AOC Agon AG322QC4 Curved FreeSync 2 Gaming Monitor Review: HDR Accuracy On a Budget

Reviews
By
published

Why you can trust Tom's Hardware Our expert reviewers spend hours testing and comparing products and services so you can choose the best for you. Find out more about how we test.

Conclusion

We’ve reviewed several monitors in AOC’s Agon line of gaming screens, and it seems each one is a little better than its predecessor. The AOC Agon AG322QC4 is the first such display to feature HDR, and considering its low price, this product is nearly a homerun. Gameplay was carefree, thanks to a reliable 144Hz refresh rate and FreeSync 2. Color was bright and bold with nearly 85 percent coverage of the DCI-P3 gamut. And HDR provided over 10,000:1 contrast, while SDR offered 2,500:1.

The size and curvature are an asset. A 32-inch QHD screen has enough pixel density for good detail-rendering and provides lots of real estate for gaming, video, or workday tasks. The curve is subtle and doesn’t call attention to itself but delivers a more immersive gaming experience than a flat panel of the same size and aspect ratio.

There are two flaws worth noting here. First, there is no gamut option for sRGB. This won’t be an issue for those who wish for a little extra color, but if you need accurate sRGB color, this monitor is the wrong choice. Our second complaint concerns its out-of-box accuracy—gamma and grayscale tracking were slightly below-average in our tests. Fortunately, our calibration solved the issue.

Given this AOC’s excellent contrast, HDR performance and gaming prowess, we can heartily recommend it as a great choice for $545 (£398.58). In that segment, it’ll be hard to beat.

MORE: Best Gaming Monitors

MORE: How We Test Monitors

MORE: All Monitor Content

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.

See more Gaming Monitors Reviews
7 Comments Comment from the forums
  • Mopar63
    Compared to the Samsung CHG70 32" I am curious which has the better image quality. Spec wise they seem very similar.
    Reply
  • William_X89
    I wish more HDR monitors came with Gsync. So far the only ones I've seen are the nearly $2000 ones. Nobody seems to make a 2k HDR monitor with Gsync that I've seen. 4K seems unnecessary on a 27" screen.
    Reply
  • cryoburner
    21639762 said:
    Compared to the Samsung CHG70 32" I am curious which has the better image quality. Spec wise they seem very similar.
    I haven't looked much into that monitor, but I believe it has an SRGB mode, which could be important if you need colors to match how they appear on a regular monitor, rather than having everything appear oversaturated.
    Reply
  • vmylo81
    What's the freesync range?
    Reply
  • florian.mitowski
    Thanks for the test, i just dont understand one thing :

    "DisplayPort or HDMI, but, as noted above, HDR only works with the latter"

    Why???

    displayport 1.2 and hdmi 2.0 both support QHD at 144Hz and HDR
    Reply
  • quique_quiles
    Wait, you CAN'T use HDR on DisplayPort? I just bought this monitor last week and i'm using on DisplayPort.
    Reply
  • ShredTheGnarr
    quique_quiles said:
    Wait, you CAN'T use HDR on DisplayPort? I just bought this monitor last week and i'm using on DisplayPort.
    You can. I am using HDR on Display Port.
    However when Windows is set to auto detect for HDR and the monitors HDR auto detect feature also on, these 2 features dont play well with each other and its caused some crashes
    Reply