BenQ MOBIUZ EX321UX 144 Hz gaming monitor review: Bright, colorful and stylish

32-inch 4K IPS gaming monitor with 144 Hz, Adaptive-Sync, HDR1000 and wide gamut color.

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BenQ EX321UX
(Image: © Tom's Hardware)

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Uncalibrated – Maximum Backlight Level

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BenQ MOBIUZ EX321UX
(Image credit: Tom's Hardware)

Light output is what Mini LED is best known for and the EX321UX delivers. You can get over 633 nits in SDR mode which is painfully bright. This monitor would be fine in an outdoor video production setup with its high output and saturated color. This was measured in the Fantasy picture mode with local dimming turned off. If you turn it on, black levels and contrast are unmeasurable.

After Calibration to 200 nits

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BenQ MOBIUZ EX321UX
(Image credit: Tom's Hardware)

I found I could not properly calibrate the Fantasy mode, so I switched to Display P3 and dialed the brightness down to 200 nits. The final result is with local dimming off since it is not available in this mode. Contrast is nonetheless a touch higher than default at over 1,200:1.

ANSI contrast remains consistent at 1,166.7:1. Again, this is with local dimming turned off. Note that in all tests, the Samsung G8 posts very impressive results. That is because its dimming option can’t be completely defeated. Even when you turn it off, it operates at a low level to produce artificially high contrast numbers. Native values for VA panels are typically 2,500-3,500:1.

Test Takeaway: The EX321UX has excellent brightness and low black levels but with a couple of caveats. You can use local dimming to get a very punchy image but the modes where it’s available have inaccurate gamma. The Display P3 and sRGB modes are spot-on but also limited by the panel’s native contrast of around 1,200:1. That said, I would still recommend those modes because to my eyes, they look the best. And you can still crank the brightness to over 600 nits if you like.

MORE: Best Gaming Monitors

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Christian Eberle
Christian Eberle
Contributing Editor

Christian Eberle is a Contributing Editor for Tom's Hardware US. He's a veteran reviewer of A/V equipment, specializing in monitors. Christian began his obsession with tech when he built his first PC in 1991, a 286 running DOS 3.0 at a blazing 12MHz. In 2006, he undertook training from the Imaging Science Foundation in video calibration and testing and thus started a passion for precise imaging that persists to this day. He is also a professional musician with a degree from the New England Conservatory as a classical bassoonist which he used to good effect as a performer with the West Point Army Band from 1987 to 2013. He enjoys watching movies and listening to high-end audio in his custom-built home theater and can be seen riding trails near his home on a race-ready ICE VTX recumbent trike. Christian enjoys the endless summer in Florida where he lives with his wife and Chihuahua and plays with orchestras around the state.

7 Comments Comment from the forums
  • brandonjclark
    Hrmm, it's IPS and not OLED. That's kind of expensive for IPS tech, right?
    Reply
  • DavidLejdar
    brandonjclark said:
    Hrmm, it's IPS and not OLED. That's kind of expensive for IPS tech, right?
    Somewhat, yeah. E.g. the Gigabyte M32U is a lot cheaper, and moreorlees competitive in the posted benchmarks. But where it trails behind, is about HDR, where it comes to "only" HDR400. And that's where the Mini LED of the EX321UX shows, instead of LCD with M32U.

    And when one is looking for high HDR, 32 inch, 4K and FPS, most other screens seems to be at around the same price, except for perhaps the Acer X32QFS.
    Reply
  • truerock
    I would never buy a monitor with speakers in it.
    Reply
  • npyrhone
    This does NOT have DP2.1. Display port is limited to DP1.4. That is a common hoax or loophole with monitors nowadays, that it can be called 2.1 even when the bandwidth limitation is identical to 1.4. This should always be called out!
    Reply
  • joey22
    Hi! Can you share the color settings you landed on with the SciFi HDR mode? I have had this monitor for a few weeks and have struggled to get a good color setting with the "genre" HDR modes and agree that it looks best in DisplayHDR but then you don't get the local dimming and better backlight control.

    I have found "Realistic" to be the best HDR setting for me for gaming but still am not 100% satisfied with it. Overall I'm happy with the monitor, but do wish they would provide some firmware updates as you and other reviewers have suggested. For what it's worth, my usage scenario is 80% productivity / 20% gaming and didn't want to deal with the text clarity or burn in compromises with an OLED.
    Reply
  • maxtraxv3
    "No LED lighting or internal speakers" listed on CON's? huh?
    Reply
  • FoxTread3
    August 18, 2024 - As usual with the Tom's Hardware reviews. There are enough details to make your eyes bleed, and your brain go numb. But that's why we're here.. to get the information. Call me what you like, but I much prefer OLED screens. I have an OLED LG 55" TV, an OLED Samsung Chromebook, and an Alienware 34" OLED monitor. I love all three of them and have no complaints. I also have a seven year old Dell 32" HDR LCD monitor whose model number I'm too lazy to look up now, but is still doing quite well. As I recall I paid well over a thousand dollars for it. As I wrote these comments I did look on Dell's PC monitor page, and see that they have quite an inventory of 4K monitors hundreds of dollars less than the benQ reviewed in this article. It would be interesting see how the less expensive Dell monitors stack up against the benQ. All said and done. I'll stick with OLEDs until the "next best and greatest thing" arrives on the market. :giggle:
    Reply