Acer Nitro XV275K P5biipruzx  Monitor Review

The Acer Nitro XV275K P5 has a straightforward design, similar to other Acer Nitro monitors. It's made of black plastic with minimal branding elements throughout, and there's RGB lighting on the back.

The build quality is great. The plastic materials feel premium and sturdy as they don't bend easily. It's put together well without any obvious issues.

The ergonomics are amazing. You can easily adjust it in a number of ways, and the screen stays in position well once you adjust it. That said, rotating it into portrait mode requires more force than the other adjustments. The stand also includes a clip for basic cable management.

Unfortunately, though, the circular socket for mounting is too small to use even with a 100x100 plate that includes 75x75 mounting holes. You need to use a proper 75x75 mount if you want to use a third-party arm.

The wide-set tripod stand takes up a good amount of space, but there's room between the feet to place your keyboard and mouse. The stand holds the screen well with minimal wobble.

There are four buttons to control the OSD, as well as a power button. Like with the Acer Nitro XV275K P3biipruzx, the controls are difficult to use, especially if you've never had a monitor with similar buttons, and it takes time to adjust settings and sliders. The buttons themselves also feel a bit sharp, leaving a print in your finger if you press too hard.

• HDMI cable
• USB-A to USB-B cable
• USB-C cable
• Power cable and brick
• 4x VESA standoffs
• User guides, including calibration report

The Acer Nitro XV275K P5 has a mediocre contrast ratio. Blacks look gray in SDR, and you can't enable the local dimming feature to improve it. Local dimming only turns on in HDR, and while it improves the contrast ratio in content, it doesn't work with a checkerboard pattern. With it on, we had to measure the contrast ratio with the screen's brightness at 208 cd/m², as opposed to a standard of 100 cd/m², because you can't adjust the brightness in HDR.

There's also a bug with local dimming that raises the black levels when you first enable HDR, and the contrast ratio is 585:1 with that issue.

The local dimming feature is unremarkable. It only turns on in HDR, and there's no way to change settings or enable or disable it otherwise. Despite having 1,152 dimming zones, there's noticeable haloing around bright objects, which is disappointing for a display with this many dimming zones. The haloing is also distracting with subtitles. That said, the feature improves the black levels in dark areas, but it also crushes blacks and loses details in scenes like a starfield.

The algorithm keeps up with fast-moving objects well, but there's some flicker with small objects that you see more in person than in the video.

There's a bug with the local dimming feature that prevents it from working properly when you first enable HDR from your PC or connect an HDR source. The black levels are raised, which you can see in the Black Uniformity section, even with a full-black image. Changing the Picture Mode from 'HDR' to anything else and back to 'HDR' fixes this issue and causes local dimming to perform as expected.

Settings

• Picture Mode: User (after calibration)
• Max Brightness: On
• Brightness: 100

The SDR brightness is great. It gets really bright with test slides and windowed content, but it's not as bright with real content. That said, it's still bright enough to fight glare in moderately lit rooms. Using the Max Brightness setting lets the screen get the brightest, as it's limited to around 328 cd/m² with test slides with it disabled. However, it reaches the same 343 cd/m² real scene brightness with the setting off, and interestingly, its minimum brightness is brighter with Max Brightness off (69 cd/m²) than with it on, which is the result in the review.

Settings:

• Picture Mode: HDR
• HDR: Auto
• Color Space: HDR
• Brightness: Locked to max

The HDR brightness is incredible. It easily fights glare even in sunny rooms and it makes highlights pop. However, it dims small highlights and has black crush, causing a loss of details in scenes like a starfield. It also has good PQ EOTF tracking, but shadows and mid-tones are darker than intended, and it has a slow roll-off at its peak brightness, so it's tone mapping before your source does.

To get HDR, you need to use the 'HDR' Picture Mode and set the HDR setting to 'Auto.' Using any of the other Picture Modes sets HDR to 'Off,' and you need to set it back to 'Auto' to get HDR again. The only settings available in HDR are Super Sharpness and HDMI Black Level. You can't adjust Brightness or Max Brightness, and HDR automatically enables the local dimming feature.

As explained in Local Dimming, there's a bug with the local dimming feature when you first send the monitor an HDR signal. Blacks are raised, which you can see with its PQ EOTF, and you can only fix this by switching in and out of the 'HDR' Picture Mode. Local dimming works at that point with proper black levels.

