The LG Ultragear LG 27GL850 is more than just another gaming monitor. It makes some pretty innovative changes that could revolutionize what gaming monitors are capable of while also offering all of the conveniences that gamers come to expect from their displays. In short, it’s one of the best gaming monitors around. So what exactly does it do right? Read on to find out.
Lightning Quick Performance
Choosing the right type of panel has always been one of the main questions when buying a new monitor. The exceptional response times offered by TN panels are far more crucial for competitive gamers than they are for most consumers, but these types of monitors can’t offer the visual clarity and visibility from different angles that you’d find with an IPS monitor.
LG’s new monitor sets itself clearly apart from the competition by establishing a whole new breed of IPS panel. This Nano IPS panel can achieve response times of 1 millisecond, four times faster than what IPS panels used to be capable of. That’s a big deal since it puts this panel on comparable footing to TN in terms of speed while also offering the rich contrast and color that you’d come to expect from a more traditional IPS monitor.
The refresh rates are similarly up to snuff with what you’d expect from a high-end gaming model. G-Sync is enabled to reduce the risk of tearing, and it can offer butter smooth 144 Hz refresh rates right out of the box. But that’s just scratching the surface of what this monitor can do. With proper overclocking it can actually hit a refresh rate of 175 Hz. All told, it’s one of the peppiest and most responsive gaming monitors available today.
Beautiful and Vivid Colors
Moreover, LG’s beast of a monitor offers a color gamut well beyond traditional expectations. It provides a generous 98% DCI-P3 gamut coverage, and that makes it one of the first monitors of this size to offer this fast of a refresh rate. This is assisted by the inclusion of HDR (high dynamic resolution) 10 support which can provide some of the best contrast and most vivid depth you’ll find on a monitor or TV screen. That means that you can forget muddy textures and boring browns and grays dominating your favorite first person shooter. You’ll see games the way that the developers intended them to be seen.
A Sleek Design
Your favorite games may look better than ever before on this HDR enabled Nano IPS screen, but it will also look good even when the monitor is turned off. LG has created a monitor that’s aesthetically very pleasing here. Thin bezels dominate the top and sides of the monitor, allowing you to get as much real estate as possible without overtaking too much of your gaming desk, and it’s bereft of the ostentatious color flourishes, RGB lighting, and other accoutrements that come with many gaming monitors. It’s a simpler design that might not appeal to every gamer out there but certainly has a more timeless model and can double as a work or photo editing monitor without looking out of place.
The stand is similarly basic at first blush, but once you start to mess around with it, you’ll realize how refreshingly adjustable it is. A one click interface built into the back allows you to configure it to meet your personal ergonomic needs. You can adjust the height, the forward and backward tilt, and the horizontal pivot of the monitor with ease, and it’s all intuitively designed and lightweight. In terms of build, this is a monitor that thankfully puts utility above aesthetics, but it still manages to look pretty good at the end of the day.
Superb GPU Compatibility Across the Board
AMD and Nvidia each have their distinct syncing technology designed to reduce screen tearing and maintain better frame rates, and while they manage to achieve roughly the same goals, they achieve those goals through different technology. But the bigger problem is that they only work with their respective graphics cards. That means that gamers who want to make the most of their rig’s graphics card normally have a more limited option of monitors to choose from.
But LG’s new monitor ditches the either/or standard that most manufacturers follow. This screen comes with support for both AMD Radeon FreeSync and for Nvidia G-Sync tech. That means that regardless of what specs you have built into your computer, and regardless of what absurd frame rates you’re running your game on, you can count on smooth performance that’s largely free of the risk of stuttering and screen tearing. It’s another decision that’s rare in the industry, and it’s one that does a great job of future proofing your gameplay performance even as AAA PC games become more complex and demanding.
Gamer Specific Assists
The UltraGear is more than just a monitor that happens to work great for gamers. It’s a monitor catered specifically to gamers. That’s especially apparent in two of the most prominent features offered: the crosshair and black stabilizer.
The crosshairs can provide gamers, particularly those invested in competitive first person shooters, with an edge that could conceivably mean the difference between a win and a loss. The red crosshairs can be toggled on and off with a simple button press. It’s bright, distinct, and capable of increasing your accuracy significantly, particularly when you’re playing a game that makes use of archaic steel sights.
Further improving your ability to read your surroundings it the black stabilizer. Whether you’re trying to pick out a sniper hiding in the rooftops or better pick out monsters in your favorite survival horror game, the higher level of contrast in dark and shadowy situations lets you read the environment more easily without sacrificing your level of immersion.
Final Thoughts
It’s easy to recommend the LG UltraGear without reservation. While it doesn’t feature the aesthetic bells and whistles or some of the gamer specific features that many other gaming monitors do, it gets the fundamentals right. And it makes some truly game changing decisions with the inclusion of its Nano IPS monitor and its support for both AMD and Nvidia tech. It’s a bold take on the gaming monitor that can be safely called evolutionary. But if you’re looking for more options, be sure to visit our 1440p monitors guide.
Pros
- 2560×1440 Resolution
- Nano IPS 1ms Response Time
- 144Hz Refresh Rate
- HDR 10
- IPS Panel Type
- LED Display Type
- 2x HDMI Ports
- 1x DisplayPort
- 2x USB 3.0
- 1x Headphone Jack
- 16:9 Aspect Ratio
Cons
