[PCM2]

Just wondering as AHVA panels seem more prone to image retention (and dynamic interlace patterns) at lower refresh rates.

[SirRockALot]

Interesting, I just tried 10min of the flashing clock at 120Hz and got zero image retention and then tried the same at 60Hz and got several minutes worth of a flashing clock on screen. Took about 5min to 100% vanish. I also notice some mild image retention from high contrast static element, but those are nowhere near as noticeable. Didn’t know this is a thing on IPS screens.

I think it’s pretty clear that when they designed and tested this monitor that they only looked towards PC gaming uses. The lack of per-device/input settings, unusable HDR on PS5 & Mac, issues at 60Hz like the image retention and relatively unimpressive motion clarity etc. Probably none of this is a big deal for PC gaming uses, but those are real issues for anybody looking to hook up some consoles to the four HDMI 2.1 ports.

[sblantipodi]

I noticed some image retention with some units I had in past. My current unit does not show any image retention but I never used the monitor at a fixed 60Hz.

I would not be bothered that much if the retention vanish in 10 minutes.

Reading the reviews, this is one of the fastest 4k panel on the market, you can’t expect stellar results at 60Hz.
I would not have chooses this monitor for 60Hz

[ac104]

Hello,

(1) Do you think Acer X32 FP is worth approx. USD350~400 (318~364 Euro) more over BenQ EX3210U, for about 60% productivity (non-color critical most of the time), 30% PC gaming, 10% media consumption?

(2) If you’ve try the same or similar monitors, do you think the overall HDR performance of Acer’s (dark biasing, relatively less bloom than other similar miniLeds, possible perceived flicker in certain adaptive dimming level(s), etc.) worth the premium over BenQ’s?

In PCM’s video reviews, Acer’s HDR quality clearly looks better than BenQ’s on my screen. But perhaps I’ve been accustomed to conventional IPS LCD, without being able to try both, I’m not sure if the Acer is worth the premium

Based on my requirement and limited monitor knowledge/experience, it seems the –

Main benefit of Acer’s is its better HDR performance, higher contrast and better blacks with adaptive dimming enabled (though haven’t tried, I should be able to accept the blooming on Acer’s based on watching Adam’s video review)

Possible risks of Acer’s include:
– Dimming zone life span: heard that when any of the dimming zone fails, a monitor might not be usable, even with HDR/adaptive dimming disabled – don’t know how true or frequent this is. Any thoughts on how to compare estimated life span between the two units?
Since my current monitor (Acer X34 P) has been working fine over the last 5 years without perceivable degradation, hope my next monitor will likely last for at least 5 years without major issue

– HDR and/or adaptive dimming flicker: it seems we might want to expect some degree of flickering when HDR and/or adaptive dimming is enabled (inherent issue/characteristic of most or any current FALD?), unsure the frequency of flickering and how my eyes will react to it

ABL (unsure whether I’ll get use to it), text fringing in Windows and burn-in cases online suggest I should skip current oleds for long-hour typical desktop usage with static elements on.

InnoCN and KTC aren’t easy to find here. Cooler Master is, but 27″ is too small for work. Prefer having one monitor for both work and gaming.

Since I already bought RTX 4090, and can’t seem to find any true HDR miniLeds similar to or better than Acer’s/Asus PG32UQXR (ie. 4K, IPS, 32~42″, 144+hz, fast response, etc.) with acceptable pricing and launching in the next couple months, I hope to buy a relatively decent true HDR monitor now. But if any of the concerns on Acer’s above are valid, or Acer’s HDR experience will not likely to be a big enough improvement over BenQ’s that justifies the premium, I can also buy BenQ’s now and wait.

[Monitor Experience]
Current monitor: Acer X34 P (34″ ultrawide, 3440 x 1440, IPS, 100~120Hz, motion clarity when playing competitive shooters isn’t great)
Current phone’s screen: Samsung Note 10+ (6.8″, 1440 x 3040, AMOLED, 60Hz). Not sure this oled screen flickers, in the past two years I’ve been fine with reading for hours on it (at <30% brightness & with built-in blue blight filter enabled)

Really liked the in-depth reviews, thanks again Adam.

Feel free to correct any errors above, if any. Appreciate any thoughts, and thanks a lot for reading.

P.S. Non-essential features that I won’t pay premiums for include:
– built-in speaker
– remote control
– USB-C port is good to have but unnecessary for now
– built-in light sensor for auto-adjusting monitor brightness
– Adaptive dimming doesn’t need to be ON under SDR

[PCM2]

ac104,

You clearly have a good grasp of the monitors and their capabilities and I’d agree with your points. I’d add that the X32 FP has reduced ‘IPS glow’ (it’s more colourful but less intense, per the review and other comments here) and superior pixel responsiveness compared to the EX3210U. You can see from this thread that there’s quite a diversity of opinion on the X32 FP and whether it’s “worth it” is entirely subjective. I’m afraid there’s little more I can say on it that hasn’t already been said, suffice to say I encourage people to try it for themselves and see. Which is why it’s featured as a recommendation for both gaming and movies currently. And yes, it’s well-suited for productivity but isn’t a model I’d recommend for that alone over significantly cheaper ~32″ ‘4K’ UHD models. With mixed usage like yours, it could be justified but it’s your money and your opinion that counts.

[SirRockALot]

sblantipodi,

> I noticed some image retention with some units I had in past. My current unit does not show any image retention but I never used the monitor at a fixed 60Hz.

That’s interesting, I wouldn’t have expected there to be such a difference in panels. I can read the text of your post in 20min on a full field grey slide when I set the screen to high brightness and look closely 🙂 Maybe it’s all related to 60Hz, like I said, GT7 did not show its issue at 120Hz.

