Overlord Tempest X270OC, 27" 120 Hz IPS Gaming Monitor Review

[ceberle]

After many reader requests to review Overlord’s 120 Hz 27-inch QHD monitor, we finally got a brand new X270OC in our labs. It’s the only IPS screen we know of that can exceed a 60 Hz refresh rate. We run it through our benchmark and usability test suite.

Overlord Tempest X270OC, 27" 120 Hz IPS Gaming Monitor Review : Read more

 

[oudmaster]

the price is interesting with these specs !
any idea if there will be a similar monitor spec but 4k resolution ?

thanks,

 

[oudmaster]

the price is interesting with these specs !
any idea if there will be a similar monitor spec but 4k resolution ?

thanks,

 

[oudmaster]

[No message]

 

[wtfxxxgp]

Crickey me...this is a monitor of note it seems! At that price point, I find it incredible. Well done to Overlord! The only issue I have now is... will the price increase as a result of all the buzz this will generate? This is probably going to be my next monitor, depending on exchange rates...

 

[Shneiky]

4K at 120 MHz? Not in the next 5 years.

 

[Swiperd3]

Driving QHD to 120 FPS at the max graphics detail is sure as hell will require A LOT of horsepower. Will TOP-SLI/CF-x2 be enough for modern FPS games?

 

[Traciatim]

Wow, you get this with one of the variable sync techs and you have yourself one fantastic monitor.

 

[waxdart]

16:9 🙁

 

[envy14tpe]

Thank you Thank you Thank you. I've been dying to see a review on this monitor.

 

[Reaver192]

Yeah, I've been waiting fir this for too long. I wanted one of these months ago but they have been out of stock. Such a sweet deal

 

[avatar_raq]

This is the holy grail of PC monitors, if only it comes with 120 Hz guaranteed out of the box.

 

[yogalD]

I wish it had a strobe backlight though, that would make it perfect

 

[Durandul]

If it had an option for Display port, that would have been almost perfect. That being said, I use DVI anyway, so who am I to complain.

 

[MonsterCookie]

This is already a step at the good direction. Even the price in $ looks decent.
Question is how much will this cost here in Europe.

Also, now make the same thing happen in a 30" format with 2560x1600 resolution, and than I am definitely opening my wallet.

 

[mapesdhs]

MonsterCookie, alas I doubt that will happen. A few years ago, 1440 and 1600
height monitors were priced basically the same, ie. expensive. Back then, top-end
GPU reviews tended to use 2560x1600 as a typical max res test for gaming. But
then buying patterns evolved, the usual feedback between pricing and demand,
people tended to opt more and more for 1440 displays instead. As a result, when
I wanted to get a 1600 IPS a while ago, I was amazed to find 1600 hieght displays
were about 4X more expensive than 1440 IPS models.

Presumably it suits the industry to home in on a more typical standard, and for
the moment, beyond HD, 2560x1440 seems to be it. Very unlikely the industry has
any interest in pushing 1600 height to the masses, so probably the next main step
up will be to 4K, or as I wish they'd call it instead, quad-HD.

Ian.

 

[ubercake]

The specs look goood, but the key is they don't guarantee 120Hz for all OC monitors:
http://overlordcomputer.com/blogs/news/7384176-the-overclock-overview

It's like hoping you'll get an i7 that will have a stable OC to 4.5Ghz 24/7. It's the luck of the draw.
I don't much like putting my money on hope. If they did have a guarantee or just sold a monitor that shipped to my house with 120Hz capability, I'd be more likely to hand over my cash.

You know darn well they make sure the review site is getting a good one.

 

[daglesj]

So does it work fine at say 90Hz and if so is that an improvement?

 

[npyrhone]

Thanks a million for the review! This will be next monitor. Hallelujah! Lacking a decent non-TN gaming panel, I've played with a pro 24" CRT for all these years.

 

[npyrhone]

A few answers and corrections concerning ideas thrown around in this thread:

1) Yes, This works perfectly at 90Hz. Yes, it is a great improvement. Much greater improvement is 60->90 than 90->120.

2) All monitors are from this day to the future to come 16:9. So, its useless to fancy 16:10 monitors anymore, they wont be coming ever again.

3) 4K 120Hz gaming monitors wont be coming, either. At least not in the foreseeable future.

4) Overclocking this is not luck of the draw. They all come at least 96Hz, and the great majority work 120Hz.

5) The lack of displayport etc is what helps keeping input lag low.

 

[rishiswaz]

I wonder why they don't just have another model with cherry-picked panels that they ship at 120 out of the box

 

[xenol]

An up to 120Hz IPS 1440p IPS monitor for $450?

Dammit HP, where were you last year when I bought a 1440p monitor?

 

[InvalidError]

5) The lack of displayport etc is what helps keeping input lag low.

A synchronous digital multiplexer operating at 1GHz adds maybe two nanoseconds to propagation delays. You would need a horribly poor design for the number of inputs to actually have any measurable effect on lag.

Where displays get most of their input lag from is image processing when they do things like dynamic contrast and power-saving backlighting.

 

[rishiswaz]

I think the lack of display port is cost saving, not really as standard as DVI and probably cheaper to make the ports

 

[jerrolds]

I was the *first* Overlord Tempest OC owner lol - pre-order #8 (1-7 were test orders) back in Aug 2013

Great monitor - back then 1440p 120hz IPS was unheard of, only Catleap 2b monitors were capable. And it was $650 at the time.