The Gigabyte M27Q X is a mid-range 1440p gaming monitor with a fast refresh rate. It's similar to the very popular Gigabyte M27Q (rev. 1.0), but Gigabyte has made some welcome changes, including increasing the maximum refresh rate and switching to a more common RGB subpixel layout. It's part of Gigabyte's M Series gaming monitors, so although it features the same great productivity features like a keyboard, video, and mouse switch (KVM), it lacks high bandwidth HDMI 2.1 ports, so it can't take full advantage of the Xbox Series S|X or PS5 consoles.
Our Verdict
The Gigabyte M27Q X is a very good monitor for mixed usage. It's designed for gaming, and it delivers an excellent gaming experience. It's also good for office use or watching videos, thanks to the relatively high-resolution screen and wide viewing angle. It looks great in a bright office thanks to its impressive peak brightness and very good reflection handling. It's great for media creators, with an outstanding SDR color gamut and exceptional accuracy out of the box. Finally, although it supports HDR, like most monitors in this price range that support HDR, it adds very little.
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Impressive peak brightness in SDR.
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Great horizontal viewing angle.
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Good text clarity.
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Great selection of additional features.
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Mediocre contrast.
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Stand can't swivel or rotate to a portrait orientation.
The Gigabyte M27Q X is a very good monitor for office users. The screen is large enough that you can comfortably work with multiple windows open at once, and it delivers good text clarity. The stand has okay ergonomics, so although you can't swivel it to show your screen to someone else, you won't have any issues adjusting it to an ideal viewing position. It has a great selection of office features, including a built-in keyboard, video, and mouse switch, letting you switch between two different sources and control both with a single set of keyboard and mouse.
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Impressive peak brightness in SDR.
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Great horizontal viewing angle.
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Good text clarity.
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Great selection of additional features.
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Stand can't swivel or rotate to a portrait orientation.
The Gigabyte M27Q X is an excellent gaming monitor with a fast refresh rate and superb motion handling. It has fantastic low input lag, resulting in a responsive gaming experience, and it supports FreeSync Premium variable refresh rates, which helps reduce tearing. It works well with both the PS5 and Xbox Series S|X, with great motion handling even in games that are limited to 60 fps.
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Fast refresh rate.
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Superb response time at the max refresh rate.
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Fantastic low input lag.
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Mediocre contrast.
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Doesn't support VRR with the PS5.
The Gigabyte M27Q X is a good monitor for watching videos. It looks best in a bright room, thanks to its high peak brightness and very good reflection handling. It has a wide viewing angle and a fairly large screen, so it's good for sharing with a few people, as they'll all see the same thing. Unfortunately, it's not as well-suited for a dark room, as it has a mediocre contrast ratio and no local dimming feature, so blacks appear gray and patchy in a dark room.
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Impressive peak brightness in SDR.
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Great horizontal viewing angle.
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Exceptional accuracy out of the box.
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Outstanding SDR color gamut.
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Mediocre contrast.
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Mediocre black uniformity.
The Gigabyte M27Q X is great for media creation. It has exceptional accuracy out of the box and an outstanding SDR color gamut, so you don't have to worry about calibrating it. It has good text clarity as well, and the relatively high-resolution screen allows you to see more of your work at once. Sadly, it's not perfect, as it has a mediocre contrast ratio, so blacks look gray in the dark.
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Great horizontal viewing angle.
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Exceptional accuracy out of the box.
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Outstanding SDR color gamut.
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Good text clarity.
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Mediocre contrast.
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Stand can't swivel or rotate to a portrait orientation.
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Mediocre black uniformity.
The Gigabyte M27Q X delivers a mediocre HDR experience overall. It has a low contrast ratio, so blacks look gray in a dark room, and it has mediocre black uniformity. It has decent peak brightness in HDR, but since it lacks a local dimming feature, bright highlights don't really stand out. On the other hand, it has a great HDR color gamut, so saturated colors in the latest HDR content look vivid and lifelike.
