Acer Predator X34 Curved G-SYNC Gaming Monitor Review

[PAGETITLE=Introduction, A Tour Of The Hardware][Top Ad] When it was announced last spring, I called Acer's XR341CK monitor "drop-dead gorgeous". Some time later, the company decided to swap the monitor's G-SYNC capabilities with FreeSync, and then released the monitor as if no change happened. After that, the Predator X34 was born, a monitor like the XR341CK that sports G-SYNC in lieu of FreeSync, a boosted refresh rate, and tweaked aesthetics. It also happens to be ridiculously good. On paper, Predator X34 checks the important - and some not-so-important - boxes. One of the more notable features is its size of 34 inches. That means that the monitor claims a lot of desk space, but in return, it delivers expanded views in games, and more desktop space to take advantage of - versus resolutions of 1440p or less. The monitor's large size owes a lot to the width; the Predator X34 and a standard 27-inch 1440p monitor have the same pixel width of 0.233mm, meaning that this is "like" a 27-inch monitor, just 7 inches wider. That might seem like a minor point, but it's important if you are moving over from a ~27-inch 1440p monitor and are expecting a learning-curve - there won't really be one. Those who move up from a 1080p resolution or a monitor that's 27-inches or smaller will be in for a surprise, but it's a good one. Other Predator X34 perks include an IPS panel, NVIDIA's G-SYNC technology, a refresh rate that's overclockable to 100Hz, DisplayPort and HDMI, built-in speakers, 4x USB 3.0 ports, and if that isn't enough: a curved design. Acer Predator X34 Monitor Size 34" Resolution 3440x1440 (UWQHD; 21:9) Response Time 4ms Refresh Rate 60Hz (OC to 100Hz) Contrast Ratio 100,000,000:1 Brightness 300 cd/m2 Backlight LED Panel IPS Tilt Angle -5° to 35° Maximum Height 5.12" Power In Use: 54W; Standby: 0.5W Et cetera NVIDIA G-SYNC, Speakers, HDMI, DisplayPort, 4x USB 3.0 Ports Due to a lack of room, I can't take pictures of many products on a white background. Being that this is a 34-inch monitor we're dealing with, that really wasn't happening here. At least with these pictures, you can see the monitor in a more natural environment. The first shot below shows just how much room the display can take up on a modest desk. The fact that the Predator X34 commands so much desk space makes Acer's stand choice hugely appreciated. Aside from its two thin (but strong) legs that extend from the back, a ton of room is left available around the monitor. In use, I had a router and a switch sitting to the left behind the monitor, a tablet and game controller sitting underneath it, and of course, a mouse and keyboard in front of it. If you're using a smaller desk and a larger mousepad, don't be surprised if you have to set part of the pad under the monitor. All of the buttons on the monitor are hardware-based, not touch-sensitive - thankfully. There are six total, all found beneath the right side of the panel. The one on the absolute right is for power; I wish Acer decided to move that over even more to the right, as I've accidentally hit it when navigating the menu with the other buttons. There are no icons that correspond with the buttons on the front of the monitor, so a lot of the tweaking will be done "blind", based on feeling where each button is. At the back, and on the left side, are HDMI and DisplayPort connectors; on the right, there are 4x USB 3.0 ports. In order to make use of these, a USB cable (included) must be first run from the display to an available port on your PC. Towards the center is the port for the power adapter, as well as an audio out connector for speakers or headphones. It's worth noting that the Predator X34 has a small loop at the top of its stand that lets you route cables through. It works great to keep cables out of your way, and it of course helps things look cleaner, too. For some reason, the Predator logo on our sample has seen better days, but apart from that, I have no complaints to speak of. Some curved monitors have more of a curve than others, but on Predator X34, the effect is subtle - at least when sitting in front of it. After showing a family member the monitor, they didn't even realize it was curved until I told them. During regular use, the fact that it's curved doesn't even stand out too much. After having used the monitor for two months, I admit that I've come to like the curved design, but I don't feel like the monitor would be losing anything if it missed out on that feature. Of course, if the monitor suddenly lost its curve, it's hard to predict whether I'd want it back or not. Inside the box of the Predator X34 is its power brick, an HDMI and DisplayPort cable, as well as a wall mount. Prior to receiving the Predator X34, I had assumed that the 3440x1440 resolution would win me over - and sure enough, it did. The photo of Sleeping Dogs gameplay above will hopefully portray at least a little bit just how cool the resolution is, and not to mention how dominating the display itself is. When a game takes proper