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Seems a little.unfair though. The AD27QD has had several FW updates since this review was published and hasn't been updated to reflect that.
Anyone bought the Gigabyte AORUS FI27Q yet?
- Thread starter Vidar
- Start date
Seems a little.unfair though. The AD27QD has had several FW updates since this review was published and hasn't been updated to reflect that.
As I promised, here is my review of the FI27Q-P and 27GL850. I also included standard FI27Q in a few places since I had it a month ago. Be prepared for quite a lot of text so if you just want to jump to a conclusion, scroll to the bottom where you can find the tl;dr section and final words 
If you have any questions, please ask them here. Also, I will post the same review of a few other sites so you might find it in other places too. Just a heads up, I don't have any hardware tools to make the measurements so everything you will read is something that was observed and tested with my naked eyes.
So here we go...
Build quality and packaging
The packaging is definitely better with Aorus. The box the monitor comes in is enormous and the monitor is well secured with thick styrofoam. Now, don’t fear, it’s not like the LG is not protected or anything like that. It’s just that Gigabyte upped the whole thing to another level. One thing I liked, even though I don’t personally need it is that Gigabyte sends two types of power cables with it, for UK type of socket and the other one for, I dunno, rest of Europe?
With LG which I ordered from German Amazon, I got only the standard power cable (standard for my country).
Panels on their own feel quite good under the hands, but Aorus has a more premium feel to it and it’s heavier if that accounts for something. When it comes to stands, Aorus wins this one easily. The stand on for Aorus is a damn beast looks nice (at least to me), it’s made of metal and very sturdy. The LG one is quite… disappointing, but it does the job. One thing to mention is that LG’s stand doesn’t support the swivel function. To end the talk about stands, the one from Aorus is easier to operate. LG feels quite stiff when trying to do anything with the panel. But it’s not something you will be doing a lot of times anyway. I’m not really bothered by that because I have a monitor arm waiting for my double monitor setup.
One thing I really like about the design of the LG is the position of ports. They are very easy to access because they are positioned on the backside of the monitor. If you stand above the monitor you can see all the ports and don’t have to guess their positions. Aorus, on the other hand, has all the ports below the panel which makes them harder to access, and we all know how annoying that can be on monitors.
Aorus also has RGB lights, for some reason. If they already bothered putting them on, why didn’t they make them like ambient lights so they would actually serve some purpose? But ok, that’s personal preference and lights can be turned off.
OSD
Both monitors have quite good OSDs and well-made desktop companion apps. Both of them have some good and bad points. They use joysticks to navigate which is awesome. And both of them have scenarios where, if you select some picture mode some settings become inaccessible which is quite frustrating when you’re trying to calibrate displays. It took me quite a while to realize how to unlock the RGB values on LG for separate customizations (hint: first set Color temp to custom). Desktop apps are both ok. But the one from Aorus, for example, works just fine with the LG monitor turned on and having its own software running at the same time. The LG doesn’t allow that. To use the OnScreen control from LG, first, you need to turn off the Aorus monitor and change the settings in windows to display the picture only on the LG monitor.
LG allows you to set up profiles for games and programs, but it’s very limited in that regard. I couldn’t find a way of custom adding games and programs (their .exe files) so I could only choose from a few predefined programs.
And lastly, one thing to mention is that Aorus allows more picture customizations in wide gamut mode. Somehow it just allows for more control.
Lagom tests: http://www.lagom.nl/lcd-test/
Test 1: Contrast
On both monitors all the bars are visible, but to see the first blue bar on both monitors you need to focus a little bit on it. Overall they are both great.
Test 3: Clock and Phase
I’m not sure what’s the ideal distance at which the pattern should appear fully gray, but on the LG it turns into the fully gray background at 108 cm, while on the Aorus is at around 170 cm.
Test 4: Sharpness
Again, on LG block blend way, way sooner than on the Aorus while both of them have matched sharpness settings as close as possible. At around three meters, on LG, the blocks are blended in, while on Aorus I can still see them almost clearly.
Test 5: Gamma
Since I don’t have any tools to calibrate the gamma settings, I have to rely on my eyes and software tools like this. LG wins this one easily. Out of the box and after quite a lot of time spent on calibrating the displays, on the LG the color bars blend nicely at 2.2 value, while on the Aorus they are most of the time in between 2.0 and 2.1.
Test 6: Black level
Here comes the difference in contrast. With a bit of playing with settings, I can make all of the boxes visible on the Aorus, even though the first one is really, really hard to notice and you need to focus really hard to see it. The second one is close to that, but starting from the third one things get better. On the LG no matter what I do, I can’t make the first two visible without damaging the overall picture quality. The third one is really hard to see and things get better starting from the fourth one.
Test 7: White saturation
On both monitors, with my preferred settings, the lower right checkerboard pattern is almost not visible without focusing hard on that spot. But I don’t feel like it’s really impacting anything in practice.
Test 8: Gradient banding
Nothing to report here other than on both monitors the transitions look nice and smooth.
