AOC C32G2AE FHD 165Hz Gaming Monitor Review

AOC is one of the leading names when it comes to gaming monitors, and that’s hardly surprising since it seems they have at least one monitor for just about every budget or scenario you can think of. From affordable sub £100 office and budget gaming models, to £1000-2000 gaming monsters that’ll leave your jaw on the floor. Today’s review sees us looking at something fairly affordable, costing around £275 at the time of the review. That may not be “cheap” but when you consider what you’re getting for your money, it seems too good to be true.

AOC C32G2AE

For starters, this monitor comes with a massive 32″ panel, and as a 32″ monitor user myself, I can tell you that’s plenty! It’s a full HD panel, which may not excite the resolution junkies out there, but on the plus side, it’s massive, it’s curved, and then it has two main party tricks; a 1ms response rate and a fast 165Hz refresh rate. If you crave frames more than pixels, you’re getting a lot for your investment here. Plus, with FreeSync Premium (48-165hz) allowing for tear-free action, a wide range of gaming modes and more, it’s certainly ticking a lot of boxes. Plus, all these features are freely supported on the latest generation of PlayStation and Xbox, so it could be a versatile option for those who want to game on a broader range of devices.

Features

• 31.5 inch full HD gaming display
• 1500R curvature
• 1ms Response Rate
• 165Hz Refresh Rate
• 6 Game Modes and G-Menu
• Flicker-free and low blue light technology
• High-quality VA panel matte display
• VESA 100 x 100 and removable base
• Built-in speaker 2 x 5 watts

What AOC Had to Say

“A 165Hz refresh rate, well over twice the industry standard of 60Hz, makes games run smooth as silk. Realize the potential in your graphics card. Forget screen tearing and forget motion blur. Feel your reflexes become one with the action. Never look back. 1ms response time equals speed without the smear for an enhanced experience. Fast-moving action and dramatic transitions will be rendered smoothly without the effects of ghosting.

Enjoy the best quality visuals even in fast-paced games. The AMD FreeSync Premium Technology ensures that the GPU’s and monitor’s refresh rates are synchronised, which provides a fluid, tear-free gaming experience at the highest performance. The AMD FreeSync Premium features a refresh rate minimum of 120Hz, decreasing blur and sharpening the picture for a more life-like experience. The LFC feature eliminates the risk of stutter in case the frame rate drops below the refresh rate.

Curved design wraps around you putting you at the centre of the action and provides an immersive gaming experience.”

A Closer Look

The C32G2AE monitor is built to a budget, which is perfectly fine, this isn’t an expansive setup, but the main focus was getting the price of such a large and fast refresh rate panel really low. The plastics they’ve used perfectly OK, but it’s obviously not quite as premium as their more expensive models… again, that’s no big surprise and it’s not a problem either.

Obviously, you get that lovely 1500R curve too, which isn’t too curved, but enough to just bring in the edges of such a large panel in a natural way.

It’s a nice looking monitor though, and the C32G2AE features a little bit of red trim on the bottom edge, giving it a little pizzazz. I like that they’ve kept the branding simple here too.

There’s a line of built in buttons for controlling the OSD, and yes, buttons, not those stupid touch controls that always suck.

The bezel is nice and slim, so if you did want to push a couple of these together, it should be an issue.

Around the back, the design is actually pretty cool looking. There are two red flairs on the sides, and a matching angular design for the ventilation above that.

The C32G2AE features a VESA 100 stand, so you can remove it and use your own, wall mount it, etc. However, the stand its self is pretty decent, offering left and right rotation, as well as some tilt. It’s not height adjustable though, but the default height works well for me.

As for the inputs, you get HDMI 2.0 x 2, DisplayPort 1.2 x 1, and even a VGA port; If you’re a retro gamer like me, that VGA port can come in really handy!

