M27Q vs 27GL850-B?

Rowan88

Rowan88

Rowan88

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Hi,

Currently using a iiyama 24.5 1080p 75hz monitor. Looking to upgrade to a 1440p 144hz monitor. I'm still using my old RX580 but I plan to build a new PC with something between a 3060ti-6800 when stock is avalable.

Looking at a lot of options around the £300 mark and the main two seem to be these:

GIGABYTE M27Q and LG 27GL850-B

Can anyone tell me which of these is the best and any alternatives I should be looking at?

PC is mainly for gaming and general use.

Thanks
 
Cheers,

I watched the latest version of that video (among others) and he mentioned this LG not included as its £400 price tag but it must have went down in price.

Everything I search seems to point towards the M27Q but I was hoping anyone who has these monitors could weigh in as they seem very similar.

Must say though ive owned 4 LG tvs and still not disappointed with them yet.

I read some stuff about the LG having contrast issues though :(
 
I watched a review about an LG monitor recently, and they did some comparisons against other monitors when talking about brightness, response times etc. The M27Q was mentioned because it had slightly worse motion blur compared to the LG. There does appear to be anew 27" 1440P LG monitor arriving soon (perhaps a refreshed spec). 27GP850-B I believe is the model number. There is a short thread that mentions it in this sub-forum. Hope that helps.
 
The M27Q has the non-standard BGR pixel layout, meaning you won't be able to use it in a multi-monitor setup with RGB screens. As a single/only screen it's pretty good, and decently cheap.

For whatever reason they went with a DP1.2 connector, so you can't use the monitor's max refresh at the monitor's max colour depth. Whatever bean counter is responsible for that needs shooting :p
 
Gigabyte has advantage in contrast over LG making it better, if you don't keep room normally illuminated.
But LG has advantage in response times maknig it better for gaming and standard RGB subpixel layout gives best text sharpness in any program.


FoxEye said:
For whatever reason they went with a DP1.2 connector, so you can't use the monitor's max refresh at the monitor's max colour depth. Whatever bean counter is responsible for that needs shooting :p
Click to expand...
With DP1.2 being medieval in PC tech terms some medieval punishment would be more fit.
 
After doing "A LOT" of research lol I ended up opting for the M27Q just now.
I didn't see many bad points about it, only issue was the BRG but apparently clear type fixes it and for gaming its not an issue :)

All I can do is test tomorrow and see if I like it or not, if not ill return and maybe see about the LG

Cheers for inputs
 
Rowan88 said:
After doing "A LOT" of research lol I ended up opting for the M27Q just now.
I didn't see many bad points about it, only issue was the BRG but apparently clear type fixes it and for gaming its not an issue :)

All I can do is test tomorrow and see if I like it or not, if not ill return and maybe see about the LG

Cheers for inputs
Click to expand...
The main issues with BGR as I understand it are

*ClearType is a per-system setting not per-display. So you can't mix BGR with RGB in a multi-monitor setup.
*Not all apps support ClearType and some will assume RGB (eg Adobe apps)

Games/movies etc not a problem.

(To muddy the waters there appear to be multiple ClearType settings locations; WPF apps in particular appear to be able to support per-display ClearType settings, including pixel layout. But the main system setting which governs all apps is per-system. Why, Microsoft?)
 
FoxEye said:
*ClearType is a per-system setting not per-display. So you can't mix BGR with RGB in a multi-monitor setup.

Games/movies etc not a problem.

But the main system setting which governs all apps is per-system. Why, Microsoft?)
Click to expand...

That's not true (edit: actually it is, unfortunately). You can set ClearType per display in Windows settings, on Windows 10 at least. I specifically show a screenshot of this on my FI27Q-X review and will add it to the M27Q review for reference.
 
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After using the monitor yesterday I must say it is a huge step up from what I was using.

The vibrancy of the colours just pop out and the refesh rate is 100% more noticeable.

The only gripe I saw was the text issue but after enabling cleartype and picking second option which is meant to be BGR option I looks x10 better.

I havent hooked my secondary up yet but I will test using BGR and RGB together on windows 10.

I did notice I may have 2 tiny dead pixels at top left when on a white background so rather than returning and getting another and hoping its better I may see if they will refund a portion for this.

Does dead pixels effect the monitor at all?

UPDATE - I was offered £35 as a partial refund so I would get the monitor for £293 if I wanted to keep it. They literally are tiny, here is a screenshot (Are these 100% dead pixels?):

 
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PCM2 said:
That's not true. You can set ClearType per display in Windows settings, on Windows 10 at least. I specifically show a screenshot of this on my FI27Q-X review and will add it to the M27Q review for reference.
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Got a link?

The main ClearType registry setting:

HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Control Panel\Desktop\FontSmoothingOrientation
^^ this is per-system

HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Avalon.Graphics\DISPLAY*\PixelStructure
^^ this is per-display but applies to WPF apps only

ClearType Registry Settings - WPF .NET Framework | Microsoft Docs

Btw if what you say was true, there wouldn't be so many people with BGR monitors complaining about the situation... as it would be an easy fix ;)

e: Nm the link I've seen you're the owner of pcmonitors.info. In any case I believe you are mistaken. There has been a lot of discussion about ClearType, and all the info out there on the net is that (outside of WPF apps) the BGR/RGB layout is a per-system setting.

The fact that it's a single registry setting and not multiple registry settings does largely confirm this. You cant take a single reg setting and have different behaviour per-monitor.

"Avalon" btw is the codename for WPF.
 
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That document is from 2017, they may have changed how this works since then. https://pcmonitors.info/reviews/gigabyte-m27q/#Calibration.

