Home » Gaming Monitor » Gaming Monitor Review » Gigabyte FI27Q-X Gaming Monitor Review

Gigabyte FI27Q-X Gaming Monitor Review

We put the Gigabyte's latest high-performance gaming monitor to the test to see how it stacks up in build quality, price, and gaming performance!

Updated: Oct 19, 2023 1:07 pm
Gigabyte FI27Q X

Over the years, IPS-based panels have become much more gamer-friendly – now offering high pixel response times and panel refresh rates that actually compete with TN alternatives. The monitor we’re testing today is a fantastic example of this improvement, showcasing a 240Hz IPS panel that not only excels in picture quality and color accuracy, but also performs extremely well in responsiveness too.

The Gigabyte FI27Q-X is one of the latest AORUS monitors to hit shelves, equipped with all the high-end specifications you could want for an incredibly immersive gaming experience. The 27-inch monitor boasts a whole host of unique features that really make it a contender if you’re in the market for an all-round 27-inch display.

Alongside a 240Hz refresh rate, the FI27Q-X also offers a low 1ms GTG response time, FreeSync (and G-sync) support, and a QHD 1440p screen resolution. This makes the AORUS monitor a fantastic solution for both gamers and productivity users alike – albeit still targeted more towards gamers.

We’ll be putting the FI27Q-X to the test in a number of different scenarios to see how it stacks up in build quality, gaming performance, and overall value for money.

So, with plenty to get through, let’s waste no further time and dive straight into it!

Gigabyte FI27Q X 2

Excellent
Gigabyte AORUS FI27Q-X
Gigabyte AORUS F127q X
Refresh Rate 240hz
Response time 0.3ms (MPRT) / 1ms (GTG)
Screen size 27”
Resolution 2560 x 1440 (QHD)

Gigabyte AORUS FI27Q-X: Specifications

Tech Specs
Refresh Rate 240hz
Response time 0.3ms (MPRT) / 1ms (GTG)
Screen size 27”
Resolution 2560 x 1440 (QHD)
Aspect ratio 16:9
Panel type IPS
Brightness 400d/m2
Contrast ratio 1000:1
Color Depth 10 bits (8 bits+FRC)
Viewing angle 178°/178°
Color Gamut 100% Adobe RGB, 93% DCI-P3,142% sRGB
Backlight technology W-LED
Panel Coating Anti-Glare/Matte (3H)
Curvature Flat
VESA 100 x 100mm
Dimensions (WxHxD) 6145 x 435 x 236 mm with stand
Inputs 2 x USB 3.0 (Type-A; downstream), 1 x USB 3.0 (Type-B; upstream), 2 x HDMI 2.0, 1 x DisplayPort 1.4, 1 x 3.5mm Audio Out, 1 x 3.5mm Audio in

PROS
  • Sharp 240Hz refresh rate
  • Very attractive design
  • Color Accurate IPS panel
  • 10 bit, 100% Adobe RGB coverage
  • Low 0.3ms (min) response time
CONS
  • HDR support is quite poor
  • Quite expensive

What's In The Box

The Gigabyte FI27Q-X comes in a large black box that showcases some marketing material and specifications on the exterior. Inside the box, the monitor is unassembled from the stand – with construction required to actually use the monitor.

The construction of the stand is very straightforward and requires no tools. The stand, once built, then clips into the back of the monitor (again, with a toolless design) which feels very secure.

Inside the Gigabyte AORUS FI27Q-X box, you will find the following items:

  • Gigabyte AORUS FI27Q-X monitor
  • DisplayPort Cable
  • HDMI cable
  • Power cable (kettle)
  • USB Passthrough
  • Quick Start Guide
  • Warranty

Design

With specifications out the way, let’s take a closer look at the build quality, design, and mechanical features this monitor comes equipped with.