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Fantastic gradient handling.
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Mediocre contrast.
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No local dimming.
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Mediocre black uniformity.
- 7.9 Mixed Usage
- 7.9 Office
- 8.6 Gaming
- 7.6 Media Consumption
- 8.1 Media Creation
- 6.4 HDR
- Updated Nov 28, 2023: Clarified that the LG 27GR83Q-B has higher HDMI 2.1 bandwidth.
- Updated Sep 13, 2023: Clarified that the HP OMEN 27qs is another monitor that you can rotate into portrait mode.
- Updated Aug 23, 2023: Clarified any differences between this monitor and the Gigabyte M27Q P in the Variants section.
- Updated Feb 09, 2023: Added that the Contrast Ratio of the Samsung Odyssey G6 S32BG65 is better.
- Updated Nov 23, 2022: Added that the newly-reviewed Dell Alienware AW2723DF has a faster Response Time At 60Hz.
- Updated Sep 15, 2022: We tested the monitor to confirm that it works with the PS5's new 1440p support.
- Updated Jul 05, 2022: Review published.
- Updated Jun 28, 2022: Early access published.
- Updated Jun 22, 2022: Our testers have started testing this product.
- Updated Jun 16, 2022: The product has arrived in our lab, and our testers will start evaluating it soon.
- Updated Jun 14, 2022: We've purchased the product and are waiting for it to arrive in our lab.
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Differences Between Sizes And Variants
We tested the Gigabyte M27Q X, which is the only size available. There are other monitors available in Gigabyte's 'M' Series of gaming monitors, some of which are listed below.
| Model | Size | Panel Type | Resolution | Refresh Rate | Curved |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| M27Q (rev. 1.0) | 27" | IPS | 2560 x 1440 | 170Hz | No |
| M27Q X | 27" | IPS | 2560 x 1440 | 240Hz | No |
| M27Q P | 27" | IPS | 2560 x 1440 | 170Hz | No |
| M28U | 28" | IPS | 3840 x 2160 | 144Hz | No |
| M32Q | 32" | IPS | 2560 x 1440 | 170Hz | No |
Our Gigabyte M27Q X was manufactured in February 2022; you can see the label here.
Compared To Other Monitors
The Gigabyte M27Q X is an excellent gaming monitor that performs well. It offers better performance and a wider range of features than most of its competitors.
For more options, check out our recommendations for the best gaming monitors, the best 1440p gaming monitors, and the best budget gaming monitors.
The Gigabyte M27Q X and the LG 27GP850-B are pretty similar overall. The Gigabyte has a higher native refresh rate, but this doesn't really translate to better motion handling, as the LG looks a bit better overall, especially when gaming on a console below the monitor's max refresh rate. The Gigabyte has better connectivity and more features, with high bandwidth USB-C and a built-in keyboard, video, and mouse switch.
The Gigabyte M27Q X is a bit better than the Gigabyte M27Q (rev. 1.0). The Q X has a higher native refresh rate, resulting in a faster response time and clearer motion in general. The Q X also has a more standard RGB subpixel layout, resulting in clearer text.
The Gigabyte M27Q X and the Dell Alienware AW2723DF are both excellent gaming monitors. While they each have a 1440p resolution and 240Hz native refresh rate, the Dell has an overclock feature up to 280Hz. Although the Gigabyte has a quicker response time at its max refresh rate, the Dell is better with lower frame rate signals, which is good if you can't consistently hit its max refresh rate. The Gigabyte also has a few extra features that make it slightly more versatile for other uses, like a USB-C input and a KVM switch, and it also has much better reflection handling.
The Gigabyte M27Q P is a lower-end model than the Gigabyte M27Q X, but they still share many features. The main difference is that the X version has a higher 240Hz refresh rate, which allows for a faster response time at the max refresh rate than the P version. The X model also has a lower input lag at 60Hz, and it gets brighter in SDR. Besides that, they have many of the same features, like the KVM switch and USB-C port that supports DisplayPort Alt Mode.
