Acer X34 Gsync - Review after 4 weeks all-in (calibration, issues, gaming) - keeping it ? :)

Hi everyone,

after having read almost all forum posts about the Acer X34 during the last weeks I want to give something back with my own review of the Acer X34 Gsync having used it daily for 4 weeks.

Before we go into the details: Even though I totally love the experience (21:9, Gsync, IPS, etc.) the price for the current quality is definetely much too high. It's such a pity that quality these days is a huge issue (not only Acer).

Before I conducted my final test I did a hard reset just to make sure.

The monitor was purchased at amazon.de end of October.

I am driving it with an EVGA 980Ti Superclocked.

Setup

To give you an idea of my setup.

Panel

No dead pixels in any color
No scratches etc in the coating
No other issues

Gradients

I received the most recent firmware so I dont have color banding issues at all
But I have a pretty annoying issue on all colors: a dark stripe on the top
This is only really visible on windows 10 shutdown which is a purly grey screen
Nevertheless I am wondering whats wrong here
I didnt try Gsync off + 60Hz yet - maybe there is a way to get rid of it

IPS glow & backlight bleed

The glow is super strong (compared to my 6 year old Dell 30" IPS panel)
But in daily usage it isnt an issue - no matter what I do the glow doest disturb
Luckily I only see minor backlight bleed on mine - of course overexposed images do look really ugly but dont reflect the real black screen

Above: Picture of how the black screen really appears visually

Above: Overexposed example of the "black" screen Smiley Happy

Above: White screen with 32 brightness which slightly hints the brightness uniformity issues on the top left and top right

Above: Same image but with black grid - perfect alignment to the screen boarders - also shows the curve which is more than enough for me

100Hz

I could instantly overclock to 100Hz
No real issues here
But sometimes the monitor looses it's signal (DP) and the returns within 1 second max
Happens about once a day - maybe I should try 95Hz to find out if it's overclock related

Scanlines

Before the Acer X34 I have never heard about scanlines nor seen scanlines...
When running Gsync Pendulum Demo I can identify scanlines when Gsync is active and running between 30-40fps
But: I really have to be super close to the monitor to actually see them
"Only" happens when Gsyc is on, doenst happen on Vsync on / off
Scanlines seem to "only" appear on the left half of the panel
That said I can easily live with it but it's totally wrong for such an expensive monitor

Wake up problem

I am running brightness 32 and yes I can also confirm the wake up problem where the panel only partially lights up
It happens about once a week - everytime a total shock - looks pretty terrible
Again I can live with it but it's totally wrong for such an expensive monitor

Noise

Before the monitor hard reset I indeed could hear a high pitched noise from the monitor when running 100Hz and white background (browser, etc.)
It completely goes away on 60Hz
After the hard reset till now I couldnt identify it anymore - happy + fingers crossed!
The noise was loud enough to annoy: you will hear it when trying to focus on something for a longer period - easy solution is turning down to 60Hz but maybe hard reset works for you as well ?

Calibration

I calibrated the monitor with Dispcal and X-Rite i1 Display pro
The results are very good: average deltaE 0,4, max deltaE 1,39, contrast 1005:1 (measured in the middle of the screen)
Even though the monitor is doing quite well out of the box the calibration helps quite a lot
The issue here is the uniformity test: On the corners suffering most from IPS glow the brightness and color accuracy is pretty far off: up to -10% brightness, deltaE 6.0
In real life you wont really see it but color critical work isnt really possible in these areas
I am rather disappointed with the uniformity - again: 1300€ screen! (my 30" Dell from 6 years ago it doing much much better - same price point)

Measurement_Report_3.0.4.3_—_Acer_X34(DP)_@_0,_0,_3440x1440_—_2015-11-21_02_28_58_-_2015-11-24_16.00.14.png Above: Weird problem with color accuracy on very low brightness "correlated color temperature" - I will discuss this in the TFTCentral forum - all other measurements are ok.