Design

I’ll not lie, the AORUS FI27Q-X might be one of the best-looking monitors I’ve tested in some time. It comes to the table boasting a very ‘Gamey’ look that is far from ugly. The panel looks extremely sleek, characterized by a thin dual-stage bezel that feels very well made. The bottom bezel sports the AORUS branding (on a little plaque) in the centre and nothing else. The minimal styling of the monitor’s front is a far cry from the rear  – where the majority of the design features are found.

Gigabyte FI27Q X 11

The stand comes with the classic ‘V’ shape that offers good stability and works nicely with the rest of the panel’s ‘edginess’. The stand is extremely futuristic and genuinely reminds me of something out of a sci-fi film. At the base of the stand, users can utilize the cutout for cable management – however, I’m not sure that’s what it was intended for.

Gigabyte FI27Q X 25

Moving to the rear opens up a whole world of design features that are nicely finished. The back of the monitor is a carefully thought-out balance of RGB and sectioned plates that mingle nicely to create a very gamey AORUS aesthetic. The rear of the monitor looks slightly reminiscent of armour – but with a futuristic RGB twist. The RGB is nicely done and users can alter it with 3 unique presets in the OSD. At the top of the monitor, a large grill can be found to help the monitor vent.

Gigabyte FI27Q X 16

The back of the stand offers up further RGB which pairs nicely with the lighting on the rear of the panel itself. Gigabyte has illuminated the AORUS logo on the rear of the stand to finish off the monitor’s look nicely. A carry handle can be found at the top of the stand which aids nicely in the movement of this panel.

Gigabyte FI27Q X 24

Overall, I can’t knock the FI27Q-X in terms of design – it looks fantastic.

Build Quality

The build quality of this monitor is another area where Gigabyte seems to have excelled. The FI27Q-X feels incredibly well-made, with all fittings feeling very robust. The front of the panel doesn’t offer any gaps and the coating is hard enough to withstand a decent blow – you know, if you get that angry during gameplay. The stand holds the panel in place firmly, providing very little wobble during gameplay and general usage.

Gigabyte FI27Q X 3

Continuing with the stand, it might be one of the most robust we’ve tested – constructed almost exclusively from metal. The rear of the stand is plastic but it feels very sturdy, providing no creaking or flex during robustness testing.

The back of the panel offers similar levels of sturdiness, scoring highly in our build quality tests. Overall, the FI27Q-X did extremely well in the build quality department, offering up a sturdy design that really does feel fit to stand the test of time.

Panel Coating

Like most modern panels, the Gigabyte FI27Q-X comes with an anti-glare panel coating that has a matte finish (in 3H hardness). The panel coating does an incredibly efficient job when it comes to mitigating both natural and manmade light sources. Whilst it won’t protect from direct sunlight, it definitely allows users to continue gaming under bright conditions.

Gigabyte FI27Q X 8

Having said that, the panel coating does tend to pick up plenty of fingerprints that can be annoying.

Bezels

The FI27Q-X comes equipped with thin bezels that help with immersion and general gameplay. The top and side bezels measure in at a slender 9mm whilst the bottom bezel offers a larger 26mm profile. Whilst these aren’t the thinnest bezels we’ve ever seen, they still offer an excellent visual experience.

Gigabyte FI27Q X 6

Stand

Gigabyte has equipped the FI27Q-X with a very versatile stand that brings height, tilt, pivot, and swivel functionality to the table. Fortunately, the FI27Q-X’s stand is extremely strong, offering excellent stability no matter what position you use the monitor in.

Gigabyte FI27Q X 26

The base of the stand offers some cable management options, with RGB illuminating the sides and the rear too.

Below are the exact specifications of the stand:

  • Forward Tilt – 5 degrees
  • Backward Tilt – 21 degrees
  • Left Swivel – 20 degrees
  • Right Swivel – 20 degrees
  • Pivot – 90 degrees
  • Height – 130mm
Excellent
Gigabyte AORUS FI27Q-X
Gigabyte AORUS F127q X
Refresh Rate 240hz
Response time 0.3ms (MPRT) / 1ms (GTG)
Screen size 27”
Resolution 2560 x 1440 (QHD)

Inputs

Inputs can be found at the rear of the monitor and cables are inserted in a vertical fashion, as per usual. Inputs include several display inputs, dual audio inputs, and a number of USB options too.

