GoKawiilThe AOC U27G4XM isn’t perfect, but when it comes to game performance and image quality, it has no equal for the price, or even for twice the price. It’s the king of speed and value in the 27-inch 4K category.
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In the enthusiast market, the most shopped-for monitor category is, without a doubt, 4K, specifically in the 27- and 32-inch sizes. The density of 3840x2160 pixels in these two screen formats is, put simply, where you stop seeing the dots. This makes anything look better, be it graphics, photos, documents, videos, or games. And once you’ve experienced it, you can’t go back to QHD or FHD.
The hurdle to resolution nirvana used to be price, but today there are plenty of 4K monitors available for less than $500. But for gamers, the question of frame rates remains. Yes, you can buy a fast 4K monitor, but how much will you have to spend on an equally fast video card? Moving 8.3 million pixels at 200fps is expensive. Luckily, there is a solution – the dual-mode display.
This is a fairly new trend where you get one of the best 4K gaming monitors that can switch to FHD and double its refresh rate with the push of a button. I’ve already reviewed a number of them, and here's AOC’s latest entry, the U27G4XM. It’s a 27-inch IPS screen with 160 Hz, 320 Hz in FHD, Adaptive-Sync, a full-array local-dimming Mini LED backlight with 1,152 zones, wide-gamut color, and DisplayHDR 1000. Let’s take a look.
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AOC U27G4XM Specs
Swipe to scroll horizontally Panel Type / Backlight IPS / Mini LED Row 1 - Cell 0 Full Array Local Dimming Row 2 - Cell 0 1,152 zones Screen Size / Aspect Ratio 27 inches / 16:9 Max Resolution and Refresh Rate 3840x2160 @ 160 Hz Row 5 - Cell 0 1920x1080 @ 320 Hz Row 6 - Cell 0 FreeSync and G-Sync Compatible Native Color Depth and Gamut 10-bit (8-bit+FRC) / DCI-P3+ Row 8 - Cell 0 HDR10, DisplayHDR 1000 Response Time (GTG) 1ms Brightness (mfr) 450 nits SDR Row 11 - Cell 0 1,200 nits HDR Contrast (mfr) 1,000:1 Speakers None Video Inputs 1x DisplayPort 1.4 w/DSC Row 15 - Cell 0 2x HDMI 2.1 Audio 3.5mm headphone output USB 3.2 1x up, 4x down Power Consumption 33.9w, brightness @ 200 nits Panel Dimensions WxHxD w/base 24.2 x 15-20.3 x 9.4 inches (615 x 381-516 x 239mm) Panel Thickness 2.3 inches (58mm) Bezel Width Top/sides: 0.3 inch (8mm) Row 22 - Cell 0 Bottom: 0.75 inch (19mm) Weight 15.65 pounds (7.1kg) Warranty 3 years
The U27G4XM maximizes the nit-to-dollar ratio with a full-array Mini LED IPS panel that has 1,152 local dimming zones. There are three different settings that reduce the black level to increase contrast. This gets the monitor closer to the broad contrast delivered by an OLED at a lower cost, and with higher brightness. DisplayHDR 1000 means a 25% window pattern will exceed 1,000 nits peak, and the U27G4XM achieves this with over 1,100 nits measured from my review sample. Black levels can go all the way down to the backlight being turned off (unmeasurable), but with local dimming on medium, I saw just over 13,000:1.
There’s plenty of color saturation that covers a measured 109% of the DCI-P3 gamut, and that’s without the benefit of Quantum Dots. The U27G4XM is reasonably accurate out of the box, but a quick calibration takes it to reference-level. And there’s a spot-on sRGB mode that’s suitable for color-critical tasks.
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