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Conclusion

There is no question that curved ultra-wide displays have become more attractive to gamers seeking maximum immersion in their favorite titles. The extra width, coupled with the wraparound effect provided by the curve, is hard to give up once you’ve experienced it. It offers a significant advantage as well. By encompassing more of the player’s peripheral vision, he or she can enjoy maximum situational awareness. We’ve heard some gaming competitions have even banned them because they give players an edge over their 16:9-equipped competitors.

The consideration then comes down to price and speed. The AG352UCG is less expensive than most monitors in the class, but it will still reduce your bank balance by around $900 at this writing. And you can get more speed from a 16:9 flat panel, running at a higher refresh rate, that costs less. But don’t forget about that contrast ratio. Only a small handful of gaming screens offer a VA screen, and to us, that’s a major factor in any purchase decision.

There are plenty of curved ultra-wide screens with adaptive-refresh and 100Hz. But most of them are IPS, which means you’ll see 1000:1 contrast at best. The AG352UCG weighs in at 1700:1 (sequential) and 1900:1 (ANSI) after calibration, which is higher than nearly any gaming monitor we’ve tested. Add to that an honest 100Hz, G-Sync, and accurate color, and it becomes harder to find a better display.

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Our complaints here are few. As much as we love OSD joysticks, the AG352UCG demonstrated that they’re not always awesome. Turning off the power every time one mistakenly presses the stick gets old quickly. Plus, it isn’t nearly as intuitive as others we’ve worked with. And without a change to the color temp preset, gamma is off by enough to cause visible clipping. Luckily, that fix is as easy as changing the preset to User.

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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.

20 Comments Comment from the forums

ledhead11

Thanks for the review.

Not in the market for an monitor but if I was I'd probably get this one. Good size, resolution, and the 100hz is actually a reasonable mark for people with single gpu solutions. At ultra many games can pull down even a 1080ti into the 60-100fps range at a resolution like this.
Reply
AgentLozen

Christian Eberle said:
If you’ve been waiting for an opportunity to add one of these screens to your system, the price/performance ratio has never been more attractive.

Sounds like this monitor is deserving of an award but it's definitely not there. I suspect that it will pop up in a few hours after a ninja edit.
Reply
mihen

I think the issue this monitor faces is quite simple. The price premium on a gsync monitor. I looked at them recently and there is a $200 markup over the FreeSync version. It's just really hard to suggest these monitors when a person is on a $2000 budget for the whole machine when that difference is an entire graphics card tier.
Reply
jrocksmooth

As of 11/6/17, Microcenter has this monitor for $799. Fantastic deal for a 35" curved ultrawide 1440p.

http://www.microcenter.com/product/476971/AG352UCG_35_Agon_LED_Gaming_Monitor_w-_NVIDIA_G-Sync
Reply
cmsvmylo

This monitor will probably be my christmas present!
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simfreak101

still waiting for the next version of the Samsung CHG90 with DP 1.4; If they can get it to 7680x1440@100hz /w gsync then i would buy that and replace my 3 monitor setup i have right now.
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Colin_10

It still baffles me that these things are so expensive, there have been monitors at this resolution/frame rate for a few years now and still we are seeing 800 price points. I obviously don't know anything about the difficulty of manufacturing these things but it sure surprises me that price has remained this high for this long. Monitors seem to be one of those things that just doesn't drop in price. Graphics cards get replaced so fast due to advancements in tech that if you don't want to buy a 1080ti for 700 now, wait 2-3 years and you can get the 1260ti for 200 dollars and it has the same performance.
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aberkae

Dell Alienware 34 inch ips gsync display 3440*1440p on sale for $999 plus $75 gift card oc-able from 100hz to 120hz. Fyi
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rguermas

Great
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gaborbarla

What a great monitor, for a new setup this is great. Sadly it is hard sell for most serious gamers to justify going back from 144Hz to 100Hz. Sure, this is a spectacular looking monitor, it is huge, resolution is decent, curved for immersion and has higher than 60Hz. But 144Hz is a bare minimum for me, and I will only seriously consider it only once it satisfies that target.
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