Gigabyte FI27Q X 28

If you’re the sort of person that utilizes numerous devices in one monitor, the FI27Q-X will serve you well.

OSD

The OSD (on-screen display) for the Gigabyte FI27Q-X is extremely easy to use and self-intuitive. It reminds me a little of the Samsung OSD – only with an orange color theme. Inside the OSD, users will be able to adjust all the usual suspects, including color, picture, game settings, and RGB. Furthermore, with a bunch of cool settings that are geared around gaming, you’ll be able to create the perfect viewing experience no matter what the scenario.

Gigabyte FI27Q X 13

We’ll be going over the best OSD settings later on in the article.

Color Accuracy & Picture Quality

Great colors and excellent picture quality are two of the main factors that help create immersion while your gaming. Despite the importance of good color, monitor manufacturers don’t always calibrate the color of their panels to what is deemed accurate within specific color spectrums – sRGB/Rec.709 for example.

We like to test each monitor for color reproduction to see how they would perform in color-accurate scenarios.

Here are the results for the Gigabyte FI27Q-X:

PresetWhite PointBlack DepthContrast RatioAverage ΔE*00Gamma
IDEAL6500K0.00cd/m²Infinite0.002.2
Standard6581K0.3107 cd/m²908.5:14.912.21
sRGB6753K0.1419 cd/m²863.3:10.492.22
AORUS Preset8357K0.3581 cd/m²817.4:15.912.17
Movie Preset6587K0.1921 cd/m²870.6:15.151.99

Like always, we started by testing the monitor right out the box. For users who don’t like to tamper with color settings in the OSD, this is a pretty important factor. The factory settings for this monitor are as follows; 110 candelas of brightness, ‘normal’ color temperature, and ‘low blue light’ set to 0. Out of the box settings are perfectly acceptable for long gaming sessions, putting little strain of your eyes.

Out the box, colors were not the best if truth be told. Whilst white point and black depth both showcases decent scores, average deltaE was pretty poor. On average, we saw a 4.91 color accuracy score, making it unsuitable for editing photo or video.

I tested the sRGB preset in the OSD next, expecting much better results. As you can see from the chart above, the sRGB seemed to be calibrated to a decent level, offering up excellent average deltaE. White point was a little high, but nothing overly substantial. Black depth and contrast ratio were both OK, with gamma set to 2.22.

This monitor comes equipped with an AORUS color preset that, despite not being very accurate, looks fantastic. It offers a vibrance boost and a gamma-rich viewing experience that really is very nice. It is a little on the blue side, but you soon get used to it. From a color accuracy stand point, this preset is far from accurate, posting a 5.91 average deltaE. Gamma wwas set to 2.17.

We finished the preset tests with the movie preset. It offers good white point and black depth – with a slight dip in contrast ratio. Average deltaE was again poor, measuring in at 5.15. Again, as this is a custom preset that tries to accentuate the viewing experience, there really isn’t anything wrong with this preset.

After testing the various presets, I wasted no time and decided to calibrate the panel, recording color gamut, panel uniformity, and overall color accuracy.

We chose the ‘Custom 1’ color setting and altered the RGB to 100/94/97. For users that like to save multiple presets, the FI27Q-X offers 3 custom profiles that are saved to the onboard memory of the monitor.

Here are the results:

PresetWhite PointBlack DepthContrast RatioAverage ΔE*00Maximum ΔE*00Gamma
IDEAL6500K0.00cd/m²Infinite0.000.002.2
Calibrated Profile6598K0.1368 cd/m²840.7:10.261.352.19

We calibrated the monitor and measured it against the sRGB preset the monitor already offered. The difference between the two was slightly noticeable, but not by much. We managed to increase the white point to 6598K and drop the black depth to 0.13. Contrast ratio was still a little low, but average deltaE was an impressive 0.26 – with a max reading of 1.35.