Test 9: Flicker
No flicker when keeping it at static position (without scrolling up and down) on both screens.
Test 10: Response time
I can’t notice any flashing on any of the monitors. Animated gifs are enabled.
Dead pixel and color uniformity: http://lcdtech.info/en/tests/dead.pixel.htm
No dead pixel on either of them. LG has somewhat better white color uniformity. It’s pretty white all across the screen area, while on Aorus the left side a bit colder than the right side. But really, it’s something you won’t notice in the practice.
On the full black background is easily visible that LG has less prominent IPS glow than the Aorus. On LG there is a slight glow at the lower left side of the monitor and somewhat the same level of it on the right side. Aorus, on the other hand, has quite a prominent amount of glow and BLB on the lower left side, by around 30% more than on the LG, and in games, it became bothersome to me since it eats the details away. Aorus also has a BLB alongside the whole bottom area of the screen near the monitor frame. It’s nothing bothersome and I don’t notice it if I don’t focus on it, but it’s there, and you might see it very dark games. The right side has less glow than the LG, but again, it’s not like LG has a prominent glow on either side.
In the end, the LG is better when it comes to IPS glow and BLB since while it has it, it’s not so visible as the one in the lower-left corner of the Aorus. I rather have the glow here and there and not being distracting, than having it in one spot, but being really visible in that one spot. LG has no BLB at all.
Picture quality
When it comes to displaying the picture and it’s quality, both of them are really, really good. In wide gamut mode, LG has a bit more lively colors than the Aorus, but the difference is really small and it’s something you notice only if you have them side to side. The more I used them, I slowly started liking the LG picture more. The Aorus has a bit more of green color in it, and no matter how hard I tried to make it on the same level as the LG, there was always just a tiny bitsy amount of it more than on the LG one. That’s why the picture on the LG appears more natural to me. But really, it’s something you will hardly notice on its own.
While both of them oversaturate the content in wide gamut model, at the end of the day I liked the LG more since the rendered picture was still a bit more realistic than on the Aorus. But if you like wide gamut monitors and more oversaturated look, you can’t go wrong with either of them. If you have never used a wide gamut monitor, be prepared for strong red and green colors, and it will take you some time to tone them down in settings. Thankfully both monitors allow you to set RGB values independently.
sRGB mode
Ok, at first I felt like LG had far, far better sRGB mode than the Aorus one. But after a while and after my eyes adapted to both of them, I can say that both of them are quite close to each other. The Aorus has a bit warmer sRGB mode, while the LG has a bit colder sRGB mode. So it’s up to you what you like more. But one thing I like on the LG is that it allows you to control the brightness in that mode, while the Aorus locks you up completely out of all picture settings.
Same as before, LG’s sRGB mode displays more natural-looking colors than the Aorus. And I’m now running LG in sRGB mode all the time. Yes, I know, why didn’t I get the 83A version then? Well, for starters in Europe the price difference is really small, 480€ for 83A vs 520€ for 850. And I got 850 mainly out of two reasons, to compare it fully to FI27Q-P and because it has a USB hub which means that I can update the firmware.
I compared both of them to Dell U2717D and Macbook Pro 2015, 15”. And damn they are close. But for me, the LG won by a small margin. After comparing the picture quality of LG to Macbook, as someone who works as a digital designer, I can safely say that LG’s nano IPS panel with a bit of optimization could be used in some form of a professional monitor. The panel is really, really good and I hope that that one day we might see it, non-gaming monitors, too.
Text rendering
This is a very, very close match, but I feel like the text is a bit easier to read on the Aorus than on the LG. It feels more… I don’t know what words to use… milder, warmer than on the LG? I don’t know how to describe it.
And if someone is sensitive to how text is displayed, I think that LG might pose some problems for some people in the form of eye strain or headaches. LG feels more… aggressive? Personally I don’t have problems with any of them, but just so you know if your eyes are more sensitive to monitors the Aorus would be a better choice.
Response times, input lag and gaming experience
Ok, so now I have in front of me what’s regarded the fastest IPS 27” 1440p IPS panel and FI27Q-P which uses the same panel as AD27QD, which is regarded as too slow for high refresh gaming. Again, I don’t possess any hardware tools to measure the speeds so everything written here is by just observing things with my naked eyes and muscle memory. If you read a few reviews (like one or two) of FI27Q/P, you will see that panel in FI27Q and FI27Q-P is better optimized than in the AD27QD. They mention that it achieves speeds of 6.1 ms on average, which is enough for 144Hz gaming. For LG there are enough reviews with measurements so you can more easily find them and by all of them, it’s the fastest IPS panel.
But in practice, I really needed to focus hard to notice the difference between the panels in motion. I tried Quake Champions, R6 Siege, CoD: MW (the new one), PUBG, CS:GO and many more, and they both feel pretty much the same. Yes, the LG is a bit faster, but believe me, when I say this, you can hardly notice that if you don’t have them side to side and look at the same content on both of them at the same time. I set my settings in windows to mirror the same screen on both of them and had them set up like that since five days ago. I also asked my friend to give his opinion on them about the responsiveness and he said the same thing; that they are pretty much identical, but LG feels just a tiny bit more connected.
