We buy and test more than 30 monitors each year, with units that we buy completely on our own, without any 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 and custom tools to measure various aspects with objective data-based results. We also consider multiple factors before making any recommendations, including the monitor's cost, its performance against the competition, and whether or not it's easy to find.
Our Verdict
The LG 32GK650F-B is a decent display for most uses, but it's best suited for gaming. As is the case with most VA panel monitors, it looks great in a dark room and produces deep, uniform blacks, but the image degrades when viewed at an angle. It has a low input lag and a great response time, but some transitions are slow, so motion is still a bit blurry.
- Deep, uniform blacks.
- Excellent low input lag.
- Disappointing viewing angles.
- Motion blurry for a 144Hz monitor.
The LG 32GK650F-B is a decent office monitor. The 32 inch 1440p screen delivers an excellent amount of screen real estate, and the stand has decent ergonomics, but with a limited swivel and tilt range. Unfortunately, this monitor has bad viewing angles, so it isn't great for sharing your screen with other people.
The LG 32GK650F-B is a great monitor for gaming. It supports FreeSync VRR technology and has an incredibly low input lag, and the 1440p, 32 inch screen makes it easier to see more details in your favorite games. Overall, it has a fast response time, but some transitions are a bit slower and dark scenes especially have more noticeable blur. Luckily, there's a black frame insertion feature to improve the appearance of motion.
Decent monitor for multimedia. The large, high-resolution screen is great for watching movies. The VA panel delivers deep, uniform blacks, great for watching movies in the dark. In a brighter room, the LG 32GK650F-B has decent reflection handling and good peak brightness, but it might struggle in really bright rooms. Unfortunately, like most VA monitors, the image degrades at an angle, which isn't great for sharing the latest trends with your friends.
The LG 32GK650F-B is a decent monitor for media creation. The large, high-resolution screen is excellent, as you can see more of your work at once. It has decent ergonomics, but a limited swivel range. This monitor has a great SDR color gamut, but limited coverage of the wider Adobe RGB color space, so it isn't great for professional photo editing.
The LG 32GK650F-B doesn't support HDR.
Changelog
- Updated Feb 28, 2020: Converted to Test Bench 1.1.
- Updated Jul 19, 2019: Review published.
- Updated Jul 17, 2019: Our testers have started testing this product.
- Updated Jul 17, 2019: Early access published.
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Differences Between Sizes And Variants
We tested the 32 inch 32GK650F-B, which is the only size available. It's also available with G-SYNC support instead of FreeSync; that model is known as the 32GK650G-B. There are other models in LG's UltraGear lineup, some of which are listed down below.
If someone comes across a different type of panel or if their UltraGear 32GK650F-B doesn't correspond to our review, let us know and we will update the review. Note that some tests such as the gray uniformity may vary between individual units.
| Model | Size | Resolution | Refresh Rate | Notes |
| 32GK650F-B | 32" | 1440p | 144Hz | FreeSync |
| 32GK650G-B | 32" | 1440p | 144Hz | G-SYNC |
| 27GK750F-B | 27" | 1080p | 240Hz | FreeSync |
| 32GK850F-B | 32" | 1440p | 144Hz | FreeSync |
| 32GK850G-B | 32" | 1440p | 144Hz | G-SYNC |
| 34GK950F-B | 34" | 3440x1440 | 144Hz | FreeSync, HDR |
| 34GK950G-B | 34" | 3440x1440 | 120Hz | G-SYNC |
The 32GK650F-B we reviewed was manufactured in March 2019.
Popular Monitor Comparisons
The LG 32GK650-B is a great budget gaming monitor but has a few flaws, such as relatively slow response time, so there are better monitors for the same price. See our recommendations for the best monitors, the best budget monitors, and the best monitors for coding.
The LG 32GK650F-B is a bit better overall than the AOC CQ32G1. The LG has a much quicker response time, it has better ergonomics, and the uniformity is better too. However, the AOC has much better out-of-the-box color accuracy, it displays a wide color gamut, it gets brighter, and it also wider viewing angles.
The LG 32GK850G-B and the LG 32GK650F-B deliver very similar performance overall, but the 32GK650F supports FreeSync, whereas the 32GK850G-B supports G-SYNC. The 32GK850G-B has a much faster response time, but no black frame insertion feature. The 32GK850G-B has an RGB bias lighting feature on the back.
The LG 34GK950F-B and the LG 32GK650F-B use different panel technologies, each with their own advantages and disadvantages. The 34" model uses an IPS panel, with much wider viewing angles, and it has a wide format aspect ratio, which some people prefer. The 32" model has a VA panel, which looks better in a dark room.
The BenQ EW3270U is a bit better for mixed usage, but the LG 32GK650F-B is much better for gaming. The EW3270U supports HDR, although this doesn't add much, and it has much better gradient handling. The EW3270U also has a higher resolution screen. For gaming, though, the LG 32GK650F-B is much better. The LG has a much faster refresh rate, lower input lag, and an optional black frame insertion feature.
Test Results
The 32GK650F-B has a design similar to other LG monitors. It's mainly black with some red on the stand and the back. It looks like the 32GK850G, but the red circle on the back isn't illuminated.
The stand is thin, but has a large footprint. It supports the monitor well, but still wobbles a bit.
The stand has decent ergonomics. It has an okay height adjustment and limiting swivel and tilt range. It can also rotate to portrait orientation, but only clockwise.
