Best 144-165hz 1440p Monitors with Free-Sync
Official G-Sync compatible AMD Free-Sync Monitor List
Curved VA panels have less sharp text than AHVA/IPS/PLS and TN panels:
IBXT Curved C24FG70 VA Text Blur AnalysisPC Monitors Curved VA Panel Text Blur AnalysisList
of cards which support Free-Sync.
1.) Acer Nitro VG270UP (40-144hz AMD Free-Sync & 120hz back-light strobing = Visual Boost Response); AHVA version
1.) Eizo FS2735 (48-144hz AMD Free-Sync & back-light strobing) AHVA; from 2015
1.) Acer XF270HUA bmiidprzx (30-144hz AMD Free-Sync) AHVA
2.) LG 27GL850 (48-144hz AMD Free-Sync) LG IPS
2.) LG 27GL83A (48-144hz AMD Free-Sync) LG IPS
2.) Pixio PX7 Prime (20-144hz AMD Free-Sync) IPS type
2.) ViewSonic VX2758-2KP-MHD (20-144hz AMD Free-Sync) IPS type
3.) Acer Nitro XV272UP (48-144hz AMD Free-Sync & back-light strobing) Innolux IPS
3.) ASUS ROG Strix XG279Q (48-170hz AMD Free-Sync & back-light strobing)
4.) BenQ EX2780Q (48-144hz AMD Free-Sync) IPS type
5.) Razer Raptor 27 (20-144hz AMD Free-Sync) IPS type
5.) Gigabyte AORUS AD27QD (48-144hz AMD Free-Sync) Innolux IPS
5.) Samsung C27HG70 (48-144hz AMD Free-Sync) curved VA
6.) Asus MG279Q (30-90hz AMD Free-Sync) AHVA
6.) Nixeus NX-EDG27Sv2 & NX-EDG27v2 (30-144hz AMD Free-Sync) AHVA
7) Acer Nitro VG270UP (40-144hz AMD Free-Sync & 120hz back-light strobing = Visual Boost Response); Innolux IPS version
8.). Acer VG271 (40-144hz AMD Free-Sync & 120hz back-light strobing = Visual Boost Response); Innolux IPS
9.) AOC 273QCX (48-144hz AMD Free-Sync) curved VA
10.) MSI MPG27CQ (48-144hz AMD Free-Sync) curved VA
11.) Monoprice 33822 QHD (48-144hz AMD Free-Sync) VA
12.) Asus MG278Q (30-144hz AMD Free-Sync) TN
13.) AOC AG273QCG (30-144hz AMD Free-Sync) TN
14.) BenQ XL2730Z (30-144hz AMD Free-Sync and Blur Reduction) TN
15.) AOC AG271X Agon (30-165hz AMD Free-Sync) TN
The Acer Nitro VG270UP
(AUO AHVA panel) and Eizo Foris FS2735 is the best 144hz 1440p AHVA panel since they are very accurate as well as supports back-light strobing; the Acer is significantly cheaper, but lacks a height adjustable stand and USB ports, and Acer replaced it with an inferior Innolux IPS panel which is less accurate and has slower pixel response times.
The Acer XF270HUA uses an AHVA panel with faster pixel response times (less ghosting) than the Innolux IPS panels, as well as is very accurate. The Acer Nitro XV272UP and Gigabyte AORUS AD27QD are very similar, but the Acer is more accurate out of the box and when set to the over-saturation reducing sRGB mode.
The 27GL850 is also excellent, but has low contrast (<800:1) and needs to be set to the sRGB mode (
which is very accurate and has adjustable brightness but locked color controls) to prevent the wide gamut panel from over-saturating the color of non-HDR content. The 27GL850 has negligible or very low input lag and
very fast pixel response times with minimal overshoot, but the overdrive needs to be set from Normal to Fast at 144hz to provide the fastest pixel response times, and
to Normal at 60hz to prevent obvious overshoot ghosting.
The Pixio PX7 Prime and ViewSonic VX2758-2KP-MHD have negligible input lag, superior gamma tracking and sRGB (99.5% measured by Rtings) color space coverage than the LG 27GL83A-B which has faster pixel response times (less ghosting) and less color bleed (in gradient tests) than both the Pixio and ViewSonic. The Pixio PX7 Prime comes with a height adjustable stand, 165hz support and more inputs than the Viewsonic, but the ViewSonic VX2758-2KP-MHD has better black uniformity (based on Rtings reviews) and slightly faster pixel response times (less ghosting).
The Gigabyte AORUS AD27QD (Innolux IPS) is the most consistently accurate 144-165hz 1440p AHVA/IPS panel with Free-Sync along with the Eizo FS2735, has a semi-wide gamut Innolux IPS panel with some HDR support and great gaming performance, but it is slower than the AHVA panels and LG IPS panel in the LG 27GL850.
