AOC CU34G2X 34″ Curved Ultra Wide Monitor Review

When it comes to the best gaming set up, everyone has their own opinions and preferences. Some like gaming on a triple monitor set up, while others prefer a single, high refresh rate screen. I say a 34" ultra-wide is the best of both worlds. So, when we were asked to take a look at the AOC CU34G2X 34" ultra-wide, I couldn't wait to get my hands on it. The CU34G2X from AOC is a 34" ultra-wide with a 21:9 aspect ratio. With a refresh rate of 144 Hz, a 1 MS response time, and a beautiful 3440 x 1440 resolution, the CU34G2X is designed with gaming in mind. However, there are several other benefits to having an ultra-wide monitor that goes beyond just gaming. So, we put the CU34G2X to the test to see the benefits out way the cost of on paper, what looks to be a great option for anyone looking for an ultra-wide monitor. But specs aside, how does the CU34G2X perform, let's find out. We would like to thank AOC for providing us a sample of the CU34G2X to check out! Specifications Monitor color Black Red Monitor size 34 inch Resolution 3440x1440 Refresh rate 144Hz Response time 1 ms Panel type VA Backlight WLED Aspect ratio 21:9 Brightness 300 Contrast (dynamic) 80M:1 Pixel pitch 0.23175 Active Screen Area 797.22 x 333.72 Viewing Angle 178/178 º Colors 16.7 Million Bezel type Frameless OSD languages EN, FR, ES, PT, DE, IT, NL, SE, FI, PL, CZ, RU, KR, CN (T), CN (S), JP Connections Signal input HDMI 2.0 x 2 DisplayPort 1.4 x 2 Display Port version 1.4 USB Input USB 3.2 (Gen1) x 4 Audio output Headphone out (3.5 mm) Features Curved screen Curved What's in the box HDMI Cable 1.8 m Displayport Cable 1.8 m Power shuko c5 Cable 1.8 m Sustainability RoHS Ergonomics Swivel -30°±2°~+30±2° ° Tilt -5±2°~+23±2° ° Ergonomic height amount 130mm Base removal VESA 100x100 Power Power supply Internal Power Consumption On 37W watt Power Consumption Standby <0.5W watt Dimensions Carton dimensions mm x mm x mm 903x548x280 Net weight excluding packaging 8 kg Gross weight including packaging 9.47 kg Warranty Warranty period 3 Years A Closer Look at the AOC CU34G2X Being an ultra-wide, the CU34G2X takes up a fair amount of desk space measuring 903 mm x 548 mm x 280 mm. However it also gives you a fair amount of screen space without having to deal with annoying bezels like on multi-screen set-ups. The CU34G2X is also a curved monitor. We all know the benefits of a curved screen. A curved screen offers wider viewing angles. The shape also gives you the illusion of panoramic viewing. But overall, a curved ultra-wide screen offers an all-around more immersive experience than even a flat ultra-wide can. The CU34G2X from AOC is a 34" ultra-wide with an aspect ratio of 21:9, a resolution of 3440 x 1440, a 1 ms response time, and a refresh rate of 144 Hz. The CU32G2X has a vertical alignment or VA panel that is back-lit by white light-emitting diodes, or WLEDs. The VA panel on the CU32G2X has a dynamic contrast ratio of 80M:1. The CU32G2X has a viewing angle of 178/178° and sports 16.7 million colors. The stand on the CU34G2X does both swivel and tilt. The swivel range is between -30°±2°~+30±2° and the tilt range is between -5±2°~+23±2°. In addition to both tilt and swivel, the height of the CU34G2X can also be adjusted. At its highest point, the bottom edge of the CU34G2X sits 6.25" or 158.75 mm from the top of the desk. At its lowest point, the bottom edge of the monitor sits only 1.25" or 31.75 mm from the top of the desk. The CU34G2X has the standard 100 mm x 100 mm VESA mount. It even comes equipped with VESA mount screws already attached to the back of the monitor. The included stand does not require screws to install. It simply slides into place at the top of the VESA mount cutout and clicks into place at the bottom. There is a release switch on the mounting plate on the stand. Pushing this switch up releases the stand from the monitor. The Stand for the CU34G2X is made prominently out of plastic, aside from the part that attaches to the actual monitor. But more on that later. As we mentioned earlier, the stand on the CU34G2X both swivels, as well as raises and lowers. Also, there is a cutout in the actual stand made for cable management. This is a small but welcomed feature. Especially when you have as many cables running through your office as I do. On the back panel, there are four USB 3.2 (Gen 1) ports and one USB B port. Using a USB A to B cable, you can power the other USB ports on your monitor. The Yellow USB 3.2 (Gen 1) port is an always-on port. So, as long as the USB A to B cable is connected to your PC, even when the PC is off, this port will have power. I