Monitors, and gaming monitors, in particular, have been a topic of conversation for quite some time. What is best? what is better? Do I get a 1080p monitor with a 240Hz refresh rate, or 1440p with 144Hz. HDR? Response time. If you have lost me completely I don’t blame you. With 4K gaming becoming more of a thing now with the latest generation of consoles claiming to be able to run 4k gaming at high refresh rates, the monitor field has been kicked into overdrive, seeing a magnitude of new monitors flooding the market claiming to be able to do it all. I have been fortunate enough to get my hands on a wide variety of gaming monitors, ultrawide, 1440p, 4K, 240Hz, I have used them.
So when Aorus, the gaming division of Gigabyte, dropped the very angelic-looking AORUS-FI27Q-P Tactical Monitor on my desk I thought I was going to be reviewing just another monitor… Boy oh boy was I wrong!
Technical specs
Panel Type / Backlight | AAS-IPS / W-LED, edge array |
Screen Size / Aspect Ratio | 27 inches / 16:9 |
Max Resolution & Refresh Rate | 2560×1440 @ 165Hz, FreeSync Premium: 48-165Hz, G-Sync Compatible |
Native Color Depth & Gamut | 10-bit / DCI-P3, HDR10, VESA DisplayHDR 400 |
Response Time (GTG) | 1ms |
Brightness | SDR: 350 nits, HDR: 400 nits |
Contrast | 1,000:1 |
Speakers | X |
Video Inputs | 1x DisplayPort 1.2, 2x HDMI 2.0 |
Audio | 3.5mm input, 3.5mm headphone output |
USB 3.0 | 1x up, 2x down |
Power Consumption | 28w, brightness @ 200 nits |
Panel Dimensions (WxHxD w/base) | 612 x 434-561 x 236mm |
Panel Thickness | 61mm |
Bezel Width | Top/sides: 8mm; Bottom: 26mm |
Weight | 8kg |
Warranty | 3 years |
High-end monitors need high-end PCs and graphics cards to push the magnitude of pixels around and with the current price of graphics cards, unless you have a spare organ to sell, sticking to the GPU you have seems like the more logical option. Gigabyte’s Aorus FI27Q-P is the sweet spot when it comes to performance with a resolution of 1440p running on a 27inch on an IPS panel, 1ms response time, 165Hz refresh rate, G-Sync, HDR400, and 10-bit processing, what a mouthful. Looking back at those features makes you realize what a monster Gigabyte’s Aorus FI27Q-P tactical gaming monitor really is. Is it the best gaming monitor we have reviewed? Keep reading!
Design
Gigabyte is not messing about when it comes to the Aorus FI27Q-P monitor. It is ready to take on the competition in both style and performance. The panel casing, arm, and base stand all feature sharp and straight lines which give it a very modern feel. The foot piece is made from brushed aluminium and gives a very firm base while keeping the footprint as small as possible. The stand is a mixture of hard plastic and some metal with some RGB infused. On top of the base stand, the metal makes a loop that works great for a carry handle, seeing as the Aorus FI27Q-P comes in at a respectable 8kg it is handy to have a handle to move it without getting fingerprints on the panel. The mentioned RGB is built into the sides and back of the stand, as well as the rear of the monitor itself. In the centre of the stand, facing the rear is the proud Aorus logo which looks immense when the RGB lighting runs through it.
Although the box says the Aorus FI27Q-P monitor is frameless, exactly like any other brand, there is still a very thin bezel that sits on the sides and the top of the panel. The bottom of the panel is a plain matte black plastic finish with a single small LED to indicate power status, as well as a gloss AORUS name, would be cool if it could be RGB as well, but that’s just me. Aorus has even incorporated an anti-glare on the screen by adding a layer of 3H hardness and even with curtains open and light streaming onto the Aorus FI27Q-P monitor, it did not bother me one bit. I did use it as my excuse for being terrible at Warzone though, sorry Aorus FI27Q-P monitor! On the underneath of the monitor, there is a small joystick that is used to control the OSD. The OSD interface is extremely intuitive and anyone will be able to grasp the concept of how to use it, instantly.
When it comes to the movements of the Aorus FI27Q-P monitor, Gigabyte has once again smashed it out of the park. The Aorus FI27Q-P monitor has the standard up and down movement that slides along the base stand, the panel can also tilt to a maximum of 21 degrees, but the surprise is the ability for it to swivel thanks to the four-way joint built into the upright stand, a full 20-degree swivel, wonderful! With the substantial weight that comes with the Aorus FI27Q-P monitor, movements are often tough to make and even worse to maintain. Fortunately, the Aorus FI27Q-P monitor does both of these perfectly. The movements are easy and light while staying exactly where you left it.
Moving to the IO of the Aorus FI27Q-P monitor we are met with two HDMI 2.0 inputs, great for the PIP feature. A single Display Port 1.2, to obtain high resolution and refresh rate. Two 3.5mm jacks for input and output of analog audio. Two USB 3.0 ports, one for upstream and one for downstream. We cannot think of anything more we could possibly want, if we were to be critical, we have seen USB type C ports on monitors but the monitor in question was nearly three times the price of the Aorus FI27Q-P monitor and didn’t get us nearly as excited as the Aorus FI27Q-P monitor.
