HP 27-inch QHD Gaming with Tilt/Height Adjustment with AMD FreeSync Premium Technology (X27q, 2021 model)

For the price this is the best budget gaming monitor. You cant go wrong

This is a very new 165Hz gaming monitor and as such there unfortunately isnt many reviews for it out there so I decided Id write a few words regarding my experience with it thus far. I have been using the HP X27q for a few days now and so far I absolutely love it. The screen is absolutely beautiful and in my personal opinion it feels like 27 seems to be a pretty good sweet spot for the QHD (2560 x 1440) resolution that this monitor provides. The Height Adjustment mechanism is very smooth as well. It was very easy to setup and it came with a DisplayPort cable in the box which was a nice bonus. For my use case I mostly use the monitor connected via DisplayPort to my desktop computer with an AMD graphics card. However, I did temporarily connect it to my gaming laptop which uses Nvidia and while the monitor uses AMD FreeSync Premium and isnt listed as G-Sync compatible I manually enabled G-Sync within the Nvidia software on my laptop and it seemed to work just fine in my limited testing. (I should note that the G-Sync option will only appear when the monitor is connected via the DisplayPort.) I also tested my laptop connected to the monitor’s HDMI port using a premium Cable Matters HDMI cable and was getting a 144Hz refresh rate at the maximum resolution in the few games that I tested. The only very minor annoyance that I have is that you have to reach your hand around the back of the right side of the monitor to access the controls.

I got this for $210 which for what it is, was an excellent deal. I ended up ordering a second and one was the LG panel and the other was the BOE panel. I really dont see a difference between the 2 panels. Yeah theres the usual IPS glow and if I am being super critical, the LG one has a little more glow on the top left than the BOE panel, but its totally acceptable for this price. The black frame insertion performance is great and the response time set to 2 looks perfect. The HDR looked super clipped and blown out no matter the settings on my PS5, but I didnt get this monitor for that feature. I wish VRR was supported on the PS5 for this one, but at least it works on the PC and Xbox consoles. I highly recommend this screen if you see it on sale and need a gaming monitor.

Amazon gave me a huge hassle not letting me replace the broken monitor they sent. BOE Panel. Theyd only allow a return. Finally able to order a replacement after my account suddenly changed the return options. This one is a working LG panel. So far a massive improvement and working well. If you want to take the gamble, it may be worth it, but it was over 2 weeks of headache.

This is a great monitor I have no complaints. Edit 5/29/23 Ive started noticing some flickering issue with certain games when I have free sync enabled and am getting more fps than the refresh rate. So for example its noticeable in some games menus where fps can just basically sky rocket into the hundreds easily if its not capped, there is some flickering. Most modern games have a fps cap when at the main menus but not all. I cant say its an issue for me but maybe something to consider if your looking into this monitor.

It looks worse on camera but this monitor has some pretty bad glow when the monitor is dark. This can be mitigated by turning down the brightness but doesnt solve the issue. All IPS glow so i might go back to a TN monitor.

I am not particularly impressed by the colors and it is not a very bright monitor. The picture does look good (I am used to just a 1080p monitor and the difference is noticeable) but with monitors you get what you pay for. Overall it is a nice size and clear image but if you are looking for something “vibrant” and “bright” you may need to look at monitors at least in the $300+ range.

The only thing that I’ve noticed is some kinda of a white glow when the screen goes dark I normally notice when I’m watching movies and stuff but other than that it doesn’t disturb me to the point I can’t watch I knew what I was buying so it doesn’t bother me, if your looking for a budget monitor 120frames, 1440p and compatible with next gen this is the way to go!

Ive received six of these so far – a mix of the LIM111 (1x), LIM101 (1x), and BIM111 (4x) revisions. Both LIM revisions appear identical in all aspects that I can see, while the BIM revisions have some serious quality differences. See attached photos for a comparison (LIM on left and BIM on right). The stock color difference is not as extreme as it looks, thats just distortion on camera due to the anti-glare coating, its only roughly half as bad. LIM111/LIM101 (LG): • No flickering • Good anti-glare coating and no visible graininess • Beautiful and vibrant color • Strong and accurate whites/grays • Great viewing angles • Moderate IPS glow BIM111 (BOE): • Flickers a lot (more on that below) • Excessive anti-glare coating that causes visible graininess on the screen • Weaker color vibrancy • Weaker whites/grays • Poor viewing angles • Minimal IPS glow For those who have a mix of BIM and LIM revisions, I recommend trying out custom RGB on both – (245, 255, 255) on LIM and (255, 255, 255) on BIM. Theres still a noticeable difference, you cant get them to match without drastically hurting color accuracy on LIM, but its a decent improvement. Do not install an ICC profile on the BIM revisions unless its specifically tuned for it. 3 of the 4 BOE panels that I received flicker, including replacements from different warehouses. The flickering is like a momentary 20-30% drop in brightness, and it happens in batches of 2-3 times over the course of several seconds, generally reoccurring every 5-30 minutes. I couldnt find any settings that helped, including reducing the refresh rate and disabling adaptive sync, nor swapping the cables with a LIM panel that didnt flicker. It seems like theres possibly a flicker lottery going on here too...

I personally love this monitor. I dont really have much to say. Pros: - Affordable. Can get it on sale for a steal. - Decent color accuracy out of box. - Brightness is pretty decent. - Comes with both HDMI and DisplayPort cables out of the box. Which is uncommon in my experience. Cons: - No USB hub. - This monitor has a display lottery. You may get one of two types of panels. People online argue a lot about which one is better, but realistically both will suit the needs of most buyers. However, if youre very picky (or rely a lot on reviews) its iffy on whether or not itll apply to your purchase, since most reviews are only based on one panel type or the other. All panels are still IPS, still 1440p, still 165hz. the difference is mostly color accuracy and color grading. Look into it if that concerns you, otherwise I can pretty much assure you that the experience will be solid.