Gigabyte GS34WQC

[Inle]

The Gigabyte GS34WQC is an affordable 34-inch ultrawide gaming monitor. Gigabyte kept the price down by stripping it of extras but didn't sacrifice picture quality, which many users will happily accept.

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[Space Lynx]

I had trouble with every VA panel I ever tried, games like Shadow of the Tomb Raider in dark scenes just would look way off and there would be smearing, but some dark smearing doesn't bother me, but VA just has a weird look to it in dark scene games sometimes.

I wonder if that has been fixed with these newer models @Inle because that was several years ago before I gave up on VA.

 

[kapone32]

I had trouble with every VA panel I ever tried, games like Shadow of the Tomb Raider in dark scenes just would look way off and there would be smearing, but some dark smearing doesn't bother me, but VA just has a weird look to it in dark scene games sometimes.

I wonder if that has been fixed with these newer models @Inle because that was several years ago before I gave up on VA.

Well I have a a FV43U that is Mini LED and VA based. All I will say is it rocks. Gigabyte convinced me that they take VA monitors seriously with the 32QC a great 1440P monitor for the price.

 

[Onasi]

Is this supposed to be a replacement for the old-ish G34WQC? If so, uh, why is the panel somewhat worse in terms of motion performance and refresh rate? Does Gigabyte go through the rubbish bin for these to cut down on the costs?

 

[kapone32]

Is this supposed to be a replacement for the old-ish G34WQC? If so, uh, why is the panel somewhat worse in terms of motion performance and refresh rate? Does Gigabyte go through the rubbish bin for these to cut down on the costs?

Was not that monitor $399 US at launch? You are paying $100 less for a slower panel. At least you are getting value for money as Freesync is the most important thing but it also means a midrange GPU would suffice to run this at premium speed. Not that I am into Ultrawides but there was a time we all had 4:3 monitors too.

 

[Onasi]

@kapone32
The previous model had VRR too, so that’s not it. Yes, FS Premium certified and all, for what it’s worth. And I am not sure if 100 bucks less for a WORSE panel after 4 years is good progress in terms of value for money. Kind of an “ehhh” proposition.

 

[kapone32]

@kapone32
The previous model had VRR too, so that’s not it. Yes, FS Premium certified and all, for what it’s worth. And I am not sure if 100 bucks less for a WORSE panel after 4 years is good progress in terms of value for money. Kind of an “ehhh” proposition.

The funny thing is that monitors like the 32QC have increased in price over time. I know that they have reduced in price lately but as late as September last year the 32QC was about $70 more than when I bought mine. I am not saying VRR support was the difference but as you said the panel used.

 

[rlifeh]

I had trouble with every VA panel I ever tried, games like Shadow of the Tomb Raider in dark scenes just would look way off and there would be smearing, but some dark smearing doesn't bother me, but VA just has a weird look to it in dark scene games sometimes.

I wonder if that has been fixed with these newer models @Inle because that was several years ago before I gave up on VA.

the best:

AOC Q27G3XMN​

https://www.rtings.com/monitor/reviews/aoc/q27g3xmn

 

[kapone32]

the best:

AOC Q27G3XMN​

https://www.rtings.com/monitor/reviews/aoc/q27g3xmn

AOC must have come far. I bet the best thing about this is price.

 

[KrazyT]

Cheap, basic and surprisingly good !

@Inle : little typo in the Controls and OSD section : The Cooler Master GS34WQC uses a four-way joystick

 

[SN2716057]

Nice, I'll

put it on my monitor list, just to compare it.

 

[Chrispy_]

I'm sorry, 44ms black-to-grey is unacceptable for a gaming monitor.

I know it's VA, but acceptable VA panels do this in under 25ms and my Odyssey G7 does it in 11ms.

For context, 44ms is just 22Hz. How, exactly, is 22fps supposed to be acceptable?

For productivity, this actually seems nice and I think the curve radius is large enough to not be distracting, whilst also (importantly) being a uniform 1500R, unlike some models with odd non-uniform curves!

 

[mahanddeem]

I'm sorry, 44ms black-to-grey is unacceptable for a gaming monitor.

I know it's VA, but acceptable VA panels do this in under 25ms and my Odyssey G7 does it in 11ms.

For context, 44ms is just 22Hz. How, exactly, is 22fps supposed to be acceptable?

For productivity, this actually seems nice and I think the curve radius is large enough to not be distracting, whilst also (importantly) being a uniform 1500R, unlike some models with odd non-uniform curves!

VA sucks, it is just for users who are on a very low budget but still want some resolution and reasonable refresh rate.

 

[Chrispy_]

VA sucks, it is just for users who are on a very low budget but still want some resolution and reasonable refresh rate.

This VA sucks for gaming.

VA and IPS are different technologies, both found at similar price points so it's not like one is low budget and one is expensive. Typically the absolute cheapest displays on the market (in monitors as well as devices like budget tablets and phones) are all IPS these days since almost nobody still makes TN.

