Official Acer [XB270HU] 27" 1440p 144Hz G-Sync IPS ULMB Monitor Thread

Why do I get the feeling that finding one of these will be a needle and hay stack situation :D.
 
That PixPerAn pic of 144Hz at OD = Normal is very impressive for an IPS-like screen:
od_comparison2.jpg


Edit: image insert isn't working. Here is the link:
http://www.tftcentral.co.uk/images/acer_xb270hu/od_comparison2.jpg
 
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mope54 said:
max ulmb is 100hz
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Makes sense. Although 5.5ms GTG average is very good, the B2B rate is probable closer to 10ms, which is the same refresh interval of 100Hz (1000/100). At 120Hz, you'd need the B2B response time to be more comfortably under 8.33ms (1000/120)

My conclusion: If you're consistently driving 100fps or more on this monitor, use ULMB at 100Hz. If your minimum fps is frequently dipping into the double digits, use 144Hz with G-Sync (i.e., without ULMB). OD = Normal of course.
 
Very nice. But mid April? Damn I wanted to play GTA v on this thing on launch!
 
Impressive performance after calibration @ shitty factory settings.

Is it really that expensive for manufacturers to get their monitors decently calibrated at the factory? Because running every game in borderless windowed mode to take advantage of icc profiles is a huge pain in the ass.:mad:
 
I'm very impressed overall. They got the input lag even lower than the Rog Swift has. The PixPerAn screen capture at 144Hz is also much better than I had feared (provided that the correct OverDrive setting is used). The information in the ULMB section of the review seems a little lacking in detail, though I'm sure BlurBusters will eventually get round to fleshing that out.

Shame you need an NVIDIA GPU to take proper advantage of this, though. Otherwise I'd be strongly considering jumping on the pre-order bandwagon
 
Basically it's just a better version of the Swift.

Although 100Hz max ULMB has me a little worried, I realize why they did it. The regular 144 Hz mode has amazing pixel speed for an IPS and actually looks better than the Swift. Plus the input lag is non existent! The ULMB brightness really limits it to night and controlled lighting use only.

Toss a few dollars TFTCentral's way with a donation for getting the excellent review out so fast.
 
you also need a calibrator. the default settings are way off and the user modes are worthless
 
mope54 said:
you also need a calibrator. the default settings are way off and the user modes are worthless
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Not really if you follow the recommended osd settings section. The gamma needs a bit of correction but it's not massively off and for gaming needs that setup if fine for most users I'm sure
 
Vega said:
Although 100Hz max ULMB has me a little worried, I realize why they did it.
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A shame they didn't post PixPerAn photos so that we could see this performance for ourselves. Any other review sites potentially reading this...take note!
 
Pechendko said:
Impressive performance after calibration @ shitty factory settings.

Is it really that expensive for manufacturers to get their monitors decently calibrated at the factory? Because running every game in borderless windowed mode to take advantage of icc profiles is a huge pain in the ass.:mad:
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Actually it's not that bad, temperature is a bit off and gamma is a bit high but I would really not call that "shitty". If there's decent quality control on this I'll be selling my Swift.
 
I wonder since ULMB is locked at 100 Hz and the brightness not that stellar if I may just end up running it in 144 Hz G-Sync mode. The pixel response time and input lag are quite amazing, especially for an IPS.

After I de-matte it of course. :D
 
Vega said:
I wonder since ULMB is locked at 100 Hz and the brightness not that stellar if I may just end up running it in 144 Hz G-Sync mode. The pixel response time and input lag are quite amazing, especially for an IPS.

After I de-matte it of course. :D
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one potential problem is that in order to get the best pixel response rate you *have* to keep it at 144hz.

and even then it's more than twice as slow as the swift :(

but it certainly does put a fight up against the swift. I'm not convinced it's a blow-out.
going to have to use them side by side...this beast better not cost $1200 bucks.
 
Vega said:
I wonder since ULMB is locked at 100 Hz and the brightness not that stellar if I may just end up running it in 144 Hz G-Sync mode. The pixel response time and input lag are quite amazing, especially for an IPS.

After I de-matte it of course. :D
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Vega: Do you still have your Eizo Foris? If so, I'd love to see how that monitor's Turbo240 function looks compared to this Acer with ULMB @ 100Hz. The brightness difference will be huge, I imagine, but the blur reduction itself is something I'm having a harder time guessing.
 
Drags said:
Not really if you follow the recommended osd settings section. The gamma needs a bit of correction but it's not massively off and for gaming needs that setup if fine for most users I'm sure
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this doesn't make sense to me

the default settings are around 10% off and the user modes are worthless
if you buy an IPS aren't you concerned about color accuracy? so why wouldn't you get a meter?
 
Black Octagon said:
A shame they didn't post PixPerAn photos so that we could see this performance for ourselves. Any other review sites potentially reading this...take note!
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You can't capture the blur reduction benefits of ULMB with a camera and pixperan like that though as the benefits are all perceived by the users visual system.
 
mope54 said:
this doesn't make sense to me

the default settings are around 10% off and the user modes are worthless
if you buy an IPS aren't you concerned about color accuracy? so why wouldn't you get a meter?
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I'm not saying not to get a calibration tool, I'm just saying your statement about NEEDING one isn't necessarily fair. The setup can be corrected pretty well by the look of things though some basic osd settings. As someone said above you can also try their calibrated icc profile which should help correct the gamma curve too. That setup should be fine for most users and gamers. Sure if you want absolute levels of accuracy then you can get a calibration device. Although it's IPS, it's still firmly a gamers screen not aimed at colour enthusiasts. The other benefits of IPS are still desirable for other uses including gaming
 
kalston said:
Although it's IPS, it's still firmly a gamers screen not aimed at colour enthusiasts. The other benefits of IPS are still desirable for other uses including gaming
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For example? The IPS glow or shining blacks when viewed in a dark room? I think gamers would be more impressed with the black crush of VA :D
 
Pechendko said:
For example? The IPS glow or shining blacks when viewed in a dark room? I think gamers would be more impressed with the black crush of VA :D
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Lol ok I never said it was perfect but if you look around there's so many people after a high refresh IPS panel. All panel techs have their advantages. The IPS panel offers better viewing angles, no VA black crush, lighter AG coating that TN Film panels, 1440p res and 144Hz Which you can't get from any VA panel, better response times than even the fastest VA panel. Sure, there's IPS glow which is a shame, but I doubt that will put many people off!
 