I set Aorus to Balanced and LG to fast. If LG is set to Fastest there is an enormous amount of overshoot, while on Aorus, on it’s Speed setting (which the highest one) there is a more visible overshoot, but not by an amount as it on LG. But in the end, none of them is really usable on their highest settings so keep that in the middle and you’re good to go.
And overdrive works like a charm on both of them. I didn’t experience any noticeable overshoot in any of the games when the fps was bellow 144Hz, at 100, at 80 and at 60. Around 60 the overshoot was a tiny bit more noticeable in some cases on Aorus than on the LG, but that's something you most probably won't see if you're not starring from 20-30 cm away fo the screen and searching for it. Below 50, both of them are quite unpleasant to use because everything feels laggy. No overdrive will save you from bad experiences of low fps, no matter if you have G-Sync or FreeSync. G-Sync will make that range a bit better, but everything will still feel off. In any case, I didn’t experience any image tearing.
Prior to the FI27Q-P I had the normal FI27Q. Overshoot there was more noticeable than on the P version. I’m not sure what’s with that, but I remember seeing overshoot where I didn’t see it with the P version. And my memory is quite fresh since I had it like a month ago. In the meantime the firmware got updated so maybe is that, but who knows.
I also compared them to my 24” 144Hz TN monitor, LG 24GM77. While the TN was faster, it wasn’t by a large amount. With these two you get better colors, better contrast and overall better monitor for everyday use. If you’re playing only competitively and need every single advantage you can get or you feel, then sure, get one of the 240Hz panels.
So my conclusion when it comes to response times is that both of them are really close, no matter what the numbers say, you can’t really go wrong with either of them. If you’re very sensitive to blur, the LG is a bit better in that regard.
LG is also faster overall, and by that, I don’t mean the games, but the things like powering on, alt-tabbing out of the games, applying settings, etc.
Contrast, oh that contrast drama
I have to say I was a bit scared of the lower contrast numbers in all the reviews, but that’s another reason why I wanted to see them side to side. FI27Q-P has a contrast of 1100+:1, while LG is usually around 800:1. If you set a full screen, pure black background, Aorus wins easily. But again, in practice, there is hardly any difference. I tested both of them extensively in Resident Evil 2 and A Plague Tale (which has a lot of dark and light scenes) and they are pretty much the same. Yes, the Aorus is a bit better, but you need to focus hard and look for such differences. If in a game like is the RE2, I could barely find any noticeable difference, in other games that would be even less visible.
Because Aorus has more prominent IPS glow in the lower-left corner of the screen, I actually like the LG more. In dark scenes that glow eats a lot of details away. LG, on the other hand, has a less visible glow. I also tested both of them in other games, like ARMA 3, Hitman 2, Hunt Showdown and again, the difference in dark scenes is pretty much non-existent. Aorus has a very slight edge, but only in places where it doesn’t have the IPS glow. So don’t stress yourself about the low 800:1 number. In practice, you don’t notice that. The same is with the movies. I left the movies to play on both monitors at the same time and there was hardly any difference.
Console gaming
I also tested both monitors with the PS4 and PS4 Pro. The highest standard PS4 can go is 1080p so the displayed picture will look blurry on both of them, and for me, that’s very bothersome. But PS4 Pro, on the other hand, can output 4K signal (surprise) which means that both monitors can take that 4K signal and downscale it to 1440p which as a result displays a better image than with the standard PS4. The result is still not perfect, but it’s better than with the standard PS4. You just need to set that up correctly in your GPU drivers so that the display takes care of the scaling, not the GPU.
Just a heads up, the G-Sync monitors don’t support that so the new XG270QG from Viewsonic won't have those scaling options.
The additional stuff
The Aorus has a lot of the so-called “tactical” stuff in it, but personally I don’t need that and haven’t used it. Things like noise-canceling, crosshairs and so on it’s not something I need in monitors, but reviews online mentioned that those functions work quite good actually. LG doesn’t have so many of these additional features, but it has all you might need in a monitor and more. Both of them have their own versions of Black Equalizers, but even though the Aorus costs 200€ more than FI27Q because of it (and 1.4 DP, which LG also has), I like the one on LG more because you can move it by smaller increments. For competitive gaming that’s a nice feature to have because you can counter those campers in dark spots easily
I tried PIP modes and they all work fine, but it’s not something I use.
And as I already mentioned, the LG allows you to set up profiles for games and programs, but I could only choose from the predefined ones without the option of adding custom .exe files so that functionality is quite useless in the current state.
TLR
FI27Q-P (vs 27GL850):
Pros
Pros:
FI27Q-P shouldn’t even exist. Everything that P has should be in the normal version. The difference in the price of almost 200€ is insane.
