ASRock Phantom Gaming PG34WQ15R2B review

About the ASRock Phantom Gaming PG34WQ15R2B

Here are the specs of the monitor we tested:

• Price: $380
• Display size: 34 inches
• Resolution: 3440 x 1440 pixels
• Refresh rate: 165Hz
• Peak brightness: 550 nits (rated), 272.5 nits (SDR tested), 468 nits (with HDR)
• HDR support: DisplayHDR 400, HDR10
• Color depth: 8-bit
• Color saturation: 91% DCI-P3 (rated), 115% sRGB (rated); 88% DCI-P3 (tested), 100% sRGB (tested)
• Contrast ratio: 3,000:1 (rated), 1750:1 (tested)
• Pixel response time (GtG): 1ms
• Ports: 2x HDMI 2.0, 1 x DisplayPort 1.4, 1 x 3.5mm
• VRR Support: FreeSync Premium
• Other features: VESA mount (100x100), Wi-Fi antenna, x2 2-watt 2.0-channel speakers

The ASRock Phantom Gaming PG34WQ15R2B is one of two monitors released concurrently, and shouldn’t be confused with the Phantom Gaming PG27FF1A. The latter is a 27-inch, 165Hz 1080p monitor, and both are available exclusively for purchase through Newegg at the time of writing.

What we like

Well balanced visual performance

The ASRock Phantom Gaming PG34WQ15R2B doesn’t stand out for doing one thing exceptionally well, but it gets a feather in its cap for how well-rounded it is. It matches speed with resolution, pushing its 3440 x 1440 resolution to 165Hz that gives almost a 15% advantage over the 144Hz refresh rate you’d find from typical budget ultra-wide monitors.

Though the ASRock Phantom Gaming PG34WQ15R2B uses a VA panel, it threads the needle between the performance I’m used to seeing from IPS and VA panels, giving something of a best-of-both-worlds feeling. Its pixel response time isn’t perfect, meaning there’s some ghosting, but the blur behind moving objects on screen isn’t egregious enough to stand in the way of fast-paced gaming—a more common fault of average VA panels. I was able to keep up with the intense action of a few final circles in Call of Duty: Warzone 2.0 and come out with wins.

The default contrast ratio isn’t as good as a lot of other VA panels, topping out at 1750:1 in my testing, but it’s much better than most IPS panels. This lends a more cinematic feeling to content with strong contrast.

The respectable, bright colors

You can get a more colorful monitor than the ASRock Phantom Gaming PG34WQ15R2B for less money, but it’ll generally be smaller. The ASRock PG34WQ15R2B does a decent job of providing plenty of color accurately while keeping the cost down.

I measured 100% coverage of the sRGB color space and a respectable 88% of DCI-P3. I’ve seen a handful of monitors provide a much wider DCI-P3 coverage recently, but they either weren’t ultra-wide monitors or came with their own trade-offs, like the awful contrast of the MSI Optix MPG321QRF-QD or the extreme price of the Alienware AW3423DW QD-OLED.

To top it off, the ASRock Phantom Gaming PG34WQ15R2B delivers its colors with aplomb. At its default brightness of 70%, the monitor had an impeccable color accuracy with an average dE of just 0.5 out of the box, which is accurate enough the human eye shouldn’t be able to distinguish any issues. Bumping the brightness up to 100% saw no significant reduction to that accuracy.

Turning HDR on bumped the brightness up to a measured peak brightness of 468 nits (ASRock rates it for 550 nits, but that’s likely only possible for the monitor displaying a full window of white at max brightness, so it won’t come into play for highlights in HDR). Enabling HDR shrinks the color space a bit, but doesn’t bring the color accuracy below an average dE of 3.

The value

Since the ASRock Phantom Gaming PG34WQ15R2B isn’t competing on features or specs, it takes a different approach: value. At its initial launch price of $430, it’s not quite cheap, but that’s priced below a lot of similar monitors.

Most of its competitors are going to be 27-inch 1440p monitors. The advantage of the PG34WQ15R2B is that it provides a lot more screen real estate with its 34-inch, 21:9 display panel. If a big monitor for gaming is what you’re after, the value here is plain. The price has since dropped since our initial impressions even further down to $380, and we've even seen it fall as low as $200 on sale.

