Gigabyte M32U

Author: Adam Simmons
Date published: March 30th 2022

 

Introduction

The 3840 x 2160 (‘4K’ UHD) resolution provides a nice experience for both work and play. The Gigabyte M32U is built with both things in mind, offering a screen size we often consider the ‘sweet spot’ for the resolution whilst providing a high refresh rate and VRR (Variable Refresh Rate) at the same time. With the inclusion of HDMI 2.1, the monitor can also provide a ‘4K’ UHD @120Hz signal for compatible games consoles such as the PS5 and Xbox Series X. We put this model to the test with our usual gauntlet of tests – with a focus on desktop usage, movies and gaming.

Specifications

The monitor uses a 31.5” IPS (In-Plane Switching) type or AAS (Azimuthal Anchoring Switch) panel from Innolux with 3840 x 2160 resolution. This is complemented by a 144Hz refresh rate and 10-bit colour delivered by 8-bit + FRC dithering. Though not a figure you should put too much weight on, a 1ms MPRT response time is specified. Some of the key ‘talking points’ for this monitor have been highlighted in blue below, for your reading convenience.

Screen size: 31.5 inches

Panel: Innolux M315DCA-K7B AAS (Azimuthal Anchoring Switch) IPS-type LCD

Native resolution: 3840 x 2160

Typical maximum brightness: 350 cd/m² (400 cd/m²+ HDR)

Colour support: 1.07 billion (8-bits per subpixel plus dithering)*

Response time (G2G): 1ms

Refresh rate: 144Hz (Adaptive-Sync + HDMI 2.1 VRR)

Weight: 10.35kg

Contrast ratio: 1000:1

Viewing angle: 178º horizontal, 178º vertical

Power consumption: 50W (typical)

Backlight: WLED (White Light Emitting Diode)

Typical price as reviewed: $750 USD (£750)


*10-bit can be selected in the graphics driver at any refresh rate, up to the native resolution using DP 1.4 (with DSC) or HDMI 2.1 (with DSC) under SDR or HDR. 12-bit can also be selected when using HDMI 2.1; this includes an additional 2-bit dithering stage applied by the monitor’s scaler to facilitate work with 12-bit depth content. The bit depths listed here are using a Full Range RGB signal.

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Gigabyte M32U


Features and aesthetics

The screen offers basic styling – slightly ‘gamery’, but without potentially obnoxious colourful elements. It’s dominated by dark matte black plastics, including for the stand base which has a gently stepped low profile appearance. Between the steps there are glossy black elements, also used for a central column running up the front of the stand neck. Though the monitor itself feels pretty solid, the stand base is hollowed-out plastic with a metal backplate. The backplate adds decent weight to the stand, but if you tap the top it doesn’t feel all that premium. Certainly not the same as the coated metal stands used by the AORUS models from the manufacturer or as solid as some plastic stands we’ve come across. The bottom bezel is ~20mm (0.79m inches) thick, dark grey matte plastic with a central medium grey brand logo for a little visual contrast. The top and side bezels are dual-stage, with a slim panel border flush with the rest of the screen plus a slender hard plastic outer part. Including both elements the bezels are ~8.0mm (0.31 inches) at the top and sides. The main feature from the front is of course the screen itself, which has a light to very light matte anti-glare finish which we explore a bit later.

Plenty of matte black plastic

Switched on

The OSD (On Screen Display) is controlled by a joystick at the rear, towards the right side as viewed from the front. Above this there’s a dedicated KVM button. A very small circular (‘pin prick’ if you prefer) power LED is located towards the bottom right, facing forwards. This glows white when the monitor is on and flashes white when the monitor enters a low power state. The following video runs through the menu system including PiP and PbP functionality, KVM and the accompanying ‘OSD Sidekick’ software that can be used to control it.



The screen is quite slender towards the top with more bulk lower down – ~17mm (0.67 inches) at thinnest point. The stand offers tilt (5° forwards, 20° backwards), swivel (30° left and right) plus height adjustment (130mm or 5.12 inches). At lowest stand height the bottom of the screen sits ~36mm (1.42 inches) above the desk with the top of the screen ~458mm (18.03 inches) above the desk. The total depth of the monitor including stand is ~244mm (9.61 inches) with the screen ~60mm (2.36 inches) back from the frontmost point of the stand. So the screen takes up a moderate amount of depth on the desk, though not a huge amount for a screen of this size. The base also has a central ‘cut out’ section in the middle with diagonally sloped sides, if you wish to use your keyboard at an angle.

The side

The rear of the monitor is largely matte black plastic, with a glossy region further up and a few glossy details. We’re not a fan of glossy plastics, or fingerprint and dust magnets as we prefer to call them, but it’s used sparingly on this model. The stand attaches centrally with a quick-release catch beneath the attachment point allowing it to be easily removed. This reveals 100 x 100mm VESA holes for alternative mounting. A cable-tidy loop is found towards the bottom of the stand neck. The ports face downwards and include; an AC power input (internal power converter) with ‘zero watt’ switch and K-Slot to the right, 2 HDMI 2.1 (with DSC) ports, DP 1.4 (with DSC), USB-C (18W PD, DP Alt Mode, upstream data), 3 USB 3.0 ports (plus upstream) and a 3.5mm headphone jack. 2 x 3W speakers are included, offering basic sound output. The volume levels are quite decent, going nice and quiet or fairly loud with plenty of possible values between these. The sound isn’t particularly rich or high quality, though isn’t the worst we’ve heard either and the sound isn’t as hollow or ‘tinny’ as some integrated speakers. They won’t replace decent standalone speakers or headphones, but they’re there if you need to use them. Standard accessories include; a power cable, DP cable, Ultra High Speed HDMI cable and USB cable but may vary regionally.

The rear

AC power and switch

The ports

3840 x 2160 @144Hz plus HDR and Adaptive-Sync can be leveraged via DP 1.4 (with DSC) and HDMI 2.1 (with DSC). AMD FreeSync Premium Pro and Nvidia’s ‘G-SYNC Compatible Mode’ is supported on compatible GPUs and systems via suitable versions of DP and HDMI. Compatible Intel graphics hardware can also leverage Adaptive-Sync. HDMI 2.1 includes integrated VRR (Variable Refresh Rate) capability which does not rely on Adaptive-Sync and can be used via ‘G-SYNC Compatible’ and the PS5 which doesn’t support Adaptive-Sync. With HDMI 2.1, games consoles like the Xbox Series X and PS5 are able to run 3840 x 2160 @120Hz. The HDMI 2.1 ports of this model offer a bandwidth of 24Gbps with DSC (Display Stream Compression) used to extend its effective bandwidth further. For example, enabling Full Range RGB or ‘4:4:4’ without chroma subsampling at the maximum refresh rate. Unlike many PC GPUs or the Xbox Series X, the PS5 doesn’t support DSC – so it would require a higher uncompressed bandwidth for its maximum supported ‘4:2:2’ signal for ‘4K’ UHD @120Hz. As that isn’t available here, a ‘4:2:0’ reduced chroma signal is instead used for ‘4K’ UHD @120Hz on the PS5. In practice this works very well for ‘4K’ gaming or movie content with minimal visual impact in either SDR or HDR. Many people would struggle to see a difference even with a direct side by side comparison, so it isn’t something we’d worry about. But we appreciate some people would ideally like to be able to leverage the full capability of their system without a reduced chroma signal.

The images below show the refresh rates supported for the native 3840 x 2160 (‘4K’ UHD) resolution. The first image shows the resolutions categorised in the EDID of the monitor as ‘TV’ resolutions and listed here under ‘Ultra HD, HD, SD’. The second image shows resolutions categorised in the EDID and listed here as ‘PC’ resolutions. This includes 3840 x 2160 @120Hz, which can be used by the Xbox Series X and PS5 via HDMI 2.1. Note that both lists are largely the same via suitable revisions of DP and HDMI, except that for HDMI 60Hz doesn’t appear on the first list and 100Hz replaces 98Hz in the second list.

Refresh rates '4K' UHD 'TV' (60Hz not listed here via HDMI)

Refresh rates '4K' UHD 'PC' (100Hz listed instead of 98Hz via HDMI)

The image below shows the refresh rates listed for the 2560 x 1440 (WQHD or 1440p) resolution, with the same options available via DP and HDMI.

Refresh rates WQHD (DP and HDMI)

The images below show the refresh rates supported for 1920 x 1080 (Full HD or 1080p). The first two images show the ‘TV’ resolution lists for DP and HDMI, respectively. The third image shows the ‘PC’ list – when using HDMI only 144Hz is listed there.

Refresh rates Full HD 'TV' (DP)

Refresh rates Full HD 'TV' (HDMI)

Refresh rates Full HD 'PC' (only 144Hz listed via HDMI)

If you’re intending to use the monitor with the PS5 or Xbox Series X/S, be aware that a small settings tweak may be required to ensure 120Hz is selectable for supported resolutions. Details can be found in this article.

Calibration

Subpixel layout and screen surface

The image below is a macro photograph taken on Notepad with ClearType disabled. The letters ‘PCM’ are typed out to help highlight any potential text rendering issues related to unusual subpixel structure, whilst the white space more clearly shows the actual subpixel layout alongside a rough indication of screen surface. This model uses a light to very light matte anti-glare screen surface. With this, decent glare handling is offered whilst the light emission from the screen is fairly direct without the level of diffusion provided by stronger matte surfaces. This provides superior preservation of vibrancy and clarity, whilst preventing a clear layered appearance in front of the image. In some lighting conditions, with light striking the screen directly, the screen takes on a bit of a ‘glassy’ appearance – similar lighting conditions would cause a more diffused haze across the screen for stronger matte screen surfaces. The glare handling is superior to even lighter matte screen surfaces and certainly compared to glossy surfaces, however. The screen surface texture provides just a light ‘misty’ graininess rather than a heavier graininess or anything smeary in appearance. Most users should be just fine with this level of graininess or simply not notice it at all. It’s just slightly smoother in appearance (less grainy) than the 28” version of the panel used in the Acer XV282K KV, ASUS VG28UQL1A, Gigabyte M28U and others.

Subpixel layout

As shown above the standard RGB (Red, Green and Blue) stripe subpixel layout is used. This is the default expected by modern operating systems such as Microsoft Windows. Apple’s MacOS no longer uses subpixel rendering and therefore doesn’t optimise text for one particular subpixel layout to the detriment of another. You needn’t worry about text fringing from non-standard subpixel layouts and won’t need to change the defaults in the ‘ClearType Text Tuner’ as a Windows user. You may still wish to run through the ClearType wizard and adjust according to preferences, however. The subpixels are quite ‘squat’ with relatively large gaps above and below. On some models this contributes to ‘static interlace pattern artifacts’ and can affect text and fine-edge clarity. On this model we observed no such issues, likely as the pixel density is so high that the gaps above and below the subpixels are still tiny. We therefore had no subpixel-related concerns related to sharpness or text clarity on this model.

