Acer Predator X32 FP gaming monitor review

The Acer Predator X32 FP ($1,499) gaming monitor balances stunning visual fidelity and rock-solid performance. This 32-inch behemoth features a gorgeous 4K mini-LED 160Hz display that’s both crisp and colorful. On top of that, the monitor comes with a ton of ports and an aggressive design that demands attention.

I tested the Predator X32 FP for several weeks and found it one of best gaming monitors out there thanks to its blazing-fast performance, smooth refresh rate and vibrant visuals. It takes up a lot of space on one’s desk, but the monitor’s large display helps draw you into the games you’re playing.

The Predator X32 is impressive, but is it worth $1,500? Read my full review to find out.

Acer Predator X32 review: Specs

Acer Predator X32 review: Price and availability

• Priced at $1,499

The Acer Predator X32 FP is available now on Amazon for $1,499. At time of writing, it’s been discounted to $1,199. There are also other Predator monitors available in various sizes and prices.

Acer Predator X32 review: Design

• All-black design
• Large footprint on desk 

The Predator X32 FP has an aggressive all-black design that helps it live up to its “Predator” moniker. The thick 32-inch screen and wide stand command attention. Even if it lacks RGB lighting around its frame, the X32 FP won’t be mistaken for anything other than a gaming monitor.

At 28.6 x 22.5 x 10.3 inches and a weight of 22.6 pounds, the X32 FP is a monster. Its thick 32-inch screen and wide stand take up a good chunk of real estate on your desk. And because the screen is so huge, you’ll likely need to pull the monitor back to comfortably view it. This isn’t unusual with 32-inch monitors, but if you’re interested in this device, be sure you have a large enough desk. It’s easy to tilt, swivel and raise the screen to your preferred height and viewing angle.

To say the X32 FP has a generous number of ports would be an understatement. The monitor includes four HDMI 2.1 ports, one DisplayPort, one USB-C, four USB-A, one USB-B and an audio jack. Most of the ports are located along the monitor’s bottom, save for two USB-A ports on the left-hand side. Port location makes them easy to access, especially since you can raise and tilt the monitor’s screen to reach them.

There’s a row of buttons on the back right side that bring up the monitor’s settings. You can quickly adjust the brightness, choose an input and select the display mode via the buttons. The on-screen display (OSD) joystick lets you dive into the full system menu. I had no issues using these buttons despite their placement behind the monitor.

Acer Predator X32 review: Display

• Oversaturated colors
• Dimmer than competitors 

The 32-inch 4K mini-LED display looks crisp and vibrant in person. It’s great for watching videos and, of course, for playing video games.

You’ll find eight display modes. One is a custom user mode for saving your preferred preset. There are also Standard, Sports, Racing, Action, Eco, Graphics and HDR modes.

Each display mode is subtly different, and those named for game genres (like Racing and Action) are specifically tuned for those types of games. That means the display experience may shift depending on which mode you select. For this review, I mostly stuck with Standard mode since it provided a balanced picture quality for games, websites and videos compared to the other modes.

To my eyes, the X32 FP’s display modes are generally oversaturated compared to other gaming monitors. Still, I didn’t find the oversaturated colors distracting. In fact, games like Doom Eternal and Cyberpunk 2077 look phenomenal with such vivid colors — especially in HDR mode – which is the brightest display setting the monitor offers. Whether it’s video games or videos, HDR content looks great because of the deep contrast between dark and light areas of the screen. 

When we brought the monitor into our testing lab and pointed our Klein-10A colorimeter at it, we found that the X32 FP’s display achieved an average brightness of 404 nits of brightness in User mode That’s brighter than both the Dell 32 4K UHD Gaming Monitor G3223Q (378 nits) and Acer Predator XB323QK (287 nits) in their respective Standard modes.

HDR mode, which is its own separate mode, is where this monitor literally shines. When viewing HDR content we saw display brightness climb as high as 1,129 nits using our light meter to measure 10% of the display and 1,205 nits for 100% of the screen. The monitor is advertised to hit 1,000 nits of HDR brightness and our testing confirms that’s the case.

