Overall and Final Verdict
Honestly, I have been running 1440p and higher monitors on my PC and with most of my testing setups for years now. Most have also been high refresh rate and have FreeSync or G-Sync available as well. The exception to that has been our LAN rig monitors for both myself and my wife. For one we keep them packed up and ready to go, which I know isn’t an option that everyone has. But I also wouldn’t feel comfortable transporting expensive monitors to events because of how easy they are to break and I’m not willing to go through the trouble of packing them back up into the original box for real protection. But I have been on the lookout for new options for a long time, we still have thick LCD options from before LED backlighting was available and they run 1080p but don’t have a higher refresh rate or any extra options.
The GFV22CB from Viotek stood out to me immediately as a possibly good option right when they send the monitors information over. Just on the stats alone, it is an interesting monitor. A cheap monitor running at 1080p, 144Hz, and with G-Sync and FreeSync support. The 21.5-inch size was a bit of a downside for me, I personally prefer 23/24 for events but it could work. It is significantly thinner as well. The stand that comes with the GFV22CB is a bit of a problem for LAN use as it doesn’t break down easily. I wish it used thumbscrews or similar. The stand also caused me a lot of headaches just in general. Our original stand had a big lean and our replacement worked but then had a lean at one point as well. It is a very cheap monitor and you can tell this is an area where they saved money to keep those other important features.
As for the monitor itself performance. In most ways, it was exactly what you would expect. It did run at 144Hz and it does support FreeSync. I was surprised that G-Sync worked out of the box, however. You also have to know that a cheap monitor isn’t going to be spot on for display accuracy. It worked well but I wouldn’t use it for editing photos for example. The viewing angle is horrible as well, just like with more VA panels. So you are going to want to get the monitor in a good position where you aren’t looking down or up on it too much, of course, the stand doesn’t have any adjustment (other than angling down and up slightly) so you might have to get creative.
All in all, though, it comes down to the price point. The GFV22CB sells for $129.99 (well it will/has, I will talk about that in a second) and at that price, you are getting a steal. You are getting gaming functionality at a budget price point and you aren’t really sacrificing anything that you wouldn’t already have trouble with on budget monitors. The only significant problem is that the GFV22CB sells so well that it was completely unavailable for a while now. The problems that I had with the stand caused delays in my coverage and then COVID and other outside factors delayed things on my end even more and when I went to write about the GFV22CB I couldn’t find ANY. But I’ve heard from Viotek that another shipment is coming in and those of you who don’t mind the small size and want 144Hz and G-Sync and FreeSync will be able to find the GFV22CB soon. Maybe it will be your next LAN monitor. I would love to see a similar model at 23/24 inches with a few stand improvements to make it easy to transport and I would for sure being picking up a pair for our LAN bags. That is of course when these crazy times calm down and events are a possibility again!
Live Pricing: HERE