Despite getting a better score using the colorimeter, the FI27Q-X’s sRGB preset offered an equal colour reproduction. Using this preset would be perfectly acceptable for color accurate work.

Panel Uniformity

Panel uniformity is a test we run to check how uniform the luminance and color is across the entirety of the screen. During this test, the center square is used as the reference space. Every other square is then tested to see how far it differentiates from the reference.

In an ideal world, we want every square to be green, meaning it hasn’t broken the differential threshold – something we can set at the start of the test.

Note: results will differ from panel to panel.

Panel uniformity F127Q X jpg

I was happy with the uniformity this panel offered, scoring highly in every quadrant we tested. As you can see from the results above, the FI27Q-X offered a majority ‘green’ score – meaning the deviation was under deltaE of 2 (on average).  That makes this monitor extremely good for viewing content that has large blocks of solid color – sporting events or the likes.

Viewing Angles

Like other monitors making use of IPS panels, the Gigabyte FI27Q-X provided extremely good viewing angles – well past what would be required for multiperson usage. Even at around 65+ degrees, you could still easily see the content on screen, with very little deviation in both luminance and color.

Excellent
Gigabyte AORUS FI27Q-X
Gigabyte AORUS F127q X
Refresh Rate 240hz
Response time 0.3ms (MPRT) / 1ms (GTG)
Screen size 27”
Resolution 2560 x 1440 (QHD)

Color Gamut

As part of the calibration process, the DisplayCal will give an accurate measurement of the color gamut the monitor can provide. Below are the results of the color gamut test:

Color Gamut coverage

As you can see from the results above, the Gigabyte FI27Q-X offers a wide color gamut that far exceeds the sRGB space. We recorded an impressive 163.3% sRGB coverage during tests, putting this at the top of color gamut spectrum –  for gaming monitors we’ve tested anyway. That equates to 99.8% sRGB, 99.7% Adobe RGB, and 91.6% DCI-P3 coverage.

Color Gamut Graph F127Q X

Looking at the physical color gamut graph, you can clearly see how far the color gamut of this monitor extends past the sRGB space – displayed by the dotted line. This simply means that the FI27Q-X will be able to display a great range of colors when compared to lesser alternatives.

Maximum And Minimum Brightness

We ended the color accuracy and picture quality testing by checking the maximum brightness, minimum brightness, and 120 candelas points on this panel. The results are below:

BrightnessCandelas
100% Brightness435.83cd/m²
0% Brightness41.79cd/m²
17 Brightness120 cd/m²

Calibrated Profile

For those who want to use our calibrated color profile, you will find a link below where you can download the zip file.

Gigabyte FI27Q-X: Gaming Performance

With color accuracy out of the way, it’s time to put the Gigabyte FI27Q-X through a number of different gaming scenarios to see how it stacks up in pixel response, input lag, and HDR content. Let’s dive straight into it!

Gigabyte FI27Q X 30

The FI27Q-X is a 1440p 240Hz gaming monitor that offers low input lag and extremely fast pixel response times – making it the perfect choice for pretty much every type of gamer. That being said, I started off by playing some CS:GO – a game that benefits hugely from rapid refresh speeds. I played for several hours and my overarching impression of the panel was incredibly positive. The game felt extremely smooth when reaching 240 frames per second, allowing me to extrapolate the maximum potential out of this panel. Enabling FreeSync (or G-sync for that matter) prior to gameplay meant that screen tear was completely removed from the experience. Whilst the monitor is certified for FreeSync Premium, the same can’t be said for Nvidia’s G-sync – certified as G-Sync compatible only.

