2019-09-01_Computer_Shopper

36 SEPTEMBER 2019 |COMPUTERSHOPPER|ISSUE 379

THEAD27QDIScomponentsmanufacturer

Gigabyte’sdebut in the monitor market,and

it’s aconfidentone: afully fledgedgaming

monitor with all the bells and whistles.

It even has some unique tricks of its very

own. The best is OSD Sidekick,aWindows

applicationthat –once you’ve hookedup a

simple USB cable from your PC to the monitor

–lets you access the AD27QD’ssettingsfrom

the comfort of your desktop.The result is a

farsmootherexperiencethan the traditional,

joystick-controlledOSD.

There’s also the RGB Fusion app,which lets

you customise the rear-mounted RGB lights.

This is altogetherless revolutionary,and the

lights themselvesaren’t particularlybright,

but it’s still afun bit of eyecandy.

It is abit annoying that the OSD and OSD

Sidekickhave drasticallydifferentlayouts,

even if changesmade in one are affected by

the other,and the standardOSD doesn’t give

you access to the ANC microphonesettings.

Still, this isn’t ahuge loss. It’s anice idea: if

you connectamicrophoneto your PC through

the monitor’s 3.5mm audio input, aset of

built-in microphonessituated aroundthe

bezels are used to detect and subtract

ambientnoise from the signal. However,we

found that recordingquality was poor: you’ll

get better sound overall if you stick to your

usual sound card, whetherit’s adedicated

unit or built intoyour motherboard.

FLATPACKED

Forvideo input, Gigabyteprovd

ports and asingle DisplayPort k

It’s fully certifiedforAMD Free

so ownersof supported Radeo d

can enjoytear-free gaming.Nvd

fans aren’t leftout either,asyo

unofficiallyenable G-Sync over

DisplayPort connectionwith a

10-Series card or newer.We’re

happytonotethat both syste

workincombinationwithHDR,.

The 27in panel is flat rather

than curved,which might

disappointthose wantingthat

extra layer of immersion.

However,the three-sided

borderlessdesign looks sharp

and the triangularstand is pre

flexible:it provides -5° to 21°of

tilt, -20° to 20° of swivel and

130mmof height adjustment,

GIGABYTE

AorusAD27QD

★★★★★

£500•From http://www.novatech.co.uk

VERDICT

TheAD27QDhasplentyto offer,butit’satough

sellagainststrongrivalswithlowerprices

QUAD HD MONITOR

and it can also pivot by afull 90°. If you’d

prefertomount the displayonawall or a

differentstand, there’s a100x100mmVESA

mount aroundthe back, and ahandle at the

topmakes it easy to transport.

Colour reproductionis excellent,with our

calibrator reportingan average delta-Eof 1.43

–anoutstandingresult foragaming panel.

It’s not quiteamatch forAcer’s XF270HUA,

which averaged 1.33, but it’s comfortably

ahead of Samsung’sC27CHG70,which scored

1.75. The AD27QDis also nicely vivid, covering

95.6% of the sRGB gamut colour space,with a

punchycontrastratio of 1,214:1.

DIMMERSWITCHES

Brightnessdependson which displaymode

you choose.The pre-calibrated sRGB mode

achieves apeak of 190cd/m2,which isn’t

exactlydazzling,but disable it and the monitor

is capableof pumpingout amore impressive

495cd/m2–well beyond the 350cd/m2claimed

by Gigabyte(and requiredby the DisplayHDR

400 certification).Nonetheless,it’s outclassed

by e C27CHG70’s677cd/m2,

wh h really brings out the depth

a d richnessof HDR content.

esidesthe high 144Hz refresh

r a nd syncingsupport,there

a f ew more specialisedtreats

f aming. An interestingone is

h Aim Stabiliserdisplaymode.

Y d on’t get the maximum

b htnessin this mode –it’s

n much brighter than sRGB

m de –but it vastly reduces

m onblur and boosts the overall

r onsivenessof the panel. It’s

g t forplaying at night, although

w o und the limited brightness

f ratingduring the day.

here are also some Overdrive

ngsthat you can manually

t ker with. We found that the

l cemode,with its limited

i ghosting,offered the best

experiencein more casual, slower-paced

games. The Speed setting,meanwhile,seemed

better forpaceytwitch shooters by offering an

even higher pixel responserate, althoughthis

came at the expenseof more noticeable

inverseghostingand purple trailing.

OPENINGGAMBIT

Forafirst crack at agaming monitor,the

AD27QDmakes an impressivestatement. The

panel is fast and sharp,with excellentHDR

colour,the software-basedOSD is fantastic,

and the inclusionof FreeSync and G-Sync

compatibilityonly helps sweeten the deal.

Not everythingis perfect, however.The

ANCfeatureisn’tasgreatasitsounds,andthe

dedicated gamingmodes come with caveats.

More importantly,the AD27QDdoesn’t beat

the very best monitors in keyareas: if HDR

visuals are your priority,Samsung’ssuper-

bright C27CHG70is abetter bet at £470, while

if you’re lookingforgaming performance,

Acer’s XF270HUAis the best around,with an

IPS panel that matches the AD27QD’s

resolutionand refresh ratefor less money.

The Aorus AD27QDis astriking and very

likeablemonitor,and it’s great to see some

new ideas comingintothe market.At £500,

however,it’s very hard to recommendahead

of its more establishedcompetitors.

ChristopherMinasians

SCREENSIZE27in•RESOLUTION2,560x1,440•

SCREENTECHNOLOGYIPS•REFRESHRATE144Hz•

VIDEOINPUTSHDMIx2,DisplayPort•WARRANTYOne

yearRTB•DETAILSwww.aorus.com•PARTCODE

20VM0-AAD27QDSA-1EKR

SPECIFICATIONS

CONNECTIONPORTS

HDMIx2

USB3x2

DisplayPort

3.5mmheadphone

vides two HDMI

socket.

reeSync,

on cards

Nvidia

ou can

ra

aGTX

’re

ms

R,too.

er

at

etty

f

bythe

which

andri

Bes

ratea

are a

forga

theAi

Youdo

bright

notmu

mode

motion

respon

great

wefo

frustr

The

settin

tinker

Balanc

inverseg