Iiyama G-Master GB2760QSU-B1 review: A competitive gamer’s dream?
With 144Hz at 1440p and a fast response time, this is a monitor for competitive gamers – but image quality isn’t the greatest
Pros
- 144Hz refresh rate at 1440p
- Ultra-responsive panel with minimal ghosting
- Excellent design
Cons
- Terrible colour accuracy
- Poor contrast ratio
Gamers demand a lot from their monitors. Any screen worthy of an avid gamer needs to provide a delicate blend of pixel-perfect image quality, responsiveness and super-smooth refresh rates – and it also ideally needs to provide the kind of colour accuracy and wide contrast ratios which will make the most of anything from CounterStrike to Photoshop right through to the latest Blurays. Now, it’s Iiyama’s turn to step up to the plate with the 27in G-Master GB2760QSU-B1 – a gaming monitor which nudges just below the £400 mark.
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Iiyama G-Master GB2760QSU-B1 review: What you need to know
The GB2760QSU-B1 is aimed at competitive gamers looking to get the edge on the battlefield and it ticks all the right boxes. It has a 1440p 27in TN panel, 144Hz refresh rate and quoted 1ms response time.
This makes it ideal for competitive gamers playing fast-paced shooters such as Counter-Strike: Global Offensive and Overwatch. Its stand and three-sided borderless design make it an attractive monitor, too.
Iiyama G-Master GB2760QSU-B1 review: Price and competition
The GB2760QSU-B1 can be picked up for around £370. This puts it up against the AOC AGON AG271QX at £420, Acer XG270HU at £380 and BenQ XL2730 at £470, which all use TN panels and run at 1440p.
If you exchange a TN panel for a more colour-accurate IPS panel, other options open up; my pick here would be the incredibly impressive Acer XF270HUA and ASUS MG279Q, which both cost around £500.
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Iiyama G-Master GB2760QSU-B1 review: Design, features and build quality
The GB2760QSU-B1 has a three-sided borderless design, which is much sleeker than the chunky bezels found on the BenQ XL2730.
The stand is excellent. It provides tilt, pivot, rotate and height adjustments and if you can replace it with a 100 x 100mm VESA stand if you need more flexibility. Unlike the AOC AGON AG271QX there’s no headphone arm on the side, which is little disappointing, but not a deal breaker.
For connectivity, there are DisplayPort, HDMI and DVI inputs and, on the left-hand side, two USB 3 ports for extending your computer’s data connection. There’s a 3.5mm jack output, too.
The onscreen display looks rather primitive, but it does everything you need it to, and you can save your settings to three custom profiles, which can be useful if you’re switching between games.
The Iiyama G-Master GB2760QSU-B1 supports AMD FreeSync technology, which delivers tear-free gaming with compatible AMD graphics cards. And the range of refresh rates you can use FreeSync with is impressive, too: 50-144Hz over HDMI and 48-144Hz over DisplayPort. If you have an Nvidia graphics card, you’ll have to settle for V-Sync, but that adds unwanted input lag.
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Iiyama G-Master GB2760QSU-B1 review: Image quality
Iiyama’s 27in TN panel runs natively at 2,560 x 1,440 with a 144Hz refresh rate. There’s no sRGB mode in the menus, so I conducted my tests with the monitor set to Normal.
Image quality is below-par and you don’t need a colorimeter to see that. The contrast ratio and colour accuracy are both disappointing.
In technical testing, the G-Master’s numbers also look mediocre. It achieves a contrast ratio of only 737:1 and an average Delta E (colour accuracy) of 3.41 (lower is better). It’s outclassed by the AOC AG271QX, which achieves a contrast ratio of 1,078:1 and an average Delta E of 0.8, and its 87.7% sRGB gamut coverage is also disappointing, with the AOC achieving 96.5%.
On the plus side, the monitor is bright at a tested 406cd/m², which means you won’t have any trouble viewing it in a bright, sunlit room.
Iiyama G-Master GB2760QSU-B1 review: Gaming performance
The G-Master’s image quality is nothing to write home about, but gaming performance is quite the opposite. With a 1440p panel running at 144Hz, the GB2760QSU-B1 is great for avid gamers. Better still, with its low perceived input lag and response time, it’s an excellent choice for competitive gamers.
With Overdrive set to +2 through the onscreen display, there’s minimal inverse ghosting (purple haze), which is somewhat of a rarity in sub-£400 1440p gaming monitors. By comparison, the AOC AG271QX suffers from noticeable ghosting that’s unpleasant to look at.
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Iiyama G-Master GB2760QSU-B1 review: Verdict
The Iiyama G-Master GB2760QSU-B1 is badly let down by its image quality, particularly colour accuracy, which is a shame because its gaming performance is fantastic. This is an ultra-responsive monitor that, without the weak points, would be a great choice for keen and competitive gamers.
As it stands, I’d recommend the AOC AG271QX over the Iiyama. It might not be quite as good as the Iiyama for gaming, but it has superior image quality and that, for me, makes it a far stronger all-rounder.