[vyncy]

I am on verge of buying AOC Q27G2U since its on discounted currently and its cheapest 1440p VA monitor by far in my country. But almost every store says “soon out of stock” “last few remaining” and similar. So I was wondering when will you be publishing your review 🙂 I am afraid they will be out of stock in few days. I am mostly concerned about reports of muted colors compared to other va monitors. I know you said you don’t want to post spoilers, but if you can share any details about this issue I would really appreciate it. This is strange issue to have for wide color gamut. Does your unit have this issue and is that something which can be fixed in OSD ? Thanks a lot !

[PCM2]

We’ve only just received the CQ27G2(U) monitor, so the review won’t be for another few weeks. It takes a lot of time and effort to review in as much detail as we do. Since I’m generous, I will confirm that this monitor does not have any particular issue with “muted” colours. The colour gamut is not as wide as some models, but wider than others. Gamma is where it should be on my unit and the flexibility in the OSD is there if you need to adjust it a bit. I’d describe the colour output as fairly vibrant – far from washed out, not as strongly saturated as models with a wider colour gamut (hint – just a little wider than the AOC CU34G2X). I think the overall balance of vibrancy and richness to colours will be quite agreeable to many as you get a bit of extra vibrancy beyond sRGB without strong oversaturation. That’s all I can say at this stage. 🙂

[vyncy]

Thanks a lot I guess I will be buying it now 🙂 Keep up the good work I really enjoy reading your monitor reviews as they are much more detailed then other sites

[PCM2]

VAIsKing,

I have to say my experience with Nvidia’s ‘G-SYNC Compatible Mode’ on the CQ27G2U seems to be a bit different to what you describe. Have you done much testing with the monitor running under 100Hz? So with ‘G-SYNC Compatible Mode’ being used and the frame rate varying around say 60 – 100fps? And what GPU are you using, specifically?

[VAIsKing]

I’m using the 2070 Super with the 445.87 drivers. What sort of issues are you running into exactly? Since I’ve got the monitor, the game I’ve been playing mostly is COD: Warzone, which usually gives me 80-120 FPS, and Noita, which can only do 60. In Noita, I do get brightness fluctuations (not sure if this is what people call gsync flicker) because the game tends to microstutter when loading new areas, but I only notice that when the scene is mostly bright. I just played a bit of Red Dead Redemption as well now, and that seemed to run fine at 60-80 fps.

As long as the game I’m playing doesn’t have frame stuttering issues, I don’t notice any problem regardless of framerate.

[PCM2]

I am having a bit of flickering with Adaptive-Sync, but nothing particularly noteworthy for a VA model and no extreme flickering thankfully. However; I’m also getting screen blanking (signal dropout) below 100Hz. This happens in any applications I run, with ‘G-SYNC Compatible Mode’ (I assume not FreeSync, I haven’t tried that yet) on my GTX 1080 Ti. Fresh installed the latest graphics driver (446.14) and also tried an earlier driver and have tried multiple cables including a very well-shielded DP cable just in case that made a difference. It didn’t.

It’s good that you could confirm you aren’t having issues even though your frame rate is clearly below 100fps a lot of the time. I’ve checked a lot of user reviews of this model and they usually praise ‘G-SYNC Compatible Mode’ when it’s mentioned. So my unit may just be faulty – it has travelled a lot, has been to a few press events and had a bit of a battered up box. I’ll see what my AOC people say when they’re back in their office. I find it strange that I noticed this on the AOC CU34G2X as well, although only near the ‘LFC’ boundary in that case.

Edit: There are some additional signs of the monitor taking one too many knocks. Incuding some odd intermittant flickering and other issues which shouldn’t happen. And some obvious damage to the box itself which indicates some pretty rough treatment. I’ll be sent a new sample by AOC which hasn’t been bashed around so much, so will see if that fixes the issue.

[PCM2]

We’ve received a new unit that has not been used by other reviewers, sent out to events etc. And was transported very carefully. It was manufactured Jan 2020, the older unit was manufactured Nov 2019 for reference. Unfortunately it exhibits this same screen blanking behaviour. I’m starting to wonder whether it’s perhaps down to the GPU. It isn’t overclocked and works absolutely fine, including using ‘G-SYNC Compatible Mode’ on various other monitors. But the newer generation GPUs (like the GTX 2070 Super you’re using) might have a less fussy port controller or have some other internal differences which means screen blanking doesn’t occur. It reminds me of the occasional screen blanks on some older 4K models, which seemed to only badly affect older GPUs (BenQ PD3200U being an example). Unfortunately I don’t have another Nvidia GPU to test with so I’ll just have to mark out my observations in the review using this one.

This has all been passed onto AOC’s Product Management team and there will be some investigations into it. It will be nice if it can be fixed somehow or at least pinned down to certain GPUs or GPU generations so people know what to expect. I’m sure some will be disappointed when ‘G-SYNC Compatible Mode’ isn’t something that’s guaranteed to work as you might hope even if your GPU definitely support it. But I certainly don’t want it to put people off the monitor completely. It wasn’t long ago that ‘G-SYNC Compatible Mode’ wasn’t even a thing. As I’m sure people will see from the review (no spoilers) there are plenty of positive aspects to enjoy. I’ve seen enough from the monitor to say, in answer to the thread title, that the CQ27G2(U) is a 27″ VA monitor that’s not horrible.

