X= XRGB27WQ 27″ 165Hz 1440P Monitor Review

Conclusion

A panel at a seriously low price promising high end features from a brand new brand is the type of thing that sets off all our alarm bells, but the quality of the X= XRGB27WQ from AWD-IT is beyond reproach.

The monitor that scorches the back of my eyeballs for nearly every waking hour of every day is the famous Acer Predator XB270 and it is a testament to the X= panel that it’s more than a match for that in image quality, colour accuracy and response. Indeed the XRGB27WQ is capable of an even higher refresh rate, 165Hz, than my old Acer. Okay that’s maybe odd to compare a value monitor to a, admittedly older, monitor that cost £600 upon release. But we think given the fame of the Acer Predator range and how X= is a brand new brand it shows how hard they’ve come out of the gate.

The Picture Quality is astounding. One would fear that a lower priced panel might have horrible back light bleed and dead pixels, or that a 5ms GtG time might give you ghosting and smearing in high contrast settings, but not a bit of it. This is a sealed unit, not some cherry picked review special, and the backlight is uniform and there are no dead or stuck pixels at all. Normally you expect a little of the famous IPS glow – light bleed in the corners – and whilst there is a tiny bit in the bottom right corner, and I mean a tiny bit, this is only noticable on wholly black screens and doesn’t effect the colours in game at all. None of that washed-out-colour palette you can get.

The high refresh rate is a boon to all titles if you’ve got the hardware to support it, or are playing something suitably undemanding. What really wins the day is the crispness of the X= RGB27WQ IPS panel as a creative tool, giving you crisp text, accurate colour reproduction and a very neutral base – white whites rather than warmer tones – out of the box. This is mated to a display that is all the gaming glory that you could realistically desire. Sure it doesn’t have some of the features to do with darkness lightening or whatever the latest gimmick is, but what you are getting is a panel that is just as adept with a thoughtful Grand Strategy title as it is with a fast paced action game. If you are sensitive to blue light the OSD is a matter of moments to switch to a warmer colour temperature or use the low blue light that has four steps of yellowing. For those of us who don’t mind, out of the box this example is very much a “no tweaking required” thing.

There are a couple of negatives. At this price point and brightness level the HDR is pretty much a non event. It does work in a fashion, but the price you pay in aliasing and an amount of ghosting is too high for the miniscule level of HDRness. It’s not HDR1000 or even HDR600 certified, and we’d ignore that as a feature in your decision. The stand is terrible. It holds the monitor up, has a small footprint, and doesn’t weigh much, but those are the sole benefits. We’d highly recommend factoring a better stand into your budget. This would be less of an issue for those of you who don’t play TATE games, but the lack of height adjustment and already low height of the stand is going to be an ergonomic nightmare.

If you aren’t a brand snob and want a 27 inch display with 2560×1440 resolution at 165Hz, that is as happy doing photo work as it is gaming, with no backlight issues and wide viewing angles, but want it at an affordable price, the X= XRGB27WQ is a stunning performer, punching well above its weight.

The X= XRGB27WQ is currently available to purchase through Amazon UK

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