Gigabyte G27QC Monitor Review

The Gigabyte G27QC has a simple design and looks exactly like its bigger brother, the Gigabyte G32QC. The screen is curved, which helps a bit with visibility on the sides, especially when sitting up close. It has thin borders on three sides and a thicker bottom bezel. The V-shaped stand provides sturdy support but takes a fair amount of desk space.

The V-shaped stand supports the monitor well; wobbling is minimal.

The Gigabyte G27QC has poor ergonomics. It only allows for height and tilt adjustment.

The back looks a lot like the Gigabyte G32QC, except for the top portion, which has a glossy finish. Also, the plastic used seems to be thicker near the sides. There's a small cutout at the bottom of the stand for cable management.

The borders of the Gigabyte G27QC are thin, great for a multi-monitor setup.

The screen is thick due to its curvature, and the stand also takes up a fair amount of space.

The Gigabyte G27QC's build quality is good. Like the Gigabyte G32QC, it has a full plastic construction that feels sturdy overall, except for the lower portion of the back where it flexes a lot. The plastic covering the tilt hinge feels cheap but doesn't seem to affect the hinge itself. The tilt and height adjustments feel good, and the stand supports the monitor well.

Like most VA panels, the Gigabyte G27QC has a great contrast ratio. Blacks still look a bit grayish, but it's much better than a typical IPS or TN panel.

Note that the contrast ratio can vary between units.

The Gigabyte G27QC doesn't have a local dimming feature. The video above is provided for reference only.

Good SDR peak brightness. The monitor likely processes our test pattern differently, as it's much brighter in regular content than the peak brightness measured using our test pattern. The brightness is remarkably consistent across different content and should be enough to overcome glare in bright lighting conditions.

We measured the SDR peak brightness after calibration, using the 'Custom 1' Picture Mode, with Brightness set to max.

The Gigabyte G27QC has mediocre HDR peak brightness. Even though it gets brighter in regular content, it isn't any brighter than in SDR and isn't bright enough to bring out highlights in HDR content.

We measured the HDR peak after calibration, using the 'Custom' Picture Mode, with Brightness set to max.

As is expected of most VA panels, the Gigabyte G27QC has sub-par horizontal viewing angles. Images look inaccurate from the sides, making it less ideal for sharing content or playing co-op games. If you prefer something with an IPS panel and wide viewing angles, then check out the Gigabyte G27Q.

The Gigabyte G27QC has poor vertical viewing angles. This makes images look washed out if you have the monitor set above eye level.

Gray uniformity on our unit of the Gigabyte G27QC is excellent. There are a few spots that appear darker, but very little dirty screen effect. Uniformity is much better in dark scenes.

Note that gray uniformity can vary between units.

Black uniformity on our unit is bad. There's a significant amount of backlight bleed and clouding, which is very distracting in dark scenes.

Note that black uniformity can vary between units.

Before calibration, the Gigabyte G27QC has good color accuracy. Most colors are only slightly inaccurate, and the same goes for white balance. The color temperature is warmer than our 6500K target, resulting in a slight reddish tint. Gamma doesn't follow the sRGB curve all that well, as dark scenes are too dark and bright scenes are too bright. Unlike the Gigabyte G32QC, the sRGB Picture Mode is the most accurate preset and the one that we used for testing.

After calibration, the color accuracy is exceptional. White balance and gamma are nearly perfect. The remaining color inaccuracies shouldn't be noticeable to the naked eye, except for blue, which is typical for LCDs. The color temperature is much closer to our target, but slightly on the cooler side.

You can download our ICC profile calibration here. This is provided for reference only and shouldn't be used, as the calibration values vary per individual unit even for the same model due to manufacturing tolerances.

The Gigabyte G27QC has an excellent SDR color gamut. It has near full coverage of the sRGB color space used in most content, and great coverage of the Adobe RGB color space, mostly used in photo editing.

Exceptional color volume. It only has difficulty displaying very dark and saturated colors.

The Gigabyte G27QC has a decent HDR color gamut. It has good coverage of the DCI P3 color space commonly-used in HDR content, but its coverage of the wider Rec.2020 is only mediocre.

Note that the DCI P3 coverage is lower than the advertised 92%. This is normal and is due to the way we measure DCI P3. We measure DCI P3 by sending a Rec. 2020 signal, but unlike most reviewers, we limit the colors to the DCI P3 primaries. This results in a lower, but arguably more accurate measurement.

The HDR color volume is decent. Even though it has a great contrast ratio, it still has difficulty displaying very dark colors. It doesn't display bright blues well either, which is typical for LCDs.

There's a tiny amount of temporary image retention after displaying a high-contrast image for 10 minutes, but it dissipates quickly and shouldn't be an issue for most people.

Note that temporary image retention can vary between units.

Gradient handling is superb. There's only a small amount of banding in the darker shades of gray. This monitor is advertised as having an 8-bit panel, but it accepts a 10-bit signal at 120Hz over a DisplayPort connection. We scored it as a 10-bit panel.

There's no color bleed on this monitor.

The Gigabyte G27QC has good reflection handling. You shouldn't have any visibility issues unless you're in a very bright room.

Text clarity is good. Turning on Window ClearType can help make it better (top photo), especially diagonal lines. The photo of the pixels is blurry due to the matte anti-reflective coating.

The Gigabyte G27QC has great response time when playing at its maximum refresh rate. However, it's very slow in the dark transitions, which results in visible black smearing, especially in dark scenes. The recommended overdrive setting is 'Speed'. It provides the best performance but introduces some motion artifacts, as there's a fair amount of overshoot in bright scenes. The 'Picture Quality' and 'Balance' options cause significantly more motion smearing. If you want a monitor with an even better response time and less overshoot, check out the LG 27GN800-B.

The response time at 60Hz is great. It's slower than at its maximum refresh rate, and as a result, there's slightly more motion blur in fast-moving scenes. The best overdrive setting is different than when running at maximum refresh rate. At 60Hz, we recommend using the 'Balance' setting. This means that you may have to change the setting when you play a game that runs closer to 60fps. The 'Picture Quality' and 'Speed' options have slower response times, and there's a lot of overshoot when using 'Speed'.

The backlight is flicker-free and can help reduce eye strain.

Update 11/26/2020: We previously indicated that there isn't a BFI feature. It has been fixed.

The Gigabyte G27QC has an optional Black Frame Insertion feature to reduce motion blur called Aim Stabilizer. Unfortunately, it causes slight image duplication due to crosstalk, and it can't be used while VRR is active.

The Gigabyte G27QC has an outstanding refresh rate, resulting in a smooth and responsive gaming experience. It has native FreeSync support and G-SYNC compatibility. The maximum refresh rate over HDMI is 144Hz, and G-SYNC only works over a DisplayPort connection.

Update 11/26/2020: We've added the input lag with BFI.

The Gigabyte G27QC has exceptionally low input lag, making your desktop and gaming experience feel incredibly responsive. We can only get a 12-bit @ 60Hz signal with HDR enabled over an HDMI connection, which gave us an input lag of 10.3ms.