Acer Predator CG43K
Price: RM 4,899
Pros | Cons |
Sharp visuals | Heavy and bulky |
Many adjustable settings | Expensive |
Superb audio | |
Monitors are the foundation of a good gaming experience. Whether you’re a console or PC player, a good monitor can majorly impact your enjoyment.
Searching for the perfect monitor might be difficult but with the Acer Predator CG43K I have on hand. I hope it helps in narrowing down your options.
Design
The Acer Predator CG43K weighs a hefty 18.7kg, making it a very bulky monitor. It also has a fixed panel and base that cannot be adjusted. In my opinion, I feel like this monitor would suit better as a TV screen for your living room instead of a gaming monitor placed on your desk.
The monitor has a panel thickness of 99mm and a bezel width of 17mm and 25mm for the top and bottom bezels respectively.
The monitor also comes with LED light strips that are connected via the back of the monitor. The light strips’ settings can be adjusted through the monitor and include things such as the lighting’s colour, style and brightness.
To be honest, I feel that the light strips do not contribute much to the overall quality of the monitor. It can be ignored if you are not interested in adding coloured lights around your monitor.
Ports
The monitor has several ports for various uses. It has one USB Type-C DisplayPort 1.4; 30W, two USB 2.0 and 3.0 downstream ports each, and an upstream USB 3.0 Type-B port. It also has three HDMI 2.0 ports, two DisplayPort 1.4 ports, and a 3.5mm Headphone Audio Output port.
To run your monitor at 144Hz, you will need to connect two DisplayPort cables. Unfortunately, Acer only includes one cable, and you can’t run G-Sync or HDR while at 144Hz. For 120Hz and below, you only need a single DisplayPort or HDMI cable.
Display
With a screen size of 43 inches and a 16:9 aspect ratio, the monitor is not something to sneeze at. It has a max resolution of 3840x2160 and a max refresh rate of 144Hz when overclocked. It excels in brightness and contrast with a HDR brightness of 1000 nits and a 4000:1 contrast.
The monitor also has various settings that can be changed to your liking. The picture menu has basic image controls and includes settings, such as a black boost slider for brighter shadow detail, a low blue light toggle, HDR modes and a room light sensor.
For colour settings, the monitor offers several colour gamut options, including sRGB, DCI-P3, SMPTE-C, Rec.709 and EBU. There is also a greyscale mode for those who want black and white images.
The gaming menu is where you’ll find all your necessary game settings. There is an overdrive setting which has a ‘normal’ and ‘extreme’ mode, Adaptive Sync, frame counter, VRB that reduces motion blur, ultra-low latency and aiming points.
Testing the monitor out with Spider-Man Remastered on PS5, the game looked much more colourful when we selected the HDR mode. When running at a 120Hz refresh rate, the on-screen movement was smooth and blur-free. Swinging through the streets of New York never felt so breathtaking as the game maintained its visuals even at fast speeds.
No HDR vs HDR comparison
Audio
The audio quality of the monitor is spectacular. The monitor has two 10w speakers that perfectly captured all the sounds of gameplay well. The bass was sharp and perfectly conveyed the action on screen well. The audio didn’t lose its clarity even when placed in a larger room or played at a higher volume.
Buy or no buy
Despite the amazing display and audio quality that the Acer Predator CG43K offers, its bulky and heavy design might be a turnoff for some people. Its retail price of RM 4899 could also be too steep for gamers on a budget. However, if you are someone who has the space and money, the monitor is a good option.
