75

Viotek GNV34DBE curved gaming monitor review

Get a whole lot of screen for not a lot of money.

(Image: © VIOTEK)

Our Verdict

The Viotek GNV34BDE is a gaming ultrawide display that provides the performance, size, and price any budget gamer could ask for even if it is a little light on features.

For

  • Great Price
  • Good Contrast
  • Speedy Display

Against

  • No USB Ports
  • Flimsy Stand
  • Light on features

PC Gamer's got your back Our experienced team dedicates many hours to every review, to really get to the heart of what matters most to you. Find out more about how we evaluate games and hardware.

Viotek is a relative newcomer to the gaming monitor scene whose main strength has been targeting gamers on a budget. The Viotek GFT27CXB, for example, is probably one of the best 240Hz gaming monitors you can scoop up right now. And Viotek is hoping to have the same luck by offering an ultrawide budget display to gamers.

Technical Specs

Panel Size: 34-inch
Native Resolution: 3440x1440
Panel Type: VA
Maximum Refresh: 144Hz
Response: 4ms
Contrast: 3000 :1
Curvature Radius: 1500R
HDR: HDR10
Speakers: No
Adaptive Sync: FreeSync Display
Inputs: 2 x HDMI 2.0, 2 x DisplayPort
Audio Inputs: 3.5mm headphone output
VESA Mount: 100x100mm and 75x75mm
Warranty: 3 years
Weight: 16 lbs
Price: $449

Viotek's specialty is speedy barebones gaming displays, and the GNV34DBE curved ultrawide is no different. The 34-inch ultrawide gaming monitor has a 144Hz refresh rate with a 4ms response time on a VA panel. The biggest selling point, though, is the $450 price point. It's a great price when you compare it to other 1440p curved ultra-wide monitors, which usually live in the $700-$800 price range.

The budget price means Viotek has had to make some compromises with the design. It's evident in things like the stand; to start with, it is not height adjustable, which is more than a little annoying. As a proud (and obnoxiously evangelical) standing desk user, the ideal place to set a monitor is eye-level, and the Viotek forced me to continually look down when I stood up and sat too low overall to enjoy what I was doing fully. The stand is also wobbly and never truly felt sturdy through my testing.

Maybe I've just been spoiled with some recent curved gaming monitors loaded with a ton of display and USB ports, but I found myself wishing the GNV34DBE gave me more than an audio output and a pair of HDMI and Display ports.

If you're shopping for a budget screen, chances are, you only care about how it performs relative to its price. Thankfully, Viotek's G-Sync compatible curved display doesn't disappoint in that regard. My matches of Apex Legends and Call of Duty: Duty took full advantage of the 144Hz refresh rate even if the brightness was on the lower side. Gaming at 3440 x 1440 always takes a little getting used to, but the action ran smoothly and looked awesome.

(Image credit: VIOTEK)

Consuming other media like Netflix and Twitch looked fine in HDR though the black levels definitely left a little to be desired. Colorful movies, such as Spider-man: Into the Spider-Verse, look great, showing off all the colorful Spider-persons in action. Overall, for an HDR monitor, the brightness could have been better. But again, for the price, I'm willing to forgive a lot of the shortcomings.

When not using HDR, the Viotek offered a surprisingly decent color accuracy with impressive contrast. One feature I love seeing in ultrawide monitors is picture-in-picture and picture by picture. I was surprised to see that GNV34DBE supported both... though with not so stellar results. 

Enabling any one of these modes disables HDR and squeezes each source to fit each half of the display to a nearly unusable size. If you had dreams of playing PS4 browsing twitter on the same display, it's not going to happen. But A+ for effort, I guess.

All that said, $450 is a fantastic price for 34-inch ultrawide with 1440p, 144Hz, and HDR. It's probably the cheapest on the market right now. Every time I complained about missing port or feature, I thought about how much extra it would have added to the price and quickly changed my tune. 

Though, if you have particular needs, whether it be adjustable height or eye-care features, you may want to look elsewhere. The Viotek GNV34DBE may not have all the bells and whistles, but it offers decent game performance for the price.

If you're strictly just gaming, on a budget, and need an ultrawide, this isn't a bad monitor. If you're willing to compromise, the Viotek GNV34BDE might be the ideal ultrawide gaming monitor for the budget-conscience gamer.

The Verdict
Viotek GNV34DBE

The Viotek GNV34BDE is a gaming ultrawide display that provides the performance, size, and price any budget gamer could ask for even if it is a little light on features.

Jorge Jimenez
Hardware writer, Human Pop-Tart

Jorge is a hardware writer from the enchanted lands of New Jersey. When he's not filling the office with the smell of Pop-Tarts, he's reviewing all sorts of gaming hardware, from laptops with the latest mobile GPUs to gaming chairs with built-in back massagers. He's been covering games and tech for over ten years and has written for Dualshockers, WCCFtech, Tom's Guide, and a bunch of other places on the world wide web.