[SteinsNaut]

Hello everyone!

I’ve been scouring the internet for more information on these upcoming monitors. Both are HDR1000 however the cooler master is FALD Mini-LED. The cooler master presumably releases June 15th, while the 32GQ950 is releasing this month overseas and soon in the US I believe.

Would anyone happen to know about the performance of these panel’s black levels?

Im just surprised LG chose to go with what we assume is an edge lit panel for HDR1000. Cooler Master’s monitor sounds better on paper however they’re not as well known for their monitors.

[PCM2]

Hi SteinsNaut,

It’s a good question and both models are certainly interesting. But it’s not really possible to give a technical comparison between the two given that the GP27U will apparently be releasing a few hours after I write this in the US. And I don’t have any hands on experience with it or feedback from those who have received it earlier in other regions. And the 32GQ950 is not yet available. What I can tell you:

– Both models use IPS-type panels, with the Cooler Master being AUO AHVA and the LG using a Nano IPS panel (likely LG Display’s own).

– Both models have a specified 1000:1 contrast ratio.

– The LG has an A-TW polarizer which can help minimise ‘IPS glow’ and improve off-angle contrast performance in particular.

– The LG has 32 dimming zones, which is extremely limited for a VESA DisplayHDR 1000 level display and the brightness levels it targets.

– The Cooler Master has a Mini LED FALD solution with 576 dimming zones. Just on a technical level, this will mean it can far exceed the contrast performance of the LG. A-TW polarizers are potentially nice to have and ideally you’d have both solutions together, but on their own they’re still no match for a vastly superior number of dimming zones.

– Simply having the dimming zones is one thing, the algorithm driving them also needs to be good. It isn’t clear whether you can use this local dimming solution under SDR on the Cooler Master (hopefully you can) and it isn’t known how rapidly it reacts and how it is biased in terms of bright vs. dark. Some models with Mini LED backlights (not ‘G-SYNC ultimate’ like the PG32UQX, but plain Adaptive-Sync) don’t have a good algorithm to control them. So they can struggle to keep up with significant bright and dark changes in a scene or can stay strongly lit up even for very small bright areas surrounded by darkness, brighten up too much for medium shades or potentially brighten up insufficiently even for larger patches of bright shades. I wouldn’t say the PG32UQX is perfectly tuned either, but it does offer a very rapidly-reacting FALD solution and most of the time makes appropriate zonal changes based on the content.

– The Cooler Master has a superior colour gamut, with its Quantum Dot LED backlight providing 99% Adobe RGB coverage (and 97% DCI-P3). The LG offers 98% DCI-P3 but will have the usual significantly lower coverage for the green to blue edge of the gamut. That means it misses out on a lot of Adobe RGB and indeed Rec. 2020, with some less vibrant and lush greens and cyans. This can improve the HDR vibrancy in favour of the Cooler Master and certainly for SDR, but again it partly depends how they’ve tuned things under HDR.

– The Cooler Master includes USB-C with 90W PD, which is pretty generous.

So really, you’ll need to wait for both products to be released for a true picture to be painted. But of the two the Cooler Master certainly has the potential to offer a superior experience not just on the contrast side but elsewhere as well. That doesn’t account for the screen size differences and personal preferences will come into play there, but to me it strikes me that LG are scraping the bottom of the barrel of the VESA DisplayHDR 1000 level whereas the Cooler Master could offer a genuinely strong HDR performance. I’ll be keeping my eye out for feedback on both models, but I am not shy to say openly that LG’s UK PR team are absolutely useless unless you’re a paid influencer or unlikely to fully assess both the positive and negative aspects of a monitor in detail. So it’s very unlikely they’ll offer the 32QG950 for review. I could acquire it by other means but I need to be genuinely compelled to do so. Reviewing the Cooler Master might be a possibility, but it depends on sample availability and other models in the pipeline.

[EsaT]

First of all in current situation better not to hold breath about availability soon, unless proven otherwise.
Basically it’s healthy assumption that availability is half year after paper release.
And it doesn’t matter if selling brand is also the maker of panels instead of buying them from outside manufacturer.
(LG’s 27″ 4K models of the last years have had long delays here in Finland)

And like said these really aren’t same level products.
While LG is physically bigger, it’s otherwise toward mid level tech model, starting from the best LG can do nowadays DCI-P3 gamut.
Even that A-TW filter possibly isn’t any advantage.
AUO has been using similar purpose filters in FALD backlight panels at both 27″ and 32″ size.
Panel of Asus PG32UQX has such and same for 2018’s PG27UQ.
So it’s possible CoolerMaster has such filter.

