LG UltraGear UHD 32-Inch Gaming Monitor 32GQ950-B

I'd been using an Acer Predator XB271 27" 1440p monitor for several years, but as time went on, I found myself noticing its flaws more and more. Throw in chronic dry eye and back problems that were forcing me to make a real effort to address my tendency to hunch forward, kind of grainy looking text, flat colors and ghosting becoming more obvious, and I decided an upgrade was due. I spent weeks debating between whether to go 27" or 32", 1440p or 4K, mostly afraid that 4K would tank my framerate too much, or 32" would be too big, on and on. In the end, going for a 32" 4K was absolutely the right decision, and the 32GQ950 is everything I hoped for and more. Sharpness, clarity, backlight bleed and black uniformity are all massively improved, colors pop in ways my Acer never did, and I'm able to set the monitor much further back while also sitting further back. The peanut gallery on sites like Reddit tend to slag this monitor for having high pitch fan noise and fake HDR. I can only speak to my own experiences here, but I haven't heard any sort of fan noise at all, and while the HDR is admittedly not "proper" HDR like a FALD and the dimming zones are limited, it still looks very nice with HDR on, provided you calibrate it. Even the basic Windows HDR tuning utility does wonders here. It may be just because I'm coming from an older 1440p that I think it looks nice, and if your primary focus is HDR above all else, or you just loathe IPS glow (and there is still some), then you'll probably find the 32GQ950 lacking. Personally, I think until "proper" HDR monitors get their response times, input lag and flickering issues under control, none of them are worth buying. Your average HDR-centric panel, while it may look nicer, also likely has response times and input lag that are worse than my now 6 year old Acer. If it's a VA, throw in a big pile of flickering. If it's OLED, you get to worry about burn-in and sub-par brightness. Pick your poison. If there is any particular thing that sets the 32GQ950 apart, it's that this is arguably one of the fastest 4k displays on the market, hits 160Hz, and it'll pass 10-bit color over DP at 160Hz. The Rtings review will indicate that 160Hz is unstable; I can confirm it is absolutely not unstable at all, and anecdotally, I'm actually finding that 160Hz with the response time set to Fast runs better than 144Hz set to Normal or Fast, with no discernable differences in ghosting or frame judder. In terms of performance, esp for those nervous about 4K general, I'm running this with a 4070 Ti and can easily hit upwards of 100-160fps in Diablo 4, Borderlands 3, Cyberpunk 2077, Resident Evil 4 Remake and others, with most settings cranked to max, though you may need DLSS in some situations. I've been shocked how well things actually run and most of my anxiety about my system being able to handle this resolution turned out to be no big deal. All in all? Zero regrets and I'm extremely glad I didn't bother with another 27" 1440p, a 27" 4K or a cheaper panel with higher latency and response like the Gigabyte M32U. I can't see myself upgrading for a long time and who knows, maybe by then miniLED IPS panels will actually be a viable option. Til then, you're not likely to find a better balance between performance and visual quality than this.