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.

Page 5 of 5:

Conclusion

We’ve reviewed a number of HDR monitors since they first started showing up on our test bench about a year ago, and not all are made equal. It’s tough to let go of a display like the Asus ROG Swift PG27UQ or Acer Predator X27. They produce amazing HDR thanks to FALD backlighting. But they’re also expensive.

If you scale back your expectations a bit, you can still put a decent gaming monitor on your desktop for under $1,000. Though its HDR won’t be life-changing, it will process the signals and provide sufficient versatility to connect with just about any source device or content. It sells for less than some less-featured ultra-wides, like the LG 34GK950F, and certainly undercuts anything with a zone-dimming backlight.

Gaming is a pleasure with this display, as its accurate color and fast response delivers a high-end experience. For this display, adaptive sync is more useful than HDR. Gaming is always enhanced by adaptive sync, and when it comes to the XG350R-C’s HDR, the monitor doesn’t add any extra contrast. We’d rather have the enhanced video processing.

Though this monitor might be considered premium-priced, it's cheaper than many other 35-inch ultra-wides. That, coupled with FreeSync and the ability to run G-Sync (although not certified by Nvidia), it's accurate, saturated color and excellent contrast, make the XG350R-C a compelling choice. If you’re shopping for an ultra-wide display, give this ViewSonic monitor a long look.

MORE: Best Gaming Monitors

MORE: How We Test Monitors

MORE: All Monitor Content

Current page: Conclusion

Prev Page Viewing Angles, Uniformity, Response and Lag

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

Latest