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Late last year, popular manufacturers such as ASUS (ROG), Gigabyte (AORUS) and Viewsonic (ELITE) brought out the next generation of performance gaming monitors. The most notable addition was the incorporation of HDMI 2.1 connectivity, native 4K, HDR and maximum 120/144Hz refresh rates, these specific features pair up nicely with your dream enthusiast desktop rig, or latest home consoles from Sony and Microsoft that might as well be considered Unobtanium.
BenQ also has their own gaming subbrand known as MOBUIZ, so of course they’d come out with something like the MOBIUZ EX3210U. A premium gaming monitor that handily ticks many of the right boxes for everything players would want or demand from a bombastic 32-inch display, bells and whistles included.
Snow White Transformer
You probably won’t mistake the MOBIUZ EX3210U for many other monitors out there. Instead of the typical black matte motif that tries to ape the look of a SR-71 aircraft, BenQ chose to stand out and go with a mashup of ghost white, titanium and gun metal finishing, while ‘red alert’ accents adorn the overextended base stand. The physical theme is angular and purposefully futuristic to exude its hardcore “gamerness”, with LED effect lighting in the rear that’s split in four quadrants and expectedly presented in a customizable RGB spectrum. Around back, all the ports are optimized for next-gen with two HDMI 2.1, a single DisplayPort 1.4, four USB 3.0 ports (one Type-B Upstream, four Type-B Downstream), and a 3.5mm audio jack for external speakers.
Another cool thing about the EX3210U is that it comes with a quick access remote that gives you all onboard options and internal speaker volume without having to use annoyingly placed menu joystick, input source, ‘HDRi’ and microphone on/off button (yes, this monitor has a omnidirectional noise cancelling microphone built-in). It’s just incredibly convenient that BenQ provides a remote control and addresses one of the major complaints normally associated with flagship gaming monitors, I should expect nothing less and this monitor delivers in accessibility.
Beyond Gamer-Ready
To make a gaming display spectacular, BenQ employs a FIPS (Fast IPS) panel that gets you excellent millisecond performance (1ms MPRT) and 300/600 nits (peak HDR). Before adjustments, image quality is vibrant—though oversaturated with average black levels due to its lack of local dimming. For people using the EX3210U for its intended purpose of pure gaming and Twitch streaming, there’s really nothing to complain about even before enabling native HDR (source device) or HDRi (monitor emulated) modes. It’s going to be an overqualified display for normal users or part-time content creators, especially if you haven’t been fortunate to secure a high-end GPU (RTX 2080Ti, RTX 3080, AMD 6800XT), or a console like a PlayStation 5 or Xbox Series X.
However, if you are lucky enough to own any the machines then the EX3120U will be a awesome personal display that takes full advantage of their features. For the most consistent results I stuck to playing on my PC (RTX 3080/AMD Ryzen 3700X) with 4K and 144Hz being target presets. For titles such as Call of Duty: Warzone, Forza Horizon 5, Gears 5, Death Stranding, and Far Cry 6 there are varying thresholds, but each game looked impressive on this monitor with the proper hardware and AMD FreeSync Premium Pro enabled.
HDRi
HDRi is another proprietary feature that enhances visual fidelity in native HDR or attempting to emulate the HDR on material through adaptive technology. The overall result is that screen brightness and contrast is pushed accordingly depending on the selected presets (Game HDRi, Cinema HDRi, Display HDR), and helps produce extra pop without the typical sacrifice of overexposing the picture. To BenQ’s credit, EX3210U with HDRi enabled is a decent alternative to a TV if you watch regularly enjoy movies or stream content.
Conclusion
I’ve spent almost a month living with the MOBIUZ EX3210U Gaming Monitor and BenQ has successfully elevated their enthusiast marque to contend with the other titans of this segment. For example, this behemoth is squarely aimed at something like the ViewSonic XG320U, which is also a favorite of mine. Both choices are excellent—however, the EX3210 has a definitive edge thanks to its more extensive array of included conveniences and the added remote controller. Without question, the EX3210U is currently the best gaming monitor I’ve reviewed for 2022.