ViewSonic XG2703-GS QHD G-Sync Monitor Review

[ceberle]

ViewSonic’s XG2703-GS is a QHD panel with AHVA technology, 165Hz, G-Sync, ULMB, and slick styling. Let's see how it measures up to the competition in our tests.

ViewSonic XG2703-GS QHD G-Sync Monitor Review : Read more

 

[dstarr3]

"120Hz ULMB... 1440p IPS panel... looking good so far..."
*checks price*
"Sigh... Figures..."

 

[Sam Hain]

Ditch that 1970's avocado green accent color! Why for?

 

[Dantte]

Slow, glows like it was built in a nuclear test zone, and no contrast to speak of. But hey, your red is very red, your blue is very blue, your green is very green, and if you stare at your monitor from the side (cause thats how everyone is doing it); IPS is the monitor for you!

 

[10tacle]

So who makes the actual panel? LG? Samsung? Regarding the price, I see it on Amazon and NewEgg right now for $650 (US). Considering I paid over $500 for my Dell U2713HM 27" 1440p 60Hz IPS monitor back in 2013, I'd say this is an excellent bargain.

Regarding out of box calibration, you can buy a very good monitor calibration tool like Datacolor's SpyderCHECKR 24 for $50. Well worth the investment if you care about color accuracy on not only your PC and laptop monitors, but your HDTVs.

 

[10tacle]

Never mind, I found the answer on another website's review. The panel is made by AU Optronics (merger of Acer Display Technology and Unipac Optoelectronics). Going forward on monitor reviews can you guys please include information on who makes the panel?

 

[coolitic]

3H AG is awful for any high-quality monitor and the low brightness will make ULMB subpar.

 

[bentonsl_2010]

If you read the article you would of seen that they stated the panel is made by AU Optronics

 

[the nerd 389]

Just curious: why do you calibrate to a gamma of 2.2?

The sRGB standard, IEC 61966-2-1:1999, varies between 1.0 and 2.4 across the output range. I understand that the decision to write the standard in that way stems from how the CRTs of the day responded, so it may not apply to LCD screens.

 

[InvalidError]

*checks price*
"Sigh... Figures..."

Don't expect G-sync to get significantly cheaper any time soon as Nvidia has a monopoly over the proprietary scaler it requires. The joys of single-vendor proprietary standards.

 

[10tacle]

If you read the article you would of seen that they stated the panel is made by AU Optronics

I did not read the first part of the conclusion page which is where it is referenced. So it was my bad. Still, I would expect that info to be mentioned in the introduction page, not the conclusion page.

 

[templarklimek]

Gents educate me on this. I just bought a 70" samsung 4K tv as a monitor. 120 refresh rate. It's HUGE and a wonderful display. $1100.00(returned to microcenter). Why not use 40-65 inch TV'S? Thanks

 

[KrazedMaddy]

templarklimek said:
"Gents educate me on this. I just bought a 70" samsung 4K tv as a monitor. 120 refresh rate. It's HUGE and a wonderful display. $1100.00(returned to microcenter). Why not use 40-65 inch TV'S? Thanks"

My experience with tv's is that most don't have display port. So running 1440p at 120hz won't work with HDMI. You won't even get 4k at 60hz. That means at 4k you will get a max of 30hz on HDMI and it won't be a great regular experience with a computer attached. Also the other problem is contrast and color accuracy. Many of these TV's and monitors have poor contrast and color which may not seem important until you use one that is good and realize you don't want to go back to poor quality.

 

[Gillerer]

Gents educate me on this. I just bought a 70" samsung 4K tv as a monitor. 120 refresh rate. It's HUGE and a wonderful display. $1100.00(returned to microcenter). Why not use 40-65 inch TV'S? Thanks

TVs advertized as "120 Hz" don't usually accept 120 Hz input, but only 60 Hz and then interpolate every other frame displayed to achieve the 120 Hz.

Some brands even go as far as advertizing "SpecialProprietarySmoothMotion(TM) (or whatever) 240 Hz", where in reality they only accept 60 Hz input, interpolate to 120 Hz, and then use various motion smoothing techniques that (according to the marketing) will achieve motion fluidity comparable to real 240 Hz video.

