34 DECEMBER 2019|COMPUTER SHOPPER|ISSUE 382
EVENTWOYEARSafter its release,the Acer
Predator XF270HUA is still oneof the very
best gaming monitors you can buy.Times
move on, however,and the NitroVG270UP
has avery good chanceof supplanting it.
Acer’s newest monitor is cheaper,but very
similar to the XF270HUA on specs.
These includea27in IPS panel running at
asharp 2,560x1,440 resolution,afast 144Hz
refresh rateand supportforboth AMD
FreeSync and Nvidia G-Sync. There’seven
acomparable,although not identical,
three-sided borderless design.
FIXED POINT
Admittedly,this design doesn’t exhibit the
same degreeof quality as thatof the
XF270HUA; the stand in particular is made
of flimsy plastic.Adjustments are limited,
too, with only the abilityto tilt the screen
back by up to 20° and no optionto swivel,
rotateort weak the heightof the monitor.
Thankfully,you get a100x100mm VESA
mount at the back, which allows youto
install your own stand.
Despitethe awful stand, the Nitro
VG270UP looks nice.It’s easyto use,too,
with the onscreen displayaccessed via a
clickable joystick, andfour physical buttons
mounted on the rearof the screen in the
bottom right-hand corner.
Like the GigabyteAorus AD27QD (Shopper
379), you can alternatively tweak the
displaysettings via desktop software.In
fact, the concept has been implemented
even better here,asy ou don’t need an
additional USB connection between
your PC and the monitor;everything can
be doneover the HDMI or DisplayPort
cable.Itw orks across all GPUs,too.
Less impressive is how the software
lacks some keyoptions, such as the
ability to createseparatecustom colour
profiles. Nonetheless, it’saworthy
addition and allows the adjustmentsof
most of the monitor’s corefeatures
quickly and easily.
Connections come in the wayof
two HDMI ports, one DisplayPort
socket anda3.5mm headphone jack.
There’s alsoaset of 2W speakers,
but no onboard USB ports. It’s still
adecent enough selection, but keep
in mind that you’ll needto use the
DisplayPort inputto make use
of G-Sync. FreeSync will work
on any of the three ports.
ACER NitroVG270UP
★★★★★
£330•From http://www.amazon.co.uk
VERDICT
TheNitroVG270UPisanoutstandinggaming
monitorthatwon’tbreakthebank
QHD MONITOR
That 1440p screen only uses an 8-bit
panel, but colour accuracy andoverall image
quality are stupendously good. With the
monitor setto sRGB mode,average delta-E
comes in atafabulously low 0.62–the
lowest we’veever seen fromagaming
monitor,including the XF270HUA–while
sRGB gamut coverage hits 94.7%.
The contrast ratio isn’t bad, either,at
1,067:1, although you’d get inkier blacks from
aVAp anel monitor such as the Samsung
C27CHG70.Peak brightness, meanwhile,
depends heavily on other settings: at most
it’s 380cd/m^2 ,which is perfectly respectable,
although enabling VisualResponse Boost
mode to reduce motion blur drops it down
to 148cd/m^2 on the normal setting and
81cd/m^2 on the extreme setting.
DRIVETIME
The main weakness here is brightness
uniformity.The model wetested had an 18%
deviation from the centre point at thetop
leftcorner ina5x3 grid. However,panels
do and willvary in this respect, so your
particular model maydiffer.
This monitor doesn’t support HDR,
but that isn’taparticularly big issue.
Most displays at this priceoffer HDR400,
which is largely pointless because it only
requires peak brightnessof 400cd/m^2 ,
95% Rec.709 (sRGB in other words) and
8-bit colour,all of which fall shortof the
requirementsof the main HDR10 and
DolbyVision standards.
Overall, we were very happyindeed
with the NitroVG270UP’s colour
performance,and its gaming
performance iseven better.Making it
as good as possible involves turning
on VisualResponse Boost,
which, as mentioned, cuts
the brightness while also
lowering the refresh ratefrom 144Hzto
120Hz. Even so,it’s worth doing if you’re
fond of fast-paced competitive games: it
enables the superlativelyfast 1ms GTG
response time,and minimises motion blur.
Alternatively,you can set pixeloverdrive to
extreme while keeping the 144Hz refresh rate.
This makes the IPS panel as responsive as the
absolutebest TN panels, and input lag is
practically non-existent. However,the extreme
overdrive setting can also add noticeable
inverse ghosting, so it’s betterto use alower
setting in less twitchy games.
PLAYING INTIME
Happily,FreeSync and G-Sync both work in a
wide 40–144Hz range.Some other reviewers
have reported flickering issues being
introduced when using syncingtech, but
this appearsto be solely an issue with
early manufacturing batches.We didn’t
experience any issues whatsoever.
Is the NitroVG270UP as good as the
Predator XF270HUA? Not quite. The latter’s
fully adjustable stand, superior brightness
uniformity and more adept handlingof
inverse ghosting keeps it ontopoft he pile.
This is aclose second, however,especially as
it’s about £150 cheaper while still delivering
on colour and gaming performance.
ChristopherMinasians
SCREENSIZE27in•RESOLUTION2,560 x1,440•SCREEN
TECHNOLOGYIPS•REFRE SHRATE144Hz•VIDEO
INPUTSHDMI,DisplayPort•WARRANTYTwoyearsRTB•
DETAILSwww.acer.co.uk•PARTCO DEUM.HV0EE.P01
SPECIFICATIONS
CONNECTION PORTS
HDMIx2 3.5mmheadphone
jack
DisplayPort