The gray uniformity is very good. There's minimal dirty screen effect in the center, but there's vignetting towards the edges. The same thing happens even with 5% gray.

The Acer Nitro XV275K P5 has okay black uniformity in SDR, as it doesn't use local dimming, and there's clouding throughout. Using local dimming in HDR greatly improves the uniformity, but as explained in the Local Dimming section, there's a bug when you first send the monitor an HDR signal. The blacks are raised, but you can easily fix this by switching in and out of the 'HDR' Picture Mode.

The Acer Nitro XV275K P5 has impressive accuracy before calibration in the sRGB mode. You need to set Color Space to 'sRGB,' which changes the Picture Mode to 'Standard,' to access its sRGB mode. It limits colors to the sRGB color space, but some are undersaturated, like reds and yellows. The color temperature is on the cold side, resulting in a blue tint. It also has white balance issues, and gamma tracking is off, as content looks brighter than intended.

Using the sRGB mode locks many Picture and Color settings, including Contrast, Black Boost, and Low Blue Light. You'd have to set Color Space to 'General' if you want access to these settings, but that results in oversaturated colors.

The accuracy after calibration is fantastic. Calibrating it fixes most issues from its sRGB mode, including having properly saturated colors and improved gamma tracking. The monitor includes RGBCMY hue and saturation settings to fine-tune it during calibration.

The 'User' Picture Mode offers the most customization as it doesn't lock any settings. The 'Action,' 'Racing,' and 'Sports' modes perform similarly, but apply a crosshair overlay in 'Action,' and the FPS counter in 'Racing' and 'Sports.' Disabling these overlays from the OSD switches the Picture Mode to 'User,' so you can't use these modes without the overlays.

The Acer XV275K P5 has a remarkable SDR color gamut. It uses proper quantum dots and not KSF phosphors like on other monitors, which helps it display a wide range of colors. However, some colors are oversaturated in the Adobe RGB color space.

The HDR color gamut is amazing. It displays a wide range of colors in the DCI-P3 and Rec. 2020 color spaces, but some colors are off in each, like white and blue.

The HDR color volume is excellent. It displays bright colors well in the DCI-P3 color space, but struggles with darker colors and in the Rec. 2020 color space.

The Acer Nitro XV275K P5 has an okay viewing angle. The image gets darker at wide angles, but it's fine if you have a friend sitting next to you. That said, colors wash out quickly from the sides, so it's less ideal if you're a content creator showing work to a client or coworker.

The text clarity is fantastic in the 4k mode. Letters look sharp, and using Windows ClearType (top photo) makes text bolder. These photos are in Windows 10, and you can also see them in Windows 11 with ClearType on and with ClearType off.

As expected, the text clarity is much worse in the 1080p mode. Despite the scaling, it still looks fine for a dual-mode monitor. The Super Sharpness setting doesn't improve text clarity.

You can see photos from the 1080p mode below:

The Acer Nitro XV275K P5 has acceptable direct reflection handling. The matte coating spreads light out, but it still has mirror-like reflections that can get distracting in a very bright room.

The Acer Nitro XV275K P5 maintains low black levels even in a bright room. These results are in HDR, which enables the local dimming feature for the deepest blacks. Below are the results in SDR without local dimming:

• Black Luminance @ 0 lux: 0.28 cd/m²
• Black Luminance @ 1000 lux: 0.68 cd/m²

There are distracting reflections on the Acer Nitro XV275K P5. The coating spreads light out, but doesn't absorb much, resulting in strong mirror-like reflections.

The gradient handling is superb with minimal banding between shades of different colors.

You can get a 160Hz refresh rate with a 4k resolution, or you can enable the DFR setting to get a 1080p @ 320Hz signal. The monitor doesn't need to use Display Stream Compression (DSC) in the 1080p mode or in 4k over HDMI, but it does with 4k signals over DisplayPort. There's a DSC setting that you can disable if you don't want to use DSC, but that limits the refresh rate to 60Hz with 4k, 8-bit, 4:4:4 signals. It also accepts 4k @ 60Hz 10-bit signals without DSC, but only with chroma 4:2:2.

The Acer XV275K P5 also supports HDMI Forum VRR.

