Verdict
The Acer Predator XB323QK is a immobile and feature - laden 31.5 - in 4 K gaming proctor that ’s accurate enough for originative use and comes with a 5 - port USB hub . Only the vestigial HDR performance lets it down
Pros
Cons
Key Features
Introduction
TheAcer Predator XB323QK reminder aim to be all things to all people . Well , most people .
PC gamers will be lure by the outstanding response times , console fans by the couple of HDMI 2.1 ports with musical accompaniment forVRRwhile the rest of man will be impressed by the brilliant , colourful and crisp 4 K show and abundant connectivity . Only aficionados of HDR are left outside the tent peer in .
You get all that for a comme il faut price too . Right now Acer is offering the Predator XB323 for £ 799 thanks to a £ 200 deduction off the suggested RRP of £ 1000 , which makes it much the same cost as the similarly - specified Aorus FI32U and flashy than the again similar ROG Swift PG32UQ .
Design and Features
There ’s no doubt that the Acer Predator XB323QK looks and feels like a premium product . The top and side bezel are a slender 8 millimeter , while the chin at the bottom is hardly a Desperate Dan social function at 25 mm . It ’s a reasonably grow - up design – in fact , the only game show that it ’s primarily a gaming supplement is the restrained Predator logo at the bottom .
Setting up requires some upkeep , because at 12 kg ( including the satisfying metal rack ) it ’s not that lighter . There ’s a wide 58 cm crack between the ends of the stand forks make it only 13 cm minute than the monitoring equipment itself but the forks are quite slim so they do n’t fleece too much desk space . The outdoor stage attach to the monitor eubstance with a quick - release clip , but there is a 100 mm VESA mount hidden beneath that .
I ’d rate adjustability as good rather than with child . The 130 mm of height modification is rather more generous than some as is the 30 ° swivel to both left and proper . The -5 ° to +25 ° tilt is par for the class , but there ’s no rotation on offer , let alone through 90 ° into portraiture mode so there ’ll be no spinning it around to better act upright scroll shooters .
Upend the Acer Predator XB323QK and you ’ll discover twoHDMI 2.1(good for 4 K 120Hz VRR gaming with the latest consoles ) and one DisplayPort 1.4 video stimulation , oneUSB - Cport that supports 65W PD charging and DP - Alt Mode , one USB - B upstream and two USB - A 3.1 Gen 1 downstream data larboard and a 3.5 mm audio output . The Type - C port can be set to charge even when the monitor is off , which is a utile feature . Two more USB - A interface reside on the left - hand side for more easy admittance .
In the absence of a dedicated KVM switch , switch between two input sources and using the same peripherals with both involves swop both the video recording input feed and the USB feed in the OSD which is a bit of palaver .
The back of the XB323 is home to a very bright RGB light strip that die hard along the top and sides of the rearward housing . This can be set to pulse , shudder , strobe light or just shine in any one of a number of color via the OSD , or you could establish the Acer Light Sense app which lets you sync the light show with what the screen is displaying or in prison term to your music .
One thing physically lacking from the XB323 is cablegram mainstay or grip to prevent drag on your mouse cable system . I like to see these match to chintzy gambling monitoring equipment so I really , really , expect to regain them on monitors cost as much as the XB323 .
The OSD is navigated via a wrangle of five buttons below the proper edge of the instrument panel . As OSDs go , the Acer card complex body part is reasonably easy to move around , facilitate by a continuous on - screen index number telling you what each button does in any give circumstance . The problem is the magnate button which is the fifth in the row , a side that meant I often put the screen into understudy when what I wanted to do was to move down a fare tilt . Downloading Acer ’s Display Widget app gives you much of the meat OSD functionality – and some spare features like various blind modal value – with a lot less agro .
Buried inside the XB323 are a brace of 4W speakers , and while they are sure as shooting gimcrack they are also rather strident and miss in bass . At maximum volume , the soundscape is not what I would describe as easy on the ear , so while they are okay for gaming they ca n’t be recommend for listening to music or movie soundtrack .
The bird of Jove - eyed among you will have noticed the small colour rectangle below the video display . That put up the light detector that can be used to adjust the panel brightness in accordance with the ambient environs or rick the panel off when it notices that you are no longer posture in front of it .
Image Quality
The IPS instrument panel on the Acer Predator XB323QK is an downright cracker and may be one of the most various screens I ’ve ever come across . Just so long as you do n’t want anything too much in the way of HDR performance .
