AOC AG275QZ 27″ QHD 270Hz Gaming Monitor Review

Performance

With 2560 x 1440 resolution the monitor has a nice pixel density of 109 per square inch. So even if you’re getting your nose up to the screen, things look pretty sharp here. However, it’s the IPS panel that really catches my attention, as it offers excellent viewing angles, and using stock settings, the colours look superb!

It’s a common screen size, so it feels very comfortable to work on. I’m used to a 32″ panel for work and gaming, but I just nudge it a few inches closer when working and I’m set. However, that’s more my eyesight than an issue with the panel size.

I can comfortably side by side two windows at this resolution, so it’s great for my daily workflow.

The colour accuracy is excellent too, which makes movies, TV, gaming and photos all look stunning. It’s pretty vibrant thanks to the extended colour palette which promises 100% of SRGB and 98% of DCI-P3. Most content is SRGB, but DCI-P3 is typically used in HDR content for movies and even gaming. I’ll be putting that to test in a moment though.

Right enough of all that, what’s it like to game on! That’s what this monitor is really made for.

270Hz is a lot. SERIOUSLY a lot of frames to render. The resolution is double that of Full HD and the refresh rate is 4.5x that of 60Hz. that’s roughly 9x the performance impact of HD60 and the equivalent of gaming at around 120Hz+ at 4K. So it’s no surprise that extremely fast CPUs and high-end GPUs are essential, and even then, you’ll likely be making some serious compromises to graphics settings to hit those big numbers, but is it worth it?

I game at 165Hz on a 2560 x 1440 monitor and I fully agree that something between 120-165 Hz (typically a 144Hz) monitor is more than enough. It feels smooth, looks great, and doesn’t cost as much. If that’s what you want, stop reading, and go buy a lesser model. However, when you choose to game at 270Hz, you’re getting some very appealing advantages. You’re cutting input latencies down quite a bit, perhaps even to half that of a 144hz monitor. You might be thinking “but 3-4ms isn’t going to make a difference” and well… sure, to some of you it might not, but for those looking for that absolute performance edge, it can. Look at Formula 1, fractions of a second matter. When you’re aiming down sights for that headshot, and they’re aiming back doing the same… who reacted the fastest, who pulled the trigger first? Milliseconds matter.

There’s also just how it feels, it does feel more responsive, and it has certainly sharpened up my skills in Apex. Not as much as the leap from 60 to 165, but going to 165 has made a good difference. When I used to play at 4K60, my input latency was around 25-30ms. My monitor took that down to about 8ms, and this one drops it to less than half that.

Plus, the sheer ferocity of the refresh rate means that (assuming your GPU can keep rendering that fast) that the clarity is pretty much unbreakable. Want to set your mouse to insanely high DPI and do some 360-no-scoping? Not a problem, the world races by with no blurring issues.

There’s even an MPRT mode that’ll strobe the backlight between frames to reduce ghosting. Honestly, I don’t feel the need for it, I’ll make do with 1ms response times, but I’m not taking my gameplay too seriously and MPRT has never quite felt comfortable to my eyes, and it does dim the screen. However, I get that some won’t play without it, and if you do, it seems to work very well here.

Your games will look great. The colours, the contrast, and the fresh rate, the response time, are all working in harmony here and you don’t have to play for more than a moment to see why you spent the big bucks on this one. Throw in FreeSync, G-Sync compatibility, a native 120Hz mode for consoles and more, and well… there’s not a gaming scenario this monitor isn’t lining up to dominate.