Uniformity_Check_3.0.4.3_—_Acer_X34(DP)_@_0,_0,_3440x1440_—_2015-11-21_02_38_02_-_2015-11-24_16.00.07.png

Above: Ugly brithness and color uniformity issues top left, top center and top right - dont use these when editing color and brightness in Lightroom / Photoshop

Gaming

Having spend many many hours testing the monitor and fighting / evaluating the obvious problems the gaming experience is just incredible! Impossible to find words for it - the 21:9 aspect ration paired with 3440p resolution and G-Sync is a whole new experience.
But honestly I was more than surprised that quite a few games dont support the 21:9 format at all
You then have to rely on hacks (which only work until the game receives its next patch) or sometimes there are no solutions at all (Starcraft II)
In these cases you will have huge black bars on the right and left side which is an issue due to the IPS glow in the top corners
With Starcraft II for instance it's not really fun to play - in general playing games with 16:10 / 16:9 resolution isnt fun at all on your 21:9 screen (remember the $$$ you paid to go from 27" to 34").

Above: AC Rogue with .exe hack to make it 21:9 compatible

Above: Diablo 3 kind of natively support 21:9 but Starcraft II doesnt (argument: competitive gaming / advantages 21:9 players)

Movies

Same here: Initially huge disappointment because I didnt know about the fact that Blurays are always coming in 16:9 format (while the movie image itself is around 21:9) and so you will end up with huge black bars around the centered image
PowerDVD etc. dont allow cropping out the black bars due to BR copyright restrictions
So I ended up with AnyDVD HD and VLC player (which can crop perfectly) and the result is stunning then
To be honest I am slightly underwhelmed by the screens black levels when watching Blurays (IPS panel...)

Else

The monitor ambient light is extremely cool - more than just a gadget - I have set it to MTN mode (red = Gsync on, white = Gsync off)
The OSD functionality "Aspect ratio" seems to be completely broken (also mentionend in TFT Central review). I tried everything but the setting Wide / 1:1 doesnt have any effect!
The OSD usability is the worst I have ever experienced - is Acer not using it's own products when developing them ? No showstopper but unnecessary disappointment
USB 3.0 controller is super fast and does not limit any connected 3.0 device (benchmarked)

Summary

I will keep the monitor as Acer wont have fixed the issues above anytime soon / might not fix some at all - replacing the monitor wont solve any of these issues right now.
The monitor currently isnt worth 1300€ with all these partially unnecessary problems
If you dont urgently need a new monitor with 21:9, Gsync, 3440p then you should wait
If you (like me) want to work through your steam library during winter time this kind of monitor is mandatory
Leaving aside the problems the working and gaming experience on this 21:9 screen is the best I have ever experienced!
I really hope that 21:9 format will grow quickly in the near future so that game developers wont just be able to ignore this resolution and Netflix, amazon prime video, PowerDVD, etc. will be forced to make full use (without black bars) of these screens

And of course: I hope that companies like Acer but also Microsoft (see Surface Pro 4 / Surface Book) will finally accept the fact that all the positive buzz around new amazing products are seriously harmed if they release unfinished, badly tested products.

Nevertheless I am grateful that someone build this product I was waiting for many years

Setup.jpg

Black-screen-overexposed.jpg

White-screen-32-brightness.jpg

White-screen-black-grid.jpg

Measurement_Report_3.0.4.3_—_Acer_X34(DP)_@_0,_0,_3440x1440_—_2015-11-21_02_28_58_-_2015-11-24_16.00.14.png

Uniformity_Check_3.0.4.3_—_Acer_X34(DP)_@_0,_0,_3440x1440_—_2015-11-21_02_38_02_-_2015-11-24_16.00.07.png

Games-1.jpg

Games-3.jpg

Accepted answers

All comments

kot0005

nice write up. I did'nt notice the black band on the gradients until you told me. Its barely visible but definately there once you see it. I wonder how many people have these visual abnormalities but are not noticing them.