What we don’t like

HDR carries some unpleasant behavior

HDR still has some unpleasant or unexpected behaviors on monitors, and that continues to be the case for the ASRock Phantom Gaming PG34WQ15R2B. While there’s a benefit in terms of peak brightness and even a slight increase to the contrast ratio, it comes with some other quirks that will likely have you switching it on and off on the regular.

HDR mode is considerably and immediately different from SDR mode. The whitepoint goes from an extremely cool 8700K in SDR to a very warm 6000K in HDR. The monitor also behaves strangely depending on what’s on screen. The color temperature can shift around noticeably depending on the on-screen content. When I have a word document while I move and resize other browser windows, I can see the document’s white space react to the changes. This shift can even crop up in smaller details, like the white text in subtitles. Darker scenes can turn white subtitles into more of a gray color.

There seems to be an adaptive backlighting feature forced on with HDR, and this can shift the brightness around awkwardly. It isn’t instant, so sometimes a scene change will be followed by a sudden but delayed shift in overall brightness. This also sucks some of the life out of highlights when displaying otherwise dark scenes.

Shoddy build aspects

The ASRock Phantom Gaming PG34WQ15R2B’s best qualities are in its display panel. The rest of the package doesn’t offer much to get excited for.

Though the stand itself feels fairly durable and has about as much flexibility as you can expect for an ultra-wide monitor, it allows for a lot of wiggle. Little jolts and jostles are going to see the monitor shake around a bit, even if it won’t ultimately tip over.

This might make you want to swap to a different mount, but then you’d miss out on the included stand’s built-in Wi-Fi antenna. That’s probably not the end of the world, even though the monitor’s most distinct feature may actually be that antenna. It’s mostly just a space-saving feature for gamers who use their PC’s Wi-Fi.

In a quick comparison test, the stand’s antenna provided a stronger signal and close to double the data transfer rate over my PC’s default antennas on 5GHz and 2.4GHz networks, but neither option came close to the speed of the Ethernet connection I usually rely on.

For a monitor that includes a Wi-Fi antenna in its stand, you might think it would also include a USB hub—something that’s more likely to have utility for users—but no such luck.

Though the ASRock Phantom Gaming PG34WQ15R2B includes a pair of speakers, I struggle to call them anything more than an afterthought. Even in a quiet room with the volume maxed out, they’re barely audible.

Buried potential

Strangely, the ASRock Phantom Gaming PG34WQ15R2B has considerable room for improvement with just a few adjustments if you’re willing to fiddle with its settings.

I was curious about the display’s default cold color temperature and changed to a user color mode that balanced out the red, green, and blue channels. Then I maxed the brightness. This change netted a minor bump to 89% of the DCI-P3 color space. Better still, these changes saw the brightness reach a peak of 487 nits, exceeding even the previously measured HDR peaks, and increased the contrast ratio to 3120:1, a substantial lift. Color accuracy dipped but maintained an average dE below 1. With calibration, it could probably go even further.

This is much better than out-of-the-box performance, and likely just buried enough that many users might never see it. I understand many monitors have to ship with an Eco mode by default, but disabling it on the ASRock Phantom Gaming PG34WQ15R2B should have immediately switched to the profile I set up and not the nerfed one ASRock opts for.

Unfortunately, these color adjustments are unavailable in HDR mode.

Should you buy the ASRock Phantom Gaming PG34WQ15R2B?

Maybe, if you’re after a lower-cost ultra-wide

The ASRock Phantom Gaming PG34WQ15R2B is good, verging on great, for a budget-friendly ultra-wide gaming monitor. Its color coverage is respectable, and that makes for a pretty presentation of its sharp and fast gaming visuals. It might be the first solid alternative I’ve seen to the Monoprice Dark Matter 34 (42772), given its comparable pricing and faster speeds.

However, the equation changes if you’re after a budget-friendly 1440p monitor but not specifically an ultra-wide. The Acer Nitro XV272U Vbmiiprx is much cheaper at only $250 (and often discounted further), has impeccable consistency, and only falls behind the PG34WQ15R2B in contrast and the size of its display. It’s a similar story for the NZXT Cavnas 27Q. The bright and colorful Gigabyte M27Q X also can’t match the ASRock Phantom Gaming PG34WQ15R2B’s contrast ratio, but it’s substantially faster and has better features, like a USB hub, USB-C input, and a KVM switch.

You can definitely get a better monitor than the PG34WQ15R2B for your money, you just might not be able to get one as wide.