Let me call that elephant in the room first : with only an entry - storey DisplayHDR 400 certification and no sort of local expanse dimming , the XB323 ’s HDR performance is perfunctory at substantially .
execute the likes ofHalo InfiniteandCyberpunk 2077 in HDR , it ’s obvious that Acer has put more thought than some OEMs into poise the HDR colour palette so everything looks more saturated and vivid , especially when hooked up to aPS5 . But that ’s about as far as it goes . The go demarcation proportion necessary for good Windows HDR just is n’t there .
With the bad news out of the way let ’s turn to the good . The combination of what Acer calls an Agile Splendor ( central dot are fast answer times and wide DCI - P3 gamut coverage ) IPS panel with a 3840 x 2160 31.5 - inch format name for a supremely crisp ( 140dpi ) exhibit with very full-bodied reckon angle and flock of speed . maximal refresh charge per unit is pegged at 144Hz , while the quoted reception rates are indeed quite splendid at 1ms GtG and 0.5ms MPRT .
The means the Acer Predator XB323QK handles motion is very impressive , with very fiddling ghosting visible even with the overdrive wrench off . Switching the overdrive up to Normal makes a low melioration while turning it to Extreme have a whole tidy sum of overshoot so my advice is to leave it on Normal .
The XB323 is certified G - Sync Compatible which imply it support Adaptive Sync , but does n’t have a G - Sync mental faculty for the full proprietary Nvidia experience . I did n’t experience any vertical or horizontal blind watering while playingForza Horizon 5or running the Nvidia pendulum exam , which is always a good star sign that your display and GPU are reading from the same hymn sheet .
Point a colourimeter at the XB323 and you wo n’t be disappoint by the results . Maximum brightness was recorded at a fairly solid 384 nits , while the contrast proportion of 910:1 was perfectly acceptable even if the bootleg luminescence of 0.41 nits was a lilliputian on the high side .
There was mickle of colour in grounds thanks to 99.2 % coverage of the sRGB gamut from a volume of 120.1 % . The DCI - P3 and Adobe RGB gamuts issue forth in at 87.5 % and 77.9 % respectively which is solid , even if the former is a little humbled than Acer ’s claimed 90 % .
The Acer Predator XB323QK come preloaded with five colour profiles ; Rec . 709 , sRGB , DCI - P3 , EBU and SMPTE - C along with General and HDR options . With the sRGB clamp engaged the Delta E gloss truth was very impressive with a solution of 0.94 . The panel also carries a TÜV Rheinland certification for downcast aristocratical visible radiation emission which is ready to hand if you plan on spending long work days in front of it .
assess panel uniformity did n’t show any significant issues with backlight hemorrhage or clouding . There are some small variant in the ISO 14681 test towards the right edge of the screen , but all 25 swatch accrue within the recommend or titular category when it came to mean luminance .
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Should you buy it?
The Acer Predator XB323QK is colourful , semblance - precise , smart , fast and pivot - sharp . That ’s all I require from a gaming monitor and the Acer delivers it in nigga .
At the peril of stating the obvious , if you want good HDR performance on a gaming presentation do n’t go down the IPS route . You really ask to be looking at an OLED monitor lizard .
Final Thoughts
For £ 800 the Acer Predator XB323QK is one of the best all - around monitors on the market if you take HDR performance out of the equivalence . The large , tack - sharp 4 K video display , across-the-board and exact colour coverage , quick reply and refresh multiplication and ready to hand USB hub make it a manual laborer of all trades and a master of most of them . extremely recommend if you need one monitor to do everything and to a high standard .
Trusted Score
How we test
We use every reminder we test for at least a week . During that sentence , we ’ll learn it for comfort of use and put it through its paces by using it for both unremarkable task and more specialiser , colour - sore study .
We also see its colour and image timber with a colorimeter to test its reporting and the display ’s quality .
FAQs
Indeed it is . It has the velocity and capableness to excel at gambling while at the same time having the introductory technological quality and features to wait on as a very good tool for creative employment or ecumenical productiveness .
Any 32 in monitor will take up a fair amount of space and the standpoint that hail with the Predator is very encompassing but it will still ride on a standard 60 x 100 centimetre Ikea desk with enough free space for your peripheral gadget , let in a printer , and other gubbins .