The Gigabyte M27Q X is a bit better than the MSI Optix MAG274QRF-QD. The Gigabyte has a higher native refresh rate, resulting in slightly clearer motion overall. The Gigabyte is also more accurate out of the box and has better connectivity, with high bandwidth USB-C and a built-in keyboard, video, and mouse switch.
The Gigabyte M27Q X and the HP OMEN 27qs are both 1440p, 240Hz gaming monitors, but there are a few differences between them. The Gigabyte is a bit more versatile for console gaming as it downscales 4k signals, which the HP can't do, and it has a more versatile backlight strobing feature that works at the same time as VRR. The Gigabyte has some extra features that the HP doesn't have, like a KVM switch and a USB-C port. On the other hand, the HP has a more ergonomic stand, as you can rotate it into portrait mode, which you can't do with the Gigabyte.
The Gigabyte M27Q X and the Samsung Odyssey G7 C32G75T are both excellent gaming monitors with a 240Hz refresh rate and 1440p resolution. The differences between them come down to their panel types as the Samsung has a higher native contrast, making it a better choice for dark room gaming. However, the Gigabyte has wider viewing angles if you want to use it for co-op gaming. The Gigabyte also has more productivity features like a USB-C input and a KVM switch if you use multiple devices.
The Gigabyte M27Q X and the Samsung Odyssey G6 S32BG65 are gaming monitors with similar features, but they differ in some ways. The Samsung has a curved screen which helps bring the edges of it within your field of vision. It also has a VA panel that contributes to a better contrast than the M27Q X, and it handles HDR better. On the other hand, the M27Q X is a better gaming monitor; it has a better input lag and response time while boasting a higher pixel density.
The Gigabyte M27Q X and the LG 27GR83Q-B are both 1440p, 240Hz gaming monitors. There are a few differences, though, as the LG supports higher HDMI 2.1 bandwidth, which is ideal for consoles or modern graphics cards, and has slightly better motion handling. On the other hand, the Gigabyte is better for content creators as it has much better color accuracy and extra perks like a USB-C port and KVM switch.
The Gigabyte M27Q X is a lot better than the Gigabyte G27Q, especially for gaming. The M27Q X has a faster refresh rate, resulting in much better motion handling, with significantly less blur behind fast-moving objects. The M27Q X also has better connectivity and more features, with USB-C connectivity and a built-in keyboard, video, and mouse switch.
Test Results
The Gigabyte M27Q X has a simple design and looks nearly identical to the Gigabyte M27Q (rev. 1.0). It has thin borders on three sides, with a slightly thicker bottom bezel and a flat V-shaped stand. There's a noticeable dead zone between the side and top bezels and the first pixels, which is a bit distracting in a multi-monitor setup.
The Gigabyte M27Q X has good build quality. It's pretty similar to other Gigabyte monitors, and even though it's entirely made of plastic, it feels sturdy. The glossy section at the top of the back panel is terrible for fingerprints, and the stand feels a little cheap. Overall, it's not very premium, but there are no significant issues.
There are a few quality control issues with our unit, including 2 dead pixels and a streak that's noticeable in near-black content. These likely aren't widespread issues, but they could indicate quality control issues.
The Gigabyte M27Q X has okay ergonomics. It has a fairly standard tilt range and an excellent height adjustment range, so you can easily place it in an ideal viewing position. It doesn't swivel, so you must turn the entire base to share your screen with someone else. You can't rotate it into portrait mode either, but if you want something that does, check out the HP OMEN 27qs.
The stand doesn't take up much desk space, and since it's flat, you can still put things on top of it. It feels sturdy, and the screen doesn't wobble much when nudged.
