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Time to take a look at response time performance, which we tested how we wanted to test it, not how LG said we should. In any case there are four performance modes, ranging from Off to Faster, similar to LG's other monitors. And we're starting here with a look at the Off mode, giving us a look at native panel performance without overdrive. As always this isn't really a mode most gamers would choose to use, but it does show an 8.6ms average response which is pretty decent without any voltage tweaking. Curved Gaming Monitor]1650R curved monitor proved to add an immersive touch while gaming or watching movies, helping to fill our peripheral vision, enlarging the field of view to a greater extend. The curved monitor provides the maximum immersion, fully engages your life in every aspects. If there is an obvious on-paper weakness, it involves HDR performance. HDR10 signal decoding is supported, which is handy to have and means you can watch HDR video or play HDR games and see the correct colors. But there’s no VESA HDR certification and the maximum brightness tops out at a relatively modest 350 nits. Likewise, the IPS panel is rated at a lowly 700:1 for static contrast, which isn’t going to help with hitting high peaks and deep troughs at the same time.
Factory greyscale calibration was a bit wonky on my unit. The color temperature overall was good, with no significant tint in any direction, but adherence to the sRGB gamma curve - or even just flat 2.2 gamma - was wrong. You can see a dip in gamma for the higher parts of the greyscale range, and this hurts deltaE numbers, only leaving us with average results. The step up from Normal is Fast. Response times have improved again and now sit at 5.7ms which is very solid, and this is at only a minimal cost to overshoot. As a result, cumulative deviation is lower, now at just 457, and typically this is what we are looking for when assessing overdrive modes. So in short, Fast is better than Normal when gaming at 180Hz and has a marginally clearer image than previous modes even with a small introduction to overshoot.Dark level performance is a non issue, as the 32GP850 uses IPS technology. However this is important to point out if you are tossing up between a 1440p IPS monitor or a 1440p VA monitor at this size, with VA models being more common. Unfortunately, most VA displays with the exception of Samsung's Odyssey G7 deliver dark level smearing.
This is a 32-inch 1440p IPS monitor with a maximum refresh rate of 180Hz. It's essentially a larger version of LG's 27GP850, it offers a very similar set of features, uses the same LG Nano IPS technology for the panel, and visually it's quite similar, too. However, as we've found many times in the past, using a panel from the same family doesn't guarantee the same performance at a different size, so that will be something to explore. The colour accuracy out the box is amazing and the brightness is next level, the first time I have ever turned down a monitor to below max brightness. Of course, with LG's initial approach to the 32GP850 review I was very curious to see whether this product is actually flawed in some way, and whether the review guidelines were intended to hide these flaws. It's certainly a suspicious situation, so I've been extra thorough with this review in an attempt to find any problems. At a fixed 120Hz, the 32GP850 performs adequately, again a little slower than the 27-inch model, but with notably lower overshoot than something like the Gigabyte M32Q. Then at 60Hz, look again it's quite similar to other displays that we've tested and if you turn down the overdrive mode to the best for 60Hz gaming as we have done here for all monitors, you get no overshoot which is great for this refresh rate.However, you really need a VA panel for the best contrast ratios as realistically all IPS panels have a bad contrast ratio. The Samsung Odyssey G7 offers more than twice the contrast ratio of any IPS monitor in this table and that has a noticeable effect on image quality for those that like to game in a dark environment.
With that said, deltaE results on the whole are better in the sRGB mode than in the default mode, so my recommendation for those wanting to improve the color performance of the 32GP850 using OSD tweaks is to run the monitor in the sRGB mode. Calibrated Color Performance
When putting the 32GP850 results up against the Gigabyte M32Q with their Aim Stabilizer feature, and the Asus PG329Q with their ELMB feature, the Asus monitor is the clear winner. Both the 32GP850 and M32Q have red fringing - despite the M32Q using a different Innolux panel - while the PG329Q does not. The image clarity you get with the Asus monitor is also the best of these three options. Color Performance Color Space: LG 32GP850 - D65-P3 It's not like it's worse than last year's model - because there was no equivalent last year. The UFO Test guidelines make a minimal difference and still exhibit the red fringing issue. If anything it's the contrast guideline that has the most impact, which does minimize LG's poor contrast ratio, but it's not a massive difference that would radically change our recommendation. I am also a programmer and the ability to orient the monitor vertically is great, with the size of the monitor there is so much vertical space. Power consumption is good, coming in a few watts lower than other 32-inch 1440p IPS displays that I've tested after calibration. Not a massive difference, but LG's Nano IPS panel appears quite efficient.
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