In User mode, the display achieved 226% of the sRGB color gamut and 160% of the DCI-P3 color gamut (closer to 100% is best). Its Delta-E value reached 0.26 (closer to 0 is better). With the exception of Racing and Action, which achieved 188% / 133% and 166% / 117% (respectively), the other modes achieved similar values to Standard mode.

Values above 100% for sRGB and DCI-P3 generally mean less accurate, more saturated colors. Because of that, the Predator X32 FP can appear more colorful than the aforementioned competitors. In their Standard modes, the Dell 32 4K UHD achieved 146.3% of the sRGB color gamut and 103.6% DCI-P3 gamut and the XB323QK achieved 137.4% / 97.4%, respectively. These monitors aren’t as saturated but they have better color accuracy.

The Predator X32 FP has a setting called “max brightness” that you can toggle on and off. Enabling this option makes a huge difference. For instance, in User mode, the monitor averaged 124 nits of brightness without it compared to 404 nits with max brightness enabled. Max brightness is off by default, which initially led me to believe the display was unusually dim. This is important to keep in mind should you get this device and find its display too dark — you may need to enable max brightness in the main menu.

Acer Predator X32 review: Audio

• Loud speakers
• Crisp, clear sound 

The X32 FP’s two 7W rear-facing speakers are surprisingly solid for a monitor. Even with the volume cranked up all the way, the sound remains crisp and clear. Separation between mids and highs is also good, though bass isn’t as punchy as I’d like.

You can always opt for one of the best gaming headsets if you don’t like the X32 FP’s sound quality, but I think they provided clear and loud audio.

Acer Predator X32 review: Performance

• Fast response time
• Smooth 160Hz refresh rate 

The X32 FP features a 160Hz refresh rate, a 1ms response time, and support for AMD’s FreeSync adaptive sync technology. The monitor doesn’t support Nvidia G-Sync but the Nvidia GPU in the PC I tested games on didn’t have an issue playing well with AMD’s sync technology.

When testing games on the Predator X32 FP, I used the Dell XPS 8950 desktop, which packs a 12th gen Intel Core i5-12600k processor, an Nvidia GeForce RTX 3060 Ti GPU and 16GB of RAM along with a 512GB SSD and 2TB of HDD storage. This isn’t the beefiest gaming PC but it pairs well with the X32 FP since it can run games at high framerates.

I managed to get Doom Eternal to run around 100 frames per second on medium settings and the game ran buttery smooth on the X32 FP. Traversing the hellish landscapes while blasting demons into bloody chunks felt smooth and precise thanks to the fluid 160Hz refresh rate. I couldn’t get Cyberpunk 2077 to go above 60 fps but it also ran smoothly, even while driving around the denser parts of Night City or when fighting cyborgs.

Acer Predator X32 review: Interface

• User-friendly interface
• Customizable settings 

The Predator X32 FP has a nice and clean interface that’s easy to navigate. The interface features white lettering over a black background, with highlights in red. The three aforementioned buttons quickly bring up the display modes, brightness adjustment, and input selection. Pressing the OSD joystick brings up the full menu.

Within the full menu, you can adjust the brightness and contrast, enable/disable HDR, adjust the colors and many other options. If you enjoy fine-tuning picture settings, you’ll have a lot of options to play with.

Acer Predator X32 review: Verdict

The Predator X32 FP delivers the goods with its striking visual fidelity, fast performance and bold design. It might be too large for some, but if you want a huge display for playing games, the X32 FP won’t disappoint in that regard. It also has more ports than you’ll know what to do with.

As great as the X32 FP is, its steep price seems hard to justify. Again, it offers phenomenal visuals and solid performance, but competing 32-inch 4K monitors like the Dell 32 4K UHD G3223Q and Acer Predator XB323QK cost $799 each — which is almost half the X32 FP’s price.

While more affordable options exist, the Predator X32 FP is still a great gaming monitor due to everything mentioned in this review. It just might be a good idea to wait for a price drop before buying this premium device.