Gigabyte G32QC – budget 32″ for gaming

Details

Gaming monitors are available in various sizes, formats and curvatures. We’ve had a few 27″ models here lately, representing the current mainstream. But what if you want something bigger, but ultrawide isn’t right for you? In that case, you’ll probably reach for a 32″ display. Would you also like a curve, a lot of Hz and various gaming features? Then you may be interested in Gigabyte G32QC.

Basic specs

Packaging and equipment

A cardboard box showing the front and back of the monitor comes in a dual-use packaging.

In addition to the monitor, the package includes a power adapter, documentation, HDMI and DisplayPort cables, and even a USB cable for connection to a PC.

The massive stand will have to deal with the higher weight of the panel, so its dimensions are larger than usual. However, its profile is relatively low and although it takes up quite a lot of space on the table, you can easily put some things on its feet.

The second part of the stand is relatively standard, it also offers an opening for cabling.

You can join together both parts of the stand without the need to use a screwdriver.

The monitor offers compatibility with VESA 100 × 100.

However, you will already need a screwdriver to attach the stand to the monitor body. The package includes four screws that connect the stand to the panel. The installation is therefore a bit longer than with some of our last monitors, where the installation was completely tool-free. Why Gigabyte did not use the same approach with G32QC, I can only ask. I would guess that screws are necessary due to the higher weight of the panel.

When you look at the screen for the first time, you can see that thanks to the classic 16:9 format, the monitor looks completely normal. Unconventional is the curvature, which is more common with widescreen monitors with an aspect ratio of 21:9.

The stand only offers height adjustment and panel tilt, but you will not find side tilt or pivot here.

The back does not have an RGB backlight, so the monitor looks more decent and “stealthy” which is not the case with most gaming monitors.

The entire port selection is located in the middle of the rear. A pair of HDMI 2.0 and DisplayPort 1.2 ports together with audio jack are on the left, on the right there is only a pair of USB 5 Gb ports together with USB type B for connection to a computer and, of course, the power connector.

On the right side of the rear there is also a 5-way joystick, which is used to control the OSD menu. We will look at this in more detail in the next chapter.

The display offers 85 mm flexibility in height. At the lowest point, its bottom edge is 48 mm from the base and the top edge 471 mm. In the highest position, it is 133 mm and 556 mm. However, on the manufacturer’s website you will find that the adjustment in the vertical direction should be up to 100 mm.

In addition to the height, you can also adjust the tilt of the monitor from -5 to +20 degrees. As already mentioned, you will not find a side tilt or pivot here.

Returning to the panel itself, its large curve will be best demonstrated as follows, when placed on a flat surface. The 1500R curvature is among the largest on the market, but considering that it is a 16:9 monitor, it is not overdone. The goal of curved panels is to offer the same distance of the panel from your eye at every single point at large diagonals.

Backlight bleed when displaying a black background proved to be a major weakness of the monitor. Light deviations are really significant and cannot be ignored. I always mention that panel by panel is different, but with this monitor, I have found criticism of this uniformity in other foreign reviews. It therefore looks like the panels used by the manufacturer belong to a lower quality category or the exit control fails.

Gaming monitors are available in various sizes, formats and curvatures. We’ve had a few 27″ models here lately, representing the current mainstream. But what if you want something bigger, but ultrawide isn’t right for you? In that case, you’ll probably reach for a 32″ display. Would you also like a curve, a lot of Hz and various gaming features? Then you may be interested in Gigabyte G32QC.

Setting options

The already mentioned joystick is used for control, which moves in 4 directions and can also be pressed to confirm selection.

As you move it sideways, you’ll see quick shortcuts to change the mode, input, volume, or black. When pressed, the main menu is displayed.

There you can choose from several functions in GameAssist, or when connecting to a PC, use the Dashboard to display the status of your components.

The main settings are divided into several sections.

The first is Gaming, where you will find mainly Overdrive and Freesync controls. There’s also Black Equalizer which has incredible 20 levels. Even the darkest games should not be a problem on this monitor, and enemies hidden in the shadows will definitely not escape you.

Image settings offer several modes, including sRGB and Custom 1–3. Each mode then offers adjustments for brightness, contrast, color, gamma, and so on.

Other settings are used to change quick shortcuts when controlling the joystick, language, although Slovak or Czech are missing, or the PiP and PbP modes which we will look at in a moment.

After connecting the monitor to a computer via a USB cable, you can also control all its settings via the Sidekick OSD application. You can even set keyboard shortcuts to quickly change monitor settings. There is also the possibility of updating the firmware of the monitor itself.

The monitor offers the already mentioned PiP and PbP modes. In PbP you can choose from native or full display and switch between inputs.

PiP offers three small window sizes.

You can display a thumbnail window at each of the four corners.

As in PbP, you can switch inputs with PiP, too.

Gaming monitors are available in various sizes, formats and curvatures. We’ve had a few 27″ models here lately, representing the current mainstream. But what if you want something bigger, but ultrawide isn’t right for you? In that case, you’ll probably reach for a 32″ display. Would you also like a curve, a lot of Hz and various gaming features? Then you may be interested in Gigabyte G32QC.

