Bottom Line
If you’re looking for a good mixture of gaming responsiveness and immersion, the LG 32GP850 just might be for you thanks to its 32″ 1440p nano IPS panel with vibrant colors and quick response time speed. Moreover, it supports overclocking up to 180Hz, variable refresh rate, MBR, and has an ergonomic stand!
The LG UltraGear 32GP850-B is a 32″ 1440p 165Hz gaming monitor based on a nano IPS panel with a fast 1ms response time speed and a wide 98% DCI-P3 color gamut, ensuring both an immersive and responsive gaming experience!
Image Quality
The LG 32GP850 monitor is based on a nano IPS panel boasting a wide 98% DCI-P3 color gamut – that’s equivalent to ~135% sRGB and results in rich and saturated colors, especially when it comes to reds and greens.
Since most content (non-HDR games, web content, etc.) is made with the sRGB gamut in mind, colors will be over-saturated. Luckily, the LG 32GP850 has an sRGB emulation mode that can restrict its native gamut down to ~100% sRGB for more accurate output! Note that you can adjust brightness in this mode, but not color channels.
In addition, IPS technology offers 178° wide viewing angles which prevent shifts in brightness, contrast, gamma and color when looking at the screen at skewed angles.
As you get good coverage of both sRGB and DCI-P3 color spaces, and the colors are consistent across the entire screen, you can even use the LG 32GP850 for professional color-critical work.
Moving on, the monitor has a decent peak brightness of 350-nits, meaning that it can get more than bright enough under normal lighting conditions. The contrast ratio ranges from 700:1 to 1,000:1, depending on the individual unit. So, you won’t get as deep blacks as that of VA monitors, but you get other advantages of IPS technology.
Another drawback of IPS monitors is IPS glow.
It’s characterized as visible ‘glowing’ around the corners of the screen and it’s mainly noticeable when watching dark scenes in a dark room with high brightness setting. Its intensity also varies across different units, so your mileage may vary. Unless you get a really bad unit, it’s completely manageable.
Performance
While 4K UHD resolution would look much sharper on a 32″ monitor, 1440p is a lot less demanding to drive, allowing you to maintain a high frame rate with a decent mid-range graphics card.
It also looks quite good. You get a pixel density of 93 PPI (pixels per inch), which is equivalent to that of a 24″ 1080p monitor.
However, due to the bigger screen size, you’ll be sitting a bit further away from it, so individual pixels won’t be as noticeable as they are on 24″ 1080p displays.
The LG 32GP850 input lag amounts to around 4ms, which makes for imperceptible delay, while the 1ms GtG pixel response time speed takes care of ghosting.
There are four response time overdrive modes: Off, Normal, Fast, and Faster.
‘Faster’ adds too much overshoot, while ‘Off’ is not fast enough. At 165Hz (or 180Hz if overclocked), the Fast mode offers the best performance with minimal ghosting and a negligible amount of overshoot.
However, if you’re using a variable refresh rate (VRR) and your frame rate is below 100FPS, you should dial back the overdrive setting to ‘Normal’ for less overshoot.
The LG 32GP850 has both AMD’s FreeSync Premium and NVIDIA’s G-SYNC Compatible certifications for tear-free gameplay up to 180FPS.
It also supports MBR (Motion Blur Reduction) at fixed 120Hz, 144Hz, or 165Hz refresh rates. This technology uses backlight strobing to reduce perceived motion blur at the cost of picture brightness.
Because these monitors use nano IPS technology with slow red phosphor decay, some red fringing/ghosting is noticeable when MBR is enabled. However, depending on the game, you still might find it useful.
The monitor’s backlight is flicker-free (unless MBR is enabled) and there’s an integrated low-blue light filter (Reader mode).
Features
The OSD (On-Screen Display) menu of the monitor is neatly organized and easy to use thanks to the directional joystick beneath the bottom bezel of the monitor.
Noteworthy gaming features include Black Stabilizer (improves visibility in darker scenes by altering the gamma curvature), custom crosshairs, a refresh rate tracker and various picture presets (FPS, RTS and two Gamer customizable profiles).
You can also download the On-Screen Control software and make all the OSD-related adjustments in a desktop application.
Other useful features include advanced image adjustment tools, including brightness, contrast, four gamma presets, sharpness, color temperature and 6-axis hue/saturation. Auto Input Switch is also supported.
Finally, the LG 32GP850 supports HDR10, but it lacks a high enough brightness and contrast ratio for a meaningful HDR viewing experience. It also has the HDR Effect feature that simulates HDR, but it’s far from the ‘true’ HDR picture.
Design & Connectivity
The stand of the monitor is robust and versatile with up to 110mm height adjustment, -5°/15° tilt, 90° pivot and 100x100mm VESA mount compatibility, but no swivel.
Connectivity options include two HDMI 2.0 ports, DisplayPort 1.4, a headphone jack and a dual-USB 3.0 hub.
Note that HDMI 2.0 is limited to 144Hz at 2560×1440, while DisplayPort 1.4 allows for 180Hz at 2560×1440 with 10-bit color depth.
The monitor also supports 1080p 120Hz for the PS5 and 1440p 120Hz for the Xbox Series X.
Price & Similar Monitors
The LG 32GP850 price ranges from $400 to $500, which is a bit expensive. For $550, you can even find 32″ 4K 160Hz IPS gaming monitors, such as the MSI MAG323UPF.
There’s also the LG 32GP83B variant, which is the same monitor, just without the 180Hz overclocking (165Hz maximum), MBR, and USB ports – it can be found for ~$50 less.
We recommend the Sceptre E325B-QPN168 instead. It can be found for only $250, though it doesn’t have quite as wide color gamut (92% DCI-P3) and it’s not overclockable (144Hz native, which is not a big difference in comparison to 180Hz).
Visit our comprehensive and always up-to-date best gaming monitor buyer’s guide for more displays and information.
Conclusion
The LG 32GP850 is an excellent gaming monitor! Its big 32″ screen with 1440p resolution and gorgeous colors provides an immersive viewing experience, while the rapid 1ms GtG response time speed, 180Hz, and VRR ensure smooth performance.
Specifications
| Screen Size | 31.5-inch |
| Resolution | 2560×1440 (QHD) |
| Panel Type | IPS |
| Aspect Ratio | 16:9 (Widescreen) |
| Refresh Rate | 165Hz (180Hz OC) |
| Response Time | 1ms (GtG) |
| Motion Blur Reduction | MBR |
| Adaptive-Sync | FreeSync Premium (48-180Hz) G-SYNC Compatible (60-180Hz) |
| Ports | DisplayPort 1.4, 2x HDMI 2.0 |
| Other Ports | Headphone Jack, 2x USB 3.0 |
| Brightness | 350 cd/m² |
| Contrast Ratio | 1000:1 (static) |
| Colors | 1.07 billion (8-bit + FRC) 98% DCI-P3 |
| HDR | HDR10 |
| VESA | Yes (100x100mm) |
The Pros:
- Wide color gamut
- Quick response time speed
- Plenty of features, including FreeSync and MBR up to 180Hz
- Ergonomic stand, USB hub
The Cons:
- IPS glow and mediocre contrast ratio (as expected from this panel technology)
- Design lacks swivel option
