Monitor MicroReviews

FLUX (SCGazelle)

Monitor Micro Reviews of FLUX’s Whitelist + Some popular ones

The source and proof of these Micro Reviews come solely from the linked reference and should be considered simply as a summary of their content, not a review based on my own testing and experience unless indicated otherwise. If you want a broader and more in-depth review or explanation on a certain aspect, please go to the reference link under each section and support them directly. I do support them by personally donating to them but you should too if you benefitted from anything they publish or I regurgitate.

The TFTCentral’s ICC Profile Database is a great resource for easy (but imperfect) colour improvement on your monitor

Samsung C24FG70 (https://pcmonitors.info/reviews/samsung-c24fg70)

Out of the box colours, gamut and contrast are good. Great pixel response times and low input lag compliment the 144hz well. The 1800R curve shouldn't be too much and is fairly natural. It has a little bit of saturation loss around the edges and some black crush, but its consistent detail is great helps make up for it. A little bit of overshoot at 100hz is also a negative. Its stand is rather bulky and has a big footprint so take that into account. Overall, it is a good monitor thanks to its responsiveness and image quality, but it has a few minor drawbacks. (https://pcmonitors.info/reviews/samsung-c24fg70/)

AOC AG241QX (https://pcmonitors.info/reviews/aoc-ag241qx/)

The AOC is a good option if you think that your GPU can give it 144fps at 1440p in the games you play, though if you want to run more demanding games at 1080p144hz, it shouldn't look bad given it's 1080p on a 1440p monitor. The colours, contrast and such are decent to good enough, but it has many of the drawbacks of a TN such as weird saturation and excessive depth. It has nice low input lag and pixel responsiveness and its PPI is pretty high thanks to 1440p on a 24" screen. (https://pcmonitors.info/reviews/aoc-ag241qx/)

BenQ GW2765HT (https://pcpartpicker.com/product/YZn2FT/benq-monitor-gw2765ht)

               The BenQ is your average IPS display. You get your good viewing angles and colour performance and also get a decent chassis and stand with adjustability. 1440p is in its sweet spot at 27” yet it keeps a relatively small profile. Its strength is in its contrast and its flicker free backlight. But if you’re serious in competitive gaming, the input lag may be too slow for you. If you end up getting this monitor, you’ll want to adjust the colour temperature but the other out-of-the box colours and settings should do just fine. (http://www.tftcentral.co.uk/reviews/benq_gw2765ht.htm)

ASUS MG279Q (https://pcpartpicker.com/product/c298TW/asus-monitor-mg279q)

               The Asus MG279Q is a 1440p IPS display that boasts a 144hz refresh rate. At 144hz, signal processing lag is impressively tiny and pixel response time is equally good with a total display lag of 4.05ms which is well below what competitive gaming needs. Going down to 60hz increases that number significantly which may be an issue for people who play fast-paced games but should be fine for most people. Nevertheless, you should be running it in 144hz or 120hz anyway. Colour performance is what you’d expect from an IPS panel, nothing worth writing home about but it’ll be pleasing to look at. It lacks some of the blur reduction technology that similar monitors have and IPS Glow is a constant disadvantage/characteristic/feature of an IPS panel. (http://www.tftcentral.co.uk/reviews/asus_mg279q.htm)

AOC AG271QG (https://pcpartpicker.com/product/scM323/aoc-ag271qg-270-165hz-monitor-ag271qg)

               The AOC AG271QG consists of an IPS 1440p display that can be clocked at 165hz. The IPS portion of the display is fine out-of-the-box with a nice colour gamut but with minor OSD tweaks, you can get good colour performance. On the other hand, 2.3 Gamma is fine for the intended use of this monitor but the lack of a 2.2 gamma setting is disappointing. Good contrast and screen surface results in a nice smooth look. Of course, IPS glow is present in dark scenes in the corners even from normal viewing angles. That 165hz refresh rate paired with acceptable pixel responsiveness and low input lag will be a benefit for fast-paced gaming. Add G-Sync and (imo more importantly) ULMB support for those with Nvidia GPUs, you can get some nice motion performance. While we’re on the subject of motion performance, trailing and overshoot are present in some places which can undermine ULMB a little. (https://pcmonitors.info/reviews/aoc-ag271qg)

Asus PG27AQ (https://pcpartpicker.com/product/TzfmP6/asus-monitor-pg27aq)

               If you’re getting a high-end 4k 60hz screen, it’d better have excellent colour reproduction and Asus delivers with this AUO panel. Out-of-the-box, you get excellent gamma tracking, colour gamut and accurate reproduction. Good contrast even with the Blue Light Filter enabled is pretty cool too. Still, you will want to do some tweaks in the OSD’s colour channel settings. It’s an IPS panel so IPS Glow is present. The screen surface still gave a grainy look due to a suboptimal texture which is kinda disappointing to see on such an expensive monitor. Gaming on 4k60hz will be a challenge for many users so G-Sync is a welcome feature that will help mitigate tearing produced by <60fps gaming. Using optimal settings will get rid of the strong overshoot but will introduce some trailing. (https://pcmonitors.info/reviews/asus-pg27aq/)

LG 27UD58-B (https://pcpartpicker.com/product/yfx9TW/lg-27ud58-b-270-60hz-monitor-27ud58-b)

LG 27UD68 uses a similar/same panel but with a higher quality build

               To me, the LG 27UD58 is an interesting monitor: It’s a 27” IPS 4K that, when calibrated and to a certain extent out-of-the-box, can achieve excellent colour accuracy. Colour gamut of the sRGB colourspace and colour volume is great and banding is almost non-existent. Motion blur is handled well with good pixel response time and low input lag. For a relatively affordable 4K monitor, that’s impressive but it’s not perfect, I would say far from perfect. Backlight bleed ruins it’s black uniformity which will show the imperfections in dark rooms and dark content. (https://www.rtings.com/monitor/reviews/lg/27ud58-b)

My conclusion is that this monitor is great for people who want to get into 4K gaming and benefit from that extra detail paired with great image quality to get some stunning images. But if you know the content you are going to be viewing on it and it’s going to have a lot of dark images and/or the monitor is going in a dark room, you might as well save your eyes from that black non-uniformity. It’s also worth knowing that the stand ergonomic adjustments are almost non-existent with just a little bit of tilt and the stand itself isn’t very sturdy.

Dell (Alienware) AW3418DW (https://pcpartpicker.com/product/c9qbt6/dell-aw3418dw-341-3440x1440-120hz-monitor-aw3418dw)

               This is a wonderful monitor. Not only does Dell offer this LG panel in an imo sexy build (well-built with a sturdy stand while I’m at it), but the panel itself is great. It’s a 34” 3440*1440p IPS that can be clocked at 120hz. Those specs are great by themselves and help this monitor stand out from the rest of the monitor crowd. It also breaks new ground within ultrawides with its incredibly low total display lag of 3.8ms (practically non-existent .35ms signal processing lag) which is significantly less than what I’d say anyone could notice. Its IPS screen is exactly what you’d expect from an IPS screen: Respectable colour accuracy, color gamut and viewing angles though the contrast ratio, while not bad, isn’t quite up to par with other modern IPS panels. G-Sync is a welcome feature but I would have rather seen ULMB support. Overall, this is, in my opinion, the best Ultrawide monitor for gaming.

BenQ PD3200U (https://pcpartpicker.com/product/rQtWGX/benq-pd3200u-320-3840x2160-60hz-monitor-pd3200u)