Corsair Xeneon 32QHD165 review

Our Verdict

The Corsair Xeneon 32QHD165 is a big, capable gaming monitor with lots of features and connections to Corsair's wider peripheral ecosystem.

For

• Excellent brightness, color
• Easy-to-navigate, clutter-gratuitous on-screen interface
• Integrates with other Corsair, Elgato peripherals

Against

• Pricey
• Stand up requires Phillips screwdriver to attach
• Does not support full HDR
• Non 4K resolution

Tom's Guide Verdict

The Corsair Xeneon 32QHD165 is a large, capable gaming monitor with lots of features and connections to Corsair'southward wider peripheral ecosystem.

Pros

• +

  Excellent brightness, color

• +

  Easy-to-navigate, clutter-free on-screen interface

• +

  Integrates with other Corsair, Elgato peripherals

Cons

• -

  Pricey

• -

  Stand requires Phillips screwdriver to attach

• -

  Does not support full HDR

• -

  Non 4K resolution

Corsair Xeneon: Specs

Dimensions: 28.eight x 23.9 x 12.4 inches
Screen Size: 32 inches
Resolution: two,560x1,440
Refresh Charge per unit: 165 Hz
Inputs: HDMI, DisplayPort, USB Type-C, USB Type-A

The Corsair Xeneon 32QHD165 represents the component and peripheral manufacturer's starting time foray into gaming monitors—and it'south a creditable i. The 32-inch Xeneon is loaded with gamer-friendly features, such as a loftier (165 Hz) refresh charge per unit, a low (1 ms) response time, and support for both AMD's FreeSync and Nvidia's G-Sync adaptive sync technologies. It offers wide-ranging extensibility with other Corsair products. And, perhaps most important, it also delivers sterling performance by whatever metric.

With a list toll of $799.99, the Xeneon is on the expensive side; its HDR functionality is limited to support for VESA DisplayHDR 400; and if the gaming features don't mean a lot to you, you'll probably miss the lack of back up for 4K resolution now and in the years to come. But the Xeneon does what it does well enough to make information technology one of the all-time gaming monitors you lot can buy.

Corsair Xeneon 32QHD165 review: Design

Though a lot depends on your personal room layout and desk configuration, for my coin, 32 inches is currently the sweet spot for gaming monitors: large enough for comfortably watching total-screen video clearly viewing and reading Windows elements, but small enough that you can sit in front of it without feeling overwhelmed.

(Prototype credit: Corsair)

So the Xeneon, with its 28.8-by-23.9-inch screen, which has thin bezels and quarter-inch black bands around the pinnacle, left, and right sides, earns one indicate in that location. (The bezel at the bottom is a shade more than a half-inch, and houses little more than the Corsair logo in the center and the white ability lite on the right.) Just if y'all utilise the included stand, the full monitor measures 12.4 inches in depth, with all but three of those inches in the back, so expect information technology to jut out from the wall quite a bit.

(Image credit: Corsair)

At least the stand is bonny: a two-piece number with an aluminum foot, triangular in shape and with rounded corners, that interlocks with the post to which the screen connects. The stand lets y'all raise or lower the screen about 4.iii inches, tilt it up from -five degrees to twenty degrees, or swivel it 30 degrees in either direction.

(Image credit: Corsair)

The i negative well-nigh the stand involves the installation. On most monitors, the post clicks into the back of the monitor when y'all just press information technology into place; here, you need a Phillips screwdriver to secure information technology with four screws.

(Image credit: Corsair)

This undoubtedly results in a stronger connection, but it'due south irritating as the postal service won't just stay in identify while you screw it in—you lot really need to hold it downwards (or get someone else to help). If you don't want to use the stand up at all, the 100-by-100-millimeter VESA mounting holes will let you place the monitor directly on the wall.

(Paradigm credit: Corsair)

In add-on to four integrated cable direction clips on its back, the mail service also sports a mounting port at the top for connecting devices in the Elgato Multi-Mountain family. (Elgato is endemic by Corsair, so compatibility is ensured.) Afterwards removing the quarter-inch screw (once more using a Phillips screwdriver), you lot can attach a camera adapter and one of two Elgato Flex Arms (neither of which is included) to agree supported devices and give you lots of control over adjusting their positions. Yous're most probable to want to add a webcam for video calls, live streaming, or just full general recording, but Elgato'due south line likewise includes a number of lights, microphones, and other peripherals that will connect with minimal trouble.

(Image credit: Corsair)

Although y'all can admission the ports on the back of the brandish from the front end, especially if you enhance the screen to its maximum peak and tilt it forwards, it's easier to plug everything in from behind. The ports include headphones, two HDMI, one full-size DisplayPort, one USB Type-C–style DisplayPort, one USB Blazon-C input, 2 USB iii.1 Type-A outputs, and the jack for connecting the included xc-watt ability brick. The Ability push button and the navigation command stick are on the right side of the rear panel, too.

Corsair Xeneon 32QHD165 review: Screen

Corsair has turned out an splendid-quality screen equally far as brightness and color depth and reproduction. Although nosotros didn't quite achieve Corsair's stated superlative SDR effulgence of 400 in our tests, we got close. In 4 of its six presets, information technology achieved just shy of 360 nits of brightness at its center and averaged 303 nits across the whole screen; the Text preset was lower (288 nits) and the sRGB preset somewhat college (320 nits). And with SDR content in most of the presets, it covered upwards of 194% of the sRGB colour gamut and up of 138% of the DCI-P3 gamut. (The one exception was the sRGB preset, which covered 107% and 76%, respectively.) And the monitor'south Delta-Due east value, which measures the difference between the color at the source and the way information technology appears on the screen, ranged from a low of 0.2 (on the sRGB preset) to 0.three (on the Game and Text presets), with lower values better—in whatsoever event, solid color accuracy across the lath.

