Introduction

It's no secret that I'm a big fan of ultrawide monitors, among which the 34-inch models with a native screen resolution of 3,440x1,440, are the most widespread. I find them ideal for productivity, as they offer an experience close to using two 27-inch monitors side to side, but without bezels between the screens, or an additional stand and set of cables crowding the workspace. At the same time, they also offer a great gaming experience, with most games nowadays supporting 21:9 screen ratios with no issues. Also worth mentioning is the fact that the 3,440x1,440 resolution doesn't present a huge challenge for a modern midrange graphics card, so if you own a decent gaming rig you can look forward to hitting high frame rates, making your gaming experience that much better. For those reasons, I was inherently fond of the Gigabyte GS34WQC, even before unboxing it.



To put things into perspective, Gigabyte is setting its sights on the budget ultrawide monitor market with the GS34WQC. Coming in at $300, the GS34WQC is one of the least expensive brand-name ultrawide monitors. It goes head-to-head with competitors such as ViewSonic Omni VX3418-2KPC, AOC CU34G2XP, Iiyama G-Master GCB3480WQSU-B1, LG 34WP65CP-B and Acer Nitro XZ342CUV3. All of them fall within $30 in terms of price, but they differ in panel refresh rates. Acer, AOC and Iiyama offer a 180 Hz refresh rate, LG has a 160 Hz refresh rate, and ViewSonic refreshes at 144 Hz. The Gigabyte GS34WQC nominally offers a 120 Hz panel, but with the possibility of overclocking to 135 Hz by changing a single option in the OSD.

All the aforementioned monitors, including the Gigabyte GS34WQC, come with a curved VA panel. They strive to be smooth and responsive while gaming, while image quality usually takes the back seat and tries little else than to be "good enough." In this review we'll check how Gigabyte approached this matter; since they didn't push the refresh rate as high as some competitors, do we get something in return in the picture quality department?

Specifications