Let’s be honest with ourselves: one of the last part of our gaming rig that we consider upgrading is our monitor. With more and more GPUs throughout product stacks pushing 1440p frame rates to new heights, perhaps you have considered jumping up from 1080p. If that’s you, Gigabyte has released an offering worth a gander that removed the “budge” normally found in budget tech and might just meet your needs to the leftover tee. This is our review of the Gigabyte G27QC 27-inch Gaming Monitor.
Specifications:
- MSRP: $319.99
- Display Size: 27-inches
- Display Resolution: 2560 x 1440 QHD
- Panel Type: VA 1500R
- Viewing Angle: 178°
- Color Saturation: 92% DCI-Ps, 120% sRGB
- Display Color: 8-bit
- Refresh Rate: 165Hz
- Adaptive Sync: AMD FreeSync Premium Ready, G-Sync Compatibility Ready
- Response Time: 1ms (MPRT)
- Contact Ratio: 3000:1 (Static), 12M:1 (Dynamic)
- Brightness: 250 cd/m2 (HDR-Ready)
- VESA Mounting: 100mm x 100mm
- Connection Type: 2x HDMI 2.0, 1x Displayport 1.2 (G-sync/Freesync compatible), 2x USB 3.0
- Sound: 1x 3.5 Headphone jack, 2x 2W Speakers
Gigabyte has been in the PC parts game for quite some time. While the AORUS line represents the brand’s parts geared toward gaming enthusiasts, we really need to pay more attention to what the parent company is up to! What we are seeing is Gigabyte asking how they can draw from the AORUS pedigree and apply it to more budget-conscious options. What this means in the case of monitors is that, after a successful launch of the AORUS-line of monitors, Gigabyte is creating a product for premium gaming experiences with little compromise.
What I noticed out of the box is the design. The G27QC trades some of the defining AORUS-branding and RGB for a flatter lines and a more understated approach. That doesn’t mean the design is boring, Gigabyte has opted for subtlety, working in contrasts of gloss and matte rather than depending on as many embellishment.
It is not all aesthetics with the G27QC, this monitor is here to work! This QHD display boasts a 1 millisecond response time and 165Hz refresh-rate to ensure that what you are seeing is a smooth representation of the frames your GPU is pushing out at 1440p. To assist with this, the G27QC works with both AMD and NVIDIA’s Adaptive Sync technologies - whether G-Sync or FreeSync Premium.
Along the lines of supported features, the G27QC is rated as being HDR-ready, according to Windows HDR standards. It is a little bit on the lower side at 250-nit. This is one area where it looks like Gigabyte pulled back a little bit to reign in costs. It was slightly less vibrant than the 400-nit Viotek GFT27CXB we reviewed a few weeks ago, but it does add to the depth of color if you have been using a monitor without any HDR.
Getting Immersed Into the Experience with the G27QC:
In case you haven’t noticed, one of the defining features of the Gigabyte G27QC is a curved display. The aim of a curved display is to produce a more immersive or connecting experience with the user, much like an IMAX movie theatre. In theory, this design is meant to work with the natural visual field of the human eye.
If you have never experienced a curved display, this can seem like an odd “feature” in modern monitors. It does take a little while to get used to the difference between a flat- and a curved display, but it didn’t take long for me to adjust to the G27QC. The nearly bezel-less design helps draw you further into the experience and really does create a closer “feel” to the content you are consuming.
A More Useful Sidekick:
Nope to be outdone on features, the Gigabyte G27QC also takes full advantage of their OSD Sidekick. OSD Sidekick does more than allow you to dig into the setting of the monitor without needing to use the rear toggle switch. It also allows you to create and save customized profiles onto your desktop, set up picture-in-picture/picture-by-picture displaying, to update monitor firmware, and to set up hotkeys to control your monitor in-game.
Where this becomes beneficial in a gaming-sense is that at the flick of your hotkeys, you can quickly change settings. In FPS arenas, a quick change in resolution profiles can enable you to see more clearly in dark spaces or adding an aim stabilizer may bag you a win. In an MMO setting, OSD Sidekick allows you to throw a timer up on your display to assist in making raid calls - no more surprise enrage timers!
Whatever it is you are playing, Gigabyte’s OSD Sidekick gives you control to make your display an even more valuable extension to your peripherals, aiming to enhance your gaming experience.
Out of the Box and On the Desktop:
In daily use the Gigabyte G27QC performs well overall. Using OSD Sidekick definitely takes some practice to use, but it is an incredibly powerful utility for those moments where every tool at your disposal can help. The option to turn on and off feature like a crosshair and timers as well as adjust brightness on the fly are a little niche, but quite nice options.
The built-in presets did help in finding the right color settings for each game tested. The color saturation was noticeable as it highlighted details within gaming areas, but did struggle in some areas. I have spent a fair amount of time testing within Destiny 2’s Shadowkeep expansion. This game serves as the perfect testing ground to test this monitor’s depth of color because of the diversity of environments and the use of lighting effect.
What I discovered was that the G27QC performed brilliantly in well- and lower-lit areas, but in moments of greater darkness, it was impossible to navigate space well. This goes back to the earlier statements about the lower HDR brightness. While it gives some enhancement, it is probably the most noticeable area of compromise with this monitor.
I wanted to take a closer look at this to take my bias out of the equation. For that, I turned to datacolor’s SpiderX utility. Here is what I found:
The results were surprisingly true to advertising. I say “surprising” because these details typically comes from “best case” readings. Even better, the two of these number sets which matter most in gaming, the sRGB and P3 ratings, are high, if not higher, than normal. This means your visual experience with the games you are playing is going to be more naturally matched to the color schemes they were developed in.
Final Thoughts:
As our GPUs push frame rates to higher heights, it may just be time for a monitor upgrade. The Gigabyte G27QC offers a feature-packed option with little compromise. If you have not upgraded your monitor in a while, don’t have a lot of cash to spend in your budget, but you can’t budge on resolution or high refresh rates, this display may be a good upgrade path for you.
The one area where the G27QC lags a bit behind is in the HDR department. While it does technically meet the requirements for Windows HDR, we just found it Again, if the choice is low-brightness or no extra brightness, the 250-nits provided by this display is a touch of gravy on top of all of the features it boasts.
While it is a bit on the higher end of what might be considered a “budget” monitor at $319.99 USD, there are enough features (albeit some weaker than others) which make the price make sense for what it delivers. If you are looking for a 1440p monitor with high refresh rates and solid color delivery, Gigabyte has a strong offering with the G27QC.
Full Disclosure: The product discussed in this article was provided by the manufacturer for the purposes of review.