Read my in depth Gigabyte analysis here for much more information about how the reviewed units compare.
The 170hz ASUS ROG Strix XG279Q is faster than the Gigabyte monitors, BenQ EX2708Q and a few others, but also over-saturates SDR color (HDTV/REC 709 & sRGB) by over 30% and does not have a good SDR color mode.
The BenQ EX2780Q is very accurate when set to the Standard and Rec 709 Picture modes; the Standard mode uses the native wide gamut which covers 94% of the DCI-P3/HDR color space and over-saturates SDR color (HDTV/REC 709 & sRGB) by 33% while the REC 709 mode accurately emulates the REC 709 color space without significant over or under-saturation and should be used when not viewing HDR content. The BenQ has negligible input lag (<4ms measured with the SMT Tool) and fast pixel response times when the preset AMA High Response Time setting is used, but it's not as fast as IPS competitors like the LG 27GL850 which Playwares measured a
3ms pixel response average time compared to
the BenQ's 6-7ms average.
The Razer Raptor 27
is very accurate, but has a slight preset red tint and over-saturates the color of non DCI-P3 content (HDTV/REC 709 & sRGB)
by 36% since it uses a wide gamut and HDR capable panel without a properly functioning sRGB emulation mode. The
HDR mode is more accurate than the SDR modes, and the Razer
has negligible input lag and fast pixel response times for a non-TN panel.
Do to a lack of reviews I can't determine if the BenQ is faster than the Razer or vice versa, but I do know that the BenQ has a properly functioning SDR (HDTV/REC 709 & sRGB) mode.
The Samsung C27HG70 uses a VA panel with both back-light strobing, Free-sync and decent HDR support for the price. It has much better image quality than the TN panels, but slightly less sharp text caused by the curved VA panels pixel structure, and slower pixel response times which causes more ghosting, or smearing of black, browns and greys, especially medium and dark variants of these colors and shades.
The Samsung C27HG70 is more accurate than the Monoprice 33822 QHD, and the Samsung has a semi-wide gamut panel with good HDR color space coverage (95% DCIP3), back-light strobing, a properly functioning and accurate sRGB mode to prevent over-saturation of non-HDR content, and has a perceived black depth increasing dark matte grey bezel versus the Monoprice's fake bezel/frame-less casing's inner black bezel. The Samsung offers a perceived black depth increasing matte grey bezel significantly better HDR support than the AC 273QCX which uses a fake bezel/frame-less casing with a perceived black depth reducing inner black bezel, but has faster pixel response times and is completely PWM free.
The Asus MG279Q has a limited Free-Sync range, but is fairly accurate, has faster pixel response times than the Innolux IPS version of the VG270UP and Nixeus, and has a perceived black depth increasing matte grey bezel. The Free-Sync range can be increased to 60-144hz with the Custom Resolution Utility made by ToastyX.
The non-S version, the NX-EDG27v2 does not come with a height adjustable stand. The Nixues is very accurate, but is a bit too warm (5800k color temperature) or has a minor preset orange or red dominance. It can be considered to be display free or to have negligible input lag (
TFT Central measured <5ms with the SMT Tool), but has significantly slower pixel response times than some AHVA panel using competitors, however, it is important to remember that the Nixeus is one of the cheapest 144hz 1440p non-TN panels, and that the Innolux IPS panels are also slower than the best AHVA panels such as the Acer XF270HUA bmiidprzx.
I'm not sure if the Nixeus is slower than the IPS version of the VG270UP since they were tested by different reviewers, and the Nixeus as better preset gamma accuracy than the VG270UP, but it can be improved by selecting the sRGB mode which locks the brightness and color controls. Both are two of the cheapest 144hz 1440p non-TN panels, so until more reviews come they will be equally ranked.
The AOC 273QCX uses a curved 2560x1440 144hz semi-wide gamut and matte VA panel with Nvidia compatible (requires 10 series or better) AMD Free-Sync, 2x Displayport, HDMI 1.4 (75hz 2560x1440), HDMI 2.0 (144hz & Free-Sync support), HDR 400, RGB Lighting, 2x USB 3.0, VGA and 3.5mm Audio In & Out. The Game Mode 1 and 2 presets offer the most accurate colors, but over-saturate some by over 20% since the 273QCX uses a semi-wide gamut panel. AOC included a fairly accurate sRGB mode which prevents over-saturation, but locks the color controls. The AOC claims HDR400 support, but lacks a full 10 bit and wide gamut (91.3% DCI-P3 coverage) panel with 1000cdm/2 or nit brightness (it can output 400cdm/2 as advertised) and local dimming to provide real HDR, which is to be expected from monitors under 1300$ US. The 273QCX has a very low 8ms delay (SMT Tool measurement) and fast pixel response times (for a VA panel) without obvious overshoot ghosting.