ASUS ROG Strix XG32V Curved 32" Freesync Monitor Review

Conclusion

When it comes to displays, our requirements are pretty simple. You want one that has good gaming performance so that you're not suffering from ghosting and tearing. We'd like accurate colour reproduction so that everything you look at and work with - particularly photo editing given how we've all got high megapixel cameras on us at all times - looks exactly as it should. Lastly we want a stand that is adjustable enough to have the screen at a perfect ergonomic position to enable us to work and game comfortably for long stretches. If it also has some cool additional features then yay, but naturally the display portion takes precedence.

But no matter what the bare facts of the situation might be, no matter how unemotional we have to be, we have to start with the looks and the more subjective experience of sitting in front of this thing.

The XG32V absolutely dominates your view. 32 inches of curved loveliness. It fills your vision in a manner that, until now, you had to invest in multiple screens to enjoy. We're used to 24 and 27 inch monitors here at OC3D, neither of which are exactly small, but 32 inches is a ridiculous amount of real estate to sit 18 inches away from. If the scale wasn't enough to excite then the curvature only exacerbates the experience as your whole world goes from being something that exists outside the bezel of your display, to something which is your whole world. If you're a movie going person then it's like moving from a multiplex to a IMAX theatre. It's almost obscenely spectacular.

Okay. That's the emotional, subjective, part of the experience out of the way. What about the more tangible things?

With this much screen space it makes perfect sense for ASUS to have gone for a 1440P resolution. 1080 would have ended up with noticeable pixels and 4K would require too much GPU hardware to maximise the performance. But 2560x1440 @ 144Hz is something that you can do with a good high end GPU, and two can really make the most of. Whereas you'd need at least two just to get a slightly playable frame rates at 4K. However, 1440 also ensures small enough pixels that the PPI is good and, even sat this close, you don't notice them. Additionally the panel is more than capable of driving the image smoothly. You would fear that such a gigantic screen might cause ghosting issues, but because it can handle 144Hz there is absolutely no ghosting either at the 60FPS limit that many games suffer from, or all the way up to the glorious 144Hz maximum. If you've only ever lived with 60Hz monitors then we really can't emphasise enough how wonderful it is to have the buttery smooth triple digit frame rates of which the Strix XG32V is capable. We had slight concerns about viewing angles of a curved screen but we needn't have been concerned. If anything at this screen size the curve helps keep the wider portions of the display free from the greying of blacks that can occur when you're not sat directly in front of your screen. Combining that with the excellent colour reproduction and wonders of the updated Adaptive-Sync technology and you end up with rock solid image at every frame rate that fills your vision with glorious images.

The stand, sometimes the weak point of a monitor, has plenty to recommend it too. It's extremely flexible, capable of adjusting 100mm up and down, -5° to +20° on the tilt axis, and 50 degrees of rotational movement. ASUS include a ROG logo disc that can be inserted into the base of the stand to beam a red ROG icon onto your desk. Those of you with a little more creativity than we possess can also use the included clear one to put anything you like there. Clan logos. Gamertag. The world is your bivalve mollusc.

The only, minor, fly in the ointment is the cost, but then you wouldn't expect a 1440P, 144Hz 32 inch curved ROG Strix screen to be cheap, would you? This is gaming at a new level, a vision filling, gorgeously hued whole. 

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