn't need, he will include it because 1. They sent it to sponsor his build video 2. Why not? I'm sure he does game though. All work no play makes Paul a dull boy ;)
+Blade Mastr I usually game on Tuesday nights, and aside from that I get at least a half-hour to an hour in on 3-4 other nights throughout the week. I try to stop "working" after 10PM and I'll jump into some gaming.
Paul's Hardware Interesting, and that is pretty awesome man. Thanks for answering!
Really well made review! :) It was nice you mentioned about some of the problems people been having with this monitor. I'm gonna think twice before buying this one. Like should I really wait a bit for those issues to be resolved or wait for the Asus model to come out which is presumably going have quite similar specs than this Acer model.
Just ordered myself the Asus Swift PG279Q cant wait for it.
+Paul's Hardware You should review the new Swift!
+TheLoneRecon Gaming You should read some reviews first though since its a disaster out of the box. Source: every forum out there including overclockers.
Rabbitto09 Just Got mine and its perfect no BLB.
+TheLoneRecon Gaming What do you think about it? Got mine a few weeks back. Had to return the first one (2 dead pixels), but the second one seems ok.
+Viper I got lucky. My model was almost perfect besides slight backlight bleed in one corner, but it's not noticeable unless looking for it. Other than that Picture is gorgeous along with 165hz refresh.
Now release a 4K ultrawide version like this. With rgb underglow like paul mentioned.
best x34 review so far! from the other review's, i liked yours allot paul! good stuff mr.
now patiently waiting on your review of the upcoming asus ROG Swift PG348Q monitor.
I'd pay gladly... but only for the unit that you got. There's no chance in hell that Nvidia didn't totally recheck and recalibrated your unit before sending it to you. Even with little light bleed, I'm sure it's the best as can be. The problem is that they don't use the same components or material for every unit. The probably made 100 units with the best materials and components and reserved them for reviewers. That's why you had no problem with overclocking. That's actually very smart of them, don't you think? Gotta keep the cost low and the reviews high, right? When you, the reviewers start to test actual units that are sold to us chumps, that is when they will start to respect their customers. Does one person in this comment section think that they didn't supercheck this monitor with professional calibration tools before sending it for review??? I'm sure that even Paul, Jay and Linus are aware of this!!!
Great review. Thank you for posting this.
Thanks for the fabulous review and the honesty.
Just one point, Price should not be a pro or con... It should be mentioned but not judged, unless it is ridiculous, which in this case it is not. I bought the Asus for just under €1000 (~$1100) and am totally satisfied... A friend of mine bought a €450 TV from that PR China company which sponsored the European Football Championship and we managed to watch about 15 minutes of the game before telling him to F**k himself and retiring to our local bar which hasLG TVs (just to show that price should never be an absolute).
From my experience with the Asus PG348Q, I also own two Asus PG279Q, I can say that the price is totally reasonable, more so than its 27" "little" brothers (which cost me about $850 each). I do get to "Cherry Pick" my monitors so no quality control issues.
I would also like to set something straight, and am surprised LG has permitted the abuse of their technology for marketing purposes to go on for so long... These panels are not IPS, they are AHVA panels from AUO, as you know, and should come with the warning that "AHVA Panels have very poor quality control and tend to suffer from back light bleed and yellow or brown stains", as attested and proved by all professional panel reviewers.
In my case, I get to pick from the best of the lot, so those issues are mitigated. From what I have seen so far ASUS must be seriously pressuring AUO since the quality of their 27" monitors is far superior to that of the 27" from ACER which from the batches I've see is unacceptable (in 25 Predators assembled I would, as a client, only accept 5 of them... So many where the flaws).
Still, it is totally unacceptable that a customer shoving out between $800 to $1400 is still subjected to the infamous "lottery" or "bad production runs".
Wish they where True IPS (like your Leonidas) made by LG, the only manufacturer which builds IPS Panels. Wish LG (or consumer protection groups) would sue both AUO and Samsung for misleading information and fraud.
Cheers.
I use Samsung 40" tv... BTW this video was totally needed and ilustrative to me, help me out to understand that to have gsync or free sync I Certanly Wait until it became a stander in the near future about 5 years from now
"The back of this monitor is black, glossy plastic, which should never be used on anything." So true. I wish hardware/electronics manufacturers would stop using it on EVERYTHING.