Aorus FI32U - @ $950(USD} -- For Sale Now

[JackedNerd]

I did not notice any input lag and was loving the picture quality with my FI32U, unfortunately with my unit 1/5 of the entire screen (right side, vertical top to bottom) would intensely flicker with local dimming & hdr on (I think maybe just local diming and HDR made it look even more intense). When I returned it, they tested it and seemed on only occur on DisplayPort, not hdmi. Also the DisplayPort signal was cutting out on my ~4-5 times over the week. I also had a weird glitch where my firmware was saying F224. I did not update it, so not sure why it changed from F02. I did a reset on the settings and it went back to F02.

I was mainly wanting a display, for now, that is good for FPS, so I picked up a Samsung G7 since it was now on sale and $750 vs $1300 cdn. It being VA, the screen didn't wow me near as much. But the contrast & picture is great once I got it fully calibrated. It had a dead pixel, so now I'm waiting a week for another unit now. Going to miss the vivid 4k FI32U panel though.

Monitors are so frustrating. If I wasn't into FPS, I'd just get an LG C1 in a heartbeat.

 

[JackedNerd]

Well all I can say is this monitor is great for me. I don't notice input lag all that much. Maybe if I am really looking for it I might notice something, but I kind of doubt it and at that point I am not actually going to be playing the game, I am going to be playing a different game called find the input lag. I can tell this monitor is better in input lag than my old Dell 3014 but that is about it. IIRC the Dell 3014 was a 33ms vs this one which from what I read here in earlier posts is 14ms. I will never notice it anymore when gaming if 33ms didn't bother me before.

As far as the USB issues I was having. It definitely looks like a MSI USB issue and XHCI hand off. I have had 2 BSODs in the 10 days since my last post. And I couldn't reproduce the 2 BSODs I had. Not sure what happened there, but 2 different games (both pixel graphics 2d games Forgone and Hollow Knight) was the last thing that did it. I immediately tried them again when I rebooted and tried several times to reproduce the crash but couldn't do it. Since then haven't had any issues at all. I had one error with the new 3D Mark CPU benchmark but it resolved itself when I turned off HDR in windows and re-ran the test. It ran till it got to 4 threads then when initializing the screen, the monitor like disconnected itself from the PC. No input signal, I had to turn the monitor off then on again to get it back. Then I reran the tests with HDR off since that seemed to be the stumbling block and it ran fine till the end. So as far as I am concerned I think the problem is solved, or at least under 99% solved. I probably would have said 100% solved if not for those 2 BSODs from the 2d games that I can't reproduce.

Have you updated the firmware? I believe that fixes some peoples initial USB hub issues, unless you're already on F02.

 

[cybereality]

So I want to properly test this monitor, but I've been playing with it for about 1 hour and it's really good. Good QC, zero dead pixels or any noticeable flaws.

My spare rig with a GTX 1060 surprisingly supported 4K @ 144Hz 10-bit color HDR on a DisplayPort cable (this was a high end "8K" Club3D cable, if that matters). I mean, I can forget about playing any games newer than HL2, but the signal works.

Just setup my PS5, and honestly it looks great. I still need to double-check all the settings, I just booted up Observer and played for a bit, but the colors and the resolution looked better than anything I've seen on a monitor (but still not as good as the best TVs).

I have owned 2 or 3 4K monitors that I thought sucked (I was testing and ended up selling them) and I used a Samsung TV as a monitor for a bit and that was nice quality-wise but had it's own problems. I would say this monitor is not as good as the latest Samsung QLED and of course not OLED.

BUT, as a monitor, and in the 32" size, it is very good. Especially if you want to use PS5 as the refresh looks good, even at 60Hz (which is not the case for some cheaper panels, especially VA which looks horrible at 60Hz). I will test more tomorrow, I don't want to stay up too late, but initial impressions are positive.

 

[LurkerLito]

Have you updated the firmware? I believe that fixes some peoples initial USB hub issues, unless you're already on F02.

