AOC Q27G3XMN 27″ 2K QHD Gaming Monitor, 2560×1440, Mini LED, 180Hz, HDMI 2.0 x 1, DisplayPort 1.4 x1, Adaptive Sync, Xbox/PS5/Switch Ready, 3-Year Zero-Bright-dot by AOC

الالوان جميلة جداً مشكلتها الي ضايقتني مافيها حفظ لاكثر من اعداد

Purchased 2024 October for $380CAD.

Steamdeck outputs 2560×1440 170hz SDR in in desktop mode through Displayport on the official Valve Steam Deck Dock.
As of yet I can’t get this monitor to run correctly in Big Picture mode.

Local dimming on this display is incredibly well controlled, at first I didn’t even believe local dimming was enabled until I loaded a starfield pattern video and turned the lights off.

“Local Dimming” behaves very differently across the three settings “Low” “Medium” or “Strong”.
Local Dimming on Strong prioritizes black levels and gives the tightest zone control for maximum overall panel contrast, but noticeably dims small highlights to help control blooming.
Local Dimming on Medium and Low keeps all zones activated all the time to maintain the brightness of small highlights, so the display will never give “true black” on Medium/Low, but brightness is much more consistent.

“Low” gives maximum priority to highlight reproduction.
“Medium” clips small highlights somewhat but with improved black levels compared to Low.
“Strong” clips small highlights significantly, but with near perfect black levels.

As highlight window size increases the three Local Dimming settings perform more similarly, brightness at full screen white is the same across all three.

Local Dimming also affects colour accuracy. “Low” and “Medium” are more colour accurate, whereas Local Dimming set to “Strong” gives non-linear colour gradients and oversaturates peak values.

I think this monitor should have been built with a button dedicated to switching between local dimming Medium and Strong modes because i”m probably going to be switching back and forth a lot.

Best general settings:
“Game Mode” set to “OFF” (does not affect input lag)
“Overdrive” set to “Medium” for best pixel response at varied framerates or “Strong” for games consistently above 120fps.
“Color Gamut” set to “Panel Native”
“Contrast” set to “50”
“Game Color” set to “9”

“Brightness” can be set to personal preference.
(Brightness does not affect colour gradients, but do note this monitor appears to permanently clip the last three shades of white in every mode I’ve tried.)

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Update Dec 2024:

Over the last three months this monitor has been used alongside the Steamdeck OLED at 6000K whitepoint (warm but not too warm), trying to calibrate it to perceptually match the OLED screen.
I can get about 90% of the way there but never perfect, the Q27G3XMN is always tinted red to varying degrees, and you will be clipping colors to imitate the pop of OLED.

Firstly some universal setting adjustments:
“Game Color” set to “11”
“LowBlueMode” set to “Multimedia” (first step)
“Color Temp” set to “User”

Unfortunately after that there is no single mode to rule them all.
My favorite settings are divided into two modes:
“Gamma 1” mode for monitor brightness below 50%.
“Gamma 3” mode for monitor brightness above 50%.
(Yes indeed, change the “Gamma” setting to “Gamma 1” or “Gamma 3” respectively.)

-Gamma 1 Mode:
“Local Dimming” set to “Low”
“Contrast” set to “51”
“Color Temp” “User” at values: “Red:49 Green:50 Blue:49”

-Gamma 3 Mode:
“Local Dimming” set to preference: “Strong” to prioritize black levels and mid tones, or “Medium”/”Low” to prioritize highlights.
“Contrast” set to “57”
“Color Temp” “User” “Red:43 Green:44 Blue:43”

These settings look odd when Gamma 1 Mode is almost default settings, but there is method to the madness.
The Q27G3XMN actually has three different ways to adjust the gamma curve, those are the settings being adjusted.

Gamma 1 by default has over brightened mid tones, but Local Dimming “Low” darkens mid tones, so those two settings specifically work well together (Gamma 1 with Local Dimming “Strong” tends to look washed out).
Gamma 1 being generally over brightened means it will look best with the monitor set to low panel brightness (unless you’re using the monitor in direct sunlight and you need to fight ambient light, then by all means use Gamma 1 at maximum brightness).

Gamma 3 has darkened mid tones, and Local Dimming “Strong” lightens mid tones, so those two settings also go together well, but Gamma 3 is SO dark that it still needs contrast boosted, and the Contrast setting incidentally boosts colour saturation, so to compensate for “Contrast 57” the RGB colour saturation is reduced to the mid-40’s.
Gamma 3 also has a strong oversaturation of Red, human skin looks purple if you leave Red and Blue at the same level as Green so to fix that set Red/Blue values below Green.

