AOC AG352UCG6 Review: 3440×1440 120Hz G-SYNC UltraWide Curved Gaming Monitor

The AOC AG352UCG6 is an updated model of the previous AOC AGON AG352UCG version. It offers a boost in the maximum refresh rate to 120Hz via factory-overclocking.

Unlike the AG352UCG, the AOC AGON AG352UCG6 has an entirely black matte design and is, therefore, referred to as ‘Black Edition.’

Image Quality

Based on a VA (Vertical Alignment) panel, the monitor delivers a superior static contrast ratio of 2,500:1, which makes for more vivid blacks and an overall better relation between the darkest and the brightest tones.

It also supports true 8-bit color depth with 100% sRGB color gamut, thus ensuring vibrant and stunning colors. At the same time, the display’s luminance maxes out at 300-nits, which is plenty for a comfortable viewing experience even in well-lit rooms.

In comparison to IPS panel monitors, the AOC AG352UCG6 doesn’t suffer from IPS glow i.e., glowing around the corners of the screen due to excess light passing through the panel.

Not only do IPS panels have a lower contrast ratio, which results in a lack of black depth, but the IPS glow also makes blacks appear more grayish in dark rooms.

VA panel monitors, such as the AOC AG352UCG6, don’t suffer from this, which allows you to enjoy true blacks even in dim-lit rooms – ideal for watching movies and playing darker games.

Overall, thanks to its excellent color reproduction, high screen resolution, and solid brightness, the AOC AG352UCG6 curved monitor delivers amazing picture quality.

The 3440×1440 resolution on a 35″ screen results in the perfect pixel per inch ratio of 106 PPI. There’s plenty of screen space, while the details are sharp and clear without any scaling necessary.

Performance

The AOC AG352UCG6 input lag (the time it takes for a monitor to react and display your commands) is excellent at only ~5ms, which is imperceptible to the human eye. 

However, the response time, which is the time pixels take to change from one color to another, is not as good.

Consequently, there’s visible ghosting and smearing of fast-moving objects, especially when there are mainly dark pixels in the image.

Nevertheless, the amount of trailing is tolerable as, in return, you get such deep blacks. However, if you’re particularly sensitive to it, you should look for a faster display.

In the OSD (On-Screen Display) menu, you can set the Overdrive setting to Off, Weak, Light, Medium, and Strong.

This setting can improve the response time speed performance, and we recommend putting it to ‘Medium.’

If you select ‘Strong,’ inverse ghosting (overshoot) starts to appear, which can be more annoying than the initial problem. But, this also varies between games and your personal preference, so choose accordingly.

Basically, with the Strong mode, you get less ghosting, but more inverse ghosting, while the Medium mode prevents inverse ghosting, but is not as fast. So, it all comes down to what you find more tolerable.

Other than that, there are no issues regarding the monitor. There’s minimal backlight bleeding, no dead pixels, and the viewing angles of 178° ensure no drastic shifts in contrast and color when the screen is looked at skewed angles.

The screen is also flicker-free and has a low blue light filter.

While many games support the 21:9 aspect ratio, which offers a more immersive gaming experience with a wider field of view, unsupported games will leave you with black borders at the sides or with a stretched-out or cropped picture.

So, make sure to check if your favorite games support the 21:9 format.

Features

If you have an NVIDIA graphics card GTX 650 Ti or newer, you can enable G-SYNC on the AOC AG352UCG6 monitor.

This technology allows the monitor to change its refresh rate dynamically instead of running at a constant 100Hz/120Hz refresh rate.

As a result, all screen tearing and stuttering is eliminated with minimal (~1ms) input lag penalty.

In short, this makes the gaming performance feel smoother, even at lower framerates.

Moving on, the AOC AG352UCG6 G-SYNC gaming monitor features pre-calibrated picture presets for RTS, FPS, and Racing genres as well as one fully customizable ‘Gamer’ profile.

In order to enable the 120Hz refresh rate, you will need to select ‘120Hz’ in the Overclock option in the OSD settings.

After that, make sure to also select ‘120Hz’ in your graphics card’s settings. The difference between 100Hz and 120Hz is subtle but noticeable.

In the OSD menu, you will also find the RGB settings for the LED strips at the back of the monitor and beneath its bottom bezel.

You can make the LEDs glow in either red, green, or blue color and at different intensity levels, or you can turn it off.

Other features include Shadow Control for better visibility in dark areas of games, three gamma presets, and Game Color (color saturation).

Overall, the OSD menu is user-friendly and easy to work with thanks to the joystick placed beneath the bottom bezel of the monitor.

Design & Connectivity

The AOC AG352UCG6 35″ curved gaming monitor has an entirely black design with reasonably thick bezels and matte finish.

Moreover, the stand is robust and versatile with up to 110mm height adjustment, -/+ 30° swivel, -5°/28° tilt, and 100 x 100mm VESA mount compatibility.

There’s also a headset hanger and a handle for carrying. Turning to the connectivity, you will find an HDMI 1.4b (3440×1440 at 50Hz max) port and a DisplayPort 1.2 input for 3440×1440 at 120Hz and G-SYNC.

Other ports include a microphone jack, a headphones jack, line-in for the 2x2W built-in speakers, and a dual USB 3.0 hub with one upstream and two downstream (one with fast-charging) ports.

Price & Similar Monitors

The AOC AG352UCG6 price ranges from $500 to $800.

At ~$500, it offers excellent value for the price. It’s one of the rare VA ultrawide gaming monitors with a G-SYNC module, which ensures smooth performance with NVIDIA cards.

If you have an AMD graphics card, you should consider a FreeSync model instead, such as the AOC CU34G2X, which can be found for ~$450.

The AOC CU34G2X even offers a higher 144Hz refresh rate and a wider color gamut, but it’s not quite as fast and it’s based on Samsung’s VA panel, so some units are affected by the VRR brightness flickering issue.

If you don’t want to bother with dark level smearing and/or VRR brightness flickering, check out the Gigabyte M34WQ with a 34″ 3440×1440 144Hz IPS panel, which is available for ~$500, but doesn’t have as high contrast ratio as VA models.

At ~$800, you can get the LG 34GP83A 3440×1440 144Hz ultrawide curved gaming monitor with a rapid 1ms GtG response time speed and wide 98% DCI-P3 color gamut.

Be sure to visit our always up-to-date best gaming monitor buyer’s guide for more information and the best deals available.

Conclusion

Overall, the AOC AG352UCG6 offers outstanding image quality and smooth performance. Although there are some challenges with ghosting, it’s tolerable considering it’s a VA panel display.

Specifications

Screen Size	35-inch
Screen Curvature	1800R
Resolution	3440×1440 (UWQHD)
Panel Type	VA
Aspect Ratio	21:9 (UltraWide)
Refresh Rate	100Hz (OC: 120Hz)
Response Time	4ms (GtG)
Adaptive Sync	G-SYNC
Speakers	2x2W
Ports	DisplayPort 1.2, HDMI 1.4
Other Ports	2x USB 3.0, Microphone Jack, Headphone Jack
Brightness	300 cd/m2
Contrast Ratio	2500:1 (static)
Colors	16.7 million (true 8-bit)
VESA	Yes (100x100mm)