- Joined
- May 19, 2010
- Messages
- 4,231
- Reaction score
- 1,009
- Points
- 7,065
- Age
- 48
- Location
- the Grassy Knoll !
Good morning guys,
I bought 2 of these screens yesterday to check out. I will write a more in-depth review later on once I had more time with the screen but here's a few comments so far.
Mecer K3G3R 31.5" QHD (2560x1440) 144Hz 4ms 16:9 VA Freesync Curved Gaming Desktop Monitor
So off the bat let's quickly look at the pricing here - coming in at R6999.99 retail from most of the on-line retailers is an EXCELLENT spot and i think covers a good segment of the market for people who want high refresh , larger sized panels. Now you have to ask how the ASUS can come in at nearly 50% more if the specs are well ... identical ? Is the extra bling worth another R3k give or take and do you really buy the monitor for it's aesthetics ? In some cases I might disagree, but being an ASUS fanboi, I get it ... If it's just the specs you're after though , you've come to the right place !
Packaging
The screens come neatly packaged in cardboard with all the accessories packed into the side nicely. You get the standard base unit which can tilt a little, but isn't very forgiving when it comes to height and swivel... in fact, don't even try as you'll probably break it. Included in the box you get an HDMI and DVI cables ( albeit quite short, my only gripe there ) , VESA bracket for the backplate ( oh yes , you can VESA mount this puppy ) and a manual. All the screws are neatly packaged and it took literally 2 minutes from unboxing to powering on. So no real complaints there
First Look and Build Quality
It's big ... A LOT bigger than I had thought coming from my Dell S27DG Gsync. It really only becomes apparent when you are sitting in front of the monitor. The matte finish looks nice and the screen overall looks good. Sleek curves and nothing that jumps out and says MEH. OF course in the bottom of the screen you have your OSD toggles which feel a little plasticky, but really how many times to do you fiddle with that ? The base is solid metal and the screen itself looks quite refined. On the back of the screen you have some red ambient lights which you can turn on / off or flicker in the OSD. I Expected worse and was pleasantly surprised
I quickly enabled Freesync mode in the OSD settings and voila ! Nvidia's new driver popped up with Gsync and i flipped that switch too ( Is that all ? Gsync was enabled ? Oo ) BOOM ! After connecting the screen. Made sure the screen was running 144hz @ 1440p and it was time to check out the gaming.
As mentioned above somewhere I'm a bit of an ASUS ROG Fanboi - so I quickly put a Republic of Gamers sticker over the MECER on the front xD - Yes I feel much better now thank you
Gaming / Desktop
Lemme start with the desktop first, I very quickly realized because of the size that I had to move the screen back a few cm because I was literally having to turn my head to see the sides. The curve is a nice touch and really draws you into the immersion ( with the size ) I don't think curves generally work well on the smaller screens and is much of a gimmick. The one worry i did have was the lower PPI due to the size. I was quite happy to see that at 1440p the 32" still looked good and not grainy like some of the 2k 34 Ultrawides I've seen in the past. However if you are a stickler and want that ultra crispness ( get a 4K panel )
Mouse movement across the screen felt as expected with the 144hz enabled and the overall colour seemed good. No noticed of any kind of colour bleeding or light spots you may noticed with IPS or TN panels when not sitting right in front. I've used VA panels in the past and the next test would confirm what I already kind of suspected.
To start off, I noticed the screen was quite heavy on the contrast when I jumped into Ring of Elysium. The movement felt smooth and tbh overall looked great. Off the bat however I very quickly noticed the VA-like ghosting as seen on some of the older panels. This is a VA thing and nothing to do with the quality of the screen at all. Also note that I have not made ANY changes in the OSD yet. Turning the contrast down and making the image a little more on par helped with that a ton, and after a few minutes in-fact I barely noticed it at all anymore.
I fiddled around with the OSD a bit and saw some options for response and smoothness etc - the usual suspects. After a few small changes I could see the image and response improve ( maybe some kinda placebo but it did seem to make a difference - I'll do a more in-depth review later on )
All seemed well and I figured , lemme jump into Battlefield V. OH crap !@$#$ 20GB update ! Thanks EA.... 15 minutes later i manage to fire BF up and BOOM! In game straight away. This is where this panel REALLY impressed me. The game felt smooth, looked great and I could actually SEE enemies ! The size along with the curve and refresh really made it a super gaming experience ! No hassles here whatsoever ! DOUBLE BOOM Loved it !
I also jumped into some WOW and Everquest 2 to check out , but the FPS games were calling me, so had to shut that down real quick !
I might do a little YouTube review, but will have to see how time goes.
In short:
If you're looking for a great gaming experience on a tight budget - then this screen is exactly what you need in your life. Whether you have an Nvidia card or AMD scum, the Adaptive sync works great. If you're expecting ASUS ROG Bling, then pay the extra R3k xD - It does a good job at what it was built for and comes with a 2 year warranty.
I bought 2 of these screens yesterday to check out. I will write a more in-depth review later on once I had more time with the screen but here's a few comments so far.
