AOC AGON Gaming AG273QCX - 27 Inch QHD Curved Monitor, 144Hz, 1 ms, VA, HDR400, FreeSync, Speakers, Height adjust (2560x1440 @ 144Hz 400 cd/m², HDMI/DP/VGA/USB 3.0)

Product Information

This was most noticeable for higher refresh rate content such as 60fps YouTube videos, although even here the difference was more subtle than when observing higher frame rate game content. Adjust grey levels for better picture detail and brighten dark areas or sink them back into blackness on the fly, without affecting the rest of the display. Before analysing the image above, it’s important to note that the ‘Overdrive’ was set to ‘Strong’ for all pursuit photographs showing the MBR setting in action. This is the most basic level of certification that VESA will give to an HDR capable display and it means that only a basic HDR experience is offered, with some but not all desirable HDR boxes ticked.

The monitor itself must support ‘VESA Adaptive-Sync’ for at least one of its display connectors, as this is the protocol that FreeSync uses. This was less distinct than at significantly higher frame rates and didn’t really mar our enjoyment of these titles. There were some nice lush forest green shades, good rich earthy browns and fairly (but not excessively) vivid sky blues for shown for the central mass of the screen. The AG273QX is in the big leagues, boasting Quad HD resolution, a 165 Hz refresh rate and 1 ms GtG response time. The monitor performed well in that respect, overall, and certainly as well as we’ve seen from a VA model.

There were some saturation losses and some shades appeared slightly ‘duller’ towards the extreme edges and bottom of the screen. The VA panel also brings with it perceived deviations in colour temperature which aren’t accounted for by these measurements. This will be useful if you’re using a games console which supports that resolution but not the native 2560 x 1440.

You’ll also notice ‘G-SYNC Compatible’ listed under ‘Monitor Technology’ in this section, as shown below. There are various ‘DTS Sound’ presets and the ability to customise the graphic equalizer settings if preferred. On some monitors, particularly but not exclusively those with high refresh rates, interlace patterns can be seen during certain transitions.The monitor comprehensively covers the sRGB colour space (100%) with moderate extension beyond this. The numbered ‘Gamer’ presets allow the user to retain some control of the OSD settings but you can’t change the ‘Color Temp.

There was less of a yellowish appearance to the shade than on models with a significantly narrower colour gamut. It provides a good but not exceptional pixel density and gives a good amount of useful desktop ‘real-estate’ (without scaling, for many users). The screen surface again imparted some graininess, but this was light and misty rather than heavy and ‘smeary’.We found the ‘Rock’ setting quite decent for bass-heavy music which is done more justice than on most integrated solutions and the ‘Game’ or ‘Live’ setting for general listening. The section of the video review below runs through the HDR experience on the monitor and gives some more specific in-game examples of the technology in action. Note that this setting does not impact the contrast or colour reproduction characteristics explored in the review.