Cooler Master Tempest GP27Q

[Inle]

The Cooler Master Tempest GP27Q is one of the most affordable gaming monitors capable of providing a "real" HDR gaming experience. It is equipped with an advanced Mini-LED FALD backlighting system with 576 individually controllable zones, a Quantum Dot UltraSpeed IPS panel, and a host of interesting features.

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[ZoneDymo]

always sad to see that VRR range starting so high, I wonder why that is, ideally it would start at like 20 fps, at which games would be unplayable anyway, but 48? that is just...yeah too high

 

[Theswweet]

HUB noticed some flickering with HDR and FreeSync enabled on this; it sounds like it doesn't always happen, but I am concerned about it. If that can be sorted out it seems like a perfect companion to a 7900XTX.

 

[claster17]

@ZoneDymo That's what LFC is for. To display 20 FPS, a monitor with a range of 48-120 Hz may run at 60, 80, 100 or 120 Hz.

 

[InVasMani]

always sad to see that VRR range starting so high, I wonder why that is, ideally it would start at like 20 fps, at which games would be unplayable anyway, but 48? that is just...yeah too high

Most any game barring RTRT titles can run above 48FPS up to 1440p quite easily enough even on older GPU's. I don't consider all that big a deal personally.

 

[ZoneDymo]

Most any game barring RTRT titles can run above 48FPS up to 1440p quite easily enough even on older GPU's. I don't consider all that big a deal personally.

its might not be a BIG deal, but its still just not as good as it should be, imagine setting indeed an RT game up, you want as much eye candy as possible, you get it dialed in to run at 60 fps but there are heavy scenes where it dips below 45 for a bit, now with VRR that is all the more jarring.

im having it myself for example in NFS heat, every time I notice it suddenly being less smooth, look in the top corner "yep...45 fps"

It should just be atleast 30hz imo, but 20 or 15 would be even better, basically ensuring its always on no matter what.

 

[Mussels]

I'm waiting on a 32" mini LED or gaming OLED
27" just doesnt work for me these days


watching the two techs slowly meet in the middle has been fascinating since mini LED is simply a backlight tech and still relies on IPS and VA panels improving, while OLED says haha no backlight at all... but burn in and image retention maybe

always sad to see that VRR range starting so high, I wonder why that is, ideally it would start at like 20 fps, at which games would be unplayable anyway, but 48? that is just...yeah too high

because it's a lot better that way, you've missed how the modern tech is different to early Gsync

48 means that it doubles frame rates (or more) so you get a minimum 48FPS

24FPS? internally doubled to 48hz
25? 50Hz
etc

VA panels for example have lower brigthness as refresh rates lower, so they cant do low values without flickering

Personal opinion: In each category you need to give a rating out of 10 like other websites do

Theres a TON of info there, but without the knowledge to decode it, it's overwhelming

We have this, but beyond comparing each value to the previous results theres no context to explain if these are good or bad values - sure, lots of green - but is this more or less than other competing displays?

 

[mechtech]

What I find odd is that 120Hz is not the defacto or base refresh rate today for all monitors instead of 60Hz?!?!?! I mean they had 120Hz screens for over 13 years!! In PC years that's like 132 But I guess it would be harder to get away with the 'gaming' moniker and charge a premium?

It would also be nice if drivers could/would enable manual selection (without forcing) 24/25/30/50/60/75...../120 also.

All I got is 30/60

 

[Mussels]

What I find odd is that 120Hz is not the defacto or base refresh rate today for all monitors instead of 60Hz?!?!?! I mean they had 120Hz screens for over 13 years!! In PC years that's like 132 But I guess it would be harder to get away with the 'gaming' moniker and charge a premium?

It would also be nice if drivers could/would enable manual selection (without forcing) 24/25/30/50/60/75...../120 also.

All I got is 30/60
View attachment 276885

Uh.... yes?
60Hz is the base standard for cheap displays.

You get 30 and 60 because it's all your display supports... 30Hz is 60Hz interlaced for DVD/BD playback

 

[DLAV]

Please mention for each monitor review if it has DDC/CI support or not!

Open ControlMyMonitor and put a screenshot to see what VCP Features are available. Having the option to instantly change monitor settings without touching the OSD buttons is amazing.

 

[konga]

We have this, but beyond comparing each value to the previous results theres no context to explain if these are good or bad values - sure, lots of green - but is this more or less than other competing displays?
View attachment 276867

Well, this is their first review using this kind of testing. Some comparisons may happen once they have more data to compare results to.

