AOC CQ27G3Z 27″ Curved Gaming Monitor, QHD 2K 2560×1440, 1000R VA, 240Hz 0.5ms, FreeSync Premium, Height Adjustable Stand, Xbox PS5 Switch, 3-Year Zero-Bright-dot,Black

I have been currently using this monitor for the past two and a half months, and my experience with it has been an interesting one.

Firstly let’s get the specs out of the way. This is one of the cheapest monitors that you can buy that gives you 1440p, 27″, 144Hz refresh rate, Adaptive Sync, and 1ms response time. Most other panels of this quality are around $300 minimum, so getting this for $260 is a steal. In addition, the stand for being a budget monitor is fantastic. Giving you both tilt and height adjustment is unheard of at this range. No corners were cut here. The picture quality is fantastic as well. QHD at 27″ inches is a treat to look at (I was using a TN 1080p 24″ 60Hz monitor before). Also the control quality is fantastic as well. AOC’s promise of a 3-year zero dead pixel warranty and 1-year accidental damage is extremely generous compared to the rest of the competition. If you do encounter a problem you should not worry about your few hundred dollar investment.

Now here are some caveats and issues that I had faced with this monitor in the first month of use. For my PC I am using the AMD RX 5700 graphics card, which has always been prone to driver bugs and issues. During this first month of use, I had times where the monitor would not detect the GPU output and not switch inputs over to the connected HDMI. I would have to reboot the monitor entirely to get it working again. This however has been fixed with the latest AMD Adrenaline driver update. In addition, I had issues with how Adaptive Sync worked with my GPU. The most glaring issue being when I enable a custom GPU fan profile using MSI Afterburner, the monitor would go black for seconds at a time, and would occur every half minute or so. I would need to turn off my custom fan profile and suffer higher GPU temperatures in order to use my monitor. However, the latest AMD GPU driver patch fixed this issue as well. As of now, I have no issues with my PC detecting my monitor or face any strange issues with the display turning on and off.

Aside from driver issues, the usual caveats with VA panels apply to this monitor as well. You have great contrast ratio with the better blacks than IPS or TN, but you do suffer from poorer GTG response times. This can lead to black smearing when your game encounters dark environments. I haven’t noticed this smearing in my own use, however YMMV. Also, the brightness is definitely on the lower side at 250 nits. I would have really appreciated 300 nits minimum. I use this monitor in a dark room so 250 nits is not an issue, but if you use this monitor in a naturally lit environment you may struggle to use this monitor.

Overall, I am extremely satisfied with this monitor, but my first month and a half of ownership of this monitor could have been smoother. Though this was at the fault of my own hardware and not the monitor. I anticipate anyone with an Nvidia GPU would not have face the same issues as I did. If you have a flat budget of $300, I highly recommend this monitor (if it is ever in stock). Otherwise, I would try to stretch the budget to get a brighter IPS gaming monitor.

Good price, good quality, easy to install.

At the moment, it’s hard to beat this monitor (1440p, 144hz) at this price point. The contrast is very good and the colors pop, which is expected from a VA panel. Blacks are excellent, it’s definitely a step up from my second monitor which is a TN panel. It is slightly curved, but not very noticeable, you’ll get used to it fast, I personally like the subtle curve a lot.

This is an excellent monitor for every day use and media consumption, thanks to the contrast.

For gaming, it’s a solid choice. 1440p+144hz is in my opinion the best flavor of gaming, as 4K hasn’t really caught on yet, and the difference between 60hz and 144hz is huge. I’ve not noticed any input lag (I have the monitor overdrive setting set to Strong), fast paced action in dark environments can get a bit ‘smeary’, but overall I enjoy this monitor a lot for the gaming I’ve done, and this coming from someone who previously used a lightning fast 240hz 1080p panel.

This monitor is great for the price but I don’t suggest it for competitive gamers or as a worksration.

The contrast ratio is great, colours are amazing, the curve is cool, and the refresh rate is very nice! Brightness is more than enough for my setup. Had to turn it down quite a bit. The downside is there will be ghosting if you can’t get higher fps. My gpu is not good enough to play 1440p in most games so I set the monitor to 1080p until I upgrade. At higher fps tho the ghosting isn’t very noticeable once you calibrate the monitor.

Adjusting the display settings is a hassle using the buttons but luckily you can download AOC’s g-menu instead. The stand is nice as it lifts and tilts to whatever position needed. The base of the stand is a little long and odd shaped but I like the cable routing and the red highlights throughout the monitor.

overall I’m very happy with the purchase but it won’t be for everyone.

Got this as Used-Acceptable and got lucky. No dead pixels, no scratches no obvious issues.
Not a lot of cosmetic damages as well other than the packaging.
The monitor itself has some weird colors imo though. Looks very saturated even after adjusting the settings to what HardwareUnboxed recommended and has a slightly warm tint to it.
Brightness is fine in my experience, much brighter than my work monitor.
Curve is a bit odd, need some time with it.