34fan

Thanks for your reply Smiley Happy Very good to know that it's not only mine having the black band. Indeed it's only barely visible but I am curious what the reasons could be.

This product really is something special: Loving and hating it Smiley Wink

Mountainlifter

Nice thorough review of the ACER X34. I can confirm I don't have those black smear like stripes when I display R G and B and white full screen. (Tried it a few times with brightness at 50. OCT mfg. I can post pics if you like)

I'd like to add this to the thread for the benefit of new users

Scanlines Problem Pictures:

http://community.acer.com/t5/Predator-Discussions/MULTIPLE-Problems-with-New-X34/m-p/393568/highlight/true#M1483

http://community.acer.com/t5/Predator-Discussions/Predator-X34-OC-amp-GSYNC-Scanline-problem/m-p/393009#U393009

Behaviour: I decided to do some investigation and found that it was not related to the G-sync VRR operation at all. I made a writeup about it. http://www.overclock.net/t/1573121/acer-predator-x34-displays-show-your-images-or-experience-here/370#post_24609304

34fan

Thanks a lot! Very interesting! Good to know that these panels without black smear exist Smiley Happy

I did mine with brightness 32 though - not sure if that makes a difference.

Thanks for adding the scanlines problem pictures! Pretty ugly indeed Smiley Sad

Your detailled investigation posted on overclock.net is very well done!

Such a pity that we have to fight these issues after having paid a ton of money.

The only hope I have is that Acer will fix all these issues (but hey - how likely this is) and release a new revision next year + existing customers (who paid full / max price) would get a properly working version via replacement.

Mountainlifter

I tried again at 31 brightness. Still couldn't see any black smears. It seems very obvious in the pictures you posted. I'd have seen them by now if they were that way.

The scanlines do ruin it for me. I haven't faced a single other issue. And since the scanlines do not appear above 60fps with the OSD set to 100hz, I try to run the games at 80+ fps.

EDIT; It looks like you are using gradient color images to see the black smears. Do you have them when using full R G B images? http://jasonfarrell.com/misc/deadpixeltest.php

EDIT2: I used the gradient images from that imgur album http://imgur.com/a/dqgIK#2 and I think I can see the black smear but it appears only when viewed at a certain angle? Never noticed it anywhere but on the gradient images. Also, I opened the images in irfanviewer and made it fullscreen because windows photo viewer can sometimes show strange things that are not there.

34fan

Good point!! When using your link / test I cannot see it in any color.

I was using the following tool for showing the gradients: http://www.prad.de/download/eizo-test.exe

Besides the fact that there shouldnt be any scanlines: how far away are you sitting from the monitor ? I am sitting 90cm away and I cannot see them from that distance - no matter how hard I try.

Mountainlifter

I'm probably sitting at a distance of around 90cm also.

34fan

So I believe that scanlines can appear differently in terms of intensity / unit ? As I can not see them at all from 90cm distance (lucky me ?) when trying out the various settings to reproduce it.

Mountainlifter

There are reports that the lines get worse over the first week of use. I think the user becomes an expert at seeing the lines over the first week and feels that they have become worse.

And others report seeing scanlines even at 100Hz/100fps which is surprising but such data is not to be dismissed. So, if that is true, then intensities seem to vary for different units all the way to perfect units that have no lines at all.

34fan

Ok good to know!

I wish we wouldnt have to discuss these things at all Smiley Happy I guess I will be off for some gaming now as then I dont see any issues being very well distracted! Smiley Wink

Vandragorax

Very, very nice review, I actually have pretty much EXACTLY the same experience as you. No real issues, apart from backlight-from-sleep thing, and I don't think I notice the colours/screen uniformity issues quite as much as you do but then I don't really work on images, I just game and watch movies Smiley Happy

I wanted to let you know about a wonderful Chrome extension called "Netflix Ultrawide Display Support". Install this extension and run Netflix on Chrome to have every movie automatically adjusted to the 2.35:1 aspect ratio, and there are some advanced buttons you can use to alter it if needed but I've been able to watch movies from Netflix PERFECTLY with this Smiley Happy Other movies work very well on VLC, as you mentioned, using the crop feature.

