Week ago on Thursday I received the Acer XZ321Q monitor, and this is my review for it. I'll be doing this review in a more casual manner than reviewers normally would do. Enjoy!
Acer XZ321Q, general specifications:
- 32"
- VA
- 1080p
- 144Hz
- FreeSync, DP 48-144Hz (HDMI 40-70Hz, IIRC, but not sure where I got that figure from?)
- curved, 1800R
- Anti-Glare/Matte coating (3H)
- flicker-free
- 2x HDMI 2.0, DP 1.2, miniDP 1.2
- USB 3.0 hub, (1 in, 4 out)
- 3.5mm audio out
- DP and USB 3.0 cables included
- Ergonomic stand: Tilt angle -5/+25, Swivel angle -30/+30, Height adjustment 120mm
- VESA 100x100
- £430 at OcUK
Rest of the rig:
MB: ASRock FM2A88x-ITX+
CPU: AMD A10-7800 (65W)
CPU cooler: Thermalright AXP-200 Muscle (with Noctua NF-F12 PWM)
GPU: Gigabyte Radeon RX 460 4GB (with Arctic Cooling Accelero S1 rev2 and Noctua A15 PWM)
RAM: G.Skill Ares 2x4GB DDR3-2133 CL9-11-10-28
SSD: Samsung 850 Evo 250GB SSD 2.5"
Case: Raidmax Atomic (mini-ITX)
PSU: Streacom Nano160 (160W "picoPSU")
Background:
I bought the unit from a certain Finnish r/etailer, which was until recently the only r/etailer in Finland that stocked these (and it still is the cheapest). IIRC, in September when I was still considering getting one from another EU country, one UK etailer was willing to transport it to Finland for £380+£70(!), and one German etailer would (probably) have transported it for £410+£25. I opted to wait for domestic etailer.
Previously I was using a 42" HDTV (1080p) from a 1m (3.3ft) distance. The set itself was fairly bad for gaming (big input lag), not to mention atrocious color banding and BAD Philips customer/product support, but the resolution/size/distance combo was perfect for me. But this time, I wanted FreeSync, preferably 144Hz, but still as big as possible.
==================
Thoughts after taking the monitor out of the box, but before even plugging it in:
- Well, that's certainly smaller than the previous display...
- Matte surface -- Nice! No more glossy screens.
- The stand feels robust and versatile.
- The curvature seems nice; not too much, but not too flat, either
Initial response when I first booted the computer with the monitor (HDTV still plugged in, as well):
- BIOS bootup screen: HIDEOUS clouding in multiple points on the screen, how on earth could something like this get through the quality control!? This thing is going straight back, I ain't keeping it.
Booted to Linux:
- WTH? This thing is really blurry, what's going on?
- The size difference definitely affects me, gotta pull the screen to a quite a bit closer distance (~75cm)
- Aww, that's one smoothly moving mouse cursor, though...
- lagom.nl -> Gradient test: Well, at least there's no color banding.
- lagom.nl -> Input lag test against the HDTV: Wow, this thing is almost 40ms faster? How can that be, I thought my HDTV had 35-40ms input lag, itself? (I got the HDTV's 35-40ms figure with the stop-watch method with CRT vs. HDTV. The CRT is long gone by now, so compared the HDTV vs. XZ321Q, with the same method.)
Shutdown, remove HDTV, booted to Windows:
- Ok, so the blurriness was just a Linux thing; Windows is totally fine and crisp.
Booting back to Linux, changing some of the monitor's own settings:
- Wait a minute, the clouding is practically gone now? -- Ok, things are looking good again.
- Changing subpixel structure color optimization via OS from BGR->RGB seems to have helped with the blurriness, as did changing the font hinting to None, but there's certainly still some haziness.
- Well, Acer's own "Super Sharpness" -feature simply exaggerates the edges, and is thus totally useless. And no other controls for sharpness.
- Black levels are really black, not just very dark grays, like they were with IPS.
- White is like really, REALLY white -- gotta tone it down, somehow... (some bias lighting should help, as well)
- Hmm, the OSD fps display is quite useful, actually.
Booting back to Windows, to quickly test the Freesync:
- Heaven benchmark: Wow, was it this smooth previously? No tearing, no stuttering. Detail levels adjusted to focus at frame range of 40-60fps, OSD stating either the actual FPS, or occasionally double or triple of it. FreeSync seems to be working ok.