Common to both the above cases is that TVs have various techniques in place that are meant to smoothen the motion of video, but at the same time increase response time in interactive use (user input affects what happens on the screen), which doesn't work well for fast-paced gaming. Some TVs have a game mode that may have less processing to reduce the latency.

Neither G-Sync or FreeSync/DisplayPort Adaptive Sync are used in TVs (and they usually don't have DisplayPort), so this makes them inferior when dealing with fast-paced games.

 

[templarklimek]

templarklimek said:
"Gents educate me on this. I just bought a 70" samsung 4K tv as a monitor. 120 refresh rate. It's HUGE and a wonderful display. $1100.00(returned to microcenter). Why not use 40-65 inch TV'S? Thanks"

My experience with tv's is that most don't have display port. So running 1440p at 120hz won't work with HDMI. You won't even get 4k at 60hz. That means at 4k you will get a max of 30hz on HDMI and it won't be a great regular experience with a computer attached. Also the other problem is contrast and color accuracy. Many of these TV's and monitors have poor contrast and color which may not seem important until you use one that is good and realize you don't want to go back to poor quality.

Thank you, but the samsung will let you run@60HZ@4K. I agree on many TV's not looking crisp though. The samsung has a "crisp/bright mode. Just think 70 inch monitor.

 

[Gillerer]

Thank you, but the samsung will let you run@60HZ@4K. I agree on many TV's not looking crisp though. The samsung has a "crisp/bright mode. Just think 70 inch monitor.

I have to say 70 inches is far too large to use as a monitor (meaning within ~1 meter viewing distance). The angle between the edges of the monitor becomes so large that you can't view the entire display at a glance. Essentially having a tunnel vision is especially bad if you're playing competetive multiplayer games.

The pixels on a 70 inch 4K UHD TV become distractingly large if viewed from monitor use distances. The pixel size is the same as on a 35" FullHD display.

 

[dstarr3]

Gents educate me on this. I just bought a 70" samsung 4K tv as a monitor. 120 refresh rate. It's HUGE and a wonderful display. $1100.00(returned to microcenter). Why not use 40-65 inch TV'S? Thanks

TVs advertized as "120 Hz" don't usually accept 120 Hz input, but only 60 Hz and then interpolate every other frame displayed to achieve the 120 Hz.

This. I don't know if I've ever heard of a TV that natively accepted a true 120Hz signal.

 

[ledhead11]

Not a fan of NV G-Sync tax, but with my P27q and 1080ti it's a perfect match. Really is a experience to see ultra settings w/ 80-130fps and no tearing. Reminds of those old school games from the 80-90's when tearing wasn't really a thought. And BTW at 4k tearing can make you dizzy so 1440p G-Sync can feel really nice.

That being said I'm at least happy that other companies are coming forward with some competition. Might help lower some prices in the future.

Thank's Toms for the review!

 

[Co BIY]

The verdict seemed positive but no TH 'approved' stamp?

 

[xXBananasXx]

Is this monitor better than the asus pg279q or the acer xh271hu?

 

[zodiacfml]

There should be a brief discussion between AMVA and AHVA which I have to search for. AHVA is nice for ultrawides or those exceeding 27" diagonals but I prefer AMVA for the physical dimensions of this screen.

 

[Nikaki]

What's the white point with the calibrated settings? I've set mine to the same values, but it looks way too warm. Looks like close to 5000K.

 

[Nikaki]

What's the white point of the calibrated settings? I've set mine to the same settings, but it looks way too warm. 5000K-ish or so.

 

[beshonk]

This monitor is $150 less than its competitors and your review was positive, minus a couple dings, some of which are shared between the other similarly specced monitors. Where's your value award, or recommendation?

 

[SkyBill40]

I've eyeballed this monitor for a long time now and was hoping and waiting for a review to justify the steep asking price should I make the jump seeing that I just bought a 1080. Looks like the wait is going to be worth it and quite the upgrade from my still outstanding but long in the tooth Samsung SyncMaster 245. 60Hz and 1920*1200 just doesn't cut it anymore and especially not with that new beast occupying my case.