Drags said:
Lol ok I never said it was perfect but if you look around there's so many people after a high refresh IPS panel. All panel techs have their advantages. The IPS panel offers better viewing angles, no VA black crush, lighter AG coating that TN Film panels, 1440p res and 144Hz Which you can't get from any VA panel, better response times than even the fastest VA panel. Sure, there's IPS glow which is a shame, but I doubt that will put many people off!
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I'm just saying that people are comparing this to a swift and out of that list the only thing that it bests the swift at is color accuracy...so you better use a color calibration tool or else get a swift or have perfectly equal, nice viewing angle poor gamma, black depth, and contrast :D
 
Drags said:
Lol ok I never said it was perfect but if you look around there's so many people after a high refresh IPS panel. All panel techs have their advantages. The IPS panel offers better viewing angles, no VA black crush, lighter AG coating that TN Film panels, 1440p res and 144Hz Which you can't get from any VA panel, better response times than even the fastest VA panel. Sure, there's IPS glow which is a shame, but I doubt that will put many people off!
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I was just being sarcastic. I'm actually glad they didn't use VA, I can't stand black crush and regret buying a VA tv.
 
Hmm do I understand it right that there's no way to easily switch from 100% brightness ULMB mode to for example 20-30% brightness g-sync mode ?

That's not so great and will make it a bit painfull if we want to switch games fast.
 
Michaelius said:
Hmm do I understand it right that there's no way to easily switch from 100% brightness ULMB mode to for example 20-30% brightness g-sync mode ?

That's not so great and will make it a bit painfull if we want to switch games fast.
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As I understand it the two are independent so if you're running the screen with ULMB off and G-sync on at 30 brightness (or any setting) when you switch ULMB on it has a separate brightness setting. So it won't default to 30 brightness straight away just because that's what you were on before. You can change that how you like
 
Michaelius said:
Hmm do I understand it right that there's no way to easily switch from 100% brightness ULMB mode to for example 20-30% brightness g-sync mode ?

That's not so great and will make it a bit painfull if we want to switch games fast.
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Correct. It's going to be a major PITA to switch modes compared to the Swift's turbo button.

With a Swift you can set your desktop to 120hz and just press the turbo button to switch between 120 and 144 and that'll switch you from ULMB and G-Sync (and the brightness levels are independently set so you can achieve what you asked with the press of a button).

I don't see a comparable way to do that with this monitor.
 
You can do the same thing though here?! Set refresh rate to 100hz instead of 120hz as that's max the ULMB mode will support and enable Gsync from the graphics card control panel. Then there's a quick access button to turn ULMB on and off. Job done. The settings are independent for brightness between on and off modes too :)
 
Drags said:
You can do the same thing though here?! Set refresh rate to 100hz instead of 120hz as that's max the ULMB mode will support and enable Gsync from the graphics card control panel. Then there's a quick access button to turn ULMB on and off. Job done. The settings are independent for brightness between on and off modes too :)
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oh ok, the description that the last button gives you access to ULMB through the "quick access menu" led me to believe that you had to do an extra step and navigate a menu rather than just a toggle
 
Awesome review, awesome display, except that stupid prejudice is here again;
but since the XB270HU only has one input, you probably aren't going to be using this screen for anything else anyway (consoles, DVD players etc). It's firmly aimed at PC gaming use, so the absence of a scaler is not a big issue here.
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And of course they didn't even care to try because of it.

So they say it's got no scaler but at the same time it's able to display 1920x1080 stretched ?
So what is it exactly ?
And more importantly does that mean an external 1080p source would show with an HDMI>DP adapter ?
 
Richard Jones said:
Awesome review, awesome display, except that stupid prejudice is here again;

And of course they didn't even care to try because of it.

So they say it's got no scaler but at the same time it's able to display 1920x1080 stretched ?
So what is it exactly ?
And more importantly does that mean an external 1080p source would show with an HDMI>DP adapter ?
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The stretching is done by the GPU or the OS. They could put an optional 1:1 pixel mapping mode on the g-sync monitors though, that doesn't require a scaler and adds no input lag.
 
I have one question left - WTF LG have been doing all this time (10+ years). Basically no progress with IPS speed at all! AU Optronics started making their IPS (AHVA) a couple of years ago and already they have the fastest IPS ever. Shame on you LG.
 
m51s said:
I have one question left - WTF LG have been doing all this time (10+ years). Basically no progress with IPS speed at all! AU Optronics started making their IPS (AHVA) a couple of years ago and already they have the fastest IPS ever. Shame on you LG.
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LG doesn't make their own panels...AUO makes the panels for LG :confused:
 
@kalston: Sorry I don't get it, they say they fed a 1080p source signal to the monitor and it was able to display it stretched.
That doesn't mean stretched by the GPU nor the OS.
 
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