AOC Agon AG353UCG Review: Worth The Hefty Price?

Everyone likes curved monitors. And if you can get a curved one with an ultrawide 21:9 display that’s 35 inches and has a resolution of 3440×1440 along with a 200 Hz refresh rate is definitely cherry on top. The monitor comes with a massive screen area and is compatible with Nvidia G-sync. It is one of the best-looking gaming monitors that can also be used for other tasks.

We are talking about the AOC Agon AG353UCG, and this is the full review of the monitor.

Specifications

Panel Size (diagonal)	35 inch
Display Viewing Area (HxV)	819.408 mm x 345.888 mm
Panel Backlight/Type	WLED VA Type
Color Saturation	Adobe RGB 98% Coverage
True Resolution	3440 x 1440
Brightness	1000 Nits
Contrast Ratio	2500:1
Viewing Angle	178/178 º
Response Time	2 ms
Refresh Rate	200 Hz
Signal Input	HDMI 2.0 x 1 DisplayPort 1.4 x 2
Speaker	5 W
Audio	3.5 mm headphone jack
USB port(s)	USB 3.1 (Gen1) x 4
Power Consumption	125 Watt
Tilt (angle)	-5 ~ 21.5 ± 1.5 °
Swivel (angle)	32° ~ 32° °
HDR	Vesa Certified DisplayHDR™ 1000
Warranty	3 years

Features

Most curved screens use VA-type display technology, and the AOC Agon AG353UCG is no different. The great advantage is that we are looking at a high contrast ratio and brightness as well. This allows the monitor to boast a DisplayHDR 1000 compatibility, one of the highest display standards within HDR10. The color gamut also surpasses the sRGB with 133% coverage.

The pixel response time of 2 ms is also good for a VA panel type. This is made possible by something called true grey-to-grey response that allows super-fast pixel change by VA standards. The monitor is also compatible with Nvidia’s Gsync Ultimate with a refresh rate of 200 Hz. It also has Nvidia hardware inside, allowing the monitor to have the best adaptive synchronization when paired with one of the compatible GeForce graphic cards. While gaming, there’s also support for 1,000cd/m2 HDR that is rare to see on monitors in this range.

You can also adjust the monitor however you like with a fair amount of adjustable motions such as tilt, swivel, and raising/lowering the height. There’s also a fair number of ports that include two DisplayPorts, one HDMI, a micro USB, a 3.5mm headphone jack, and four USB 3.1 (Gen 1) ports. The lack of USB Type-C could be disappointing for some; an addition could have been welcomed.

Design

The Agon AG353UCG is a great-looking monitor with thin bezels and an overall black theme. But what makes it stand out instantly is the big and bold red stand. The build is quite solid, which is expected for a monitor in this price range. There’s also a circular RGB strip that AOC calls Light FX on the back of the monitor, which gives out a nice statement.

There are many options to adjust the monitor with the ability to swivel 32 degrees left or right, tilt 5 degrees forwards, or 21.5 degrees backward. You can also raise and lower the panel by 120mm. There’s also a hook for keeping your headphones on both sides of the screen. It also has two 3.5 mm headphone jack ports for audio in and out.

Speaking about ports, all the I/O is situated on the bottom, neatly divided into two parts for better space and cable management. The left-hand side (from the front) houses a 4 port USB (Gen 1) Hub. One of these ports also supports fast charging. Besides the hub is the headphone jack. Then there’s another port that looks like a USB port that is meant for powering up the monitor.

Then there are two DisplayPorts on the other side along with an HDMI 2.0 connection. Next comes a MicroUSB port and another audio jack to connect your existing PC mic input.

On-Screen Display Settings

The OSD is controlled by a joystick that’s placed exactly below the AOC logo. This is a far more convenient spot to place a joystick than other monitors at some awkward, hard-to-reach position. To bring up the main menu, you need to push the joystick in or press the OK button.

The menu offers eight main options: Game Settings, Luminance, G-Sync Settings, Color Setup, Audio, Light FX, Extra, and OSD Setup. Heading into the Game Settings are options Game Mode, Dial Point, Quick Switch LED, and Frame Counter on or off. There are also options to set Shadow Control and Overdrive mode. In Luminance, you get the options to set the contrast, peak white (brightness), variable backlight mode – either for gaming or desktop, or sort of both. You can also set the Relative Gamma function as per your needs, having a range of 1.6 to 2.8, which is decent.

