[uncia]

I wish I remembered the modes in the menu. It was pretty general stuff. In SDR. I hadn’t selected anything special in the least. I had brightness pretty low as well, perhaps set to 30. The AMD control panel was set to keep the colour gamut within the sRGB range as I tend to keep it there. I’d guess you’re probably right about the firmware. Prior to the update, it was really bad. It improved somewhat with the first firmware update, but it still was present. I thought it was fixed at first, but the darker the content was, any lighting would cause it to auto-adjust. This was most easily noticed with screen savers.

Gigabyte puts so much effort into their design, RGB, and desktop menu software, but then they let something so basic slip through. I suppose companies really do depend upon consumers as their beta testers these days. They don’t get things working right before they’re released. Yet it must cost them a fortune in returns.

[VAIsKing]

I can confirm that the Aorus CV27Q also had the dynamic contrast issue, though it was significantly more aggressive before I updated to the latest firmware. Before the firmware update, it would adjust the brightness back and forth constantly when you viewed content that was dark, while afterwards it simply turned the brightness to 0 when the entire screen was black.

@unica I also considered the AG273QX for a bit, but two of the reviews I looked at measured the contrast ratio at around 1500:1, which was offputting.

[PCM2]

Did those reviews measure contrast using a Spyder5 series or earlier colorimeter, by any chance? If so you can disregard any measured contrast values, as those colorimeters are unable to accurately measure low luminance levels and hence can’t properly read black points. The AG273QX’s contrast should be closer to ~2500:1-3000:1 if measured properly, in line with the curved alternatives.

[VAIsKing]

Interesting. Have you personally tried the AG273QX? It seems to be a close relative to the AG273QCX (at least according to the naming scheme), so I’m worrying it’s going to have the same problems with G-sync (massive flickering and overdrive not working).

[PCM2]

It’s to be considered a non-curved version of the ‘QCX’, which is why the ‘C’ got dropped and the rest of the designation is very similar. It uses the same CELL as the other flat models discussed earlier in the thread but offers a similar backlight and hence similar HDR capability to the AG273QCX we’ve reviewed. I have no intention to review it as it isn’t available in the US and that’s by far the largest contributor to the running of this website and its traffic load (as a single country). I have no hands on experience with it either. Given how similar the flat and curved variant of the (C)Q27G2(U) seemed to perform, it follows that the AG273QX should be similar to the AG273QCX in many respects. I’m not sure whether the ‘G-SYNC Compatible Mode’ performance is improved vs. the QCX, though.

[VAIsKing]

“Did this fool just buy another 27″ 1440p VA? Isn’t it going to be just as bad?” Find out later today!

[PCM2]

Haha – brilliant!

Well, I look forward to your impressions on the CQ27G2(U). And you never know, you might just really enjoy it. There’s no harm in giving it a good go, and you’ll be able to give it a much nicer test than the 10 minutes of interrupted usage I had with it. 😀

[VAIsKing]

Having used the CQ27G2U for almost a day: here are my impressions so far:

The good:

– This monitor has much better response times than the two previous VA’s I tried. This has been described as somewhere in the middle in terms of speed, so I think the CV27Q and the VG27WQ must be at the bottom of the barrel. For me, this monitor is fast enough for me not to notice the blur/smearing unless I’m actively looking for it. In (mostly) older games, the effect I described earlier where it seems like the brightness fluctuates when details disappear, that’s still present on this monitor, but not as annoying as on the other two. I used the Strong overdrive mode since it didn’t have any noticeable overshoot.

-G-sync compatible works very well. Flickering is minimal, only noticeable during sharp fluctuations in FPS. For some reason it even shows up as an official G-sync compatible monitor in the Nvidia control panel even though it’s not certified.

-Black crush and/or the gamma is much better on this than the VG27WQ: I can properly distinguish almost all the lagom boxes when the room is completely dark, though the first one is pretty hard. It also performed better on the white saturation test than the other previous two monitors.

-Stand is surprisingly good for such a cheap monitor. Swivel, height, and tilt is smooth to adjust, and it doesn’t wobble. On the VG27WQ, the whole stand tended to move with it when you used the swivel adjustment, but not here.

-VA glow is not as severe as on the CV27Q and the VG27WQ. It encompasses just as large of an area, but it’s not as strong.

The bad:

-It seems like after using the monitor for an hour or more, I get very similar eye strain as I did on the 32GK850G; a sort of subtle constant stingy feeling in my right eye. It’s not as severe as last time, but it’s there. It might be because I haven’t gotten much sleep combined with my eyes having been used to a 20″ monitor these last weeks. The brightness right now should be at around 90 nits (set at 40% , 221 nits is max according to a review). I’ll try playing around with the brightness a bit more during the next days.