I kinda believe that they cherry-pick panels for FI27Q-P, but it also might be just a case of panel lottery. My FI27Q had more prominent IPS glow than the P one, had backlight bleed near the right side of the screen, a bit more overshoot at around 60 - 75 fps range and at the time the firmware was more buggy (it should be the same for both of them now.).
Conclusion, which one is better, which one to buy
This is a hard decision. Both of them are quite closely matched, but I feel and think that LG is slightly better. If nothing else, because of the price. I just can’t justify the 200€ difference between the two. Yes, Aorus has slightly better contrast, but then on the other side, I got more lucky with the panel lottery with LG. Maybe on my next purchase, it would be the other way around. In my case, but both the normal FI27Q and FI27Q-P had worse IPS glow than 27GL850.
Also, I think that LG produced the best panel on the market for gaming, be it for casual playing or a (semi) competitive one. Don’t be afraid of the lower contrast ratio because in practice it really doesn’t make a big difference as a lot of people think it does (I was one of them). And I’m quite sensitive to picture quality since it’s also part of my job. It’s not a perfect monitor by any means, but when comparing it’s pros and cons it’s better than anything else I’ve tried (including FI27Q-P, CFG70, PG279Q, and few 24” TN displays, but that was a long time ago).
Now, I believe that if you get very lucky with the panel lottery the FI27Q-P could be potentially better, but that’s still 200€ more and as I’ve said more times already, that’s just too much.
I don't know if that's worth mentioning, but I got the Revision 2.0 of LG. The release version is 00.
So here is my final conclusion after four years of waiting for that “perfect” monitor and trying out different monitors in the meantime:
If you want FreeSync / G-Sync Compatible monitor get 27GL850.
If you want a more affordable option there is 27GL83A, but in Europe, the price difference is really small, just 50€.
If you want G-Sync monitor get the ViewSonic XG270QG since it uses the same panel.
If you have any questions, please ask them here. Also, I will post the same review of a few other sites so you might find it in other places too. Just a heads up, I don't have any hardware tools to make the measurements so everything you will read is something that was observed and tested with my naked eyes.So here we go...
Build quality and packaging
The packaging is definitely better with Aorus. The box the monitor comes in is enormous and the monitor is well secured with thick styrofoam. Now, don’t fear, it’s not like the LG is not protected or anything like that. It’s just that Gigabyte upped the whole thing to another level. One thing I liked, even though I don’t personally need it is that Gigabyte sends two types of power cables with it, for UK type of socket and the other one for, I dunno, rest of Europe?
With LG which I ordered from German Amazon, I got only the standard power cable (standard for my country).Panels on their own feel quite good under the hands, but Aorus has a more premium feel to it and it’s heavier if that accounts for something. When it comes to stands, Aorus wins this one easily. The stand on for Aorus is a damn beast looks nice (at least to me), it’s made of metal and very sturdy. The LG one is quite… disappointing, but it does the job. One thing to mention is that LG’s stand doesn’t support the swivel function. To end the talk about stands, the one from Aorus is easier to operate. LG feels quite stiff when trying to do anything with the panel. But it’s not something you will be doing a lot of times anyway. I’m not really bothered by that because I have a monitor arm waiting for my double monitor setup.
One thing I really like about the design of the LG is the position of ports. They are very easy to access because they are positioned on the backside of the monitor. If you stand above the monitor you can see all the ports and don’t have to guess their positions. Aorus, on the other hand, has all the ports below the panel which makes them harder to access, and we all know how annoying that can be on monitors.
Aorus also has RGB lights, for some reason. If they already bothered putting them on, why didn’t they make them like ambient lights so they would actually serve some purpose? But ok, that’s personal preference and lights can be turned off.
OSD
Both monitors have quite good OSDs and well-made desktop companion apps. Both of them have some good and bad points. They use joysticks to navigate which is awesome. And both of them have scenarios where, if you select some picture mode some settings become inaccessible which is quite frustrating when you’re trying to calibrate displays. It took me quite a while to realize how to unlock the RGB values on LG for separate customizations (hint: first set Color temp to custom). Desktop apps are both ok. But the one from Aorus, for example, works just fine with the LG monitor turned on and having its own software running at the same time. The LG doesn’t allow that. To use the OnScreen control from LG, first, you need to turn off the Aorus monitor and change the settings in windows to display the picture only on the LG monitor.
LG allows you to set up profiles for games and programs, but it’s very limited in that regard. I couldn’t find a way of custom adding games and programs (their .exe files) so I could only choose from a few predefined programs.
And lastly, one thing to mention is that Aorus allows more picture customizations in wide gamut mode. Somehow it just allows for more control.
Lagom tests: http://www.lagom.nl/lcd-test/
Test 1: Contrast
On both monitors all the bars are visible, but to see the first blue bar on both monitors you need to focus a little bit on it. Overall they are both great.
Test 3: Clock and Phase
I’m not sure what’s the ideal distance at which the pattern should appear fully gray, but on the LG it turns into the fully gray background at 108 cm, while on the Aorus is at around 170 cm.
