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Gigabyte M32QC-EK 32-inch QHD Widescreen Curved Gaming Monitor, 2560 x 1440, 165Hz Refresh Rate, FreeSync, 1ms Response Time, 3000:1 Contrast Ratio

£499.995£999.99Clearance
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The Gigabyte M32QC renders 100% sRGB and 94% DCI-P3 as claimed for excellent vibrancy in games and movies. Its default accuracy isn’t perfect, with its deltaE average of 2.67, but that’s normal for a monitor with extended gamut coverage. It is not terribly inaccurate, so it’s still readily usable with only a few minor tweaks, such as setting its brightness to comfortable levels. The contrast ratio amounts to 1,000:1 as expected from an IPS display, while the peak brightness goes up to 350-nits for SDR and up to 400-nits for HDR, which is plenty to keep the monitor bright enough to mitigate glare even in well-lit rooms, but not enough for a noteworthy HDR viewing experience. As an unseen player, monitor is often being underestimated. The truth is monitors form as a synergistic effect and bring out the best performance of PC components. GIGABYTE gaming monitors offer the ultimate specifications and quality, users can truly enjoy upscale performance without the need for extravagance. While they offer a better HDR image quality, you still won’t get the true HDR viewing experience as they have only several dimming zones. However, it has some limitations since it’s a budget model, such as its 18-watt charging limit on that USB-C connector. It’s also prone to blurring, but that’s a limitation you have to live with if you want the higher contrast ratio of VA panels. It’s an excellent buy, but it is not a massive upgrade over its predecessor.

Smart OD’ is the adaptive overdrive implementation as it essentially changes the overdrive level according to your frame rate when VRR (variable refresh rate) is enabled. However, it’s not well optimized and causes ghosting and overshoot at certain FPS. Both the menu and the software are well-organized and smooth with plenty of useful features available, including various picture presets, such as Standard, FPS, RTS/RPG, Reader, Movie, sRGB and three custom profiles.

We tested the monitor with the PS5's new variable refresh rate feature and confirmed that it's not compatible, since the PS5 only supports HDMI Forum VRR. Given that the difference between 8-bit and 10-bit color depth is subtle, this is not really an issue. You might notice slightly smoother gradients in HDR games with 10-bit color, but HDR is not a selling point of the Gigabyte M32Q anyway. Price & Similar Monitors GIGABYTE Gaming monitor features an exclusive stand that's ergonomically designed to offer extensive range of height and tilt adjustments. This feature allows you to have more details of the dark side without overexposing the bright side at the same time. The Gigabyte M32QC is an excellent choice if you want a value monitor that works well with both gaming and productivity. Its high-contrast VA panel offers superb color performance and smooth visuals that will work great for games and movies. It has USB-C connectivity and KVM, expanding its applicability for professional and business use where laptops like MacBook Pros are standard.

Users can effortlessly enjoy the finest gaming experience with features GIGABYTE continues to develop and upgrade while giving extra protection to your monitor. The Gigabyte M32QC isn’t the fastest gaming monitor around since VA technology’s limitations still bind it. That extra 5Hz doesn’t improve its pixel response time drastically, so it still is prone to blurring in contrasting or fast-paced transitions. Setting its overdrive to its Speed option will help, but it cannot altogether remove the persistence. Further, 1440p resolution looks good even on 31.5″ sized screens. You get 93 PPI (pixels per inch), which is the same pixel density found on 24″ 1080p monitors. The Gigabyte M32Q has a few additional features available, most of them gaming-oriented. Some of them include:VA panel presents you a view closer to the human eye than a flat monitor, giving you a more immersive feel. However, if you are using VRR and your frame rate is below 100FPS, ‘Balance’ will cause some overshoot, in which case, you should dial the overdrive down to ‘Picture Quality’ for better performance south of 100FPS. The Gigabyte M32Q is based on an IPS panel by Innolux with wide 178° viewing angles and consistent colors covering 94% of the DCI-P3 color space (~125% sRGB).

The streamline appearance represents the simplicity of the GIGABYTE gaming series design philosophy, sturdy stand and matte finish built for functional and aesthetic features adding more to the characteristics. Of course, given that the Gigabyte M32Q monitor has VESA’s entry-level DisplayHDR 400 certification, it shouldn’t be considered for its HDR capabilities – it’s more of a side feature. High resolution and fast refresh rate, giving you the detailed display quality and fluid gaming experience! Large 1440p monitors aren’t very sharp, but you still get the extra pixels to make images crisper with better details. Visibility and legibility are better with a monitor like this, so it works great for reading and browsing and easy to spot small objects like snipers peeking in the distance in games. Note that you will need a potent GPU for this monitor, although midrange cards are now more powerful and capable.

We bought and tested the HP X27q, which is a similar budget gaming monitor. We added a few relevant comparisons to this review. Virtual Crosshair: There are four virtual crosshairs to choose from. Unlike software virtual crosshairs, these can't be detected by your games. This feature will allow you to customize crosshairs that helps improve your aim in the shooting game. Calibrating it lowered the dE average to 1.65, which isn’t a whole world of improvement versus the default setting. It has an sRGB mode, but it only reduces the gamut average to 2.08. We don’t recommend getting a colorimeter for this model if you need absolute accuracy since that will raise your cost and put you in the range of a prosumer variant.

The Gigabyte M32Q has an outstanding response time at the maximum refresh rate of 170Hz. At our recommended Overdrive setting, 'Picture Quality', there's no overshoot and very little blur behind fast-moving objects. The 'Balance' mode is extremely similar, so you should choose whichever one looks best to you. It has a slightly faster rise/fall time but a bit more overshoot. This results in slightly less blur behind fast-moving objects, but you might see some overshoot artifacts instead, also known as inverse ghosting. As with most monitors, the highest setting, 'Speed' in this case, is practically unusable. The PIP and PBP functions allow users to view different video sources which are presented in one screen at the same time, you are able to watch the game guides at the same time using only one monitor! While the Gigabyte M32Q has a native 8-bit color depth panel, it supports 10-bit via dithering. However, DisplayPort 1.2 only supports 10-bit color up to 120Hz at 1440p – so, if you want to use 10-bit color, you’ll need to use chroma subsampling (4:2:2 color format) or drop the color depth to 8-bit. Besides the standard image adjustment tools (brightness, contrast, color temperature, etc.), you’ll also find advanced settings, such as color vibrance, gamma presets, sharpness and 6-axis hue/saturation.The Gigabyte M32QC is a new variant that combines the VA panel of its predecessor and the extra functionality of its M-series counterpart. This model has an upgraded panel and USB-C connectivity, along with KVM, enhancing its suitability for productivity. Let’s see if the Gigabyte M32QC brings considerable improvements to the table or if its cheaper predecessors are better buys. Gigabyte M32QC Specifications

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