An ASTONISHING Monitor...For a Price! - LG 32GK850G-B 32" 1440p 144hz VA G-Sync Monitor Review
This review was originally written on 02/20/2018 but I decided to not post it on Newegg since I ended up returning the panel for a full refund.
Rating
★★★★☆ (4 out of 5)
Pros
Cons
Other Thoughts
TL;DR
First experience with a VA panel and this one is massive and amazing. The blacks and contrast are excellent. No annoying visible ghosting or smearing in my opinion. The ability to OC to 165Hz is nice. RGB lighting wasn't a selling point for me but I think it's tasteful with this execution. The price can be a bit hard to swallow but that's what you end up paying for a monitor of this caliber. Initial connection issues disappeared and then reared their head towards the end of my testing so I had to send back the faulty unit.
I'm a fan of large monitors. The problem with large monitors are that they haven't been traditionally made with the "best" gaming experience in mind (excluding the 21:9 Ultrawide gaming panels). 60hz is fine, but once you go high refresh, you rarely want to go back (unless it gives you motion sickness). I switched away from an Acer Predator X34 because I was getting sick of having issues with 21:9. I ended up switching to a Dell S2417DG (a 24" 1440p monitor) on an impulse buy to get away from 21:9. I got this Dell monitor because it was on sale on Newegg. The QHD resolution on such a small panel was a treat because of how sharp everything was and the added refresh rate (65hz above the 100hz the X34 had) was nice. However, I began missing the immersive experience of a large physical field of view covering monitor such as the X34 but going back to 21:9 was not an option. I also have zero plans to move to 4K since the hardware required to run it costs a lot of money.
Enter the LG 32GK850G. Compared to the Dell, I like to see this monitor as the "Bigger and Badder" cousin because they have literally all of the same features except for the panel type, physical size and RGB lights. Boy does that panel type and size make a difference though. This thing is absolutely huge! I think that 32" with a QHD resolution is perfectly fine. Yes it's not as pixel dense as say 4K resolution on a 32" panel or QHD resolution on the 24" Dell but text is still sharp and everything is clear. I have no problems using this for all of my other "computer-ing" needs. Of course though, since this is a gaming panel after all, that's the entire reason why I got it and that's also where it really shines. The 165hz (OC'd) refresh rate with G-Sync is excellent. Everything is butter smooth which provides a fantastic gaming experience. This monitor shows no signs of typical VA panel woes (ghosting, smearing, slow response, etc). The uniformity of the display is good. I've seen some complaints here about the view in the corners being discolored but I believe that may be due to sitting too close to the monitor (correct me if I'm wrong). I tested out a couple of game genres on this monitor, FPS, 3rd person shooter and racing. All of which were wonderful experiences. The size increase is definitely the best part though. I'm once again back to having a physical FOV covering and immersive gaming experience with ZERO compromises.
And with ZERO compromises, comes the price. $799.99 is a lot of money to ask for a monitor. LG can get away with it because there truly isn't any direct competition (as of this review) to this on the market for the green side of the fence. So let's take a look at what you get for that investment. A 32", high refresh rate, 1440p, G-Sync monitor with all the bells and whistles. Sometimes with expensive things like this, when you pay the price for it, you get what you pay for. This is one of those examples where paying a premium, gives you premium back. Everything about this monitor is phenomenal. In the computer world, people are less likely to replace their monitors as often as the components of their core computer. That's another way that the price of this can be justified. If you plan to keep it for 5+ years over the course of multiple builds, it ends up being worth it in the long run. That is, as long as you don't mind being stuck in Nvidia's ecosystem with G-Sync to take full advantage. For the past couple of years I have been on a journey of sorts. I've been trying to find the perfect monitor for me. I used to love 21:9 but I got too frustrated by the issues even with modern games. Then I experienced even higher refresh rates with the Dell monitor and loved that but I missed the experience of a larger display. So finally, I found the best solution for me, and that is go with a large 16:9 display like this.
Unfortunately I had to return this panel because the cost (at the time) was still too much for me to justify and I'm pretty sure the connections were fried on my display because no matter what I did, I couldn't get it to reliably connect. With that being said, that doesn't take anything away from the overall experience I did get to have with this monitor and I think I can safely say I don't plan on going anywhere once I do get this one or an equivalent one.
