AOC Agon AG493UCX

amazon AOC Agon AG493UCX reviews

With a spacious, curved 49-inch screen, the AOC Agon AG493UCX is a formidable widescreen monitor for playing multiple games that can run on an ultra-wide screen. It has a higher native resolution (5,120 x 1,440 pixels, aka 5K) but a lower refresh rate (120Hz) than the similarly equipped Samsung CHG90. The Agon AG493UCX proved fun when playing games (especially for driving, flight simulators, and other “simulation” games), watching videos, and viewing photos. But its confusing menu system sometimes creates an equal degree of frustration.

Dangerous curve

As a screen monster, the AG493UCX measures 47 x 119 x 31 cm and weighs 14.3 kg. It’s 49-inch (diagonal) VA display, housed in a matte black housing, has a native resolution of 5,120 x 1,440 pixels in an ultra-wide 32:9 aspect ratio. That equates to two 27-inch QHD (2,560 x 1,440 pixels) screens side by side. That matches the screen sizes and resolutions of several 49-inch business monitors, the Dell Ultrasharp 49 Curved Monitor, the Philips Brilliance 499P9H, and the LG 49WL95C-W. Its screen size is the same as the Samsung CHG90 — the only other 49-inch gaming monitor we’ve reviewed — but Samsung’s native resolution is lower (3,840 x 1,080 pixels). The Agon AG493UCX is a good choice for multitasking, as you can open multiple spacious windows side by side on its screen.

The display is very curved, with a 1800R curvature rating. If you put enough AG493UCX monitors side by side to form a circle, it will have a radius of just 1,800mm or 1.8m. We often see such dramatic curvature in ultra-wide monitors; Of the monitors we’ve tested, only the 34-inch Samsung Curved Monitor CF791 boasts a significantly more impressive curvature (1500R) measurement. The pronounced curvature provides a richer, more immersive gaming experience than you get with a flat-screen.

The holder to which the case is mounted on a sturdy, tripod-like metal base, with a short leg at the back supporting the shaft and case and two long, curved arms, reminds me of “longhorns,” a stable frame on the sides. It supports height, tilt, and swivel adjustments, and the rear of the cabinet features a square pattern of four holes 100mm (3.9 inches) apart to support wall mounting with a VESA mount.

Trouble at the Gates

Ports include two DisplayPort 1.4 connectors, two HDMI 2.0 ports, and one USB Type-C port that supports 65-watt power delivery. As well as the DisplayPort over USB protocol, which means one USB cable can handle video or data simultaneously power your laptop. You also get an Ethernet port (which can ensure connectivity even when your laptop’s Wi-Fi isn’t on) and a 3.5mm audio-out; The AG493UCX has two built-in 5-watt speakers, which provide reasonable volume and good sound quality.

As is all too common with desktop monitors, all ports face down on the back and are hard to reach. That is a minor issue on a small screen, but it’s at least an annoyance with the already very wide AG493UCX. When setting up this monitor, it’s a good idea to plug in any cables you may need, even if you’re not using them right away. Otherwise, you may find yourself having to place the monitor gently on its back or plug it around underneath the monitor without or see what you’re doing, or tilt the monitor to get to the ports you need.

Remote control for onscreen menu

AOC provides two ways to access and control the onscreen display (OSD) of the AG493UCX: several small buttons, better described as nubbins, at the bottom of the display near its right end ( icons on the bottom border show their function) and handheld remote control. I’ve found the remote — which has brightness and volume controls, buttons for changing input sources and calling up menus, and the four-way controller with a central button — much better. I will only use the onscreen buttons if the remote is lost or out of reach.

The OSD, which appears as a vertically oriented rectangle in the bottom-right corner of the screen, has six main options, each with a name and icon: Game settings, Brightness, Picture setup, Settings Color, Add and Set OSD. Under Game Settings are items like Game Mode (FPS, RTS, Racing, three programmable player modes, and Off), Overdrive, Adaptive Sync, Low Input Lag, and Frame Counter. Under Luminance, along with Contrast and Brightness, is the Eco Mode setting; Hidden in Eco Mode is a set of picture modes (Standard, Text, Game, Internet, Movie, and Sports among them). But unless you look in the manuals, which can be downloaded from the AOC site, or appear on them by opening Economizer Mode, you’ll never know they’re there.

The third main choice is Picture Settings. It allows you to choose picture-by-picture (PBP) mode, in which you can display output from two different video sources side by side on the screen; you can also select sources from your different inputs. Picture settings also have HDR settings. When there is an HDR signal, you’ll see a menu item titled HDR, from which you can select DisplayHDR, HDR Picture, HDR Movie, HDR Game, or Off. When non-HDR content is displayed, the main menu choice is HDR Mode, and you have the same choices except without DisplayHDR. This mode is presumably an HDR simulation designed to mimic the HDR effect of a standard dynamic range signal by increasing brightness and saturation and improving contrast. In our testing, it proved just as effective.

With Color Setup, you can select Low Blue Light mode to reduce eye strain. You can also change the color temperature and make other edits. The Extra menu allows you to set the input source, change the image’s aspect ratio, and perform a factory reset (returning all settings to default). Finally, the OSD Settings allows you to set the language of the display on the screen, change its position on the screen, and set the length of time for it to be displayed.

