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.
As an HDR-capable gaming monitor, the AG493UCX should deliver extended color along with solid grayscale and gamma accuracy. It does so and can be enjoyed without calibration, but there are gains had from a few adjustments.
Grayscale and Gamma Tracking
We describe our grayscale and gamma tests in detail here.
Default grayscale tracking isn’t too bad with just a few errors when brightness is at 50-100%. The decline in green meant some highlights looked a little purple. Gamma runs a little dark, but that’s acceptable in a high-contrast VA monitor. Although we’d prefer it track at 2.2 instead of 2.3, this error didn’t greatly impact the image
The second chart shows results after our calibration (see our recommended settings on page 2). Calibration made all visible errors go away unless at 100% brightness, which is still a bit over the 3 Delta E (dE) threshold, meaning you’ll be able to see the error with the naked eye. You might see a purple tint in the brightest highlights, but most image material won’t be affected. Gamma is the same at just over 2.3 average.
We tried the other two presets, but they were far too light and only served to wash out the picture.
Comparisons
An average grayscale error of 3.44dE isn’t screaming for calibration, but we recommend performing one anyway. You can see the AG493UCX got a significant improvement in the second chart with a pro-level 0.99dE score.
If you want to work or play in the sRGB realm, the grayscale error is a reasonable 3.69dE with no adjustment possible.
Though gamma is a bit darker than 2.2, the AG493UCX delivered tight tracking with a tiny 0.14 range of values. That’s on par with the best displays we’ve tested. All the monitors here have excellent gamma.The 2.31 average value represents a 5% deviation, which isn’t as good as the very best but is acceptable for a high-contrast VA panel such as this.
Color Gamut Accuracy
For details on our color gamut testing and volume calculations, click here.
The AG493UCX is set by default to display its full native DCI-P3 color gamut. You can choose sRGB from the color temp options to use the smaller spec if you wish.
Out-of-the-box color accuracy was quite good with no visible errors and a solid average of 2.83dE. Calibration reduced that to 2.17dE. The only shortfall is in the green primary, which came up a bit short of the full DCI green.
sRGB mode measured very well with a slight hue error in cyan and a little over-saturation of the inner blue targets.
Comparisons
We have no complaints about the AG493UCX’s color accuracy. Even without calibration, its gamut is very close to all targets. Only the green primary is a bit under-saturated from the full DCI-P3 spec. sRGB is also completely usable, even for those engaged in color-critical work.
According to our testing, the AG493UCX covers 81.3% of the DCI-P3 gamut volume, which is crucial for HDR. That’s near the low end of the scale among the HDR monitors we’ve reviewed. However, green is the only primary that comes up short. The extra color available with HDR was completely visible on the AG493UCX.
With sRGB volume at an excellent 97.06%, you can work on photos with precision, but we recommend a custom profile for best results.
MORE: Best Gaming Monitors
MORE: How We Test Monitors
MORE: All Monitor Content
Intel 13th and 14th Gen 'Raptor Lake' instability troubles: Everything you need to know
Nvidia RTX 3050 A Laptop GPU specs revealed and it's as weak as expected — comes with just 1,768 CUDA cores and 4GB VRAM on a 64-bit bus
Intel 13th Gen CPUs allegedly have 4X higher return rate than the prior gen — retailer stats also claim Intel CPU RMAs are higher than AMD