- Street Fighter IV benchmark: How come it's not going above 60...? My rig should handle it.
- Crimson -> Changing FRTC 60->120fps (duh!) --> SF4 retry -> Now we're talking. Ok, so from on, let's keep the target at 120, shall we? (apparently the Heaven benchmark just ignored this setting?)
- Mass Effect: OSD states constant 144Hz but the smoothness is pretty much the same as it was with the 60Hz HDTV. Apparently FreeSync doesn't work here? No tearing, though.
- Mass Effect: Actually, the game is probably CPU-limited or badly designed, as it doesn't matter which detail settings I use, the smoothness is pretty much the same all the time. I'm using the Origin-version.
- Rainbow Six Vegas 2: Buttery-smooth, FreeSync working ok
- This War of Mine: Buttery-smooth, FreeSync working ok
- F.E.A.R.: Buttery-smooth, FreeSync working ok
- Conclusion: Apart from Mass Effect, the FreeSync seems to be working ok, and is simply put astonishing.
Back to Linux:
- Ok, this one is a keeper, after all. Now, how do I adjust the white level without destroying the color fidelity...?
- Excessive tinkering with the monitor's settings (especially the color settings are VERY extensive, btw) to adjust to the lagom.nl contrast, gamma, white level and black level tests. Fruit of my labour (=setting values) inside the spoiler:
Opinions after finalizing settings:
+ no noticeable backlight bleed or clouding
+ low input lag
- I'm not an expert on motion blurring, but I think there's a little bit of pixel response time when the Over-Drive is set to Off or Normal, best seen when slowly and smoothly scrolling down a page with black background and small white text -- Over-Drive's Extreme setting seems to fix it somewhat -- can't see blurring in games though, even on Normal
+ good viewing angles (slight gamma shift at bigger angles, but less than I expected -- I think the curvature pardons quite a lot, probably)
+ good, vibrant colors
+ Freesync is simply amazing
+/- nice size, but would have liked 42" better
Conclusions:
So, who is this monitor for:
I know most people think 1080p is too low for 32". Heck, most people think it's too low for 27", or even 24". As such, this will be a niche product. But, to summarize this monitor's main points:
- Big size
- 144Hz
- FreeSync
For those that are content with 27", there are plenty of options. But if you want to go bigger than 27", the selection becomes very limited.
But like I said earlier, in my case the 32" is actually a little too small for 1080p. 42" was great, as I could keep it at a more comfortable distance. Now the display is so close to me that the desk feels a little cramped, and even the smaller sitting position adjustments feel like major viewpoint changes. Indeed, I felt more relaxed with the 42".
But there is no denying: this thing is SOO much better for gaming. Everything just feels so smooth. For pure desktop usage, a 42" size definitely would have been better. In any case, I hope that some day there will be a 42" 144Hz FreeSync monitor/TV. But for the time being, I'll just have to get used to keeping the monitor at an arm's length (~75cm/2.5ft).
OcUK stocks these for £430. Would I recommend this monitor? Personally, I am overjoyed. But like I said, I am fully aware how most people will react to 32" 1080p. This is partly because some people are half-oblivious to viewing distance adjustments. People don't seem to know that you can indeed keep monitors at different distances. (Granted, some people truthfully don't have enough desk depth.)
Anyway, for those that can't stomach the big size, I would instead recommend its little brother, XZ271Q, which is currently on pre-order on OcUK for £300. But for those who want bigger, the XZ321Q is IMHO a good monitor. There is also a practically identical G-Sync variant of this monitor (Z321Q, without the X), but that one is £220 more expensive...
And that's it for the review. Hopefully this monitor will serve me better than the Philips HDTV I had before it.
(pro-tip: Philips Product Support / Customer Care is appalling and shameful, everyone should stay away from them)
Acer XZ321Q, general specifications:
- 32"
- VA
- 1080p
- 144Hz
- FreeSync, DP 48-144Hz (HDMI 40-70Hz, IIRC, but not sure where I got that figure from?)