There's a single joystick on the right backside of the screen. It lets you power the monitor On/Off and navigate the on-screen menu. The KVM button is to switch between the two devices when using the KVM feature.
- DisplayPort cable
- 3x power cords (NA, EU, and Australia)
- User guide
- USB-A to USB-B upstream cable
- HDMI cable
- Power supply
The Gigabyte M27Q X has mediocre contrast, so blacks look gray in a dark room. Unfortunately, there's no local dimming feature to improve contrast. If you're looking for a monitor that offers better contrast, look into the Samsung Odyssey G6 S32BG65.
The Gigabyte M27Q X doesn't have a local dimming feature. We still film the local dimming on each monitor, so you can see how the test clip compares to a different display with local dimming.
The Gigabyte M27Q X has impressive peak brightness in SDR. There's no noticeable variation in peak brightness with different content, and it's bright enough to overcome glare in a bright room. These measurements are in the 'Custom 1' Picture Mode, after calibration, with Brightness set to max.
The Gigabyte M27Q X has decent peak brightness in HDR. It far exceeds the minimum requirements for its DisplayHDR400 certification, which doesn't deliver a very impactful HDR experience overall, but it looks good in some games. The monitor tracks the PQ EOTF well, and most scenes display at the correct brightness. There's also a smooth roll-off near the monitor's peak brightness, which is better than most HDR monitors. These measurements are with the default picture settings with HDR enabled, as there are no other picture modes in HDR with this display.
The Gigabyte M27Q X has a great horizontal viewing angle. The image washes out a bit at a moderate angle, but it's good enough that everyone will see the same thing if you're sharing your screen with someone else. It's also great if you sit close to your screen, as the sides remain uniform.
The Gigabyte M27Q X has a very good vertical viewing angle. Like with the horizontal viewing angle, the image appears a bit washed out at a moderate angle, but you won't have any issues if you're standing above the monitor or looking up at it.
The Gigabyte M27Q X has decent gray uniformity. There's a bit of dirty screen effect in the center of the screen, and the sides are a bit darker, but it's not really noticeable with real content.
Unfortunately, there are some issues with black uniformity. The backlight bleeds through a few spots around the outer edges of the screen, and the screen is cloudy due to the low contrast ratio. Unfortunately, there's a red discoloration on our screen that's especially noticeable in near-dark scenes.
The Gigabyte M27Q X has exceptional accuracy out of the box with the sRGB emulation mode. The white balance and most colors are incredibly accurate, and the color temperature is very close to the 6500K target. Gamma is a bit lower than the sRGB curve, and most scenes are a bit brighter than they should be.
The sRGB mode effectively limits colors to the sRGB color space, so they don't appear oversaturated and unnatural, but this mode also locks down pretty much all picture quality settings, including the pixel overdrive mode. If you want to adjust the image to your liking, the 'Custom 1' mode is the most accurate, but colors aren't clamped to sRGB, and they're horribly oversaturated.
The Gigabyte M27Q X has superb accuracy after calibration. Visually, there's very little difference between the calibrated results and the factory pre-calibration with the sRGB mode. The main advantage to calibrating this display is that it allows you to adjust settings that are normally locked in the sRGB mode.
The Gigabyte M27Q X has an outstanding SDR color gamut. It has complete coverage of the sRGB color space used by most current desktop and web content, including most games. It also has nearly full coverage of the wider Adobe RGB color space.
The Gigabyte M27Q X has fantastic color volume in SDR. It doesn't display dark saturated colors well due to its low contrast ratio, but colors are bright and vibrant.
The Gigabyte M27Q X has a great HDR color gamut. It has incredibly coverage of the most common DCI-P3 color space. Unfortunately, the tone mapping is off when displaying certain signals, resulting in much lower coverage of the DCI-P3 color space. It only occurs when the content you're watching is mastered at a high peak brightness with the DCI-P3 primaries, which is rare. A lot of content is mastered at lower peak brightness levels, and when sending a signal mastered at 1000 nits, the tone mapping is much better, resulting in a wider DCI-P3 color gamut, but it doesn't track the PQ EOTF as well, as most scenes are too bright.
