AOC CU34G2X: Affordable 34-inch curved monitor - test by igamesnews

Do you remember when the first curvy 34-inch models came on the market in 21: 9 format and you had to easily pull 1,200 euros or more? Well, the times are obviously over. With the CU34G2X, AOC has launched a new monitor that covers all of these features for a whopping 579 euros and even adds a whopping 144 Hz refresh rate. The only question is whether this tasty particle has a catch.

From a purely visual point of view and with regard to the equipment, we initially do not find any major problems. On the contrary, with 2x DisplayPort 1.4, 1x HDMI 2.0 and 4x USB and USB uplink, all the ports we would like to have are represented, except Type-C. The fact that no speakers are installed can be ache, the quack of most monitor speakers is dispensable and a headphone jack is available anyway. The necessary cables are also included. Not a power supply, by the way, it is built in internally.

Setup is quick and easy. As usual, you just screw the foot to the stand with thumbscrews, hang the display and lock it. The monitor looks good on the desk, looks chic, especially thanks to its narrow frame, and stands securely without taking up too much space on the table. The ergonomic functions leave nothing to be desired. Height adjustment (130 mm), rotation (+/- 30 degrees) and inclination (3.5 to 21.5 degrees) are available. Wall mounting is also possible thanks to VESA100.

If there is anything to complain about, then the waitress at most. The on-screen menu is fairly tidy and clear, but instead of buying a mini joystick on the back, AOC relies on badly labeled buttons on the bottom edge of the chassis, which invite you to make incorrect entries. After all, there is optional free software with which you can make the most important settings using the mouse and keyboard. But honestly: we don't want to see such buttons anymore. No more.

The AOC CU34G2X, like most curved displays, uses a VA panel, as far as we could tell, from Samsung. The panel offers QHD resolution in 21: 9 format, i.e. 3,440 x 1,440 pixels, for which a GTX 1070, RTX 2060 S or Radeon 5700 XT as a graphics card should ideally slumber in your computer in order to enjoy the pixel splendor with reasonable details. The frame rate is a whopping 144 Hz with a response time of 4 ms (gray-to-gray).

Otherwise, the panel offers typical VA values with a brightness of 300 cd / m², a contrast of 3,000: 1 and a viewing angle of 178 degrees. Incidentally, the curved radius is 1500R, which means that it is slightly more curved than the most common 1800R. The monitor is stated as HDR-Ready, but does not provide a real HDR, as can be easily recognized by the brightness value.

It is also worth mentioning that the monitor supports AMD FreeSync, which prevents tearing with AMD graphics cards in the range from 48 to 144 Hz. However, the AOC CU34G2X is not on the list of G-Sync-compatible models. For example, there are reports that unsightly flickering occurs when using FreeSync with NVIDIA cards, which we could not understand in our copy. Apparently a bit of luck at the moment, but could be improved in the future by driver updates.

The equipment also includes plenty of gaming-specific features and now more or less standard options such as blue light filters and flicker-free technology. There are also switchable options such as frame counters or crosshairs, and there are various gaming presets. Picture-in-picture and picture-in-picture functions are also available. The comparatively low price does not result in a lack of features.

The image display scores above all with decent contrasts and rich black, but the color display is also impressive, if not at the level of an IPS panel. The saturation of the colors is quite high with 119% sRGB coverage, which should not please everyone. But there is also an emulated sRGB mode, which makes it a bit milder. We did not find the satiety to be disturbing, on the contrary.

VA-typical, you have to expect slight ghosting in fast games, which we didn't notice in the test. A little caution is required in the overdrive mode, which you can set in five levels. At the maximum level there is a clear overshoot, we recommend the middle option, which shows almost no abnormalities. All in all, gaming with the monitor was a lot of fun, especially open world titles benefit from the strong colors and decent contrasts with a high refresh rate and usable response time.