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.
To read about our monitor tests in-depth, please check out Display Testing Explained: How We Test PC Monitors. We cover brightness and contrast testing on page two.
Uncalibrated – Maximum Backlight Level
The PG32UQ has more than enough light output to accommodate any environment. 400 nits on a 32-inch monitor is really bright, too bright for more than a few minutes. However, that headroom is handy when using the ELMB sync, which robs about 30% of that output.
Black levels are IPS-average, with the PG32UQ finishing last in the default test. If you engage Dynamic Dimming, it’s much lower at around 0.1823 nits. The panel’s native contrast is 923.8:1, which is slightly below average. Dynamic Dimming bumps that up to 2,250:1. You can use that feature without penalty. It doesn’t crush highlight or shadow detail.
After Calibration to 200 nits
Calibration improves black levels and contrast slightly to 987.9:1 in the PG32UQ’s native state with Dynamic Dimming turned off. When engaged, contrast is around 2,300:1. Part of this comes from my decision to select the 2.5 gamma preset. It measures around 2.3 and adds some depth to the image.
The slight hotspot I mentioned earlier drops the PG32UQ’s ANSI score a little to 844.3:1. Again, Dynamic Dimming will help here by upping real-world contrast to around 2,000:1. That, combined with the 2.5 gamma setting, creates a richly saturated picture full of detail and dimension.
US sanctions transform China into legacy chip production juggernaut — production jumped 40% in Q1 2024
Alleged cryptojacker arrested for money laundering, $3.5 million in cloud service fraud — ultimately mined less than $1 million in crypto
Determined modder gets 'Halo 2' running at 720p on the original Xbox — after tweaks to the console hardware, kernel, and game