The Gigabyte M27Q X has mediocre HDR color volume. Unfortunately, the tone mapping is off when displaying certain signals, resulting in much lower coverage of the DCI-P3 color space and, consequently, worse color volume. It only occurs when the content you're watching is mastered at a high peak brightness with the DCI-P3 primaries, which is rare. A lot of content is mastered at lower peak brightness levels, and when sending a signal mastered at 1000 nits, the tone mapping is much better.
The Gigabyte M27Q X has very good reflection handling. The matte anti-reflective finish significantly reduces the intensity of lights. It also gets very bright, so if you still see glare, you can just increase the backlight setting; it's bright enough to overcome almost any glare.
The Gigabyte M27Q X has good text clarity. Although the previous version of this monitor, the Gigabyte M27Q (rev. 1.0), used a suboptimal BGR subpixel structure, the new model uses a standard RGB subpixel structure. It results in clearer text, especially after running the Windows ClearType wizard (top photo). The matte coating adds a slight haze to the screen, as you can see in the pixel photo.
The Gigabyte M27Q X has fantastic gradient handling. There's very little banding in most shades.
The Gigabyte M27Q X has an extremely fast refresh rate, which is great for gaming. Like most displays, the maximum refresh rate is only supported over DisplayPort.
The Gigabyte M27Q X supports FreeSync Premium variable refresh rate technology (VRR), and it's also compatible with NVIDIA's G-SYNC Compatible mode, but G-SYNC only works over DisplayPort on this monitor. The VRR feature works across an extremely wide range of refresh rates. Below about 48Hz low framerate compensation (LFC) kicks in automatically, ensuring a consistent gaming experience even with low framerates.
| Overdrive Setting | Response Time Chart | Response Time Tables | Motion Blur Photo |
| Off | Chart | Table | Photo |
| Smart OD | Chart | Table | Photo |
| Picture Quality | Chart | Table | Photo |
| Balance | Chart | Table | Photo |
| Speed | Chart | Table | Photo |
The Gigabyte M27Q X has a superb response time at the maximum refresh rate. There's no noticeable overshoot in the recommended 'Picture Quality' Overdrive Mode, and the rise/fall time is fast enough to deliver very clear motion, with almost no noticeable blur behind fast-moving objects. The 'Speed' and 'Balance' modes offer faster rise/fall times, but they have a lot of overshoot, so they look worse than 'Picture Quality' overall.
Like most recent Gigabyte monitors, there's a 'Smart OD' feature that is supposed to automatically adjust the overdrive depending on the frame rate coming from the source. Unfortunately, it doesn't work and locks you to the 'Balance' setting. The 'Picture Quality' mode delivers the most consistent performance, so it's the best choice if you're looking for a set-and-forget mode that works well across all frame rates.
| Overdrive Setting | Response Time Chart | Response Time Tables | Motion Blur Photo |
| Off | Chart | Table | Photo |
| Smart OD | Chart | Table | Photo |
| Picture Quality | Chart | Table | Photo |
| Balance | Chart | Table | Photo |
| Speed | Chart | Table | Photo |
The Gigabyte M27Q X has a great response time at 120Hz, resulting in a smooth console gaming experience for PS5 and Xbox Series X gamers. It performs similarly to the max refresh rate, but there's more overshoot, resulting in a slower overall response time and a slight trail of inverse ghosting. The 'Picture Quality' setting still delivers the best performance overall.