Test 4: Sharpness
Again, on LG block blend way, way sooner than on the Aorus while both of them have matched sharpness settings as close as possible. At around three meters, on LG, the blocks are blended in, while on Aorus I can still see them almost clearly.
Test 5: Gamma
Since I don’t have any tools to calibrate the gamma settings, I have to rely on my eyes and software tools like this. LG wins this one easily. Out of the box and after quite a lot of time spent on calibrating the displays, on the LG the color bars blend nicely at 2.2 value, while on the Aorus they are most of the time in between 2.0 and 2.1.
Test 6: Black level
Here comes the difference in contrast. With a bit of playing with settings, I can make all of the boxes visible on the Aorus, even though the first one is really, really hard to notice and you need to focus really hard to see it. The second one is close to that, but starting from the third one things get better. On the LG no matter what I do, I can’t make the first two visible without damaging the overall picture quality. The third one is really hard to see and things get better starting from the fourth one.
Test 7: White saturation
On both monitors, with my preferred settings, the lower right checkerboard pattern is almost not visible without focusing hard on that spot. But I don’t feel like it’s really impacting anything in practice.
Test 8: Gradient banding
Nothing to report here other than on both monitors the transitions look nice and smooth.
Test 9: Flicker
No flicker when keeping it at static position (without scrolling up and down) on both screens.
Test 10: Response time
I can’t notice any flashing on any of the monitors. Animated gifs are enabled.
Dead pixel and color uniformity: http://lcdtech.info/en/tests/dead.pixel.htm
No dead pixel on either of them. LG has somewhat better white color uniformity. It’s pretty white all across the screen area, while on Aorus the left side a bit colder than the right side. But really, it’s something you won’t notice in the practice.
On the full black background is easily visible that LG has less prominent IPS glow than the Aorus. On LG there is a slight glow at the lower left side of the monitor and somewhat the same level of it on the right side. Aorus, on the other hand, has quite a prominent amount of glow and BLB on the lower left side, by around 30% more than on the LG, and in games, it became bothersome to me since it eats the details away. Aorus also has a BLB alongside the whole bottom area of the screen near the monitor frame. It’s nothing bothersome and I don’t notice it if I don’t focus on it, but it’s there, and you might see it very dark games. The right side has less glow than the LG, but again, it’s not like LG has a prominent glow on either side.
In the end, the LG is better when it comes to IPS glow and BLB since while it has it, it’s not so visible as the one in the lower-left corner of the Aorus. I rather have the glow here and there and not being distracting, than having it in one spot, but being really visible in that one spot. LG has no BLB at all.
Picture quality
When it comes to displaying the picture and it’s quality, both of them are really, really good. In wide gamut mode, LG has a bit more lively colors than the Aorus, but the difference is really small and it’s something you notice only if you have them side to side. The more I used them, I slowly started liking the LG picture more. The Aorus has a bit more of green color in it, and no matter how hard I tried to make it on the same level as the LG, there was always just a tiny bitsy amount of it more than on the LG one. That’s why the picture on the LG appears more natural to me. But really, it’s something you will hardly notice on its own.
While both of them oversaturate the content in wide gamut model, at the end of the day I liked the LG more since the rendered picture was still a bit more realistic than on the Aorus. But if you like wide gamut monitors and more oversaturated look, you can’t go wrong with either of them. If you have never used a wide gamut monitor, be prepared for strong red and green colors, and it will take you some time to tone them down in settings. Thankfully both monitors allow you to set RGB values independently.
sRGB mode
Ok, at first I felt like LG had far, far better sRGB mode than the Aorus one. But after a while and after my eyes adapted to both of them, I can say that both of them are quite close to each other. The Aorus has a bit warmer sRGB mode, while the LG has a bit colder sRGB mode. So it’s up to you what you like more. But one thing I like on the LG is that it allows you to control the brightness in that mode, while the Aorus locks you up completely out of all picture settings.
Same as before, LG’s sRGB mode displays more natural-looking colors than the Aorus. And I’m now running LG in sRGB mode all the time. Yes, I know, why didn’t I get the 83A version then? Well, for starters in Europe the price difference is really small, 480€ for 83A vs 520€ for 850. And I got 850 mainly out of two reasons, to compare it fully to FI27Q-P and because it has a USB hub which means that I can update the firmware.
I compared both of them to Dell U2717D and Macbook Pro 2015, 15”. And damn they are close. But for me, the LG won by a small margin. After comparing the picture quality of LG to Macbook, as someone who works as a digital designer, I can safely say that LG’s nano IPS panel with a bit of optimization could be used in some form of a professional monitor. The panel is really, really good and I hope that that one day we might see it, non-gaming monitors, too.
Text rendering
This is a very, very close match, but I feel like the text is a bit easier to read on the Aorus than on the LG. It feels more… I don’t know what words to use… milder, warmer than on the LG? I don’t know how to describe it.