I'd also recommend people read that if they're interested in the monitor and the subpixel related issues. They aren't all cleared up by the use of ClearType, but the worst offenders are. The ClearType wizard certainly lets you tune each display individually and I had no issues with the usual programs I use after doing this. Whether it applies universally is another matter, but the same is true regardless of how many displays you're tuning at once.
 
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PCM2 said:
That document is from 2017, they may have changed how this works since then. https://pcmonitors.info/reviews/gigabyte-m27q/#Calibration.

I'd also recommend people read that if they're interested in the monitor and the subpixel related issues. They aren't all cleared up by the use of ClearType, but the worst offenders are. The ClearType wizard certainly lets you tune each display individually and I had no issues with the usual programs I use after doing this. Whether it applies universally is another matter, but the same is true regardless of how many displays you're tuning at once.
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Question: have you actually tried running an RGB monitor and BGR monitor in a multi-monitor setup? And testing with a non-WPF app? Ie, a WinForms, native Win32 or UWP app?

Because I can find dozens hits on Google right now for people who have tried and failed to get it working. From the last 12 months.

"They may have changed how it works" doesn't suggest to me that you're 100% certain... also MS tend to update their docs fairly frequently when things do, in fact, change.

In any case I'll log a call with MS about this on Monday. It's relevant some procurement work I'm doing. I'm fairly confident my info is correct, but we'll see.
 
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Not extensively and I don't currently have access to a BGR and RGB display to test this out. Although will do shortly. Please do let me know what Microsoft says.

If I'm not mistaken, you're suggesting that if you run the ClearType wizard and select only one display to change. Then those changes will only apply to a limited number of applications - WPF applications. The broader 'system level' changes are presumably controlled by the primary display and any ClearType changes you've made there?

They should also communicate any limitations with ClearType 'per display' more clearly if the behaviour isn't the same as any system-level changes you'd be making. If you had a single display connected, for example. Because this is the only guidance the user gets, they're lead to believe they're tuning ClearType just for that single display - https://www.digitalcitizen.life/cleartype-text-tuner-windows-10/.
 
PCM2 said:
Not extensively and I don't currently have access to a BGR and RGB display to test this out. Although will do shortly. Please do let me know what Microsoft says.

If I'm not mistaken, you're suggesting that if you run the ClearType wizard and select only one display to change. Then those changes will only apply to a limited number of applications - WPF applications. The broader 'system level' changes are presumably controlled by the primary display and any ClearType changes you've made there?

They should also communicate any limitations with ClearType 'per display' more clearly if the behaviour isn't the same as any system-level changes you'd be making. If you had a single display connected, for example.
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In fact you (or I) can test just with two RGB displays. Will try this on my laptop + Dell monitor.

Just set one to BGR with the ClearType tuner, then try a WinForms/Win32 app on both of them. If what I'm saying is true then it should display the same on both screens, correctly or incorrectly, depending on the value of HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Control Panel\Desktop\FontSmoothingOrientation.

If you then load a WPF app, the text should be naff on the one display incorrectly set to BGR, because WPF apps use the per-display reg settings.
 
Ironically, I only have access to a single BGR monitor right now. :p

Edit: You're spot on. This was a bit akward, but I connected this monitor via DP and HDMI simultaneously so it acted as two displays. I could see that the BGR or RGB element of the optimisation was ignored if set for the secondary display on applications like Chrome (non WPF). It just mattered what you set the primary display to for that first set of text samples on ClearType. So it's impossible to have one fully optimised for BGR and the other for RGB through ClearType. :rolleyes: Will update the reviews accordingly - thanks for clarifying this. Pun intended.
 
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Rowan88 said:
After using the monitor yesterday I must say it is a huge step up from what I was using.

The vibrancy of the colours just pop out and the refesh rate is 100% more noticeable.

The only gripe I saw was the text issue but after enabling cleartype and picking second option which is meant to be BGR option I looks x10 better.

I havent hooked my secondary up yet but I will test using BGR and RGB together on windows 10.

I did notice I may have 2 tiny dead pixels at top left when on a white background so rather than returning and getting another and hoping its better I may see if they will refund a portion for this.

Does dead pixels effect the monitor at all?

UPDATE - I was offered £35 as a partial refund so I would get the monitor for £293 if I wanted to keep it. They literally are tiny, here is a screenshot (Are these 100% dead pixels?):

Click to expand...

Any recommendations on what I should do:

A) Received this monitor for £293 and live with those two tiny dots
B) Return and exchange for another one without the pixels
C) Return and get a LG 27GL850-B as a replacement


Also I currently have my two monitors connected: Gigabyte M27Q and IIyama 24.5 Blackhawk 1080p.

You can clearly tell the 1440p IPS 144hz is much shaper and smoother and vibrant, but in terms of the text, I can't see a major difference apart from it being smaller due to resolution.

Is there a test I can do to see what this BGR issue is?
 
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PCM2 said:
Ironically, I only have access to a single BGR monitor right now. :p

Edit: You're spot on. This was a bit akward, but I connected this monitor via DP and HDMI simultaneously so it acted as two displays. I could see that the BGR or RGB element of the optimisation was ignored if set for the secondary display on applications like Chrome (non WPF). It just mattered what you set the primary display to for that first set of text samples on ClearType. So it's impossible to have one fully optimised for BGR and the other for RGB through ClearType. :rolleyes: Will update the reviews accordingly - thanks for clarifying this. Pun intended.
Click to expand...
No problem mate :) Like your site and happy to have been useful in some small way :)
 
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