[kirax25]

Good Day All,

I am in the market for a new 27 inch 1440p monitor. I have looked at the M27Q and the MSI MAG274qrf-QD in detail and both sound like great options. However I am at a loss.

I will use the monitor for Office work during the day and then PC and Console gaming at night in a mostly dark room. I know VA would give me better contrast performance but I have never liked the gamma shift of VA panels and it scares me to buy one thinking it might have the same issues.

What do you feel would be a good fit for me?

[PCM2]

Hi kirax25,

Both of those models are covered elsewhere on this forum and I currently recommend the Gigabyte M27Q. I’d advise taking a look through this thread and also this one. But in short, the MSI MAG274QRF-QD is certainly fast and vibrant. However; it lacks any sort of gamma settings in the OSD and is often tuned quite poorly in that respect. Individual units vary, but I’ve had multiple users complain of poor gamma handling and multiple reviewers have received poorly calibrated monitors. It doesn’t have an sRGB emulation setting, either. If you’re happy with heavily oversaturated colours, some shades appearing lighter than they should and others quite a bit darker than they should be then no problem. It’s a nice monitor if you look past that – if you’re able to.

The Gigabyte M27Q also offers a vibrant image, but the colour gamut is not quite as extensive as on the MSI MAG274QRF-QD . So the oversaturation isn’t quite as pronounced. It’s also better in terms of its gamma handling and offers a range of gamma settings, which is a useful flexibility to have. Plus it has an sRGB emulation setting. Some users prefer the look using that setting and sometimes it depends on the content – they’ll use the full native gamut sometimes for an extra hit of vibrancy, but the sRGB emulation setting for a toned down look other times. The potential issue with the M27Q, as noted in the review, is ‘fringing’ due to the subpixel layout. As I say there it’s not something that most users will notice or find bothersome. But some will, so bear it in mind. It isn’t as responsive as the MSI, either, but it’s still quite strong in that regard as covered extensively in our review and some others.

The VA route is really comparing an apple to an orange. The gamma shift behaviour and saturation shifts (weak gamma and colour consistency) do really bother some users. As do the significantly weaker pixel responses and sometimes even things like the somewhat grainy screen surface or the fact many of those options are curved. The main contenders have their own dedicated thread. But our main recommendation for a similar budget to the Gigabyte is pretty clear and that’s the AOC CQ27G2(U). That review will give you an excellent idea of what to expect from the monitor, the best idea you’ll get short of seeing it yourself.

And whilst the contrast is certainly stronger on the VA models and I would agree they’ll generally give a nicer experience in a dark room, it’s still not perfect in that respect. You’ve got ‘VA glow’, possible uniformity issues and the fact the static contrast is ~3000:1. Which is relatively strong for an LCD, but still not sufficient to give a deep and inky look in a dark room. It’s important to set realistic expectations here. I’d also suggest, if you can, having a bit of light behind the monitor. Like a bias light or at least some ambient lighting near the monitor. That can work nicely to greatly enhance perceived contrast, regardless of panel type. And allow you to sit in an otherwise dark room without dark uniformity issues or less than ideal dark room contrast being as bothersome.

[kirax25]

Thank you for the response. One question to see if it would change anything. I have a colorimeter that I use specifically to calibrate my displays when doing photo editing as a hobby (very minor hobby). Knowing that I could use it on either to control some of the oversaturation would you still recommend the M27Q over the MAG274qrf-qd?

Thanks again!

[PCM2]

That would certainly help in that you could tame the gamma and for colour-managed applications you’d gain appropriate saturation as well due to gamut mapping. But because of the shortcomings of ICC profiles, especially with gaming in mind, I’d still recommend the Gigabyte. It offers stronger colour performance and more flexibility without profiling and that’s a nice thing to have for gaming in particular. And I just don’t personally feel the MSI‘s higher cost is justified given the performance of the Gigabyte.

[PCM2]

I should now add that since this thread was first published, I’ve received a lot of feedback on both the MAG274QRF-QD and M27Q. This has been combined with pricing and availability changes, firmware updates to the MSI with new features such as multi-gamut emulation as well as a stealthy new revision of the Gigabyte. And this has ultimately led me to switch over to recommending the MAG274QRF-QD more heavily. It’s a unique and very versatile monitor monitor and you get a lot for your money with that one. 🙂

My main complaint with the MSI (gamma handling) is something that won’t affect the experience for most people. Outside of general content consumption and onto content creation, where good accurate gamma tracking is particularly desirable, I’d argue that profiling and calibrating any monitor is highly advantageous. And that would fix such issues and make further corrections desirable for accurate output. With current price and availability in mind, the features offered with the latest firmware and the performance characteristics including pixel responsiveness and gamut coverage plus standard RGB subpixel layout, the MSI is really the more ‘capable’ option. It also offers superior build quality – I wouldn’t say either model shines in that respect, but it does have the more ‘solid’ feel if you like that sort of thing. I’d recommend reading through a dedicated thread which covers both models (this post onwards in particular) for more thoughts on the MAG274QRF-QD.

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