Yeah I am on F02. I even asked Gigabyte and they said I had the same firmware as what they have posted on the website even if the date of the file seemed newer based on the date it was posted.

 

[cybereality]

Got to spend more time with the monitor today. I definitely still like it, I feel it was worth the price as I think I can use this for a while.

It is not perfect though, nothing is. First, I will show a best case image, at dark with the room lights off. The picture is really good.

The main issue I was having was that glare was a constant problem, especially during the day. It is a matte screen and has some sort of coating, but to me the glare seemed more than other monitors I've owned in the past.

This is about the worst case, during the day with windows open and lights on in the room. I still watched the whole movie (had to angle the screen down a bit, that helped) but I could see that being a problem for some people.

And here are the more standard shots, which were taken at night but with the room lights on. This is all from a PS5 with 4K and HDR.

Overall, I am satisfied with this for the PS5. There are probably cheaper 4K panels that would have sufficed, but this one looks pretty good and has HDMI 2.1, VRR, HDR, and all the modern features.

The HDR support is okay I guess. I'm not sure if the local dimming is working or not, but I was impressed with the image nonetheless. Especially Ratchet and Clank looked very good.

I would not buy this just for the HDR, but it's a nice bonus feature on an already nice package. I will say the colors out-of-box appear well calibrated. For example, The Matrix looked as good quality as seeing it in the theater.

Games also looked as you would expect. Which is important, because you have very little to no control over the picture and colors. But thankfully everything is correct.

And the 32 inch size is just about perfect if you want an entertainment center that is low key, like in your room or on the side somewhere (not the main TV). So, yeah, I'm happy with it.

 

[DarkSideA8]

I'm certainly enjoying mine.

Minor glare noticed in the first couple of days - but I hardly see it any more (still there, but instead of looking for problems I'm just using the monitor and don't notice it)

cybereality Agree - colors look great

 

[bjmort]

Is anyone able to comment on the backlight bleed?

I've tried the new acer 32in and the new Samsung 28in and both had horrible backlight bleed.

 

[cybereality]

Is anyone able to comment on the backlight bleed?

There is almost zero backlight bleed, at least on my unit. Even on a black screen, it looks very uniform, maybe only on the far corners you can see anything but it's super minor.

Note, though, I've never had a problem with backlight bleed ever. And I've owned tons of monitors, maybe I am just not sensitive to it. Even so, this Aorus is better than most (but I could have just got lucky).

 

[cybereality]

I did try to take a photo, but there was too much reflection in my room, so you will have to trust me.

 

[kasakka]

Seems TFTCentral is going to review the FI32U so we will have easier to compare results soon.

 

[DarkSideA8]

Is anyone able to comment on the backlight bleed?

I've tried the new acer 32in and the new Samsung 28in and both had horrible backlight bleed.

I've not noticed anything. Not that there is none - but it's literally not a thing I've noticed - even while playing in a darkened room.

 

[cybereality]

The BFI mode on this monitor is SICK! It looks so smooth.

Was just playing Cyberpunk 2077, only getting around 45 - 55 fps BUT it almost looked smoother than my main machine at 90 fps but with no BFI.

Sadly on this Aorus, I couldn't find how to enable or disable the BFI, but I can visually see it was working. No way 45 fps has ever looked this good.

Hope some reviewers can touch on this, since it wasn't really mentioned at all on RTINGS (other than saying it was supported).

 

[bjmort]

So my monitor arrived today.

Backlight bleed is excellent hard to tell if what I see is IPS glow or bleed so really happy in that regard.

Doesn't seem to be any stuck pixels or dead pixels.

There is a little bit of dirty screen effect, nothing crazy but more than my AW2721D.

There is also some light pink tinting in some areas. Its mainly noticeable if you drag a white window from one side of the screen to another.

Given the issues I've had with other 4K monitors in the past month I think this one is a keeper. No monitor is perfect and id rather have a little tinting than horrible backlight bleed or dead pixels.

