AOC CQ32G2SE 31.5″ QHD 165 Hz Gaming Monitor Review

How Much Does it Cost?

At just £350-380, the CQ32G2SE is excellent value for money. It’s not cheap overall, it’s still a lot of money. However, for this level of features, and a panel of this size, it does give you a lot for your money, and it’ll be hard to beat that value from any other big name brand.

Overview

I think this is one of the best monitors I’ve tested in a while, and while it does have some shortcomings, they’re easily ignored or managed when you remember that fantastic price tag. The stand looks like a premium stand, which is great. However, keep in mind that it is very basic in its adjustment. If you want to turn the panel, you need to move the whole stand too; basically pick the whole thing up and turn it. There is no height adjustment either, you can only tilt. The height was fine for me, but it might vary for others. Of course, you can use a VESA mount if you desire. I’d wall mount it myself, but each to their own.

Also, the speakers while nice that they’re included are little use beyond Windows SFX. They sound pretty pathetic and tinny. Fortunately, it’s not hard to work around that with desktop speakers or headphones, as few gamers actually use their monitors speakers.

Other than that, however, I’ve nothing but praise.

Calibration

I didn’t bother with a full calibration. I’m too fat and lazy. I’m joking, I just didn’t see the point, as the first performance test results were some of the best I’ve ever seen! A pro editors monitor this is not, but it’s surprisingly close for a gaming monitor. The gamma curve was nearly a perfect 2.2.

The Grey Ramp test may look like a sine wave on my test results. However, the actual variance was only +/-100 Kelvin and really very consistent overall; I was very impressed with this.

However, the colour reproduction was ridiculously good. Not a single colour was any higher than 1.82 Delta E, and we even had many colours under 0.5 Delta-E! Anything above 5 is when a trained eye can spot the colour inaccuracies, and anything under 2 is damn impressive for any display.

Performance

At 165Hz, you’ll find this to be a stunning gaming monitor. You’ll need a powerful GPU to get 2K resolution (1440) and high refresh rates though. However, for most F2P, MOBA, and competitive FPS titles, hitting higher frame rates does then do be easier. With a 1ms response time, it feels crisp and responsive, but even when your GPU lags, the FreeSync will help prevent any major issues.

Should I Buy One?

FreeSync, a gorgeous curved panel, fantastic colour reproduction, flagless gaming performance and so much more at this price? You would be a fool not to consider it! Plus, with VESA, you could throw a more dynamic stand or mount on this and make it a truly wonderful addition to your desktop!