Upgrade from Acer XB271HUC IPS?

[Flogger23m]

Have been looking at pricing of LCD 2560x1440 monitors lately, and pricing for them has dropped quite a bit so I am considering an upgrade.

I currently have an IPS panel, a Acer Predator XB271HU Bmiprz, which I have been using for around 7 years. I assume monitor technology has improved a bit since then. This is the monitor I have:

https://www.rtings.com/monitor/reviews/acer/predator-xb271hu-bmiprz

Though I think my particular model is limited to 144Hz in an Overclock mode, though I run it at 120Hz because if I recall there is some extra blurring when using the Overclock mode for 144Hz. Clearly not an bad monitor, which is why I am wondering if it is even worth upgrading in the first place.

I am wondering if there is anything good worth upgrading to in the $200-300 range? I am not currently interested in OLEDs due to burn in problems and price. That is why I am looking at something more moderate in price. Get something affordable now, then will check back on OLED in 3-4 years.

Other features I would want:

• Adjustable stand with portrait angling.
• G-sync support, ideally G-sync ultimate but can settle for G-SYNC Compatible.
• Speakers/ability connect 3.5mm to output speakers for HDMI consoles. Mainly for when I hook up my Switch which is quite rare.
• Not curved (pointless unless ultra wide)
• 27", 2560x1440

Uses would be gaming, fast paced high frame rate online as well as single player. I will use it heavily for movies and work/programs as well. So multi use, with an emphasis on gaming.

I've come across the ASUS XG27ACS IPS which is $200 on sale currently.

I've read good things about the AOC Q27G3XMN VA which is $250 on sale. This supports HDR as well, which would probably make it a worthwhile upgrade for the few games that support it. This is not listed on Nvidia's G Sync support page, but RTings seems to imply it does support it.

Any other models to look into? Would anything in this price range offer any worthwhile upgrades to my current monitor?

 

[ir_cow]

I have the same monitor. Bought it for $600 in late 2017. Works great. Been personally waiting for either 1440P 380Hz G-Sync or 4K 240HZ G-Sync and they are coming out this year. Now to wait for it to drop to $800 instead of the $1300 asking price

 

[RJARRRPCGP]

The ASRock PG27Q15R2A, works surprisingly well! But, it's curved, so it's out.

 

[Dr. Dro]

Honestly if your monitor is not acting up, stick with it. It's a true G-SYNC monitor with a module... and IPS monitors only got a little faster, not prettier. The true upgrade for you is an OLED, friend.

 

[ir_cow]

Honestly if your monitor is not acting up, stick with it. It's a true G-SYNC monitor with a module... and IPS monitors only got a little faster, not prettier. The true upgrade for you is an OLED, friend.

I agree and it's only flaw is the DP Requirement for the G-Sync Module to work.

Colors are good and 144hz is smooth enough. Only real upgrade is OLED and 380Hz.

 

[Dr. Dro]

I agree and it's only flaw is the DP Requirement for the G-Sync Module to work.

Colors are good and 144hz is smooth enough. Only real upgrade is OLED and 380Hz.

My brother has a XB271HU too, I'd say that it's probably about as good as a desktop IPS monitor in the "traditional sense" gets. It's still far from the cheapest around to this day, though... guess it's earned its reputation over the years though. I wish Acer released an OLED version of that monitor, same look and chassis, just OLED panel instead. That'd be amazing.

 

[JIWIL]

Been looking to upgrade mine for a couple years now, but everything short of an OLED or a nice miniLED seems more of a side-grade. I don't game/video enough to go OLED route; and the miniLEDs are still sketch in terms of motion/FALD witchcraft. Moving on to a ~32", my eyes are getting a bit old. Preferably QHD but it seems like that segment is dead in the water.

Also heard good things about the AOC Q27G3XMN. A 32" version of that, under 750$ would be a no-brainer for me.

The BenQ MOBIUZ EX321UX is the last great hope for me in the short term, I haven't heard of any more monitors based on that panel.. apart from one that's already been released, and is ehhh.

 

[Dr. Dro]

Been looking to upgrade mine for a couple years now, but everything short of an OLED or a nice miniLED seems more of a side-grade. I don't game/video enough to go OLED route; and the miniLEDs are still sketch in terms of motion/FALD witchcraft. Moving on to a ~32", my eyes are getting a bit old. Preferably QHD but it seems like that segment is dead in the water.