External Links
Rating
★★★★☆ (4 out of 5)
Pros
- High refresh
- 144Hz with 165Hz OC
- G-Sync
- Gorgeous VA panel
- Excellent contrast
- Massive size
- VESA mount capable
- Seriously, every monitor should have this
- Stand looks like it has a lot of utility
- Can't fully comment on it because I mounted this on a monitor arm
- Price
- $799.99 (on sale, normally $849.99) is a lot but that's what you end up paying for something
"unique"with minimal competition - G-Sync "tax"
- Wish Nvidia would adopt VESA adaptive sync already
- PPI
- 93ppi isn't bad by any means
- It's not quite as "sharp" as say a 24" display with this resolution
- RGB LED Lighting doesn't shut off when the panel goes to sleep
- Have to manually shut off with the control wheel
TL;DR
First experience with a VA panel and this one is massive and amazing. The blacks and contrast are excellent. No annoying visible ghosting or smearing in my opinion. The ability to OC to 165Hz is nice. RGB lighting wasn't a selling point for me but I think it's tasteful with this execution. The price can be a bit hard to swallow but that's what you end up paying for a monitor of this caliber. Initial connection issues disappeared and then reared their head towards the end of my testing so I had to send back the faulty unit.
I'm a fan of large monitors. The problem with large monitors are that they haven't been traditionally made with the "best" gaming experience in mind (excluding the 21:9 Ultrawide gaming panels). 60hz is fine, but once you go high refresh, you rarely want to go back (unless it gives you motion sickness). I switched away from an Acer Predator X34 because I was getting sick of having issues with 21:9. I ended up switching to a Dell S2417DG (a 24" 1440p monitor) on an impulse buy to get away from 21:9. I got this Dell monitor because it was on sale on Newegg. The QHD resolution on such a small panel was a treat because of how sharp everything was and the added refresh rate (65hz above the 100hz the X34 had) was nice. However, I began missing the immersive experience of a large physical field of view covering monitor such as the X34 but going back to 21:9 was not an option. I also have zero plans to move to 4K since the hardware required to run it costs a lot of money.
Enter the LG 32GK850G. Compared to the Dell, I like to see this monitor as the "Bigger and Badder" cousin because they have literally all of the same features except for the panel type, physical size and RGB lights. Boy does that panel type and size make a difference though. This thing is absolutely huge! I think that 32" with a QHD resolution is perfectly fine. Yes it's not as pixel dense as say 4K resolution on a 32" panel or QHD resolution on the 24" Dell but text is still sharp and everything is clear. I have no problems using this for all of my other "computer-ing" needs. Of course though, since this is a gaming panel after all, that's the entire reason why I got it and that's also where it really shines. The 165hz (OC'd) refresh rate with G-Sync is excellent. Everything is butter smooth which provides a fantastic gaming experience. This monitor shows no signs of typical VA panel woes (ghosting, smearing, slow response, etc). The uniformity of the display is good. I've seen some complaints here about the view in the corners being discolored but I believe that may be due to sitting too close to the monitor (correct me if I'm wrong). I tested out a couple of game genres on this monitor, FPS, 3rd person shooter and racing. All of which were wonderful experiences. The size increase is definitely the best part though. I'm once again back to having a physical FOV covering and immersive gaming experience with ZERO compromises.
And with ZERO compromises, comes the price. $799.99 is a lot of money to ask for a monitor. LG can get away with it because there truly isn't any direct competition (as of this review) to this on the market for the green side of the fence. So let's take a look at what you get for that investment. A 32", high refresh rate, 1440p, G-Sync monitor with all the bells and whistles. Sometimes with expensive things like this, when you pay the price for it, you get what you pay for. This is one of those examples where paying a premium, gives you premium back. Everything about this monitor is phenomenal. In the computer world, people are less likely to replace their monitors as often as the components of their core computer. That's another way that the price of this can be justified. If you plan to keep it for 5+ years over the course of multiple builds, it ends up being worth it in the long run. That is, as long as you don't mind being stuck in Nvidia's ecosystem with G-Sync to take full advantage. For the past couple of years I have been on a journey of sorts. I've been trying to find the perfect monitor for me. I used to love 21:9 but I got too frustrated by the issues even with modern games. Then I experienced even higher refresh rates with the Dell monitor and loved that but I missed the experience of a larger display. So finally, I found the best solution for me, and that is go with a large 16:9 display like this.
Unfortunately I had to return this panel because the cost (at the time) was still too much for me to justify and I'm pretty sure the connections were fried on my display because no matter what I did, I couldn't get it to reliably connect. With that being said, that doesn't take anything away from the overall experience I did get to have with this monitor and I think I can safely say I don't plan on going anywhere once I do get this one or an equivalent one.
External Links
Product Pages
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