The Acer XV275K P5 has decent motion handling across its VRR range. Fast-moving objects look sharp for the most part, but they have inverse ghosting, particularly at low refresh rates. Using the 1080p mode results in smoother motion at higher refresh rates, but for the most part, it performs like the 4k mode at 165Hz and below. However, Low Framerate Compensation (LFC) kicks in earlier in the 1080p mode, as it starts at 61 fps, which you can see in the VRR motion performance graph. With 60 fps content in the 1080p mode, the screen is actually refreshing at 120Hz.

Using VRR disables any of the Over Drive modes. Unlike the older Acer Nitro XV275K P3biipruzx, the previously selected overdrive mode doesn't take effect once you enable VRR, but the 'Normal' setting with VRR off performs the same as using VRR at any refresh rate.

The refresh rate compliance is good. Although far from perfect, the monitor's response time is fast enough to nearly complete transitions before the monitor draws the next frame.

The CAD at 160Hz in its 4k mode is good. There's minimal blur, but the 'Normal' Over Drive setting has a bit of inverse ghosting. You can use the 'Off' setting instead if that bothers you, but it has more blur. Using VRR disables the Over Drive settings, but it performs like 'Normal.'

Motion looks even better in the 1080p @ 320Hz mode, and it has less inverse ghosting. Like in the 4k mode, the 'Normal' overdrive setting offers the best performance, and it performs the same as leaving VRR on.

The Acer XV275K P5 has very good CAD at 120Hz in the 4k and 1080p modes. Motion looks sharp for the most part, but there's still some inverse ghosting. Unlike at higher refresh rates, the recommended Over Drive setting is 'Off' because 'Normal,' which performs the same as having VRR on, has even more noticeable inverse ghosting.

The CAD at 60Hz is good in both the 4k and 1080p modes. The 'Normal' overdrive settings perform as if you were to just enable VRR, and this results in the best motion, as 'Off' has more blur.

The Acer XV275K P5 doesn't have an optional backlight strobing feature to reduce persistence blur.

There's no visible VRR flicker with changing frame rates. This is the case even in the 1080p @ 320Hz mode, as you can see with the VRR flicker graph.

While there's some variation in brightness, particularly at low brightness levels, it's not the same as pulse-width modulation because it's not a full on and off flicker.

The Acer Nitro XV275K P5 has low input lag at any refresh rate, including at 60Hz. These results are in the 4k mode, but you can also see them in the 1080p mode:

• 1080p @ 320Hz: 2.1 ms
• 1080p @ 120Hz: 4.8 ms
• 1080p @ 60Hz: 10.5 ms

There aren't any compatibility issues with a PS5, as long as you're in the 4k mode.

Besides not supporting Dolby Vision, the Acer XV275K P5 works well with an Xbox Series X|S. The Xbox doesn't support HDR with 1080p or 1440p signals, so this isn't a limitation of the monitor.

You can use the USB-C port to connect a laptop and charge it with one cable thanks to its DisplayPort Alt Mode and 90W of power delivery.

Tested with: M2 MacBook Pro (Sequoia 15.6.1)

For the most part, the Acer Nitro XV275K P5 works well with macOS. The only main problem is that you can't get VRR and HDR at the same time over USB-C in the 4k mode. You're limited to fixed signals of 120Hz or below in HDR.

If you're using a MacBook, HDR on the monitor looks accurate to the MacBook's screen, but it's a bit undersaturated compared to SDR. If you're connected over USB-C, you can close the laptop's lid and continue working on the screen. You can do that with an HDMI connection as long as you have the MacBook plugged into power; otherwise, it goes to sleep. When reopening the lid or waking the laptop up from sleep, windows return to their original positions, but it takes a few seconds to get an image again.

The Acer Nitro XV275K P5 has a few useful features, including a KVM switch. If you set USB Port Select in the 'OSD' to 'Auto,' it will continue using the peripherals plugged into the monitor when you change sources. The monitor has other perks, including:

• ACM: Dynamic contrast ratio setting that aims to adjust the contrast on a per-scene basis.
• Ambient Light: Controls the monitor's RGB lighting on the back.
• Black Boost: Adjusts the black levels so that it's easier to see opponents in dark areas of games.
• DFR: This is the dual-mode setting that changes it to a 1080p @ 320Hz display.
• Game Assistant: Includes timer, crosshairs, and aspect ratio settings.
• Low Blue Light: Reduces the blue light emitted from the monitor.
• Refresh Rate Num: Displays the current refresh rate.

You can learn more about the OSD in the user manual.