Testing the presets

The M32U features a range of ‘Picture Mode’ presets; ‘Standard’, ‘FPS’, ‘RTS/RPG’, ‘Movie’, ‘Reader’, ‘sRGB’, ‘Custom 1’, ‘Custom 2’ and ‘Custom 3’. As usual most of these presets simply alter various OSD settings that you could instead manually adjust yourself, but you can make adjustments which are remembered for each preset and they’re recalled when you next select that preset. The exception is that individual colour channel changes made with ‘Color Temperature’ set to ‘User Define’ are applied universally. Note that setting ‘Color Temperature’ to ‘Normal’ on our unit was the same as ‘User Define’ with all channels at ‘100’. The numbered ‘Custom’ modes are identical to ‘Standard’ by default and allow an additional 3 separate sets of settings to be used. The ‘sRGB’ setting is unique in that it restricts access to most settings and restricts the colour gamut as explored shortly.

The table below shows gamma and white point readings taken using a Datacolor SpyderX Elite colorimeter, alongside general observations by eye. Our test system uses Windows 11 with an Nvidia RTX 3090 connected using the supplied DisplayPort cable. Additional testing was performed via HDMI and also using an AMD Radeon RX 580, though observations on this table didn’t differ significantly between inputs or GPUs. The monitor was left to run for over 2 hours before readings were taken and observations made, without any additional monitor drivers or ICC profiles specifically loaded. Aside from our ‘Test Settings’, where various adjustments were made, assume factory defaults were used. The refresh rate was set to 144Hz in Windows, although this didn’t significantly affect the values or observations in this table. When viewing the figures in this table, note that for most PC users ‘6500K’ for white point and ‘2.2’ for gamma are good targets to aim for. Individual targets depend on individual uses, tastes and the lighting environment, however.

Monitor SettingsGamma (central average)White point (kelvins)Notes
Gamma OFF 2.0 6424K Good variety and good colour channel balance with a fairly rich look in places, but a noticeable lack of depth overall due to gamma.
Gamma 1.8 1.8 6430K As above but less depth and quite washed out overall.
Gamma 2.0 2.0 6426K Very similar to ‘OFF’.
Standard, Gamma 2.2 (Factory Defaults) 2.2 6434K Appropriate depth with a fairly vibrant look and good colour channel balance.
Gamma 2.4 2.4 6429K As above with raised gamma, adding extra depth and masking some detail at the low end.
Gamma 2.6 2.6 6428K As above with a further boost to gamma, rather ‘cinematic’ appearance, but far too much depth and masking of dark detail.
Color Temperature = Warm 2.2 4998K Quite an effective Low Blue Light (LBL) setting. The blue channel is weakened significantly, producing a warmer look to the image and reducing blue light output. The green channel is weakened quite a bit whilst the red channel is relatively strong, providing better balance than some LBL settings which impart a green or yellow tint.
Picture Mode = sRGB 2.2 6461K An sRGB emulation setting which clamps the gamut close to sRGB, significantly reducing saturation. Whilst gamma averages ‘2.2’, it more closely follows the ‘sRGB’ gamma curve. So it drops significantly below ‘2.2’ for darker shades, lightening some dark shades up significantly. The image appears a bit hazy overall, with some medium shades lacking depth as well. The default brightness is reduced but can be adjusted. Gamma and colour channels can’t be adjusted.
Test Settings (see below) 2.2 6520K A fairly vibrant look overall with good colour channel balance.
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Straight from the box the monitor produced an image that was quite vibrant with good colour channel balance and appropriate gamma tracking for the ‘2.2’ curve. This is shown below under our ‘Test Settings’, where only minor deviation from the ‘2.2’ curve was observed. Gamma tracking was very similar to this using the factory defaults, which shouldn’t be too surprising given how minor the adjustments made to our ‘Test Settings’ were (aside from brightness, which doesn’t typically affect gamma).

Gamma 'Test Settings'

Gamma 'Test Settings'

Given the intended uses for the monitor, inter-unit variation and pleasing performance on our unit with OSD tweaking alone we won’t be using any ICC profiles in this review or including any measurements or graphs using them. We wouldn’t recommend using them unless created for your specific unit using your own calibration device. But we appreciate some users still like to use profiles and some aspects such as gamut mapping for colour-aware applications can be useful. You can download our ICC profile for this model, which was created using our ‘Test Settings’ as a base. You can also download our sRGB profile which was created using and designed for the ‘Picture Mode = sRGB’ setting. Amongst other things, this adjusted gamma to track the ‘2.2’ curve on our unit – but be aware of inter-unit variation. And note again that these ICC profiles are not used in the review.

This monitor is certified as ‘Eyesafe’ by TÜV Rheinland, which means it incorporates patented ‘always on’ Low Blue Light (LBL) technology developed by US-based company Eyesafe. Specialised filtering materials are used to shift the blue light peak to less energetic wavelengths – from the more common ~450nm to ~460nm whilst also reducing the amplitude of the peak. There’s also a subsequent reduction in even more energetic wavelengths such as 435 – 440nm. Combined with software-level adjustment (colour channel pre-correction), this ‘always on’ feature integrated into the Gigabyte is designed to greatly reduce energetic blue light output without imparting the sort of tint associated with traditional LBL implementations. This can be beneficial from a viewing comfort perspective. But there are many facets to viewing comfort, so this doesn’t guarantee a comfortable viewing experience in isolation. Reducing exposure to stimulating blue light of all wavelengths in the hours leading towards bed is particularly important to aid a restful night’s sleep. Cutting out the most energetic wavelengths alone is helpful, but even the less energetic wavelengths of blue light affect sleep hormones. Most importantly by suppressing melatonin.

To help cut out blue light of all wavelengths, the monitor includes a more traditional LBL setting. It isn’t labelled as such, but it has that effect – setting ‘Color Temperature’ to ‘Warm’. This provides a warmer look to the image with significantly weakened blue channel, slightly weakened green channel and relatively strong red channel. Blue light output is further reduced if you use a relatively low brightness. We used this fairly effective LBL setting with reduced brightness for our own viewing comfort in the evenings, although not for any specific testing beyond that involving the setting itself. It’s particularly important to reduce blue light exposure in the hours leading up to sleep as blue light is stimulating to the body and affects sleep hormones. Increasing alertness and making it more difficult to ‘shut off’ the mind and body.

Test Settings

For our ‘Test Settings’ we switched over to the ‘Custom 1’ preset and made adjustments to brightness and minor tweaks to colour channels. ‘Standard’, ‘Custom 2’ and ‘Custom 3’ are set up the same way as this by default, so could be used as a base instead if preferred. Note that individual units and preferences vary, so these settings are simply a suggestion and won’t be optimal for all users or units. We’ve also included the refresh rate used in Windows and our preferred ‘Overdrive’ setting used for most of the review, just for reference. These settings only apply to SDR, HDR has separate settings associated with it (is far more restrictive) and is explored in the relevant section of the review.

Monitor Setup (defaults used for remaining settings)

Picture Mode = Custom 1

Brightness = 38 (according to preferences and lighting)

Color Temperature = User Define

R = 99

G = 100

B = 100

Overdrive = Picture Quality

AMD FreeSync Premium Pro = Enable

Refresh rate (Windows setting) = 144Hz


Contrast and brightness

Contrast ratios

An X-Rite i1Display Pro Plus (Calibrite ColorChecker Display Plus) was used to measure the luminance of white and black using various settings, including those found in the calibration section. From these values, static contrast ratios were calculated. The table below shows these results. Blue highlights indicate the results under our ‘Test Settings’ and with HDR active. Black highlights indicate the highest white luminance, lowest black luminance and highest contrast ratio recorded under SDR. Assume any setting not mentioned was left at default, with the exceptions already noted here or in the calibration section.

Measurements using ‘Aim Stabilizer Sync’ were taken at 144Hz – brightness levels were similar at lower refresh rates, so we didn’t feel it was worthwhile documenting these observations on the table.

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*HDR measurements were made using this YouTube HDR brightness test video, running full screen at ‘2160p 4K HDR’ on Google Chrome. The maximum reading from the smallest patch size (measurement area) that comfortably covered the entire sensor area and colorimeter housing was used for the white luminance measurement, which was ‘4% of all pixels’ in this case. The black luminance was taken at the same point of the video with the colorimeter offset to the side of the white test patch, equidistant between the test patch and edge of the monitor bezel.

**These readings were taken in the same way as the HDR reading, except the monitor is running in SDR.

The average static contrast with only brightness adjusted was 1115:1, slightly exceeding the specified 1000:1. The maximum contrast recorded under SDR (‘Local Dimming’ disabled) was 1144:1, whilst we recorded a pretty respectable 1088:1 under our ‘Test Settings’. The lowest contrast was recorded with ‘Color Temperature’ set to ‘Warm’, at 958:1. Unsurprising given the significant colour channel adjustments made with that setting. Using ‘Aim Stabilizer Sync’ we recorded a contrast ratio in-line with most other standard readings, with a locked brightness of 200 cd/m². Though the perceived brightness was a touch lower than this, as usual for a strobe backlight setting. The maximum white luminance recorded under SDR was 365 cd/m², whilst the minimum was 52 cd/m². This gives a brightness adjustment range of 313 cd/m² with a range that most users will be comfortable with. The minimum is quite low and maximum quite bright, though particularly light-sensitive users may prefer an even dimmer minimum than this.

Using ‘Local Dimming’ allowed the monitor to adjust its backlight as individual zones, running as 16 vertical bands from left to right. This provided a boost in contrast to 2012:1 under SDR and to 2600:1 under HDR where a peak brightness of 442 cd/m² was recorded. Whilst it’s nice to see an improved contrast ratio, it’s hardly an astronomical change as the black depth stubbornly remained at 0.17 cd/m² in both cases. Even for the rather forgiving very large mass of black used in this test. That’s certainly lower than the 0.41 cd/m² recorded under HDR with ‘Local Dimming’ disabled, but similar to the black depth of the monitor running SDR at a fixed 40% brightness – which isn’t all that low. Sustained luminance levels were similar to this and were not documented. Because sustained luminance is measured with a full white screen rather than a smaller white square with black background, the luminance was elevated just a touch for ‘Local Dimming = On’ under HDR to match ‘Local Dimming = Off’ (464 cd/m²).

The monitor includes a Dynamic Contrast setting called DCR (Dynamic Contrast Ratio), available in all presets except ‘sRGB’. This allows the backlight to adjust as a single unit according to the overall levels of bright or dark on the screen. It responded at a moderately fast pace to changes in scene brightness and dimmed quite effectively for predominantly dark content. You can also adjust the ‘Brightness’ setting if you want to limit how bright it will go when brighter content is displayed. As usual it’s a compromise as the entire backlight is responding. It can’t account for the intricate mixtures of shades that make up most scenes and just works on averages. As usual we prefer manual control of brightness to a Dynamic Contrast setting like this, but some may find it a useful setting and it is at least implemented in quite a flexible way here.

