MONITORS
68 OCTOBER2020|COMPUTER SHOPPER|ISSUE392
NOTALL MONITORSare desk-dominating
ultrawides. The C27G2ZE, one of several
AOCrecently launched in the competitive
gaming market, has aslightcurvature of
1500R but avery reasonable form factor
of 27in across the diagonal.
Like the other curved monitors on test
here,the C27G2ZE has aVApanel. It runs at
1,920x1,080, which doesn’t sound great for
nearly £300, but it’s the refresh ratethat’s the
star here: 240Hz, no overclocking required.
HARD PRESSED
Adistinctive four-pronged standholds the
screen aloft, although it’s more susceptible to
wobbling than the base’s wide span might
suggest. It’s also not very adjustable: you
can tilt it atad, but there’s no swivelling or
even height adjustment. Youalso don’t get a
USB hub or any audio connections, just a
serviceable set of two HDMI inputs and
one DisplayPort jack.
The modest curvature is, therefore,the
most advanced thing about the C27G2ZE’s
physical design, though at least it’s afairly
smart-looking monitor.The bezels are nicely
thin, even the thicker border at the bottom,
which houses the controls and power button.
However,one thing we full-on dislike about
the C27G2ZE is that control scheme.Ituses a
set of small buttons on the underside of the
bezel, which is neither ideal nor problematic in
itself,but then they’re so tiny and difficult to
fully depress that navigating the OSD quickly
becomes achore.The unusually wide and thin
layout of this OSD is also questionable; it’s
simply not as intuitive to use as those that
use amoreverticallyinclined me
It’s not lacking any keytools,
least. Besides the basics such as
brightness controls, alow blue li
mode and RGB customisation, yo
can createacustom profile –cal
Game Mode –and flick in and ou
of it quickly using the leftcontro
button. Many monitors add lots
different preset profiles, but as
we’ve repeatedly seen, these can
harm image quality as much as
help it, so just having one user-
created profile optionisfine.
That said, there are acouple
more esoteric gaming features. O
permanently adds acrosshair to
middle of the screen, which is ab
the built-in frames-per-second co
genuinely useful if you’re concer
in-game performance.Which, if y
a240Hz monitor,you probably a
AOC C27G2ZE
★★★★★
£270•www.overclockers.co.uk
VERDICT
Adecent240Hzgamingmonitorforthe
money, albeit one that’s haunted by ghosting
There’s also an HDR
mode,but since AOC
doesn’t even claim this
monitor can reach
400cd/m^2 ,it’s not actua
going to offer HDR in an
COME HOMETO BO
TheFull HD resolution w
keep your FPS high if yo
have avery powerful gra
stretched out across a27in screen, it doesn’t
make the C27G2ZE particularly sharp.It’s
definitely easier to notice pixellation on text
and images than it would be with the same
resolution on a24in or 23in monitor,and it’s
obviously not as fine as a1440p/27in display
like the LG 27GL850.
The usual rules of VA panels apply here:
that means narrower viewing angles (not that
it makes sense to view acurved monitor at an
angle) and less ‘pop’thanIPS, although the
C27G2ZE still manages to impress in places.
Out of the box, its 97.9% sRGB gamut
coverage makes forcommendable vibrancy,
and its peak brightness of 306cd/m^2 is better
than most. The typical VA strength of high
contrast is also on show,with AOC’s display
hitting an excellent 3,3369:1.
Accuracy could be better,judging by the
average delta-E of 2.22, but then that’s better
than what the LG 27GL850 produced –and
this is aless important quality fordedicated
gaming monitors anyway.
As we said, there’s no vast range of colour
profiles to test and compare,though we did
try Picture Boost, another of the C27G2ZE’s
the top-leftcorner with its own brightness
and contrast settings; you can expand this
patch to cover aquarter,half or the entirety
of the screen. It does indeed boost brightness,
up to apeak of 326cd/^2 ,though average
delta-E got worse,hitting 3.22, and the
contrast ratio took ahuge dive to 841:1.
We’re therefore not convinced of Picture
Boost’s usefulness, unless you’re using two
application windows side-by-side and want
one brighter than the other.
Amuch bigger problem than tertiary OSD
features is ghosting, an effect the C27G2ZE
suffers from both in and out of games. The
strongest pixel overdrive setting alleviates
the worst of it without adding any inverse
ghosting in its place,but it’s still evident even
when dropping down from 240Hz to 144Hz.
This is abig shame,asifitweren’t forthis
ghosting, the C27G2ZE’s gaming performance
would be fantastic. While there are
diminishing returns with arefresh rateashigh
as 240Hz, there’s no denying it looks great
when the frame ratefillsitout,and FreeSync
can cover awiderange from 48Hz all the way
up to that maximum 240Hz, regardless of
eusing HDMI or DisplayPort.
OOKY STORY
egree of leniency is due to the
G2ZE as, while it is expensive for
0p,it’s actually quitecheap fora
Hz monitor,and that’s without
kimping on qualities such as
our performance and sheer size.
As high as the refresh rateis,
wever,thismonitor often veers
overly basic territory.There’s
height adjustment, the
olution is underwhelming at
,and the pronounced ghosting
sadent in the C27G2ZE’s
dibility as aperformance
tra-smooth gaming.
en, it’s agoodbudget option
efanatics, but most will be
heither asharper or smoother
h) 144Hz model.
llly
yyreal sense.
OOOOST
wwillhelp
udon’t
aaphics card, although
thosethat
enusystem.
at
ght
ou
led
ut
ol
of
n
of
One
the
bit naff, but
ounter is
rned about
you’re buying
are.
tryPictureBoost,anothero t eC G s
moreunusualtricks.Thisbringsupapatch in
uptot at a
whetheryou’re
SPO
Ade
C27G
1080
240
it sk
colo
A
how
into
noh
reso
27in
puts
cred
monitor forult
Ultimately,the
forframe-rate
betteroffwith
(or ideally bot
