I've read tons of pros and cons of this monitor, and was a bit skeptical at first -- but in the end I just bought it and hoped for the best. Originally it was saying delivered, but when I got home from class it was missing -- thankfully I found out my roommate had brought it in for me and just placed it in an area I couldn't see it.
Now, if you're coming from a TN panel you'll probably not like this right off the bat, because you're so used to the washed out colors -- but once you adjust you'll fall in love. I used the settings that someone posted on Reddit (which you can find by searching -> "Acer Predator XB271HU High Accuracy Calibration Settings (Nov 29, 2016)" with the quotation marks) and have no complaints.
You'll have to also download and use an ICM profile, but these are the settings you can edit on your monitor that I used
Option 2 OSD Settings (240 cd/m2):
Picture:
Acer eColor Management: User
Brightness: 65
Contrast: 50
Blue Light: Off
Dark Boost: Off
Adaptive Contrast: 0
Color:
Gamma: 2.2
Colour Temp: User
R Gain: 99
G Gain: 99
B Gain: 98
sRGB Mode: OFF
Saturate: 100
6-axis color: Default settings (50)
Game Mode: ON
Setting:
Input: DP
DTS: ON
OD: Normal
Wide Mode: Full
Over Clock: ON, 165Hz
ULMB: OFF
Power LED: Auto off
Deep Sleep: ON
Information:
Resolution: 2560x1440
Input: DP
Max Refresh Rate: 165Hz
Mode: G-SYNC Mode
Game mode: Settings 1 (FYI you must save your custom settings to Settings 1 before using Settings 1)
With the release of the 1080 Ti and the onset of (semi) affordable single-GPU 4K gaming, I decided it was time to take the plunge into the pixel-dense future. I debated going with a 1440p 144 Hz model, but having experienced 60 Hz 1440p, I decided I preferred higher sharpness over increased smoothness - especially given that my games of choice are slower RPGs and action/adventure games. If I were into twitchier fare such as Battlefield 1 or CS:GO, then this monitor likely wouldn't be as good of a choice. That said, even at 60 Hz, its gaming chops are solid with very low lag and excellent color reproduction thanks to IPS. And, as described below, the inclusion of G-sync is a game changer.
The gaming experience at 4K is, in a word, stunning, especially when coupled with a smooth and fluid 60 fps performance provided by a 1080 Ti (or similarly high-end card). Everything is noticeably sharper and more detailed, and I even found myself noticing little things I hadn't before - e.g., wrinkles on Geralt's face and texture fabrics in the Witcher 3, as one example. The downside is only recent games have been designed with this resolution in mind, so texture detail and UI scaling may not be ideal in older games. That said, with so many pixels at your disposal, dropping to a lower resolution in-game and letting the monitor upscale the image works decently enough too in a pinch.
Of course, gaming at 4K is a workout for any system, even with the 1080 Ti, so the inclusion of G-sync on this monitor is a smart addition for the current limits of 4K gaming. Barring drops to medium settings, most current games will run anywhere from the mid 40 fps range up to 65-70 fps, so G-sync allows you to crank settings to high/ultra and not have to worry about maintaining a locked 60 fps. Without the ugliness of screen tearing or stuttering, everything just feels smoother and more fluid, even when fps aren't holding completely steady. A fantastic addition to the monitor that makes gaming a lot easier to dive into without having to constantly tweak settings.
One tip I discovered, though - G-sync works specifically for when your GPU is outputting *below* the 60 Hz native refresh of the monitor, but when outputting *above* 60 Hz you're still subject to tearing and stuttering, as I discovered when initially I only enabled G-sync itself in the Nvidia control panel. Instead, G-sync is designed to work in combination with a V-sync solution (whether in-game or via Nvidia control panel) in order to provide a completely smooth experience. Once I enabled *both* G-sync and V-sync in the Nvidia control panel, everything was buttery smooth. This likely isn't an issue on 144+ Hz monitors, but since you'll be fluctuating above and below 60 fps on this monitor, it's a must.
Besides gaming, this monitor works very well for general desktop use and productivity, although with the recommended 150% UI scaling in Windows you wind up with identical workspace to a native 1440p monitor (which I think works very well for this size). Unfortunately, while UI scaling is improving it's still not as robust as on Mac computers, so be prepared for small bits of wonkiness.
I'll also say I was a little ambivalent about the 'gamer' aesthetic of this monitor, but it's growing on me over time. I just wish I could get rid of the 'Predator' logo on the front bezel.
At first I was sceptical about getting this because it was a TN and not an IPS panel.
However, after getting it and having it now for a week. I can honestly say that I'm happy I took the chance.