PWM (Pulse Width Modulation)

The M32U does not use PWM (Pulse Width Modulation) to regulate backlight brightness at any level. Instead, DC (Direct Current) is used to moderate brightness. Under HDR with ‘Local Dimming’ enabled we observed high frequency low amplitude oscillation of the backlight. This is different to typical PWM behaviour as it involves only very slight but still cyclical brightness changes. The backlight is therefore considered ‘flicker-free’, which will come as welcome news to those sensitive to flickering or worried about side-effects from PWM usage. The exception to this is with ‘Aim Stabilizer Sync’ active, a strobe backlight setting which causes the backlight to flicker in sync with the refresh rate of the display.

Luminance uniformity

Whilst observing a black background in a dark room, using our ‘Test Settings’, we noticed moderate backlight bleed and clouding, particularly towards the top corners of the screen. It’s important to remember that individual units vary when it comes to all aspects of uniformity, including backlight bleed and clouding. The following image was taken a few metres back to eliminate ‘IPS glow’. This was observed as a bluish silver or warm-tinted grey haze, depending on angle, which emanates from the corners of the screen. This ‘IPS glow’ blooms out more strongly from steeper angles, as demonstrated in the viewing angles video later.

Monitor displaying black in a dark room

The SpyderX Elite was used to assess the uniformity of lighter shades, represented by 9 equally spaced white quadrants running from the top left to bottom right of the screen. The table below shows the luminance recorded at each quadrant as well as the percentage deviation between each quadrant and the brightest recorded point.

Luminance uniformity table

Luminance uniformity table

The luminance uniformity was quite pleasing. The maximum luminance was recorded at ‘quadrant 9’ towards the bottom right of the screen (167.4 cd/m²). The greatest deviation from this occurred at ‘quadrant 1’ towards the top left (151.2 cd/m², which is 10% dimmer). The average deviation between each quadrant and the brightest recorded point was 5.50%, which is good. Remember that individual units vary when it comes to uniformity and you can expect further deviation beyond the points measured. The contour map below shows these deviations graphically, with darker greys representing lower luminance (greater deviation from brightest point) than lighter greys. The percentage deviation between each quadrant and the brightest point recorded is also given.

Luminance uniformity map

Luminance uniformity map

The SpyderX Elite was also used to analyse variation in the colour temperature (white point) for the same 9 quadrants. The deviation between each quadrant and the quadrant closest to the 6500K (D65) daylight white point target was analysed and a DeltaE value assigned. Darker shades are also used on this map to represent greater deviation from 6500K. A DeltaE >3 represents significant deviation that may be readily noticed by eye.

Colour temperature uniformity map

Colour temperature uniformity map

Results here were good, with no significant deviations recorded – a maximum DeltaE of 2.8 to the left of centre. Note again that individual units vary when it comes to uniformity and that you can expect deviation beyond the measured points. As an aside, we noticed some vertical striations when observing certain areas of individual shade on the screen at a moderately sharp horizontal angle (i.e. not from a regular viewing position). You can see this in the viewing angles video later on where the Lagom text is shown, for example. These bands may be related to the dimming zones of the screen though they’re visible regardless of the ‘Local Dimming’ setting and only when viewed off-angle horizontally.

Contrast in games and movies

On Battlefield 2042 the monitor put in a reasonable contrast performance. With a contrast ratio of 1115:1 using our ‘Test Settings’, the static contrast was a touch higher than some IPS models and a touch weaker than others. It certainly wasn’t enough to give an atmospheric look to darker scenes or a strong depth or ‘inkiness’ to darker shades. This was particularly noticeable if sitting in a dim room – as was the ‘IPS glow’, a ‘bloom’ emanating from the corners of the screen which eats away at dark detail and atmosphere. It’s most readily observed lower down the screen from a normal viewing position, as a bluish silver haze. It can also be observed higher up as a generally golden-grey haze, with the large size of the screen meaning it’s more likely you’ll see this towards all corners of the screen. It’s brought out more strongly on units with significant clouding or backlight bleed, if you sit closer to the screen and if you use a higher brightness setting. The screen had just a light ‘misty’ graininess to it, not a course graininess and without distinct layering in front of the image.

Similar contrast observations were made Shadow of the Tomb Raider. With plenty of dark or sparsely illuminated passageways and interiors, this title craves a strong contrast performance. That wasn’t delivered here and the look was again far from being atmospheric, without strong depth to dark shades. A moderate level of ‘IPS glow’ was again observed, in-line with our expectations. A key strength of IPS panels compared to other LCD panel types is gamma consistency. Whilst there is a loss of detail peripherally due to ‘IPS glow’ and the contrast itself doesn’t exactly invite the most intricate dark details, you don’t get the same distinct shifts as you can see on TN or VA panels. With those panel types some areas of the image can appear too heavily masked (high perceived gamma), which hides dark detail, whilst others appear with excessive detail levels (low perceived gamma). This can give a potentially blocky or banded appearance, which wasn’t observed here. The screen surface again provided just a light ‘misty’ graininess and allowed relatively direct emission of light as far as matte surfaces go.

We also viewed the film Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker. Similar to Tomb Raider, this is a title with plenty of high contrast scenes. With distinct light sources such as fires and lightsabers surrounded by darkness. The monitor didn’t provide a cinematic look here, with strong depth or an atmospheric appearance – particularly in dim lighting conditions. Things were a touch better than some IPS models in that respect, with lower static contrast, but the contrast here still isn’t anything to write home about and there’s also ‘IPS glow’ to contend with. The film also had black bars at the top and bottom due to its ‘letterboxed’ format, bringing out these weaknesses quite clearly in those regions. These black bars wouldn’t appear on most content on platforms such as Netflix and YouTube, as that content is mainly provided in a 16:9 aspect ratio which matches the monitor. The screen surface again gave a reasonably smooth appearance to brighter shades and didn’t invite obvious layering in front of the image.

Lagom contrast tests

The Lagom tests for contrast allow specific weaknesses in contrast performance to be identified. The following observations were made in a dark room.

  • The contrast gradients were presented well overall with distinct brightness steps in most cases. The darkest blue block was not quite as distinct from the background as it ideally would be.
  • Performance on the black level test was good. The first few blocks were very difficult to distinguish from the background, though this is expected for accurate tracking of the ‘2.2’ gamma curve. The third block was a touch fainter than it should be, though still faintly visible. The remaining blocks appeared appropriately distinct from the background and one another. No obvious dithering was observed.
  • Performance on the white saturation was good. All patterns were visible against the white background, though the often-illusive final pattern was slightly fainter than it could be and further masked by the misty graininess of the screen surface.
  • The greyscale gradient appeared smooth without obvious banding or dithering.

Local Dimming (SDR)

As noted earlier, the monitor includes a local dimming solution with 16 zones arranged as vertical bands, running from the left to right side of the screen. This is very limited precision and even in relatively favourable conditions (such as those tested in the contrast table earlier), the edge in contrast provided was far from amazing. The zones react at a moderate pace to changes in shade levels covering a given zone – they aren’t the most reactive dimming zones we’ve come across by any means, but aren’t the slowest either. The brightness control is locked, meaning if plenty of brighter content is displayed it’s as if you’ve set the brightness to a very high level. Much higher than the output under our ‘Test Settings’, for example, which is set that way for comfortable use over prolonged periods. Other settings remain unlocked for adjustment, though you can’t use ‘Aim Stabilizer Sync’ at the same time.

Most of the time on the desktop there was little benefit to having the setting enabled. We certainly noticed the annoying and impractical locked high brightness, but most content was intricately mixed such that the dimming zones just stayed at a similar fairly bright level. Adjacent zones only tended to depart significantly from this if a black background or other large areas of dark shade were present. The dimming zones covering those would then dim somewhat more than surrounding zones. And you could notice content above or below the darker areas (UI elements, browser address bars etc.) were dimmed a bit for that zone which was quite unsightly.

Movie and game content is far more dynamic and you don’t tend to have the same large blocks of uniform individual shade you might have on the desktop. We again found that, for most content, the dimming zones didn’t do an awful lot. And particularly for brighter or daylight scenes the main thing we were aware of was the locked high brightness. Some scenes benefited a bit from the slight situational edge in contrast afforded by the local dimming. For example, dark passageway illuminated with a torch. Or night scenes where the light sources were located towards the centre of the screen and peripheral sections were darker. Even then, the adjustments to the dimming zones were fairly tame – which is good in the sense it means you’re less aware of the shifting brightness levels for different zones. But it also limits the edge in contrast provided. Some of the brighter content was also dulled somewhat due to darker content also being present for that zone. For the most part the gradual and very situational changes made it feel more like a slightly enhanced regular Dynamic Contrast setting than a particularly effective local dimming setting. The section of the video review below shows this local dimming solution in action.

Note: On our AMD GPU (RX580), the feature didn’t appear to function correctly if at all. Using AMD FreeSync, changing refresh rate and using DP or HDMI did not change this. It could’ve been a driver issue (we were using the latest available WHQL driver, AMD Software: Adrenaline Edition 22.3.1) or related to our AMD GPU being a few generations old. We’ve forwarded this to the manufacturer for investigation and if it’s a broader issue a firmware update for the monitor could rectify things.



Colour reproduction

Colour gamut

The colour gamut of the M32U is shown as a red triangle below. It was compared with the sRGB (green triangle) and DCI-P3 (blue triangle) reference colour spaces using our ‘Test Settings’. The gamut fully covers sRGB (100%) with some extension beyond – we recorded 87% DCI-P3 coverage which is just a little shy of the specified 90% DCI-P3. Coverage of pure reds more closely coincides with DCI-P3 than sRGB, whilst it also extends towards DCI-P3 for some green to blue shades. Although not shown in the graphic, we recorded 82% Adobe RGB coverage. This DCI-P3 and Adobe RGB coverage isn’t high enough for accurate reproduction within those colour spaces. For standard sRGB content outside a colour-managed environment, the moderate extension beyond sRGB provides extra saturation and vibrancy. But doesn’t provide the same strongly oversaturated appearance associated with an even more generous gamut.

Colour gamut 'Test Settings'

Colour gamut 'Test Settings'

The monitor offers an sRGB emulation setting, the ‘sRGB’ preset in the ‘Picture’ section of the OSD. This cuts down on the gamut very effectively a bit of extension beyond sRGB in the red region and just a sliver of under-coverage – 99% sRGB coverage. Brightness can be adjusted with this setting active, though many other settings are locked off. As usual you can’t adjust gamma or colour channels, you can’t activate ‘Aim Stabilizer Sync’ and ‘Overdrive’ is locked into the quirky and annoying ‘Smart OD’ setting. To maximise colour accuracy within the sRGB colour space, for colour-managed workflows, full calibration and profiling with a colorimeter or similar device using the full native gamut is recommended. You may try the ICC profile featured in the calibration section which includes gamut mapping for colour-aware applications, but best results are always obtained by calibrating your own unit with your own hardware.

