REJOINING the "Ultrawide Master Race" After a 7+ YEAR HIATUS - AOC CU34G2XP Review

Rating

★★★★☆ (4 out of 5)

Pros

  • Price to Performance
    • Paid $289.99 (pre-tax) for a 180Hz with adaptive sync, 3440x1440, VESA Certified DisplayHDR 400 monitor
  • Desktop Software 
    • G-Menu /I-Menu for controlling the monitor hardware settings within the windows desktop is a nice addition
  • Hardware
    • Design is fairly tame, not overly gamer looking by any means
    • Plenty of input and output options
      • 2x HDMI 2.0 - Up to 100Hz
      • 2x DisplayPort 1.4 - Up to 180Hz (8-Bit with dithering) or 144Hz (10-Bit)
      • 3.5mm audio out
      • 4x USB [one of which supports Quick Charging] with upstream USB-B port
    • Good stand (although I'm not using it because mine is VESA mounted)
    • VESA 100x100 support
  • Visuals
    • Great Contrast!
      • Black levels are MILES better than the Acer Predator Z1 I'm coming from
    • Hardly any "flashlighting" on the screen from the backlight, or at least I can't see it 
    • High refresh rate
      • Going from 165Hz to 180Hz isn't a huge jump, but it does provide just a bit more smoothness
    • PPI
      • ~110 PPI is plenty sharp for general computing and gaming (although slightly less sharp than the 24" 1440p monitor I have as a secondary display [~123 PPI])
    • Supports Adaptive sync (via FreeSync Premium certification, 49Hz-180Hz)
    • Supports Motion Blur Reduction (MBR / Backlight strobing)
    • Viewing Angles are pretty good given that it's a VA panel.
      • Some darkening of the screen occurs when viewing off axis, but nothing too terrible

Cons

  • Price
    • At full MSRP ($379.99), it does lose some value but it is still fairly compelling and it appears to go on sale relatively frequently, so patience could pay off!
  • Desktop Software
    • G-Menu / I-Menu only appears to work when the display is connected via DisplayPort and not via HDMI
  • Visuals 
    • I had some inconsistent flickering occurring on Windows 11 desktop when the monitor is set to 180Hz or 165Hz mode with or without HDR enabled. It seems to have gone away for now, but no guarantee that it'll stay that way
      • This happens even with ensuring that FreeSync/G-Sync is set to Full Screen mode only
      • The issue DOES seem to go away when I lower the refresh rate to 144Hz or below with HDR enabled
    • Wish MBR could be used in conjunction with FreeSync
    • With overdrive set to anything higher than "Weak" (when not using MBR) there is definitely some noticeable ghosting in dark scenes

Other Thoughts

TL;DR

Here I am, crawling back to the "Ultrawide Master Race" after I left 7+ years ago…


Yep. Sure enough, I have officially re-joined the Ultrawide Master Race after 7+ years. I will now be daily driving a 34-inch 3440x1440 Ultrawide with a 24-inch QHD display on top for my primary gaming and productivity displays and I have no intent to change that or go back.

Full Review

So, how did we get here 7+ years later?

During my hiatus, I tried many options as you can see below and fortunately for me, I was able to take advantage of Newegg Premier (when that was a thing) and Amazon returns to find just the right ones.

Anyway, here is the list:

The various display setups throughout the years

For a while I utilized dual 24-inch displays (one gaming, one secondary), then switched to a 24-inch QHD gaming display with a 32-inch QHD secondary display while I was waiting to inevitably switch to dual 32-inch QHD displays (one gaming, one secondary). I was fine with this setup until COVID hit and I had to start working from home permanently. So, I decided to try out 4K panels to get some extra screen real estate for productivity all while keeping the 32-inch gaming panel.

