ASRock Phantom Gaming PG34WQ15R2B 165Hz VA Ultrawide
As an Amazon Associate I earn from qualifying purchases made using the “Buy” button at the bottom of this post. Where possible, you'll be redirected to your nearest store. Further information on supporting our work.ASRock are best known for their gaming PC components, including graphics cards and motherboards. The PG34WQ15R2B of the Phantom Gaming series marks their entry into the gaming monitor market, in ultrawide VA flavour. The monitor features an angular ‘penguin foot’ stand design, with a dark matte finish and central ‘Phantom Gaming’ logo. The top and side bezels are dual-stage with slim panel border flush with the rest of the screen plus thin hard plastic outer part. The OSD (On Screen Display) is controlled by a joystick and buttons at the rear of the screen, running down the right side as viewed from the front.
Caution: Image on screen is superimposed in the picture below which makes the bezels appear extremely thin. In reality there is a black panel border as described above and common with dual-stage bezel designs.
A 34″ 3440 x 1440 (UWQHD, 21:9 ultrawide) VA panel is used, with 1500R (moderate) curve and support for a 165Hz refresh rate. Adaptive-Sync features, including AMD FreeSync Premium with 48 – 165Hz VRR range (plus LFC). Other aspects of note include a matte anti-glare screen surface, 3000:1 static contrast, 178°/178 viewing angles and 8-bit colour support. A flicker-free WLED backlight provides a 550 cd/m² typical maximum luminance and 91% DCI-P3 (115% sRGB) colour gamut. VESA DisplayHDR 400 support is included, allowing the monitor to respond to HDR10 content in a basic way. With reasonable (but not particularly high by HDR standards) brightness output and gamut plus support for 10-bit colour processing. No local dimming is specifically required or specified for this HDR level.
A 1ms MPRT response time is specified using a strobe backlight setting, a specification which you shouldn’t put much weight on. The included stand offers tilt, swivel and limited height (100mm or 3.94 inches) adjustment – it can be removed to make way for alternative 100 x 100mm VESA mounting. The ports face downwards and include; AC power input (internal power converter), 2 HDMI 2.0 ports, DP 1.4 and a 3.5mm headphone jack. Integrated 2 x 2W speakers are included, whilst a Wi-Fi antenna is built into the stand which aims to deliver a stronger Wi-Fi signal than a basic antenna attached to the system.
Further details on the manufacturer’s website. The monitor is listed for ~$430 USD.