keep my phone charger plugged into the always-on port so I can always charge my phone. For video, there are two HDMI 2.0 ports and two Display Port 1.4 ports. Last, there is a single 3.5 mm audio out port for headphones, speakers, or a soundbar. The CU34G2X has an internal power supply. This means, no external power brick. When on, the CU34G2X consumers about 37 watts per hour. When on stand by, the CU34G2X uses less than 0.5 watts per hour. The CU34G2X uses a standard computer power cord (NEMA 5-15P to IEC 320 C13). The port for the power cable is located left of the monitor when looking at it from the front. Just below the port for the power cord is a Kensington Security Slot for a Kensington Lock. For those who may not know what a Kensington Lock is, more on that here: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kensington_Security_Slot AOC describes the CU34G2X as having a frame-less bezel. Unlike traditional monitors that have a bezel around the screen, the panel on the CU34G2X goes directly to the edge. So, if you were to pair two or more of these monitors together, there wouldn't be a large gap between monitors. But, there is only so much to say about the outside of a monitor. So, let's get into the initial assembly. Assembly This section will consist of assembling the actual monitor. The assembly of the CU34G2X is rather straight forward. The base has four feet. Two small feet on the back and two large feet on the front. In the center of the base, there are two metal nipples, for lack of a better word. In the center, you can see the tip of a bolt that will attach the stand to the arm. The center of the base has a red ring around the part that swivels. There is a cutout in the middle of this red ring for the stand arm to sit in, as well as slots for the stand base to sit in on the arm. There is a screw with a wing nut on the bottom of the base of the stand. This screw tightens down to secure the arm to the base. As we mentioned earlier, the CU34G2X has a standard 100 x 100 VESA mount. The Stand is made up of mostly plastic. However, there is a metal VESA mounting plate on the arm. This is the part that attaches to the actual monitor. there are two metal clips at the top of the plate, and two plastic clips at the bottom. The plastic clips are what snaps the monitor on to the stand. On the back of the mounting plate, there is a release switch for the monitor stand. Now that our CU34G2X is assembled, its time to get into the OSD, or on-screen display. On-Screen Display I'll admit, I never, ever go into the OSD, or on-screen display for any monitor I buy. I generally find them annoying and tedious to use. I am still holding out hope that someone will put out a monitor with a remote. That being said, the OSD for the CU34G2X from AOC wasn't difficult to navigate at all. My one complaint on the OSD is I have a hard time seeing the icons on the bezel. But, that is due to my poor eyesight. However, my camera can see them. So, going from right to left, there is first a light that indicates power. If the monitor is on, the light will be in. Next, there is a power button. For the actual OSD controls, there is the Menu button, that brings up the OSD, the scroll right and scroll left buttons, and the Go Back, or return button. Before we get into the OSD, there are a couple of quick menus that can be brought up with the touch of a button. Pressing the "Go Back" button for the OSD will bring up the input selection menu. Pressing the left arrow button will bring up gaming mode. Pressing it again when the Game Mode box is on the screen, it will allow you to scroll through the different game modes. Pressing the right arrow will put a crosshair on the center of the screen. Now, on to the menu. When using the OSD for the CU34G2X, the fist section the menu will open to is Luminance. In this section, you can adjust settings such as contrast, brightness, and Gamma. Here is where you can also enable modes such as ECO Mode, DCR, and HDR mode. The next section on the OSD is the Color Set-Up section. Here, you can set the color temperature. You can also enable DCR, or Dynamic Contrast Ratio mode, as well as enable the DCR demo. Enabling the DCR demo will initiate a split-screen mode. One side with DCR enabled and the other with it disabled. This is more meant for when the monitor is on display at say a retailer like Best Buy or Microcenter. Also in color setup, you and adjust the RGB levels. By this I mean the red, green, and blue levels on the display. Not RGB lighting, The RGB levels can only be adjusted when the color temp is in User Mode. The picture boost section has an option called