The best thing about the AG493UCX’s OSD is the aforementioned remote control, making it easy to navigate through the menu settings. The worst part is that its design is unintuitive and atypical, with some settings in several (or unexpected) categories. For example, I’ll put the Economy Mode picture settings, the list of gaming modes, and the HDR options under one main category. Even if some settings are found, it may not be clear how to change them, as they are sometimes grayed out. The downloadable manuals are not always helpful in explaining they can be activated under any circumstances.

where can you get a AOC Agon AG493UCX online

AOC AGON Curved Gaming Monitor 49″ (AG493UCX), Dual QHD 5120×1440 @ 120Hz, VA Panel, 1ms 120Hz Adaptive-Sync, 121% sRGB, Height Adjustable, 4-Yr Zero Dead Pixels Manufacturer Guarantee: Buy it now

Bright, with good colors

I performed our brightness, color, and contrast test for the AG493UCX using the Murideo SIX-G signal generator, the X-Rite i1Basic Pro 2 color profiler, and the Portrait Displays CalMAN 5 software.

The AG493UCX qualifies for DisplayHDR 400, the lowest tier in VESA’s HDR certification. Its rated brightness is 550 nits (candelas per meter squared); it shoots at a respectable 524 nits with HDR enabled. In Standard mode, with HDR off, the brightness is a healthy 360 nits (candelas per meter squared), and with the two gaming modes we tested, FPS and Racing, the brightness is 427 and 429 nits.

The AG493UCX covers 100% of the sRGB color space with free space. The area inside the triangle represents all the colors created by mixing the primary colors red, green, and blue. The circles, representing our measurements, lie on or outside the triangle and are equally spaced. Further testing covered 78.1% of the wider Adobe RGB color space, used in some photography applications, and 82.6% of the digital cinema-oriented DCI-P3 space.

AOC backs the AG493UCX with a generous four-year warranty. Most display manufacturers only offer three years, and a few warrant their monitors for only one year.

Play games on super widescreen

As the widest screens get wider and wider, from the first widescreen (16:9) to the super-wide (21:9) and now wider monitors (32:9) like the Agon AG493UCX and Samsung CHG90, the game Play manufacturers have been forced to provide support for them. Fortunately, many recent games will run fairly smoothly on 32:9 screens. Racing games, flight simulators, and games with sci-fi settings or panoramic landscapes are all well-suited for ultra-wide screens. An extensive online search for games will yield a good selection; check with the manufacturer if you have any doubts about their compatibility.

I had an enjoyable time with Project Cars 2. We also played Counter-Strike: Global Offensive and Far Cry 5 at full resolution and 120Hz with FreeSync enabled, with both an AMD Radeon RX 590 and a Radeon RX 5700 XT graphics card. The experience was very good, with minimal ghosting, although in both Counter-Strike and Far Cry 5, when we used either AMD cards, we noticed a slight but annoying judder or flicker in the background when we used them. I check the game’s menu (though not while playing the game) when FreeSync is on.

The AG493UCX has a maximum refresh rate of 120Hz and supports AMD FreeSync Premium Pro adaptive sync in gaming specs. The Samsung CHG90 has a higher refresh rate (144Hz) and uses the same FreeSync flavor. (Note: AMD’s FreeSync Premium Pro was originally marketed as “FreeSync 2” and has undergone two rebrandings; before FreeSync Premium Pro, it was “FreeSync 2 HDR.”). Both monitors have a 1ms rated MPRT pixel response. Motion Picture Response Time (MPRT), also known as “display endurance,” measures how long a pixel is displayed continuously and cannot be directly compared with the gray-to-gray response time parameter. Grayscale (GTG) is more common than most manufacturer-provided monitors.

We measured the AG493UCX’s input lag using the HDFury 4K Diva at 15.6ms. That isn’t impressive for a gaming monitor, though scores tend to be lower with large screens. The Agon doesn’t have an input setting—disable frame buffer to reduce lag—but it’s grayed out. Despite trying with two test PCs and an Xbox, advise the manual using, and changing many settings, we couldn’t find a way to enable it.

In the end, AOC dropped us into a specific combination of settings to use, and we can make it work.

Unfortunately, we weren’t able to quantitatively test it. HDFury tests input lag at 1080p, and the monitor requires a higher resolution to enable Low Input Latency. We did play two rounds of Counter-Strike with low input lag enabled and two loops with it off and noticed a slight improvement when it was enabled.

Some entertainment tips

While the AG493UCX is primarily (and in its size), it is also more reliable than a monitor for entertainment consumption. One downside, with the super-wide aspect ratio, most of the screen space will be wasted. With a typical widescreen film, the image is placed between two giant black borders that together take up half of the screen.

That said, it was a pleasant experience watching HDR video with HDR enabled in Windows on the AG493UCX with the monitor’s HDR Movie mode enabled, which greatly improves contrast and dynamic range. HDR Movie mode, which runs as a simulation rather than true HDR when processing standard definition video, even has a beneficial effect on non-HDR videos, such as a clip of an overhead train I uploaded to YouTube about a decade ago.

Photos from our test suite look great: bright, with good contrast, and dynamic range. As with videos, images only take up part of the screen – except for some panoramas in our gallery, which look great. With the ultra-wide screen, you can open photos in two windows for side-by-side comparison. The AG493UCX is suitable for photo editing, provided that you do not need to work in the Adobe RGB color space.

Good for games and media viewing

The AOC Agon AG493UCX brings the thrill of ultra-wide gaming to the masses on a giant screen at a relatively modest price point. The best way to provide an immersive experience is with flight simulators, racing games, and other games where the panoramic view is important. It’s not ideal for multiplayer games, as the ultra-widescreen provides more screen space for enemies to lunge at you from the sides before you can draw a grain on them. It proved to be capable and fun to use (though its onscreen menu system proved annoying, even when I navigated it with the included remote). It also works well in video and photo processing.

It’s a worthy alternative to the similarly equipped Samsung CHG90, offering a higher resolution but a lower refresh rate, and it’s a good choice for casual ultra-wide gaming. That said, while the MSI Optix MPG34CQR has a smaller, not as wide display (limited to 21:9 aspect ratio), it delivers a superior gaming experience (including latency scores near-record low in our testing).