First I tried a 32-inch 4K panel and then quickly moving to a 43-inch 4K panel so that I wouldn't have to do any windows text scaling and could effectively have 4, 1080p displays in one housing. At one point during my monitor trials when trying to find a 43-inch panel without pixel issues, I even had the opportunity to go crazy and messed around with having DUAL 43-inch 4K displays AND a 32-inch QHD Gaming display that I would swivel out of the way when it wasn't being used. That was a bit crazy to say the last.

Eventually my final configuration was a single 43-inch 4K display for my workstation and then a 32-inch QHD gaming display + a 24-inch QHD secondary display for my gaming setup. That is... until I completely shattered the screen on my 43-inch 4K display. Make silly decisions and you win silly prizes; That's all I will say about that.

So looking for a replacement productivity display, luckily for me, I was fortunate enough to be able to get a free display through my employer. It would be downsizing from the 43-inch 4K panel I was using but I knew I shouldn't look a gift horse in the mouth.

And so it begins...

Ordering through my company's equipment portal presented me with 3 options:

  1. Dual 24-inch FHD monitors
  2. A single 27-inch QHD monitor
  3. A single 34-inch WQHD curved monitor
    1. Smells like an ultrawide to me 👃!

I decided to give the 34-inch WQHD display a trial because it thought it would be a good compromise between the dual FHD displays and the single QHD display. Shortly after ordering, I was delivered the monitor and got my 34" Ultrawide display up and running. That's right, an ultrawide display! At the time, little did I know this would begin my journey of inevitably rejoining the Ultrawide Master Race, but let us not get ahead of ourselves too much!

With downsizing to the Ultrawide, I had definitely missed the extra screen real estate that an unscaled 4K panel provides but I found a way to make it work by taking advantage of Windows virtual desktops and before you know it, I had already been using the ultrawide for about 1.5 years for my productivity setup. That is, until I decided to downsize in my home office space…

Wait, you're leaving already!?!

Yes, but no... I had two dedicated computer setups, one for my workstation and one for my gaming station but I decided I wanted to rearrange my office and consolidate if I could. So, I said goodbye to the ultrawide and loaned it to my partner to use on their setup to replace some aging FHD displays they were using and to help them downsize as well. For me, I ended up downsizing to only using the 32-inch QHD gaming display + the 24-inch QHD secondary display in a stacked configuration. I found that if I only had to have one main display, I valued the high refresh rate of the 32-inch QHD gaming display more than the extra screen real estate that a 4K or 34-inch UWQHD display provided. Having two QHD displays was also just as productive if not slightly more than using the singular 34-inch WQHD display.

This setup worked well but did have one glaring problem though. I had to crane my neck up pretty far to view the top display which gets uncomfortable, really quickly.



The reason the displays are up so high is because my displays are also sitting on top of a sit-stand desk converter that I use so that I can avoid sitting all day long when I'm working. When I'm standing it wasn't as much of an issue but when I am sitting, I definitely found myself uncomfortably craning my neck frequently, so I knew I needed to do something to make things better.

So how do I make it better?

Well, being curious, I measured the cabinet height difference between the 32-inch QHD and the 34-inch UWQHD display (17-inches on the 32-inch QHD vs 14.5-inches on the 34-inch UWQHD) and I realized it was significant enough of a difference that it would let me lower down my upper display to a more comfortable viewing position and put less strain on my neck. So I began toying with the idea of going back to a 34-inch ultrawide on the bottom and using the 24-inch QHD display on top (a configuration I actually used just shy of 10 years ago when the Acer Predator X34 first came out).

So the logical thing would be to go back to using the 34-inch ultrawide I got from work right?

Yes, it's true that I had the HP P34HC G4 on hand, but I didn't want to take back the ultrawide that I loaned my partner because they were really enjoying it on their own setup. Additionally, it only supports a 100Hz refresh rate (which is better than 60Hz) but it also doesn't have any sort of adaptive sync technology. That would be a significant downgrade from the 165Hz panel I was using that not only had a higher refresh rate but also had G-Sync support. And to be honest, I had been thinking about upgrading my now 7+ year old 32-inch gaming monitor to something with a bit more modern features / display panel technology anyway so I decided to begin looking into gaming focused ultrawide displays.

