AOC G2770PQU review

The AOC G2770PQU is a 27in monitor aimed squarely at gamers. With 1ms response times and a 144Hz refresh rate, it is a direct competitor with our current favourite 27in gaming screen, the Iiyama Prolite GB2773HS.

The panel sits inside a plain black plastic frame with fairly large bezels, and it isn’t particularly pretty. However, it’s mounted on a height-adjustable stand that can be rotated into portrait mode, and the base can swivel fairly easily thanks to the turntable mounted underneath it.

There’s a pair of USB3 ports mounted behind the screen on the right-hand side, and two more USB2 connectors on the back facing downwards. This is more generous than the slightly cheaper 27in 144Hz Iiyama ProLite GB2773HS, which doesn’t have any USB ports.

The 27in panel size means text and icons appear larger on screen and also allows you to sit further away from your monitor, so you can sit back with a controller or joystick instead of being hunched over your desk. However, this monitor is best suited to mouse-controlled games such as first-person shooters and fast-paced RPGs which are typically best-played when hunched over a keyboard and mouse. The reason for this is the panel’s ability to refresh 144 times per second, more than double the 60Hz you would find on a typical consumer monitor.

The difference is stark. Keen-eyed PC users will notice the increased smoothness before they even open a game. Moving the mouse cursor quickly across a screen at 144Hz is noticeably less blurry and much smoother than it would be at 60Hz. The difference is even more apparent when playing a fast-paced game, with less tearing on the AOC G2770PQU. If you’re remotely serious about your gaming, upgrading to a 144Hz screen is absolutely worth it.

However, the G277PQU uses a TN panel, so it sacrifices image quality for speed. At its default settings we recorded an sRGB colour gamut coverage score of 91.1 per cent, which is reasonable for a TN panel. Yellows and oranges were slightly over-saturated while blues and reds were short changed a little. After calibration we were able to increase this score to 93.8 per cent, which is a minor improvement. Contrast levels were measured at 997:1 and black levels were reasonably low at 0.29cd/m2. Overall image quality is pleasing, if not spectacular, but the contrast levels are high enough to reveal some finer details in darker spots on screen.

You get single HDMI, VGA, DisplayPort and DVI connectors for video input, although only the DisplayPort and DVI connectors will allow you to take advantage of the important 144Hz refresh rate feature.

Overall, we’re happy with the AOC G2770PQU, but it’s more expensive than the Iiyama ProLite GB2773HS and only has a set of USB ports to show for it. The two screens are very similar in terms of panel performance. While this AOC screen is a good buy, the Iiyama remains our favourite 27in gaming screen.