Colour gamut 'sRGB'

Colour gamut 'sRGB'

Instead of using this ‘sRGB’ setting and putting up with the associated restrictions, AMD users can activate a flexible sRGB emulation setting via the graphics driver. This is done by opening ‘AMD Software’, clicking ‘Settings’ (cog icon towards top right) and clicking on ‘Display’. You should then ensure that the ‘Custom Color’ slider to the right is set to ‘Enabled’ and ‘Color Temperature Control’ set to ‘Disabled’. It may appear to be set this way by default, but the native rather than restricted gamut is likely in play. If that’s the case, simply switch the ‘Color Temperature Control’ slider to ‘Enabled’ then back to ‘Disabled’ to leverage the sRGB emulation behaviour. This setting is shown in the image below.

AMD Color Temperature Control disabled

The gamut below shows results using our ‘Test Settings’ with this driver tweak applied. The colour gamut now covers 98% sRGB. There’s just a sliver of extension beyond this towards the red corner, but less than with the ‘sRGB’ setting of the monitor. This setting offers decent tracking of sRGB and helps to cut down on the colour gamut without profiling, including in applications that aren’t colour managed. And you don’t have to put up with restrictions associated with the monitor’s sRGB emulation setting such as locked colour channels.

Colour gamut AMD 'CTC disabled' setting

Colour gamut AMD 'CTC disabled' setting

Whilst Nvidia doesn’t have a similar option in their graphics driver, a third party tool called ‘novideo_srgb’ can be used. This provides a similarly effective GPU-side gamut clamp to the AMD driver option. The resulting gamut was very similar to that shown above with the AMD tweak – this is expected given it uses the same data from the EDID of the monitor. The tool and its usage is covered in our sRGB emulation article.

Colour in games and movies

The monitor provided fairly vibrant colour output on Battlefield 2042. As with most content you consume under SDR, this game is developed with the sRGB colour space in mind. If you view it on a model with a wider colour gamut, things become more saturated and vibrant in appearance than the developers intend. With a measured gamut of 87% DCI-P3, things don’t stray as far beyond sRGB as with some wide gamut models so the extra dose of saturation and vibrancy isn’t as extreme. The environments were presented with a nice range of green shades and earthy browns, with quite a rich and in places fairly lush look. The extension beyond sRGB in the red region of the gamut invited a touch of extra red to earthy browns and skin tones, but there wasn’t a massive push towards red here. The extra coverage in the green region of the gamut made some greens appear a touch too lively, but didn’t have the more neon look models with an even more generous gamut might provide. The skies in the game also appeared a touch more saturated than intended due to the gamut, though again this was again less pronounced than on some models.

We made similar observations on Shadow of the Tomb Raider, where things were presented with a bit of extra vibrancy and saturation but nothing extreme. Lara’s skin tone and the skin tones of some other characters in the game appeared a bit richer than intended, but didn’t appear far too tanned or sunburnt as they’d be presented on some wide gamut models. Woody tones had a slight but not extreme red push and the same could be said for the greens of vegetation. Some extra saturation with a good rich look overall, some good deep greens but some muted shades appearing a bit livelier than intended – without the same neon appearance imparted by some models. On both titles the strong colour consistency was evident, ensuring saturation levels were maintained well throughout the screen. In contrast to VA models where some saturation is lost peripherally or TN models where there’s a vertical gradient of saturation. We feel many will be quite comfortable with the measured rather than extreme dose of extra vibrancy provided by the gamut. But for those seeking a more toned-down appearance closer to the developers’ intentions, setting ‘Picture Mode’ to sRGB or using alternative sRGB emulation might appeal.

We used the TV series Futurama to make further observations on colour output. This title includes large areas of single shade, making it a rather unforgiving test for colour consistency that highlights any weaknesses very readily. The monitor put in a good performance here, free from clear shifts in saturation. Any shifts were minor and included some shades appearing just slightly less saturated in places. Leela’s purple hair, for example, appeared with a slightly pinker tint towards the bottom of the screen. This wasn’t as clear as the shifts you’d observe on a TN or VA model and superior to some IPS models as well. A pleasing array of shades was presented, including a range of more muted pastel shades and some fairly lively looking neon shades. Our in-game observations here were echoed with respect to saturation levels – certainly some extra saturation and vibrancy, but increases there were more tame than on some models with a significantly wider gamut. This helped the representation of some of those pastel shades look more appropriate without a huge amount of extra depth or ‘pop’, with some fairly eye-catching neon shades such as deep purples and lime greens.

Shade representation using SpyderCHECKR 24

The image below shows a printed reference sheet of 24 ‘sRGB’ shades, included as part of the Datacolor SpyderCHECKR 24 package. The screen is displaying reference photographs of this printed sheet, in both the same order as printed (right side) and reverse order (left side). The camera is mounted slightly above centre so that the image is representative of what the eye sees from an ergonomically correct viewing position. This, coupled with the inclusion of a flipped version of the shade sheet, allows both accuracy and colour consistency to be visually assessed. Bracketed numbers in our analysis refer to shades on the printed sheet or right side of the screen if they’re ordered consecutively from top left to bottom right.

Note that there is always some disparity between how emissive objects (monitor) and non-emissive objects (printed sheet) appear. The monitor is set to a very low brightness to help minimise this disparity. The representation of shades in this image depends on the camera and your own screen, it’s not designed to show exactly how the shades appear in person. It still helps demonstrate some of the relative differences between the original intended sRGB shade and what the monitor outputs, however. Full profiling and appropriate colour management on the application would provide a tighter match, our intention here is to show what can be expected in a non colour-managed environment.

SpyderCHECKR 24 'Test Settings'

The monitor outputs shades in a fairly vibrant way, with some extra saturation due primarily to the colour gamut. The extension in the red region of the gamut, for example, gives quite an eye-catching look to some red-biased shades such as medium orange (3), tango pink (11) and candy apple red (14). These appear more strongly saturated than intended, with candy apple red appearing a touch too neon – though less so than on models with an even more generous gamut in this region. Peach pink (20) and light chocolate brown (24) appear richer than intended and slightly red. The extension in the green region can be seen for some shades, particularly dark lime green (18) which has more ‘pop’ than intended. Most of the remaining shades are shown quite faithfully, with aquamarine (4) and lilac (8) being particularly well-represented. Colour consistency is strong overall, without the clear saturation shifts observed on VA or TN models depending on the on-screen position of the shade. There are some shifts related to the uniformity of our unit and also due to a small amount of glare on the screen in places. It’s very difficult to illuminate the printed sheet correctly without causing some glare on the screen. Light chocolate brown (24) certainly appeared richer when shown towards the bottom right than top left, but this appears somewhat exaggerated in the photo. The image below shows how things appeared with ‘Picture Mode’ set to ‘sRGB’.

SpyderCHECKR 24 'sRGB'

The saturation levels are now significantly reduced now. The shades which appeared particularly oversaturated with the native gamut have been subdued, such as medium orange (3), candy apple red (14) and dark lime green (18). Candy apple red still has a touch of extra ‘pop’, perhaps due to a bit of extension beyond sRGB remaining in the red region of the gamut. Peach pink (20) and light chocolate brown (24) don’t have the same red push they had before, though a bit of this does still remain. Some shades appear a bit undersaturated now, such as aquamarine (4) which appears a paler aqua shade and gamboge (23) which appears more of a mustard yellow with less of a richer orange tone than intended. Some shades have a bit of a subdued and hazy, likely related to the gamma behaviour with this mode. Particularly evident for cerulean (2) and Persian pink (6). Many of the remaining shades are produced quite faithfully and the ‘sRGB’ setting certainly does the job of cutting down the native oversaturation well overall. As usual, we’d recommend profiling the monitor with your own calibration device using the native gamut if you require the highest level of colour accuracy, however.

Viewing angles

Lagom’s viewing angle tests help explore the idea of colour consistency and viewing angle performance. The following observations were made from a normal viewing position, eyes ~70cm from the screen.

  • The purple block appeared pinkish purple throughout, appearing slightly pinker lower down. We didn’t observe the sort of clear flashes of pink and shifts between pink and purple with a little head movement you’d observe with TN or VA panels.
  • The red block appeared a fairly consistent rich red throughout the screen. There were no clear saturation shifts as you’d observe on VA or TN models or the same peripheral dulling some weaker IPS performers might show. The red appeared just slightly less saturated at the very bottom of the screen.
  • The green block appeared saturated green chartreuse throughout. Very slightly lighter (more yellow) towards the bottom, but this was a subtle shift. It was free from the clear shifts between a purer green and more yellowish shade as you’d observe on TN and VA models.
  • The blue block appeared royal blue throughout.
  • The Lagom text appeared quite a blended grey throughout the screen, with slight dark red striping to the text towards the right and lower down and a green striping towards the left. There were no clear shifts between saturated red, orange and green across the screen or with a bit of head movement. This indicates a low viewing angle dependency to the gamma curve of the monitor, as expected for an IPS-type panel.

Lagom Text Test

The video below shows the Lagom text test, a mixed desktop background, game scene and dark desktop background from various viewing angles. The colour shifts for the mixed desktop background and game scene are relatively minor, significantly lower than you’d observe on VA or TN models. There’s some ‘hazing’ (contrast loss) from sharper angles, which is a touch stronger than on some IPS models horizontally, but far from the worst we’ve seen. Vertically the monitor performs slightly stronger than average in that respect. The dark desktop background highlights ‘IPS glow’, which blooms out as viewing angle increases. This appears as a warm golden-grey shade or bluish silver depending on angle.



Interlace pattern artifacts

On some monitors, particularly but not exclusively those with high refresh rates, interlace patterns can be seen during certain transitions. We refer to these as ‘interlace pattern artifacts’ but some users refer to them as ‘inversion artifacts’ and others as ‘scan lines’. They may appear as an interference pattern, mesh or interlaced lines which break up a given shade into a darker and lighter version of what is intended. They often catch the eye due to their dynamic nature, on models where they manifest themselves in this way. Alternatively, static interlace patterns may be seen with some shades appearing as faint horizontal or vertical bands of a slightly lighter and slightly darker version of the intended shade. We did not observe either artifact type on this monitor.

Responsiveness

Input lag

A sensitive camera and a utility called SMTT 2.0 was used to analyse the latency of the M32U. Over 30 repeat readings were taken to help maximise accuracy. Using this method, we calculated 3.80ms (slightly over ½ a frame at 144Hz) of input lag and recorded similar values at 120Hz. At 60Hz we recorded a slightly higher but still respectable 4.94ms. These figures are influenced by both the element of input lag you ‘see’ (pixel responsiveness) and the main element you ‘feel’ (signal delay). They indicate a low signal delay which most users should find acceptable. Note that we don’t have the means to accurately measure input lag with VRR technology active in a VRR environment or HDR active in an HDR environment.

Perceived blur (pursuit photography)

Our article on responsiveness explores the key factors related to the responsiveness of monitors. An important concept detailed in the article is ‘perceived blur’, which is contributed to by the pixel responses of the monitor and the movement of your eyes as you track motion on the screen. This second factor is dominant on modern monitors, but both factors play an important role. A photography technique called ‘pursuit photography’ is also explored, which uses a moving rather than stationary camera to capture motion in a way that reflects both elements of perceived blur, not just the pixel response element.