| Overdrive Setting | Response Time Chart | Response Time Tables | Motion Blur Photo |
| Off | Chart | Table | Photo |
| Smart OD | Chart | Table | Photo |
| Picture Quality | Chart | Table | Photo |
| Balance | Chart | Table | Photo |
| Speed | Chart | Table | Photo |
The Gigabyte M27Q X has a great response time at 60Hz. The 'Off' setting delivers the best performance at 60Hz, as the other modes all have way too much overshoot. Still, if you're looking for a 'set and forget' mode that you won't change, 'Picture Quality' isn't too bad. There's a bit of overshoot in darker transitions, so there's a noticeable line of inverse ghosting, but it's okay overall. However, if you prefer something with a faster response time at 60Hz, then consider the Dell Alienware AW2723DF.
| Refresh Rate | FreeSync | Motion Blur Photo |
| 240Hz | On | Photo |
| Off | Photo | |
| 120Hz | On | Photo |
| Off | Photo |
The Gigabyte M27Q X has an optional backlight strobing feature, commonly known as black frame insertion or BFI. Unlike most monitors, you can enable this feature at the same time as the variable refresh rate feature (VRR). When you enable it with VRR, it works down to 80Hz, but there are more noticeable artifacts due to a double pulse pattern. With a fixed refresh rate, the strobing feature is only available down to 120Hz.
The Gigabyte M27Q X has a completely flicker-free backlight, which helps reduce eye-strain with longer play sessions. The backlight doesn't flicker at any brightness level.
The Gigabyte M27Q X has fantastically low input lag, resulting in an extremely responsive gaming experience, especially at the max refresh rate.
The Gigabyte M27Q X has a large screen and high resolution, providing an immersive gaming experience and plenty of space for work and media consumption.
The Gigabyte M27Q X is compatible with most features supported by the PS5. Despite its 1440p native resolution, it supports 4k @ 60Hz gaming on the PS5. However, it downscales the image to 1440. Unfortunately, even though it supports VRR, it doesn't support HDMI Forum VRR, which is the only type of VRR supported by the PS5.
The Gigabyte M27Q X supports almost everything from the Xbox Series S|X. Despite having a native resolution of 1440p, it accepts and displays a 4k resolution and downscales it to 1440p, resulting in a slightly sharper image than a native 1440p signal. Due to bandwidth limitations, it only supports 4k @ 60Hz. Note that the Xbox Series S|X only support HDR over 4k, so you have to choose between 120Hz gaming and HDR, this monitor can't do both from the Xbox.
The Gigabyte M27Q X has a KVM feature that allows you to use one set of mouse and keyboard to control two devices. To use it, plug the mouse and keyboard into the USB 3.0 ports and the secondary device into the USB-C port. Then, press the KVM button (located above the monitor's main control joystick) to switch between the two devices.
This monitor is limited to HDMI 2.0 bandwidth, but if you want something with HDMI 2.1 bandwidth, then look into the LG 27GR83Q-B.
The USB-C port supports DisplayPort Alt Mode, which lets you display an image from a compatible device and charge it simultaneously with a single cable. However, this port only delivers 18W of power, which is only enough to trickle charge most computers.
The Gigabyte M27Q X works well with recent MacBooks. The variable refresh rate feature and HDR both work well, and windows return to their original position after waking up from sleep mode. The USB-C port works properly, as does the KVM switch feature.
The Gigabyte M27Q X has many features, including:
- Game Assist: There are a few different virtual overlays available, including a timer, virtual crosshairs, and a refresh rate counter.
- Eagle Eye: This monitor is compatible with Gigabyte's Eagle Eye feature, which zooms an area of the screen, making it easier to make precise movements in some games, especially FPS titles. Note that enabling this feature on this monitor reduces the maximum refresh rate to 165Hz.
- OSD Sidekick: Lets you control the monitor's settings with keyboard and mouse.
- Dashboard: Overlay that displays system information like CPU temperature, usage, frame rate, etc.
- Black Equalizer: Makes objects more visible in dark scenes.
- Picture-in-Picture and Picture-by-Picture: Displays two input signals simultaneously, either side by side or as an overlay.
- KVM: Lets you control two devices with one set of mouse and keyboard.