G-SYNC is worth every penny, any shooter game is like night vs day. Really makes all shooters feel completely different, and makes you better as a player.
I've always had a 60hz monitor, some even 4k. I can really see what people mean when they say that 2k gaming at 144hz is the (sweet spot) and I will never go back to 60hz again.
If you are like me, and are concerned that the TN panel will disappoint you. Take it from me, I spent an entire week debating and watching videos.
I'm very happy that I took the chance, if you have any doubts then take my word and go for it.
This is the very first time I have spent this much on a monitor, and I definitely do not regret it.
PROS of XB271HU
• The stand was easy to setup, it feels high quality and moves smoothly. The vertical adjustment was stunningly useful.
• 1440p//IPS are a night-and-day difference over my previous use of 1080p//TN panels.
• IPS bleeding is minimal. The top-right corner of my screen is most affected, but it's not easy to see.
CONS of XB271HU
• At random intervals, the monitor "displaces" a line of pixels from the center of the screen, displaying them on the right edge.
• ACER support says this problem can be sent in for repair. But it feels stupid having to pay $60 in shipping to firmware update a NEW monitor.
• Feels extra stupid because this problem was discovered 2-years before my purchase.
• This bug occurs once or twice per 10 hours, and goes away if you power-cycle the screen.
• At other times, I've noticed a split-second graphical disturbance about 1" long in the center of the screen.
CONCLUSION
• The bugs are minor. But small bugs are hard to swallow on a top-shelf monitor.
• Overall happy with my purchase, but can't give 5-stars to a bug-riddled product.
This is truly the best gaming monitor you can buy hands down. 27 in 2560 x 1440 G-Sync, 1ms response time at 144-165Hz by using the display port. This is the TN technology panel and not the IPS. The IPS can be seen better at side angles but has a response time of 4ms and this is only 1ms. No issues with seeing everything. Spot on. I don't use the built-in monitor speakers since I have Bose speakers or my Sennheiser GAME ONE gaming headset for gaming. The quality of this monitor is superb and truly the top of the line for gaming. Solid sturdy stand the goes up, down, tilts and you can also spin your monitor vertically too (make sure you have a long enough monitor cable to do that)..It's very well package for shipping too. You also get a 3 ft. Display cable, 3 ft. HDMI cable and a 3 ft. USB 3 cable and a special Predator support number if you need it. It also comes with two USB 3 ports on the left side of the panel. Nice. Make sure to read the directions in how to setup things correctly. There are lots of tutorials online on how to setup and turn on G-Sync through Nvidia Control Panel. Make sure to use the Display cable to get the 144+Hz speed etc.
This monitor is truly 10 times better than my previous well known and respected name brand monitor which was also a 27 in 1920 x 1080 with a 5ms response time at 60 Hz. I never thought that this monitor would make such a huge difference in regarding to the speed, detail visually and no tearing or ghosting while gaming. Everything is so smooth with G-Sync technology at 144Hz. It made all of my games look even better like never before. Just amazing and so superior than my other monitor in all aspects period. I'm still shock in how much of a difference this monitor truly makes. I never thought it would have such a huge impact on me but it has with a big smile.
I've read some reviews that didn't favor this monitor or they had some issues. I'm not sure if they were talking about this exact monitor XB271HU Abmiprz. I was a little concerned but, someone I know truly recommended this monitor and told me not to make a mistake and to purchase this monitor if I was using an Invidia graphics card to game or even to do heavy videos etc. I was also looking at other brands but, I'm so happy that I took my friends advice. I can tell you that this Acer Predator is it. Yes, I would purchase another one again without any hesitation at all. If you looking for the best gaming monitor, the Acer 27in Predator MODEL: XB271HU Abmiprz is the one to order. It's worth every penny and you won't even have any buyer’s remorse or be disappointed.
Feature Product
- 27" WQHD (2560 x 1440) Widescreen with NVIDIA G-SYNC Technology
- Refresh Rate: 144Hz (Overclocking to 165Hz) - Using Display Port
- Response Time: 4ms, Pixel Pitch: 0.233mm. Flicker-less Technology-Reduces annoying screen flickering that can cause eye strain when viewing the monitor for long periods.
- 2 x 2W speakers. Brightness: 350 Nit. Panel Technology : In-plane Switching (IPS) Technology. Tilt Angle- -5°to35°.Swivel Angle- 60°. Maximum Adjustable Height- 5.91 Inches
- Signal inputs: 1 x HDMI (V1.4) & 1 x Display port
- Mounting type: VESA Compatibility - Mountable 100 x 100mm
Description
Fasten your seatbelt: Acer's Predator XB271HU WQHD display is about to turbocharge your gaming experience. This monitor combines jaw dropping specs, IPS panel that supports 144Hz refresh rate, delivering an amazing gaming experience. Also, featuring NVIDIA G-SYNC technology to eliminate screen tearing which provide gamers the epic gaming experience and help to secure the victory. Plus, built-in eye protection and ergonomics allow you to press forward into battle without fatigue.
