[PLUS] 16 monitors and televisions with 4K/UHD in a comparison test

Hooray for 4K

Graphics cards are still inhumanly expensive. If that weren’t the case, we would have long since arrived in the age of 4K gaming. This claim is bold, but obvious – one could doubt it in detail and speculate otherwise. But maybe you can read the despair between the lines when we start with such subjunctive in the introduction. But black painting is (rightly) happening enough at the moment, so the gaming monitors we are talking about here are a small ray of hope in this (chip) crisis. The bad news: There is still a panel shortage. The good news is that it’s not nearly as bad as the chip shortage. In the spring of 2021, the forecasts looked similarly bleak and while those of the chip shortage came true, there are now models with 4K/UHD and 144 Hz that are also reasonably affordable.

A hint of evolution can also be felt in monitors, while in LCDs it takes place fairly gradually anyway. A color depth of 10 bits is widespread in most mid-range models, even if “only” with 8 bits and frame rate control (FRC). This means that the panel displays 8-bit, i.e. 256 color gradations natively and displays the others up to 1,024 gradations with a quick change of two gradations. The quotation marks next to “only” are intentional, because on the one hand the difference to real, native 10 bits is hardly visible, on the other hand almost everything happens in 8 bits in practice. The practical advantage is therefore limited, as is the difference between 120 and 144 Hz. We “only” find 120 on televisions, while 144 Hz is better marketed among gaming monitors.

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You will find the following products in the test:

• Acer Predator XB323QK
• AOC U28G2XU
• Asus ROG Strix XG27UQR
• Asus ROG Strix XG43UQ
• Asus ROG Swift PG32UQX
• Asus TUF VG28UQL1A
• Gigabyte M28U
• Gigabyte M32U
• Gigabyte Aorus FO48U
• LC Power LC-M27-4K-UHD-144
• LG OLED 48C1711
• MSI Optix MPG321UR-QD
• Philips Momentum 329M1
• Samsung GQ55QN85A
• Samsung Odyssey G7 S28AG70
• Viewsonic Elite XG320U

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