Image properties

We tested the properties of the display using the Datacolor Spyder5Elite tool. The display has a VA panel with a diagonal of 31.5″ and an aspect ratio of 16:9, the resolution is 2560 × 1440 px, anti-glare coating and minimalist frames on three sides. This is the sweet spot in terms of pixel density and graphics demands. Full HD is low for nowadays, and 4K is too much due to the complexity of the displaying, unless you have a really high-end graphics card or plan to upgrade to RTX 3000. Therefore, 2K 27″ monitors are currently very popular among gamers, so the review unit is slightly larger than the current mainstream. Most gaming models on the market offer a refresh rate of 144 Hz, Gigabyte has a few Hz more, namely 165. AMD FreeSync Premium adds to this, but I can also confirm compatibility with G-Sync. As with other tested pieces, here we find the VESA Display HDR 400 certification, which, as far as we know, rather speaks about the possibility of playing HDR content, but there is no question of a full HDR experience.

We compared the display quality in the basic mode, i.e. the one the monitor will run immediately after unpacking. On the manufacturer’s website you will find information on 124% sRGB coverage, 94% DCI-P3, 3000:1 contrast and 350 nit brightness. Thanks to the VA panel, you can look forward to slightly better color rendering and especially viewing angles than in the case of models with TN panels. What values did we measure with the tool?

It confirmed more than 100% sRGB coverage and added information about 87% Adobe RGB, 96% DCI-P3. These are really great values that even significantly more expensive and non-gaming monitors can envy. Gamma has a value of 1.9, which is slightly different from the usual 2.0. The Delta E color difference is 2.09, which means that the monitor’s color interpretation is very accurate. The monitor also offers sRGB mode, designed for work and say for printing and the like. The reduction in displayed colors is reflected at 86% sRGB, 65% AdobeRGB, and 65% DCI-P3 coverage. Gamma changed to 1.8 and only a slight change of Delta E to 3.42. Personally, I consider this to be too big a change from the default mode, and the accuracy is not what I would expect from a dedicated mode. Therefore, it will be better to stay with the default settings.

The monitor offers up to six Gamma modes – Off, 1, 2, 3, 4 and 5. The measured values are 2.1, 1.6, 1.8, 1.9, 2.1 and 2.2. The maximum measured brightness is 361 nits, which is a little more than specified by the manufacturer. The contrast ranged around 2200–2500:1 depending on the color mode and color temperature. I criticized the uniformity at the beginning, but we did not measure large deviations with the tool. The reason is the fact that in such a measurement, the area of the display is divided into 9 parts – 3 vertically and 3 horizontally, and measurements are subsequently performed in these areas. However, the area of the display is relatively large, so one part where measuring takes place is relatively large. As you could already see in displaying of black, the differences were significant but at the same time relatively small. Therefore, they could not be captured well when measured with the tool.

Input Lag and Response Time

We also measured input lag on the monitor in several Overdrive modes.

Basic settings Balance has a relatively good input lag of only 11.1 ms, which is one of the better measured values. After switching to Picture Quality, the input lag will increase slightly to 13.6 ms. Conversely, in Speed mode, it drops to 10.7 ms. Input lag is not one of the weaknesses of the monitor, on the contrary, it is a better average.

On the manufacturer’s website you will find information about 1 ms response time, ie the pixel recovery speed. In the three Overdrive modes, it is possible to observe visible differences in ghosting. Picture Quality leaves a relatively large trail behind objects, which is significantly reduced when switching to Balance. On the other hand, no trail is visible in Speed, but inverse ghosting appears, which is even more visible. For an optimal gaming experience, I would therefore recommend staying in Balance mode.

Gaming monitors are available in various sizes, formats and curvatures. We’ve had a few 27″ models here lately, representing the current mainstream. But what if you want something bigger, but ultrawide isn’t right for you? In that case, you’ll probably reach for a 32″ display. Would you also like a curve, a lot of Hz and various gaming features? Then you may be interested in Gigabyte G32QC.

Conclusion

Gigabyte G32QC shows a slightly different view on the topic of gaming monitors than the last few reviewed pieces. On the one hand, it is larger than usual, it also offers a curvature, but above all its design is rather moderate than if it was screaming “I am a gaming monitor”. This may suit certain customers more than crazy RGB disco or red tints, which we are somehow used to. With larger dimensions comes less flexibility and the monitor only offers height adjustment and tilt, rotation or pivot are missing. However, with such a large screen and curvature, pivot doesn’t even make sense.

I can praise the port selection, which is sufficient but not exaggerated. Probably the strongest aspect of the monitor are the game functions, which is expected in a gaming display. The OSD menu is very extensive and offers a number of settings as well as dedicated game functions such as Game Assist, Dashboard or the possibility of connecting to a PC via the Sidekick OSD. Black Equalizer deserves special attention, offering up to 20 levels, which is truly unprecedented. So far, I’ve mostly come across about four. Speaking of gaming features, the 165 Hz panel in QHD resolution is also slightly above standard over the traditional 144 Hz. However, you would only notice the difference in a direct comparison, and even that might have not been completely visible. I commend the presence of FreeSync Premium Pro and also the compatibility with G-Sync.

As we have mentioned several times during the reviews, the HDR 400 certification is more of a marketing practice than a really usable function, as evidenced by the measured brightness of 360 nits, which is not bad at all, but it is not enough for full HDR experience. Perhaps the biggest disappointment is the uniformity of the Samsung panel used, which shows large light differences in the display of black. This is probably the only thing I can blame the monitor for. The price is also well set, if you look on the Internet, you can buy it for less than 400 euros, which I consider a very interesting and advantageous purchase for this size and functions, if you can tolerate that uniformity.

English translation and edit by Lukáš Terényi

You can buy this monitor at our partner’s website czc.cz for 10 990 CZK/410 EUR

• Contents
• Details
• Setting options
• Image properties
• Conclusion