Gigabyte recently brought its latest QD-OLED gaming monitors to India. The company currently sells the FO32U2P and FO27Q3 variants in the country. As QD-OLED is a relatively newer technology, there aren’t a lot of gaming monitors available in India that use it. We got the FO27Q3 from Gigabyte for review and it features a 27-inch panel with impressive features such as 360Hz refresh rate and AMD FreeSync Premium Pro. The monitor is priced at Rs. 86,999 in the country, which is certainly a lot more than what a fast IPS gaming monitor would cost.
While OLED panels do offer a lot of improvements over traditional IPS panels and are great for gaming, are they worth the hefty price tag and should you be upgrading to an OLED? Read on to find out.
Gigabyte Aorus FO27Q3 Design
- Dimensions (with stand) – 610.3 x 532.5 x 158.6 mm
- Dimensions (without stand) – 610.3 x 356.4 x 57.2 mm
Gaming monitors must have some flair, that’s the norm. The Aorus FO27Q3 certainly has some, thanks to its angled edges, glossy accents, a bit of RGB lighting, and good build quality. The monitor is easy to assemble, and although most parts are plastic, everything feels premium.
The monitor gets RGB lighting at the back and dual 5W speakers
At the front, you get a somewhat glossy panel with a thick chin and minimal top and side bezels, although the side bezels are considerably thicker than the top. The chin features a centrally placed Aorus logo. The buttons are placed on the underside of the logo, and you get a multi-directional joystick as well to easily navigate the OSD menu.
The joystick is multi-directional
Moving below, the base of the stand has another holographic Aorus bird logo. The base is wide and can take up some desk space. The stand offers plenty of adjustment options including tilt, swivel, height, and 90-degree pivot. You get a slit on the stand, which is meant to be for cable management, but the power cable doesn’t pass through it.
Despite the slot for cables, you cannot run the power cable through the gap
At the back, you’ll find more angled design elements and two upward-firing speakers. There’s also an RGB Aorus logo at the back, but it’s not very bright. The rear also has a provision for a 100x100mm VESA mount. With the stand included, the monitor weighs around 11.3 kg.
Gigabyte Aorus FO27Q3 Display and Performance
- 26.5-inches QD-OLED
- QHD (2560×1440) resolution
- 360Hz Refresh rate
The QD-OLED panel on the Aorus FO27Q3 is made by Samsung. It offers 2K resolution with 250 nits of rated brightness in SDR mode. The panel offers a 360Hz refresh rate and a claimed response time of 0.03ms. It comes with certifications such as DisplayHDR True Black 400, ClearMR 13000, and Eyesafe 2.0. It also supports DCI-P3 99 percent colour gamut and 10-bit depth.
The display can get bright indoors, but the coating is glossy
During my usage, the panel offered vivid colour reproduction and deep blacks in most cases. The contrast is also excellent, especially in darker scenes. Compared to my regular IPS monitor, I could see a lot more details in the shadows. This is great when gaming, but is also good for consuming content and video/photo editing. The text is sharp, but you will notice some smaller font to appear pixelated.
In terms of brightness, the panel does get quite bright in dim lighting conditions, especially in HDR modes. HDR output is good enough but lacks detail or better quality in brighter scenes. If your room has plenty of lighting, then you will notice a lot of reflections on the screen, and the brightness may not be adequate.
The monitor offers AMD FreeSync Premium Pro
Thanks to the high 360 Hz refresh rate, gaming on the monitor is extremely fun. There’s almost no ghosting and everything is super responsive, especially when playing FPS or racing games. Motion is also much better and smoother compared to your standard IPS or VA panel monitors.
You also get support for AMD FreeSync Premium Pro and Adaptive Sync. Although you don’t specifically get Nvidia G-Sync support, it should work well thanks to the Adaptive Sync feature. The viewing angle on the display is pretty good and I didn’t notice a major difference in colour reproduction when viewing from an angle.
Gigabyte Aorus FO27Q3 Connectivity and Features
- USB Type-C support
- AI-backed OLED Care
- Gigabyte Control center
For connectivity, the Aorus FO27Q3 offers plenty of options. All the ports are tucked away at the back, underneath the rear display hump. You get dual HDMI 2.1 ports, a DisplayPort 1.4, a USB Type-C port with DisplayPort support and 18W Power Delivery, a USB Type-B port, dual USB Type-A 3.2 ports, a 3.5mm headphone jack, and a separate 3.5mm microphone port as well. While the USB Type-C port supports PD, it can’t charge a laptop.
The monitor supports video output via USB Type-C
The multi-directional joystick on the monitor brings up the feature-packed OSD menu and you can use the buttons to select options. There are a lot of options available on the monitor. You’ll find most of the image quality options, colour customisation, colour temperature, gamma presets, PiP modes, and more features in the menu. There’s also a separate Game Assist option that lets you set the Black equaliser, super-resolution, change display modes, set timer, and crosshair, and enable/disable AMD FreeSync Premium Pro.
The monitor comes with an AI-backed OLED care feature
A Resolution Switch feature lets you set the visible area on the screen to 24 inches and 1080p, which could be useful when gaming. There’s also an AI-backed OLED care feature on the monitor that is claimed to reduce burn-in issues, which is common in OLED panels. The monitor also features KVM, which lets you control multiple devices with a single set of keyboard, monitor, and mouse.
Overall, the Aorus FO27Q3 offers a lot of connectivity options as well as features that make it an excellent monitor for gaming.
Gigabyte Aorus FO27Q3 Verdict
Alright, it’s verdict time. The Gigabyte Aorus FO27Q3 is a really good QD-OLED monitor that’s great for gaming enthusiasts. If you’ve got a powerful gaming PC, then you should probably think about investing in an OLED monitor as the visuals and fast refresh rate will make your gaming experience much better.
The monitor offers good viewing angles
The monitor offers a vivid colour output, a fast 360Hz refresh rate, and an excellent contrast ratio. It also has a well-thought-out design that appears to be well-built as well, although there’s not enough RGB. It’s mainly meant for gamers, but can also be used by creative professionals. However, the pricing is a bit steep, and therefore I’d only recommend it for those who are serious about gaming or have a lot of cash lying around.
Pros:
- Sleek design
- Plethora of connectivity options
- Vivid colours
- 360Hz refresh rate
- Fast 0.03ms response time
Cons:
Ratings (Out of 10)
- Design – 8
- Display – 8
- Performance – 8
- Connectivity – 9
- Value for money – 7
- Overall – 8
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