I really like playing games on a good ultrawide monitor, and the AOC Agon AG353UCG is arguably the fanciest one which’s ever crossed my desk. It’s received all of the bells and whistles you can presumably need: a curved 35in display screen, a 3440×1440 decision, an enormous 200Hz refresh price and full Nvidia G-Sync Ultimate help, which suggests it might do correct, high-end TV-grade HDR with a peak brightness of 1000cd/m2. It’s successfully the ultrawide equal of Nvidia’s different G-Sync Ultimate shows, the Asus ROG Swift PG27UQ and Acer Predator X27. Unsurprisingly, it additionally prices an absolute bomb, however not as a lot as you may anticipate given its dimension and 21:9 side ratio. Is it price shopping for although? Here’s wot I believe.
Let’s get that worth out of the best way first. Yes, this monitor prices £1875 large ones. It doesn’t appear to be accessible within the US at time of writing, however given its UK worth, I wouldn’t be shocked if the AG353UCG ended up across the $2000 mark. It’s so much, little doubt about it, however given the 27in Asus ROG Swift PG27UQ and Acer Predator X27 each value £2300 and £2100 respectively once they first got here out two years in the past, it’s truly not fairly as horrendous as I used to be anticipating. What’s extra, those self same two screens will nonetheless set you again round £1800 at time of writing, if not nearer £1850 if you happen to’re trying on the RGB-fied (and best gaming monitor champ) Asus, so one other £25 / £75 for a significantly bigger show isn’t truly that heinous within the grand scheme of issues.
Plus, I imply, simply take a look at this factor. That attractive scarlet pink stand, its light curve and extremely slim bezels… It’s an actual magnificence. It’s an enormous enchancment on AOC’s earlier ultrawide mannequin, the Agon AG352UCG, which had a lot chunkier bezels and a a lot bigger, desk-hogging stand. It’s not simply the design that’s been improved, both, because the AG353UCG additionally brings a variety of different key upgrades over its predecessor, particularly a correct HDMI 2.Zero enter fairly than the outdated and fairly limiting 1.Four customary, a better refresh price of 200Hz versus 100Hz, and 4 USB 3.1 ports fairly than two. It’s precisely the type of factor you’d anticipate to see from a next-generation monitor.
That mentioned, it’s in all probability not what you’d anticipate to hear from a next-generation monitor. The Asus ROG Swift PG27UQ and Acer Predator X27 had been loud to a sure extent, however the inner followers preserving the AG353UCG’s backlight good and funky truly make extra noise than my whole PC. It’s much less of an issue while you’re enjoying games with a headset on otherwise you’ve received your sound blasting out of a pair of audio system, however while you’re simply typing away and doing common desktop duties, it may be distracting while you’re simply in your lonesome and there aren’t another ambient sounds to drown it out. It’s hardly a deal-breaker, admittedly, and it fortunately whirrs down finally as soon as my PC’s utterly shut down, however it’s one thing to keep in mind all the identical.
One factor you don’t have to fret about, although, is the standard of its curved VA panel. Straight out of the field, my X-Rite i1 DisplayPro calibrator confirmed it was displaying a near-perfect 99.8% of the sRGB color gamut and a formidable 85.3% of the HDR-grade DCI-P3 gamut. The latter is probably a contact low in comparison with different HDR shows I’ve examined just lately – I’d usually anticipate an Nvidia G-Sync Ultimate show to have a DCI-P3 gamut protection of no less than 90%, for instance – however I do keep in mind having related points with the Asus ROG Swift PG27UQ as a result of its complicated onboard menu settings.
The AG353UCG is just a little higher on this respect – there aren’t any bizarre secret color settings hidden in unusual locations, for instance – however the names of a few of them aren’t precisely crystal clear. It’s not instantly apparent what “SDR Colours RGB” means, for example, and after I examined the monitor once more with this turned on, its color accuracy truly received noticeably worse. It chopped 10% off its sRGB color protection and a whopping 20% off its DCI-P3 protection, which isn’t actually what you’d anticipate. It’s additionally not clear what its “SDR Variable Backlight” choice does, or how its Desktop, Hybrid or Gaming backlight modes differ from each other. In reality, switching between them didn’t appear to alter an terrible lot after I was utilizing the monitor day-to-day, however a deeper clarification of what its settings truly do could be very welcome.
