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Up to now two years, Quick IPS (FIPS) panels have taken over the premium gaming monitor phase, turning into the de facto alternative in upscale releases like ViewSonic’s $999.99 Elite XG320U. It is billed as a top-of-the-line 4K gaming panel for consoles due to the inclusion of HDMI 2.1 ports, however our time with the 32-inch, feature-filled Elite XG320U was as transcendent because it was irritating, with excellent color-testing outcomes, however low normal brightness ranges that left us working the monitor in HDR mode whereas gaming and watching content material. Should you desire consuming your video games or films in HDR (whether or not from a gaming console or your desktop PC), you may discover the XG320U probably the greatest 4K gaming displays in its worth vary. If HDR is not in your plan, although, go along with a better-rounded choice, such because the $799 Gigabyte Aorus FI32Q, as a substitute.
Each Bell, All of the Whistles
First, the bottom specs: The Elite XG320U is a 32-inch-diagonal monitor with a 3,840-by-2,160-pixel native decision and a 144Hz refresh price (overclockable to 150Hz), constructed round a LED-backed FIPS panel. It evolves its show tech up from a number of the older VA-based fashions we have seen within the rarified 4K/144Hz area just like the Acer Predator XB3, utilizing extra present show applied sciences that enhance picture high quality and make gaming efficiency extra responsive.
The monitor is mounted on the identical base we have seen on a number of Elite fashions now, and it stays pleasant for avid gamers preferring to tilt their keyboard left or proper for much less conventional hand placements throughout intense esports play. Adjustability general was common, with -5 to twenty levels of vertical tilt, vast 178-degree viewing angles (each side-to-side and up-and-down), and a swivel vary of -30 to 30 levels.
The show can’t pivot 90 levels between panorama and portrait modes. Pivoting the monitor means shedding a whole lot of useful horizontal display screen actual property often reserved for gaming or watching films/TV exhibits, so except you want your coding or Twitter home windows to be actually clear and crisp, contemplate a inexpensive 1080p monitor to fill in on the aspect as a substitute.
ViewSonic’s not too long ago overhauled onscreen show (OSD) menu system is managed by a five-way joystick within the heart of the unit, subsequent to the facility button on the precise and an enter shortcut button on the left. The OSD gives the same old combination of customization and tuning choices for each avid gamers and content material creators. These embrace a six-way shade and saturation calibration toolset, in addition to a bunch of gaming items, although anybody who depends on a hardware-based crosshair to nail their precision pictures ought to look elsewhere. (That function just isn’t supported right here.)
This panel additionally has its share of “Did not know I wanted that!” options. Should you use a wired gaming mouse, oftentimes it may be difficult to maintain the twine in place throughout frenetic play periods. Very like we noticed within the MSI Optix MPG341CQR, the ViewSonic Elite XG320U comes with two mouse bungees (one for both aspect) put in on the underside of the panel cupboard. You’ll be able to hook up your mouse twine to a bungee, which is able to preserve the twine set at a selected size to stop it from tangling or getting caught on issues.
Of the identical theme is a headphone holder that pops out from the left aspect of the monitor housing. It is these little added touches that proceed to raise ViewSonic’s Elite model past the usual.
As for ports, there’s virtually nothing ignored, with the XG320U providing two HDMI 2.1 inputs, one DisplayPort 1.4b enter, and one micro-USB port…
Additionally listed here are three USB 3.0 Sort-A ports (plus one USB 3.0 Sort-B upstream port for feeding the opposite USBs), and a 3.5mm headphone jack to be used with the HDMI audio pass-through.
Testing the ViewSonic Elite XG320U: Quick, Stunning, and Correct
As we talked about earlier, this 4K show boasts a FIPS panel with a local peak refresh price of 144Hz, and the monitor permits for an overclock of as much as 150Hz. Rated for HDR 600, the XG320U helps AMD FreeSync Premium Professional. To begin, we must always point out that the numbers you see under are consultant of a second Elite XG320U check unit we obtained from ViewSonic. The primary one we bought had some firmware points, which resulted in flickering, OSD menu glitches, and black screens throughout sure gaming utilization eventualities. The alternative unit exhibited none of this.
We put the XG320U via our normal gaming-monitor check routine utilizing a Datacolor SpyderX Elite colorimeter. Here is what we recorded…
First up is a go of two separate peak brightness checks; one run in SDR (normal brightness), and the second run in HDR (excessive dynamic vary brightness). This check measures the height white and black stage of the monitor (and subsequently, the distinction ratio), at 4 respective brightness ranges: 0%, 25%, 50%, and 100%, set manually by us utilizing the OSD throughout the run.
Testing the show within the default image mode with an SDR sign, the Elite confirmed a peak brightness of simply 215.9 nits (it is rated for 400 nits) and a black stage of 0.36 nit, which works out to a distinction ratio of simply 600:1, nicely under its rated 1,000:1.