Good for the price, Overall happy with the product.
But the colors get really washed out when turning on the HDR, comparable to a cheap VN monitor in that terms.

I took way too much time before buying this. Yes, it’s totally worth it.

1. The colours are outstanding. Please don’t let people throw you off by remarking on a pinkish hue. For me, I’ve not noticed it. Colors look vibrant, darks are indeed dark and all that jazz. How this translates for you most likely:

+you want to play games way too long,
+watch movies for way too long,
+sink hours upon hours needlessly web surfing.

Why? Just cuz. The screen looks that freaking amazing! And you can’t believe it costs under $300.

Then there’s the stand. It’s proven more useful than I would have predicted. Sometimes I like to feel super official and read my kindle books on a bigger size screen – especially for DK books or you know, those cool “coffee-table” kind of books I think they are called. Anyway, this monitor is AMAZING for that. I thought adjusting the screen to different orientations would prove more challenging and keep me from wanting to do it often, but not at all. Luckily it doesn’t take massive strength or strain or anything to move the monitor around, and sometimes that allows for experimentation using your monitor in ways that you may not even realized you’d appreciate. Again, for me, that’s proven true in regards to reading kindle books on this monitor. I think I’d now ALWAYS prioritize having a useful, functional stand. I know that monitor arms are a thing, but for some of us, we just want to buy the monitor and be able to use it for as long as possible without having to buy anything else 😉 With this, you have one of the very best monitor stands I could imagine.

I also want to mention the warranty – a 3 YEAR WARRANTY that goes so far as to cover ACCIDENTAL DAMAGE in the first year. Now that is value unparalleled, and provided that they folow through on those promises to the customer, it’s really hard for me to recommend anything else. To anyone who is shopping on a budget but wants something that doesn’t feel budget WHATSOEVER, I’d say go this route.

When I was monitor shopping, I tried an array of different monitors. Initially I was going for a 42 inch monitor, trying to go for the “best of the best”. The Gigabyte Aorus 43vu, for instance, is a great monitor as is the LG C3 in that size category. I tried 34″ and 32″ inch monitors. Interestingly, even if price wasn’t a consideration, I’d still argue that this 27 inch screen provides the better QUALITY and VALUE, which is kind of crazy to be getting both things at once, you know? I kept thinking that a 27 inch screen wouldn’t be as “fun” as a bigger screen, but as it turns out, for gaming from a desk, I will now ALWAYS choose 27 inches over 32 inches and anything bigger. Basically, I was wrong thinking bigger translates to a more enjoyable experiencd. ! I know these are specific details, but there may be someone else out there going, hey! I love this monitor, but it’s ONLY 27 inches! I can’t tell you for sure that it is enough, but for me, the 27 vs 32 inch monitor debate ends with the 27 being the clear choice. Compared to the 43 and 42 inch sized monitors, I definitely prefer gaming on this 27 inch monitor too, I occasionally game on the bigger television I own. I so prefer gaming on the 27.

Look, I don’t want to encourage anyone to buy this who is gonna hate it. I’m sorry if this love letter to this monitor leads you astray and your experiences end up different than mine. But for real, if you want to skip skimming all the reddit forums and the few reviews you can find on this monitor, just take this recommendation. I came in to this skeptical and am seriously blown away.

Let me address a couple of things I was worried about:

+it being too big, too thick. It isn’t. For me, it’s perfect. It doesn’t remind me of the 1990 CRTV days, and the depth it does have…it just feels right for the picture it creates, as strange as that is to say that way. I have a desk depth of 30 inches. I’ll try to upload photos later in case that will help someone determine if it seems too big.

2. pinkish hue: totally don’t see it. Nothing distracts, nothing makes me go oh, this monitor has a bad picture. It’s good. For the money, it’s great! You could tell me this should cost someone $600, and I’d believe it. It performs far above its asking price.

Think about that. How often do you buy something that feels really like it should cost twice the price even?
Not often enough! Do yourself a favor! Go for it.

(To everyone who wants to make a size matters joke, ditto. Enjoy your day and this review!)

Excellent monitor for the price, bright, colorful and clear. Very happy with the performance using gaming and productivity apps .