ViewSonic Elite XG270QG Monitor Review

The design of the Elite XG270QG is exactly like the Elite XG270. The entire monitor is matte black, there's RGB lighting on the back, and the anti-glare panels pictured above can be added if you wish. The stand has a unique design that lays flat.

The stand supports the monitor well.

Good ergonomics. You can adjust it however you like, and you can switch it into portrait mode in either direction. If ergonomics are really important to you, the ASUS TUF VG27AQ is a similar monitor with much better ergonomics.

The back of the monitor has RGB lighting and there's cable management through the stand. It has a quick-release button if you need to VESA mount it. There's also a headphone hook and a mouse bungee to hang your peripherals when you're not gaming.

The borders are thin on three sides, which is great for a multi-monitor setup.

Like the Elite XG270, the screen itself isn't very thick, so it doesn't stick out much when mounted. It gets much thicker with the stand attached, and the total thickness depends on the height you set your screen at, since the stand is slightly tilted.

The Elite XG270QG has a good build quality. There are no obvious gaps and overall it feels sturdy, but the plastic on the back has a bit of flex to it.

As is the case with most IPS panels, the contrast ratio is disappointing, and blacks look gray when viewed in the dark. If you're looking for a similar monitor but with a VA panel for better contrast, check out the LG 32GK850G-B.

Note: The contrast was measured post-calibration, and it was better pre-calibration, but that makes the colors a lot less accurate.

The Elite XG270QG doesn't have a local dimming feature. The video above is provided for reference only.

The Elite XG270QG has good SDR peak brightness. There's no variation in content and it's bright enough to overcome glare in most rooms. Measurements were taken after calibration on the 'Custom 1' mode with Brightness set to 'Max'. The display was a bit brighter pre-calibration, but that makes the colors a lot less accurate.

This monitor doesn't support HDR.

As is the case with most IPS panel monitors, the XG270QG has a great horizontal viewing angle. The image remains accurate when viewed from the side, so it's easy to share your screen with others.

Decent vertical viewing angle. It's better than the ViewSonic Elite XG270, but you still lose some image accuracy if it's mounted above eye level or if you sit close to the screen.

The Elite XG270QG has excellent gray uniformity. The edges of the screen are noticeably darker, but there's no visible dirty screen effect in the center, which is great if you want to watch sports. The uniformity is almost perfect in dark scenes.

Poor black uniformity. There's visible clouding throughout and some backlight bleed at the bottom and top right corner. It's much improved over the ViewSonic Elite XG270, but this could be due to panel variance.

Bad out-of-the-box color accuracy. All colors are inaccurate and the color temperature is much warmer than the 6500K target, giving it a red/yellow tint. The gamma does a decent job at following the target curve, but most scenes are darker than they should be.

The Elite XG270QG has amazing post-calibration color accuracy. Most colors are accurate, the color temperature is extremely close to the 6500K target, and the gamma follows the target fairly well.

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.

Outstanding SDR color gamut. It covers all of the sRGB color space used in most content and it has excellent coverage of the Adobe RGB color space used in photo editing. This is much better than the ViewSonic Elite XG270 and the ASUS TUF VG27AQ.

The Elite XG270QG has an outstanding color volume. It's able to display a wide range of colors at different brightness levels but can't produce dark, saturated colors due to its low contrast ratio.

This monitor doesn't support HDR.

This monitor doesn't support HDR.

There are no signs of image retention on the Elite XG270QG.

Great gradient handling, but there's some banding in darker shades. The Elite XG270QG is advertised as 10 bit, but it's actually 8 bit + FRC. When trying to display a 10 bit image, this happened.

There's no visible color bleed on this monitor.

Great reflection handling. The matte coating does an excellent job at diffusing a moderate amount of light, but struggles a bit in really bright rooms.

Great text clarity. With ClearType enabled (top photo) the diagonal lines on the letters R and N are clearer.

Outstanding response time at its max refresh rate. The best Overdive setting is 'Standard' as there's the least amount of overshoot, but there's still some motion blur. If that bothers you, the 'Advanced' setting has less blur, but with more overshoot.

The Elite XG270QG has an outstanding response time at 60Hz, better than most monitors, but not as good as the Elite XG270. Like at its max refresh rate, the recommended Overdrive setting is 'Standard' as motion looks the clearest on this setting, with minimal overshoot.

This monitor is flicker-free, which helps reduce eye strain.

The XG270QG has a black frame insertion feature to improve the appearance of motion. It can't be used when G-SYNC is enabled.

Update 06/03/2020: NVIDIA has added Adaptive Sync support so that new G-SYNC monitors also support FreeSync. We retested this monitor and saw that it's FreeSync compatible.

Excellent refresh rate. The native 144Hz refresh rate can be easily overclocked to 165Hz. G-SYNC VRR can only be used over a DisplayPort connection. Over HDMI, the refresh rate is limited to 60Hz, and VRR doesn't work. This monitor is also FreeSync compatible over its full range through a DisplayPort connection.

Incredibly low input lag, especially at its native resolution. It stays low with VRR enabled, but there's a bit more lag than normal with a 60Hz refresh rate. The ASUS TUF VG27AQ has a much better input lag at 60Hz.