AOC U3277PWQU UHD Professional Monitor Review

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Viewing Angles, Uniformity, Response & Lag

Viewing Angles

The off-axis image quality of VA monitors falls close to, but isn’t quite as good as IPS. Things get a little hazy in both the horizontal and vertical planes with a clear shift to red and an output reduction of approximately 20%. Detail holds up well to the sides with clear delineation of the brightness steps. It’s not quite the same from the top where there is little difference between the darkest and brightest parts of the picture.

Screen Uniformity

To learn how we measure screen uniformity, please click here.

The U3277PWQU offers a Uniformity mode, but clearly it has little effect. We saw a hot-spot in our sample’s lower-right corner, but the rest of the screen was free from artifacts. Even though the feature doesn’t harm output or contrast too much, it doesn’t improve the image at all. None of the monitors here will set any records in this test, so if you’re picky, you may want to check multiple samples before purchasing. When viewing real-world content, no issues caught our attention.

Pixel Response & Input Lag

Please click here to read up on our pixel response and input lag testing procedures.

The U3277PWQU is at the slow end of our 60Hz monitor group. 25ms is a typical draw time, though many new screens can render a white field in 22 or 23ms. This has no visible effect on our motion tests, which show an average amount of blur. It can be mitigated when overdrive is set to medium. Gamers who need lightning-fast control response will want to look elsewhere, as the 84ms score will relegate the AOC to casual play only. In this category, BenQ’s PD3200U is one of the fastest 32” Ultra HD screens we’ve tested of late. We’ll only see true improvement when refresh rates go higher with DisplayPort 1.4. Yes, it is coming soon!

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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.

  • Immitem
    I now know what my next monitor is!
    Reply
  • wintermute83
    What consecuences that high lag have? Is it a dwal breaker for a power user? What about games that dont need fast responses ( lets say rts games)? Do you actually feel the lag while using the mouse in office apps?
    Reply
  • AgentLozen
    The conclusion for this monitor really gets my mouth watering. It's a technically impressive piece of hardware.

    I lean towards the gaming end of the monitor spectrum so this one seems inappropriate for me. It's a shame that you can't find gaming monitors with professional color accuracy AND high frame rates + G.Sync. I understand that it's hard to couple those features together in one package.
    Reply
  • BulkZerker
    @agentlozen

    "G.Sync"

    Found the problem in your wish list.
    Reply
  • extremepcs1
    Shouldn't 16:9 be under the Con column?
    Reply
  • JonDol
    @BULKZERKER: I wouldn't go so far to dream of G-/Free Sync but I'd start with something closer to the earth. To start of, such a monitor requires modern (read future proof if you wish) connectivity. Can't help but wonder why there is a VGA connector ? The required cable is not even capable to deliver 4K resolutions, nor is the hardware where that old connector is still present, like the AGP graphic cards. I could live with the DVI connector, if it is to support some older hardware but DP 1.2 and HDMI 1.4 are a step back to the past. I've bought my first Full HD monitor over a decade ago so ten years later I'm expecting a bit more in all areas, including the conectivity.
    Reply
  • Novell SysOp fire phasers 5 time
    Why do I have to keep coming in here and correcting you about monitor technology? It even says right on the AOC site it is an FRC panel. 8+FRC. There will NEVER be a 10-bit VA panel.
    Reply
  • Novell SysOp fire phasers 5 time
    And I'm telling you this one last time. You need a QUADRO card to edit 10-bit.
    Reply