Hitting rated brightness targets has been an issue for a number of FIPS shows we have reviewed to date, just like the Corsair Xeneon 32QHD165 and the Gigabyte Aorus FI32Q, and it does not look to be a straightforward remedy if we’re to take the frequency of the problem up till now as a sign. FIPS panels have been promised as the most effective mixture of all panel varieties, however there are nonetheless a couple of key areas through which a TN, VA, or normal IPS panel could be higher suited to the job.
As soon as HDR testing kicked off, issues returned to expectations, nevertheless, with the HDR 600-rated show hitting simply above that brightness stage, at 602.9 nits on our SpyderX Elite meter.
Issues actually bought attention-grabbing for the monitor as soon as we kicked off shade gamut testing. Its 100% protection of each the sRGB and Adobe RGB gamuts is greater than good—it is chart-toppingly nice. Our DCI-P3 protection results of 95% can be excellent news for content material creators and content material shoppers alike.
Coming off these excellent outcomes, the ViewSonic Elite XG320U achieved an out-of-the-box Delta E (dE) studying of 1.14 in our color-accuracy testing. That is increased than we have seen in some main choices just like the Corsair Xeneon 32QHD165 (a decrease quantity is best with dE), however nonetheless wonderful, and a determine that might be kicked down even additional with some cautious hand calibration.
ViewSonic Elite XG320U: Media and Gaming Efficiency
And so, onward to video-playback and video games testing. With our 4K Costa Rica test footage (output at 4K to match the monitor’s native decision), the panel seemed fairly good for its ranking. HDR 600 is simply above the baseline of HDR 400, and in that tier the Elite fills its function with verve. Colours had been vibrant and popped off the panel throughout our check footage run, and I additionally performed a couple of films via common streaming companies, which additionally seemed fairly good.
Subsequent, I booted up Red Dead Redemption 2 with HDR turned alternately on and off to see how the monitor dealt with it. The HDR image in video games was simply inside expectations for an HDR 600 display screen and seemed simply nearly as good because the Costa Rica video, whereas SDR efficiency was expectedly underneath the norm, given our so-so brightness outcomes above. Colours had been extra washed-out than we’d have preferred with out the required distinction ratios required to make them pop.
For testing conventional enter lag (the period of time between when a monitor receives a sign and when the display screen updates), we use an HDFury 4K Diva HDMI matrix. Given a 60Hz check sign, the Elite joins a rising checklist of shows we have examined currently that return outcomes under 1 millisecond, and our detector cannot measure precisely how far under. However that is a great displaying.
To see how that low enter lag felt in motion, I attempted a couple of rounds of Counter-Strike: Global Offensive, Valorant, and Overwatch. In every of those, the ViewSonic felt snappier than any 4K monitor I’ve performed on but. The “4K” is a caveat of its personal, although. Although probably the most aggressive esports hounds will preserve their decision low (which is to say, decidedly not 4K) to play on the highest tiers of velocity, personally I did not thoughts taking part in a sport of CS:GO at 4K decision (particularly on a GPU that may maintain at the least 150fps in 4K). Enjoying at 4K could seem just a little self-defeating, at first, however aggressive gamers might not need to fully dismiss this ultra-quick 4K show out of hand. Because of FreeSync Premium Professional (we test-played the panel with a Radeon RX 6800 XT card in our testbed), there was little or no display screen tearing, and the low enter lag added as much as a high-performance expertise all through.
A Practically Stellar 4K Gaming Show
After a sequence of Editors’ Alternative award wins in its rising household of Elite gaming displays, ViewSonic provides one other sturdy effort within the XG320U. It falls simply in need of the medal spherical, although. The low default SDR brightness ranges, mixed with some troubles testing the primary unit we obtained, take a little bit of the rating off what’s in any other case a top-notch gaming and content-watching expertise in HDR.
When the ViewSonic works because it ought to (learn: hits its HDR brightness targets), it is a improbable new entry into the rising line of succesful 4K gaming displays that push refresh charges to ranges that exceed the wants of the most well-liked gaming consoles. For console house owners, the monitor slots in completely as a 4K/120Hz choice alongside phase slayers just like the LG CX OLED series of high-refresh 4K TVs. Nevertheless because of the low brightness consequence we noticed in SDR testing, you might end up wanting to make use of the XG320U in HDR-enabled mode solely, which might result in eyestrain over time.
Although looking for a graphics card that may energy a PC at something above 60fps in 4K decision looks like a bit of a fool’s errand these days, in case you’ve bought the GPU or gaming console to again it up, the ViewSonic Elite XG320U is a robust and succesful (if underwhelming in SDR) entry into the world of high-speed 4K gaming shows.
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