32-inches and 144Hz – What a PC monitor should be

I was standing in the reception area of Mustek’s head office in Midrand fiddling with all their devices device on display – as one does when electronics are left in the open – when I spotted a serious gaming rig in the corner.

After conducting the ultimate techie move, running DxDiag on the Windows machine to see what hardware it was packing, my attention shifted to the curved PC monitor connected to it.

The screen was big, clear, and had a triangle of red lights on its rear panel: a clear indication it was aimed at gamers.

As the display was too big to fit in my bag and a quick getaway was out of the question, I was forced to go through “traditional media channels” and put forward the possibility of reviewing the device for MyBroadband.

Mustek agreed, and shortly after telling everyone at the office how rubbish their monitors were, the gaming display arrived.

Mecer K3G3R

The monitor in question is a Mecer K3G3R.

It is currently available for R6,999 from a host of PC retailers, and packs the following specifications.

As you can see, the important boxes are ticked: 1440p, 144Hz, and FreeSync.

As my gaming PC is powered by an AMD Radeon RX 580, it was the perfect partner and I hooked it up for test runs.

The Mecer display is the first 144Hz monitor I have gamed with extensively, and for those who have not used a high refresh rate monitor, the difference is huge.

From moving your mouse cursor, to dragging windows around your screen, to playing fast-paced games like CS:GO – it feels like you have taken a hit of ecstasy. Well, what I imagine it would be like.

Movements are sharp and fast, and going back to a “normal” monitor leaves things feeling sluggish. The 144Hz refresh rate is complemented by FreeSync support, so AMD gamers do not need to worry about screen tearing when their frame rates drop in intensive titles.

The 1440p resolution is another great feature of the display, and games look great – no individual pixel spotting for even eagle-eyed critics who sit super-close when playing.

This high resolution was noticeable in Hitman 2 during my test, and a bald head and formal suit have never looked so good on the streets of India.

Pack these features into a 32-inch display with a subtle curve, and it makes going back to a pathetic 27-inch 1080p screen at the office the next day difficult.

It must be noted that there are a range of display settings available in the monitor’s menu, too. I found the screen was too bright by default, but this was quickly resolved by changing the relevant brightness settings. Additionally, FreeSync was disable by default and must be turned on in the display’s settings to activate it.

There are also a host of settings on the monitor which I did not spend much time on, including different gamings modes – such as RTS and FPS – a “super resolution” mode, and DCR (dynamic contrast ratio).

The monitor in action

As is tradition, here is a product shot of the monitor.

Images of the Mecer K3G3R in action – what we really want to see – are posted below.

The display was connected to my gaming PC via DisplayPort, and uses a standard power cord with a 3-prong plug for juice.

Its stand is made from sturdy metal and provides a solid base, while the screen can be adjusted to different viewing angles thanks to a hinged connection.

And let us not forget the red lights on the back – which can be turned on or off, or set to pulse.

To summarise it all: once you go 144Hz and high resolution, you cannot go back.

For the PC nerds out there, the PC in frame is running an AMD Ryzen 5 1600X, Aorus RX 580 (4GB), 8GB DDR4 RAM, and just over 500GB of SSD storage – made up of 60GB and 480GB SSDs.

That blinding red light you see from the case is thanks to two Cooler Master single-colour RGB strips which are placed inside the chassis with their magnetic backings.

They are brighter than the sun, and I would test one first before installing them.

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