If you are looking for a gaming monitor under Rs 20,000, then you are spoiled for choice. A lot of these monitors offer a QHD resolution, refresh rates north of 165Hz, and support for HDR (which in most cases isn’t great). Today, we have the LG UltraGear 32GS60QC, a 1440p HDR monitor with a 180Hz refresh rate. It is also a curved gaming monitor with a 1000R curve. Is it a worthy contender to topple the competition?
Table of Contents
Key Specifications at a Glance
Display Size – 32-inch
Display Resolution – 2560x1440p
Refresh Rate – 180Hz
Panel Type – VA
Claimed Brightness – 300 nits
Connectivity – 2 x HDMI 2.0 ports, 1 x Displayport 1.4, 1 x 3.5mm audio port
Height adjustment: No
Tilt adjustment: Yes
Built-in Audio – No
Setup and Design
The monitor is as easy to set up as any other monitor I’ve installed in the past, with one small difference. While most other monitors will have a single screw holding the stand (which can be installed and removed without a screwdriver), this monitor has four screws you need to install with a screwdriver – two to hold the neck in place and two for the base. The base and neck of the monitor are very sturdy, and the monitor can be tilted, but there is no height adjustment for it. I wish the monitor’s height were a bit higher for my desk, but this is very subjective to your gaming setup.
The monitor has quite slim bezels on all sides except the bottom, which has the UltraGear branding. Below the branding, we have the standard single-button joystick that is used to power the monitor on/off and navigate the settings. It is easy to use. The connectivity options and power port are back-facing, behind the monitor. You can also wall-mount the monitor if you like.
Considering the curve and the 32-inch size, the monitor looks quite commanding on the desk in a good way. Also, the 1000r curvature makes it ideal to use multiple windows when using the monitor for productivity, and you feel nothing short of the operator from The Matrix.
HDR Performance
The monitor has a VA panel, a peak brightness of 300 nits, and no dimming zones. This means that the HDR experience is average on the monitor. I played South of Midnight on the Xbox Series X, and the title screen of the game has a beautiful house with the sun (along with bright highlights) behind the house. In HDR, you lose some details of the house, while in SDR, the house is clearly visible. This is a great example to tell you that while gaming in HDR looks good initially, you lose out on some specular highlights. So I would recommend you play the game in both HDR and SDR before sticking to one format, as your mileage will vary depending on the title along with your exposure to HDR. To give you an example at the other end of the Spectrum, Marvel’s Spider-Man 2 on the PS5 looked good in HDR, with the blues and reds in Spider-Man’s suit popping and the environments looking rich.
Audio
The monitor does not have built-in speakers, which might be a deal-breaker for some. However, given the average quality of most monitor speakers (in general), it’s not a huge loss. If you’re using the monitor for console or PC gaming, I highly recommend pairing it with a decent set of 2.1 speakers or headphones. Fortunately, the 32GS60QC has a 3.5mm audio output, making it easy to connect external speakers or headphones.
Performance
Let’s break down the performance into four sections: PC gaming, console gaming, content consumption, and productivity
PC Gaming
For PC gaming, I hooked up the monitor to the Dell Alienware X16 R2, whose specs and review you can check out here. On the PC, I played some Baldur’s Gate 3, Frostpunk 2, Balatro, and some Indiana Jones. All the games look stunning, and thanks to the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4090 in the Alienware, I could enjoy all the glory of ray tracing on the monitor with acceptable frame rates. While I used DLSS to upscale the game, the experience on the monitor was sublime.
While playing Frostpunk 2, I felt completely immersed, thanks to the curved monitor, and looking at my town flourishing in the white snow was nothing short of looking at the Earth from space (I guess that’s what it feels like). Zooming into the town and the curve of the monitor helps with the immersion. The curved monitor experience may not be for everyone, and I prefer a flat display too. But once you sit at the sweet spot and let this curved monitor engulf you, you will give in to the immersion.
The same effect translates to Baulders Gate 3. The game has a rich detailed world and I found it easier to immersive myself in the world.
