Gigabyte AORUS FI32Q Review

A 31.5” IPS display accompanied by a lightning fast 1ms response time, both Freesync and Gsync compatible and much more, the GIGABYTE AORUS F132Q is no doubt one of the best, if not the best gaming monitor out there. The F132Q offers an abundance of gaming features that only increase your comfort but enhance your gameplay as well. So let’s dive into the review of this beast of a machine.

Specifications

Image Quality

At 31.5” the F132Q offers a 2‎560 x 1440p or 2K display. The monitor looks great out of the box and the IPS panel sure lives up to its expectations. IPS panels offer faster response times, wider viewing angles and better color and contrast than both the VA and TN panels. Although uncommon, some IPS monitors may let some light leak through the edges, which is termed as IPS glow.

The monitor has an 8 bit color display and honestly the colors look fabulous and uniform from every viewing angle. With a brightness level of 350 cd/m2, the monitor is a great choice if you wish to share the screen with multiple people. Not only this the F132Q offers VESA display HDR400/HLG as well so viewing HDR content won’t be a problem at all.

The display, thankfully, is non-glare so using it in a well lit room won’t be a problem. Moreover, the flicker free feature does come in handy during long sessions in front of the screen as it completely removes screen flickering.

Performance

Best news first, the F132Q is a Freesync premium pro monitor meaning it maintains at least a 120Hz refresh rate with HDR content and supports Low frame rate compensation in both HDR as well as SDR content. Freesync premium pro is the best choice, if you play or wish to play HDR games.

To further pile on the good news, this monitor supports G Sync as well so it doesn’t matter if you are rocking an AMD or Nvidia graphics card because the F132Q has got you covered.

The Aorus F132Q has a lightning fast response time of 1ms (MPRT) (1ms (GTG)) which when coupled with the smashing 165Hz refresh rate (can be overclocked to 170 Hz) delivers a memorable gaming experience. Furthermore the monitor is capable of sustaining a 165Hz refresh rate even with HDR and Freesync premium pro enabled.

165Hz is enough for most games out there but if you are looking for a monitor with a higher refresh rate the ASUS TUF Gaming VG259QM or Sceptre C305B-200UN are both great options.

Design and Connectivity

On first impressions the Gigabyte AORUS FI32Q might resemble the Gigabyte G27Q and rightfully so, both the F132Q and G27Q have nearly the same screen size (along with very thin bezels), broad stand and matte black design but the similarities end here.

Surprisingly the stand is just as amazing as the looks of the device. The stand is very flexible and capable of:

Tilting (angle) -5∘~+21∘
Swiveling(angle) -20∘~+20∘
Pivoting (angle/direction) +90∘
Height Adjustment (mm) 130
VESA Wall Mounting (mm) 100*100

The absence of speakers does come as a bit of a surprise given the price of the device but it is certainly not unheard especially in gaming monitors. However Gigabyte has added a headphone port so you can plug in external speakers, when need be.

The F132Q offers quite a lot of I/O options which include two HDMI 2.0 ports, one Display port 1.4 , USB type C, USB 3.0 and a USB Type B. The HDMI and Displayport are enough for most monitors but the extra ports do allow more peripheral devices to be connected which is never a bad thing. The device also has a 3.5mm earphone jack along with a Kensington lock, in order to steal proof your monitor. Thankfully you do get a HDMI, a displayport and a USB cable in the box so you don’t have to spend any extra bucks on buying new cables for your monitor.

Features

One of the things that differentiate the F132Q from the rest is undoubtedly the plethora of features it offers. Gigabyte has added 14 different game enhancing features that guarantee a smoother, clearer and overall more enjoyable gaming experience. The features are as follow:

OSD Sidekick: grants you the freedom of using your keyboard and mouse to set the display options
Active Noise Cancelling (ANC) 2.0: blocks all unwanted background sounds.
Aim Stabilizer Sync: helps to correct motion blur in order to provide a clearer view of the target, which in turn helps to improve your aim, when the camera is frequently moving.
Black Equalizer 1.0: helps to deepen blacks without disturbing the rest of the colors
Customizable Crosshair
Timer: adds a timer on the display.
Eagle Eye
PiP/PbP
Auto-Update
KVM: stands for ‘keyboard, video and mouse’: This feature lets the user control multiple computers using only a keyboard, monitor and mouse.
6 axis Color Control
Flicker-free: helps to reduces eye stress and chances of other eye-related problems

Final Remarks

In conclusion the GIGABYTE Aorus F132Q is definitely one of the best monitors you can get under the price tag of $700. The monitor is perfect for gaming in nearly all aspects and grants the user the freedom to use whatever graphics card they prefer and the ability to use their respective adaptive syncs with them.

It goes without saying that the F132Q is great for things like photo/video editing, multimedia usage etc but given the specs and features, this device is more suitable for gamers and such and using it for only office use or for photo/video editing would be a waste of its full potential.