- curved, 1800R
- Anti-Glare/Matte coating (3H)
- flicker-free
- 2x HDMI 2.0, DP 1.2, miniDP 1.2
- USB 3.0 hub, (1 in, 4 out)
- 3.5mm audio out
- DP and USB 3.0 cables included
- Ergonomic stand: Tilt angle -5/+25, Swivel angle -30/+30, Height adjustment 120mm
- VESA 100x100
- £430 at OcUK
Rest of the rig:
MB: ASRock FM2A88x-ITX+
CPU: AMD A10-7800 (65W)
CPU cooler: Thermalright AXP-200 Muscle (with Noctua NF-F12 PWM)
GPU: Gigabyte Radeon RX 460 4GB (with Arctic Cooling Accelero S1 rev2 and Noctua A15 PWM)
RAM: G.Skill Ares 2x4GB DDR3-2133 CL9-11-10-28
SSD: Samsung 850 Evo 250GB SSD 2.5"
Case: Raidmax Atomic (mini-ITX)
PSU: Streacom Nano160 (160W "picoPSU")
Background:
I bought the unit from a certain Finnish r/etailer, which was until recently the only r/etailer in Finland that stocked these (and it still is the cheapest). IIRC, in September when I was still considering getting one from another EU country, one UK etailer was willing to transport it to Finland for £380+£70(!), and one German etailer would (probably) have transported it for £410+£25. I opted to wait for domestic etailer.
Previously I was using a 42" HDTV (1080p) from a 1m (3.3ft) distance. The set itself was fairly bad for gaming (big input lag), not to mention atrocious color banding and BAD Philips customer/product support, but the resolution/size/distance combo was perfect for me. But this time, I wanted FreeSync, preferably 144Hz, but still as big as possible.
==================
Thoughts after taking the monitor out of the box, but before even plugging it in:
- Well, that's certainly smaller than the previous display...
- Matte surface -- Nice! No more glossy screens.
- The stand feels robust and versatile.
- The curvature seems nice; not too much, but not too flat, either
Initial response when I first booted the computer with the monitor (HDTV still plugged in, as well):
- BIOS bootup screen: HIDEOUS clouding in multiple points on the screen, how on earth could something like this get through the quality control!? This thing is going straight back, I ain't keeping it.
Booted to Linux:
- WTH? This thing is really blurry, what's going on?
- The size difference definitely affects me, gotta pull the screen to a quite a bit closer distance (~75cm)
- Aww, that's one smoothly moving mouse cursor, though...
- lagom.nl -> Gradient test: Well, at least there's no color banding.
- lagom.nl -> Input lag test against the HDTV: Wow, this thing is almost 40ms faster? How can that be, I thought my HDTV had 35-40ms input lag, itself? (I got the HDTV's 35-40ms figure with the stop-watch method with CRT vs. HDTV. The CRT is long gone by now, so compared the HDTV vs. XZ321Q, with the same method.)
Shutdown, remove HDTV, booted to Windows:
- Ok, so the blurriness was just a Linux thing; Windows is totally fine and crisp.
Booting back to Linux, changing some of the monitor's own settings:
- Wait a minute, the clouding is practically gone now? -- Ok, things are looking good again.
- Changing subpixel structure color optimization via OS from BGR->RGB seems to have helped with the blurriness, as did changing the font hinting to None, but there's certainly still some haziness.
- Well, Acer's own "Super Sharpness" -feature simply exaggerates the edges, and is thus totally useless. And no other controls for sharpness.
- Black levels are really black, not just very dark grays, like they were with IPS.
- White is like really, REALLY white -- gotta tone it down, somehow... (some bias lighting should help, as well)
- Hmm, the OSD fps display is quite useful, actually.
Booting back to Windows, to quickly test the Freesync:
- Heaven benchmark: Wow, was it this smooth previously? No tearing, no stuttering. Detail levels adjusted to focus at frame range of 40-60fps, OSD stating either the actual FPS, or occasionally double or triple of it. FreeSync seems to be working ok.
- Street Fighter IV benchmark: How come it's not going above 60...? My rig should handle it.
- Crimson -> Changing FRTC 60->120fps (duh!) --> SF4 retry -> Now we're talking. Ok, so from on, let's keep the target at 120, shall we? (apparently the Heaven benchmark just ignored this setting?)
- Mass Effect: OSD states constant 144Hz but the smoothness is pretty much the same as it was with the 60Hz HDTV. Apparently FreeSync doesn't work here? No tearing, though.