Also heard good things about the AOC Q27G3XMN. A 32" version of that, under 750$ would be a no-brainer for me.

The BenQ MOBIUZ EX321UX is the last great hope for me in the short term, I haven't heard of any more monitors based on that panel.. apart from one that's already been released, and is ehhh.

That's because they are, unless you desperately want a 280-360Hz refresh rate, and even that will come at the expense of having the native G-SYNC module, which should offer a better VRR range and latency with no ghosting/flicker compared to a "compatible" monitor that only has VESA adaptive-sync support. Not saying that "Compatible" monitors do in general - but the G-SYNC hardware is better.

In my opinion, the XB271HU is still a very valid and current gaming monitor, and I'd go as far as considering it to still be in the upper tier, even if not at the very top anymore. Unless yours is showing its age and displays a lot of backlight bleed or has begun to yellow (I've seen old IPS monitors do this), I say keep it until OLED/miniLED are cheaper or you have a windfall and manage to purchase something superior, like a 42/48 inch LG C-series OLED or maybe one of their new OLED UltraGears.

IPS gaming monitors are no upgrade to XB271HU owners.

 

[Chomiq]

As multiple said before, no point in upgrading to another 27" QHD IPS screen. First, you're going in blind so it's a lottery when it comes to panel uniformity, backlight bleed etc. Secondly, your old display as a G-Sync module that allows variable overdrive settings (still, modern displays are sometimes tuned so that a single overdrive mode provides best motion performance across entire refresh range). 120 Hz is still fine and should feel smooth enough, plus it leaves your GPU some breathing room for more demanding games.

 

[Sunny and 75]

120 Hz is still fine

I'd say more than fine.

I've read good things about the AOC Q27G3XMN VA which is $250 on sale. This supports HDR as well, which would probably make it a worthwhile upgrade for the few games that support it. This is not listed on Nvidia's G Sync support page, but RTings seems to imply it does support it.

Keep in mind, the viewing angle issue (gamma shift) will become much worse on a flat VA panel. It's not as noticeable with curved ones though, much less in fact.

 

[arbiter]

I had same monitor but woke up black friday morning and push the power button, nothing. pushed it again nothing, did it about 3-4 times. USB hub had power but just wouldn't turn on. Lucky newegg had acer predator XB273u for 200$ blackfriday sale. I would agree its still 100% solid monitor and unless you want to go HDR i would stick with it. XB273u i have is pretty much same monitor except its IPS and has HDR400 for ~400$

 

[mc_Joe]

what about LG 27GP850, is that acceptable for you?

 

[Shou Miko]

I been looking at the AOC Q27G3XMN myself but I am not sure since it's a VA model and it's like the first generation that doesn't support firmware updates but again if AOC can allow you to use a program to control the screen settings then shouldn't end users be able to update the firmware too?

 

[Onasi]

Honestly, unless you are willing to shell out cash and go to OLED I wouldn’t bother. The tech did improve a tad, but there wouldn’t be anything that fits your stated budget that would be noticeably better. Rolling the dice again on getting an acceptable panel (unfortunately, QC barely improved all these years) just to get something that’s a marginal upgrade at best seems silly.

 

[Shou Miko]

Honestly, unless you are willing to shell out cash and go to OLED I wouldn’t bother. The tech did improve a tad, but there wouldn’t be anything that fits your stated budget that would be noticeably better. Rolling the dice again on getting an acceptable panel (unfortunately, QC barely improved all these years) just to get something that’s a marginal upgrade at best seems silly.

Personally I am not the biggest oled fan when it comes to regular desktop work because of the risk of burn-in and i know QD-OLED should have fixed this but still.

I own a LG CX 48inch as my main tv absolutely a gorgeous panel in everyway but for normal desk use I still prefer IPS that's way I am a little torn because the hardware unboxed review of the AOC Q27G3XMN looks really good expect for the users cannot upgrade firmware which is a little wierd since you can install the osd setting software (g-menu) and control all the settings with.

 

[Sunny and 75]

QD-OLED

That's just brighter and more colorful than a W-OLED panel by LG.

The OLED panel technology has yet to mature in terms of burn-in issue.

 

[Shou Miko]

That's just brighter and more colorful than a W-OLED panel by LG.

The OLED panel technology has yet to mature in terms of burn-in issue.