There are options to set the sRGB color from RGB mode and if you want the variable backlight to be turned on in this as well. You can also turn on the auto-brightness setting to let the display adapt to your room. The auto black level also uses the same sensor to adjust itself. Coming to the G-sync settings, you can set Sleep mode on or off and USB charging. When turned on, the maximum refresh rate of 200 Hz is available. Do note that only the DisplayPort connection will utilize the maximum refresh rate and not the HDMI connection.

Inside the Color Setup, you can turn the Low BlueLight mode on or off, including presets for multiple use cases such as Multimedia, Internet, Office, and Reading. Below it is the DP YCbCr sRGB and HDMI YCbCr sRGB options that enable component color sRGB for DisplayPort and HDMI, respectively. Color temperatures can be set as Normal, Warm, Cool, or User with User allowing you to set RGB individually.

The Audio section is pretty basic, with options to control the volume of the 3.5 mm headphone jack out and the built-in 5W speakers. It also gives you the ability to turn the DTS sound on or off. The Light FX setting lets you customize the intensities of the RGB in the foreground that depends upon the pattern and option you have selected. The Extra option lets you choose between manual or auto selection and displays the information about the current configuration.

The last option is the OSD Setup that lets you change the language of the OSD menu and adjust the placement, transparency, timeout features according to your needs. You can also set a timer that will tell you to take a break between work or play.

As you can see, there are plenty of options available, which is expected from a high-grade monitor like this. Let’s move on and see how good the picture quality is on this one.

Picture Quality

The AOC Agon AG353UCG has a native resolution of 3440×1440. The monitor supports 133% of the sRGB color gamut and 83% of the AdobeRGB, and 89% DCI-P3 color gamut. These are super impressive scores. The brightness and color uniformity is top-notch, with brightness peaking at 565.2cd/m2 and contrast at 1,530:1. The default gamma mode has a value of 2.2 and is consistent throughout the area.

The non-HDR contrast levels came up with a 4200:1 ratio, which is huge. The monitor also has a VESA DisplayHDR 1000 rating that translates to a black level of 0.05cd/m2. Overall, the monitor has excellent colors, brightness and contrast levels, and a wide gamut.

With the “SDR color RGB” option enabled, the color accuracy got worse, with it covering 10% lesser sRGB than when on the default setting and a whopping 20% lesser in the DCI-P3 color gamut. We are not sure what that mode does, but we recommend not turning it on.

Performance

AOC markets this monitor as one meant for gaming. And the Agon AG353UCG didn’t fail to impress us. The monitor was able to run games like CS: GO and Rainbow 6 Siege at a high refresh rate without any issue. The monitor gives you a very fluid gaming experience. With HDR support, games like Shadow Warrior 2 looked magnificent. The huge curved size of this thing provides a complete immersion into the game. Games like Microsoft Flight Simulator 2020 can be enjoyed on this monitor.

Support for G-sync makes sure that the gaming experience is exceptionally smooth with high adaptive-sync framerates giving you 200 Hz refresh rates at all times. You also get inky blacks and very fine shadow details in games on this display. Assassin’s Creed Odyssey and similar games might require a little tweaking. But once appropriately calibrated, the monitor with its HDR capabilities makes the sunshine, bonfires, lamps, and other props look stunning in the overall dark background. No doubt, the Agon AG353UCG can handle everything we threw at it smoothly.

Final Words

The AOC Agon AG353UCG is hands down one of the best monitors we have tested. The only catch? Price. The monitor retails for £1875 (~$2500), which is a hefty price tag. But with the monitor’s ultrawide HDR action and a 200 Hz refresh rate action, it still justifies the price tag. The color accuracy is also great, but with the confusing OCD menu options, you might want to keep things as it is out of the box. We also liked little details such as a hook for the headphones and the joystick placed below the AOC logo, which adds minor convenience and is nice to have.

With that said, the Agon AG353UCG is a phenomenal ultrawide monitor with excellent brightness, contrast, color accuracy, HDR support. If you are looking to buy one, we recommend you to do that!