Give me an O, Give me a L, Give me an E, Give me a D! What's that spell? OLED!

So naturally, with OLED being the new craze in the PC gaming world, I started looking into OLED and QD-OLED Ultrawide gaming displays. They had everything going for them:

  • Effectively infinite contrast
  • 3440x1440 resolution
  • Up to 240Hz refresh rate
  • Super low pixel response times (we're talking CRT levels of response)
  • Variable Refresh Rate support
  • HDR support
  • And so much more...

I was so close to pulling the trigger on either the MSI 341CQPX, LG 34GS95QE-B or the ASUS ROG Swift PG34WCDM after spending countless hours researching but the only things holding me back were fears of burn-in coupled with longevity concerns and the price. I couldn't quite get behind the idea that OLED panels seem to have a shorter overall lifespan than traditional displays oh and the text rendering / fringing also didn't instill confidence for something I would be staring at for long periods of time. I already have poor vision that is thankfully corrected with glasses but the last thing I need is to cause myself headaches because of straining to view the fuzzy/blurry text.

Since the vast majority of the usage I would get out of the monitor would be for work (40+ hours a week), I had concerns about static elements causing burn-in in addition to the readability of the text with the known W-OLED and QD-OLED text fringing issues. I didn't necessarily love the idea of having to "babysit" my monitor either to ensure that I don't cause the burn-in. I'm not saying that I couldn't do these things but I value the fact that I can just use the display for its intended purpose without having to continuously think about ensuring all of the burn-in mitigation is properly functioning.

So then what?

Well, I shifted my focus to researching Mini LED monitors instead. I figured, if I'm upgrading I still want to try to take advantage of a newer technology if I can so that's where Mini LED comes into play. Mini LED has some of the benefits of OLED when it comes to contrast (if there's a good local dimming implementation) and will actually perform better for HDR content due to its ability to get much brighter than any OLED on the market, all while having none of the concerns of OLED burn-in and longevity because at its core, Mini LED is a new backlighting technology that still uses tried and true IPS or VA panels.

As I came to learn during my research, that does not mean Mini LED is without its own faults though. The options available today may have noisy fans, coil whine issues and poor algorithms for local dimming / full array local dimming. Additionally, there really aren't that many options available for ultrawide Mini LED monitors. That is unless you're willing to go with something absolutely massive like the Samsung Odyssey Neo G9. For my setup, I wanted something a bit more "modest" in size (34-inches) so the list got whittled down significantly. Unfortunately, every option I was interested in was either unavailable in the US, unavailable to delivered to my location, not really worth the price (same price as an OLED @ $799.99 on sale!! This one too!!! (@ $999.99) or had poor reviews. So that ended up being a road to nowhere, for now at least.

Okay, so Mini LED isn't really an option... What's next?

Frustrated that the most compelling option to me (the INNOCN 34M1R, albeit with some coil whine) was unavailable, I just kept searching to try and find something. I kept going back to the OLEDs trying to convince myself I could get over their shortcomings and once again almost said "F*&^% It!" and pulled the trigger on an OLED. I had even considered getting it from my local Best Buy because they had the option to have it ready in 1 hour, but as I was deliberating internally and browsing Best Buy's website for other ultrawide options, I just so happened to stumble across what would soon become my lord and savior. The AOC CU34G2XP!

Praise Budget Ultrawides!

When I came across the listing for the AOC CU34G2XP I was shocked to see this was advertised as an Adaptive Sync capable, 180Hz, 3440x1440, VESA Certified DisplayHDR 400 monitor for $289.99 (pre-tax). I was shook when I saw that. Oh, and it didn't' hurt that it could be available in 1 hour at my local Best Buy too! It honestly sounded too good to be true so I immediately took to the internet and reddit to read some reviews and I began watching several YouTube videos to get an idea of people's perspectives (see below):

Reddit

I did compare the AOC to other similar models to make sure I wasn't star struck by this display and during my comparisons, I really couldn't find anything else that matched what was being offered. So with all of that information in mind, I decided to buy it and pick it up same day and man am I ever happy that I did!