The images below are pursuit photographs taken using the UFO Motion Test for ghosting, with the test running at its default speed of 960 pixels per second. This is a good practical speed to take such photographs at and highlights both elements of perceived blur well. The UFOs move across the screen from left to right at a frame rate matching the refresh rate of the display. All three rows of the test are analysed to highlight a range of pixel transitions. The monitor was tested at 60Hz (directly below), 120Hz and 144Hz using various ‘Overdrive’ settings; ‘Off’, ‘Picture Quality’, ‘Balance’ and ‘Speed’. The two final columns show reference screens, set to what we consider their optimal response time setting for a given refresh rate. The Acer XV282K KV which is a well-tuned and quite responsive IPS model for higher refresh rates. This performs similarly to the 28” version of the M32U – the M28U. And the Gigabyte M27Q, a decent but not outstanding performer which most users are perfectly happy with in terms of pixel responsiveness.

An additional overdrive setting called ‘Smart OD’ is included which is supposed to switch over to the optimal setting at different refresh rate ranges. It appeared to stick to ‘Balance’ for most of the VRR range, except ~90 – 120Hz where it seemed to switch over to ‘Speed’. So it’s not a useful setting to use and wasn’t included in this analysis. Note that wavy patterns surrounding some UFOs in the background are slight image retention. This was only observed during this test and is something we’ve seen on various monitors before. It soon disappeared when using monitor normally.

Perceived blur, 60Hz

At 60Hz, above, the UFO appears soft and unfocused without clear internal detailing. This reflects a moderate amount of perceived blur due to eye movement. Some trailing is observed in places due to weaknesses in pixel response times (or moreover, from aggressive tuning). With the ‘Off’ setting there’s just a whiff of ‘powdery’ trailing from very slightly slower than optimal pixel responses. Most notably (but still minor) for the dark background (top row) and to a lesser extent medium background (middle row). There’s also a very small amount of overshoot (inverse ghosting) for the light background, appearing as a faint ‘halo’ that’s marginally brighter than the background shade. Performance here is fairly comparable to the M27Q reference, whilst it’s free from the overshoot shown on the XV282K KV (and shared with the likes of the M28U). The ‘Picture Quality’ setting is more similar to that reference screen, with ‘halo’ overshoot trailing for all transitions shown. This becomes stronger with the ‘Balance’ setting and stronger again with ‘Speed’. We consider ‘Off’ to be optimal at 60Hz, though some will find the overshoot using ‘Picture Quality’ to be acceptable. Below you can see how things appear with refresh rate doubled to 120Hz.

Perceived blur, 120Hz

At 120Hz, above, the UFO appears significantly narrower with clearer internal detail. This reflects a significant decrease in perceived blur due to eye movement. The pixel response requirements for a solid performance here have increased significantly. The ‘Off’ setting shows a bit of ‘powdery’ trailing behind the UFOs, a touch more than the M27Q shows using its optimal setting. This is cut down effectively using the ‘Picture Quality’ setting. Just a small amount remains for the dark background, whilst there’s a bit of ‘shadowy’ overshoot trailing for the medium background. The performance here isn’t too far off the XV282K KV (and by extension M28U), just with marginally slower pixel responses for the dark and medium background but with very low levels of overshoot observed. The ‘Balance’ setting removes the ‘powdery’ trailing but replaces it with a moderate amount of overshoot. The ‘Speed’ setting introduces very strong and colourful overshoot. We consider ‘Picture Quality’ optimal for 120Hz. Below you can see things bumped up slightly, to 144Hz.

Perceived blur, 144Hz

At 144Hz, above, the UFO appears very slightly narrower with slightly better definition. This reflects a slight reduction in perceived blur to eye movement, but it’s only an extra 24Hz so this difference is slight compared to the initial bump from 60Hz to 120Hz. The pixel response behaviour is quite compatible to at 120Hz. The pixel response demands have increased just a little, so some of the ‘powdery’ trailing with the ‘Off’ setting and to a lesser extent the ‘Picture Quality’ setting is a bit more pronounced. The ‘Picture Quality’ setting shows less distinct trailing than the M27Q, though the XV282K KV put in a slightly ‘cleaner’ performance. The ‘Balance’ setting removes most of the slight ‘powdery’ trailing and replaces it with overshoot. Not extreme overshoot, but a moderate amount – it’s more noticeable for some transitions not analysed here and we found it quite eye-catching in places. The ‘Speed’ setting introduces the usual ridiculous levels of overshoot and is not a practical setting to use. We consider ‘Picture Quality’ optimal for 144Hz, though users who aren’t too sensitive to overshoot may like ‘Balance’ as well.

The monitor also includes a setting called ‘Aim Stabilizer Sync’, with the ‘Sync’ indicating it can be used at the same time as VRR technology. This is a strobe backlight setting which forces the backlight to flicker in sync with the refresh rate of the monitor. 100Hz (only listed via HDMI), 120Hz and 144Hz can be selected as a static refresh rate, or as the ceiling of operation if using VRR at the same time. The lowest refresh rate the monitor will strobe at for ‘Aim Stabilizer Sync’ is ~76 – 80Hz, below which the monitor resumes its regular VRR operation without the sync element. A range is given here as the exact cut off point varies depending on the fluctuations in frame rate that are occurring. Sensitivity to the flickering of the backlight varies and some will find it bothersome whilst others may notice accelerated eye fatigue, even if the flickering isn’t actively bothersome to them. The pursuit photographs below were taken with the monitor set to 100Hz using ‘Aim Stabilizer Sync’. The ‘Overdrive’ settings are available to adjust as without the setting active and our recommendations there would be the same. We’ll just be testing ‘Picture Quality’ and ‘Balance’ here as ‘Off’ is simply too slow for effective operation here and ‘Speed’ introduces extremely strong overshoot. The brightness control is inaccessible with ‘Aim Stabilizer’ active and HDR can’t be used at the same time. The reference screens used for comparison are the AOC C24G1 using its ‘MBR’ setting and the Dell S2417DG using its ‘ULMB’ settings. These are both quite useable strobe backlight settings and make appropriate references.

Strobe behaviour was similar regardless of whether VRR was active in the OSD. Subjective analysis over a range of refresh rates is included deeper into the review.

Perceived blur, 100Hz Aim Stabilizer Sync

With ‘Aim Stabilizer Sync’ active at 100Hz, above, the main object is significantly narrower with clearer internal detailing compared to with the setting deactivated. Even if comparing to a higher refresh rate. The segmentation of the UFO and white notches were more clearly defined than they appear in the photo, the image is just quite bleached due to the relatively high brightness. There’s a distinct repetition of the object in front of it, particularly for the dark background and to a fair extent the medium background. This is fainter for the light background. These repetitions of the object are broadly termed ‘strobe crosstalk’ and can be seen behind the object for the C24G1 reference. There’s also some overshoot behind the object, especially using the ‘Balance’ setting. The S2417DG shows overshoot levels some way between the ‘Picture Quality’ and ‘Balance’ settings, though is free from strobe crosstalk centrally where that pursuit photo example was taken. The KSF phosphors of the backlight of the M32U also introduce a colourful (magenta to red) fringe to the crosstalk here, due to their relatively slow decay rate. This is not observed on the reference screens as they don’t use KSF phosphors. The images below show the monitor running with ‘Aim Stabilizer Sync’ set at 120Hz.

Perceived blur, 120Hz Aim Stabilizer Sync

With ‘Aim Stabilizer Sync’ active at 120Hz, above, there’s more distinct detailing visible on the UFO. To the eye the segments were clearly visible and white notches countable, they’re bleached and blended together too much in the photo. The strobe crosstalk behaviour is quite comparable to at 100Hz. The overshoot is a touch weaker in places and you can see the introduction of a bit of conventional trailing for the dark background – a faint repetition behind it. Any repetitions (strobe crosstalk, conventional trailing or overshoot) are slightly narrower due to the increased refresh rate. The reference screens are free from this level of strobe crosstalk, with the S2417DG being particularly impressive in that respect and showing less overshoot than the ‘Balance’ setting (but more than ‘Picture Quality’). The images below show the monitor running with ‘Aim Stabilizer Sync’ at 144Hz. The AOC AG251FG is used as the ULMB reference here as the S2417DG can’t strobe at 144Hz.

Perceived blur, 144Hz Aim Stabilizer Sync

With ‘Aim Stabilizer Sync’ active at 144Hz, above, the main object again shows excellent clarity. To the eye, the segmentation was exceptionally crisp and notches easy to count. The strobe crosstalk is similar, but overshoot levels are lower and a bit more conventional trailing is introduced behind the UFOs. This is still significantly fainter than the object itself and fainter than the trailing on the C24G1. Whether you’d want to swing more towards a bit more conventional trailing with the ‘Picture Quality’ setting or some overshoot with the ‘Balance’ setting is really quite subjective. We found the strobe crosstalk and indeed KSF-related fringing and flashing (explored subjectively shortly) more noticeable in practice than either of these anyway and would generally stick to ‘Picture Quality’ as we would without ‘Aim Stabilizer Sync’ in use.

It’s important to note that strobe crosstalk varies at different areas of the screen. Not all areas refresh simultaneously, so its appearance can differ depending on how high up or low down on the screen movement is being observed. The image below is a pursuit photo with the UFO shown at various positions of the screen, from top to bottom, at a refresh rate of 144Hz. Strobe crosstalk positioning was similar at decreased refresh rates. As covered earlier and reinforced later on, stronger overshoot for observed at a given response time setting as refresh rate reduced. The ‘- Middle -‘ marker denotes the central region of the screen. Note that this image does not accurately show the clarity of the object itself, but allows analysis of strobe crosstalk and other imperfections such as overshoot.

Strobe Crosstalk, 144Hz Aim Stabilizer Sync

You can see varying levels of strobe crosstalk depending on how far up or down the screen you’re observing. Sometimes it is so strong that it melds into the main object, particularly higher up the screen where it appears as if a double object is presented. In the central region of the screen moderate strobe crosstalk remains, particularly just above the central point. Lower down the screen the strobe crosstalk is displaced behind the object. The central bands of the screen are where your eyes are mainly going to be focusing on for the competitive titles this sort of setting is designed for. So optimising performance there is often desirable even if it comes at the expense of other regions. We explore the ‘Aim Stabilizer Sync’ experience subjectively using in game examples shortly.

Responsiveness in games and movies

On various Battlefield titles, at a frame rate keeping pace with the 144Hz refresh rate, the monitor delivered a fluid experience. Compared to a 60Hz monitor or this monitor running at 60Hz (or 60fps), over twice as much visual information is outputted every second. This greatly improves the ‘connected feel’, which describes the precision and fluidity felt when interacting with the game. The low input lag provided by the monitor also helped in this respect. The combination of high frame rate and refresh rate also decreases perceived blur due to eye movement, as demonstrated earlier using Test UFO. This can make for a more comfortable gaming experience for some and can provide a competitive edge in games like Battlefield, making it easier to track and engage enemies. It also complements the high pixel density well, with the monitor able to preserve some of the detail during motion than at 60Hz.