Incidentally, the 0 - 51 and 51 - 0 results seem broken. They get scored at 0 for every category in every mode, which doesn't make sense since if the response time was truly 0, then the "visual response rating" would be 100.

Overall though, I'm very happy that TPU is now doing proper response time testing in their reviews. More outlets need to do this because so many manufacturers outright lie about the response times in their monitors. The "Visual response time" metric seems a little odd but maybe I'll get used to it.

 

[KrazyT]

Cooler Master ... Monitor ?
Many brands expands their portfolio with monitor (and gaming one often)
Should be a nice way to grab money !
At least, this one seems good !

 

[Chrispy_]

Incidentally, the 0 - 51 and 51 - 0 results seem broken. They get scored at 0 for every category in every mode, which doesn't make sense since if the response time was truly 0, then the "visual response rating" would be 100.

That's what I came here to post, too
I'm loving that @Inle uses OSRTT now, but the 0ms cannot be pixel response time. Perhaps the black level of this is being messed up by the mini-LED backlight and we're not seeing the pixel response, but the time it takes to turn on the backlight, which would likely be close enough to zero to register nothing on the sensor?

always sad to see that VRR range starting so high, I wonder why that is, ideally it would start at like 20 fps, at which games would be unplayable anyway, but 48? that is just...yeah too high

It's just a difference in how it's written on the spec sheets. All monitors that claim sub-48Hz VRR windows are just including the GPU's LFC (low-frequency compensation) feature which both GSync and Freesync have incorporated almost since the beginning of VRR. The monitor isn't responsible for actually trying to refresh at lower frequencies, the GPU driver just doubles the image when it falls below the minimum VRR frequency.

49fps = 49Hz
48fps = 48Hz
47fps = 94Hz twice
46fps = 92Hz twice
...
25fps = 50Hz twice
24fps = 48Hz twice
23fps = 69Hz three times (nice)
22fps = 66Hz three times
...
17fps = 51Hz three times
16fps = 48Hz three times
15fps = 60Hz four times
14fps = 54Hz four times


In the beginning, LFC was only possible on displays with a max:min VRR frequency range ratio of 2.5x, so for all of those early fast IPS panels with 48-100Hz, VRR didn't work below 48Hz. The G-Sync hardware module sort of fixed it, but only down to 37Hz, IIRC. AMD fixed this properly for Freesync 2.0 by bringing the required freqency range ratio down to 2.0x for frame doubling - and obviously Nvidia adopted it when they ditched the silly hardware module and just used the VESA VRR standard like Freesync.

Basically, LFC means the minimum VRR frequency is 0Hz now. The only monitors that break that rule are TV and budget non-gaming monitors that are only 60Hz or 75Hz max. The reason LCD monitors themselves can't run the panels lower than about 40Hz is because in all three technologies (IPS,TN,VA) the LCD crystals spring back to their resting position slowly if they are not "refreshed". Within about 30-40ms they've started to move enough that the panel starts to "grey out", so the 40 or 48Hz minimum is there to constantly refresh the subpixel domains and keep the crystals from springing back to their resting position.

I can't remember exactly where I learned all that, but I'll credit tftcentral.co.uk as they've definitely got some solid articles that go in-depth on LCD technology.

 

[TheLostSwede]

It would also be nice if drivers could/would enable manual selection (without forcing) 24/25/30/50/60/75...../120 also.

All I got is 30/60
View attachment 276885

Hmm, that's odd if your display can go higher.
I have lots of options without any need to create custom modes.

Cooler Master ... Monitor ?
Many brands expands their portfolio with monitor (and gaming one often)
Should be a nice way to grab money !
At least, this one seems good !

They've been offering them in some markets for a couple of years already.
I guess you don't read the news here, as we've posted multiple news posts about them too.

 

[thegnome]

That's a very pretty price for a very pretty monitor. Would be a perfect drop in replacement for my monitor if it launched a few years back..

 

[OfficerTux]

I have one, it's nice

The local dimming can be visible in some cases where you have high contrast edges, for an example in video games where your character/camera is inside where it's dark and you look through a window or doorframe and it's bright outside. When you now strafe left / right you can see the dimming zones working. But it's totally worth the trade-off for the dynamic/contrast you get in return.

