Viotek GNV34DBE Gaming Monitor Review: Ultra-Wide Value King

Rocking the price to performance ratio with 144 Hz, FreeSync and HDR.

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Viotek GNV34DBE
Editor's Choice
(Image: © Viotek)

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When buying a PC monitor, you can either ignore price and go for the top performer, buy a bargain-basement product and hope it fits the bill, or do what most of us do – dig for the display with the best price to performance ratio. It’s all about finding the point where a monitor delivers most of the same things as the best-in-class but at an accessible price. The Viotek GNV34BDE definitely qualifies as one of the best ultra-wides we’ve reviewed and sells for less than most of its competitors. 

(Image credit: Viotek)

Now that 21:9 monitors are a thing, gamers are looking for a good deal in a relatively expensive category. It wasn’t long ago that a 34-inch ultra-wide would cost around $1,000 and maybe deliver 100 Hz and FreeSync. Prices have dropped to where you can get 120 Hz, WQHD resolution and Adaptive-Sync for around $600. Viotek has raised the value bar by offering 144 Hz, Adaptive-Sync, HDR and extended color for just $450 at this writing. 

By using a high-quality VA panel, the GNV34BDE delivers some of the best native contrast we’ve seen and produces a far better HDR image than we'd expect at this price point. Couple that with over 81% coverage of DCI-P3, and you have a winning monitor here. 

One of our only complaints is that the stand’s attachment point makes the assembly a bit wobbly, and there are no adjustments except tilt.

But it’s hard to find fault with a monitor that delivers such excellent gaming performance at this price. The combination of 144Hz and WQHD resolution means you’ll see high frame rates without the need for an expensive graphics card. Motion blur was kept at bay with an effective overdrive, and response and input lag proved as low as some of the best gaming monitors we’ve reviewed. If you’ve balked at the price of ultra-wide monitors in the past, the Viotek GNV34BDE might just be the panel that makes you pull the trigger. 

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Christian Eberle
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.

9 Comments Comment from the forums
  • Schlachtwolf
    Man is that one ugly stand.... I think is is an awesome monitor for the price but I could not look at the stand ......aaarrrggghhhh!!!!:LOL:
    Reply
  • jakjawagon
    I looked for a better place to post this but couldn't find one:

    The Tom's Hardware website uses a lot of CPU in Firefox. I don't know why it doesn't in Chrome or Edge. The forums are fine also. But if I have the homepage or any article/review open in Firefox, it uses about 30% of my CPU just sitting there.
    Reply
  • techrabbit2015
    "HDR" at 350 nits? I don't think so. That doesn't even qualify as the not-really HDR 400 spec. This is NOT an HDR monitor folks.
    Reply
  • Schlachtwolf
    techrabbit2015 said:
    "HDR" at 350 nits? I don't think so. That doesn't even qualify as the not-really HDR 400 spec. This is NOT an HDR monitor folks.
    I agree that could look a bit dull if was a TV but while 500+ nits would be ideal you are not going to get it at $450, many even more expensive ones are only 300-400 nits. This is bang for your buck and not top of the tree for sure.
    Reply
  • 42n82rst
    "GTG" @ 4mS? I don't think so!
    Kudos should only be awarded to GTG@1mS. Otherwise, FreeSync (@144hz) is for naught.
    Reply
  • SMcCandlish
    Agreed this is not an HDR monitor. It's an "HDR-ready" or "HDR-compatible" monitor. I.e., it can accept and decode the 10-bit signal, but it's going to downsample it to 8-bit. And this is not news; this deceptive marketing ploy by manufacturers has been covered (and criticized, including from within the TV and monitor industry) for some time now: https://web.archive.org/web/20180612121214/http://www.avhub.com.au/news/sound-image/what-does-hdr-compatible-mean-461032
    That said, the price is great for the feature set. I won't be getting this one myself, because a non-adjustable "chopsticks" stand will have to be replaced by a proper VESA one, which jacks the total cost up into the range of an at least marginally better monitor.
    Reply
  • maestro0428
    I bought this monitor to replace my triple screen set up. Much better picture visually, even without calibration. After calibration, this screen is one of the best I have owned out of dozens. I honestly don't mind the stand as on my black monitor riser I can barely see it anyway. My one gripe- my display port cable hangs from the input and there is nowhere to hide it. Ugh. Awesome purchase anyway. Oh, and I don't care about HDR, especially at this price.
    Reply
  • HOSTILExAPOSTLE
    maestro0428 said:
    I bought this monitor to replace my triple screen set up. Much better picture visually, even without calibration. After calibration, this screen is one of the best I have owned out of dozens. I honestly don't mind the stand as on my black monitor riser I can barely see it anyway. My one gripe- my display port cable hangs from the input and there is nowhere to hide it. Ugh. Awesome purchase anyway. Oh, and I don't care about HDR, especially at this price.
    Just curious, what calibration settings did you use? In the article it says multiple times, we highly recommend using our calibration settings. But I'm unsure what those settings actually are? Besides the chart that shows settings for red, green, and blue, and brightness levels I don't see any additional settings for black levels, sharpness, etc. Did i miss somewhere in the article where it outlines all calibration settings? Thanks for your help!
    Reply
  • maestro0428
    I don't think they listed all of the settings. I adjusted the best I could according to my room lighting manually. If you are really worried about the color, I wouldn't, even before I adjusted it, I didn't see any issues at all, get a color meter.
    https://www.amazon.com/Datacolor-SpyderX-Pro-Calibration-Photographers/dp/B07M6KPJ9K/ref=sr_1_1_sspa?dchild=1&keywords=Screen+Color+Calibration&qid=1627407787&sr=8-1-spons&psc=1&spLa=ZW5jcnlwdGVkUXVhbGlmaWVyPUExQllHUzFGTFZRMEtaJmVuY3J5cHRlZElkPUEwMjA2ODQxM1Q3SjJSVjU0VEZDUyZlbmNyeXB0ZWRBZElkPUEwMzM2NjI2MTRaOEwxUTVNUTRBSyZ3aWRnZXROYW1lPXNwX2F0ZiZhY3Rpb249Y2xpY2tSZWRpcmVjdCZkb05vdExvZ0NsaWNrPXRydWU=
    If you are just gaming and watching content, adjust to your personal liking in your room. If you are a serious photo pro, you may want to spend more.
    Reply