Pixel responsiveness is another important aspect of perceived blur. As highlighted earlier using Test UFO, the monitor performed well here. The weaknesses were on the minor side, which was echoed with in-game testing over a broader range of transitions. There was a touch of ‘powdery’ trailing in places, which added a little bit of perceived blur, particularly where darker shades were involved in the transition. But this was never ‘heavy’ or approaching ‘smeary’ in its appearance. It stuck relatively close to the object and was quite faint, so isn’t the sort of weakness that will become a distraction or necessarily be noticed by most people. Overshoot levels were also low, with just some faint traces of it in places rather than anything eye-catching or particularly noteworthy. As we explored with Test UFO earlier, those who aren’t particularly sensitive to overshoot may like to try out the ‘Balance’ setting to reduce some of the ‘powdery’ trailing. Though we feel most will be happy with the ‘Picture Quality’ setting and that some of the overshoot observed with the ‘Balance’ setting was more noticeable than the slight pixel responsiveness weaknesses for ‘Picture Quality’.

We made similar observations on Shadow of the Tomb Raider, with a good 144Hz performance overall. This title has plenty of ‘high contrast’ transitions, with lots of darker shades added into the mix. Some IPS models will have noteworthy weaknesses there, whilst VA models are prone to clearer ‘smeary’ trailing. As with our observations on Battlefield for similar transitions, we feel the weaknesses here were on the minor side. Slight ‘powdery’ trailing that just adds a little perceived blur. The 28” alternatives such as the XV282K KV and M28U have just slightly less of this (though still a little), but in its place comes a bit more overshoot than the M32U shows. The differences aren’t dramatic and all of these models perform well at high refresh rates such as 120Hz and 144Hz, however. We also observed video content at a range of refresh rates, including ~24 – 30fps content on platforms such as Netflix and 60fps content on YouTube. There were no clear weaknesses from the pixel responses of the monitor, with a solid performance for both frame rate classes. The main barrier to fluidity was the frame rate of the content itself rather than weaknesses related to the pixel responses of the monitor.

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Gigabyte M32U


Aim Stabilizer Sync

Earlier in the review we covered ‘Aim Stabilizer Sync’, including its principles of operation and how it performs using specific tests. When using a strobe backlight feature, your frame rate must match the refresh rate precisely. Otherwise you’re left with extremely obvious stuttering or juddering. Standing out in such a clear way due to there being very little perceived blur due to eye movement to mask it. With ‘Aim Stabilizer Sync’, you can use VRR technology such as Adaptive-Sync at the same time, which avoids that issue within its range of operation. Below ~76 – 80Hz (76 – 80fps) ‘Aim Stabilizer Sync’ deactivated and the monitor resumed its normal VRR operation without the strobe element. The range of values given there reflects the fact the technology seemed to activate and deactivate at slightly different points within the range, depending on the fluctuations in frame rate. You can’t adjust brightness or activate HDR with ‘Aim Stabilizer Sync’ active. We tested the feature using various test titles, including various Battlefield titles which we’ll use for reference in this section.

The technology worked well in terms of significantly reducing perceived blur due to eye movement, whilst the VRR or ‘Sync’ element also worked as intended to avoid unwanted tearing or stuttering. The clarity of the main object and texture details during movement was strong, even if moving particularly quickly in a vehicle or quickly turning the character. We observed moderately strong strobe crosstalk, even in the central region of the screen (or just above centre, as explored earlier) which created at times quite bold repetitions of objects during motion. There was also a bit of conventional trailing or, particularly at reduced refresh rates, overshoot. We also noticed a distinct magenta to red fringe in places due to the KSF phosphors of the backlight and their relatively slow rate of decay. The was easiest to notice where brighter shades were set against somewhat darker backgrounds. We also observed colourful flashes in similar situations of not just magenta to red but also green and sometimes other shades such as cyan. We always observe such issues, as with the fringing, for KSF phosphor backlights. As with flickering due to the backlight strobing, sensitivity to such issues varies – and the flickering, at least, is a required part of a strobe backlight technology. The flickering was increasingly intense as refresh rate decreased (until the cut-off point of ~76Hz -80Hz) and the ‘connected feel’ was also negatively impacted by the decreased frame rate.

Overall, we feel this setting will appeal to a small subset of users. It can bring a competitive edge due to minimising overall perceived blur, but it comes with a range of visual side-effects which can make it quite unpleasant. Flickering, locked and moderately high brightness levels, fringing and flashes plus moderate to strong strobe crosstalk being potentially the most annoying in our view. The ’Sync’ element of the technology did work well, though even the best strobe backlight settings (which this is not) are most appealing for competitive gameplay where a high frame rate is also beneficial.

VRR (Variable Refresh Rate) technology

FreeSync – the technology and activating it

AMD FreeSync is a variable refresh rate technology, an AMD-specific alternative to Nvidia G-SYNC. Where possible, the monitor dynamically adjusts its refresh rate so that it matches the frame rate being outputted by the GPU. Both our responsiveness article and the G-SYNC article linked to explore the importance of these two elements being synchronised. At a basic level, a mismatch between the frame rate and refresh rate can cause stuttering (VSync on) or tearing and juddering (VSync off). FreeSync also boasts reduced latency compared to running with VSync enabled, in the variable frame rate environment in which it operates.

FreeSync requires a compatible AMD GPU such as the Radeon RX 580 used in our test system. The monitor itself must support ‘VESA Adaptive-Sync’ for at least one of its display connectors, as this is the protocol that FreeSync uses. The M32U supports FreeSync Premium Pro via DP and HDMI on compatible GPUs and systems. Note that HDR can be activated at the same time as FreeSync. You need to make sure ‘AMD FreeSync Premium Pro’ is enabled in the ‘Gaming’ section of the OSD. On the GPU driver side recent AMD drivers make activation of the technology very simple. You should ensure the GPU driver is setup correctly to use FreeSync, so open ‘AMD Software’, click ‘Settings’ (cog icon towards top right) and click on ‘Display’. You should then ensure that the first slider is set to ‘Enabled’ as shown below. The top image shows the monitor connected by DP and the bottom image by HDMI. The setting is referred to as ‘AMD FreeSync Premium Pro’ in both cases, although the exact wording may depend on the driver version you’re using.

Enable FreeSync (DP)

Enable FreeSync (HDMI)

The Gigabyte supports a variable refresh rate range of 48 – 144Hz. That means that if the game is running between 48fps and 144fps, the monitor will adjust its refresh rate to match. When the frame rate rises above 144fps, the monitor will stay at 144Hz and the GPU will respect your selection of ‘VSync on’ or ‘VSync off’ in the graphics driver. With ‘VSync on’ the frame rate will not be allowed to rise above 144fps, at which point VSync activates and imposes the usual associated latency penalty. With ‘VSync off’ the frame rate is free to climb as high as the GPU will output (potentially >144fps). AMD LFC (Low Framerate Compensation) is also supported by this model, which means that the refresh rate will stick to multiples of the frame rate where it falls below the 48Hz (48fps) floor of operation for FreeSync. If a game ran at 34fps, for example, the refresh rate would be 68Hz to help keep tearing and stuttering at bay. This feature is used regardless of VSync setting, so it’s only above the ceiling of operation where the VSync setting makes a difference.

To configure VSync, open ‘AMD Software’. Click ‘Settings’ (cog icon towards top right) and click ‘Graphics’. The setting is listed as ‘Wait for Vertical Refresh’. This configures it globally, but if you wish to configure it for individual games click ‘Game Graphics’ towards the top right. The default is ‘Off, unless application specifies’ which means that VSync will only be active if you enable it within the game itself, if there is such an option. Such an option does usually exist – it may be called ‘sync every frame’ or something along those lines rather than simply ‘VSync’. Most users will probably wish to enable VSync when using FreeSync to ensure that they don’t get any tearing. You’d therefore select either the third or fourth option in the list, shown in the image below. Above this dropdown list there’s a toggle for ‘Radeon Enhanced Sync’. This is an alternative to VSync which allows the frame rate to rise above the refresh rate (no VSync latency penalty) whilst potentially keeping the experience free from tearing or juddering. This requires that the frame rate comfortably exceeds the refresh rate, not just peaks slightly above it. We won’t be going into this in detail as it’s a GPU feature rather than a monitor feature.

VSync options

Some users prefer to leave VSync enabled but use a frame rate limiter set a few frames below the maximum supported (e.g. 141fps) instead, avoiding any VSync latency penalty at frame rates near the ceiling of operation or tearing from frame rates rising above the refresh rate. If you go to ‘Game Assist’ and activate the ‘Refresh Rate’ feature, the monitor will display the refresh rate. This will coincide with the frame rate of the content if the monitor is within the main VRR window. Finally, it’s worth noting that FreeSync only removes stuttering or juddering related to mismatches between frame rate and refresh rate. It can’t compensate for other interruptions to smooth game play, for example network latency or insufficient system memory. Some game engines will also show stuttering (or ‘hitching’) for various other reasons which won’t be eliminated by the technology.

FreeSync – the experience

As usual, we tested a range of titles using AMD FreeSync and found the experience similar in all cases. Any issues affecting one title points towards a game or GPU driver issue rather than a monitor issue. For simplicity we’ll just focus on Battlefield titles here. They offer a good range of graphics settings, allowing the full VRR range to be analysed on our Radeon RX 580. With this being far from a powerhouse of a GPU, some dips below 144fps were common. Without the technology active you can observe tearing (VSync off) or stuttering (VSync on) from a lack of synchronisation between frame and refresh rate. FreeSync removed these interruptions and for those sensitive to such things is a welcome thing to have. You could still notice the drops in frame rate due to the reduction in ‘connected feel’ and increased perceived blur that naturally accompanies a lower frame rate.

The monitor doesn’t use variable overdrive which would re-tune the overdrive impulse and slacken off acceleration as refresh rate drops. An increase in overshoot was observed as refresh rate dipped – something which accompanies a reduction in frame rate in a VRR environment. Sensitivity to overshoot varies, but we found it preferable to switch ‘Overdrive’ from ‘Picture Quality’ to ‘OFF’ if we were spending a lot of time with refresh rate in the double digits. Particularly <80Hz, where the overshoot was quite strong for some transitions with the ‘Picture Quality’ setting. The technology worked down to the floor of operation of 48Hz (48fps), below which LFC (Low Framerate Compensation) came into play. Keeping the refresh rate at a multiple of the frame rate to keep tearing and stuttering at bay. There was a subtle momentary stuttering when LFC activated or deactivated, something we always observe and not specific to this model. It was much less noticeable than traditional stuttering from frame and refresh rate mismatches, but if you’re sensitive to it and frequently passing the boundary it could be annoying.

