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Since OLED gaming monitors first appeared, they have seen only small evolutions in their capabilities. Wide-gamut color has been there since the beginning, but now it’s a little wider thanks to Quantum Dot technology. Video processing was always on another level because they refresh so quickly that motion blur completely disappears at speeds over 180 Hz. The main improvement has been brightness. Early OLEDs did well to hit 300 nits; now you can see peaks of 1,300 nits for HDR highlights.
Acer has delivered a steady stream of some of the best OLED gaming monitors, and here, I have the Predator X34 OLED. It’s a 34-inch 21:9 WQHD panel with an 800R curve, 240 Hz, Adaptive-Sync, DisplayHDR True Black 400, and wide gamut color. And the price is attractive at around $860. Let’s take a look.
Acer Predator X34 OLED Specs
|
Panel Type / Backlight |
Organic Light Emitting Diode (OLED) |
|
Screen Size / Aspect Ratio |
34 inches / 21:9 |
| Row 2 – Cell 0 |
Curve radius: 800mm |
|
Max Resolution and Refresh Rate |
3440×1440 @ 240 Hz |
| Row 4 – Cell 0 |
FreeSync and G-Sync Compatible |
|
Native Color Depth and Gamut |
10-bit / DCI-P3 |
| Row 6 – Cell 0 |
DisplayHDR 400 True Black, HDR10 |
|
Response Time (GTG) |
0.01ms |
|
Brightness measured |
407 nits SDR |
| Row 9 – Cell 0 |
663 nits HDR |
|
Contrast |
Unmeasurable |
|
Speakers |
2x 5w |
|
Video Inputs |
1x DisplayPort 1.4 |
| Row 13 – Cell 0 |
2x HDMI 2.1, 1x USB-C |
|
Audio |
3.5mm headphone output |
|
USB 3.2 |
1x up, 3x down, 1x type C |
|
Power Consumption |
42w, brightness @ 200 nits |
|
Panel Dimensions WxHxD w/base |
30.9 x 17-21.7 x 12 inches (785 x 432-533 x 305mm) |
|
Panel Thickness |
6.5 inches (165mm) |
|
Bezel Width |
Top: 0.28 inch (7mm) |
| Row 20 – Cell 0 |
Sides: 0.3 inch (8mm) |
| Row 21 – Cell 0 |
Bottom: 0.5 inch (13mm) |
|
Weight |
18.7 pounds (8.5kg) |
|
Warranty |
3 years |
The main thing keeping the price down here is the absence of a Quantum Dot Layer. The X34 OLED covers over 95% of DCI-P3, which is about average for non-QD displays. This is enough to make it very colorful and impactful for both SDR and HDR while saving you a bit of money. Accuracy is included as well with a precise sRGB mode and gamut selections for other commonly used standards. Though squarely aimed at gamers, the X34 OLED can serve as a post-production reference monitor.
Of course, you’re buying it for gaming, and in that area, it is loaded for bear. The refresh rate is 240 Hz, and while that sounds ordinary when compared to a 500 Hz display, it is quicker than many monitors with higher rates. And it achieves perfect motion resolution, i.e., no blur, at any frame rate over 180 fps. Resolution is 3440×1440, WQHD, which equates to 109 ppi, the same as a 27-inch QHD panel. The curve is a tight 800R, which maximizes immersive quality while introducing just slight image distortion. If you sit close enough, you can hear your voice reflected into your ears. It’s a bit like sitting in a bubble.
The X34 OLED’s panel is bright, with over 400 nits available for SDR content and 663 nits measured from a 25% window pattern in HDR mode. Acer claims 1,300 nits for a 1.5% window, and there is no reason to doubt that. HDR images are bright, colorful, and impactful.
No features have been sacrificed on the altar of value here. You get USB ports, including USB-C with 90 watts of power, internal speakers, KVM control, plenty of video inputs, and a nice adjustable stand. OK, there’s no LED lighting, so Acer did sacrifice that one thing. But no one would call the X34 OLED incomplete.
