I decided to share the experience I’ve gathered after half a year of using the GIGABYTE AORUS FO32U2P monitor. I use it as my only monitor, no secondary display for static desktop content. My usage split is roughly 70% gaming, 20% movies or YouTube, and the rest is mostly web browsing and occasional office work (Excel spreadsheets, etc.).

My GPU is an NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4080, and the monitor is connected through a high-quality certified HDMI 2.1 cable with THX Interconnect compliance testing documentation.

For direct comparison, I’ll be using the LG C2 42-inch, which I used as a monitor for around 3 years (8500+ hours).

I’ll be judging everything purely based on personal experience, no technical, measurements, or professional analysis, just how I see it as an average user. I recalibrated the monitor several times for both SDR and HDR: first using settings from RTINGS, then finally based on TFTCentral recommendations. I have Windows HDR calibration enabled and tested RenoDX multiple times as well.

So here’s my take...

If I had to rate it based on price-to-performance ratio, it’s a somewhat above-average product. It doesn’t really impress, but it doesn’t disappoint either.

SDR:
Nicely saturated colors (sometimes maybe even a bit too much), brightness is just right for a moderately lit room. Colors really pop, black crush is acceptable, and it can be slightly tuned without losing or distorting colors.

HDR:
Compared to the LG C2, it’s honestly disappointing. In accurate HDR400 mode, HDR looks dull basically like a worse version of SDR. RenoDX helps here and there, but it’s not a miracle solution. HDR1000 is better, but it suffers from loss of detail in dark scenes. In the end, I gave up on it and accepted that if I want truly good HDR, I’ll either have to wait for newer QD-OLED panels or go back to LG’s C-series TVs. I’m not saying it’s unusable, but it definitely doesn’t deliver the “wow” experience I had with the LG C2.

The usual QD-OLED concerns about coating and purple tint

The monitor has a glossy coating. It’s slightly worse than what the LG C2 had, but honestly, it’s nothing that should bother anyone. It’s still miles ahead of matte finishes.

As for cleaning, I use distilled water and two microfiber cloths meant for screen cleaning. Nothing complicated, I wet one cloth, wipe the screen, then go over it again with a dry one. If I notice any smudges, I just repeat the process until they’re gone (usually takes longer because I don’t turn the monitor off, so it dries quickly :D).

No scratches, no permanent smears like some of the early Dell QD-OLED models people posted about. So in my opinion, that concern is completely overblown.

Purple tint is another issue that I think people exaggerate way too much. I have a window directly behind me until around noon, and when sunlight hits the room, purple tint is honestly the least of my problems because reflections become the main issue anyway.

In the evenings, I use LED strips behind the monitor and also keep a ceiling light on from the side so the room isn’t completely dark. No purple tint whatsoever. The light basically has to shine directly onto the panel for it to become visible. So the claims that you need to live in a cave to use a QD-OLED are nonsense in my opinion.

Gaming over HDMI 2.1 instead of DP 2.1

I’ve seen people on forums claiming that gaming through compression over HDMI 2.1 or DP 1.4 causes problems. I can’t speak for DP 1.4, but I personally have absolutely zero issues with HDMI 2.1. Everything works exactly as it should. ALT-TAB doesn’t take half a minute like some people claim, and I don’t notice any loss in image quality either.

Burn-in

Based on the photo, you can probably tell I don’t baby this monitor at all (1600 hours and 160 cleaning cycles). If it burns in one day, then so be it.

I used the LG C2 the exact same way, and even after 8500 hours there wasn’t the slightest sign of burn-in anywhere. I basically sold it only because I wanted better PPI and naively assumed QD-OLED would provide better SDR and HDR. Turns out only the SDR part was true.

So am I satisfied overall?

Honestly, I mostly ended up buying a rather expensive SDR monitor. HDR is simply unusable to me.

On the other hand, the games I currently play look absolutely fantastic in SDR. Colors are beautifully sharp and vivid. So overall, yes I’m satisfied, but I definitely wouldn’t buy it for HDR.

Games I played on this monitor

• Cyberpunk 2077 — HDR (RenoDX). Probably the only title where HDR is somewhat worth considering, but it still requires a lot of tweaking and the end result is debatable.
• Crimson Desert — Tried HDR, unusable. Finished in SDR.
• GTFO — HDR unusable, couldn’t see anything properly. Finished in SDR.
• Black Desert Online — SDR really shines here. Despite BDO having a relatively dull color palette, this panel made it look incredibly vibrant.
• Baldur's Gate 3 — Tried HDR with RenoDX, still much worse than SDR.
• Helldivers 2 — Honestly, I could barely tell the difference between HDR and SDR here.
• Space Engineers — Probably the only title where HDR1000 was genuinely worth it.
• Where Winds Meet — HDR unusable.