Reviewing the AOC CU34G2XP – The all important "P"

Let's talk about the importance of a single letter ( "P" ). When it comes to this AOC display, all it takes is one letter to make a big difference. To see what I'm talking about, here are a few similarly named displays from AOC with their respective links:

The CU34G2X is the oldest of the models listed above, releasing in 2020 while the CU34G2XE and CU34GXP both released in 2023. 

So what's the difference you say? 

Well, from what I could gather, the *G2XE and *G2XP are newer models, although, the *G2XE may use the same panel as the *G2X according to some reddit threads. The *G2XP is a Best Buy exclusive (as of this writing) and the *G2XP features a higher refresh rate capability (with some caveats) than the *G2X and*G2XE (180Hz vs 144Hz). According to some Reddit threads, this may be because the *G2XP features a newer HVA panel from TCL CSOT. I can't confirm this claim but what I can say is that my candid experience of comparing this monitor with the Acer Predator Z1 Series Z321QU from 2017 that I had been using showcases a marked difference for motion clarity / blurring and black levels so I am inclined to believe them.

Speaking of black levels, that was the very first thing that I noticed with this display when compared to my previous one. The black levels and contrast are much more crisp and defined, even on the Windows desktop. There is better black uniformity and contrast between the bright and dark portions of content being displayed. I noticed this further in the first game I played which was The Talos Principle (an oldie but a goodie that I had recently picked back up). I was able to run the display at 180Hz (no HDR) max settings with no issue, all while soaking in the glorious vivid colors and better contrast that this display offered.

At first it was a bit "strange" to not have as much of my vertical FoV covered like my 32-inch display did since this one is 2.5-inches shorter but having more of my horizontal view covered again was a treat (comparison graphic for good measure). It didn't take long for me to get used it, especially after marathoning my 2nd game which was an 8-10 hour session of Minecraft (With Ray tracing) on the weekend building mazes with my partner.

I was officially satisfied with my choice. I was so glad that I decided to save 2-3x the amount of money it would have cost to get an OLED / Mini LED and all of this was before even experimenting with the HDR setting.

HDR or HD-AREN'T?

Considering this is a VESA Certified DisplayHDR 400 monitor, I wasn't expecting it to knock my socks off when it comes to HDR content but I was curious to see if enabling HDR would make a noticeable difference when playing games that supported it. I had just started playing through DOOM Eternal, which lucky for me, supports HDR. I played DOOM first without HDR enabled and it looks plenty good as is because of this display's ability to better handle contrast. Enabling HDR, I did notice that some highlights became brighter and some areas a bit more contrasty but nothing that blew my socks off which was to be expected. I will continue to use HDR because it does make a difference, albeit a relatively small one at least with this particular experience. I am curious to experience a higher tier HDR solution to experience it first-hand but I am plenty satisfied with what I have available to me right now.

Conclusion

Since the AOC CU34G2XP has a more "traditional" display panel technology, gone are the concerns of burn-in and having to babysit the display. There are no text fringing issues to worry about so I can use the monitor with confidence knowing that my work and play can occur on the same displays without issue.

For the price, I find it very hard to fault this monitor. Is it the best VA ultrawide on the market? No. Is it the fastest refresh rate ultrawide on the market? No. Does it offer the best ultrawide HDR experience on the market? No. But I went into this purchase, knowing not to expect those things and to be honest, this monitor exceeded my expectations. What it does offer is a budget conscious high refresh rate display with adaptive sync, great contrast, HDR support and a good PPI (~110) not only for gaming but also productivity all for under $300 (pre-tax). That's a pretty compelling deal and big win for AOC in my books!

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