[Solistru]

Hey guys;

Just picked up a XB323U GX and I’ve definitely been impressed so far. I had a Odyssey g7 32 and I didn’t love it due to it’s extreme curve, kind of subdued colors and bad BLB. However i’m curious if there are any differences in the GP and GX model, I can’t see to find a 100% answer online.

I’ve confirmed myself that the GX does indeed use 10bit (8+2FRC with my 3080) at the full 270hz OC’d refresh rate which is great.

However I know the GP has HDR600 with 16 dimming zones. I know the GX technically supports HDR600 too, but I couldn’t spot any local dimming zones when I did some tests.

Can anyone confirm if these panels are actually the same besides refresh rate, or did they skimp on the panel for the 270hz? I’d hate to think I bought a lesser panel, as better color and light performance matters more to me than an extra 100hz.

Thanks guys 🙂

[PCM2]

Hi Solistru,

It’s not possible to achieve VESA DisplayHDR 600 certification without local dimming. Based on what I understand about the two monitors, the XB323U GX should use exactly the same backlight unit as the XB323U GP. It really is just a 270Hz version of the same product, which I’m sure you’ll agree is a good thing! When you said you couldn’t spot any local dimming, how were you testing this specifically? You’d need to have the system running in HDR, feeding an HDR10 signal to the monitor. And the monitor would need to have HDR manually activated and set to ‘HDR-600’, per our review of the ‘GP’. The dimming algorithm is reasonably aggressive so you should certainly be able to spot this behaviour in some scenes or specific tests if it’s set up correctly.

[Solistru]

Oh wow hey guys! Thanks for the reply. You’re actually exactly right. I only had the setting set to HDR and not HDR600. Pretty easy to spot the local dimming zones now.

To be honest I just youtube’d a local dimming video and found one of a box floating around lol.

Overall I’m very happy with the panel. I did unfortunately get a panel with a good bit of IPS glow in the bottom left, but it doesn’t bother me enough to RMA. Maybe down the line who knows.

Overall it’s been great though. I liked my g7, but I found the VA panel to have pretty ‘tame’ colours. Maybe it was more color accurate, but it didn’t look near as good to the naked eye. The contrast was noticeably better, but with the BLB all over the panel it ate away at dark scenes regardless.

This panel is wildly vibrant and FLAT lol. The motion handling seems as good, or better than the g7, and the contrast really isn’t that bad. I think that’s a bit of an overblown problem these days. None of these panels are going to give you OLED performance.

I definitely can achieve 10bit on 270hz with my 3080 according to my control panel. However i’m seeing that some people that still doesn’t make it 10 bit, or 8+2 and it really is an 8bit panel.

That doesn’t seem right as the 27inch variant uses 8+2. Interesting.

Thanks again

[PCM2]

Glad the ‘HDR-600’ setting did the trick. And also that you’re enjoying the overall experience it offers, particularly with the vibrant colour output and strong responsiveness. Also nice to see you were able to look objectively at the contrast, which as you state is always something of a lottery. And with backlight bleed and ‘glow’ to contend with, the numbers alone never tell you the whole story about what to expect in that regard. 🙂

The XB323U GX uses the AUO M320DAN02.0 and that is a true 8-bit panel – just like the M320DAN02.2 of the XB323U GP. If a higher bit depth is selected and required by the content, a dithering stage is added by the GPU. This is really a non-issue for most people in practice, because under SDR pretty much all content is limited to 8-bit anyway. So there’s nothing to gain from a higher bit depth, regardless of how that’s achieved. HDR10 content does use 10-bit processing, but I’ve tested this on a number of models where the monitor handles the dithering and the GPU handles the dithering. And frankly, GPU dithering to ‘fill in the gaps’ works fantastically well under HDR. I’d defy anybody to tell you the monitor itself isn’t 10-bit under HDR if they didn’t happen to know an 8-bit panel is used – because visually, you really wouldn’t be able to tell.

[sayhejcu]

Looks like it’s better version of the GP. I’m interested in this as well. G7 is not really that good outside of competitive gaming imho.

I don’t know what Acer is doing. They release a lot of different monitors and none of them available. Amazon USA have these monitors available lately and price is competitive at $770 but it’s $1350 with tax and shipping for me. Amazon USA should charge the correct amount of tax and more reasonable shipping cost. This is crazy.

Also GP is $730, GX is $770 on amazon. GX is like no brainer.

[PCM2]

Yeah I agree with that. Based on US pricing the GX is really the one to go for. I intend to amend the gaming recommendations page to include the GX. Even if you’re rarely if ever going to make use of the increased refresh rate, I’ve received solid feedback (from a reliable source who tried both) that it really offers a very similar experience outside of that. There is a bit more overshoot at some triple digit refresh rates in a VRR environment on the GX compared to the GP, given the former is tuned for optimal performance at 270Hz. But even at ~170Hz it performs well without obnoxious overshoot and both models have largely comparable overshoot levels for double digit frame rates.

[Solistru]

Quick update on my panel, hope that’s ok!