At $860, it’s not the most or the least expensive 34-inch ultra-wide OLED. But it delivers high performance, a long feature list, and the stunning image OLED is known for.
Assembly and Accessories
The X34 OLED comes packed in crumbly foam, which in my case, was extra crumbly, but it protected the contents from damage just fine. The base features a large footprint and is made from solid aluminum. It attaches to the upright with a captive bolt, then you snap the panel on. There’s a 100mm VESA mount in the back with fasteners included if you want to use an arm. The cable bundle includes IEC power for the internal supply, HDMI, and two USB ports, one A/B and one USB-C.
Product 360
Image 1 of 4
The X34 OLED is all-screen on the front, with thin, flush bezels on all four sides. The Predator logo is relegated to the base, which is also slender and elegant. It’s plenty solid, though, more than capable of keeping the screen steady during heated competition.
From the top, you can see the extreme curve. 800R is about as tight as it gets for the category. It enhances the X34 OLED’s immersive quality with the most convincing cockpit effect you’ll find outside a pair of VR goggles. Sound reflects back to the user when sitting close, creating a bubble-like experience. It’s excellent for first-person games like shooters or simulators. Three of these screens would form a half-circle for a driving or flying rig.
In back, styling is understated, with just a couple of textural elements on the component bulge that houses the internals, the stand attachment, and the inputs. The upright is slender and features rock-solid movements that include 5/15 degrees tilt, a 15-degree swivel, and 4.7 inches of height. The screen sits just high enough to allow a vertical position with a center eyepoint, which is the best way to enjoy any curved monitor.
The input panel includes two HDMI 2.1 ports and one DisplayPort 1.4 port. A USB-C port serves as a DP Alt, bringing the total to four video inputs. You also get one upstream USB 3.2 Type-A, two downstream USB Type-Bs, and extra ports on the panel’s bottom edge, one more USB Type-C and one more USB Type-B. The USB Type-C supports up to 90 watts for charging and powering peripherals. Two internal speakers play clean and loud with five watts apiece, and you get a 3.5mm headphone jack.
OSD Features
Pressing the joystick at the bottom center of the panel summons the X34 OLED’s quick menu, which has four options, two of which are programmable. Another press brings up the full OSD.
Image 1 of 11
Every OSD screen includes signal information at the top with current mode, resolution, speed, input and Adaptive-Sync status. The menu is a tree with four columns and nine sub-menus. The first two, Game Assistant and Gaming, include video processing and game aids. There are three different reticles that can be white, red, or green; or you can set it to Auto so it changes with the background to remain in contrast. You also get four sniper magnifications with adjustable size and a night vision mode. When you turn on Refresh Rate Num, it puts a frame counter in the upper right corner of the screen.
The X34 OLED includes a constant or variable brightness option for both SDR and HDR. When it’s on, brightness tops out at around 250 nits, but when it’s off, a 25% window can top 400 nits with even higher values for smaller areas of the screen. I like to use constant brightness for work and variable brightness for video and gaming. HDR is a simple affair. If you set it to Auto, the switch is automatic. There are no adjustments or additional modes for HDR content.
There are eight picture modes with three of them being programmable by the user. Standard is the default choice and it’s fairly close to the mark though I found the gamma a bit dark. A few tweaks in User mode took the X34 OLED to reference-level. Acer includes a complete set of color space options, including a near-perfect sRGB mode. General uses the full gamut, 95% of DCI-P3, for all content. Calibration options include five gamma presets, four color temps and a user mode with gain and bias sliders. You can also adjust hue and saturation for all six colors.
Hot Key assignment refers to the first fields on the quick menu, not actual keys or joystick directions. They provide access to a variety of monitor functions. OLED care options include a pixel orbiter and a refresh routine, which can run at regular intervals to fight burn-in. Finally, you can save your custom settings to one of the first three picture modes, Action, Racing or Sports, for later recall.