Just for the record below are the monitors I've had and the issues;

Gigabyte M28U - Horrible uniformity causing terrible dirty screen effect. Had a large 2 inch shadowy bar on any panning content as well as two think pinstripes from top to bottom that we brighter than the rest of the screen.
Samsung Odyssey G7 28in - Horrible backlight bleed on the bottom left corner of the monitor and bad bleed at the bottom middle, also wouldn't work with adaptive sync at all (probably just needed a firmware update)
2 x Acer XV322QK 32in - Interestingly both units had the exact same horrible backlight bleed in the same spots as the Samsung. One also had glue inside the proximity sensor.

 

[cybereality]

New review up from Tom's.
https://www.tomshardware.com/reviews/gigabyte-aorua-fi32u

 

[T_A]

New review up from Tom's.
https://www.tomshardware.com/reviews/gigabyte-aorua-fi32u

HDMI 2.1 isn't fully implemented on this monitor and on Xbox Series X you will need to do 4:2:0 , but this review states you could go 144hz 4k on HDMI on PC
Is this true or did they not even test it ?

 

[MistaSparkul]

HDMI 2.1 isn't fully implemented on this monitor and on Xbox Series X you will need to do 4:2:0 , but this review states you could go 144hz 4k on HDMI on PC
Is this true or did they not even test it ?

https://twitter.com/TFTCentral/status/1429840479269572614?s=19

TFTC says it is not a gimped HDMI 2.1 and actually tested it out

 

[T_A]

https://twitter.com/TFTCentral/status/1429840479269572614?s=19

TFTC says it is not a gimped HDMI 2.1 and actually tested it out

So whats the deal with Xbox Series X 4:2:0 ? makes no sense.

 

[MistaSparkul]

So whats the deal with Xbox Series X 4:2:0 ? makes no sense.

I'm just throwing a wild guess out here but maybe it's how the consoles are reading the monitor's EDID or something and thinking it cannot do 4k 444? Clearly it's not the monitor's problem if HDMI 2.1 GPUs are capable of doing 4k 144hz 444 with no DSC.

 

[StryderxX]

So whats the deal with Xbox Series X 4:2:0 ? makes no sense.

What options do you see in the settings dashboard when you connect the monitor to the Series X?

 

[T_A]

What options do you see in the settings dashboard when you connect the monitor to the Series X?

I don't have this monitor , 4:2:0 on XSX is from Gigabyte`s official specs
I read somewhere else that it has HDMI 2.1 only 32gbit or something , but still if it can do 4k/144hz (with hdr?) on pc cant figure why not on XSX

 

[cybereality]

I don't know about XSX. I have a PS5 with the HDMI cable that came with it, and it is set to RGB no problem.

I also tried with a PC and DisplayPort, and I can do the full 4K144 RGB 10-bit HDR (even with a GTX 1060). I've since got an RTX 3060 but I'll have to check if I have another HDMI 2.1 cable.

 

[GoldenTiger]

Gigabyte M28U - Horrible uniformity causing terrible dirty screen effect. Had a large 2 inch shadowy bar on any panning content as well as two think pinstripes from top to bottom that we brighter than the rest of the screen.

Did you try exchanging it? Was the shadowy bar overdrive related? I was thinking of picking it up soon because I prefer 28" instead of 32", and it happens to be $600 instead of $1k like the 32" is.

 

[MajorMullet]

Did you try exchanging it? Was the shadowy bar overdrive related? I was thinking of picking it up soon because I prefer 28" instead of 32", and it happens to be $600 instead of $1k like the 32" is.

I returned my FI32Us due to poor white uniformity. I picked up an M28U thinking it might hold me over until mini LED comes more available. Hoping for next year but we'll see. I had a 10% off coupon from Best Buy and a couple hundred in rewards banked so it made it a pretty easy choice

Having said that, while my FI32Us had issues with poor white uniformity my M28U is perfect in this regard. There is a small amount of backlight bleed in the bottom left but tolerable. It really is luck of the draw though because I've read of people having issues with M28U also.