And if someone is sensitive to how text is displayed, I think that LG might pose some problems for some people in the form of eye strain or headaches. LG feels more… aggressive? Personally I don’t have problems with any of them, but just so you know if your eyes are more sensitive to monitors the Aorus would be a better choice.
Response times, input lag and gaming experience
Ok, so now I have in front of me what’s regarded the fastest IPS 27” 1440p IPS panel and FI27Q-P which uses the same panel as AD27QD, which is regarded as too slow for high refresh gaming. Again, I don’t possess any hardware tools to measure the speeds so everything written here is by just observing things with my naked eyes and muscle memory. If you read a few reviews (like one or two) of FI27Q/P, you will see that panel in FI27Q and FI27Q-P is better optimized than in the AD27QD. They mention that it achieves speeds of 6.1 ms on average, which is enough for 144Hz gaming. For LG there are enough reviews with measurements so you can more easily find them and by all of them, it’s the fastest IPS panel.
But in practice, I really needed to focus hard to notice the difference between the panels in motion. I tried Quake Champions, R6 Siege, CoD: MW (the new one), PUBG, CS:GO and many more, and they both feel pretty much the same. Yes, the LG is a bit faster, but believe me, when I say this, you can hardly notice that if you don’t have them side to side and look at the same content on both of them at the same time. I set my settings in windows to mirror the same screen on both of them and had them set up like that since five days ago. I also asked my friend to give his opinion on them about the responsiveness and he said the same thing; that they are pretty much identical, but LG feels just a tiny bit more connected.
I set Aorus to Balanced and LG to fast. If LG is set to Fastest there is an enormous amount of overshoot, while on Aorus, on it’s Speed setting (which the highest one) there is a more visible overshoot, but not by an amount as it on LG. But in the end, none of them is really usable on their highest settings so keep that in the middle and you’re good to go.
And overdrive works like a charm on both of them. I didn’t experience any noticeable overshoot in any of the games when the fps was bellow 144Hz, at 100, at 80 and at 60. Around 60 the overshoot was a tiny bit more noticeable in some cases on Aorus than on the LG, but that's something you most probably won't see if you're not starring from 20-30 cm away fo the screen and searching for it. Below 50, both of them are quite unpleasant to use because everything feels laggy. No overdrive will save you from bad experiences of low fps, no matter if you have G-Sync or FreeSync. G-Sync will make that range a bit better, but everything will still feel off. In any case, I didn’t experience any image tearing.
Prior to the FI27Q-P I had the normal FI27Q. Overshoot there was more noticeable than on the P version. I’m not sure what’s with that, but I remember seeing overshoot where I didn’t see it with the P version. And my memory is quite fresh since I had it like a month ago. In the meantime the firmware got updated so maybe is that, but who knows.
I also compared them to my 24” 144Hz TN monitor, LG 24GM77. While the TN was faster, it wasn’t by a large amount. With these two you get better colors, better contrast and overall better monitor for everyday use. If you’re playing only competitively and need every single advantage you can get or you feel, then sure, get one of the 240Hz panels.
So my conclusion when it comes to response times is that both of them are really close, no matter what the numbers say, you can’t really go wrong with either of them. If you’re very sensitive to blur, the LG is a bit better in that regard.
LG is also faster overall, and by that, I don’t mean the games, but the things like powering on, alt-tabbing out of the games, applying settings, etc.
Contrast, oh that contrast drama
I have to say I was a bit scared of the lower contrast numbers in all the reviews, but that’s another reason why I wanted to see them side to side. FI27Q-P has a contrast of 1100+:1, while LG is usually around 800:1. If you set a full screen, pure black background, Aorus wins easily. But again, in practice, there is hardly any difference. I tested both of them extensively in Resident Evil 2 and A Plague Tale (which has a lot of dark and light scenes) and they are pretty much the same. Yes, the Aorus is a bit better, but you need to focus hard and look for such differences. If in a game like is the RE2, I could barely find any noticeable difference, in other games that would be even less visible.
Because Aorus has more prominent IPS glow in the lower-left corner of the screen, I actually like the LG more. In dark scenes that glow eats a lot of details away. LG, on the other hand, has a less visible glow. I also tested both of them in other games, like ARMA 3, Hitman 2, Hunt Showdown and again, the difference in dark scenes is pretty much non-existent. Aorus has a very slight edge, but only in places where it doesn’t have the IPS glow. So don’t stress yourself about the low 800:1 number. In practice, you don’t notice that. The same is with the movies. I left the movies to play on both monitors at the same time and there was hardly any difference.
Console gaming
I also tested both monitors with the PS4 and PS4 Pro. The highest standard PS4 can go is 1080p so the displayed picture will look blurry on both of them, and for me, that’s very bothersome. But PS4 Pro, on the other hand, can output 4K signal (surprise) which means that both monitors can take that 4K signal and downscale it to 1440p which as a result displays a better image than with the standard PS4. The result is still not perfect, but it’s better than with the standard PS4. You just need to set that up correctly in your GPU drivers so that the display takes care of the scaling, not the GPU.