AUO has newer 32″ panel, which should have modern response times (unlike that in PG32UQX) in at least two monitors announced at CES.
Acer X32 FP and Asus PG32UQXE.
Those are the models to compare in 32″ size.
Acer was planned to come out in Q2 with Asus quarter later.
But Acer has been delayed likely by quarter, so wise to add similar delay to Asus.

As for where AdobeRGB gamut’s deeper greens/cyan shows in games is foliage/vegetation, sky and water.

[PCM2]

Here’s a quick YouTube video of the GP27U by Techtesters (Nadalina). Not super detailed but a nice look at the screen in action anyway and some good positive thoughts plus a few criticisms (mainly related to the OSD). Looks to tick a lot of boxes, including well-tuned and flexible pixel overdrive and a nice HDR experience including strong peak and sustained brightness levels and effective local dimming. It was also pointed out that this monitor doesn’t seem to allow ‘Local Dimming’ and VRR to be used at the same time and it isn’t clear if this is intended behaviour or something Cooler Master could fix with firmware.

TFT Central’s Simon Baker is currently reviewing the Tempest and I have it on the list as one I’d like to look at. As I hint at in this Tweet I’ve spent an inordinate amount of time waiting for review samples this year, including now where I’m still waiting for a PG42UQ sample which was supposed to have been delivered ~2 weeks ago. I did actually purchase a few of the models I’ve looked at this year myself as it’s a much quicker way to acquire them. Manufacturers and their PR companies who provide review samples can be very hit and miss and it can be a real drain on time when things don’t go smoothly. In this case it isn’t actually ASUS’s fault but the journalist who currently has the PG42UQ as they keep on being “unavailable” for the courier when they come to collect.

[EsaT]

Some sources say that by enabling VRR first, FALD can be enabled for SDR gaming.
But that HDR disables VRR, which should be fixed by firmware in couple weeks.

If some journalist just keeps being “unavailable” to fulfill deal of returning review sample, maybe Asus should next time tell him that review sample is unavailable untill later time…

[PCM2]

It turns out the locking of VRR under HDR by Cooler Master on the GP27U is due to some issues with potentially obnoxious flickering when the two are used simultaneously. Cooler Master is working on a firmware fix that will allow both to be enabled simultaneously, though it isn’t clear whether the flickering issues will be fixed as well.

[PCM2]

In their usual data-rich style, Tim has published his review of the Tempest on the Monitors Unboxed YouTube channel. Lots of positive thoughts particularly surrounding the versatility of the colour gamut and HDR capability. But he was highly critical of the inability to use VRR and HDR at the same time and somewhat critical of the inability to use VRR at 160Hz. He noted clear gamma and colour balance issues using ‘Local Dimming’ under SDR as well. His testing also revealed a moderately strong blue bias and hence cool look (blue tint) under HDR – TFT Central confirmed this with their review (~7400K white point, depends on brightness) and found trying to address this with any manual colour channel adjustments at all knocks down the HDR brightness capability.

Something I picked up on in the review was that he found the ‘Dynamic’ overdrive setting behaved similarly to ‘Advanced’ regardless of refresh rate. Simon’s review on TFT Central (currently ‘insider only’ access) confirmed that the setting worked as you’d expect, reducing overshoot significantly at 60Hz for example. Have now discussed this on Twitter and it appears that the setting doesn’t really work under VRR, with the clear changes such as reduced overshoot for low refresh rates only applying if a static refresh rate is selected. To be honest the ‘Normal’ setting is good for an all-round VRR experience, though some may feel ‘Advanced’ ekes out just a bit of extra performance at the top end.

[EsaT]

Seems like user mode overdrive tuned in between Normal and Advanced might be the most optimal for Tempest GP27U in varying “highish” fps situation.
But what’s going with that 255 to ~200 transition area?
It’s like LUT has entirely wrong overdrive pulse for that transition with that strong spiking of overshoot.

Sure hope Acer gets it better for X32 FP with their very limited number of overdrive modes and makes first mode more like that Cooler Master’s “normal”, instead of completely disabled.

I think that pipeline might need a use of plunger.
Certainly feels it’s completely blocked when it comes to getting 4K monitors actually available.

[PCM2]

New firmware is available for the GP27U (and coming soon for the GP27Q) which allows 160Hz to be used with VRR. And VRR + HDR to be used simultaneously. A few other changes surrounding more flexible colour adjustments and KVM auto switching. Improving local dimming for SDR is still a ‘possibility’ for a future firmware update, but not changes in this version. Discussion on the new firmware in this Reddit thread.

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