Best monitor I've ever had! The switch from 60hz was astonishing and I will never go back! I was skeptical about 144hz and didn't understand it even with watching dozens of Youtube comparison videos, but when I setup my monitor and played it for the first hour, I was amazed of how butter smooth the experience was.
Pros:
- 1080p with up to 180hz OC which is overkill, but nice on 1080p games that have no frame rate limit and paired with a strong GPU.
- G-Sync which syncs your frame rate to the refresh rate of the monitor makes the experience on all games seamlessly smooth.
- Bezels aren't too thick and the stand is very sturdy with lots of articulation. I also love the slot in the stand which cables go through to have clean cable management.
- No dead pixels on arrival or any other color bleeding.
- Despite being a TN Panel, I was able to calibrate it to have vibrant enough colors for visually appealing experience, see my video and photos.
Cons:
- Stand is really wide and takes up desk space, would of liked a stand like the Asus ROG Swift.
- Buttons aren't labeled and you might accidentally hit the input button which if you plugged both the DP and HDMI port in will switch to one another. Would of been nice to have indicators on the buttons.
- Color calibration was a pain and there's a dozens of forums on the net of settings so its hard to find the best one unless you want to spend an hour calibrating it yourself to your liking. I'm posting mine in the pictures below :)
My System Specs for comparison:
i7 4770 @3.6Ghz
16GB G.SKILL Ripjaws 1600mhz
Samsung 840 EVO 250 SSD
2x 1TB WD Blue Caviars 7200RPM
EVGA Liquid Cooled GTX 1070 Hybrid
Windows 10 Home Edition
So, I had been holding off on buying this monitor for a few years now, but when Amazon briefly lowered the price to $699 I went ahead and pulled the trigger.
I had previously bought the excellent 28" 4K Acer XB280HK about 4 years ago, and while I have been very happy with it, over time there are three things which have become very clear to me:
1. 28" (and certainly 27") is too small for 4K resolution. All the wonderful finer artistic detail that game developers spend so much time putting into their games gets lost because it's just too small at 4K on a 28" screen. Scaling helps a little, but you end up using allot of GPU for little gain.
2. 30" to 31" is probably the sweet spot for 4K monitors IMHO...but larger then that starts to extend past your natural peripheral vision so that you either have to move your neck to view all of the screen, or set the monitor further back, in which case see item #1.
3. The narrower viewing angle found on the TN panel of my previous Acer didn't bother me...until I went back and used my older IPS panels. The TN had outstanding sharpness when viewed directly on, but it's not as comfortable on the eyes and there is subtle overhead in staying properly positioned.
At first glance the Acer Predator XB321HK seems to address all these concerns by virtue of being a 32" IPS panel. Unfortunately the historic cost of the screen wasn't consistent with the reviews. If you are going to plop down over >$1K then it should darn near be perfect, but at $699 I was willing to take a gamble instead of waiting for higher frequency versions which are almost certainly in the pipeline (and possibly the reason for the price reduction which suggests an attempt at lowering inventory).
The two consistently reported issues with the monitor are IPS glow and occasional flicker. I didn't perform an "IPS Glow Test" because if I don't notice it under normal usage, then it doesn't really matter...and seeing it exist in a scenario which I don't naturally encounter would be a bit like that annoying sound you don't notice until someone points it out.
I'll modify and update this review if I encounter the flicker...the box my XB321HK came in said that it was made in April of 2018, so my hope is that they have updated the firmware or otherwise modified the monitor to resolve the issue, but who knows? As of now the monitor seems to be precisely what I hoped for.
UPDATE: After using this for months now I finally have encountered the "flicker". The frequency of occurrence seems to come and go....I won't see it happen at all after days of gaming and then I'll get a few every hour for a few hours. It also seems to occur in relation to certain major "transitions" in the monitor display, like going from a load screen to the next, rather then while I'm actively using it. It seems kind of like that quick flicker you sometimes get when you change a monitors resolution. It hasn't been frequent enough to quite rise to the level of annoyance (yet....).
I think this is the best competitive first person shooter monitor available to date. Perhaps next year we get 240hz at 2560x1440 along with Nvidia's Volta graphics cards but until then this is it. I tried the Asus PG258Q but it was a downgrade from the Asus PG278QR, which is 165hz at 2560x1440 and 27 inches. Despite the 240hz refresh rate of the 258 I couldn't see very well on it and my performance suffered greatly.
