[thewanted]

I received my X32 FP today, and it’s a very nice IPS monitor. I don’t have much experience with HDR gaming at all, apart from maybe 20 minutes on a friend’s LG 48″ C2, and I know this only has 576 zones, but I am a little disappointed with how much blooming I can see in The Last Of Us. The weapon HUD in the bottom right-hand corner is very obviously glowing white. If you go into the options menu and look at the keyboard controls, every icon has noticeable blooming around it.

The included stand is massive, and even when pushed right back on my desk, the monitor is a lot closer to my face than my Dell U3223QE. Because it’s so close, the anti-glare coating makes the left and right edges of the screen look a bit grey. If I move my head back a bit, it gets better so a monitor arm would probably solve the issue.

I wanted to try this monitor to replace my Dell U3223QE with a similar monitor that works for both productivity + games. I could keep the U3223QE and get a 42″ C2 just for games, but that means replacing my desk with one that’s at least 180cm x 80cm to have the two monitors side-by-side, and and they aren’t easy to find.

I have 29 days to decide whether to keep it. Not an easy decision.

[PCM2]

Indeed, not an easy decision. Thanks for sharing your feedback, though.

Even with the dark-biasing that I’ve mentioned at various points in this thread, HUD elements against darker surroundings are a classic example of where blooming can be noticed quite readily. Or bright elements in menus against darker surroundings. The dark biasing reduces that blooming, but it doesn’t eliminate it – and if you’re comparing to an OLED it can be quite easy to notice. Just for reference, what GPU (or GPU brand) are you using and what are the lighting conditions like in your room when observing this blooming? You may be able to adjust and get used to it in time, I feel a month or so will give you enough time to know whether you’re willing to keep the Acer long term.

[thewanted]

Thanks for validating my observation.

My room is dark. It has a window, but it looks straight out at my next door neighbour’s wall, so I have to have the lights on even during the day. When I was playing TLOU last night I did have the lights turned off because I wanted to see if there was any IPS glow like I can see with my U3223QE. I can confirm that it doesn’t 🙂

I forgot to mention it, but whilst playing TLOU, the game put a crosshair on one of the enemies to indicate that I needed to target it. When that white crosshair appeared, you could easily see blooming or the FALD turning on/off around that enemy. I don’t know how to describe it any better than that, but it was very similar to how you can see the zones turning on and off when you move the mouse pointer on the Windows desktop with FALD enabled. It did put me off a bit.

EDIT: Apologies, I’m using a 4090.

[thewanted]

Another observation.

Somewhere on this forum there’s a YouTube video of Shadow of the Tomb Raider that shows either a certain Viewsonic monitor that competes with the X32 FP, or it’s the X32 FP itself, where the FALD is battling with grey scenes.

I think I’ve just experienced it in TLOU. When you eventually head out into the open from a building, and therefore it’s lighter because you’re outside, you can see the dimming zones sort of lag behind. Like they’re not quite turning on/off quickly enough. I don’t know if I’d be able to record it with my phone.

Tempted to try a LG 42″ C2 this weekend to compare.

[PCM2]

Sounds like the video Degrader posted using on the ViewSonic XG321UG here. Or earlier in this thread on the X32 FP (example). Will also have some good examples of this behaviour (inspired by Degrader and their excellent scene selection in Shadow of the Tomb Raider for illustrating the issue) in our upcoming X32 FP review as well. Such elements are typical ‘torture tests’ for FALD solutions. Depending on the algorithmic tuning and exact shades involved, it can be more or less noticeable but it’s definitely not something you’ll see on an OLED. Unless the game itself has some odd issue that’s nothing to do with the monitor.

[thewanted]

Or earlier in this thread on the X32 FP (example).

That’s exactly it!

It probably sounds like I don’t like the monitor, but it genuinely is, an incredible IPS display. I just don’t know right now if it’s what I’m looking for as a one monitor solution for work and play.

[Degrader]

You can always use the Adaptive Dimming setting Low which works very good if you can live with that small highlights are somewhat less bright than with the Fast setting. The Low setting eliminates the flickering completely and halo’s aren’t that visible anymore.

[PCM2]

Good call, it’s definitely worth giving that a try and seeing how you find it thewanted.

[thewanted]

I’ll definitely try that, thanks!

Tried to pick up an LG 42” C2 earlier to compare, but they didn’t have stock, despite saying on the phone yesterday that they had 4. Meh.

[spiroh]

The knock I see with the 42 inch oled is the text for productivity use isn’t the best. It’s not as crisp as this monitor. Being that I use this for work during the day that killed it for me.

[PCM2]

For those interested, we’ve got an article covering the OLED fringing issues which apply to WOLED models like the C2 OLED and 27″ 240Hz models. Lack of any such issues plus significantly tighter pixel density make the X32 FP far superior for text representation and productivity more generally.

[spiroh]

Do you think any newer OLED‘s will not have these fringing issues? It’s a obvious issue I’ve seen with all the current oled tv/monitors.

[Degrader]

Yeah, I saw it yesterday and find it a very nice and complete article! I think it is very helpful with clear examples and suggestions to mitigate the fringing issues for those considering an OLED display.

[PCM2]

Glad you liked it, Degrader. 🙂

spiroh – I share a few thoughts on that at the end of the article (“What will improve the situation?”) In the longer term I hope to see more solutions with standard RGB subpixel layouts. In the nearer term I feel a tighter pixel density could at least make fringing issues less noticeable. I personally don’t find the QD-OLED fringing as annoying as the WOLED fringing as I mention in the article (subjective), so that combined with a tighter pixel density would be nice to see.

[spiroh]

I’ve seen the Alienware widescreen which uses the qdoled and unfortunately the text didn’t look as sharp. Great for gaming though.

[PCM2]

As sharp as what? Compared to the X32 FP, definitely no contest. 😉

[sblantipodi]

I like OLEDs for TV contents but PC is not a console.
Even a gaming PC is a PC and OLEDs are not meant for PCs IMHO. 🙂

[sblantipodi]

Hi,
I’m not able to create custom resolutions from the nvidia control panel.

I create custom resolutions since years, I have done in past with the same GPU I’m using now (4090) but I’m not able to do it currently.

Is this problem related to the X32 monitor?

I would like to create a custom res like 3840×1080…

[PCM2]

Yeah I notice the same. I don’t know if it’s specific to the X32 FP or due to a recent graphics driver update. I’ve only got the Acer hooked up on its own at the moment. If you select a resolution in the list it greys out the ‘Customise…’ button on any monitor. And it looks like the resolution is pre-selected in this case as soon as you get onto Nvidia Control Panel (NVCP)! I’ve tried selecting a different resolution and re-entering NVCP and also disabling VRR, but it doesn’t help. I’ll let you know if I find a solution.

[sblantipodi]

thank you very much, I’m trying to improve the letterbox/pillarbox autodetection on my ambilight software and having the possibility to change resolutions really helps. this is somewhat a deal breaker to me…

[Author]

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