I’ve been very very impressed overall. It’s far from perfect. My biggest problems are;

-Fairly bad (say 6/10 on the bad scale lol) IPS glow, mostly notable in bottom left and worse on the bottom right.

-Panel uniformity; While overall good, the bottom right shifts a bit when looking at a white screen. Probably just due to the IPS glow? I dunno.

-Contrast; Hard to knock this model specific as it’s a problem inherent with IPS technology, but it isn’t great. That being said, it isn’t NEARLY as bad as some make it out to be. Like I said in my previous post, yes the Odyssey has noticeably better contrast. But it also has a hell of a lot more backlight bleed, especially around the parts where the panel curves. Sure inky blacks are cool, but my eyes immediately gravitated toward the bleeding in darker scenes, and it ate away at dark scenes as much, or more than IPS glow and less deep blacks do.

Not to rag on the G7, it is a very very good panel overall.

But the XB323U Is leagues ahead IMO. I actually set them both up next to each other and compared side by side. The saturation and color performance of the Acer is otherworldly. It made the G7 look dull.

The HDR is just as good or better surprisingly. Playing Doom Eternal on my XB323U I was able to measure just unter 700cm/2 with my lumen meter on things like flames and sunbeams.

The 16 zones, while not a lot, does help a lot. I realize it isn’t true HDR. I have an LG B8 as well, and the difference is comical. The B8 absolutely blows the XB232U out of the water, of course, due to it’s OLED tech. That being said, in no way is the Acer bad. The 16 dimming zones help mitigate the IPS glow, and while they’re fairly aggressive, it does look pretty great overall.

I do think to most people it’ll look fantastic. I sat a friend of mine in my chair and let him play DOOM Eternal with HDR on and he was just mesmerized. The average person or even “techy” person for that matter, isn’t looking for dimming zones and uniformity. He was just in awe.

The motion handling is outstanding as well. 270Hz at 10bit is impressive, and playing Apex feels just as good, or better than my g7.

Overall, it feels like a more complete display. No more having to find the perfect seating position to combat gamma shift, no more headaches due to the 1000R curve and better colors overall.

I absolutely recommend this panel.

That being said, (for anyone comparing) I do recommend the G7 too. It has it’s fair share of issues and QC problems, but it is a great panel. It’s motion handling is top tier, some people LOVE the curve (my friend included) and while maybe a little subdued, I feel it’s more color accurate. I am in no way a color expert, but IPS has a tendency to blow out some colors. In my mind that’s fine, but some people prefer colors more accurate to the creators intent. My G7 was factory calibrated very well out of the box. Something like 2.1dE for gamma.

The curve also helps for space as even the 32 inch panel feels a little smaller on a desk with it’s 1000R curve.

Thanks to PCmonitors for having this forum! Not many places I can gush about panel technology. lol.

[PCM2]

Yes, this sort of extensive feedback is certainly appreciated. It’s a great addition to the thread and adds a lot of value for those reading it. 😀

I’m glad you’re enjoying the XB323U GX and find that the negatives are easily outweighed by the positives. It’s worth noting that the colour gamuts of the IPS models you’ve tried are significantly wider than the Odyssey G7, so you will certainly notice some elements appearing much more saturated in comparison. If you set ‘Color Space’ to ‘sRGB’ on the Acer it will subdue the colours and provide more accurate sRGB output (as covered in our review of the ‘GP’). But given what you’ve said, I don’t think you’d enjoy that look. The Acer’s colour gamut works very well under HDR where it’s appropriate to use such a wide gamut, you’ll get an appropriately muted look to some shades and elements whilst others will have a great eye-catching look. Nicer in my view that the two extremes you get under SDR with the muted ‘sRGB’ setting or heavily saturated native gamut. But if you’re after a highly vibrant look, the Acer certainly delivers that under SDR!

[phie]

Sorry if I ask this again but I would like to buy a new monitor and I want to be sure that I made no mistake.

Can you confirm again that the XB323U GP and XB323U GX are actually the same panel, I mean they share the same overall picture quality and performance JUST with the GP @270hz?

[PCM2]

It isn’t the same panel – the ‘GP’ uses the AUO M320DAN02.2 and the ‘GX’ uses the AUO M320DAN02.0. But as covered in this thread and as per the joint recommendation in the recommendations section, it’s purely the refresh rate support and associated characteristics where they differ. Performance elsewhere is very similar indeed. So again, the XB323U GP review will give you an excellent idea of what to expect from the XB323U GX, but you’ll have a higher refresh rate ceiling and tight tuning for that with the ‘GX’. 🙂

[phie]

Thank you for the reply.

Here in Germany the GX costs 300€ more than the GP. If you say that the only difference is the refresh rate I buy the GP.

Anyway, I have here the GP already and the G7 too. I can just repeat what here is already said about the difference between both: I found the GP much better for the colors…

[PCM2]

phie, I moved your post regarding the XB323U GP vs. XB273U GX and how you found them surprisingly similar (aside from size, where you preferred the larger screen) over to this thread as it’s a nice addition to it. 🙂

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