I have tried some HDR games (Uncharted 4, Metro Exodus (the enhanced version with RT), Witcher 3 (with next gen patch) and Cyberpunk and they all look really good. I especially liked the Metro implementation, it looks very natural to my eyes.

I have no way to check the colour calibration, I am using the "Cold" color temperature preset in both SDR and HDR modes which (other than the name suggests) is less cold than the default "User" setting. I am a little surprised the display performed so bad regarding color accuracy, since mine came with a factory calibration report. I have to check that again to see which ΔE they claimed it had. Unfortunately the report did not say which settings were used.

 

[Chaitanya]

Just out of curiosity what's the power consumption at 150cd/m^2 brightness(and corresponding OSD levels? for years reading monitor reviews(on tftcentral) that is the brightness generally targeted for comparing power consumption and it makes a good comparison point for rest of performance(pre HDR) at that level.

 

[KrazyT]

They've been offering them in some markets for a couple of years already.
I guess you don't read the news here, as we've posted multiple news posts about them too.

Yes, I was aware of that, as i read the news every day, it's my morning routine.
i'm just new to the forum, cannot post my thoughts before

 

[mechtech]

Uh.... yes?
60Hz is the base standard for cheap displays.

You get 30 and 60 because it's all your display supports... 30Hz is 60Hz interlaced for DVD/BD playback

Yep.

What I was trying to convey is why isn't extinct and 120Hz the the base standard? I mean 120Hz has been out 13 years-ish. When I see 60Hz displays I think VGA port

 

[Chrispy_]

Yep.

What I was trying to convey is why isn't extinct and 120Hz the the base standard? I mean 120Hz has been out 13 years-ish. When I see 60Hz displays I think VGA port

Backwards compatibility, probably. There is hardware still being made today that only outputs at 60Hz over HDMI, and that's likely a hangover from compatibility with TVs, receivers, signal splitters and countless other non-display devices that only work at 60Hz because that is/was the broadcast standard in over 95% of the world and nothing has come along to change that yet.

Unfortunately, 60Hz is the lowest common denominator - and it's also a chicken & egg scenario; The displays won't default to 120Hz unless there's a good reason to abandon blind support of 60Hz devices, and devices won't default to 60Hz unless 120Hz displays are the mainstream standard.

 

[trsttte]

Is a review of the Tempest GP27U (the 4k version) also planned/possible? When?

Cooler Master ... Monitor ?
Many brands expands their portfolio with monitor (and gaming one often)
Should be a nice way to grab money !
At least, this one seems good !

Cooler Master does pretty much everything since forever ago, including being an OEM partner for bigger brands (Intel uses them a lot, namely for the NUC extreme and now for the Arc graphics cards).

In this specific case, though still kind of a budget option with certain limitations like most of their other monitors and products, they jumped both feet in going for HDR and FALD, something the market has been begging for years now.

 

[KrazyT]

I must recognize that Cooler Master make good products, i've recently mount a new PC for my sister inside a CM case (don't remember the name), and it passed like a breeze.
My old 212 still rocks for cheap !
Going for monitors is an odd moves, the competition in this domain is hard, with some big established name !
Hope they'll be a game changer ... but for many it won't be the first name coming out when choosing a monitor brand

 

[Airmansubset]

Hi Inle, thank you for the detailed review. I have just purchased this monitor, however I do not have any calibration hardware to do the calibration myself. Will you be able to share your calibrated icc profile? Thank you

 

[mechtech]

Backwards compatibility, probably. There is hardware still being made today that only outputs at 60Hz over HDMI, and that's likely a hangover from compatibility with TVs, receivers, signal splitters and countless other non-display devices that only work at 60Hz because that is/was the broadcast standard in over 95% of the world and nothing has come along to change that yet.

Unfortunately, 60Hz is the lowest common denominator - and it's also a chicken & egg scenario; The displays won't default to 120Hz unless there's a good reason to abandon blind support of 60Hz devices, and devices won't default to 60Hz unless 120Hz displays are the mainstream standard.

Understood, However could always select a lower refresh rate. My old (now gone) 120 Hz would default to 60Hz and you'd have to set it to anything different. Just too bad good things take so long change. :|

 

[IceShroom]

HUB noticed some flickering with HDR and FreeSync enabled on this; it sounds like it doesn't always happen, but I am concerned about it. If that can be sorted out it seems like a perfect companion to a 7900XTX.

Which gpu HUB used to test HDR with Freesync?