Acer Predator X34 Curved G-SYNC Monitor Review

Name: Acer Predator X34 Curved G-Sync 34-Inch Monitor
Brand: Acer

by Dave Altavilla — Tuesday, December 15, 2015, 11:00 AM EDT

The Acer Predator X34 34-Inch Curved Gaming Monitor With G-SYNC

Page 1: The Acer Predator X34 34-Inch Curved Gaming Monitor With G-SYNC

If you're a PC gamer or into enthusiast computing, how would you describe your ideal monitor? For many, it might go something like a 32 - 34-inch IPS panel with a high refresh rate of 100Hz plus, 4K resolution, along with NVIDIA G-SYNC or AMD FreeSync technology. And with displays this big, adding a slight curve might be high on your wish list as well. The good news is, with the recent advancements in display technologies, that "holy grail" set of specifications is beginning to take shape, as display manufacturers like Acer, ASUS, Samsung, Dell and others begin to build all this great new tech into bigger and better high-end displays.

In fact, the new Acer Predator X34 series captures three out of four of those "ideal" spec check box items, maybe hitting all of them, depending on your perspective. Acer offers two variants of curved 34-inch IPS panels with adaptive refresh technology, a FreeSync version known as the XR341CK and a G-SYNC-enabled version called the Predator X34 that we'll be digging into here. This panel also has a 100Hz overclock setting, a fast 4ms pixel response time and 100% sRGB color gamut capability for gaming geek nirvana as well as productivity and content creation fidelity. The native resolution for the Predator X34 is 3440X1440 in a 21:9 aspect ratio.

So, in short, though we're more than a few pixels shy of 4K here, we've got 34-inches of curved IPS goodness clocked at 100Hz and in sync with a GeForce graphics card and adaptive refresh rate technology. Nirvana? Smells like geek spirit if you ask us. Let's take a look. Hit our video walk-through then we'll break this beast down...

Acer Predator X34 - 34-Inch Curved Gaming Monitor With NVIDIA G-SYNC

Specifications & Features

Display Size	34 Inches
Curve Radius R	3800mm
Active Display Area	799.8 x 334.8mm
Resolution	UltraWide QHD 3440x1440 @ 75Hz, Overclocking to 100Hz
Panel Type	IPS
Response Time	4ms (Gray to Gray)
Contrast Ratio (ACM)	100,000,000:1
Britghtness	300cd/m2
Viewing Angle (CR=10)	172°(H), 178°(V)
Colors And Gamut	1.07 billion
Color Gamut	100% sRGB
Bits	8-bit + Hi-FRC
Input Signal	HDMI (1.4), DisplayPort (1.2), USB Hub 3.0x4 (1 up, 4 down)
Speaker	7 Watts x 2 DTS Sound
Height Adjustment	130mm
Tilt	-5° - 35°
Power Supply (100v-240v)	External Adapter
Power Consumption (Energy Star)	Off - .4w, Sleep - .5w, On - 54w
Special Features	G-SYNC, EyeProtect Technology
Vesa Wall Mounting	100x100mm
Pricing:	From $1299 currently

The Predator X34 we're looking at today, in addition to its on-board NVIDIA G-SYNC technology, will overclock to 100Hz, while the FreeSync version tops out at 75Hz. We’ve also heard of a few quality issues with the FreeSync version so it’s important to make the distinction out of the gate that this is the Predator X34 G-SYNC version. This version of the panel is still new to the market and thus far reports on its quality and performance have been positive. As a result, this monitor is highly sought after and unfortunately some etailers are gouging a bit on pricing. Even still, at its $1299 MSRP, the Predator X34 is an expensive monitor, though it has the specs to back it up.

Brightness comes in at a standard-issue 300nits, but pixel response time is snappy at 4ms gray-to-gray. Couple that with 34" of curved IPS real estate (as you can see its curve radius is subtle), G-SYNC and 100Hz refresh and it does seem like you get what you pay for. We'll try to help you determine that with greater detail on the pages that follow...