> I would not be bothered that much if the retention vanish in 10 minutes.

After a GT7 race there are flashing number in the middle and bottom left of the screen for a few minutes. It’s not exactly subtle.

Interestingly, this only seems to happen this bad for this one game so far. I played Horizon Forbidden West with the HUD set to permanently visible for an hour, only had mild image retention that was only visible on a full field grey slide. I thought, let’s try another racing sim with a race clock. So I played a rally stage in WRC8 with a flashing race clock prominently visible in the top right corner… and nothing. There must be something about GT7s clock display or the way the game outputs that really does not mesh well with this screen. Weird & fascinating…

> Reading the reviews, this is one of the fastest 4k panel on the market, you can’t expect stellar results at 60Hz.

Exactly, I thought this is one of the fastest 4k panels, surely it’ll look day and night better than a decade old standard office monitor when comparing side-by-side? But I know understand this assumption was based on a false understanding of the issue and I need some kind of strobing display.

> I would not have chooses this monitor for 60Hz

Your link goes to this monitor?

Mod edit: I added that link in as I like most posts to signpost to relevant articles and reviews on our site, but yes they will have been referring to the X32 FP as that’s the subject of this thread. My understanding is that sblantipodi was implying it would be a waste to buy this monitor if sticking to 60Hz a lot of the time.

My criteria was a 27-32″ 4k HDR FALD gaming monitor in the ballpark of 1000$, there’s not a lot of choice on the market (X32 FP, Neo G7, Inzone M9, CM GP27U, a bunch of more expensive ASUS displays, some Chinese brands I can’t buy/return locally).

[sblantipodi]

in my opinion the EX3210U is somewhat expensive compared to the Acer X32FP considering that it’s not a “real HDR” monitor.

if you want a monitor where to enjoy HDR contents X32FP is a no brainer compared to EX3210U,
if you don’t need a real HDR monitor I would try to buy a cheaper one rather than spending all that money on the BENQ.

you said that you have an RTX4090… the most expensive consumer card in history,
with that card, the answer should be pretty straightforward.

[sblantipodi]

Asus is finally presenting the Asus PG32UQXR that is the real competitor of the Acer X32 FP in terms of specs.

https://www.youtube.com/live/2JaX9gi6GiQ?feature=share&t=4706

Can’t understand why they are so late xD
hope to see a review and comparison from PC Monitors 🙂

[PCM2]

^^ Only if ASUS can provide a sample for an appropriate amount of time – and I’d like to see Amazon improve on that RRP as well. $1500 USD is a bit steep no matter how many times ASUS marketing tells us it’s “high end” and “premium” from the “flagship ROG Swift series”. Also, why does he keep comparing it to the PG32UQXE that was never released? Based on what he was saying and his later clarification in the Q&A portion he undoubtedly meant PG32UQX. 😀

[sblantipodi]

yes I think that he was referring to the PG32UQX, Asus is well know to have a lot of confusion in their own lineup…
I’m not a fan of a brand and I buy what I consider best from me regardless of the brand,
but I’m glad to not have bought an asus product.

In Europe Asus has the worst customer care I have ever seen…

[sblantipodi]

I lost this article
https://pcmonitors.info/acer/acer-predator-x32q-fs-150hz-4k-uhd-mini-led-model-with-hdmi-2-1/

It seems that it’s time for an upgrade of my X32…
Damn, after all the problems I had with bad pixels I don’t know if I have the strength to buy a new monitor after few months from the X32.

It seems a very nice upgrade for even less money after only some months.

[PCM2]

Not sure what you mean by “even less money”? International pricing has yet to be determined.

[sblantipodi]

I read somewhere that it will be priced around 1350 USD but I doubt it…
in any case I want to upgrade to it if it will have a fast panel like the X32FP…

can’t wait to see your review 🙂
will you review it, right? 😀

[PCM2]

Would of course like to review it, but it depends on sample availability plus retail price and availability of the product. It’s far too early for a confirmed US price, that price will have been a simple guess based on current ‘end of sale’ pricing in Asia, which isn’t generally a useful indicator of international retail price.

[spiroh]

This new monitor seems like a side-grade to the X32FP if all you get is double the zones. I’m very happy with this monitor but when a 32 inch OLED comes out I will jump ship.

can you shed some light on how this things works please?
When will we see it in shops reasonably?
6 months, a year, two year?
why present a monitor that doesn’t have a release date?
X32FP was presented years ago and released only last year…
can’t understand how this things works 🙂

[PCM2]

Me neither, I wouldn’t like to speculate based on various Acer models released previously.

[SirRockALot]

I contacted local Acer support about the PS5+HDR problem and they were about as unhelpful and disinterested as you would imagine. Is there a better contact for Acer when discussing firmware issues? I really think of all the firmware quirks and bugs in this monitor not meaningfully supporting HDR on what might be the most popular HDR source on the market is the least understandable. I’d at least like to make the effort to contact somebody and present this issue and ask for a firmware update.

[sblantipodi]

for this kind of problems you should write to the board…
write to the CEO with the others in CC and be sure that they will be more interested.

[SirRockALot]

I’d absolutely give that a try, but I do not have the contact details of any executive or other higher up. If this forum has some kind of DM feature I’d be grateful if you could give me whatever contact you had success with and I’d plead my case to them ASAP.

[PCM2]

sblantipodi, feel free to contact me (via email, X/Twitter DM etc.) to share any useful contacts if you wish and I can pass them on.

[Author]

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