AOC AG271UG G-Sync Gaming Monitor Review

Final Thoughts

Pricing

At around £600, the AOC AGON AG271UG doesn’t come cheap, but when you look at the features on offer, the price is more than justified for the enthusiast PC user. 4K displays aren’t cheap, but add IPS panels and G-Sync into the mix and you’re paying a premium. Of course, a premium that delivers stunning images for your gaming, so it’s certainly worth it to many PC users.

Overview

I must admit that I love using this monitor, it’s been on my desk for about a week now and I would be more than happy to keep it as my daily display. Thanks to the IPS panel, it delivers some incredibly rich colours and deep blacks than you’re simply not going to find on a TN panel. However, there are some pros and cons to this technology.

Refresh Rate

Panel technology is a double edged sword that many users will have to contend with. For example, I love that this monitor has an IPS panel, but its limited to 60 Hz. Of course, that’s not uncommon for a 4K display, and getting above 60 Hz at 4K is rare and expensive to achieve, both in terms of GPU hardware, and the display. The 4ms response is more than enough for me, and for many, but for pro gamers, it may not be fast enough.

G-Sync

While hitting 60 FPS and above may not always be possible for you, if you’re running an Nvidia GPU you can enjoy G-Sync. The displays refresh rate will match your FPS, cutting screen tearing down to zero. This means silky smooth gameplay regardless of what’s going on with your game, and that’s a huge benefit. It does add to the price of the monitor, but it’s a feature that works extremely well.

Picture Quality

Out of the box, the AOC monitor excels, delivering some impressive colours, contrast and accuracy. However, a quick calibration proved that this panel has a lot more to offer, and we greatly improved the uniformity and colour accuracy of the display with some relatively simple tweaks. Use the Gamma 2 (warm) profile, drop the brightness a little, and set the overdrive to medium and you can get pretty close to what we did with our calibration hardware.

Gaming, Movies, and More

At 27-inch, the panel isn’t the biggest, but the pixel density and overall resolution make a striking impact. For gaming and movies, the detail is something to behold. Add to that the respectable contrast ratio and colour depth, and the AG271UG is a solid all-rounder for multimedia consumption. It’s extremely pleasing to the eye, and even standard definition content looks superbly presented.

Should I Buy One?

This monitor may be out of a few peoples price ranges, but it does deliver a lot for your money. With an IPS panel, G-Sync, great image quality and a stunning display design, it’s one of the best on the market right now. Serious pro gamers may still want to look at something with a 1440P panel in the AGON range, as you can get those 144Hz 1ms response times, which are great for competitive gaming. However, if you’re all about the wow factor, 4K IPS is hardly second best in my opinion.

Pros

• Good out-of-the-box image quality
• Easy to calibrate and improve image quality
• Stylish and durable build quality
• Good range of stand adjustments
• Built-in headset stand
• USB and audio pass-through
• G-Sync
• IPS Display

Cons

• None

Neutral

• 60 Hz and 4ms may not be enough for pro gamers, but AOC do produce monitors that deliver more competitive figures