Gigabyte GS27QC Monitor Review

The Gigabyte GS27QC has a simple look with a subtle curve and an all-black plastic body. The back features matte plastic, as you can see here. Because of its plain design, it fits into any type of environment.

The build quality is okay. The plastic materials are good, especially for a cheap monitor, and it doesn't easily flex either. While the stand doesn't prevent all wobble, the monitor quickly stabilizes itself when it does wobble. The biggest downside is that the screen tilts forward a bit from the top edge as if the panel is curved vertically, too. It's even more noticeable from the right side, as you can see here, which is disappointing.

The ergonomics are terrible as it only offers tilt adjustment, so it's hard to place it in an ideal position. On the plus side, the stand has a clip for cable management.

The thickness of the monitor is measured from the side of the monitor to the back of the stand, and the thickness from the center to the back of the stand is 5.3" (13.5 cm).

The thickness is measured from the side of the screen to the back of it, and the thickness from the center to the back is 2.0" (5 cm).

There's a single joystick underneath the center of the monitor to control the on-screen display.

• DisplayPort cable
• Power cable
• Manuals

The Gigabyte GS27QC has an excellent contrast ratio. It displays deep blacks next to bright highlights, but it doesn't have a local dimming feature to further improve it.

This monitor doesn't have a local dimming feature. We still film these videos on the monitor so you can compare the backlight performance with a monitor that has local dimming.

The SDR brightness isn't bad. While it isn't very bright, it's still fine if you have a few dim lights around, and it maintains its brightness consistently across different content, which is great. These results are from after calibration in the 'ECO' Picture Mode with the Brightness at its max. Unlike other monitors, using the 'ECO' mode doesn't limit the peak brightness. If you want a monitor with better SDR brightness, look at the LG 27GR75Q-B.

The HDR brightness is disappointing. It doesn't get bright enough to make highlights pop, and its EOTF is a bit darker than intended for most content. The monitor has a very basic implementation of HDR as it automatically turns on when sent an HDR signal, and there aren't any settings to change. It even locks you out of some gaming settings like Aim Stabilizer, but you still have access to Overdrive and VRR.

The Gigabyte GS27QC has a disappointing horizontal viewing angle. The image washes out from the sides, which isn't ideal if you need to share your screen with someone else. In this video, you can also see an example of the warped screen, as explained in the Build Quality section.

The vertical viewing angle is poor. The image looks washed out if you're standing up and looking down at the monitor.

The gray uniformity is decent. While the edges of the screen are darker than the rest, there isn't too much dirty screen effect in the center, which is great when browsing the web or reading full-screen documents.

The black uniformity is okay. There's a bit of backlight bleed along the top and bottom edges, and it doesn't have a local dimming feature to further improve it.

The Gigabyte GS27QC has great accuracy before calibration in the sRGB mode. It locks colors well to the sRGB color space, but some colors are a bit undersaturated, like yellows and greens. The color temperature is close to the 6500K target, and there are minimal inaccuracies to colors and the white balance, but it isn't perfect either. Unfortunately, gamma is off, as really dark and really bright scenes are overdarkened. Using the sRGB mode also locks many settings, including Overdrive and Aim Stabilizer, so you need to use another mode for gaming that has oversaturated colors, as you can see here.

The accuracy after calibration is excellent. While it isn't a significant difference than from before calibration, and colors are more undersaturated, the main advantage of calibrating it is that you have access to all settings. We calibrated it using the 'ECO' mode, which, unlike other monitors, doesn't lock out any settings or limit the brightness.

The SDR color gamut is great. It displays a wide range of colors in both the sRGB and Adobe RGB color spaces, but colors are undersaturated in each, which is disappointing.

The HDR color gamut is disappointing. It can't display the wide range of colors needed for most HDR content, and most colors are undersaturated.

The HDR color volume is mediocre. It struggles to display bright and dark colors well.

The text clarity is good. Enabling Windows ClearType (top photo) helps improve the clarity of most text, too. These photos are in Windows 10, and you can see them in Windows 11 with ClearType on and with ClearType off.

The reflection handling is decent. It's fine if you have a few dim lights around, but it struggles with bright light sources, like if you place it opposite a window with direct sunlight.

This monitor has superb gradient handling. There's hardly any banding with shades of similar colors.

Due to bandwidth limitations, you can only reach the monitor's max refresh rate with 8-bit signals over DisplayPort, and the monitor has an Overclock setting to boost it up to 170Hz.

Like some other VA monitors, there are some scanlines in certain content, as you can see here. It only happens with certain content, and it's most noticeable at high refresh rates as it's harder to see at lower refresh rates, so it isn't something to worry about too much.

The Gigabyte GS72QC has mediocre motion handling across its VRR range. There's noticeable blur and smearing, and while it looks fine at high refresh rates, it looks worse as the refresh rate drops. Unlike many monitors, there aren't any individual Overdrive settings, but rather you can only enable or disable it.

The refresh rate compliance is okay. Its response time isn't fast enough to make full color transitions before the monitor draws the next frame, leading to blurry motion.

The CAD at the max refresh rate of 170Hz is okay. There isn't too much motion blur with the Overdrive setting enabled, but it still has smearing.

The CAD at 120Hz isn't bad. Using the Overdrive setting results in some blur and smearing, but it isn't the worst case of it either.

The CAD at 60Hz is disappointing. Like at higher refresh rates it's better to leave the Overdrive setting on, meaning you don't have to change it as the refresh rate drops, but it still has noticeable blur and even ghosting.

The Gigabyte GS27QC has an optional backlight strobing feature known as black frame insertion. You can only enable Aim Stabilizer with a fixed 170Hz, 165Hz, or 120Hz refresh rate, and the setting is grayed out at lower refresh rates or with VRR enabled. While it reduces some persistence blur, it also causes image duplication.

This monitor has distracting VRR flicker with changing frame rates. It's as noticeable in person as in the video, and it's the worst in dark scenes, which is disappointing for gaming. That said, you can either set a frame rate cap or disable VRR altogether to avoid this issue.

The backlight remains flicker-free at all brightness levels, which helps with eye strain if you're sensitive to it.

The input lag is very low for a responsive feel while gaming, and it doesn't significantly increase with the backlight strobing feature enabled, either.

This monitor works without issue with the PS5, but without HDMI 2.1 bandwidth, it doesn't support VRR or 4k @ 120Hz. It still displays a 4k signal by downscaling it to 1440p, which results in a more detailed image than native 1440p.

The Gigabyte GS27QC works without issue with the Xbox Series X|S, besides the fact that it doesn't support 4k @ 120Hz due to its lack of HDMI 2.1 bandwidth. It downscales 4k signals to 1440p, which is useful because the Xbox only supports HDR with 4k signals.

While it's advertised as having DisplayPort 1.4, the monitor is limited to DisplayPort 1.2 bandwidth.

This monitor works well with macOS. The max refresh rate in HDR is 120Hz over DisplayPort and 144Hz over HDMI, as you can see here. However, it doesn't support VRR over HDMI, but it does with DisplayPort. If you're using a MacBook, windows return to their original position when you reopen the lid or wake the laptop up from sleep.

The Gigabyte GS27QC has a few extra features to improve your gaming experience, like:

• Black Equalizer: Adjusts the gamma so that it's easier to see opponents in dark areas of games.
• Display Alignment: The monitor displays a grid to help you align it next to another display.
• Game Assist: This includes gaming-oriented features like a timer, refresh rate counter, and virtual crosshair.
• Low Blue Light: Removes blue light to help reduce eye strain.