Bright Frame. This allows you to create a picture frame of sorts in any position on the monitor, at any size. Inside the picture frame you create, you can control the brightness and contrast of that section of the screen, separately from the rest of the screen. The OSD settings allow you to adjust the settings of the On-Screen Display. you can adjust everything from position to transparency. You can also switch between several different languages including English, French, and Spanish just to name a few. a full list is in the Specifications section of this review. There is also an option to adjust the volume of the audio output, as well as the timeout of the OSD. I wish I had played with that one before trying to take pictures of the OSD. The PIP, or Picture in Picture menu allows you to set up just that, the picture in picture feature. It allows you to select from the four inputs, what one you want as the main display, and what one you want as the secondary display. You can select from three different sizes, small, medium, and large. You can enable or disable the audio as well and select the position you want the secondary display. The Gaming section is where you can customize your CU34G2X for gaming. Here you can enable game mode. Game mode will lower your response time, but usually at the cost of image quality. But not that much. The gaming settings also have shadow control, game color, and MBR, or Motion Blur Reduction sliders. You can also enable Adaptive Sync, Pixel Overdrive, and LowBlue modes in the Gaming section. But, my favorite feature in the Gaming Settings has to be the FPS counter that can be enabled. The final section of the OSD is the Extras section. here you can select the different inputs, reset all settings, and set an off timer. Now, let's get into my personal experience with the CU34G2X from AOC. Testing and Benchmarks Test System Processor Intel Core I7 9700K (Confidential Processor) Motherboard Aorus Z390 Pro Graphics Card AORUS RTX 2080 Waterforce Memory Aorus RGB Memory 3200 MHz Cas 16 Storage 512 GB Crucial P1 NVM3 M.2 SSD Power Supply 850 Watt EVGA SuperNova P2 80+ Platinum Cooler Custom Cooled XSPC D5 pump XSPC Photon 270 ml Reservoir 360 mm x 60 mm Radiator 3 Fractal Design Prisma Fans 3 EK Vardar Fans EK Vector RGB Waterblock Case Thermaltake Core P5 Games Assassin's Creed Odyssey Deus Ex: Mankind Divided Far Cry New Dawn Far Cry 5 Strange Brigade (DX12) Strange Brigade (Vulcan) Red Dead Redemption 2 (DX12) Red Dead Redemption 2 (Vulcan) Shadow of the Tomb Raider Wolfenstein Young Blood Testing a monitor is unlike testing say a graphics card. It isn't much different I'd do from my day to day uses as most of the experience is very subjective. However, there is a process for everything. So, the first step once the monitor was set up and ready was to calibrate the screen using the Spider5 calibration tool and the Spider5 Express software as that's what came with the actual tool. Once Spider 5 Express was installed, we placed the sensor on the screen, and it took about 4 or 5 minutes to calibrate as the screen changed to several different colors. Once the CU34G2X from AOC was calibrated, it was time to get to the real-world testing. Now, I've been using the CU34G2X for about a month and a half. I previously had a 34" ultra-wide that I sent an umbrella stand through. When it came time to replace it, I ended up with a 32" 144 Hz screen in its place. I have felt empty ever since. Until the CU34G2X hit my desk. Now, for gaming, an ultra-wide is a great option. However, the benefits of an ultra-wide go far beyond just gaming. Originally, I had a 3 27" 1080p monitors and I used to game in surround. When I first started writing reviews, I opted for an ultra-wide simply so I could include 3440 x 1440 resolution in my gaming results. Then, I started getting into editing in Photoshop and Premiere Pro. No, it wasn't Photoshop that made me fall in love with this monitor as I have a 10-Bit 4k monitor for editing pictures and the CU34G2X is only an 8-bit panel. It wasn't even gaming, but Premiere Pro. I forgot how great it is to have all that extra screen space dedicated to my timeline. With a 1 ms response time and 144 Hz refresh rate, the CU34G2X was designed with gaming in mind. and it does an excellent job in-game. The 144 Hz refresh rate gives you buttery-smooth game play. But, depending on the game, there are random dips here and there. So, I enabled adaptive sync as well as the on-screen frame counter. Adaptive sync dynamically adjusts the refresh rate to match the refresh rate of the GPU. The CU34G23X is the first monitor I've ever tested that has adaptive