Maybe ghosting / smearing doesn't bother me as much but I didn't see any issues with either of the Gigabytes.

I will also say that while I like the physical size of the 32" I actually prefer the pixel density on the 28". I do notice a difference in sharpness and games do a look a bit better because of it IMO.

 

[GoldenTiger]

I returned my FI32Us due to poor white uniformity. I picked up an M28U thinking it might hold me over until mini LED comes more available. Hoping for next year but we'll see. I had a 10% off coupon from Best Buy and a couple hundred in rewards banked so it made it a pretty easy choice

Having said that, while my FI32Us had issues with poor white uniformity my M28U is perfect in this regard. There is a small amount of backlight bleed in the bottom left but tolerable. It really is luck of the draw though because I've read of people having issues with M28U also.

Maybe ghosting / smearing doesn't bother me as much but I didn't see any issues with either of the Gigabytes.

I will also say that while I like the physical size of the 32" I actually prefer the pixel density on the 28". I do notice a difference in sharpness and games do a look a bit better because of it IMO.

Thanks for your thoughts/experience. I have used a 32", 28" (current with gsync hardware module but it's TN and 60hz), and a 24" panel, the ppi difference was noticeable to me on each step. I would vastly prefer to stay at 28" for that reason .

I'll try the m28u sometime soon... .

 

[cybereality]

32" is a good size to watch movies on. I feel like 27" (my old monitor, also Aorus) was too small for this. I mean, you can do it and it's okay, but 32" is really something else.

 

[GoldenTiger]

32" is a good size to watch movies on. I feel like 27" (my old monitor, also Aorus) was too small for this. I mean, you can do it and it's okay, but 32" is really something else.

I prefer the smaller size for text (coding) and gaming.

 

[Lava Lamp Freak]

I'm just throwing a wild guess out here but maybe it's how the consoles are reading the monitor's EDID or something and thinking it cannot do 4k 444? Clearly it's not the monitor's problem if HDMI 2.1 GPUs are capable of doing 4k 144hz 444 with no DSC.

This is from the RTINGS review:

"Update 08/17/2021: We were able to confirm that although the Gigabyte AORUS FI32U supports HDMI 2.1, it's limited to 24Gbps, and relies on Display Stream Compression (DSC) 1.2a for anything that requires higher bandwidth. This introduces some limits on the supported resolutions, depending on the source device."

 

[MistaSparkul]

This is from the RTINGS review:

"Update 08/17/2021: We were able to confirm that although the Gigabyte AORUS FI32U supports HDMI 2.1, it's limited to 24Gbps, and relies on Display Stream Compression (DSC) 1.2a for anything that requires higher bandwidth. This introduces some limits on the supported resolutions, depending on the source device."

Interesting. So it's using DSC on HDMI 2.1 in order to do 4k 144Hz 10bit HDR, I guess that explains why XSX cannot do any higher than 120hz 420 because it lacks DSC?

 

[cybereality]

Is there any article that explains if PS5/XSX support DSC? I looked, but I only found basic articles about HDMI 2.1.

In any case, I'm sure my PS5 is working on this monitor. Though I have been using 4K60, I think Dirt 5 supports 120Hz, so I can try that later tonight.

 

[T_A]

Is there any article that explains if PS5/XSX support DSC? I looked, but I only found basic articles about HDMI 2.1.

In any case, I'm sure my PS5 is working on this monitor. Though I have been using 4K60, I think Dirt 5 supports 120Hz, so I can try that later tonight.

4K60 is no problem , you can do that with HDMI 2.0 , PS5 cant do 4K120

 

[cybereality]

4K60 is no problem , you can do that with HDMI 2.0 , PS5 cant do 4K120

Yes. It can. Not originally, but they released a patch a few months ago.
https://www.playstation.com/en-us/support/hardware/ps5-4k-resolution-guide/

Note. RGB is not supported in this mode. In fact, when RGB is set in PS5 settings, enabling 120fps causes the screen to have an over/under image (2 images) and a weird green rectangle on the side. Not sure if this is a monitor issue or PS5.