advantage of ultra-wide resolutions, the results can be downright gorgeous. One of the shots above highlights the Predator X34's IPS glow, which is much more pronounced than I've seen on other monitors. The photo above emphasizes the issue due to a slower shutter speed being used to snap the photo, but even in regular use, that glow isn't too subtle when watching or playing in dark scenes. This isn't a downside per se, as IPS glow is typical of all IPS panels. It's just that on this monitor, being that it's so wide, the effect of the glow is more noticeable. [PAGEBREAK][PAGETITLE=Overclocking The Predator X34][Top Ad] A monitor like this one has so much going on that it's hard to find room for a complaint. However, in recent years, a trend has proven that many gamers like their monitors to have higher-than-60Hz refresh rates. The problem? Getting those high refresh rates is difficult on monitors that tend to have all of the other bells and whistles tossed in. While the Predator X34 is spec'd at just 60Hz, it's overclockable "up to" 100Hz. Overclocking a monitor involves increasing the refresh rate a little at a time to find the "max" stable. A monitor might ship at 60Hz, for example, but with a software tweak, it could be found to run just fine at a higher refresh rate, such as 75Hz. The reason Acer has decided to not ship 100Hz by default is likely due to the fact that it can't guarantee 100% success. In the case of our sample, we did indeed taste success. Having run our sample at 100Hz for two months, I have no problems to report. A refresh rate of 100Hz means that a monitor can display 100 frames per second. If a monitor is 60Hz but gameplay exceeds 60 FPS, only 60 of whichever total number of frames will be seen on the monitor each second. The main takeaway is: if you're able to power a game at 100 FPS, you'll be able to get smoother gameplay versus playing on a 60Hz monitor. Time for a truth bomb: you're going to need a lot of GPU horsepower to hit 100 FPS. Truthfully, you're not going to see 100 FPS too often even with SLI, because games are either too demanding, or they will likely hit 100 FPS off of a single decent GPU (MOBAs tend to be good examples). On a PC with a six-core Intel processor and an NVIDIA GeForce GTX TITAN X, I managed to hit 80 FPS in Firewatch (check out our review), which surprised me given it's not that graphically impressive. I did manage to hit 100 FPS in TrackMania 2, which isn't much of a surprise given it's an aging title that wasn't graphically demanding to begin with. Running Deus Ex: Human Revolution at 100Hz proved a success, too: "Overclocking" Acer's Predator X34 isn't difficult, and fortunately, you have steps in between 60 and 100Hz in case a full 100Hz isn't deemed 100% reliable. To overclock, you must hit a button on the monitor and head to a section that allows you to adjust the max refresh. After making a change, the monitor will need to be rebooted (which happens automatically). Once it comes back, you'll be able to load up your GPU's control panel and choose to run the monitor at 100Hz: Before testing the 100Hz setting for real-world use, I loaded up Blur Busters' UFO Motion Tester. As the below shot shows, the test passed without issue on our sample. If you purchase this monitor and can't get a clean 100Hz test with this tool (don't touch the mouse while it's running!), I'd recommend backing the refresh down to 95Hz and keep going down in intervals of 5Hz until the sweet spot is reached. It seems very likely that the vast majority of Predator X34 owners will be able to run 100Hz, though, so this tweaking shouldn't be needed by many. [PAGEBREAK][PAGETITLE=Ultra-Wide Gaming Benefits][Top Ad] Note: Comparison shots of ten different games (including the five below) can be downloaded here (21MB .zip). You can flick between the respective screenshots from each game to easily spot the differences (and potential problems) between them. About six years ago, I penned an article that discussed the benefits of multi-monitor gaming. In it, I showed comparison screenshots between a bunch of games that spanned a handful of genres. The point I wanted to get across was that when the width increases more than the height in a monitor, it results in being able to see more in the game world (not just the same content, stretched). Ahem - it's time to have that discussion again. To understand the benefits, we just need to talk about aspect ratios. The Hollywood standard for movies is 16:9, which scales to a few common resolutions: 1080p, 1440p, and 4K (eg: 1920 / 16 = 120; 1080 / 9 = 120). Ultra-wide resolutions are the same height-wise, but are wider; eg: 2560x1080 and 3440x1440 are both 21:9. This is all simple math; the bigger the gap between the height and width, the wider the image. So that brings us to an important point: what is the point? Well, at the desktop, a wider desktop means that there's more room to work. In games, it means that...

Acer Predator X34 Curved G-SYNC Gaming Monitor Review

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Rob Williams