Performance
With a Full HD resolution on a 24.5″ panel, you get a PPI of around 90, which is pretty decent, as you get around 110 PPI on a 27″ 1440p monitor, so overall image clarity is very good, even when you’re sat quite close to the panel.
Cooler Master claims the monitor covers 106% of the sRGB colour space, which is obviously great as pretty much all none-HDR content uses sRGB anyway, so you should get good coverage and accurate colours here, but of course, I’ll be putting that to the test on the next page anyway. However, first impressions are good, the colours look great, and the 250-nit brightness is more than good enough for a vibrant image even using the monitor during the day.
Hitting 180Hz at Full HD is pretty easy these days, even a lot of mid-range cards will eat this up without issues, even if AAA titles, even on hardware that’s a few years old now, it shouldn’t be an issue, and even less so in competitive titles that tend to have a focus on lower graphics and higher frame rates, such as Overwatch 2, Valorant, CS:GO, etc.
Combined with Adaptive Sync and a 1ms response time, this 180Hz refresh rate makes for a very pleasing gaming experience, it feels fast, and responsive and maintains excellent image quality. Plus, IPS is generally pretty robust when it comes to minimising blurring compared to VA panels.
Of course, you have to keep in mind that this monitor costs a little over £100, so it’s very affordable, and to get smooth gameplay and a high refresh rate on such a tight budget is very impressive. Only a few years ago, you’d be looking at a 75Hz VA panel for around the same money!
For daily productivity, it’s still a nice screen, colours and contrast look good, and while it’s not built to be an office monitor, a smooth refresh rate and a low price make this a valid option for those looking for a quality monitor for a second screen or to just hook up to their laptop when working from home.
I mean, it also doesn’t hurt that it’s a good monitor for cracking out a bit of Fortnite after work too!
While the monitor “supports” HDR, much like any other low-cost IPS panel it simply seems to crank the brightness to 100% and slightly expand the colour palette, but honestly, it just feels tacked on, and I wouldn’t consider this an HDR monitor by any measure, or any other standard IPS monitor for that matter, so keep that in mind.
