Best 27-inch OLED Gaming Monitors

Despite the popularization of OLED panels, they still remain quite expensive, making the term "affordable OLED monitor" sound like an oxymoron. However, if you haven't lost hope in finding a quality and budget-friendly OLED, we recommend paying attention to the debut OLED from AOC with the hard-to-pronounce name AGON AG276QZD.

The AGON AG276QZD monitor is equipped with a 27-inch OLED panel with a resolution of 2560x1440 pixels and a refresh rate of 240Hz. Its 10-bit matrix provides natural color reproduction (99% DCI-P3) with incredibly deep blacks, high contrast, and peak brightness up to 1000 cd/m², which is necessary for proper HDR display. The response time is only 0.03 ms, making it ideal for dynamic shooters and other games. G-Sync and FreeSync support helps avoid image tearing and lags.

Considering it is a premium-class monitor, the manufacturer equipped it with a USB hub for peripherals, picture-by-picture mode (PBP) support, built-in ambient and presence sensors, as well as rather decent stereo speakers with 5W power each. Unfortunately, the ports are not USB C and do not support charging, which is a drawback for creatives. Interesting is the decorative customizable Light FX RG backlighting module hidden on the monitor's back cover. Rounding off the picture is a detachable stand that can adjust the monitor's height, tilt, and rotation angle and allows the monitor to be switched to portrait mode.

About 5-6 years ago, gaming monitors were either fast or provided beautiful visuals but suffered from high latency. Advanced IPS screens partly solved this problem, but only with the mass adoption of OLED matrices did gamers get exactly what they asked for. However, such solutions were initially extremely expensive. Against this backdrop, the UltraGear 27GS95QE 2024 looks quite interesting — it's hardly the first OLED monitor from LG that combines the best of both worlds and costs less than 40 thousand hryvnias.

LG UltraGear 27GS95QE is a 27-inch flagship OLED panel with a resolution of 2560x1440 (16:9), the highest contrast, high peak brightness, 10-bit color depth, and 98.5% coverage of the DCI P3 color triangle. That is to say, it is a cool screen of almost professional level, suitable for photo and video processing. At the same time, from a gaming perspective, it boasts a record-low input lag of 0.03 ms and an impressive refresh rate of up to 240Hz. The monitor is also compatible with NVIDIA G-Sync and AMD FreeSync Premium Pro technologies, providing smooth image display without tearing even in the most dynamic scenes with many moving objects. Moreover, HDMI 2.1 ports allow you to output images from consoles like PlayStation 5 and Xbox Series X without any compromises.

In terms of additional features, LG's creation fully meets its flagship status. It is equipped with a dual USB hub supporting DisplayPort and Power Delivery for connecting peripherals, external monitors, and laptops. An ergonomic stand lets you adjust the display's tilt and rotation, and the built-in gaming mode enables you to display a fixed crosshair (handy for games without a crosshair like Battlefield 1) or show an FPS counter instead of FRAPS and similar software. Additionally, there is a Shadow Boost function for artificially brightening particularly dark frame areas in network games.

Thanks to LG Displays' activity, the range of OLED monitors has significantly expanded in 2023. Among the companies presenting their OLED solutions was unexpectedly the American brand Corsair with its line of gaming monitors, XENEON. The XENEON 27QHD240 model is one of the main stars of this series, representing a top-notch 27-inch monitor that is delightful to work on, replay favorite games, or rewatch favorite movies with HDR enabled, discovering new details.

The basis of the Corsair XENEON 27QHD240 is a top-tier 10-bit OLED matrix from LG with Quad HD resolution, an impressive refresh rate of 240Hz, and near-zero input lag (GtG pixel response time up to 0.03 ms), infinite contrast, and perfect color reproduction (100% Adobe RGB, 99% DCI-P3). One of the model's features is the complete absence of glare thanks to the semi-matte screen, which is rare among OLED monitors. Additional features include FreeSync Premium/G-Sync support, an expanded hub with four USB ports (including one USB C with fast charging and video transmission support), an ergonomic stand, and a modern set of video ports, including two HDMI 2.1 and one DisplayPort 1.4.

However, despite its excellent specifications, the XENEON 27QHD240 has its drawbacks. The main problem is limited brightness — even with HDR enabled, peak brightness reaches 800 nits in a small area and only 150 nits on 100% of the screen, and the ABL (Automatic Brightness Limiter) mode adapts brightness more aggressively compared to competitors. Corsair promises that new monitor firmware will re-profile the ABL mode and increase monitor brightness by 33%, but for now, we have what we have. The second nuance is the price. Right now, with similar characteristics, Corsair's creation will cost about 10-15% more than the AOC AGON AG276QZD and Acer Predator X27 with almost the same OLED matrices from LG.

Asus ROG Swift PG27AQDM is the flagship product from Taiwanese manufacturer Asus based on advanced matrix from LG Displays and tries to answer the question of what an ideal gaming monitor should look like in 2023-2024. If you're somewhat familiar with this market, you probably already know the recipe: take a top-notch 10-bit matrix with excellent brightness, color reproduction, and contrast, eliminate signal transmission delay, add FreeSync/G-SYNC to your taste, and pack it all in a beautiful, completely frameless edge-to-edge body with Asus Aura Sync backlighting.

Essentially, the key difference between this model and other flagship monitors of the brand lies in the use of a full-fledged OLED panel with the highest static contrast, natural color reproduction, and devilishly deep dark colors that will immediately make you want to replay all your favorite games, especially enjoying night scenes in HDR mode with a refresh rate from 120 to 240Hz. No joke, it provides picture quality that seemed like science fiction just a few years ago. Just one nighttime boat escape scene in Uncharted 4 starts playing with new colors, and what can we say about replaying Dead Space or Alien Isolation.

As for additional features, the Asus ROG Swift PG27AQDM monitor fully meets its flagship status. It is equipped with a dual USB hub for connecting peripherals (but without DisplayPort and Power Delivery mode), the convenient stand allows for adjusting the display's tilt and rotation, and the built-in gaming mode provides the ability to display a timer, FPS counter, and fix the crosshair on the screen. Interestingly, Asus has entirely abandoned built-in speakers on this front. Still, the full DisplayWidget software for monitor setup using a mouse is, no matter how you slice it, a convenient thing.

Despite Acer never claiming leadership in the monitor market, its Predator series displays have gradually gained respect among experienced gamers and esports enthusiasts looking for not just a good gaming monitor but professional gear that meets a set of stringent requirements. A fresh example of this approach is the "ultimate shooter monitor" named Predator X27 with an impressively high refresh rate of 240Hz, 0.03 ms response speed, and compatibility with FreeSync Premium.

The key feature of this model is its high-contrast 10-bit OLED panel with HDR10 support, providing brightness up to 1000 nits and a contrast ratio of 1 million to 1, allowing the display of bright and rich colors with 99% DCI-P3 coverage. The Acer Predator X27U also has built-in speakers with 5W power each, which adds convenience when watching movies or gaming. For user convenience, the monitor has a USB hub with a USB C port, allowing simultaneous data transfer and charging of external devices.

The model's pluses also include an ergonomic stand with height, tilt, and orientation adjustments and a TÜV Rheinland certificate. Despite its high cost and positioning as "the best of the best," a few minor drawbacks still exist. When reducing the refresh rate, the screen's delay time inexplicably increases slightly. Not critically, but strangely. Also, using HDMI 2.0 instead of 2.1 can be a problem for modern console owners, as it limits the ability to output images in 4K at high refresh rates.