I decided to play a couple of competitive games (within CS:GO) on the monitor and at no stage did I feel at a disadvantage. Gameplay was incredibly lucid and a feeling of total control was experienced when navigating the map. In more intensive scenarios, like rushing a bomb site, for example, image quality looked absolutely fantastic. Whilst perceived blur was extremely good in these scenarios, I did experience a slight amount of overshoot from time to time. I had a play with the various Overdrive settings to see which one offered the best balance between picture quality and pixel response speed. As is the case with most monitors, the best option seemed to be the middle strength Overdrive setting – which for this monitor was ‘Balanced’. When cranking the Overdrive up to its maximum setting, overshoot did become quite visible, with obvious haloing around darker objects. Whilst this wasn’t overly detrimental to the gaming experience, it would annoy some of the more sensitive users out there.

Gigabyte FI27Q X 31

Once finished with CS:GO, I decided to play a few single-player titles to see the immersive qualities this monitor could offer. In games like Shadow Of The Tomb and BattleField V, colors popped and the picture quality was fantastic. Thanks to the extremely wide color gamut, the monitor had the ability to recreate a wider range of colors – adding to the realism and immersion. As mentioned earlier, the FI27Q-X comes with a maximum screen resolution of 2560 x 1440, providing excellent picture quality and clarity in most games.

Remember though, a 1440p monitor will put a lot more stress on your GPU than 1080p alternatives. I enabled the DisplayHDR 400 for both SOTTR and Battlefield V, with both looking only marginally better than when in SDR. As HDR400 is the entry-level standard, it was no surprise that no real differences could be seen when enabling this setting. That said, there was a slight increase in overall brightness, adding a little bit of detail in extremely bright regions. Overall though, the HDR performance of this monitor was classed as quite poor. With that in mind, general contrast ratio for a panel of this type was quite good – providing a decent gaming experience nonetheless. Unfortunately, experiencing inky blacks were far from possible – with VA outperforming IPS in this particular department.

I explored the OSD further to see if there was anything in there that could help boost the visual experience any further. Upon doing this, I did come across some annoying flaws in certain settings. For example, if you want to run the Black Equalizer feature, you would automatically be limited to 165Hz within the display settings of your GPU. Aim stabilizer, a strobe backlight feature that theoretically improves motion blur, also required unique settings simply to be enabled. You will need to have adaptive sync and HDR disabled to even enter the aim stabilizer feature on the OSD. That being said, when enabled, this particular feature did work well – especially if you could match the monitor’s refresh rate with the frame rate.

Final Thoughts

So, there you have it, our comprehensive review of the Gigabyte FI27Q-X – a 1440p 240Hz gaming monitor that seemingly ticks all the right boxes.

For me, this monitor does a lot of things incredibly well. As just mentioned, the monitor comes with an extremely fast 240Hz IPS panel at its heart. It showcases a wide variety of colors with a large color gamut that is roughly 163% of the sRGB space. With a speedy 1ms response time (that has the ability to drop as low as 0.3ms in certain scenarios) alongside 10-bit colors, a 1440 screen resolution, and a tonne of features geared towards both serious and casual gamers – it’s really quite difficult knocking this monitor from a value standpoint. At the time of writing this, the FI27Q-X retails for roughly $650, making it an extremely attractive prospect.

Gigabyte FI27Q X 9

Granted, it does have a few minor flaws, but those are soon eradicated by pure performance and a joyous gaming experience that really does span pretty much any title you want to put through it. Overall, a fantastic monitor that is going to tick a lot of the right boxes.

Excellent
Gigabyte AORUS FI27Q-X
Gigabyte AORUS F127q X
Refresh Rate 240hz
Response time 0.3ms (MPRT) / 1ms (GTG)
Screen size 27”
Resolution 2560 x 1440 (QHD)

WePC is reader-supported. When you buy through links on our site, we may earn an affiliate commission. Prices subject to change. Learn more


Trusted Source

WePC’s mission is to be the most trusted site in tech. Our editorial content is 100% independent and we put every product we review through a rigorous testing process before telling you exactly what we think. We won’t recommend anything we wouldn’t use ourselves. Read more