Acer Predator X34 OLED Calibration Settings
My X34 OLED sample came out of the box needing a few tweaks. Grayscale ran slightly green and gamma was slightly dark. The latter issue isn’t a big deal with a high contrast OLED since you can just up the brightness to compensate. The green tint was dealt with by adjusting the RGB gain sliders. I didn’t have to touch the bias controls. The end result was reference-level color and improved gamma. My recommended settings are below. I’ve included brightness values for Uniform Brightness on and off. For HDR signals, just set HDR to Auto so it switches without user intervention. There are no controls in HDR mode, but it’s close to the standards for color and luminance. You can check out those test results on page five.
|
Picture Mode |
User |
|
Uniform Brightness |
On / Off |
|
Brightness 200 nits |
78 / 45 |
|
Brightness 120 nits |
43 / 24 |
|
Brightness 100 nits |
35 / 19 |
|
Brightness 80 nits |
27 / 14 |
|
Brightness 50 nits |
15 / 6 (min. 17 / 29 nits) |
|
Contrast |
47 |
|
Gamma |
2.2 |
|
Color Temp User |
Gain – Red 48, Green 53, Blue 52 |
| Row 10 – Cell 0 |
Bias – Red 50, Green 50, Blue 50 |
Gaming and Hands-on
When I received the X34 OLED for review, I realized that there aren’t a lot of these OLEDs available for sale. There are plenty of 34-inch curved ultra-wides out there, but OLED takes gaming to another level with its superior contrast, color depth, and smooth operation. Add to that an extreme 800R curve, and you have a perfect display for first-person games like shooters and simulators.
Ideally, you’d have two or three curved screens in a flying or driving simulator. But if you are on a budget and can swing only one, an 800R monitor is the ticket. It wraps around enough to fill all your peripheral vision if you sit about two feet away. And you can do that with the X34 OLED because its pixel density is a tight 109ppi, enough to hide the dot structure. OLED contrast and color saturation up the perception of detail even more. If you see jaggies, it’s in the content. I also noted no banding thanks to the 10-bit panel in use.
Gameplay is super quick and smooth. When the frame rate is above 180fps, which was all the time for me and a GeForce RTX 4090, there is no blur or hesitation. Control inputs are instantly translated. It’s so responsive, I could tell a visual difference between different mousing surfaces; on-screen movement is that precise. Gamers of any skill level, up to the most competitive professional, will want this monitor in their toolkit.
The image is stunning, whether the content is SDR or HDR. I noted a couple of things in the convenience category, though. Switching between formats is automatic, but the X34 OLED doesn’t have separate settings for each. If you’ve turned on Constant Brightness for SDR, something I commonly do, it stays on when switching to HDR, necessitating a visit to the OSD. Also, in SDR mode, the brightness setting stays the same whether Constant Brightness is on or off. I prefer to equalize the peak to 200 nits for both modes, so to do that here, I had to readjust the slider each time. These are minor issues, but they represent room for improvement.
The X34 OLED’s audio quality is exceptional. The speakers play loud and clean and manage to cover a wide frequency range from midrange to treble. There isn’t much bass, but they have broader dynamics than most. The screen’s curve contributes to the sound stage by focusing it toward the user. Though it is wide and deep, it is also very present, which enhances gameplay.
If you do a lot of busy work like document editing and spreadsheets, the X34 OLED requires some adaptation. The extreme curve means some image distortion, but on the upside, windows on the sides of the screen are closer to the user’s eyepoint. More of the image is in focus than a less curved monitor would be. For photo work, the best thing was to keep the graphic in the center third of the screen while using the sides for toolbars or other applications.
The X34 OLED has Acer’s typical high standard of build quality. I’ve never seen a Predator display that wasn’t engineered and manufactured at the premium level. I appreciated the USB ports, especially the ones on the panel edge, which were very easy to access for things like phone charging. The headphone jack is there too, which makes a lot of sense for ergonomics.
Takeaway: The X34 OLED isn’t the least or the most expensive 34-inch OLED out there, but it delivers high performance and solid usability. Aside from a few minor inconveniences with the OSD, it served me well as a daily companion in both work and play scenarios. It has a stunning image and is one of the quickest gaming monitors I’ve reviewed. It certainly takes the speed crown in the 34-inch ultra-wide category.
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