Acer Predator XB271HU bmiprz 27-inch WQHD (2560 x 1440) NVIDIA G-Sync Widescreen Display

Hands-down, single best upgrade to my computer setup by far., January 26, 2016

Hands-down, single best upgrade to my computer setup by far. Upgrading from HDD to SSD years ago was a huge improvement, but this… this is the Kool-Aid Man busting through the wall.

First some relevant system specs for comparison:
i7 4770k @4.2Ghz
16GB G.SKILL Sniper Series
Samsung 840 EVO
EVGA GTX980 FTW
Windows 10

My unit did not come with any dead pixels. I had almost forgot to check for light bleed in the corners, got all the way through fiddling with the monitor settings, getting G-Sync running and overclocked it to 100hz (with no issues at all, btw), gamed for a good hour, and did some web browsing before I remembered to check for it. While I did find it when I looked for it, this just goes to show you how unnoticeable it is (I realize, though, I may have just won the lottery on this one). It’s like when your friend asks you how bad the mark on their face is, and you wouldn’t have even noticed had they not pointed it out to you.

I’m coming from a 3×1 multiple monitor setup (3 monitors setup with Nvidia Surround for gaming, and a 4th utility monitor mounted above for miscellaneous use while gaming). The 3 Surround monitors were 26", with a Surround resolution of 5760×1080, it was a lot of real estate. This, width-wise, bumps me down to 3440. Do I miss the extra width? In a word, no. The 3440 with no bezels trumps 5760 with two ~1.5" bezels (from screen to screen between monitors) by FAR. Ideally I would have wanted the width of only two monitors, but one does not simply game with a bezel dead center. Ultrawide 21:9 is the PERFECT gaming width, developer support notwithstanding.

Graphically speaking, the 1440 on this vs the 1080 I came from is marginally noticeable while gaming, but noticeable nonetheless.

I still have the extra monitor mounted above this one, and moving a window that is nearly filling up the whole screen on the 1080 down to this monitor does well to highlight the extra room available. The 1920×180 feels just so constricting/claustrophobic now compared to the 3440×1440. I have attached 2 pictures to show the difference in size, the first picture is with a window expanded to just about the full 1920×1080 size and the second is that same window moved down to the 3440×1440 monitor.

The difference going from 60hz to 100hz (and I’m sure 95hz if yours won’t go to 100) was at first disappointing. I was expecting to be blown away. I moved the mouse around… looked normal. I grabbed an open window and shook it around, nothing, still looked normal. Notice I said "at first" up there. I moved the window up to the old 1080 60hz and did the same thing, and I immediately grimaced and thought somehow my monitor had been tampered with or broken while I wasn’t looking. What had looked so normal to me before was now unbearably choppy and painful to look at. I had almost completely dismissed the refresh rates when I was researching and shopping for a new monitor, I implore you not to make that mistake.

The curve is very subtle. I’ve never seen a curved display in person before, and was almost disappointed by it when I saw it. I was expecting it to be very prominent. After using the monitor for a bit, I almost forgot there was even a curve, but I think that is a good thing. It’s just enough to not look too wide and too flat, while not being anything to have to get used to.

Regarding the graphics card needed to game on this, as you saw above I am running it with a GTX980. My game du jour is FFXIV. While I can run the game at Maximum settings, it will only get around 50-60 FPS at 3440×1440 (which is about what I was getting at 5760×1080, I could get 100-120 FPS at 1920×1080). At that framerate there is no point in having this monitor over one of the other ultrawides running at 60hz. I can tweak the settings to a comfortable happy medium of about 75-100 FPS. While the GTX980 is certainly passable with some tweaking, I would suggest if you are looking to get a new graphics card along with this monitor, do yourself a favor and do pickup a GTX980ti. For me, I upgraded from a GTX780 to the GTX980 last year and this monitor was this years upgrade, next year I will definitely be upgrading the graphics card again (especially with Pascal and HBM2 on the way, much excite!).

The underside lighting is a nice touch, casts a bit of light onto your keyboard. You do have the option to turn it off if you don’t want to use it. They also give you different color options (red, green, blue, white, and MNT Status, which apparently distinguishes between G-Sync on and off), different lighting effects (fixed, breathing, flashing, and ripple), and different brightness levels. The ripple setting is cool but distracting, and I don’t know why anyone would want to use the flashing setting.