Diablo 3 is certainly nothing short of epic on this monitor, and I don't mind playing HOTS or SCII with black bars all that much. It's really silly that they make the excuse that it's for e-sports reasons, because in all big tournaments the players can't use their own hardware anyway! Thankfully almost every other game from the last 5 years runs it without any issues at all, or with a simple ini fix Smiley Happy

I also wanted to ask what speakers you have! They look sexy and I will be on the market for some new speakers in the near future.

I agree with all of your other points. These issues are simply not acceptable for such an expensive piece of hardware, but unfortunately sending it back for a replacement isn't going to solve them and I can actually live with those minor annoyances for the sake of having this amazing experience without waiting another year or more for similar displays to start getting more common.

Cheers! Here's to enjoying our X34's for some time to come Smiley Happy

Vand.

34fan

Hi Vand,

thanks a lot for your interesting reply! Very good to know that our units are pretty much identical as it seems Smiley Happy

Yesterday I also bought the 3yrs warranty extension from Acer with priority support just to make sure Smiley Wink

Great plugin! I was trying a different one recently and it was cropping very suboptimally. But this one is awesome. Tnx!

Yeah I guess you are right that one can get used to play 16:10 on the screen. If I have my desktop light switched on the I cannot see the IPS glow and wont get angry while playing Smiley Wink I believe the chances that Blizzard will support 21:9 in the near future are close to 0. And using hacks can end up in account suspension.

I am currently working through my 300+ games list to identify 21:9 compatibility and possible hacks / fixes + saving them to the drive as sometimes the hacks get lost (broken download links). Lets see how the final list looks like but right now I am not too exited Smiley Wink Series like Splinter Cell all need fixes and the most recent Blacklist cannot be fixed.

Yeah these speakers are just mindblowing! Great that you ask Smiley Happy They are active studio monitors by a Berlin brand "Adam" - very famous in professional studio equipment. The exact model is "Adam A5X". What I love about Adam is the ultra neutral and super clear high range playback without being annoying. I tried plenty of speakers (only active - active makes the difference) and Adam is my favorite. I drive it with an ASUS Xonar Essence STX II + Uni Xonar Drivers.

The A5X wont be bass machines as Adam isnt in general (what I do like a lot) - very dry super defined bass. But the A5X can drive super high volumes. You could easily go with A3X model for a PC speaker.

Exactly: "without waiting another year or more for similar displays to start getting more common." I waited SIX years - waiting isnt really a solution. I wouldnt give back my X34 at all - impossible - impossible to go 16:10 / 16:9, non Gsync again... Smiley Wink

3L4D3

I too have a black band across the top of my monitor with default settings. I found turning down the brightness to about 200 cd/m2 (setting the brightness to 56 in my case) resolved it.

Miezematze

HI i got an x34 on 02.may.16 The overall performance is nice ...but like all others there are scanlines. Not very visible at my display but they are there. At most games my pc with 980ti 1500hz run around 100fps...no scanlines But demanding games with much smoke/fog like Rise of the Tombraider the lines are visible... the lower the framerate the more visible they are. They get disturbing under 45fps and start to stand out around 55fps... so most of the time i don t see them. My question is... I allready contact acer technical service (germany) ...lol the tech-supporter says he didn´t hear about that issue until now ^^ .... Smiley Wink

Never the less Acer advised me too send them my x34 for check up and perhaps reapair... but when I read all the posts I really doubt that they fix it...and I just get the same monitor with issues back after 2-4weeks. What you say? Or got someone a proper fix of this issue after return?