Nvidia Adaptive-Sync (‘G-SYNC Compatible’)

As noted earlier, AMD FreeSync makes use of Adaptive-Sync technology on a compatible monitor. As of driver version 417.71, users with Nvidia GPUs (GTX 10 series and newer) and Windows 10 or later can also make use of this Variable Refresh Rate (VRR) technology. When a monitor is used in this way, it is something which Nvidia refers to as ‘G-SYNC Compatible’. Some models are validated as G-SYNC compatible, which means they have been specifically tested by Nvidia and pass certain quality checks. With the M32U you can connect the monitor up via either DisplayPort 1.4 or HDMI 2.1 to use ‘G-SYNC Compatible Mode’, with the latter technically making use of HDMI 2.1’s integrated VRR functionality rather than Adaptive-Sync. You need to make sure ‘FreeSync Premium Pro’ is set to ‘Enable’ in the ‘Gaming’ section of the OSD to use the technology via DP (this enables Adaptive-Sync). When you open up Nvidia Control Panel, you should then see ‘Set up G-SYNC’ listed in the ‘Display’ section. Ensure the ‘Enable G-SYNC, G-SYNC Compatible’ checkbox and ‘Enable settings for the selected display model’ is checked as shown below and press ‘OK’. If you’ve enabled ‘G-SYNC Compatible’ and it was previously disabled, the monitor should re-establish its connection with the system and the technology should now be active.

G-SYNC Compatible settings

You will also see in the image above that it states: “Selected Display is not validated as G-SYNC Compatible.” This means Nvidia hasn’t specifically tested and validated the display, not that it won’t work. On our RTX 3090 the experience was very similar to what we described with FreeSync. With the technology getting rid of tearing and stuttering from what would otherwise be frame and refresh rate mismatches, within the VRR range. This appeared to have a slightly higher floor of operation of 52Hz (or a few Hz higher depending on fluctuations), so 52 – 144Hz. Though an LFC-like frame to refresh multiplication technology was employed below that to keep tearing and stuttering from frame and refresh rate mismatches at bay. There was again a subtle momentary stuttering as the boundary was crossed, as we observed with our AMD GPU as well. Our suggestions regarding use of VSync also apply, but you’re using Nvidia Control Panel rather than AMD Software to control this. The setting is found in ‘Manage 3D settings’ under ‘Vertical sync’, where the final option (‘Fast’) is equivalent to AMD’s ‘Enhanced Sync’ setting. You’ll also notice ‘G-SYNC Compatible’ listed under ‘Monitor Technology’ in this section, as shown below. Make sure this is selected (it should be if you’ve set everything up correctly in ‘Set up G-SYNC’).

G-SYNC Compatible settings

Note again that you can use the ‘Refresh Rate’ feature in the ‘Game Assist’ section of the OSD to display the current refresh rate of the monitor. This will reflect the frame rate if it’s within the main variable refresh rate window. And as with AMD FreeSync, HDR can be used at the same time as ‘G-SYNC Compatible’.

HDMI 2.1 VRR

HDMI 2.1 includes Variable Refresh Rate (VRR) support as part of the specification. This is an integrated technology, which unlike FreeSync does not rely on VESA Adaptive-Sync to function. As such it can be used by devices such as the PS5 that don’t support Adaptive-Sync. It can also be leveraged via ‘G-SYNC Compatible Mode’ on compatible Nvidia GPUs. Based on our testing of ‘G-SYNC Compatible Mode’ using HDMI 2.1 VRR, the experience was very similar to the Adaptive-Sync experience under SDR and HDR. ‘Aim Stabilizer Sync’ is also available to use with HDMI 2.1 VRR, if you wish.

HDR (High Dynamic Range)

HDR (High Dynamic Range) on an ideal monitor involves the simultaneous display of very deep dark shades and brilliantly bright light shades. As well as a broad spectrum of shades between these extremes, including muted pastel shades alongside very vibrant saturated shades. Ideally, per-pixel illumination would be provided (e.g. self-emissive displays such as OLED), or for LCDs a very large number of precisely controlled dimming zones used. A solution such as FALD (Full Array Local Dimming) with a generous number of dimming zones, for example. Such a solution would allow some areas of the screen to remain very dim whilst others show brilliantly high brightness. Colour reproduction is also an important part of HDR, with the ultimate goal being support for a huge colour gamut, Rec. 2020. A more achievable near-term goal is support for at least 90% DCI-P3 (Digital Cinema Initiatives standard colour space) coverage. Finally, HDR makes use of at least 10-bit precision per colour channel, so its desirable that the monitor supports at least 10-bits per subpixel. HDR10 is the most widely supported standard used in HDR games and movies and what is supported here.

For games and other full screen applications that support HDR, the Gigabyte M32U automatically switches to its HDR operating mode if an HDR signal is provided. Some game titles will activate HDR correctly when the appropriate in-game setting is selected. Others that support HDR will only run in HDR if ‘Use HDR’ is turned on in Windows, too. Related Windows HDR settings are found in the ‘Windows HD Color settings’ (Windows 10) or ‘HDR’ (Windows 11) section of ‘Display settings’ (right click the desktop). If you want to view HDR movie content, ensure ‘Stream HDR Video’ (Windows 10) or ‘Play streaming HDR video’ (Windows 11) is active. Also note that there’s an ‘HDR/SDR brightness balance’ (Windows 10) or ‘SDR content brightness’ (Windows 11) slider that allows you to adjust the overall balance of SDR content if HDR is active in Windows. This is really just a digital brightness slider that only makes changes for SDR content, and you lose contrast by adjusting it. The settings in the OSD are greatly restricted under HDR and although the image is better balanced than some models when viewing SDR content under HDR, gamma is a bit low in places which gives a slightly foggy look and reveals unintended detail. We’d recommend only activating HDR in Windows if you’re about to use an HDR application that specifically requires it.

Windows 10 HDR settings

Windows 11 HDR settings

To keep things simple we’ll just focus on Shadow of the Tomb Raider here, which is a title we’ve tested on a broad range of monitors under HDR. We know it has a good HDR implementation and the experience is very much limited by the screen itself, highlighting weaknesses which will apply to other HDR content as well. Although our testing focuses on HDR PC gaming using DisplayPort on an RTX 3090, similar observations were made when viewing HDR video content on the Netflix app. There are some additional points to bear in mind if you wish to view such content. We also made similar observations using HDMI, which would be used when viewing HDR content on an HDR compatible games console for example. Testing on both our Nvidia and AMD GPUs showed some differences as things appeared a bit less rich and saturated on the AMD side. Furthermore, ‘Local Dimming’ didn’t appear to work correctly if at all as we observed under SDR for our AMD GPU. To repeat what we said there, this could be a driver issue or issue with our old AMD GPU. Gigabyte are aware of this and if it turns out to be a broader issue it could be rectified with updated firmware for the monitor.

As usual under HDR, the settings you can access in the OSD are greatly restricted. Brightness, gamma and colour channels can’t be adjusted, for example. You can adjust the ‘Super Resolution’ sharpness filter and Overdrive in the ‘Game’ section of the OSD. For the ‘Picture’ section there are a few options you can tweak. ‘Light Enhance’ brightens light to medium shades up, ‘Color Enhance’ oversaturates things and ‘Dark Enhance’ lifts up dark shades so they’re brighter than they should be. Some may subjectively like how things look with these ‘enhancements’, but they simply serve to upset the image and runs contrary to what the HDR metadata is telling the monitor it should be doing. The ‘Local Dimming’ setting works in a similar way to under SDR, enabling the 16 dimming zones of the screen. Without this, under HDR, you’re stuck with a very high brightness level even if predominantly dark content is displayed. Which creates a distinctly flooded look to the image and even makes some medium shades appear far brighter than they should. We’d therefore recommend leaving ‘Local Dimming’ enabled and did so for the remainder of this section.

The Gigabyte M32U is VESA DisplayHDR 400 certified. This is the lowest level of VESA DisplayHDR certification, so only a basic HDR experience is offered here. For the colour gamut this HDR level isn’t at all strict – in this case we measured 87% DCI-P3. This is shown in the representation below, where the red triangle shows the monitor’s colour gamut, the blue triangle DCI-P3 and green triangle sRGB. This reasonable DCI-P3 coverage and strong consistency of the panel help provide a decent vibrancy injection where the developers intend it. This includes a fairly rich look to flames, some fairly deep forest greens and some reasonably eye-catching foliage in the game with flashes of shades such as red, orange, purple with saturation levels comfortably beyond the sRGB colour space. Depending on how things are mapped, even greater DCI-P3 coverage or even extension beyond (superior Rec. 2020 coverage) could help provide further vibrancy to such elements. Greater dimming precision for the backlight would also add extra depth to some of the dark and medium shades. Unlike under SDR, the developers have wider gamuts than sRGB in mind. So we didn’t observe the oversaturation of woody tones or a reddish push to browns and certain skin tones. Or the overly vivid look to some greens which affected the ‘natural look’ of some foliage under SDR.

Colour gamut 'Test Settings'

Colour gamut 'Test Settings'


The HDR10 pipeline uses 10-bits per colour channel, which this monitor also supports via 8-bit + FRC. This enhanced precision aids the nuanced shade variety for darker and brighter shades, whilst allowing the monitor to use its generous colour gamut with appropriate precision. This provides a natural-looking uplift of detail in darker regions, due to the variety of subtly different dark shades provided. This is different to a gamma enhancement that could be applied under SDR, which would artificially raise detail by lightening shades rather than increasing the variety of shades. At the high end the enhanced nuanced variety of bright shades help smooth out gradients and provide more natural shade progressions for various particle effects, weather effects, smoke and suchlike. To really help accentuate this, you’d need a much higher luminance precision than is provided by the backlight here. Under HDR there should be a tight link between the shades outputted and luminance output of the monitor and that’s not possible in this case. The image below shows one of our favourite scenes from Shadow of the Tomb Raider for HDR. Remember that the photo is purely for illustrative purposes and in no way represents how the monitor appeared running HDR in person.

Shadow of the Tomb Raider HDR

This scene highlighted the advantages of the 10-bit precision nicely, with a good mixture of shade depths and some very subtle variations. Though local dimming isn’t required for the VESA DisplayHDR 400 level, the monitor does provide rudimentary local dimming with 16 zones as we explored earlier. With the 16 zones able to dim independently or remain relatively bright if it makes sense for the content contained on that zone, you get a situational edge to contrast in some scenes. Much as we explored under SDR, we generally found the experience to be like a slightly souped-up Dynamic Contrast mode. In many scenarios including the waterfall scene above, the zones stayed at a brightness that was reasonably close to one another. There was slight relative dimming of zones covering the medium to darker content to the left vs. the right of the scene, just enough to give a slight contrast edge. For predominantly darker content the dimming was certainly welcome to avoid the clearly ‘flooded’ look you had with the setting disabled. But that’s not to say the depth of the darker shades or even some medium shades was all that impressive. The shade mixtures either for daylight scenes such as the waterfall scene above or scenes that were dominated by darker shades are actually very intricate. So greater dimming precision would’ve been beneficial. We also felt the dimming could’ve been a bit more aggressive at times for some of the predominantly dark content, though a balance still has to be struck. With a limited number of zones, significant disparities between the brightness of one zone and adjacent zones can lead to more noticeable shifts. If particularly aggressive local dimming is used you can become quite aware of the zones themselves, which in this case are large bands of the screen.

