Image

Sceptre Curved Ultrawide Gaming Monitor (C305B-200UN1) - Review

12/23/2023

Sceptre Curved Ultrawide Gaming Monitor (C305B-200UN1) on sale via Amazon

Sceptre C305B-200UN1 Review: A Budget-Friendly Beast for Gamers

If you are looking for a gaming monitor that offers a stunning curved display, a high refresh rate, and a low response time, but you don’t want to break the bank, you might want to check out the Sceptre C305B-200UN1. This 30-inch ultrawide monitor has a lot to offer for its price, and it can deliver an immersive and smooth gaming experience for most gamers. In this review, we will take a closer look at the design, performance, and features of this monitor, and see how it compares to other similar models in the market.

Design and Build Quality

The Sceptre C305B-200UN1 has a sleek and modern design, with a metal black finish and thin bezels. The monitor has a 1800R curvature, which means that it has a radius of 1800mm if you draw a circle with the screen as the arc. This curvature provides a more natural and comfortable viewing angle, and it also enhances the sense of immersion and depth in games.

The monitor comes with a sturdy stand that supports tilt adjustment, but not height or swivel adjustment. The stand also has a cable management hole to keep your desk tidy. Alternatively, you can mount the monitor on the wall using the VESA 75x75mm pattern, but you will need to buy a separate bracket for that.

The monitor has a decent build quality, and it feels solid and durable. However, some users have reported that the monitor arrived with dead pixels, backlight bleeding, or other defects, so you might want to check the warranty and return policy before buying.

Performance and Features

The Sceptre C305B-200UN1 has a 30-inch VA panel, with a resolution of 2560x1080 pixels and an aspect ratio of 21:9. This resolution is also known as Ultrawide Full HD (UWFHD), and it provides 30% more horizontal screen space than the standard Full HD (1920x1080) resolution. This means that you can see more of the game world, or have multiple windows open side by side, without sacrificing image quality or clarity.

The monitor has a refresh rate of up to 200Hz, which is much higher than the standard 60Hz or 75Hz. A higher refresh rate means that the monitor can display more frames per second, resulting in smoother and more fluid motion in games. However, to achieve the maximum refresh rate, you will need to use the DisplayPort 1.2 input, as the HDMI 2.0 input only supports up to 120Hz. You will also need a powerful graphics card that can output enough frames per second to match the refresh rate of the monitor.

The monitor also has a response time of 1ms (MPRT), which is the time it takes for a pixel to change from one color to another. A lower response time means that the monitor can reduce ghosting and motion blur, which are the visual artifacts that occur when fast-moving objects leave behind a trail on the screen. However, the response time of this monitor is measured using the Moving Picture Response Time (MPRT) method, which is different from the more common Gray-to-Gray (GtG) method. The MPRT method measures the response time of a pixel when it is switching between black and white, while the GtG method measures the response time of a pixel when it is switching between different shades of gray. The MPRT method tends to produce lower response times than the GtG method, but it also depends on other factors, such as the backlight strobing and the overdrive settings of the monitor.

The monitor supports AMD FreeSync Premium, which is a technology that synchronizes the refresh rate of the monitor with the frame rate of the graphics card, eliminating screen tearing and stuttering. Screen tearing is the visual distortion that occurs when the monitor displays parts of two or more frames at the same time, while stuttering is the judder that occurs when the frame rate drops below the refresh rate of the monitor. AMD FreeSync Premium works with compatible AMD graphics cards, as well as some NVIDIA graphics cards that support the Adaptive-Sync feature. However, some users have reported that the monitor suffers from brightness flickering when using FreeSync, which is a common issue with some VA panels.

The monitor supports HDR400, which is a standard that defines the minimum requirements for a monitor to display High Dynamic Range (HDR) content. HDR is a technology that enhances the contrast and color range of the monitor, making the bright areas brighter and the dark areas darker, and producing more vivid and realistic colors. HDR400 means that the monitor can achieve a peak brightness of 400 nits, which is the minimum level for HDR, and a color gamut of at least 95% of the sRGB color space, which is the standard color space for most web and digital content. However, HDR400 is not very impressive compared to higher HDR standards, such as HDR600 or HDR1000, which require higher brightness levels and wider color gamuts. Moreover, the monitor does not have local dimming, which is a feature that allows the monitor to adjust the backlight brightness in different zones of the screen, depending on the content. Without local dimming, the monitor cannot produce true blacks or deep shadows, and it might suffer from haloing or blooming, which are the effects that occur when bright objects appear to have a glow or a halo around them.

The monitor has some other features that are useful for gamers, such as the built-in speakers, the blue light filter, the flicker-free technology, the gaming modes, and the picture by picture (PBP) and picture in picture (PIP) functions. The built-in speakers are convenient for casual gaming or multimedia, but they are not very loud or clear, so you might want to use external speakers or headphones for better sound quality. The blue light filter and the flicker-free technology are designed to reduce eye strain and fatigue, especially when using the monitor for long periods of time. The gaming modes are preset settings that optimize the monitor for different types of games, such as FPS, RTS, or RPG. The PBP and PIP functions allow you to display two or more sources on the same screen, either side by side or in a smaller window, which can be useful for multitasking or streaming.


Pros and Cons

The Sceptre C305B-200UN1 has many pros and cons, depending on your preferences and needs. Here are some of the main ones:

Pros:

  • Affordable price
  • Immersive curved display
  • High refresh rate and low response time
  • AMD FreeSync Premium support
  • HDR400 support
  • Ultrawide resolution and aspect ratio
  • Gaming features and modes
  • PBP and PIP functions

Cons:

  • No height or swivel adjustment
  • Potential VRR brightness flickering and ghosting in dark scenes
  • Mediocre HDR performance and color accuracy
  • Weak built-in speakers
  • Quality control issues

Conclusion

The Sceptre C305B-200UN1 is a great gaming monitor for its price, and it can provide an immersive and smooth gaming experience for most gamers. It has a stunning curved display, a high refresh rate, a low response time, and a ultra-wide resolution, as well as some gaming features and modes. However, it also has some drawbacks, such as the lack of height or swivel adjustment, the potential VRR brightness flickering and ghosting in dark scenes, the mediocre HDR performance and color accuracy, the weak built-in speakers, and the quality control issues. Therefore, you might want to weigh the pros and cons carefully before buying this monitor, and compare it with other similar models in the market.