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AOC C24G1 review will explore the key features of what has emerged as the top-selling gaming monitor. It used to be that a high-performance gaming monitor would set you back hundreds and hundreds of dollars. The Taiwan-based display manufacturer AOC International continues to turn this premise on its head. AOC has been manufacturing displays for at least five decades and they are the go-to brand for people who need professional-grade displays that can handle resource-intensive tasks.
AOC may not (yet) have the brand recognition of Samsung or Dell, but the company is working steadily to increase their visibility. The company builds gaming monitors that are durable, with panels that continue to work perfectly for years on end.
With the AOC C24G1 gaming monitor, AOC upholds its mission statement of producing products that offer a great user experience at a great price. So let’s see what this curved, frameless monitor has to offer.
Content Breakdown
AOC C24G1 review: What do you need in a gaming monitor?
There are different types of gamers. There’s the professional gamer, who may or may not make a living from gaming. This type of gamer needs powerful gear and a gaming monitor that can keep up in terms of input lag and motion handling.
Then there’s the open world gamer; the one who can accurately gauge the picture quality of their monitor after a few minutes of gameplay. This gamer needs a high-resolution HDR monitor that will help them take in all the detail in their preferred gaming universe.
Anyone shopping around for a gaming monitor will want a balance of responsiveness and picture quality. Still, an individual will place more value on one metric over the other, depending on their preference.
Unboxing the AOC C24G1
The monitor ships with an HDMI cable, a display port (DP) cable and a power cable. You’ll also find a quick start guide with instructions for setup and basic tasks.
First impressions
The sleek, curved design of the C24G1 is its opening pitch. It would be hard to ignore this panel if you saw it in a catalog or a store. At 15 inches high, 21 inches long and a 1500R curve, this compact monitor can fit in a small space, making it the perfect display for a bedroom or dorm room. The C24G1 is frameless on the top and side edges, with ultra-thin bezels that maximize the display area. The basic controls of this display are on the bottom edge.
The back of the monitor has its own edgy design, with orange-red accents that run from the corners to the center. The center of the C24G1 sticks out in relief to the rest of the back surface. It holds a 100×100 VESA wall mount pattern.
The ports of this 24-inch statement piece are practically hidden. Because they face downwards and are housed right under the wall mount pattern, you would need a keen eye or the quick start guide to find them. Our AOC C24G1 review is just getting started.
[Read what others are saying about this monitor]
Inputs, connectivity and setup
The inputs consist of two HDMI ports, a display port, a VGA input and a 3.5mm audio line out. AOC doesn’t incorporate a wireless adapter into this monitor. Setup is as simple as hooking the monitor up to your gaming rig and switching it on. You’ll be happy to know that the color settings are great right out of the box.
Image quality: Resolution, color and brightness
The AOC C24G1 has a resolution of 1080p, which is more than enough for a 24-inch screen. At a pixel density of 93ppi, there are enough pixels in this display to render vivid, saturated colors with no pixelation.
Right out of the box the monitor’s color temperature is impressive, as it covers 89 percent of the sRGB color gamut. The color reproduction of this panel is perfectly accurate and you won’t need to play around with the settings.
A peak brightness level of 250 nits doesn’t seem like much, but for a 24-inch panel, it is enough. The C24G1 works just fine in a brightly lit room.
Image quality: Sharpness and contrast
The black level of this monitor is at 0.08 nits, which is pretty close to zero. Combined with adequate brightness levels, the impressive black level of the C24G1 creates a native contrast level of approximately 3000:1. This is enough to render sharp, defined images with a good level of detail.
Input lag and response time
The C24G1 is a 1ms VA panel with a 144Hz refresh rate. It has a native input lag of between four and seven milliseconds, which is pretty good for a gaming console. As affordable gaming monitors go, this is as good as it gets. It is difficult to find better speeds, even with more expensive gaming monitors. These numbers come in handy when it comes to motion handling.
Thanks to its FreeSync capability, the C24G1 has a variable refresh rate that allows it to match that of a given input source.
Motion handling
The monitor provides a smooth gaming experience at any refresh rate. You’re guaranteed fast-moving content that’s free from screen stutter and tearing, whether you’re playing at 144 or 75 fps. You may experience some issues if your gaming rig is powered by an Nvidia GPU that lacks G-Sync capability. In such a scenario, you may notice jagged motion and some motion blur.
A gamer with a keen eye will also notice some motion blur when they play fast-action games with the overdrive functionality turned off. If you want to get rid of the trailing and ghosting, activate the overdrive feature and set it to medium.
Alternatively, use the dedicated motion blur reduction (MBR) feature to reduce the trailing. The AOC C24G1 has a flicker-free backlight, but when you activate MBR said backlight will turn into a strobe. This blur reduction feature has a scale that runs from zero to 20. The higher the number, the faster the monitor will perform backlight strobing. So go ahead and play around with the settings to get a result that you like. We’ll wrap up our AOC C24G1 review by looking at a really cool feature this monitor has.
Gaming presets
It takes time and dedication to tweak a monitor to perfection. Also, the adjustments you make for one game may not work for another. That’s why AOC thoughtfully added presets for the following types of games:
- First-person shooter (FPS)
- Real-time strategy (RTS)
- Racing
The choice of presets reflects the strengths of the C24G1 monitor: Speed, responsiveness and great motion handling.
Pros
- Affordable
- The curved screen adds to a sleek and compact design
- The monitor is frameless on three edges, allowing you to create a seamless multi-screen setup
- Wide range of motion (tilt, swivel) from the stand
- Accurate color reproduction and great contrast make for good picture quality all around
- A native response time of four ms (MSRT response time of 1ms) and great motion handling
- No stutter or tearing, even at the highest refresh rate
- Great warranty terms with a three-year guarantee of zero dead pixels
Cons
- This monitor has a limited number of ports, which are also hard to reach
- No USB ports
- Being a VA panel, the C24G1 has narrow viewing angles
- Some people might find the screen to be a little dim
- You’ll need to disable FreeSync if your gaming setup uses certain types of Nvidia GPU
- You cannot activate motion blur reduction and FreeSync at the same time
AOC C24G1 review verdict: A budget gaming monitor with excellent performance
The minimal input lag, the great motion handling and the near-instant response time of the AOC C24G1 panel allow it to render demanding games without breaking a sweat. There’s also the added bonus of the sleek design and excellent build quality of the panel. Then there’s the icing on the cake: This C24G1 is one of the most affordable gaming monitors in the market.
It’s almost too good to be true, but sometimes you’re just lucky enough to come across something amazing. Find great deals on one here.
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