It has matured yes, but I am still not ready myself for a laptop or desktop monitor using oled because I don't only game anymore I do a lot of other things.

Vincent fra HDTVTest has tested LG's 27GR95QE monitor where he left a white square on the screen for 4hours:

Test of the 27GS95QE (2024 model) vs. 27GR95QE (2023 model)

 

[Sunny and 75]

It has matured yes

That's a misunderstanding.

Here's what I've said:

has yet to mature

That means, it has NOT matured.

 

[Shou Miko]

That's a misunderstanding.

Here's what I've said:

That means, it has NOT matured.

My mornings eyes needs to wake up, I don't drink coffee so it takes a little for me to fully wake up.

I know Sony wants to move forward with mini-led instead a lot of said it's the better choice since they do not have burn-in yet tests shows they do not performance the same as oled so still waiting on oled to be cheaper.

I got my CX 48inch oled for about £500 brand new when the series was new which was about half price and it was new just taken out of the box which went missing so it was priced down

 

[Sunny and 75]

My mornings eyes needs to wake up, I don't drink coffee so it takes a little for me to fully wake up.

It's alright, take your time

 

[Shou Miko]

It's alright, take your time

I finished my Sneak Breakfast Orange so now I got energy and has woken up more.

But I still agree with Tim from Hardware Unboxed for the price the AOC Q27G3XMN for the price is really good and hope it will bring better and new monitors down in price for better competition.

But since it's a VA and the viewing angel ain't the best I notice from the 2 monitors I use at form which are the C27G2 from AOC which are VA panels this is why I am not sure if I could pull the trigger or not but I know the HDR feature will be a good upgrade over my current LG monitor.

 

[Sunny and 75]

I finished my Sneak Breakfast Orange so now I got energy and has woken up more.

Better than coffee, I'd say, especially since you've just woken up.

But I still agree with Tim from Hardware Unboxed for the price the AOC Q27G3XMN for the price is really good and hope it will bring better and new monitors down in price for better competition.

Fingers crossed!

But since it's a VA and the viewing angel ain't the best I notice from the 2 monitors I use at form which are the C27G2 from AOC which are VA panels this is why I am not sure if I could pull the trigger or not but I know the HDR feature will be a good upgrade over my current LG monitor.

That AOC monitor is a curved VA panel. This one (AOC Q27G3XMN) is a flat one so the gamma shift issue will become much worse even if you're sitting right in the middle of the screen.

I know Sony wants to move forward with mini-led instead a lot of said it's the better choice since they do not have burn-in yet tests shows they do not performance the same as oled so still waiting on oled to be cheaper.

Only microLED provides an OLED like experience without the burn-in issue.

 

[Flogger23m]

Honestly, unless you are willing to shell out cash and go to OLED I wouldn’t bother. The tech did improve a tad, but there wouldn’t be anything that fits your stated budget that would be noticeably better. Rolling the dice again on getting an acceptable panel (unfortunately, QC barely improved all these years) just to get something that’s a marginal upgrade at best seems silly.

Thanks. Would an HDR monitor be a worthy improvement for the handful of HDR games out there? The AoC I posted in the original post does have HDR, though it is VA.

That AOC monitor is a curved VA panel. This one (AOC Q27G3XMN) is a flat one so the gamma shift issue will become much worse even if you're sitting right in the middle of the screen.

How noticeable is this? I've never used VA on my personal computers before so my time is limited.

 

[ir_cow]

TN and VA are inferior to IPS by a lot.

 

[Sunny and 75]

How noticeable is this? I've never used VA on my personal computers before so my time is limited.

I'd say, give it a shot (if they accept returns, that is) so that you can send it back if the gamma shift is not to your liking.

I'm using a curved VA monitor and I can still notice the gamma shift but to a much lesser degree compared to a flat one.

Also if you sit far enough (like ~1m away from a 27" VA display), there won't be any gamma shift at all.

The main reason I've switched from an IPS panel to a VA one can be read here.

VA panels produce a much richer image in terms of color reproduction than TN ones. Having said that, if you do color critical work (productivity workloads) then only IPS or OLED panels are suitable for that type of usage.

I am not currently interested in OLEDs due to burn in problems and price. That is why I am looking at something more moderate in price. Get something affordable now, then will check back on OLED in 3-4 years.

If you seek HDR gaming, you should consider going OLED, specifically a QD-OLED monitor for brighter HDR and a more colorful presentation.