[PCM2]

Having carefully researched this issue, including reading user reports in several languages for this and various other models with ‘screen blanking’ issues (e.g. AOC CU34G2X) there is a strong connection between the GPU series that the user is using and whether they report the issue or not. It also affects some other monitors that are quite different, such as the BenQ EW3280U. I’m trying to relay the issue to Nvidia – this Tweet may not grab their attention, but I’ve suggested AOC’s management team puts some pressure on them as well. It could be something that’s fixable in the driver, if not they shouldn’t go around certifying models as ‘G-SYNC Compatible’ unless they specify “only if you’ve got an RTX 20 series or newer GPU”. 😉

[VAIsKing]

In the case of the CQ27G2, it seemed to be the case that Nvidia never certified the monitor since it’s not on the official list. The reason the nvidia control panel treats it as it would a certified display could be a bug. Interestingly, it also identifies it as “Q27G2G4” there (without the C) for me.

[PCM2]

Actually, it’s because the official certification process is being delayed due to the current pandemic. Nvidia’s offices which are involved with the certification process are based in India and they’re under hard lockdown currently. They’ll list it in the driver as compatible even if it hasn’t undergone the full process – after which it will also be listed on the website. It seems they certify these things using the RTX 20 series GPUs and have neglected to properly test with the GTX 10 series. AOC always lists their model codes differently in the EDID (which is read by the graphics driver for various information including the model code) to the actual code, often adding a ‘G4’ at the end and cutting letters off the front. I wouldn’t be surprised if it was identified in exactly the same way as the Q27G2(U) anyway as they are internally extremely similar and likely have exactly the same port controllers, scalers and firmware etc.

[Mr.Catharsis]

Any release date of the review? Presumably? 🙂

[PCM2]

Not currently, as usual we’ll share updates on Twitter when we’re ready to provide them.

[Mr.Catharsis]

I mean: in this month? 🙂

[PCM2]

Almost certainly, yes. 😉

[PCM2]

Here’s our video review of a “27 inch VA monitor that’s not horrible”. Written review will be published tomorrow with any luck.

Edit: Written review now published.

[Mr.Catharsis]

So. The monitor won the ‘Recommanded‘ badge. It’s good. 🙂

Is this monitor in your Top 3 or 5 if someone looking after that kind of cinematic look, what most movie-lovers seeking after in the world of monitors and what you mentioned almost every review if you arrive to the movies-test part?

If this is in, what other 27 or 31,5 monitor still there? BenQ EW277HDR is still a honorary member i suppose. 😉

[PCM2]

Yes, I feel it’s well-suited for such content and gives a relatively ‘cinematic’ look. The ~2800:1 contrast measured after calibration (tweaking) was good to see, the screen surface is ‘light’ and the colour gamut and colour consistency are both decent. Whilst the measured contrast was marginally lower on the Philips 328E1CA, it displays similar characteristics and also benefits from a ‘4K’ resolution which can be nice but not essential for ‘4K’ UHD content. Other thoughts shared on the relevant thread, I have nothing to add to that at this stage other than the AOC as a strong consideration for such uses.

[larsen]

Hi, thanks for the good forum and all the information on the site. I am looking for a 27″ flat monitor mainly for internet good reading is most importent. i also watch film and maybe gaming
So i like good contrast and sharp text without blurry, and good anti-reflection without making text grainy .

I am in Denmark and can buy this AOC AGON AG273QX.
you wrote that is was similar to AOC AQ273QCX just a flat version.
so even spending hours reading this good site i am still in little doubt
i also read this thread and some was happy with MSI Optix MAG272QP that has similar panel as the aoc
I want a 2k resolution (mod edit: you mean WQHD) because i think it will be more sharp text and windows has a good scaler if you want bigger text.
Should i just go for one of these or wood you think something else is better for reading ?
Which of the msi or aoc is the better choice, if it is one of them ?

[PCM2]

Hi larsen,

I think you’d be happy with either the AOC AG273QX or MSI MAG272QP. They’re both very similar to each other once set up, but from user feedback the AOC seems better a bit better calibrated. The MSI sometimes has gamma that’s too low and can’t be corrected through the OSD, whereas the AOC’s gamma is usually closer to where it should be (or can be brought in line by using a different gamma mode). Is there any particular reason you’re avoiding curved models? If you haven’t sat down with a curved monitor and used it for a bit then certainly don’t dismiss them. The AOC CQ27G2(U) for example would be a very good monitor for your uses and it benefits from improvements to subpixel layout over the flat models as covered in the review. That’s important for the best text clarity, but I don’t think you’d find the flat models ‘poor’ in that respect as most people get along with them just fine for text and fine edge display. I’m not 100% sure that the Q27G2(U) (flat variant) has any subpixel issues, but some other models which should be using the same panel certainly do.

[larsen]

Thanks a lot for your very useful answer. I will take your advice and order AOC CQ27G2(U).
I am happy you learned me that this curve model was better for sharp text, it suprises me.
i never had a curved before but i think it will be fine, and it also only a mild curve.
I am new to monitors and it has been interesting with all this information.

Also my problem i dont like cleartype , i better like the jagged form that look sharper and more black. for some years ago you could disable cleartype in the browser, but i cant in chrome or edge anymore.

[Author]

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