Mecer K3G3R 31.5" QHD (2560x1440) 144Hz 4ms 16:9 VA Freesync Curved Gaming Desktop Monitor
- 31.5" VA Panel
- 1x Displayport, 1x HDMI, 1x DVI
- 2560x1440 Resolution
- Up to 144Hz Refresh Rate
- 3000:1 Contrast Ratio
- Brightness: 250cd/m²
- Radeon FreeSync Technology
- 4ms Response Time
- 1x DisplayPort to DisplayPort Cable
- 1x HDMI to HDMI Cable
- 1x Standard SA Power Cable
- 178° Viewing Angles
- 2 Year Warranty
So off the bat let's quickly look at the pricing here - coming in at R6999.99 retail from most of the on-line retailers is an EXCELLENT spot and i think covers a good segment of the market for people who want high refresh , larger sized panels. Now you have to ask how the ASUS can come in at nearly 50% more if the specs are well ... identical ? Is the extra bling worth another R3k give or take and do you really buy the monitor for it's aesthetics ? In some cases I might disagree, but being an ASUS fanboi, I get it ... If it's just the specs you're after though , you've come to the right place !
Packaging
The screens come neatly packaged in cardboard with all the accessories packed into the side nicely. You get the standard base unit which can tilt a little, but isn't very forgiving when it comes to height and swivel... in fact, don't even try as you'll probably break it. Included in the box you get an HDMI and DVI cables ( albeit quite short, my only gripe there ) , VESA bracket for the backplate ( oh yes , you can VESA mount this puppy ) and a manual. All the screws are neatly packaged and it took literally 2 minutes from unboxing to powering on. So no real complaints there
First Look and Build Quality
It's big ... A LOT bigger than I had thought coming from my Dell S27DG Gsync. It really only becomes apparent when you are sitting in front of the monitor. The matte finish looks nice and the screen overall looks good. Sleek curves and nothing that jumps out and says MEH. OF course in the bottom of the screen you have your OSD toggles which feel a little plasticky, but really how many times to do you fiddle with that ? The base is solid metal and the screen itself looks quite refined. On the back of the screen you have some red ambient lights which you can turn on / off or flicker in the OSD. I Expected worse and was pleasantly surprised
I quickly enabled Freesync mode in the OSD settings and voila ! Nvidia's new driver popped up with Gsync and i flipped that switch too ( Is that all ? Gsync was enabled ? Oo ) BOOM ! After connecting the screen. Made sure the screen was running 144hz @ 1440p and it was time to check out the gaming.
As mentioned above somewhere I'm a bit of an ASUS ROG Fanboi - so I quickly put a Republic of Gamers sticker over the MECER on the front xD - Yes I feel much better now thank you
Gaming / Desktop
Lemme start with the desktop first, I very quickly realized because of the size that I had to move the screen back a few cm because I was literally having to turn my head to see the sides. The curve is a nice touch and really draws you into the immersion ( with the size ) I don't think curves generally work well on the smaller screens and is much of a gimmick. The one worry i did have was the lower PPI due to the size. I was quite happy to see that at 1440p the 32" still looked good and not grainy like some of the 2k 34 Ultrawides I've seen in the past. However if you are a stickler and want that ultra crispness ( get a 4K panel )
Mouse movement across the screen felt as expected with the 144hz enabled and the overall colour seemed good. No noticed of any kind of colour bleeding or light spots you may noticed with IPS or TN panels when not sitting right in front. I've used VA panels in the past and the next test would confirm what I already kind of suspected.
To start off, I noticed the screen was quite heavy on the contrast when I jumped into Ring of Elysium. The movement felt smooth and tbh overall looked great. Off the bat however I very quickly noticed the VA-like ghosting as seen on some of the older panels. This is a VA thing and nothing to do with the quality of the screen at all. Also note that I have not made ANY changes in the OSD yet. Turning the contrast down and making the image a little more on par helped with that a ton, and after a few minutes in-fact I barely noticed it at all anymore.
I fiddled around with the OSD a bit and saw some options for response and smoothness etc - the usual suspects. After a few small changes I could see the image and response improve ( maybe some kinda placebo but it did seem to make a difference - I'll do a more in-depth review later on )
All seemed well and I figured , lemme jump into Battlefield V. OH crap !@$#$ 20GB update ! Thanks EA.... 15 minutes later i manage to fire BF up and BOOM! In game straight away. This is where this panel REALLY impressed me. The game felt smooth, looked great and I could actually SEE enemies ! The size along with the curve and refresh really made it a super gaming experience ! No hassles here whatsoever ! DOUBLE BOOM Loved it !
I also jumped into some WOW and Everquest 2 to check out , but the FPS games were calling me, so had to shut that down real quick !
I might do a little YouTube review, but will have to see how time goes.
In short:
If you're looking for a great gaming experience on a tight budget - then this screen is exactly what you need in your life. Whether you have an Nvidia card or AMD scum, the Adaptive sync works great. If you're expecting ASUS ROG Bling, then pay the extra R3k xD - It does a good job at what it was built for and comes with a 2 year warranty.
Last edited: