Review | AOC C24G1 144Hz VA Curved Gaming Monitor

AOC recently released the C24G1 curved gaming monitor. It is most likely one of, if not the first 24 inch VA panel with a 1500R curvature currently in production. The AOC C24G1 also features 144Hz refresh rate, a 1ms MPRT via MBR mode and support for adaptive sync. That’s all under a $250 USD price tag and or about 16596 Pesos locally.

Again, this is the first 1500R curvature gaming monitor to land our arms for review. That said, we are interested to see what it could offer for those who are looking for a curved gaming monitor with a relatively tight budget to boot.

TECHNICAL SPECIFICATIONS:

Display‎
LCD Size	23.6″
Aspect Ratio‎	16:9‎
Resolution ‎	1920 x 1080
Refresh Rate	144Hz
Display Area	521.39 x 293.28mm
Pixel Pitch	0.272mm
Brightness	250cd/㎡
Contrast ‎Ratio	3000:1‎‎
DCR	80000000:1
Panel Type‎	VA
Response Time‎	4ms‎‎
Connectivity
Input/Output Connector‎	VGA, DisplayPort, HDMI
USB/Audio‎	3.5mm out
Ergonomics
VESA Wall Mount‎	100 x 100mm
Pivot	-90°/+90°
Swivel	-34°/+34°
Tilt	-4°/+21.5°
Hight Adjustment	0-130mm

DESIGN, LAYOUT AND CONNECTIVITY:

The AOC C24G1 is nothing like its AGON cousins. Design is similar, albeit somewhat new, with a nice aluminum stand and a frameless panel. This is a 24″ 1080P VA panel so pixel density is rather adequate.

The screen coating used is a blend between gloss and a matte finish. A usual feature found on most gaming displays due to its ability to reduce glare while still maintaining clarity. Bezel is thin so putting two or three C24G1s would look amazing.

Ergonomically, the AOC C24G1 could tilt, swivel and pivot on top of the VESA mountable design. Though to be fair, we’ve seen better – ergonomics-wise. This weights in at 4.4 kilograms plus the stand so standard 100 x 100 VESA mounts could lift it without much fuss.

As for display options, AOC went with a single HDMI, Display and a VGA port. We also got an audio out but that’s about it. Not sure why AOC even bother with VGA on this thing. At least we got a Kensington Lock though.

Power is unfortunately external and there’s no speaker to boot. A dual 2W RMS speaker will suffice for most.

ON-SCREEN DISPLAY MENU:

The AOC C24G1 features a familiar OSD. In fact, it’s even more familiar with their lower end offerings. We have 8 main menus here with the Luminance, Color Setup, Picture Boost and Game Setting menus being the most important ones out of the bunch.

While it’s not my favorite OSD, AOC managed to cram a lot of settings into the C24G1’s firmware. That include a lot of options for each sub menus. I’m just happy that we have selectable gamma settings and even fine tuned Overdrive plus MBR modes within. The OSD is controlled by pressure sensitive buttons rather than by a joystick so it’s still a chore to navigate.

TEST SETUP AND METHODOLOGY:

Our test setup relies on the Blur Busters TestUFO Motion Tests and the Data Color Spyder5ELITE Display Calibration System. The cameras used throughout the review for the motion artifact and high speed assessments are the Fujifilm XE-1 and the Nikon 1 J1.

TEST SYSTEM SPECIFICATIONS
PROCESSOR	Intel Core i5 6600K
MOTHERBOARD	ASUS Z170-A
COOLER	Cryorig C1 Top Flow
MEMORY	Crucial Ballistix Tactical DDR4 @ 2666MHz 2x4GB
GRAPHICS	ASUS ROG STRIX GTX 1060 OC 6GB
STORAGE	Crucial BX200 480GB
POWER	Corsair RM850X 850W
DISPLAY	ASUS MG278Q
OS	Microsoft Windows 10 Pro

Target for calibration is a 2.2 Gamma value, with a White Point at 6500K and a Brightness value set at 120 cd/㎡. Calibrated values are then analyzed with the Spyder5ELITE Display Analysis tool. Do note that Dynamic Contrast Ratio and other extra features built within the OSD are disabled during the tests. The following OSD values are selected for the display calibration.

OSD Settings
Brightness	58
Contrast	50
Saturation	NA
Temperature	Warm
Gamma	Gamma 1
Preset	Standard

If you wish to use the calibrated ICC profile taken from our Spyder5ELITE result, just send us a message. You may also read our guide on how to use ICC profiles.

GAMUT:

The Gamut test evaluates the color spaces the display exactly covers. That includes industry standard spaces such as sRGB and AdobeRGB. Higher percentage values are better.

The color space coverage of the AOC C24G1 is generally good. Certainly up there with its co-VA models. We got a 100% sRGB coverage while AdobeRGB results are at 78%.

TONE RESPONSE:

Tone response is where we check the display’s Gamma values and or presets if there are any. We then compare the results with industry standards of 1.8, 2.2 and 2.4. Closer to these values are better.

Gamma levels for the 3 presets are 2.2, 2.1 and 2.6 based on our measurements. That said, only a single setting is able to match one desirable level.

BRIGHTNESS AND CONTRAST:

The result of the tests shows us an overview on how the display actually performs in terms of Brightness and Contrast ratio on varying brightness levels. Higher is better.

Brightness at 100% is rated at 258.6 cd/㎡ which is higher than the specified. Contrast ratio at 100% contrast level on the other hand is at 1530:1. Excellent results we got here.

SCREEN UNIFORMITY:

This test shows us an overview of the screen’s uniformity at the calibrated brightness level. The closer this value to 0, the better the performance of the panel.

Screen uniformity is what I could say generally good with a Delta-E value of 1.42 average. The AOC C24G1’s VA panel is uniform throughout with the exception of the lower right corner area.

COLOR ACCURACY:

This test shows how well different basic color hues are being reproduced by the display. These color tones correspond with the Datacolor SpyderCheckr. Lower Delta-E values are better.

The AOC C24G1 scored an average of 0.92 Delta-E value. Excellent result we got here for the little VA panel. One of the most accurate panels we’ve tested so far.

POWER CONSUMPTION:

The power consumption is checked with a power meter. Measurements are taken at maximum brightness level.

The AOC C24G1 consumes maximum power at 33.1W. This should go even lower at our desired 120 cd/㎡ level.

BACKLIGHT BLEED AND VIEWING ANGLES:

Backlight Bleed is the phenomenon where backlighting from a display leaks. This is prevalent with LED backlight enabled displays where the LEDs used to light the panel are situated at the edges of the display. Testing the Backlight of the display is conducted on a dim room, simulating the recognizable amount of bleed for such scenario.

Viewing angles are also tested to check out how the display panel performs on various positions. This should be helpful if you are looking for a panel that could be used on multi-monitor setups.

The backlight bleed of the AOC C24G1 at 120 cd/㎡ is hardly noticeable. Viewing angles are excellent too so there’s nothing to worry about anything here going out of the norm.

BUTTON TO PIXEL INPUT LAG:

The Button to Pixel Input Lag is a combination of system latency from the point of input, processing and display output. That is the basic of it and to quantify the approximate Button to Pixel Input Lag, we utilized Quake 3 Arena as our main shooter. The game is set at the native resolution of the panel with the FPS locked at 250. We check how much delay in milliseconds it took the display to actually output the signal via a 1200 FPS high-speed camera with ~0.83ms of accuracy.

Our button to pixel lag results shows that the AOC C24G1 has an average of 8.7ms of latency. Pretty nice result here from the 4ms VA panel.

FRAME SKIPPING:

Frame Skipping is the phenomenon where dropped frames and missing refreshes occur due to ineffective refresh rate overclocking. If your display exhibits such issues, it should be perceptually similar to in-game frame skipping. We are are utilizing the Blur Busters Frame Skipping Checker to test if there is any.

No worries here when it comes to our frame skipping test. Pretty stable performance so far from the small yet capable VA panel.

MOTION CLARITY: DISPLAY PERSISTENCE

Motion Picture Response Time (MPRT) is the numbered approach to demonstrate the level of perceived motion blur on a display. Basically, a lower persistence value indicates less motion blur. Refresh rate and the sampling method plays a major part here whereas a higher refresh rate nominally features better display persistence values.

Assessing the typical display persistence is easy enough with sample and hold displays, while CRT and Strobe Lighting enabled displays are quite difficult to test with the current tools available. That said, these are still good references to check out. Especially true if we’re looking for differences based on refresh rates alone.

MOTION CLARITY: PURSUIT CAMERA

Setting up a pursuit camera courtesy of Blur Busters allows us to a great extent, perceive the actual motion blur of the display. Using such method also allows us to check out for other motion artifacts including ghosting, inverse ghosting and other artifacts. This pursuit camera test is a peer-reviewed invention.

Motion clarity wise, we are looking at a display with around 1-2ms MPRT. Overdrive is best set at the strongest level, while the same could be said with MBR turned on. It is worth to note that MBR could also be used at 120Hz so you’ve got a range up to 144Hz if your system could output the required frames for the feature.

SOFTWARE, LIGHTING AND SPECIAL FEATURES:

Initially, I thought an aggressive 1500R curvature is an overkill for such a small display. I was like, what are you thinking, AOC? But after a month of testing, I have grown accustomed to the curvature allowing me to get a full picture – compact even, of the battlefield. No jokes here guys, since you’d get better FoV even for such a small display panel. Something that I thought what was practically useless under 27 inches.

The AOC C24G1 also comes equipped with support for Adaptive Sync which means it supports AMD FreeSync. This is a great feature if you absolutely hate screen tearing at the expense of extra but otherwise unnoticeable lag.

The AOC C24G1 also features AOC’s own Anti-motion blur technology called MBR. It’s short for Motion Blur Reduction, allowing the panel to strobe its backlight at a matching pace with the refresh rate. If your system could output the frames required (works at 120Hz too), then this feature is a must to utilize. Brightness is dimmed though, even more so at 144Hz.

Other features includes on-screen visuals such as the frame counter and a crosshair. Please refer to the official product link for more information.

FINAL THOUGHTS:

Out of the recent gaming monitors we’ve tested, I was surprised with the C24G1’s fun factor. It is just the ideal representation of a small package yet big on features and performance. There isn’t much to complain either with the exception of the OSD’s aging design and the local MSRP. I mean it’s just a solid issue-free performer.

Gaming experience wise, the 1500R curvature isn’t exactly game changing nor game breaking. It’s more of a quality of life factor for gamers who are looking for a slight advantage. A much appreciated advantage on top of the already unfair advantage that high refresh rate monitors could provide.

Overall, the AOC C24G1 is a true value oriented 24 inch VA panel based gaming monitor. One of, if not the best 24 inch curved gaming monitor so far in the market.

TOP NOTCH COLOR ACCURACY GOOD CONTRAST AND BRIGHTNESS LEVELS 1500R CURVATURE WORKS RATHER WELL GOOD ERGONOMICS, EXCELLENT BUILD QUALITY EXCELLENT ANTI-MOTION BLUR IMPLEMENTATION ADAPTIVE SYNC SUPPORT GOOD BUTTON TO PIXEL LAG

AGING OSD DESIGN LOCAL MSRP COULD BE BETTER