The same can be said for an e-sports experience. While most e-sports players would prefer an IPS Panel I found playing Valorent quite alright ( I am an amateur e-sports player)
Console Gaming
I hooked up my PS5 and Xbox Series X to the monitor for console gaming. The monitor only comes with HDMI 2.0 ports, so we can’t expect to take advantage of the HDMI 2.1 features offered on the consoles. On the PS5 and Xbox Series X, you can drop the resolution to 1440p or 1080p in the settings for a 120 Hz refresh rate in supported games. I mostly kept the resolution in 4K and got a supersampled 1440p, but you can drop the resolution to 1440p in games like Doom Eternal, which can offer a locked 120Hz refresh rate on consoles, if you like.
I played games like Marvel’s Spider-Man 2, Dirt 5, Astro Bot, and Ratchet and Clank on the monitor, and it all worked very well. The image was very good with the reds and blues in Spider-Man’s suit looking vibrant and the cityscape looking immersive. This is in both HDR and SDR, with the biggest difference being in the loss of detail in the extremely bright highlights. Even in Grand Turismo 7, I played a music rally race in the night setting, and the game had visuals that popped. Ratchet and Clank has some fast-paced action, and the response was butter-smooth on the monitor.
Moving over to the Xbox, Doom Eternal has a 1440p 120Hz mode, and the game is a sublime experience. Ori and the Will of the Wisps is a stunning game to test displays, and the visuals did not disappoint here, either. The cherry on the cake was that the game rendered at 6K supersampled to 1440p on the display at 60FPS, or you can play the game at 1440p at 120Hz. The VA panel makes the backs look deep in Ori, and the overall immersion with the curve of the monitor is truly immersive.
Content Consumption
I played a standard slew of content, including TV shows and movies on the monitor, and the experience was surprisingly good. I only tweaked the brightness and black levels on the monitor and used Netflix, YouTube, Prime Video, and Apple TV on the PS5 as my content source. Consuming TV shows like Young Sheldon was good, and even some HDR movies on Apple TV or Netflix looked good. You can see a shift in the overall colour tones, brightness, and saturation when switching between HDR and SDR on the monitor, so once again, I recommend consuming content for a bit before sticking to one format.
Productivity
Productivity is where the curve of the monitor truly engulfs you. I had a bunch of windows open and working on MS Word in one corner, a bunch of tables in another, social media in a third and my YouTube music playlist in the 4th was very easy to use. The curve also made the monitor feel larger than it was. Sure those of you that sit too close to the monitor will see the slight pixelation in text when the document is full screen, but sitting approx. 2.5 feet away, I had no problems in gaming or working on this monitor and enjoying a crisp experience. One good thing is that browsing any content horizontally gives you a floating icon experience similar to what you would get with a VR headset, again, thanks to the curve of the screen.
Verdict
There are a lot of monitors available in the sub-20k price point, especially if you are a gamer. What the LG 32GS60QC has going for it is a good immersive experience, thanks to the 1000r curvature, great panel performance for gaming and non-gaming applications, a decent selection of ports, and a very good build. While the HDR performance is a hit or miss based on the content you watch, the overall performance of the panel is quite good considering LG’s legacy with displays. I wish the monitor had some height adjustment. That would round out the package on offer. But with everything that’s there, this is a good deal. Hardcore e-sports enthusiasts may still want to consider an IPS panel, but the VA panel on offer gives a rich cinematic gaming experience. While the monitor is ideal for individual use, thanks to its curved design, it worked well when I needed to show someone some content on screen. But don’t expect the monitor to be an entertainment display to a group of people, as the curve limits good visibility from an off-axis viewing angle. Overall, it’s a good bang-for-the-buck monitor.
Editor’s rating – 8.8/10
Pros
- Immersive content consumption experience thanks to the 1000r curvature
- Great gaming experience
- Decent connectivity option
- Very well built
- VA panel ensured deep blacks
Cons
- HDR performance is hit or miss based on the content
- Takes up more space because of the curved design
- No height adjustment for the stand