I was pleasantly surprised by this Acer monitor in contrast. It isn't only bigger, its picture quality, for whatever reason, seems superior to me too. So it came down to the refresh rate as I didn't find myself significantly disadvantaged by the overall quality of what I was seeing. 240hz from 165hz probably isn't as big of a jump in effect as 144hz from 60hz but the difference is there. I don't have the precise terms to describe it but if you thought 144hz is the human limit for perceiving smooth motion you're simply mistaken. It's one thing to not want to spend the money for a monitor like this, it's something else to incorrectly claim there is virtually no difference.
If you have a serious mindset for competitive first person shooters I don't think you'll regret buying this monitor. In the future I'm inclined to stick with Acer as well. G-sync is too important for multiple reasons to favor BenQ (by capping your frame rate at 237 you can play any game more or less free of tearing and with seemingly negligible to no extra input lag), which like Asus doesn't have a 27-inch version of 240hz. This is the one 240hz monitor at a good size for me, with a good picture, G-sync, and without an obnoxious Republic of Gamers tax with anything but a justification for it. Well done.
By the way, the regular price is $680. Don't buy over it.
If you are on the fence, buy it! For the first time I went kind of "all in" with a desktop gaming computer. I got a 7700k and gtx 1080 8gb with 32gb of ram. I started playing on my original asus 1ms 60hz monitor that I've had since 2014. The games were beautiful and performed well over 60fps. Well, I wanted to take advantage of that. So I did a lot of research. I was about to drop $499 on Dell's 2k 1ms gsync monitor. But then I realized I didn't want to play in 2k since that would impact my fps in a negative way.
So I finally started digging in the 1080 144hz gsync options. I was afraid going from 27 inches to 24 inches would hurt, but 24 inches is actually the perfect size for a gaming monitor imo!
So being a noob, I followed instructions, set my monitor to 144hz, and booted up overwatch (which I usually get around 120fps on ultra). Started playing and was like "Ehhhh I guess it looks good, but I don't really see the difference." Then I finally realized (like I said, Im a noob at this), you needed to change the settings in game for 144hz. When I did that, man I was blown away. Instantly saw the difference jumping from 60hz to 144hz. The clarity is REAL, Gsync is REAL. Such smooth gameplay that I have been missing out on playing in the console world for so long. I'm never going back!
I also played bf4 and PUBG on this and it is a beautiful experience. I can't emphasize enough how awesome it feels gaming on this level.
To be honest, I have never experienced 2k or 4k gaming. But I would much rather prefer playing 120+fps on 144hz 1080p monitor with ultra settings. Than to have to dumb down my graphics to achieve high fps on a 2k or 4k monitor.
The stand is super high quality with a nice red finish. The monitor itself is super solid.
Cons: The speakers are laughably quiet, but I use headphones anyways lol.
Before I bought this monitor I remember playing on a high end rig at Fortress PC when I was a kid and I've been searching to find out why it was such a buttery smooth experience playing on that machine. I thought it was the absurdly high end hardware of the machines but it wasn't just that, it was the monitor. I've been gaming for over a decade and a half, PC gaming for about a half of that, and until I bought this monitor a few months ago its all been 1080p 60 Hz or less. The upgrade to 1440p 144 Hz was incredible. The clarity of 1440p is mind blowing and 144 Hz refresh rate nearly makes me erect (no shame). Playing games at 144 Hz like Overwatch or Fortnite is just something else and you need to see it to fully appreciate it. Is it worth all the money it costs to do it? If you can afford it absolutely. My shooting skills have gone up considerably with the increased refresh rate and quality. If you can't afford it just yet just wait, the prices will drop as technology advances in a few years this monitor may only cost $300.
And all of that wasn't even including the awesomeness that is Gsync. Gsync is Vsync but on drugs. It matches your refresh rate of your monitor and gpu so that what you see is what is actually happening without any input lag that you normally get with Vsync. I hope the cost of Gsync goes down in the future but even now I think its worth it because playing less optimized or intense games like Hunt: Showdown, where I get 45 fps the game still FEELS and looks like it runs at 60 fps and that increases the quality of games immeasurably. Even if you can't run 1440p 144 Hz yet with your computer hardware this monitor is a good investment because those games you can't get high framerates will feel so much better.
If you can't afford the 1440p 144 Hz version, I still highly recommend the 1080p 144 Hz version because the framerate and Gsync are what make this monitor so good, and why I can't go back to sub 100 fps monitors anymore. 10/10 would get aroused playing games again.
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