Design and Ergonomics

The Cooler Master Tempest GZ2711 looks like all other gaming monitors from the company's Tempest lineup. Meaning, it has a metal base and stand, and its 27-inch panel is flanked by thin bezels, measuring only nine millimeters (0.35 in) on all four sides. On the bottom of the panel is a plastic chin with a glowing Cooler Master logo, indicating that the monitor is on. The white LED is unobtrusive, but you can deactivate it regardless, should you find it annoying at night. The actual power button is located behind the chin, next to a four-way joystick used for OSD navigation.


The base is shaped like the Cooler Master logo – a clever visual detail. It's very stable and reasonably compact, measuring 29 x 27 cm (11.4 x 10.6"). As such, it doesn't take up too much room on the table. It is entirely made of metal and feels cold and luxurious to the touch. This is the kind of base you'd expect your high-end gaming monitor to have.


Also made of metal is the round stand. The stand itself offers no integrated cable management solution, but you do get a plastic clip to help with cable clutter. Depending on the height you adjust the panel to, you might fail in hiding the cables from sight; if the monitor is propped more than half of the way up, the aforementioned cable clip remains visible.


Separating the stand from the panel reveals four VESA 75 x 75 mounting holes. Those can be used to mount the monitor to a standard table or wall mount.


On the rear is the so-called Ambient Light, a rudimentary RGB lighting system consisting of two LED strips. Through OSD (Setup Menu > Ambient Light) it can be adjusted to a static color (red, green, blue, three shades of purple), or you can have it cycling through them in Auto mode. The LED strips are covered with a diffusor, but they aren't nearly large or bright enough to make a significant difference to your room's ambiance when using the monitor at night. In other words, if you're looking to illuminate the wall behind the monitor, which is a great way to reduce eye strain whenever you're using it, you'll have to opt for a custom LED strip, a light bar, or some other alternative.


The panel can be tilted from -5 to +15°.


Swiveling the panel by ±15° is also supported.


The total height adjustment range of the panel is 11 centimeters (4.33 in). When pushed down, the distance from the table surface to the edge of the bottom bezel is 9.5 centimeters (3.74 in).


The panel can be pivoted by 90° in either direction.