However, when setting the color to Automatic in the PS5 settings, then 120fps works fine and I played a few rounds and confirmed it's working. However, this is at 420 color, I imagine the same limit as XSX.

 

[cybereality]

Has anyone figured out how to enable aim stabilizer sync on the FI32U?

I tried all setting on the OSD and the app and it's always disabled. Any clue?

 

[MistaSparkul]

The input lag mystery has been solved. HUB got 10ms of input lag with local dimming enabled and less than 1ms with it disabled. RTings must have had local dimming enabled then.

 

[linuxdude9]

Has anyone figured out how to enable aim stabilizer sync on the FI32U?

I tried all setting on the OSD and the app and it's always disabled. Any clue?

It doesn't work when SRGB mode is enabled. Maybe you're using that?

 

[DPI]

I prefer the smaller size for text (coding) and gaming.

GoldenTiger

Prefer 27" for coding/gaming - at 4K though?

I always read 4K on 27" is a little too small for the res.

 

[GoldenTiger]

GoldenTiger

Prefer 27" for coding/gaming - at 4K though?

I always read 4K on 27" is a little too small for the res.

Nah, I just use 150% scaling. It looks amazing with the ppi overall. At 24" it was like a magazine, but that was too small for me for a monitor. I've been on 4k since 2014. Scaling support is much better nowadays, but it wasn't that bad back then.

EDIT: Just to note, at 32" I used 125% scaling.

 

[xDiVolatilX]

Just in case for anyone looking for the bigger 43" version & didn't know there was one in that size Aorus makes the FV43U

https://www.gigabyte.com/Monitor/AORUS-FV43U#kf

I have it & It's spectacular 👍😻

 

[DanNeely]

Nah, I just use 150% scaling. It looks amazing with the ppi overall. At 24" it was like a magazine, but that was too small for me for a monitor. I've been on 4k since 2014. Scaling support is much better nowadays, but it wasn't that bad back then.

EDIT: Just to note, at 32" I used 125% scaling.

.. well as long as you weren't stupid about how you did your scaling. Back in the early 2010's I had a pointy haired deputy PM who couldn't wrap his mind around the fact that his decision to run his 24" 1920x1200 monitor at 1280x1024 was the reason why everything in our software looked weirdly stretched left to right and not a bug I needed to fix. I offered to help him change his resolution to 1680x1050 which would leave the text about the same height but not all stretched out, but he'd been running it in idiot mode for so long that he thought Outlook and Word looked screwed up in a standard aspect ratio. Pre-management lobotomy the guy was a decent engineer too. 😢

Old job was dragging it's feet on upgrading from XP to 7, so the built in Windows scaling wasn't a particularly good option at the time. And from the one person who used it and did testing I knew there were a few layout bugs if scaling wasn't 1:1 in the app; but since the single customer didn't use scaling they weren't worth spending a day or two to fix. Not when there was pointless code twiddling changes from a code security checking tool to spend the yearly keep the app under support pittance we got on anyway. 🙄

 

[cybereality]

It doesn't work when SRGB mode is enabled. Maybe you're using that?

No, I'm not using SRGB but I will double check. Thanks.

 

[VistaVick2]

Just in case for anyone looking for the bigger 43" version & didn't know there was one in that size Aorus makes the FV43U

https://www.gigabyte.com/Monitor/AORUS-FV43U#kf

I have it & It's spectacular 👍😻

In my opinion if you do a lot of office work this monitor would be better choice due to the text clarity issues on the 43 inch. It's unfortunate this model is so much smaller though. If you primarily game the fv43u is a great choice.

Due to one being ips and the other VA it's pretty much apples and oranges though.