Viotek is a relative newcomer to the gaming monitor scene, and its main strength is targeting gamers on a budget. The Viotek GFT27CXB, for example, is probably one of the best 240Hz gaming monitors available today. And Viotek is trying to have the same luck by offering gamers an ultrawide budget display.

Viotek specializes in speedy barebone gaming displays, and the GNV34DBE curved ultrawide is no different. This 34-inch ultra-wide gaming monitor has a VA panel with a 144Hz refresh rate and a 4ms response time. Its biggest selling point, however, is its $450 price. That's a great price compared to other 1440p curved ultra-wide monitors, which typically cost in the $700 to $800 range.

The low price means that Viotek had to make some compromises in the design. This is most evident in things like the stand, which, for starters, is not height adjustable. As a standing desk user, the ideal position for a monitor is at eye level, but Viotek had to keep looking down when standing up, and the overall sitting position was too low to fully enjoy what they were doing. The stand also wobbled easily and never felt sturdy in my testing.

Perhaps I'm spoiled by the many display and USB ports on modern curved gaming monitors, but I wish the GNV34DBE offered more than an audio output and a pair of HDMI and display ports.

When buying a cheap screen, you may be concerned only with performance versus price. Thankfully, Viotek's G-Sync-enabled curved display didn't disappoint in that regard; I was able to take full advantage of the 144Hz refresh rate in Apex Legends and Call of Duty: Duty matches, even on the lower brightness side. gaming at 3440 x 1440 took some getting used to, but the action ran smoothly and looked great.

Consumption of other media like Netflix and Twitch looked fine in HDR, but black levels certainly left a bit to be desired. Colorful movies like Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse looked great, with colorful spider-persons in action. Overall, the brightness could have been better for an HDR monitor. However, at this price, one can forgive many of its shortcomings.

Without HDR, the Viotek offered surprisingly decent color accuracy with impressive contrast. One of the features I like to see on ultrawide monitors is picture-in-picture and picture-by-picture, and I was surprised that the GNV34DBE supports both... Not such a great result, though.

Enabling either of these modes disables HDR and squeezes each source to fit into each half of the display, making it almost unusable. If you had dreams of browsing or playing Twitter on the PS4 on the same display, they will not come true. But the effort is appreciated. [$450 for a 34" ultrawide with 1440p, 144Hz, HDR is a great price. Probably the cheapest on the market right now. Every time I complained about the lack of ports or features, I quickly changed my attitude about how much it would add to the price.

That said, if you have special needs like height adjustment or eye care features, you might want to look elsewhere.The Viotek GNV34DBE may not have all the bells and whistles, but it offers decent gaming performance for the price.

If you specialize only in gaming, have no budget, and need an ultrawide, it's not a bad monitor. If you are willing to compromise, the Viotek GNV34BDE may be the ideal ultrawide gaming monitor for budget-conscious gamers.