The peak luminance we recorded (442 cd/m²) was quite limited by HDR standards, so bright elements like the glint on the water surface or the light pooling in from above weren’t as brilliant or eye-catching as they could be. There should be a variety of bright to very bright shades that were simply beyond the capabilities of the monitor here. With the dark shades and even some medium shades lacking the depth they could be given with more precise luminance control, the brighter shades didn’t have the same comparative ‘pop’ they could have, either. The section of video review below runs through the HDR experience using various scenes in Shadow of the Tomb Raider.



The ‘4K’ UHD experience

Our article exploring the 3840 x 2160 ‘4K’ UHD resolution looks at the experience provided by a smaller screen than this – 28” with a pixel density of 157.35 PPI (Pixels Per Inch). The 31.5” screen of the Gigabyte provides a somewhat lower pixel density of 139.87 PPI, which is still high for a monitor. There’s still a distinct ‘UHD’ look to suitably high resolution content, similar to that described in the article. A look which simply isn’t provided by models with a significantly lower pixel density such as 27” 2560 x 1440 (WQHD or 1440p) models. The more generous screen size also lends itself well to viewing without as much scaling or application-specific zoom as on smaller screens sharing the resolution, such as the 28” model used in the article. We found the screen very comfortable to use without scaling from our preferred viewing distance of ~70 – 80cm, though individual preferences will vary in this respect. This offered an excellent amount of ‘desktop real-estate’ with exceptional multi-tasking potential and strong text clarity. The ‘4K UHD Experience’ article also points out that the high pixel density is still an important component of text clarity which remains even if scaling is used. Provided it scales ‘cleanly’ (which is does in most cases), the clarity and crispness afforded by the high pixel density remains. The images below show the screen in action on the desktop and performing some multi-tasking natively (100%, no scaling) and with a small amount of scaling applied (125%).

Note that these images are just for illustrative purposes and don’t accurately reflect how the monitor appears in person. Any banding and patchiness on solid backgrounds are artifacts in the image, not observed in person.

The UHD desktop, 100% scaling

The UHD desktop, 125% scaling

Some multi-tasking, 100% scaling

Some multi-tasking, 125% scaling

We also enjoyed the ‘4K’ UHD gaming experience on the 31.5” screen. The size of the screen provided a strong level of immersion, but we didn’t find it overbearing from our usual viewing distance. With the large screen it also expands your options when it comes to viewing position, more practical than smaller screens if you wish to sit a bit further back from the monitor. With the strong pixel density, content was given a clearly defined and detailed look that’s again similar to what was described in the article. The benefits are easier to appreciate in motion due to the high refresh rate (at suitably high frame rates), too. This is a look not offered by models with a significantly lower (but still reasonable) pixel density such as 27” WQHD screens. Having this detail spread out across a relatively large screen area was also nice, in our view. Whilst things were most impressive for graphically demanding titles with high resolution particle effects and textures and various graphical bells and whistles, even for graphically simpler titles there was definite benefit. A distinct look to objects with excellent edge-definition even as you look into the distance on the game, lacking on models with a significantly lower pixel density. The images below show the monitor running various game titles at the native resolution. These are purely for illustrative purposes and in no way indicate how the monitor appears in person.

Battlefield 2042 in UHD

Cyberpunk 2077 in UHD

Shadow of the Tomb Raider in UHD

Interpolation and upscaling

The 3840 x 2160 (‘4K’ UHD) resolution is taxing graphically, so it may be desirable to run certain games or applications at a lower resolution for performance reasons. Alternatively, you may be using a system such as games console that doesn’t support a ‘4K’ UHD signal. The monitor is able to use interpolation (scaling) to map lower resolutions such as 1920 x 1080 (‘1080p’ or Full HD) onto all 3840 x 2160 pixels of the display. To ensure the monitor rather than GPU is handling the scaling process, as a PC user, you need to ensure the GPU driver is correctly configured so that the GPU doesn’t take over the scaling process. For AMD GPU users the monitor will handle the scaling by default, when gaming at non-native resolutions. Nvidia users should open the Nvidia Control Panel and navigate to ‘Display – Adjust desktop size and position’. They should ensure that ‘No Scaling’ is selected and ‘Perform scaling on:’ is set to ‘Display’ as shown below.

Nvidia scaling options

The monitor includes various ‘Display Mode’ settings in the ‘Gaming’ section of the OSD, as explored in this section of the OSD video. These are only accessible if ‘AMD FreeSync Premium Pro’ is disabled in the OSD and therefore VRR isn’t used (the option is also greyed out when using HDMI 2.1 VRR). The default ‘Full’ setting uses interpolation to map the source resolution onto all 3840 x 2160 of the display – this is the setting used under VRR. There’s also ‘Aspect’, which will use as much screen space as possible without changing the aspect ratio, avoiding any stretching or distortion for non-16:9 resolutions. There’s ‘1:1’ which is a pixel mapping feature that will only use the pixels called for in the source resolution and fill out the remaining pixels as black space around the image. And finally, a range of settings which will squish the image up and simulate different screen sizes and aspect ratios (22” 16:10 plus 23 – 27” 16:9).

When running the monitor at either 1920 x 1080 (Full HD or 1080p) or 2560 x 1440 (WQHD or 1440p), the interpolation process of the monitor provided moderate softening. This was quite pronounced for the Full HD resolution, less so for the WQHD resolution. It’s possible to counteract this to an extent by increasing ‘Super Resolution’ in the ‘Gaming’ section of the OSD. However; we found even setting this to ‘1’ provided noticeable over-sharpening. Giving quite a rough appearance to some elements. We instead preferred increasing ‘Sharpness’ in the ‘Picture’ section of the OSD to ‘7’. Preferences will vary, some may prefer ‘6’ or ‘8’ for example – and finer control here would’ve been ideal. Whilst this didn’t make things look like would for a ~32” screen with that resolution natively, it was quite useable in our view and provided a decent balance with the sharpness algorithm.

As usual, if you’re running the monitor at 3840 x 2160 and viewing 1920 x 1080 content (for example a video over the internet or a Blu-ray, using movie software) then it is the GPU and software that handles the upscaling. That’s got nothing to do with the monitor itself – there is a very small amount of softening to the image compared to viewing such content on a native Full HD monitor, but it’s slight and shouldn’t bother most users.

Video review

The video below shows the monitor in action. The camera, processing done and your own screen all affect the output – so it doesn’t accurately represent what you’d see when viewing the monitor in person. It still provides useful visual demonstrations and explanations which help reinforce some of the key points raised in the written piece.




Timestamps:
Features & Aesthetics
Contrast
Local Dimming (SDR)
Colour reproduction
HDR (High Dynamic Range)
Responsiveness (General)
Responsiveness (VRR)

Conclusion

With its 31.5” screen size and 3840 x 2160 (‘4K’) UHD resolution, the Gigabyte provides a strong pixel density which brings good clarity and crispiness to text and suitably high resolution image content. Including games and movies. This combination provides a good level of immersion and a lot of ‘desktop real estate’, too. The monitor doesn’t do anything too showy aesthetically, opting for matte black plastic and a few glossy black plastic touches. The low-profile stand base is not the most solid or premium-feeling, but it does the job and is weighted by a metal backplate to give stable footing to the screen. Ergonomic flexibility is good with height, swivel and tilt adjustment – though pivot into portrait is lacking. Whilst the OSD provides a lot of functionality and includes accompanying software with user-upgradeable firmware. HDMI 2.1 provides a 120Hz ‘4K’ UHD signal for the PS5 and Xbox Series X, alongside integrated VRR support. And USB-C plus KVM is thrown in for good measure, though it’s quite limited on the Power Delivery (PD) side of things.

Strong colour consistency was provided by the IPS-type panel. The colour gamut provided a fair amount of extension beyond sRGB, though didn’t comprehensively cover extended colour spaces such as DCI-P3 or Adobe RGB. As such, a bit of extra vibrancy and saturation is provided for regular sRGB content but nothing extreme. Though the gamut is really too limited for accurate content creation beyond the sRGB colour space. An sRGB emulation setting was included to tone down the native saturation, though it was quite inflexible and the tuning could’ve been better on our unit. When it came to contrast things sat where we expected them to, with the monitor achieving a touch beyond the specified 1000:1 depending on settings. There was a moderate amount of ‘IPS glow’, though at an expected level for an IPS-type panel of this size. ‘Local Dimming’ was supported for both SDR and HDR with 16 dimming zones, though it was limited in its effectiveness and locked off brightness which will limit its appeal. Coupled with a colour gamut that is quite incomplete in terms of DCI-P3 coverage and certainly Rec. 2020 coverage, the HDR experience was far from spectacular. Even if a touch beyond what some models provide (that isn’t saying much).

When it came to responsiveness the monitor performed well overall. Pixel responses were rapid enough to provide a good 144Hz experience. The monitor performed as expected under VRR, including for AMD FreeSync and Nvidia’s ‘G-SYNC Compatible Mode’. And whilst we don’t consider it to offer a true single overdrive mode experience for VRR, it did offer appropriate settings to appeal to those more sensitive to overshoot. The monitor also provided a strobe backlight setting (‘Aim Stabilizer Sync’), which had its fair share of visual disturbances but will appeal to some and did a good job of integrating VRR support. In many respects the monitor performed quite like a scaled-up version of the 28” models also based on an Innolux IPS-type panel, such as the VG28UQL1A, M28U and XV282K KV. But offered superior pixel overdrive flexibility for better handling of reduced refresh rates without anywhere near as much overshoot. It doesn’t offer the same level of HDR support or colour gamut as some competing 32” models. Though with a price that runs closer to competing 27-28” models and actually undercuts some (based on ~$750 USD price as reviewed), you really do get a lot of monitor for your money with this one.

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PositivesNegatives
Quite vibrant with strong colour consistency from IPS-type panel and good ‘out of the box’ setup on our unit. Fairly generous gamut plus sRGB emulation mode with adjustable brightness
DCI-P3 and Adobe RGB coverage insufficient for work within those colour spaces, sRGB emulation mode quite inflexible with odd gamma tracking on our unit
Decent static contrast (above some panels of this type) and a light to very light matte screen surface which minimises layering in front of imageModerate ‘IPS glow’, limited effectiveness from inflexible 16-zone local dimming. Limited HDR performance on both contrast and colour side
Well balanced pixel responses providing a good 144Hz experience, low input lag and appropriately functioning VRRMinor weaknesses in pixel responsiveness, not a single overdrive mode experience for VRR
Strong pixel density provides excellent detail and clarity with excellent ‘desktop real estate’. Good ergonomics, USB-C and HDMI 2.1 support with feature-rich OSDBasic design and styling with ‘plasticky’ feel to stand base, no pivot support with included stand
The bottom line; a well-rounded performance and good price for a large high refresh rate ‘4K’ UHD experience.PC Monitors

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Gigabyte M32U

 
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