sync. I have Freesync monitor sure, but I've never had a GPU that supports FreeSync. So, I had never really used adaptive sync before, until testing the CU34G2X. I was so impressed with how well adaptive sync works. It kept even RDR2 running at 144 Hz and it looked amazing. We decided to add in some gaming benchmarks for the RTX 2080 Waterforce in amazing 3440 x 1440 resolution, at 144 Hz and adaptive sync off. All games were tested at their highest preset. in 3440 x 1440 resolution. The system we used consisted of an i7-9700k, AORUS RTX 2080 Waterforce, and 16 GB of AORUS RGB memory running at 3600 MHz. The two best performing games were Strange Brigade in Vulcan and Wolfenstein Young Blood. Strange Brigade in Vulcan averaged 104 frames per second on the RTX 2080 Waterforce in 3440 x 1440 resolution. Wolfenstein Young Blood was second with an average of 102 frames per second. Strange Brigade in DX12 was next with an average of 88 frames per second. Far Cry New Dawn and Far Cry 5 were both close in averages. Far Cry New Dawn averaged 76 frames per second and Far Cry 5 averaged 74. Shadow of the Tomb Raider was next on our list with an average of 57 frames per second followed by Deus Ex with an average of 51 frames per second. Red Dead Redemption 2 in Vulcan averaged 49 frames per second. In DX12, Red Dead Redemption 2 tied with Assassin's Creed Odyssey with an average of 46 Frames Per Second. Now with all that being said, enabling adaptive sync the built-in frame counter was always at 144 Hz in any game I played. Except for one. My absolute favorite experience with the CU34G2X from AOC had to be playing modded Skyrim in 3440 x 1440 resolution. Although the game doesn't support a 21:9 aspect ratio, it can be tweaked in the INI files of the game to support 3440 x 1440 resolution. and it looks great. But this was the one game that the frame counter was locked at 100. Without adaptive sync, Skyrim usually stays locked at 60 frames per second, or at least won't go higher than 60 frames per second. Final Thoughts and Conclusion Overall, I can't say enough good about the CU34G2X from AOC. I've owned other ultra-wide monitors before. However, this is the first time I've had a 34" ultra-wide with a 144 Hz refresh rate in my office. I remember now why I originally switched from a triple screen set up to a single ultra-wide. The CU34G2X offers an amazing and immersive gaming experience. The curved screen offers better viewing angles than a flat version would and it just looks better than any flat screen I own. For an 8-it panel, the CU34G2X offers very vivid and bright colors, as well as deep, dark blacks. This makes the CU34G2X a great option for gamers who also do some editing on the side. For a YouTuber who is just uploading twitch streams or talking head videos, the colors on the CU34G2X are more than good enough for editing both video and even stills. Now, if you edit on a more professional level and get into color grading, then this probably isn't the monitor for you. But again, this is a gaming monitor, not a professional one. Games ran great on the CU34G2X. The gaming features on this monitor are plenty. One feature I never expected to use was the picture in picture feature. This was a very useful feature, especially when bench-marking. When running benchmarks, I won't run anything else on that system in case it messes up the benchmark. So, having a picture in picture was great. I had two computers hooked up to the CU34G2X and when I was running benchmarks, I could still watch YouTube or and my benchmark on the same screen. It's the little things in life. This was my first experience with adaptive sync and I fell in love with it. It is one of those features that you can't go back to not using once you experience it. When my previous ultra-wide broke, I just couldn't afford to drop another $1000 on a 34" ultra-wide. So, I've put it off for a very long time. Generally, the features I am personally looking for in an ultra-wide would run between $700 and $1000. But, the MSRP of the CU34G2X from AOC when it officially launches on May 12, 2020, is only USD 449.99. That is an amazing price for the number of features AOC crammed into this 34" ultra-wide. The CU34G2X is the ultra-wide monitor I have been waiting for for a very long time. Try it out, you won't be disappointed! amzn_assoc_tracking_id = "dewaynecarel-20"; amzn_assoc_ad_mode = "manual"; amzn_assoc_ad_type = "smart"; amzn_assoc_marketplace = "amazon"; amzn_assoc_region = "US"; amzn_assoc_design = "enhanced_links"; amzn_assoc_asins = "B07ZB2TNZZ"; amzn_assoc_placement = "adunit"; amzn_assoc_linkid = "3831b8f34990b01db4ec89cc7faab264";