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Acer Predator X38 is my kind of idea to research and test the best gaming monitor: go big or go home. It’s a gorgeous beast, and it’s loaded with gaming specs and chops to ensure it performs beautifully. And it does.
It may not be ‘big’ like the 49-inch ultra-wide monitors and curved gaming monitors on the market right now, but the 38-inch curved panel is a beast and still offers excellent gaming immersion. As screen real estate for work and productivity.
It’s not a budget buy, unfortunately, and it’s on the other end of the spectrum compared to its Acer Nitro XV340CK cousin. But it’s seriously good, and if you’re looking for a big monitor to go with, a one-and-done solution, then the Acer Predator X38 is ready and waiting to meet that challenge. And boy, does he deliver when he does.
As a quick note, before we give it away, there are two different variants of the X38 that still seem to exist in the wild – ours was the Pbmiphzx model.
Design
Coming from the Asher Hunter line, this beast has a ‘gamey’ charm all over it. However, that’s not to deny it, as I really like angular lines and flourishes – even if you don’t see much of it once it’s in place. But if you have a more open layout, I think it would be right at home in more game-oriented or game-first configurations. It’s actually an Acer monitor with that famous look – but bigger.
However, with most of the angles and lines hidden, what you can see is the stand. It’s pretty cool and takes up little desk space, but it also gives the screen a large amount of adjustment – something you wouldn’t expect from such a large screen. Where you can take some of the extreme flexibility out of the equation, the X38 had a lot of movement in the stand, from height and height, to angle movement, to tilt, and so on. It is strong and stable, and the position it holds means it is stable as well.
However, I personally, like the Nitro I tried earlier this year, found the need for a stand to mount on the monitor arm (a 100mm x 100mm compatible VESA mount.) This is a huge advantage for such a beast of a screen, though I’m still waiting. And of course at this price point.
Main characteristics
The huge screen is of course the main feature – especially in ultrawides when not?
The X38 is a 38-inch Agile-spec IPS panel that ditches the Acer breed and offers solid baseline specs and a 0.3ms GtG response time and a 175Hz refresh rate – fast enough for an ultra-wide display of this size. To this, add G-Sync Ultimate to ensure you have the smoothest images, DisplayDHR 600 to deliver punchy and vivid colors and this UWQHD+ resolution, 2300R curved beauty begins to take true shape and delivers a bundle of gaming excellence. The 3840×1600, 21:9 resolution is also complimented by a 98% DCI-P3 color gamut.
In terms of being consistently smart and practically practical, you’re also on the good side of ports, with one HDMI 2.0, one DisplayPort 1.4 and one USB 3.0 interface consisting of four ports. The USB-C connection was fine.
Some half-decent speakers and some useful Acer monitor presets allow me to unclutter and find my settings easily, and it ensures that a complete feature set is on offer – albeit at this price.
Performance
The first thing I noticed and fell in love with when using the X38 was the gentle curve of the 2300R – nowhere near as harsh or aggressive as those new 1000R curved screen waves. With the 2300R, it’s a relaxed curve, and it envelops you gently – however, there’s so much screen to dive into that immersion isn’t really affected by this. Your eyes are truly blessed. I think that might be the sweet spot. Only Still around the 2000R mark – 1800R or 1900R – but depends on desk space, setup, screen size and so on. And choice, of course.
However, I really appreciated the extra inches of screen, as well as the extra height and width, compared to the smaller 34-35 inch models that can have that strong curve. All of this makes it a great display for work, ensuring plenty of space no matter what the job is.
But, like I said, the Acer Predator X38 has gaming at its forefront, and it’s easily one of the best gaming display experiences I’ve had in a long time.
Any and all games are handled brilliantly by the Predator X38. The combination of extremely wide quality with fast details really meets most needs and game approaches or preferences: on the one hand, you will get immersion and incredibly wide experiences in strategy and RPG games, but on the other hand, you can find it equally happy and responsive. Experiences in shooters and online gaming.
War III and Troy from Dawn: Total War, X38 treats me with wide views and ensures that an amazing amount can see my raids, the open landscapes of Red Dead 2 are really the big country of America, and. From Apex Legends the X38’s HDR and color performance ensures everything is hit and miss, while it was a joy to revisit The Witcher (yes, the first one, don’t @ me), the X38 turned up the excitement enough to make me forget. As for the weird controls I’m used to, this demo gave me a fun experience across the board.
Away from play, he is good at work. From two flat-screen 27-inch monitors, to a single, but large, ultra-wide one, making sure not to miss the function of that dual screen size, as well as scaling the setup with a few cables.
Overall – should you buy the Acer Predator X38?
X38 can be a one-stop solution for gaming and multi-tasking display. Whatever you throw at it, it does both well, providing excellent experiences in both. It looks perfect when on a gaming desk, and has the chops to perform well in all types of games, as well as a perfect performance display given the screen’s position and curve.
For those looking for more, you can always consider the similarly priced Samsung Odyssey Neo G9, and for those who don’t want to go all out, there’s the AOC CU34G2X, both of which offer great experiences for their price tags. And the price tag will be a deterrent for people looking at the X38: it’s a really big investment. But I will say that given its pedigree and overall merit, the four-figure price tag is mostly justified – although the 2022 harvest may be too much for many.
Overall, for me, the Acer Predator X38 is hard to beat; I’ll stick with the X38 as long as I’m allowed to use it – simply do everything great for gaming and work.
How we tested the Acer Predator X38
The X38 became my main, and only, monitor for work and PC gaming for several weeks. It’s fully included in the setup for both work and play: I’m very happy with the screen real estate and access to multiple windows, programs, and tasks for the former, and then completely Total War: Troy, Dawn of War III, Red Dead Redemption II, and The Witcher 1 for the latter.
You can read more about how we test gaming monitors on GamesRadar+ and our general approach to gaming technology in our hardware policy.
If it’s still unique but in a different way, go to our guides Best 4K monitors for gaming and the The best G-smart displays.
Reviewed by Razer Blade 15 laptop (Opens in a new tab) Presented by Razer.
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