- Mass Effect: Actually, the game is probably CPU-limited or badly designed, as it doesn't matter which detail settings I use, the smoothness is pretty much the same all the time. I'm using the Origin-version.
- Rainbow Six Vegas 2: Buttery-smooth, FreeSync working ok
- This War of Mine: Buttery-smooth, FreeSync working ok
- F.E.A.R.: Buttery-smooth, FreeSync working ok
- Conclusion: Apart from Mass Effect, the FreeSync seems to be working ok, and is simply put astonishing.
Back to Linux:
- Ok, this one is a keeper, after all. Now, how do I adjust the white level without destroying the color fidelity...?
- Excessive tinkering with the monitor's settings (especially the color settings are VERY extensive, btw) to adjust to the lagom.nl contrast, gamma, white level and black level tests. Fruit of my labour (=setting values) inside the spoiler:
"Correct" settings for good accuracy:
Brightness: 15
Contrast: 30
Black boost: 6
Blue Light: off
ACM: off
Super Sharpness: off
Gamma: 2.4
Color temp: Normal
Volume: 0
DTS: off
Over drive: Normal/Extreme
Aim point: off
DDC/CI: on
HDMI black level: Normal
Color fine tune settings:
6-axis Hue: R62 - G55 - B50 - Y50 - M50 - C50
6-axis Saturate (to fix the gamma): R60 - G48 - B48 - Y54 - M52 - C50
Brightness: 15
Contrast: 30
Black boost: 6
Blue Light: off
ACM: off
Super Sharpness: off
Gamma: 2.4
Color temp: Normal
Volume: 0
DTS: off
Over drive: Normal/Extreme
Aim point: off
DDC/CI: on
HDMI black level: Normal
Color fine tune settings:
6-axis Hue: R62 - G55 - B50 - Y50 - M50 - C50
6-axis Saturate (to fix the gamma): R60 - G48 - B48 - Y54 - M52 - C50
+ no noticeable backlight bleed or clouding
+ low input lag
- I'm not an expert on motion blurring, but I think there's a little bit of pixel response time when the Over-Drive is set to Off or Normal, best seen when slowly and smoothly scrolling down a page with black background and small white text -- Over-Drive's Extreme setting seems to fix it somewhat -- can't see blurring in games though, even on Normal
+ good viewing angles (slight gamma shift at bigger angles, but less than I expected -- I think the curvature pardons quite a lot, probably)
+ good, vibrant colors
+ Freesync is simply amazing
+/- nice size, but would have liked 42" better
Conclusions:
So, who is this monitor for:
I know most people think 1080p is too low for 32". Heck, most people think it's too low for 27", or even 24". As such, this will be a niche product. But, to summarize this monitor's main points:
- Big size
- 144Hz
- FreeSync
For those that are content with 27", there are plenty of options. But if you want to go bigger than 27", the selection becomes very limited.
But like I said earlier, in my case the 32" is actually a little too small for 1080p. 42" was great, as I could keep it at a more comfortable distance. Now the display is so close to me that the desk feels a little cramped, and even the smaller sitting position adjustments feel like major viewpoint changes. Indeed, I felt more relaxed with the 42".
But there is no denying: this thing is SOO much better for gaming. Everything just feels so smooth. For pure desktop usage, a 42" size definitely would have been better. In any case, I hope that some day there will be a 42" 144Hz FreeSync monitor/TV. But for the time being, I'll just have to get used to keeping the monitor at an arm's length (~75cm/2.5ft).
OcUK stocks these for £430. Would I recommend this monitor? Personally, I am overjoyed. But like I said, I am fully aware how most people will react to 32" 1080p. This is partly because some people are half-oblivious to viewing distance adjustments. People don't seem to know that you can indeed keep monitors at different distances. (Granted, some people truthfully don't have enough desk depth.)
Anyway, for those that can't stomach the big size, I would instead recommend its little brother, XZ271Q, which is currently on pre-order on OcUK for £300. But for those who want bigger, the XZ321Q is IMHO a good monitor. There is also a practically identical G-Sync variant of this monitor (Z321Q, without the X), but that one is £220 more expensive...
And that's it for the review. Hopefully this monitor will serve me better than the Philips HDTV I had before it.
(pro-tip: Philips Product Support / Customer Care is appalling and shameful, everyone should stay away from them)