-The anti-glare coating doesn’t seem to be very good at its job. This is not a problem during the night, but during the day when the room is lit by the outside, I can see pretty clear reflections of myself and objects on the desk on whichever part of the screen is displaying darker content. It’s not like the sun is shining directly at it either, the sun is on the other side of the house, and the monitor faces away from the window. The result of this feels almost the same as VA glow; the reflections seem to eat away at details while also being distracting.

-The colors appear somewhat muted compared to other wide gamut monitors I’ve tried. This isn’t necessarily a bad thing; sometimes I prefer a little over-saturation, while other times I want the content to look more like it was intended to.

-The menu is a little annoying to use since it’s using traditional buttons rather than a “nipple”. It’s not a huge deal since you normally only set it up once, but having a quick and easy way to change the brightness on the fly would have been nice. You can change between different profiles quick, but the default profile is the only one that doesn’t either lock some settings, or introduce minor gamma/sharpness changes that can’t be turned off unless you just use the default profile. That said, pressing a single button to activate/deactivate a crosshair is nice.

—

Considering this was priced almost half of what the CV27Q and the VG27WQ was, I’m pleasantly surprised. Unless the eye strain doesn’t go away, I’m probably gonna keep it.

[PCM2]

Interesting observations, thanks for sharing. A lot of good stuff there. It’s a shame about the eyestrain, but I always recommend a bit of an adjustment period and trying to get used to the screen. It will hopefully improve. What brightness setting are you using?

Regarding the anti-glare surface, it should be similar to the other VA models you’ve tried. Are you sure you aren’t just comparing to your experience in a brighter room due to seasonally brighter conditions compared to when you tested the other models? The ‘Light’ matte screen surface is very much the same – the stronger curve could well mean it’s picking up more light from windows and suchlike or exaggerating some of the glare, though.

[VAIsKing]

Yesterday I had the brightness on 40. Today I’m trying 0 to see if it does anything.

You might be on to something about the seasonal change, but considering I had the VG27WQ (which also had 1500R curve) a few weeks ago and didn’t notice it there, I’m not sure.

[PCM2]

Are you still using the CQ27G2(U), or did you end up sending it back due to being too bothersome for your eyes? I’ve received some more positive feedback on this model by email, echoing your thoughts (although luckily for him not having issues with eye strain). I might look to review this one in the near future, it does seem to be a rather interesting choice and again AOC seems to be very competitive indeed with their pricing. Would be nice to see it properly rather than a brief turn at a dark event with tempting buffet near by. 😉

[VAIsKing]

Yes – the eye strain completely went away after about 3 days of use. I can use it an entire day now at 60% brightness without any issues. The colors do lack a certain punch that the others provided, which is the only thing that bothers me about it. But right now there aren’t really any other interesting options available here, so I’ll probably end up sticking with this. FI27Q-P is sold out and the XG279Q is another IPS I’ve looked at, but many complain about the grainy coating so it doesn’t sound that enticing.

I can’t wait until LCD technology finally dies. If I could put myself into cryosleep for 10 years only for that, I probably would.

[PCM2]

I’m really glad to hear that. It really does sound like an enjoyable monitor to use overall, having a comfortable viewing experience of course trumps everything else and leaves you free to enjoy it properly. Regarding the colours not looking as ‘punchy’ as some others, it could be that the colour gamut is slightly narrower. Although it’s the same as specified for the VG27WQ, specifications can sometimes be slightly off in either direction. Alternatively, it might be that the average gamma is a touch lower. I assume you’ve tried setting the ‘Gamma’ to ‘Gamma 3’? This usually provides the highest gamma level on AOC models.

[Puck]

Afaik, Not all msi models use panels from Samsung. From what i’ve been reading, the MSI MAG272QP dont, but models like the MSI MAG272CQR do.
I’m not entirely sure, but they do at least use different panels, the first one just being called a VA and the other one SVA (Samsung VA?).

[PCM2]

I’m not sure what panel the MSI MAG272QP would use if not a Samsung SVA panel. It’s surely the same CELL (panel minus backlight) or very similar to that used on the AOC AG273QX, AOC Q27G2(U) and Samsung S27R750Q. But I’m not sure exactly what panel is used there, I’ll reach out to some of my contacts. However; having seen the flat and curved AOC variants side by side the characteristics were so similar (from the limiting testing I was able to do) that it would surprise me if it wasn’t just a flattened Samsung SVA (‘Super’ Vertical Alignment) panel.

Edit: Have received confirmation that it is indeed a flat version of the Samsung SVA panel, hence the obvious similarities.