Just a heads up, the G-Sync monitors don’t support that so the new XG270QG from Viewsonic won't have those scaling options.
The additional stuff
The Aorus has a lot of the so-called “tactical” stuff in it, but personally I don’t need that and haven’t used it. Things like noise-canceling, crosshairs and so on it’s not something I need in monitors, but reviews online mentioned that those functions work quite good actually. LG doesn’t have so many of these additional features, but it has all you might need in a monitor and more. Both of them have their own versions of Black Equalizers, but even though the Aorus costs 200€ more than FI27Q because of it (and 1.4 DP, which LG also has), I like the one on LG more because you can move it by smaller increments. For competitive gaming that’s a nice feature to have because you can counter those campers in dark spots easily
I tried PIP modes and they all work fine, but it’s not something I use.
And as I already mentioned, the LG allows you to set up profiles for games and programs, but I could only choose from the predefined ones without the option of adding custom .exe files so that functionality is quite useless in the current state.
TL
RFI27Q-P (vs 27GL850):
Pros
- Very good stand and very good build
- Slightly better contrast
- More picture control in a wide gamut
- Quite good sRGB mode
- Bunch of additional functionalities (noise canceling, etc.)
- Colors are good and the monitor is more on the warm side
- Doesn’t fall behind in responsiveness by a noticeable amount
- Premium look and feel, it just looks better at least to me
- Good OSD and desktop app with a lot of controls
- Slightly better text rendering
- Comes with a very good packaging
- Very good picture quality
- Good scaling options
- Costs 250€ more than LG and 200€ more than FI27Q
- More prominent IPS glow in a lower-left corner which eats the details away in dark scenes
- Slightly too much of a green tint in picture display, but noticeable only side to side
- Sometimes still buggy firmware, but not as much as it was on FI27Q and once you set it up it shouldn't bother you.
- Takes longer to power on, longer to alt-tab out of the games and longer to display game (by 1 - 3 seconds longer)
- Too expensive
- Looks bad if fps falls bellow 50
- BLB in the bottom left the corner and alongside the whole bottom frame
Pros:
- A bit faster in practice, but you need to focus hard to notice it, but then again, you might just feel it
- Awesome sRGB mode
- A bit richer and more natural colors
- Less prominent IPS glow
- Costs less
- Got very lucky with the panel lottery
- Easily accessible input ports
- Very good factory calibration
- Somewhat better overdrive and a bit lower overshoot
- Cheaper and overall in a very good price range, “just” 520-550€ for such a beast of a monitor
- Very responsive overall; I don’t mean mainly in games, but powering on, the OSD response and so on. Everything around the monitor feels snappy
- Good scaling options
- No BLB
- The stand is not as good, doesn’t have a swivel, and it’s quite stiff to operate
- Doesn’t come with two types of power cables
- A bit lower contrast, but it’s really hard to notice the difference
- OnScreen control doesn’t work when Aorus is running
- Text rendering might be too aggressive for some people
- Program/games profiles are useless
- Looks bad if fps falls bellow 50
- IPS glow in the lower-left corner of the screen, but not as visible as on the Aorus
FI27Q-P shouldn’t even exist. Everything that P has should be in the normal version. The difference in the price of almost 200€ is insane.
I kinda believe that they cherry-pick panels for FI27Q-P, but it also might be just a case of panel lottery. My FI27Q had more prominent IPS glow than the P one, had backlight bleed near the right side of the screen, a bit more overshoot at around 60 - 75 fps range and at the time the firmware was more buggy (it should be the same for both of them now.).
Conclusion, which one is better, which one to buy
This is a hard decision. Both of them are quite closely matched, but I feel and think that LG is slightly better. If nothing else, because of the price. I just can’t justify the 200€ difference between the two. Yes, Aorus has slightly better contrast, but then on the other side, I got more lucky with the panel lottery with LG. Maybe on my next purchase, it would be the other way around. In my case, but both the normal FI27Q and FI27Q-P had worse IPS glow than 27GL850.
Also, I think that LG produced the best panel on the market for gaming, be it for casual playing or a (semi) competitive one. Don’t be afraid of the lower contrast ratio because in practice it really doesn’t make a big difference as a lot of people think it does (I was one of them). And I’m quite sensitive to picture quality since it’s also part of my job. It’s not a perfect monitor by any means, but when comparing it’s pros and cons it’s better than anything else I’ve tried (including FI27Q-P, CFG70, PG279Q, and few 24” TN displays, but that was a long time ago).
Now, I believe that if you get very lucky with the panel lottery the FI27Q-P could be potentially better, but that’s still 200€ more and as I’ve said more times already, that’s just too much.
I don't know if that's worth mentioning, but I got the Revision 2.0 of LG. The release version is 00.
So here is my final conclusion after four years of waiting for that “perfect” monitor and trying out different monitors in the meantime:
If you want FreeSync / G-Sync Compatible monitor get 27GL850.
