The Corsair XENEON 32QHD165 is a 32 inch, 1440p monitor with an IPS panel. It's Corsair's first monitor, and overall, it's pretty impressive. Marketed mainly as a gaming monitor, it delivers an excellent gaming experience with low input lag and a superb response time, as well as FreeSync support for a nearly tear-free gaming experience. It has impressive colors, with one of the best SDR color gamuts we've ever measured, including complete coverage of the sRGB and Adobe RGB color spaces. Sadly, because of this wide color gamut, most content is oversaturated unless you use the built-in sRGB mode. As expected for an IPS monitor, it has wide viewing angles but low contrast, so it doesn't look its best in a dark room. It's not as feature-packed as some of the competition, though, and the pixel density is a bit low.
Our Verdict
The Corsair XENEON 32QHD165 is a great monitor for most uses. The large screen is great for office work or media creation, but it has just decent text clarity. It's an excellent gaming monitor with low input lag and a superb response time, and it supports FreeSync. Sadly, it's not a good choice for a dark room, as it has low contrast. Finally, although it supports HDR, there's almost no benefit to it, as it can't get very bright in HDR, and it has no local dimming feature.
- Wide horizontal viewing angle.
- Excellent gray uniformity.
- Great peak brightness.
- Low contrast.
- Colors look oversaturated before calibration or out of the sRGB mode.
The Corsair XENEON 32QHD165 is a very good monitor for office use. It has a wide horizontal viewing angle, and the stand can swivel, so it's great for sharing your screen with someone else. The large screen makes it easy to multitask but delivers just decent text clarity. It has great peak brightness and satisfactory reflection handling, so visibility isn't an issue. It also has excellent gray uniformity and an incredible SDR color gamut, great if your work requires accurate colors.
- Wide horizontal viewing angle.
- Excellent gray uniformity.
- Great peak brightness.
- Low contrast.
- Colors look oversaturated before calibration or out of the sRGB mode.
The Corsair XENEON 32QHD165 is an excellent gaming monitor. It has a fast refresh rate and a superb response time at both the max refresh rate and 60Hz, as well as exceptional input lag for a responsive gaming experience. Although it lacks HDMI 2.1 inputs, it has a Console mode that allows it to accept a 4k @ 60Hz signals. Finally, it supports FreeSync variable refresh rates, which helps reduce tearing when gaming.
- 165Hz refresh rate and VRR support.
- Low input lag.
- Superb response time at any refresh rate.
- Great peak brightness.
- Low contrast.
- Colors look oversaturated before calibration or out of the sRGB mode.
The Corsair XENEON 32QHD165 is a very good monitor for watching videos, but not if you're in a dark room. The large screen delivers a more immersive video-watching experience, and the wide horizontal viewing angle is great for sharing your screen with someone else. Sadly, it has a low contrast ratio and just acceptable black uniformity, so it doesn't look as good in a dark room.
- Wide horizontal viewing angle.
- Incredible SDR color gamut.
- Excellent gray uniformity.
- Great peak brightness.
- Low contrast.
- Colors look oversaturated before calibration or out of the sRGB mode.
The Corsair XENEON 32QHD165 is a great monitor for media creators. The large screen makes it easier to see more of your work at once. It has amazing accuracy out of the box, as long as you choose the sRGB mode, and it has an incredible SDR color gamut, with complete coverage of both the sRGB and the Adobe RGB color spaces. Sadly, the sRGB mode locks you out of most picture adjustments, and all other picture modes are terribly oversaturated.
- Incredible SDR color gamut.
- Outstanding gradient handling.
- Excellent gray uniformity.
- Great peak brightness.
- Low contrast.
- Colors look oversaturated before calibration or out of the sRGB mode.
The Corsair XENEON 32QHD165 is a decent monitor for HDR gaming, mainly because of its excellent gaming performance. It has low input lag and a fantastic response time, resulting in crystal clear motion. Sadly, although it can display a very wide color gamut, overall, HDR adds very little. It has low contrast, no local dimming, and just okay peak brightness in HDR.
- 165Hz refresh rate and VRR support.
- Low input lag.
- Superb response time at any refresh rate.
- Great peak brightness.
- Low contrast.
- No local dimming feature.
- Low peak brightness in HDR.
Check Price
Differences Between Sizes And Variants
We tested the 32 inch Corsair XENEON 32QHD165, which is currently Corsair's only monitor.
If someone comes across a different type of panel or their Corsair 32QHD165 doesn't correspond to our review, let us know, and we'll update the review. Note that some tests, like gray uniformity, may vary between individual units.
You can see the label for our unit here.
Popular Monitor Comparisons
The Corsair XENEON 32QHD165 is an excellent gaming monitor with impressive picture quality and fantastic motion handling. Sadly, it's not as feature-rich as many competitors, especially the Gigabyte M-Series gaming monitors, like the Gigabyte M32U, and it's far more expensive than most comparable 1440p displays. Unless the impressive colors are important to you, most people are better off with something else.
For more options, check out our recommendations for the best gaming monitors, the best ultrawide gaming monitors, and the best 34-49 inch monitors.
The Gigabyte M32Q and the Corsair XENEON 32QHD165 are very similar overall. The Gigabyte has a better height adjustment and has a better selection of additional features, including a built-in KVM (Keyboard, Video, Mouse) switch, meaning you can control two computers with a single set of input devices. On the other hand, the Corsair has better colors, with a much wider color gamut in both SDR and HDR, so it's a better choice for some media creators.
The Acer Nitro XV272U KVbmiiprzx is a bit better than the Corsair XENEON 32QHD165. The Acer has a much better stand, with a wider range of ergonomic adjustments, including the ability to rotate to a portrait mode. The Acer also has a slightly faster refresh rate and slightly faster response time. Finally, the Acer's smaller screen results in a higher pixel density, so text is a bit clearer, and images are sharper.
We buy and test more than 30 monitors each year, all of which we purchase ourselves, without cherry-picked units or samples. We put a lot into each unbiased, straight-to-the-point review, and there's a whole process from purchasing to publishing, involving multiple teams and people. We do more than just use the monitor for a week; we use specialized, custom tools to measure various aspects and deliver objective, data-driven results. We also consider multiple factors before making any recommendations, including the monitor's cost, its performance compared to the competition, and whether it's easy to find.
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