With SDR Colours RGB disabled and the SDR Variable Backlight set to Desktop, I managed to nudge the monitor’s DCI-P3 protection as much as 86% as soon as I’d converted to its User color temperature and knocked the inexperienced worth down a few notches to carry its color steadiness in keeping with my calibration software program, however it’s nonetheless not the 90%+ I hoped for.
The AOC Agon AG353UCG has one HDMI 2.Zero enter and one DisplayPort 1.Four enter, plus one microphone in jack.
The AG353UCG additionally comes with a four-port USB 3.1 (Gen 1) hub, considered one of which may cost different units when you allow it within the monitor’s onboard menu system.
Still, with or with out that further 4% of DCI-P3 protection, the AG353UCG actually regarded a deal with after I booted up a few of my favorite HDR games. Final Fantasy XV exhibited a number of wealthy, deep colors after I was ambling up and down the hills of Duscae, and after I caught my calibrator on the in-game solar to measure its peak brightness, it got here again with a whopping 1200-odd cd/m2, which is sort of a bounce from its non-HDR peak brightness of round 550cd/m2.
Assassin’s Creed Odyssey required a little bit of tweaking earlier than I managed to get its HDR settings below management, however that too regarded gorgeous as soon as I’d adjusted its in-game HDR sliders. Yet once more, sunrises seared my eyeballs with 1200+cd/m2 price of brightness right here, and lamps and bonfires actually stood out and packed a punch throughout darker evening scenes.
It’s troublesome to get a studying on precisely what sort of distinction ratio the monitor produces when it’s operating in HDR, but when my common, non-HDR studying of 4220:1 is something to go by (which is large, by the best way), then there’s actually nothing to fret about. I’m additionally not too involved by my black stage recording of 0.11cd/m2, both. Technically, its VESA DisplayHDR 1000 score means it ought to have a black stage of simply 0.05cd/m2, however my testing gear solely lets me check in non-HDR. Either means, 0.11cd/m2 remains to be fairly rattling low within the grand scheme of issues, and there was greater than sufficient inky blacks and fantastic shadow element on show in games.
Of course, there’s no telling whether or not the AOC Agon AG353UCG is the best possible ultrawide G-Sync Ultimate show on the market, as I haven’t seen Asus’s equally fancy ROG Strix PG35VQ but. That monitor additionally has a 35in, 3440×1440 VA show with a 200Hz refresh price, however it’s significantly costlier – £2500 / $2757 at time of writing, which is sort of the value hike in comparison with the AOC’s worth of £1875.
On that foundation alone, the AOC is form of a no brainer, however the true query is whether or not it’s truly price paying this sort of premium for such fancy set of specs within the first place. The tremendous duper ultrawide Samsung CRG9, for instance, provides you a good wider decision of 5120×1440 for £1100 / $1300, and that’s a VESA DisplayHDR 1000 rated show as effectively, albeit a FreeSync one fairly than a full-fat G-Sync display screen. It solely has a most refresh price of 120Hz, admittedly, however even that’s fairly a tall order for right now’s best graphics cards at this decision, not to mention hitting 200Hz regularly.
It’s a disgrace there isn’t extra of an HDR center floor with ultrawide screens, as a fast look at any on-line retailer will present you it’s both no HDR in any respect, or loopy costly G-Sync Ultimate screens. There aren’t any ultrawide HDR400 shows, for instance, like there are within the common 2560×1440 area, and apart from the Samsung CRG9, there aren’t that many ultrawide FreeSync 2 HDR (sorry, FreeSync Premium Pro) shows to assist fill within the gaps both.
There’s no denying the AOC Agon AG353UCG is a incredible trying show, however given the variety of HDR games you can actually play on PC proper now (to not point out the even smaller subset of HDR games that additionally help ultrawide resolutions), I’d be cautious of spending virtually two grand on a display screen like this after I’m not going to have the ability to get pleasure from each single game to the complete extent of the monitor’s capabilities. By all means go for it if you happen to’ve received the money and need the most effective ultrawide screens cash can purchase, but when it had been me opening up my pockets, I’d in all probability go for the Samsung CRG9 as a substitute. As for non-HDR ultrawide shows, the £700 / $800 Acer Predator Z35P remains to be my 21:9 monitor of selection.
