MONITORS
72 NOVEMBER 2019|COMPUTER SHOPPER|ISSUE 381
THEC27G1ISaimed at gamers who want a
responsive panel without compromising too
much on picture quality.Aswith the larger
CQ32G1, AOC’s panel of choice is also based
on vertical alignment (VA) technology.
In practice,VAissupposed to merge the
best of both worlds by offering an incredible
contrast ratio,good picture quality and afast
response time but, as we’ll see in this test,
there are some limitations.
The C27G1 is a27in curved Full HD monitor
with a144Hz refresh rateand, on paper,a1ms
response time.That’s only its moving picture
response time (MPRT) figure,however –the
toughergrey-to-grey(GTG)measurementputs
response time at 4ms. Still, that’s 1ms faster
than the GTG response time of the CQ32G1.
The C27G1 also has FreeSync support, an
1800R curvature and astriking black and red
design that suits its gaming credentials.
HARD LINES
The three-side borderless design helps keep
this monitor looking sleek. ‘Borderless’
shouldn’t be taken literally,but the tiny bezels
are hardly there.Even better,theymean the
27in panel only takes up about the same
amount of space as achunkier 24in monitor.
Its triangular stand raises the displayby
130mm and provides -4° to 21.5° of tilt
adjustment, as well as 34° of swivel. If this
isn’tenough,themonitorcanalsobemounted
on a100x100mm VESA compatible stand.
Everything is in order forpositioning the
monitor comfortably,and the stand is notably
more flexible than that of the CQ32G1.
TheOSDisaccessedviathebuttonsonthe
right. The menus let you adjust the response
time,select acolour profile and enable AOC’s
Bright Frame feature,which allows you to
adjust the brightness and contrast ratio of a
set portion of the screen manually.
Where connectivity’s concerned, there’s a
VGAport, one DisplayPort input and two
HDMI ports. There’s no USB hub and no
speakers, although if you want to channel
sound through it, you can plug your
headphones intoits 3.5mm jack.
The AOCC27G1 uses acurved Full HD
(1,920x1,080) VA panel, which achieves an
incredible contrast ratio of 3,848:1. It has near-
perfect colour accuracy in sRGB mode,with
an average delta-E of 1.03. Its sRGB gamut
coverage of 95.8% is rather impressive,too.
That said, displayquality is also where the
CQ32G1 starts to prove its superiority.Besides
having asharper Quad HD resolution, average
delta-E is better at 0.92, while sRGB gamut
coverage pips the cheaper monitor at 96.3%.
AOC C27G1
★★★★★
£239•From http://www.amazon.co.uk
VERDICT
TheC27G1isvibrantandgoodvaluefora144Hz
monitor,butpoorbrightnessishardto overlook
The CQ32G1’s contrast hits 2,027:1, which
is alot lower than that of the C27G1, but then
anything that farover 1,000:1 is still going to
look extremely good. Frankly,both these
monitors exhibit some seriously high quality,
considering how relatively inexpensive they
are fortheir respective sizes and specs.
The C27G1’s only real weakness in this
regard is brightness. Peaking at 265cd/m2, the
screen can appear alittle on the dim side and,
when set to the sRGB colour profile,this
figure is further reduced to 228cd/m2. This
makes the displayalittle hard to see in rooms
that have bright ambient light and, worse still,
it drops to 68cd/m2 when the response time
is set to Boost mode using the OSD.
At 68cd/m2 you’ll struggle to make out
dark corners in movies, let alone spot a
shadowed enemy in acompetitive multiplayer
game.The CQ32G1 isn’t agreat deal better,
either,although it does at least peak at a
visibly higher 335cd/m2.
BOOST OF BURDEN
Setting up the C27G1 forgaming also requires
some care.Ifyou’re acompetitive gamer,
you’ll want to set the monitor’s response time
to Boost mode but, as mentioned, doing so
has bad implications forbrightness.
Realistically,you’ll not want to be squinting
while playing, so we’d advise setting the
response time to Strong instead.
Unfortunately,even this doesn’t feel quite
responsive enough forfast-paced games such
as Counter-Strike: Global Offensive.Activating
Boost mode fixes this, but given that it
slashes brightness so severely,itwon’t be
feasible foralot of potential users.
On amore positive note, no matter which
overdrive setting we chose,there weren’t
any signs of inverse ghosting or significant
impact on the input lag.
Its 144Hz refresh ratealso makes
movement look silkysmooth, frame rates
allowing, and with AMD FreeSync technology
built in, you’ll be able to enjoytear-free
gaming with acompatible AMD graphics card.
IfyouhaveanNvidiagraphicscard,youcan
also use G-Sync to gain the same effect. The
C27G1 isn’t on Nvidia’s list of official G-Sync
compatible monitors, but that only means the
GPU manufacturer itself hasn’t fully tested it.
It should still work, although if your PC is
connected to asecond FreeSync displayatthe
same time,you’ll need to disable the feature
forG-Sync to work on your main screen.
SHOTINTHE DARK
Forthe most part, the AOCC27G1 is agood
gaming monitor and ticks almost every box: it
features afast 144Hz panel, excellent colour
reproduction and is appropriately designed.
However,its peak brightness is aletdown,
and nobody should have to choose between
having the highest possible responsiveness or
an adequately lit screen. Its other qualities
mean you won’t be feeling tooshort-changed
for£240, but as long as you’re not looking for
atrue budget monitor,it’s better to save up
forthe CQ32G1 instead.
