My synopsis of the 32GK850G:
1. Build quality - 1/2. Middle of the field. Not Eizo build quality but it does the job. Quality control though needs improvement, two dead and one stuck red pixels on my sample. The lottery continues.
2. Stand - 1/1. Seems to do everything you typically need a stand to do and isn't terribly wobbly. Although, I do recommend a monitor arm for the VESA mount. Due to the PPI/size of the display, I like to push it back slightly when using the desktop and pull it slightly closer for gaming.
3. Anti-Reflection characteristics - 2/3. Not a full semi-gloss which is my favorite, but a nice very light matte. No distracting sparkle.
4. OSD - 1/2. Very interesting take with the controls and menu system. I'm not a huge fan of reaching under the center of the monitor to a 4-way hat switch with detent, but I can see why they went this way. I would have preferred the main menu switch to be on the backside of the right bezel like ASUS. Much easier to reach, as twisting your arm to reach up under the center of the monitor isn't the most comfortable action. Especially for those of us that make adjustments all the time (more on that later). Allows you to save different profiles, but some items (such as on-screen cross-hair) do not stick with profiles. Second button (left/right roller) to the right of the 4-way hat switch controls the bias lighting on the back of the monitor. Press in to turn the bias lighting on/off.
5. Bias lighting - 1/2. It does have a "natural" light tone, but it doesn't get very bright. For those of us that enjoy bias lighting, you would still probably have to go with a regular bias lighting kit due to the lack of brightness on the LG. The LG bias lighting is a lighted large circle on the back and thankfully has no LEDs pointing down from under the monitor.
6. Aim-point - 2/2. Great on-screen aim-point implementation of a red or green solid dot or small cross-hairs. Many displays (hello ASUS) have absolutely massive and distracting on-screen aim-point controls. The only issue I have with LG's implementation is it does not save with image profiles. This means every-time you want to turn the aim-point on and off (jumping in and out of game to desktop), you have to do many key-presses to navigate the OSD.
7. Brightness-uniformity - 2/5. On my sample, the brightness and uniformity falls into the 280-300 cd/m2 range. The lower right and lower left corners being slightly dimmer. LG advertises a 350 cd/m2 brightness which I find is the minimum acceptable these days for those of us that like to use computer displays during the day in a bright room. 400 cd/m2 preferable. It falls short of advertised brightness. Its minimum brightness does allow for complete-darkness gaming.
8. Backlight-bleed - 3/3. Just some very minor bleed at the top left and bottom right edges. Almost not even worth mentioning.
9. Contrast ratio - 4/5. For an LCD panel, quite good ~3000:1. After using an OLED your jaw won't exactly drop, but it looks significantly better than its TN/IPS competitors. No ghastly IPS glow. Deviating from the stock contrast setting of 70 seems to quickly produce undesirable results. Black luminance appears to befit a 3000:1 contrast ratio panel. Both a noticeable step up from recent "2000:1" contrast ratio VA gaming panels.
10. Viewing angles/gamma/contrast shift - 2/3. About mid-way between TN and IPS. Not the horrid viewing angles of TN but there is some gamma/contrast shift (especially at the bottom right and left corners) when viewed at a normal sitting distance. The further you sit back, obviously the less shift occurs.
11. Colors/Gamma - 1/3. Overall I believe the worst characteristic of the panel. Gamma setting of 3 seems to be the only usable setting. Screen has a fair bit of "Washed out" look to it. You will not be getting OLED/IPSs level of color saturation with this display. Whites appear to be white, instead of off-tones that can be very annoying. This is not a monitor you buy for good colors or accuracy. This is a gaming display that you can use for normal desktop work. I use a NVIDIA control panel color saturation level of "60" to bring a bit of life to the image. I found the color profile "medium" the best, with cool and warm doing exactly that. Those with a color calibrator can adjust individual color channels (although only RGB).
12. Pixel inversion - 1/1. I see no noticeable pixel inversion in my tests.
13. Overclock/Gsync stability - 1/1. I've had zero issues with 2560x1440 @ 165 Hz signal/refresh rate stability.
14. Bezel - 1/1. Not too thick and is flush. Fairly attractive modern design. I am a big fan of thin/minimalist designs.
15. Sound - 0/0. If you can afford an $850 monitor, you aren't going to be using monitor speakers.
16. Input lag - 5/5. G-Sync, so as long as you turn on V-Sync and cap FPS to 162, you will have a butter smooth, lag-free and tear free experience.
17. Motion quality - 4/5. Simply amazing performance from a VA panel. MPRT tested at ~5.8 ms. Preferred overdrive setting of "fast". Whatever magic was done by AUOptronics/LG with regard to this VA panel manufacturing and/or its overdrive, it just set the standard for VA performance. True, some color transitions are still slower than others, but we are talking overall motion clarity on par with the fastest of gaming IPS panels and only slightly trailing the fastest TN panels.
18. Flat/curved - 0/1. I prefer curved monitors, especially the larger they get. Certainly not a deal breaker, just a preference to assist with contrast/gamma shift and immersion.
19. HDMI input - 1/1. Accepts HDCP 2.2 and does an "OK" job of up-scaling 1080p content from your game-console or Blu-ray player. It does have a 1:1 option if you prefer a native/smaller 1080p image.
20. Resolution/PPI - 2/4. At 93ppi, clarity aficionados aren't going to be drooling over this display. I personally push the display back as previously stated while working in windows/web browser. 4K is the ideal resolution for this screen size, but comes at a hefty 227% of the performance requirement of 1440p. Even with my overclocked Titan-V, playing games at max "sensible/ultra" settings, 165 Hz G-Sync 1440p still provides the best compromise between graphic clarity/resolution and motion clarity/smoothness (FPS).
Conclusion: No fancy quantum dots or HDR. No amazing colors. This is a back-to-basics, no frills, very-fast gaming monitor. That happens to be a 31.5" VA! The first of its kind. If high resolution isn't at the top of your list. If IPS glow spoils your fun. If gaming TN panels viewing angles and sparkle AR film rub you the wrong way. If contrast ratio is important to you in addition to great motion clarity. This is the best overall gaming display on the market. My replacement monitor is en-route to replace my unit with pixel issues, as this will now be my main display.