IPS doesn't curve well, has low contrast, grey blacks, and suffers from an off-angle glow which is really noticeable on some larger panels used at desktop viewing distances.
VA curves more easily, has fantastic contrast, deep blacks, and suffers from slow black-to-dark transitions if it's not overdriven well by the firmware.

Side-by-side on fast-moving content, a good VA is just much, much nicer than a good IPS, it's a night-and-day difference where the IPS just looks washed out because 4000:1 contrast is 5x better than 800:1 contrast, that's not sujective - it's a measurable, significant difference that IPS has always struggled with.

At the other end of a the spectrum, a mediocre IPS will still be pretty good to look at on fast-moving content, whilst a mediocre VA will be smeary and unsuitable for gaming. There simply aren't very many good VA gaming monitors, but painting VA as the inferior, budget technology is just wrong, because it's measurably better than IPS if you can find a good one (and they're definitely not cheap!)

 

[Onasi]

@Chrispy_
My favorite part is where we’re evolving backwards. A lot of modern VAs have motion performance that’s somehow worse than the Eizo Foris from 2013. Like… how? What happened in these 10 years that “well performing VA” became some sort of black magic that only Samsung managed to achieve? Sure, the Eizo is not spectacular by modern standards, but FFS, it’s been 10 years. At this point you’d expect that all “mid-refresh” displays in the 120-170Hz range would perform around the same respectable mark and mostly would be in the 90% transitions in refresh window ballpark. Instead we get absolute manure, often not even at budget prices. Forget HDR performance or upping the refresh ceiling, you MFers haven’t even made the OLD refreshes a solved, easily manufactured and affordable tech in all this time!

 

[Chrispy_]

@Chrispy_
My favorite part is where we’re evolving backwards. A lot of modern VAs have motion performance that’s somehow worse than the Eizo Foris from 2013. Like… how? What happened in these 10 years that “well performing VA” became some sort of black magic that only Samsung managed to achieve? Sure, the Eizo is not spectacular by modern standards, but FFS, it’s been 10 years. At this point you’d expect that all “mid-refresh” displays in the 120-170Hz range would perform around the same respectable mark and mostly would be in the 90% transitions in refresh window ballpark. Instead we get absolute manure, often not even at budget prices. Forget HDR performance or upping the refresh ceiling, you MFers haven’t even made the OLD refreshes a solved, easily manufactured and affordable tech in all this time!

I know what you mean. There are still good VAs, but the problem is that affordable gaming monitors are flooding the market and so an increasing percentage of the models available to buy are cheap and bad. All of the profit is in OLED and all of the development towards high-end models is going into OLED instead of LCD. If you want to buy an good IPS gaming monitor, there are equally few really good choices in a sea of mediocre, flawed rubbish.

The issue with a market flooded with cheap, lower-quality LCD displays is that a cheap IPS is kind of passable for gaming, whilst a cheap VA is a horrible smear-fest that will put you off VA altogether. If you always game in a brightly-lit environment, the single worst thing about IPS is practically a non-issue.

 

[leetnoob]

Ever since hearing about this months ago, ive said that it seems pointless for gigabyte to release this. How is it I any significant way better than the previous model ( g34wqcA)? It has worse contrast ( 3400 tested, and only 3000:1 after calibration vs the older g34wqca's testing much closer to true 4000:1 ).... 3000:1 was the standard 10 years ago, but now it's not impressive.

120 or135hz is not a big deal compared to 165hz or whatever the average is these days on an LCD. Most VA and many IPS gaming panels lack enough white to black transition speed to even smoothly do above 120 hertz to begin with( and sometimes less than that). Still one can say that it is a downgrade from the previous model.

So again I'm really struggling to see why gigabyte would even release this when it's not even an upgrade. Seems like one is better off just buying a used wqcA , for half the cost while getting a better product.

@Chrispy_
My favorite part is where we’re evolving backwards. A lot of modern VAs have motion performance that’s somehow worse than the Eizo Foris from 2013. Like… how? What happened in these 10 years that “well performing VA” became some sort of black magic that only Samsung managed to achieve? Sure, the Eizo is not spectacular by modern standards, but FFS, it’s been 10 years. At this point you’d expect that all “mid-refresh” displays in the 120-170Hz range would perform around the same respectable mark and mostly would be in the 90% transitions in refresh window ballpark. Instead we get absolute manure, often not even at budget prices. Forget HDR performance or upping the refresh ceiling, you MFers haven’t even made the OLD refreshes a solved, easily manufactured and affordable tech in all this time!

My 1440p BenQ from more than 10 years ago couod do a 5800:1 native contrast with true 10 bit (no dithering) , albiet only around 70hz) . But still, it seems like some aspects of monitor tech hace stagnated. 3000:1 for a VA panel today is not impressive. I suppose we are seeing the limits of technology and some industrial laziness .