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.
Viewing Angles, Uniformity, Lag & Gaming Tests
To learn how we measure screen uniformity, please click here.
The MG24UQ’s viewing angles are somewhere between the average TN and IPS monitor in quality. While it won’t be mistaken for the former, it doesn’t quite match what we see from better IPS screens. There is an obvious green shift to the sides and a light loss of around 50%. Detail is retained in the vertical plane but gamma is visibly affected. The champion Ultra HD monitor in this test is still Acer’s XB271HK with its AHVA panel.
Screen Uniformity
We wouldn’t expect to see any sort of uniformity compensation included in an Ultra HD monitor costing less than $400 and from our test results, it’s obviously unnecessary. Anything below 10% is essentially a non-issue, and our MG24UQ sample is comfortably below that in both the black and the white field tests. According to our measurements, the brightest areas are in the lower left and bottom center, but that brightness is not visible to the naked eye. Color uniformity is mid-pack in our comparison, and while 2.48dE is a little above the best monitors, it’s still something you won’t be able to see. Our sample showed the highest errors down the screen’s left side.
Pixel Response & Input Lag
Please click here to read up on our pixel response and input lag testing procedures.
While gamers are always interested in higher resolution and greater pixel density, Ultra HD requires a sacrifice in speed. We’re still stuck at 60Hz until DisplayPort 1.3 becomes more common. The MG24UQ performs similarly to the other screens in the group with the exception of the AOC which introduces some extra input latency. Choosing any of the other monitors will give you essentially the same performance. In our gaming tests, input lag was not a problem. This is where one has to decide between pixels and framerates. After testing nearly one hundred monitors over the past four years, we believe higher refresh beats pixel density. While we’re satisfied with the performance of these Ultra HD screens, QHD still offers a better overall experience thanks to fps counts north of 100 in some products.
Gaming With Freesync
The combination of FreeSync and Ultra HD means a relatively narrow window where adaptive refresh can be used. In the case of the MG24UQ it’s 40-60Hz, so game detail levels have to be carefully tuned to keep the action in that range.
Tomb Raider works very well on our Radeon R9 285-equipped system when played on the High detail level. There is no perception that any clarity or texture richness is being sacrificed when pixel density is this high. Framerates stayed solidly above 40 regardless of what was going on. With TraceFree set on maximum, we enjoyed a smooth experience with no evidence of ghosting, stutter, or frame tears.
To see what happens around 40fps and below, we set Far Cry 4 on High detail. That returned framerates in the 30-40 range and made the game pretty much unplayable. Not only was there significant tearing, but latency became a noticeable factor. The obvious conclusion is that you must keep the framerate as far above 40 as possible to get the most out of this, or any other Ultra HD monitor for that matter.
Overall, we’d say the MG24UQ is much like every other UHD gaming screen we’ve tried. As long as you have the processing power to push the fps above 50, you can enjoy the experience.
