Gigabyte has proven to be a reliable gaming monitor manufacturer, providing high refresh rate QHD monitors at affordable prices. The company delivers again with the Gigabyte M27Q X ($529.99), a 1440p monitor that, like the Gigabyte Aorus FI32Q before it, comes equipped with just about everything you want and need from a gaming monitor. It may not be a 4K panel, but it more than makes up for the lower resolution in performance, with a whopping 240Hz refresh rate and a host of unusual features, including a built-in KVM and plenty of ports. It’s a great performer, although low brightness levels and a so-so contrast ratio keep it below the highest marks.
Design: with gaming monitors, sometimes simple is better
Simplicity is always a plus when it comes to technology that makes PC gaming enjoyable, and the Gigabyte M27Q X delivers just that. The 27-inch monitor has thin bezels on three sides of the screen, while the Gigabyte logo takes up the bottom strip, giving the monitor a utilitarian design. That doesn’t mean it’s ugly. It is known before. The screen is connected to an adjustable (albeit noisy) stand that raises and lowers about 5 inches. The V-shaped base provides ample support, although there is no tilting or twisting involved.
(Credit: Molly Flores)
In terms of size, the monitor measures 21 by 24.2 by 7.6 inches (HWD), about the same size as most of the other 27-inch monitors we tested, such as the MSI Optix MAG274QRF-QD. It’s also just 11.6 pounds, much lighter than the ViewSonic Elite XG270QG or Sony Inzone M9. That is of course with the standard. If you choose to ditch the base and attach your monitor to a VESA mount or arm, the panel alone weighs just 7.7 pounds.
Looking at the display itself, the 27-inch “Super Speed” IPS panel technology promises a 1,000:1 contrast ratio, alongside a VESA DisplayHDR 400 rating – we’ll test both claims later. Fast IPS displays, known by various marketing names, claim to be four times faster than normal IPS displays, thanks to a thinner liquid crystal layer and a higher driving voltage. The display supports AMD FreeSync Premium and has a response time of 1 ms gray-to-gray (GTG).
(Credit: Molly Flores)
Behind the monitor you will find two top-firing 2-watt speakers and an analog stick for operating the onscreen display (OSD). Above the stick you will find a button for the built-in keyboard/video/mouse (KVM) function, which allows you to control multiple connected devices with one mouse and keyboard. To take advantage of this, you’ll need to connect your mouse and keyboard to the monitor, then connect a compatible second PC or other device with a USB-C cable. (The device must support DisplayPort over USB-C.) Press the KVM button and voila: You have switched which computer is displayed on the screen and moved the input devices on it.
The KVM may steal the show in terms of unusual features, but the I/O hub in the back is worth noting. All the essentials are here: one DisplayPort jack, two HDMI 2.0 ports, an earphone jack, three USB 3.0 ports (two downstream, one upstream), and one USB-C port. There’s no HDMI 2.1 port, but the high-bitrate 3 (HBR3) DisplayPort connection provides enough bandwidth to simultaneously reach the monitor’s maximum refresh rate, full color depth, and HDR.
(Credit: Molly Flores)
Perhaps best of all, the Gigabyte M27Q X can often be found for much less than its list price – we’ve seen it closer to $400 than $500 at times – putting it in the budget monitor territory for its nice, if- it barely.
Testing the Gigabyte M27Q X: High Refresh Rate, Low Contrast Ratio
The Gigabyte M27Q X is a real contender for gamers who appreciate seeing the fruits of their video card’s high frame rates on screen. But to really understand how it compares to other monitors on the market, let’s run it through our standard gaming monitor tests with Datacolor’s SpyderX Elite.(Opens in a new window) tool and its software. First we test the display in standard picture mode with an SDR signal. Here, the Gigabyte M27Q X achieved a brightness of just 210 nits and a black level of 0.93, yielding a contrast ratio of just 230:1. That’s well below the promised 1,000:1 rating.
The higher the contrast ratio, the deeper the blacks and the brighter the whites a monitor can produce. It makes a huge difference in image quality, especially during dark scenes in gameplay. Since 1,000:1 (the standard for IPS panels) is the lowest contrast ratio among gaming monitors, the 230:1 ratio is much harder to swallow.
Keep in mind that we test all of our monitors on factory settings fresh out of the box, so that doesn’t mean there aren’t ways to improve the brightness level. For example, switching the monitor’s movie mode made a significant difference, with 430 nits of brightness in SDR mode. Your viewing environment is also important to consider, as a lower brightness value, for example, may be beneficial to a user who is in a well-lit room.
Switching to HDR mode produced better results, but not by much. The brightness has more than doubled from the standard SDR setting to 408 nits, achieving the promised DisplayHDR 400, which equates to a contrast ratio of 600:1.
On the other hand, while the contrast was low, the color gamut results were quite good as the Gigabyte M27Q X captured 100% of sRGB coverage, 96% of Adobe RGB and 93% of DCI-P3. These are better results than some of the other QHD monitors we’ve looked at, like the Razer Raptor 27.
Color accuracy also fared quite well, with an average Delta E result of 1.66. When dissecting color accuracy, a higher Delta E number means that ordinary colors tend to deviate from the “purest form” of a color – a rating of less than 1 is the sweet spot for true colors. This is probably more important for those who work with content creation tools and less important for your typical gamer. If you put that factor first, it is better to look at a monitor that is better suited for photo editing.
Media and game performance
If you’ve read our monitor reviews before, you’re familiar with the following part: Response time is not the same as input lag. Input lag is the amount of time it takes for the monitor to display a signal, while response time is the time it takes for pixels to change from one color to another.
Gray-to-gray or GTG measures how long it takes for a pixel to transition from one gray level to another. However, it is not a standardized measure, as suppliers measure levels differently. The same goes for other measurements such as black-and-white-black (BWB) and white-black-white (WBW).
Instead of testing for response time, we test for input lag using the HDFury Diva Matrix. In this case, the Gigabyte M27Q X measures a very good input lag of 1.6 milliseconds. You may have guessed it, but when it comes to input lag, the smaller that number, the better. While other monitors, like the Corsair Xeneon 32QHD165, measure less than 1 millisecond, the difference here will be unnoticeable, except perhaps in edge cases at the extreme extremes of competitive esports.
Non-gaming viewing was great, no glare was detected regardless of viewing angle. And of course the games looked great too; I didn’t notice any noticeable ghosting when playing Halo Infinite or Guardians of the Galaxy.
Refresh rate and resolution Find a middle ground
The Gigabyte M27Q X proves itself to be a sweet-spot monitor, thanks to the 240Hz refresh rate and QHD resolution. The contrast and brightness, especially when compared to the Gigabyte Aorus FI32Q, keep it from earning top honors, but gamers looking for blazing-fast frame rates – without burning their wallets – will find a great value 1440p monitor here. find one that is worthy of praise.
Pros
It comes down to Gigabyte’s M27Q X, an excellent 1440p gaming monitor with a high refresh rate of 240 Hz, should appeal to gamers who prioritize silky-smooth frame rates over the maximum possible resolution.
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