The build quality feels solid and very nice, it feels like a premium product. The port placements…

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Awesome Gaming/Movie Monitor, January 25, 2016

Right now 2560x1440p (aka "2k") monitors are in the sweet spot right now if you are looking to upgrade from a 1080p monitor. Graphics cards are powerful enough to support 2k monitors but still struggle with 4k (i.e. trying to achieve 60+ FPS on current games). Also at the time of this review, you can get a 2k monitor 144/165Hz monitor where as that is not possible with 4k at this time. Some are ok without high refresh rates but I appreciate the advancement in technology for refresh rates. Speaking of the features it is exactly what I was looking for when shopping for a new monitor:

– IPS (of the 3 panel types, IPS provides the best picture and color reproduction)
– I wanted 2K/4K RES (didn’t want to stay with 1080p)
– NVIDIA GSYNC (prevents screen tearing with no input lag)
– 144Hz REFRESH (helps reduce/eliminate ghosting) – OC to 165Hz
– 4ms RESPONSE (good latency is always better for gaming)

The previous model (XB270HU) was named the king of gaming monitors by TFT Central. If you want a very detailed review, visit TFT Central. They have not reviewed this model but this model improved upon XB270HU’s success. Outside of the overclocking feature of this model, the features are pretty much the same. I don’t think the XB270HU has an HDMI port like the 271 does, but you are going to want to use the Display Port anyway because you need the Display Port for both Gsync and to get 144/165Hz refresh rate.

For those who don’t do much research on monitors, IPS monitor panels currently offer the best picture quality and color reproduction. These are the panels that video and photo editors use for their job. Which also make them great for movie and game immersion. The downsides to IPS (all panel types have downsides) is the response time and the black rating, but a lot of progress has been made in IPS technology so the response time is very reasonable – 4ms Gray-To-Gray is great. TN panels currently offer the best response time (as low as 1ms) but have the worst picture quality and color reproduction. The black rating for IPS panels have also come a long way and compete quite well.

While I am not blown away by this monitor’s picture quality and color reproduction it is still very good. For many this monitor will probably exceed their expectations, it is a very good monitor with little competition in this regard. It is a great picture.

For me personally, I don’t see any point in sticking with 1080p resolution. If you are spending this much on a monitor than you are probably going to keep it for awhile. No point in investing in old technology, it is better to progress to 2k/4k. With computer gaming you actually have access right now to 2k/4k games so not only will the picture look better but there is content for it too.

If you are using an Nvidia graphics card, especially 900/1000 series (or better, depending on when you read this) than you will want to take advantage of Gsync technology. If you’re using an AMD card, you will want to look for a FreeSync monitor. Gsync replaces Vsync. Problem with Vsync is that it introduced Input Lag so your actions look delayed on your screen. Gsync has no input lag and it removes screen tearing. Screen tearing is where multiple frames are drawn at the same time so it appears as if part of your screen is shifting as you turn but the other part is stuck and having a hard time keeping up. Thus the tearing effect. So removing this makes everything more enjoyable as it is easier to be immersed in your game or movie.

With Gsync, 144Hz refresh rate and 4ms response I have yet to see any ghosting or screen tearing even in games that had my previous monitor screen tearing all the time. I haven’t had this monitor long and I’m already spoiled. I’m worried by the quality control issues some have had because I’m not sure I can go back to a monitor without Gysnc and a 144Hz refresh rate. It is obvious and it is awesome that you can get this kind of response time with an IPS monitor. Sadly the Asus ROG Swift seems to have more Quality Control complaints as I was worried about trying an Acer product. I would have went Asus in a heart beat if the reviews were more positive. Update (July 2016): Asus stated they worked very hard to improve their quality control so its possible their current batch may be more reliable.

That being said, I’m impressed by Acer …so far. The stand does look better in person than in the picture but I would still prefer an all black stand. However you feel about the looks the stand is great, by far the best I’ve personally had. It is both solid and moves the panel accurately and easily. It doesn’t take much effort to move the screen up or down and it stays there …no bounce effect after.

Mine doesn’t have any dead/stuck pixels. There is some silverish IPS Glow but it doesn’t extend too far from the corners and…

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