Performance

First impressions of this monitor are really good, the panel looks very well set up right out of the box with good colours, contrast and black levels. Of course, Windows is silly and defaults it to 60hz, so be sure to go into the display settings and set it to 165 Hz and to enable FreeSync if that wasn’t on by default. Of course, in games like CyberPunk where 165 FPS isn’t easy, rocking up with FreeSync leads to a much smoother experience overall.

Viewing angles on the panel are excellent, even on this very sunny day, the panel isn’t washing out that much and has more than enough brightness to compensate.

Also, I like that the stand doesn’t stick out too much on this monitor. It means my keyboard has a lot more room on my desk than you would expect from a monitor this large.

The fast response time and high refresh rate of the C32G2AE made Elder Scrolls Online look stunning, not that it didn’t already. I did a run on Maelstrom Arena this afternoon, and it was easier than ever to track what was going on. I’ll enjoy my 4K monitors pixel count, but I’ll miss the frame rate when I box this back up!

For a 1080p monitor, the level of detail is excellent. I expected it to look a bit blocky on such a large panel, but it works really well. Plus, the higher refresh rate provides a lot more information, especially when panning the camera or moving quickly, so the resolution looks a lot higher than it actually is. You don’t realise how much blur there is at 60hz until it’s not there!

I can have font sizes quite small on text, it’s not like 1080p is lacking in detail, but the panel size does mean I can fit a lot of information clearly on the screen.

For movies, the balanced colours and motion work great. Watching a Ghibli movie looked gorgeous.

There’s a little frame stutter on some pans, but that’s because the movie is in 24hz, and the panel refresh rate doesn’t divide well. Setting it to 144hz for movies will sort that out as 24 goes into 144 six times, so you don’t drop any frames.

The C32G2AE features some built-in speakers. Testing the speakers on The Dark Knight, they’re pretty OK. It sounds like it’s being played down a pipe, but they’re small speakers and tucked around the back, so it could be worse. For windows noises, a podcast or two, and some casual games, the built-in speakers are serviceable.

Overall, it’s easy to watch stuff and play games on, but the larger panel makes it a joy to use for work too. You’ve even enough screen space to cram in some reddit while you work on your spreadsheets.

Calibration

How Much Does it Cost?

Right now, AOC C32G2AE monitor is priced at just £298 on Amazon, but it’s certainly worth looking out for deals, as I’ve seen it go as low as £265 on occasion, so do your research. That being said, getting any change from £300 makes this a bit of a bargain, especially given the number of technologies it features. For a screen this size, it’s going to be hard to beat!

Overview

I absolutely love the C32G2AE monitor, and that should come as little surprise to our regular readers. If you dial the clocks back some months, you’ll recall I reviewed the 1440p version of the C32G2AE, better known as the CQ32G2SE, and it was one of the best I’ve tested in a long time. It’s a little more expensive than the one I tested, but if you’ve got the cash to push your budget up, I’d suggest you reach out for that one, same features, just more pixels.

Performance

That being said, for a 1080p panel, this is pretty fantastic. It’s not like “full HD” or 1080p or whatever you want to call it isn’t enough for movies and gaming because it really is. Plus, the 165Hz refresh rate gives you the impression of a much higher resolution as you’re getting nearly 3x the visual information every second. The clarity this adds to fast camera turns, or fast-moving objects is addictive and truly gives you a performance edge, but it just makes games look amazing.

Calibration

Right out of the box, the monitor is as well set up as it needs to be. Perhaps you can dial on a warmer colour profile or tweak the gaming modes to suit your needs, but honestly, you shouldn’t have to tinker with much of anything at all. AOC clearly know what they’re doing, and it shows when such an affordable monitor can deliver such impressive results right out of the box. A professional editing monitor this is not, but it’s still pretty damn good!

Should I Buy One?

It’s amazing to see so many panel technologies filter down into more affordable price ranges. A few years back, you would dream of having a large panel like this, especially at this price. I’m not a big fan of curved panels, but for this panel size and with such a gentle curve, it actually works really well. However, the response time, refresh rate, FreeSync and fantastic panel quality make this a real winner. If the 1440p model is out of your price range, the AOC C32G2AE is the one to get!