Features
The very first thing I noticed when I started using the Aorus FI27Q-P monitor was just how vibrant the colours were. Usually, I would tweak review monitors to where I like the colours to be, but, straight out of the box, the Aorus FI27Q-P monitor hit the sweet spot. This is thanks to Aorus taking immense pride in trying to cover as much of the DCI-P3 colour range as possible, and it shows. The Aorus FI27Q-P monitor has HDR400, which means that when HDR is enabled it should still reach or exceed 400nits of brightness. Something that also sets the Aorus FI27Q-P monitor apart from many other monitors is the 10bit native bandwidth, although there is an 8bit version, this means that HDR signals are not converted to match what the monitor can output as in the case of an 8-bit monitor, hence the high colour volume.
Gigabyte and Aorus have crammed the Aorus FI27Q-P monitor full of so many features, another one of our favorites, and Aorus Exclusive is the Black Equalizer 2.0. Other monitors will create deep and dark black colours by generally turning all the colours and brightness down. Not the Aorus FI27Q-P monitor, no, Black Equalizer 2.0 is capable of, independently, adjusting 1296 partitions of black at the same time without affecting the areas of the monitor
Active Noise Cancelling 2.0 is yet another feature that Aorus has brought to the Aorus FI27Q-P monitor. The Aorus FI27Q-P monitor provides an output for headphones with an output of up to 120dB Signal-to-Noise ratio. This is amazing considering the audio is being output by a monitor and not straight from the motherboard where you would traditionally get your audio from. What makes this feature even more impressive is that thanks to some serious tech being squeezed into the monitor, the audio output is capable of driving headphones up to the impedance of 600 ohms, something that you would usually see in big, stand-alone amplifiers. Yet another Aorus exclusive!
OSD sidekick is one of the features that I did not know I needed. OSD Sidekick is the ability for you to change the settings in the Aorus FI27Q-P monitor OSD not only by using the joystick fitted to the monitor but by using your mouse and keyboard. Aorus also claims that it will provide further updates to the OSD Sidekick and even protection, I am intrigued to find out what they mean by that. One thing is for certain, we all hate fiddling our way through a cumbersome OSD, Aorus has already helped by making the OSD on the Aorus FI27Q-P monitor very user friendly, but now being able to use your mouse and keyboard to easily move through the OSD, even setting up keyboard shortcuts to change settings, now that is revolutionary.
For the gamers who mainly focus on first-person shooters, Aorus has crammed some goodies into the Aorus FI27Q-P monitor for you as well. First up is the Aim stabilizer, when you are running and gunning in your favorite shooter, you will often notice blurring from the recoil of a shot or trying to aim while firing your gun, turning off motion blur in the settings usually helps a slight bit, but thanks to Aorus, the FI27Q-P monitor can now give you the added advantage of reducing the motion blur even more and enhancing the visual clarity to ensure you have the best chance of landing that shot! The next feature that most shooter enthusiasts will relish is Crosshair, not only does the Aorus FI27Q-P monitor offer an on-screen crosshair, no, you can even draw your own and use that on the monitor!
Lastly, but definitely not the least, is PiP and PbP, picture in picture and picture by picture are a feature that the Aorus FI27Q-P monitor provides for users who want to be able to watch a game guide whilst playing the game, for example. The feature allows for a second input to be displayed on the same monitor as what you are currently watching. Different inputs, one screen, at the same time. Want to switch to the other input audio, simply flick between them with the OSD joystick. The one final feature that is handy for any gamer who loses track of time is the USB fast charger. The Aorus FI27Q-P monitor has an embedded SUPERSPEED USB Charger which will provide 5V with 1.5A to give your device that much-needed boost!
Hands-on experience
Taking the Aorus FI27Q-P monitor into some gaming felt great. We jumped between a few titles like Fortnite, for the bright and vibrant colours, Fall Guys, because my 4-year-old forced me, and the dark and gritty environments of Escape from Tarkov. Starting off with SDR games and we were totally blown away by the vividness of the colours and contrast. The dark and gritty environment of Escape From Tarkov becomes increasingly more eery. In a game where your senses are heightened due to the fear of death and so much relying on what you can see and hear. Making your environment more realistic and gritty, does not help to make life easier, yet it makes the game look SO good! Dark corners in Factory become true nightmarish areas as, unless you turn your brightness up immensely, is there someone sitting and watching you in the shadows, who knows?! The colourful titles such as Fortnite and Fall Guys look absolutely tremendous on the Aorus FI27Q-P monitor. With HDR turned on and off, the massive colour palette that the Aorus FI27Q-P monitor can produce gives any title that extra pop.
Verdict
We have been fortunate to experience many of the latest and greatest monitors as they arrive on the market. And secretly we have our dream monitor, if not a specific monitor but a few features that we would love. All of that has fallen by the wayside with the Aorus FI27Q-P monitor. The Aorus FI27Q-P monitor is the very best 1440p 27-inch monitor we have ever had the privilege of reviewing. The extremely large colour gamut as well as its high refresh rate sets the Aorus FI27Q-P monitor apart from the other monitors we have seen. Yes, you can get a 4K monitor or a 32″ or even bigger, but the Aorus FI27Q-P monitor represents the perfect middle-ground between what gamers want and what is reasonably affordable.
If someone asked me to choose a 27-inch gaming monitor, I would not hesitate to choose the Aorus FI27Q-P monitor. In a crowded genre of 27-inch monitors where competition is extremely tight, the Aorus FI27Q-P monitor gives enough to give it our crown of the 27-inchers!
special thanks to Gigabyte South Africa for the review item