(Image credit: Corsair)

Compared with the admirable, albeit smaller and less expensive, Razer Raptor 27, the Xeneon displayed superior effulgence and colour in every case. (The Razer topped out at 162% of the sRGB color gamut and hit a maximum of 295 nits of brightness.)

Considering the Xeneon simply supports VESA DisplayHDR 400, which is substantially a subset within the HDR10 standard, yous don't get the same levels of HDR operation you would with a full HDR monitor. In our tests, the brightness improved to 382 nits in the screen's middle, which is a detectable only not huge improvement. If you lot activate HDR support in Windows, y'all will find a bump in brightness and color vibrancy, but don't expect an eye-popping modify.

(Epitome credit: Corsair)

Every bit mentioned, the screen'south resolution maxes out at 2,560x1,440 instead of the increasingly common 4K (3,840x2,160). This is not a huge problem, every bit 2,560x1,440 is a standard upper-mid-tier gaming resolution these days, and it's even more than common for larger monitors with high refresh rates, as big and speedy 4K monitors can run as much equally $i,000 or more. The 32-inch size and those gaming features compensate for a lot, merely if you don't desperately demand or desire them, yous may notice a 4K monitor better suited to your needs and slightly more future-proof every bit that higher resolution becomes increasingly attainable on even midrange video cards.

Corsair Xeneon 32QHD165 review: Operation

The Xeneon proved a capable performer in a variety of titles spanning genres, thanks to its myriad features. The 165 Hz refresh rate kept activity looking polish, even during some of the frantic raids in Assassin's Creed Valhalla and on the crazy courses of DiRT 5, and the one ms response time meant I merely crashed my Cessna in Microsoft Flight Simulator because of my own aeriform incompetence and non considering the monitor couldn't keep upwards. I don't beloved (and thus bother with) variable refresh rate technologies in about gaming scenarios, but it'due south nice to accept the monitor AMD FreeSync Premium Certified and Nvidia One thousand-Sync uniform—just in example.

(Epitome credit: Corsair)

If there's i big surprise with the OSD, information technology's with the option of presets. Whereas many gaming monitors have presets for unlike types of games (such as first-person shooters, RPGs, racing games, and so on), the Xeneon has only one generic Game preset, alongside the default Standard and those for other uses (Movie, Text, sRGB, and Creative). I take no trouble with this, and you can modify the presets' settings (if not their names) to your eye's content, only information technology does show that Corsair isn't aiming the Xeneon exclusively at the typical gaming audience.

I found Pic and Game the virtually pleasing in the well-nigh scenarios, thanks to their increased effulgence and dissimilarity. The dimmer Standard and Text I liked less, though the latter, with its obviously muted colors and drastically lower effulgence, is likely to make long stretches of reading more comfortable. (Not that you lot volition probably spend most time with the Xeneon reading in any event.)

Corsair Xeneon 32QHD165 review: Interface

The Xeneon's on-screen brandish (OSD) is simple to navigate with the control stick, and, contrary to what we see on many monitors, is well organized and non loaded down with tons of settings the boilerplate user is likely to not need. There are only six top-level menus, of which only one (Picture) has more than vi settings, and one (Information) just displays information and allows no interaction.

You're non limited to the OSD and the control stick, however. The Xeneon links with Corsair's iCUE software so, as with the company's other peripherals such equally mice and keyboards, y'all can command its features and modify its settings from fully inside the Windows application. If y'all have an Elgato Stream Deck keypad or a Corsair iCue Nexus Companion Touch Screen, you can likewise program their controls to modify selected monitor settings with a touch.

Corsair Xeneon 32QHD165 review: Verdict

The Corsair Xeneon 32QHD165 has nearly everything you lot could inquire for in a premium gaming monitor. A fine design, broad port pick, zippy response time, a speedy refresh rate, a streamlined OSD interface, and strong performance as far as both effulgence and color are concerned. Although its HDR performance is limited, that won't be a major loss with near content. The only major thing the Xeneon is missing is 4K support, though losing information technology is an acceptable trade-off for keeping the toll down considering how much else you lot get.

That said, the Xeneon may non be right for anybody. The Razor Raptor 27 will save you lot some space on your desk and some money in your depository financial institution account, while delivering comparable (if marginally lesser) functioning. If square footage is no option and you lot're looking for something exceedingly boundary-pushing, the 49-inch curved Samsung Odyssey G9 is an inarguably dynamic and, costing just shy of $i,400, budget-busting pick. And the Alienware 25 Gaming Monitor AW2521H boasts a baking 360 Hz refresh rate, if an even more questionable 1080p resolution.

But for a compromise choice with few compromises, something that fuses size with capability and a splashy array of features, the Corsair Xeneon 32QHD165 gets just nigh everything right.

Matthew Murray is the head of testing for Future, coordinating and conducting product testing at Tom'due south Guide and other Futurity publications. He has previously covered technology and performance arts for multiple publications, edited numerous books, and worked as a theatre critic for more than than 16 years.

Source: https://www.tomsguide.com/reviews/corsair-xeneon-32qhd165

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