Nixeus NX-EDG34S Review

The Nixeus EDG 34” proves beyond any shadow of a doubt that you do not have to spend a veritable fortune to get a great gaming experience. It is not perfect, but it delivers on its promise and just shows how out of touch a large portion of monitor manufactures have become. Average PC gaming enthusiasts do indeed want high refresh rates. They want an enveloping curved panel that can impart an element of fluidity and believability into scenes that they cannot get this side of the three monitor configurations. They even want to be able to be video card agnostic and not have to worry if their video card of choice will play nice with their new monitor. This is all well known to monitor manufactures. What seems to be beyond their grasp is the fact that most gaming enthusiasts also do not want spend seven or eight hundred dollars to get all that. Instead they want value to go along with their laundry list of requirements.

That is indeed a tall order, and one that most monitors fail to deliver. This is why the Nixeus EDG 34S is a breath of fresh air. One long overdue. One that makes most 21:9 monitors look like exactly what they are: overpriced. Of course, in order to offer great gaming experience for less than $600, a few corners had to be rounded.

The most obvious is the panel. Yes, it is FreeSync S-VA panel capable of 144 frames per second. Yes, it even comes with Low Framerate Compensation (LFC). This combination does indeed ensure tearing/judder/etc. is all but eliminated. What it cannot offer is 10-bit uber-wide color reproduction, perfect panel uniformity, nor ultra-low frame rate smoothing. Instead it is ‘only’ sRGB capable, merely has ‘good enough’ panel uniformity… and really can only start working its magic at 48FPS or higher.

For those who demand uber color fidelity the SRGB ‘issue’ may be a big issue. For games, it is not. The color fidelity the EDG 34S offers is more than good enough for gaming – and well beyond what any TN based monitor can do. Panel uniformity will be a bit more variable from person to person. Under normal circumstances the EDG 34S does not have enough backlight bleed or ‘dark spots’ to be annoying. Not once did it break our immersion in a game. If you are overly sensitive to such things, it may. Only having a 48-144 range is actually the biggest concern. Given the fact you are dealing with over 4.9 million pixels, hitting 48FPS is going to take a good amount of video card horsepower. Thankfully, the difference in price between this monitor and the typical 21:9 monitor means you can step up a video card performance notch without breaking your overall budget. So, while we would have loved to have seen it kick in at 30Hz/FPS it should not be considered a deal-breaker by any stretch… as not many monitors start at 30Hz.

The other obvious cost cutting measure is the stand, or to be more precise the stand the less expensive ‘S’ variant makes use of. No height adjustment and just moderate tilt adjustment makes it a bit more difficult to dial in the EDG 34S for your environment and ensure your eyes are in the ‘sweet spot’. As such if you can find the EGD 34 for less than the cost of an EDG 34S plus aftermarket monitor stand we would strongly recommend getting the ‘premium’ variant.

When you look at the pros and cons the key take away is you must understand that the Nixeus NX EDG 34S is a monitor designed by gamers for gamers. So if you are primarily interested in blur-free, ultra-smooth gaming it is a good choice at a great price. Conversely, if you are looking for a more ‘business by day, gaming at night’ general purpose monitor it may not be a great fit. In either case, do not let the low asking price fool you. This gaming orientated monitor is packed with value and performance. It is worthy of your time, your money, and a pride of place on even the hardcore, high priced gaming system.