[Puck]

Is that so, thanks for the confirmation then 🙂

Does that mean that the wider color gamut of the QP is all done by the backlight? (roughly 95 vs 90 on CQR)
And is it fair to guess that they have really similar smear/ghosting etc? (the MSIs, not aoc etc)

I’m actually in the same situation as OP with a 27gl850, also looking at VAs hehe, but i wont hijack his thread, further questions will then be made in a new post.

Thanks again for the info, and thanks for PCmonitors

[PCM2]

This thread is an appropriate place to discuss the 27″ VA options, with a primary focus on WQHD models. I’d certainly prefer to keep things together rather than starting new threads unecessarily. So don’t feel bad about posting here if it’s related to those models. There are various other threads which are either less specific (a href=”//forum.pcmonitors.info/topic/1440p-high-refresh-rate-monitor-tn-vs-ips-vs-va/”>example) or more specific (example) with some good discussions on these sorts of models, too.

The light source is what dictates colour gamut in all cases, so with an LCD that means the backlight. Different monitors from the same manufacturer don’t always have similar pixel overdrive implementations, so there can be differences in pixel responses. Even if the panel used is similar. But there aren’t usually dramatic differences, especially for models released at roughly the same time.

[Puck]

Ah ok 🙂 then i stay in this one.
Well like i said, i’m in the same situation.

I’m going to send in my monitor for inspection for glow. If they say that i can change monitor, then i’m not sure if i’m going to take the same model and continue the glow-lottery, or go for a VA.

I’m aware that the LG 27GL850 (mod note: only the ‘G’ model) counts as one of the fastest 1440p IPS-monitors on the market regarding response time, and it will be a different experience with a VA, but apart from CS and Dota 2 i mostly play adventure-games and darker thriller-games which could benefit from the higher contrast.

After reading some of your reviews and videos i looked at the LG 32gk850G, but unfortunately they don’t sell it anymore in my country, maybe discontinued? So that is unfortunately not an option anymore for me.

Do you think that a monitor like Acer Predator Z321QU (actual gsync) would perform in the same ballpark as the LG?

If i want a monitor that is 27-32 inches, at least 144hz, in the ballpark of 3000:1 static contrast, wide color gamut, and gsync compatible (it doesnt have to be on nvidias list, but it should be well implemented without flicker/stutter, just problem free), do you have any monitors that you could recommend?
Are there maybe any VA-monitors that you personally would enjoy using?
Monitors that i’ve currently been reading about are the MSI MAG272QP, LG 32gk850F.

[PCM2]

I’ve made my thoughts on various 27″ options clear on this thread. I think the AOC CQ27G2(U) is particularly intriguing due to its price and the positive user feedback it’s receiving. I’ll be reviewing it very shortly. Don’t forget that the flat MSI model has its own dedicated thread, which I linked to in my previous post. This has some useful feedback from owners.

The ~32″ models and my thoughts on those are covered in this thread. There are definite flaws that all of those models share, as covered in that thread. At least, all the ones I’ve come across so far. I haven’t used any other WQHD VA models that are as responsive as the LG 32GK850G, which is sadly discontinued in some regions without a direct replacement. The Acer Z321QU seems to be somewhat worse in terms of pixel responsiveness than the LG, despite sharing a variant of the panel (source). It has more ‘smeary’ trailing using the ‘Normal’ overdrive setting. And extreme overshoot instead using the ‘Extreme’ setting.

I received feedback a while ago from a user who tried both and preferred the LG due to the better pixel response tuning (and lower ‘VA glow’). Didn’t sound like the Acer was bad by any means, but not as well-tuned as the LG using its ‘Faster’ setting. This setting is only appropriate to use on the LG if you can stomach a bit of overshoot, as covered in the review. The Acer could’ve done with a pixel overdrive setting between ‘Normal’ and ‘Extreme’ by the sound of it. I haven’t used it myself, though, so can’t give any more detail.

[PCM2]

We’re currently reviewing the AOC CQ27G2(U). I don’t intend to post spoilers in this thread, but I was pleased to see it was certified as ‘G-SYNC Compatible’ rather than just supporting it by coincidence. It isn’t listed (yet?) on Nvidia’s website as being ‘G-SYNC Compatible’ but the latest driver certainly has it listed as such. There have definitely been positive improvements to subpixel structure as well. More on that in the review, but it’s far more ‘conventional’ now. Without super-squat subpixels or partial illumination that would give potentially obvious static interlace patterns and affect text clarity, respectively.

Edit: Seems there may be some issues with Nvidia’s ‘G-SYNC Compatible Mode’ on this one. More on this will be shared in the review. The fact it hasn’t appeared as certified on Nvidia’s website makes me wonder if it being reported as if it’s certified in the driver might just be a reporting error.

[Author]

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