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AOC might have just announced the best budget gaming monitor ever

AOC QA3279VWD8 gaming monitor

AOC has just unveiled its Q3279VWFD8 monitor, and it’s just £219. Need I say more? Okay, yeah I probably should… AOC nomenclature is rarely crystal clear. Essentially this is a 32-inch IPS monitor, with FreeSync support, and a 1440p resolution. 

I’ll admit £200 is still a fair chunk of money for most of us, but in gaming monitor land that’s not a huge heap of the ol’ folding stuff. And when you consider just what this AOC panel is offering, it’s actually a bit of a steal. A decent 1080p IPS can easily cost that much, and that would just be a straight 60Hz slab, with maybe 24-inches across the diagonal… if you’re lucky. 

That might just make its way into our list of the best gaming monitors

That makes it one of the cheapest 32-inch monitors you’ll be able to find, unless you manage to dig up some impressive back-of-the-lorry discounts down the pub. Obviously that means it’s not going to be the most outstanding gaming monitor around – it’s only sporting a 250cd/m2 typical luminance rating – but it’s going to still do a fine job on your desktop.

In terms of the full specs list the AOC Q3279VWD8 has a native resolution of 2560 x 1440, a refresh rate of 75Hz, an 8-bit +FRC panel, 5ms response time, and AMD FreeSync support to make good with the GPU frame synchronisation. You might be wondering what the point is in going from a 60Hz panel to a 75Hz one, but you can honestly see the difference between the two refresh rates. Sure, it’s not as noticeable as the jump from 60Hz to 144Hz, but you get a cleaner, smoother experience on the desktop especially.

This is the update to the older AOC Q3279VW, and that D8 suffix makes all the difference. The previous model was almost identical in spec, but this newer version uses that IPS display instead of the MVA panel used the old screen. That means you get sharper colours, with more depth and vibrancy about them.

Elsewhere it’s the same tilt-only stand, relatively chunky bezel, and expansive screen real estate.

The AOC Q3279VWD8 will be available this month, with a retail price of £219.