Acer Announces Predator XB321HK Monitor: 32” 4K IPS With G-SYNC
by Brett Howse on March 1, 2016 4:30 PM ESTToday Acer is rounding out their Predator lineup of gaming displays with a heavyweight addition. The XB321HK is a 32-inch IPS display with a 3840x2160 resolution, which works out to 138 pixels per inch. Acer’s Predator line is gaming displays, and this model is clearly targeted towards that crowd with the feature list.
The first is G-SYNC, which is NVIDIA’s variable refresh rate technology. It only works with NVIDIA based cards, but with NVIDIA having the lion’s share of the add-in graphics card market at the moment that shouldn’t be an issue for many people. The addition of G-SYNC is of even greater importance here with such a high resolution, as even the highest end graphics cards can still struggle at UHD. Acer is also advertising a 4 ms response time on this panel to avoid ghosting issues. Acer is claiming 100% sRGB coverage and accuracy.
Acer also has customizable display profiles which can be quickly toggled to without having to use the on-screen display menu on the display itself. You can adjust the black levels to help see better during games, enable aim-point assistance, and select the on-screen refresh rate. Acer is also including their EyeProtect features including a blue-light filter and low-dimming technologies to reduce glare.
The display features DisplayPort 1.2, HDMI, and a USB 3.0 hub with four outputs. In addition, it has stereo 2-Watt speakers that are enhanced with DTS sound. The stand features 4.7-inches of height adjustment and can be tilted with -5° to 25° of adjustment.
Acer’s MSRP on the Predator XB321HK is $1299, which isn’t inexpensive but this is a pretty full featured display. This monitor has been announced earlier than today but Acer says it is now available in North America
Source: Acer
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kitty4427 - Friday, June 17, 2016 - link
I'm commenting from the future. Nvidia has released their Pascal GPUs and they in fact use DisplayPort 1.4.Ninjawithagun - Tuesday, March 29, 2016 - link
DP 1.4 also servers a different purpose that you didn't list - overhead reduction! This is what allows for much greater 'true' bandwidth in accordance with the DP 1.4 specification. The problem with DP 1.2 is the overhead traffic that congests the channels and steals potential bandwidth. DP 1.3 reduces that overhead by 50%, and thus is able to support 4K @ 120Hz (albeit without HDR, which would break the bandwidth threshold of DP 1.3). So, I will hold up a beer with you and say that I will wait until the cows come home and DP 1.4 is finally released...say in 2018...maybe...lolSttm - Tuesday, March 1, 2016 - link
Yeah I don't see why they couldn't put out 4k 120hz, and then just let people run it at 1080p 144hz if their hardware can't push the high framerate at 4k.HammerStrike - Wednesday, March 2, 2016 - link
Probably because there are literally no GPU's with DP 1.3 currently available, which would be needed for 4k/120, so the target market for folks that can actually utilize that is zero. I'm sure the cost of the internal display controllers / LCD display / design / testing to support 4K/120 is not insignificant - monitor is already at the high end of the price spectrum for gaming, and I imagine they saw no need to jack up the price further to enable a feature set no one can currently use. 1080p144 is a bit different, but then you would still need to source a 4K panel with pixels that can transition in 6.94 ms or less to provide that feature. Not sure if there are any panels available that can currently do that.Zak - Tuesday, March 1, 2016 - link
I'd be interested in seeing 27" and larger IPS GSYNC monitors reviewed from an angle of both gaming and general use. A GSYNC monitor that can handle both gaming and photo/video editing.I used to have one PC for everything but when I got my first Asus GSYNC monitor I had to build a separate machine just for gaming (didn't want to deal with dual monitor weirdness) because that monitor was completely unusable for anything but gaming. The colors and viewing angles were unacceptable for even hobby-level image editing.
DanNeely - Tuesday, March 1, 2016 - link
Was your Asus monitor a TN panel? They're awful for everything except refresh rate and race to the bottom prices. An IPS Gysnc monitor should be fine for dual use since the underlying panel is much better quality.Zak - Tuesday, March 1, 2016 - link
Yes, it was TN. I couldn't wait, I got one as soon as they came out. I don't know about the race to the bottom, it was $800:) For games it didn't matter though, it was pretty awesome. I know that IPS are now available but I'd still like to see a professional review.Major_Kusanagi - Tuesday, March 1, 2016 - link
Damn, this almost makes me regret buying the Samsung S34E790C back in Sept, but I have to remember that I got it for $585,jasonelmore - Tuesday, March 1, 2016 - link
Whats the maximum Refresh Rate? that's like the first question i'd have after finding out it's 4k and IPSmadwolfa - Wednesday, March 2, 2016 - link
60 Hz