Today’s review is the ViewSonic Elite XG320U 4K 32” computer monitor. As the holiday draws near, it’s time to think about gaming products that you or someone you care about might want. I spent the past few days playing console and PC games on it, watching movies, and more. It also supports HDMI 2.1, giving people more options to utilize the technology on their computers. It has 4K resolution, a VESA DisplayHDR 600 Certification, and a 150Hz refresh rate. It has gorgeous visuals, and it could not have come at a better time. Showing up right as I reached the end of Final Fantasy XIV: Endwalker, I’ve spent several days putting this through its paces. How does it stack up, and what are the pros and cons? Let’s talk about it in the ViewSonic Elite XG320U monitor review.

One of the most important things about any monitor is the setup, and how sturdy it is on your monitor. I’ve had a host of monitors that weren’t always so steady and wobbled on my desk. The ViewSonic Elite XG320U has a hard plastic stand and a metal base. The three buttons are right in the center under the panel. My other monitors have the buttons on the side, but these are much easier to hit. The stand is nice and heavy, and it has a panel on the back to cover up all of the connections, for a classier look. It makes the monitor look and feels more like a TV.

On the topic of connections, it has 1 HDMI 2.0, 1 HDMI 2.1, and a Display Port. I do wish it had two 2.0 spots since my graphics card does not support HDMI 2.1. That will surely change in the new year. If you need them, it has 3 USB 3.2 Type-A Ports, Micro USB, and a 3.5mm audio jack. These are very useful for the various peripherals that you might not have space for on your motherboard.

I appreciate that you can adjust the height and tilt of the monitor, but it can also swivel side to side. As this is used in a multi-monitor setup, it’s not often I’ll have the capacity or need to swivel the monitor, but I’m glad that I have the option anyway. The monitor also has a mouse anchor, and headphone hook built-in, which are excellent in a single-monitor setting – unless it’s on the outside of the setup.

The center button opens up your menu and uses a tiny thumbstick to navigate. One of the biggest flaws of the ViewSonic Elite XG320U I noticed in the review is the menu itself. The actual menu is mostly transparent and can be terribly hard to see. I had such a hard time viewing the settings in the menu until I scrolled to the “OSD Background” setting. You can turn the menu background on and off. That adds a gray background to the settings, making it possible to actually read them.

I want to touch on the sound briefly, though I do not use speakers myself. The sound quality is solid, but it’s a little quiet. There’s no bass to the speakers, but they play from the bottom bezel. They are fine if you’re going to watch YouTube or something, but if you’re gaming, they simply are not enough. The option is there if you want to use them for casual video watching. But what about games? The HDR is solid on it, but I use it myself. What about the actual gameplay visuals?

The majority of my time spent with this was in Final Fantasy XIV, but I did also drop into Warzone, Destiny 2, and several other shooters. The colors in Final Fantasy XIV have never looked this vibrant and sharp. The blues, reds, oranges, greens? They all pop off the screen in a breathtaking way. I was stunned by how pretty every aspect of the Endwalker expansion was. Games that offer a wide variety of colors will stand out for your games. Destiny 2’s run-and-gun style really stood out. Warzone looked brilliant, and the greens and blues of the Caldera map jumped off the screen.

The huge 32” monitor really captures the 4K visuals. It might be a pretty big monitor, but it’s going to be practical to use on your computer desk. My other monitors are 1080, so playing games on the others, even if they are higher Hz, it just doesn’t look the same. It captures shadowy blackness quite well too. When I played Diablo 2: Resurrected, the caves looked fantastic and foreboding. 

Though the ViewSonic Elite XG320U says it’s a 150Hz monitor, it defaulted to 144Hz on my PC, so that’s what I tested it at. It worked incredibly with my PS5 on the other hand. My GTX 1080 did great with this monitor, but I wasn’t reaching insanely high FPS in my games. That’s on my graphics card and not the monitor. This monitor does also supports AMD FreeSync Premium Pro, but my card is an Nvidia. I didn’t see any framerate issues when using G-Sync. 

I had plenty of motion-clarity and didn’t see any flickering, or screen tearing. No matter what game I was playing, the text was clear, and the motion looked fantastic. Not as clear as my 360Hz, but still sharp and easy to see whatever I’m doing. This is more for regular gaming, not esports. If you want to be as competitive as possible in esports, you’ll want a 360Hz monitor.

I do more than just play games on this ViewSonic Elite. I do regular content creation on it since this is the computer I write for Esports Talk on. You can adjust the color temperature controls easily, and it comes with Blue Light protection that you can raise and lower. Its true 10-bit panel allows for incredible variety on your color settings. If you’re streaming, doing digital art, or other forms of content creation; this is an excellent monitor for exactly that. 

When writing, my fonts look perfect. It has an anti-glare coating, and I can use it for hours with little to no fatigue. You may have to look around the monitor because it just has so much real estate to screen, but you cannot beat how much room you have to display information. I get a lot out of this monitor, that’s for sure.

I love this monitor. When it comes to viewing beautiful video games, it is stunning. If I had an AMD card or an HDMI 2.1 graphics card, it would be even more powerful. I also am of the opinion that size matters when it comes to monitors. It’s a 4K monitor, but some have said that darker visuals have not looked as good on it. In my experience, that was not the case. The monitor has a few flaws, like the menu. I’m not crazy about the menu, and until I found the background for it, it was so much more frustrating. But there aren’t too many HDMI 2.1 monitors going right now, and the ViewSonic Elite’s visual quality would line up nicely with it. 150Hz is a great refresh rate, and also supports HDR. If you’re playing games that need high-quality visuals and use lots of colors, this is the monitor you want. 

Pros:

• Gorgeous 4K visuals and deep color range
• Solid variety of ports, with HDMI 2.0, 2.1, and a Display Port
• Works fantastic with PCs and Consoles

Cons:

• The menu navigation and background is weak without changing a setting
• Speaker volume is low overall
• Only 1 HDMI 2.1 port, which can be a deal-breaker for some

The ViewSonic Elite XG320U hardware was provided for the purposes of this review.

Price: $999.99 USD 

Release Date: Q3 2021

Reviewed on: Live

Available on: Hardware

Developer/Creator: ViewSonic

Multiplayer: N/A

Buy Link: Amazon and ViewSonic