If you want a more affordable option there is 27GL83A, but in Europe, the price difference is really small, just 50€.
If you want G-Sync monitor get the ViewSonic XG270QG since it uses the same panel.
Last edited:
Associate
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- 18 Dec 2019
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- 76
Do anyone know if I would be able to use monitor set to 10bits and 144hz (instead of 8bit and 165hz) on FI27Q. Tried to find anything about it but no joy :/
Associate
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- 28 Nov 2011
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- 1,712
Think you'll need the FI27Q-P for that.
Associate
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- 18 Dec 2019
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- 76
This is a bit from AORUS FI27Q-P website:
"ENJOY 2K, 165HZ, HDR, 10BITS COLOR AT SAME TIME!
Gaming monitor supports DisplayPort High Bit Rate 3 (HBR3), the total bandwidth of HBR3 connections is 32.4 Gbit/s. It allows gamers to enjoy 2K, 165Hz, HDR and 8 bits color at the same time, no need to sacrifice any item from the panel spec!"
Can you explain that to me? Two contradicting things on their website. Apparently HBR3 which they brag about so much don't help their monitor to be able to do 2K, 165Hz, HDR and 10bits at the same time... confirmed by people that have it. WTF?
What a ********
"ENJOY 2K, 165HZ, HDR, 10BITS COLOR AT SAME TIME!
Gaming monitor supports DisplayPort High Bit Rate 3 (HBR3), the total bandwidth of HBR3 connections is 32.4 Gbit/s. It allows gamers to enjoy 2K, 165Hz, HDR and 8 bits color at the same time, no need to sacrifice any item from the panel spec!"
Can you explain that to me? Two contradicting things on their website. Apparently HBR3 which they brag about so much don't help their monitor to be able to do 2K, 165Hz, HDR and 10bits at the same time... confirmed by people that have it. WTF?
What a ********
Associate
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Probably just a copy and paste and forgot to change bits. Easily done. Should have been spotted though
Associate
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I have noticed that they have changed it now since I put that comment under one of their videos on YT about FI27Q-P
I notice on the website this popping up
https://www.overclockers.co.uk/gigabyte-aorus-fi27qp-mo-005-gi.html
https://www.overclockers.co.uk/gigabyte-aorus-fi27qp-mo-005-gi.html
I guess that means:
https://www.overclockers.co.uk/monitors/finder/new
is unreliable as a means to determining whether a monitor is available for pre-order. Bugger.
Associate
Hello.
First my pc.I have Gigabyte Rtx 3090 OC ( stock ) and 10850K stock ,32gb ram.
Issue is only on 1920x1080P with 165hz. On 1440P with 165mhz is fine. On 1920x1080P with 144hz is fine. On 1920x1080P with 165mhz i can see on screen small black dots flickering vertical.
If i wanna catch screen its not visible or clip. So i post screen and i added from paint. Just very small flickering black dots on vertical position. Happens only in 1080P with 165HZ. Visible on desktop too when i am very close.
https://i.ibb.co/QJCTh7B/art.jpg
somebody ( other person ) had the same issue with same monitor,link reddit:
www.reddit.com/r/Monitors/comments/hib8h7/please_help_i_have_an_issue_with_new_monitor/
It happens only in 1080P or below with 165hz. With 144hz 1080P is ok. 1440P 165hz its ok.
I am not happy with pc because of this. What should i do ? Ignore that or rma ? Somebody said that i must rma monitor even if doing that on non-native resolution.
First my pc.I have Gigabyte Rtx 3090 OC ( stock ) and 10850K stock ,32gb ram.
Issue is only on 1920x1080P with 165hz. On 1440P with 165mhz is fine. On 1920x1080P with 144hz is fine. On 1920x1080P with 165mhz i can see on screen small black dots flickering vertical.
If i wanna catch screen its not visible or clip. So i post screen and i added from paint. Just very small flickering black dots on vertical position. Happens only in 1080P with 165HZ. Visible on desktop too when i am very close.
https://i.ibb.co/QJCTh7B/art.jpg
somebody ( other person ) had the same issue with same monitor,link reddit:
www.reddit.com/r/Monitors/comments/hib8h7/please_help_i_have_an_issue_with_new_monitor/
It happens only in 1080P or below with 165hz. With 144hz 1080P is ok. 1440P 165hz its ok.
I am not happy with pc because of this. What should i do ? Ignore that or rma ? Somebody said that i must rma monitor even if doing that on non-native resolution.
Soldato
Associate
I just testing Crysis Remaster on 1080P for a moment and discovered that vertical lines of small black dots on 1080P. Its even on desktop on low bright background colours.
I am using normally 1440P 165 and its fine.
Soldato
So why exactly are you bothered by 1080p if 1440p is fine?
There is absolutely NO POINT in trying 1080p.
Associate
If dots are not appearing on screenshots then almost sure that is monitor/cable issue not gpu?