The red circle isn't illuminated like the 32GK850G. There's a clip on the back of the stand that can be used for cable management, and there's also a quick release to remove the stand in a pinch.
The borders around the 32GK650F-B are thin on three sides and aren't very distracting when gaming.
The display of the LG 32GK650F-B is very thin and looks great VESA-mounted. The stand itself is quite a bit thicker and sticks out behind the monitor.
This monitor has a decent build quality. Like the 32GK850G, it's almost entirely made of plastic, and the stand is a bit wobbly, but there are no obvious areas of concern.
Like most VA monitors, the 32GK650F-B has a very good contrast ratio, so blacks look black in a dark room. It has a slightly better contrast than the 32GK850G.
The LG 32GK650F-B doesn't support local dimming. The above video is for reference only.
Good peak brightness with SDR content, although brightness varies with different content. There shouldn't be any issues using the 32GK650F-B in a decently-lit room.
This monitor doesn't support HDR.
Disappointing horizontal viewing angles, which is expected from a VA panel. Since it has such a big screen, the edges of the screen might appear darker if you sit close to the monitor. It's also not ideal to share your screen with someone else.
The 32GK650F-B has disappointing vertical viewing angles. You lose image accuracy if you mount it below or above eye level.
Excellent gray uniformity. The left and right edges of the screen are a bit darker and there's only minor dirty screen effect in the center, which is great for viewing large areas of uniform color, such as browsing the web. There are no uniformity issues in near-dark scenes.
Like the 32GK850G, this monitor has decent black uniformity. There's some clouding throughout, which is visible when watching dark scenes in a dark room.
Good out-of-box color accuracy, much better than the 32GK850G. Most colors are only slightly inaccurate and the color temperature is a bit warmer than the target, so some colors have a reddish tint to them. Overall, the gamma follows the target well, but dark scenes are darker than they should be and bright scenes are brighter.
After calibration, the 32GK650F-B has excellent accuracy. There are no noticeable issues and the color temperature is very close to the 6500K target. However, really bright scenes are a bit over-brightened.
You can download our ICC profile calibration here. This is provided for reference only and shouldn't be used, as the calibration values vary per individual unit even for the same model due to manufacturing tolerances.
Impressive SDR color gamut. It has excellent coverage of the sRGB color space used in most content and okay coverage of the Adobe RGB color space used in photo editing.
Excellent color volume. The 32GK650F-B can display deep, saturated colors due to its good contrast ratio, but can't display bright blues, which is normal for an LED monitor.
This monitor doesn't support HDR.
This monitor doesn't support HDR.
There are some signs of temporary image retention immediately after displaying our high-contrast static test image for 10 minutes. The retained image dissipates quickly, though, and we don't expect this to cause any issues for most people.
Unfortunately, the 32GK650F-B has worse gradient handling than most monitors. There's noticeable banding in areas of similar color.
There are some signs of very minor vertical color bleed, but this isn't noticeable with regular content and shouldn't cause any issues.
The 32GK850F-B has decent reflection handling overall, but struggles more in really bright rooms.
The text clarity is decent. It can be improved by using ClearType (top photo), which makes the diagonal or curved lines on the letters R, N, G, and S clearer.
| Overdrive Setting | Response Time Chart | Response Time Tables | Motion Blur Photo |
| Off | Chart | Table | Photo |
| Normal | Chart | Table | Photo |
| Fast | Chart | Table | Photo |
| Faster | Chart | Table | Photo |
Great response time at its max refresh rate, but not as good as some other 144Hz monitors. The best Overdrive setting is 'Faster' as motion looks the most clear. There's overshoot in some transitions, and if that bothers you, the 'Fast' setting has a lot less overshoot, but motion is a bit more blurry. The LG 27GL850-B/27GL83A-B is a 144Hz monitor with much better response time.
| Overdrive Setting | Response Time Chart | Response Time Tables | Motion Blur Photo |
| Off | Chart | Table | Photo |
| Normal | Chart | Table | Photo |
| Fast | Chart | Table | Photo |
| Faster | Chart | Table | Photo |
Acceptable response time at 60Hz. Unlike at its max refresh rate, the recommended Overdrive setting is 'Normal', so you might need to change your setting while gaming. There's still a bit of motion blur, but there's significantly less overshoot than on the 'Fast' and 'Faster' settings.
There's an optional black frame insertion feature to help improve the appearance of motion. As seen in the photo above, it dims the screen, which is normal and could cause some duplication.
This monitor has an excellent 144Hz refresh rate, but unlike the 32GK850G, it can't be overclocked. It supports AMD's FreeSync VRR technology, even when connected to a recent NVIDIA graphics card. Unfortunately, the 32GK850F-B has a limited range over HDMI as FreeSync only works up to 100Hz.
There are two VRR modes: 'Basic' and 'Extended'. The 'Basic' mode has a limited range, and only works between 120 and 144Hz.
There's a G-SYNC variant of this model, known as the 32GK650G-B. We don't know if it performs the same.
The 32GK650F-B has an incredibly low input lag and it's even lower with VRR enabled, which is rare for a monitor. The input lag at 60Hz is also low, which could please console gamers.
The 32 inch, 1440p screen is great for multitasking, as it provides a great deal of screen real estate to work with.
The analog audio out port has adjustable volume through the monitor's menu.
The 32GK650F-B has very few additional features. Like many gaming monitors, it has an option to add virtual crosshairs to any game. There's also a 'Black Stabilizer' feature, which increases the gamma in dark scenes to make it easier to spot other players hiding in the shadows.
