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

Whelp, after a couple hours of testing I gotta say this monitor is pretty amazing. Every game feels so "slow" now that I have a monitor that can kind of keep up with my reaction times. The games that showed the biggest improvements were Payday 2, Killing Floor 2, and GTA V (HUGE difference in these games between 60hz vrs 144hz + G-sync). TF2 showed some improvement but not as much as the aforementioned games mainly cause I don't think any monitor out there can keep up with my scout movement.

It's going to take some getting used to going from my HP ZR30W to this Acer as the Acer is noticeably smaller than the HP. I'd have to say the motion clarity and reduced eyestrain is probably worth it so I'll most likely keep this monitor and use the HP for work. Although my OCD might kick in cause the two monitors look weird side-by-side especially when the smaller Acer would be my main monitor.
 
bigbluefe said:
Just got one of these from Amazon today.

There's a solid red vertical line down the right side of the screen.

Let's tally up the score:

* 1 Acer 28" G-Sync whose backlight shit out
* 3 defective Asus ROG Swifts that got blurry after a couple of months
* 1 Acer 27" IPS G-Sync with a red line

What an AWESOME industry.

Just put in a refund/RMA from Amazon. Fuck these shitty Chinese companies. I'm out. Not buying another LCD for a long time (if ever). By the time I cool down, hopefully they won't even make LCDs anymore.
Click to expand...

Probably had a bad cable for all of them lol
 
bigbluefe said:
Just got one of these from Amazon today.

There's a solid red vertical line down the right side of the screen.

Let's tally up the score:

* 1 Acer 28" G-Sync whose backlight shit out
* 3 defective Asus ROG Swifts that got blurry after a couple of months
* 1 Acer 27" IPS G-Sync with a red line

What an AWESOME industry.

Just put in a refund/RMA from Amazon. Fuck these shitty Chinese companies. I'm out. Not buying another LCD for a long time (if ever). By the time I cool down, hopefully they won't even make LCDs anymore.
Click to expand...


They are not Chinese, doesn't make it any better though
 
I just got word that Acer is not planning to release this monitor in Taiwan at all.

Guess I have found the reason why...
 
I just got mine, finally. I came from a NEC 231WMi, a 23" 1080p IPS that has a rather poor pixel response time but is able to accept 74 Hz on DVI and 83 Hz on DP.

First impressions: the stand is certainly not something you would expect from a 800 $/€ monitor. Assembling it was a lot more awkward and felt more flimsy than any Samsung or Eizo monitor bought for half the price at my workplace. No hooks for tidy cable managament, either. The obnoxious power LED can't be turned off unlike on my old NEC. LED, meet electrical tape.

There is a defective pixel in the lower left region. The green and blue subpixels do not light. The red one works so it sticks out in a white background. The left side of the monitor also looks more yellow tinted than the rest. I don't have my colourimeter at hand right now so I haven't tried measurements or calibration yet. The backlight seems quite uniform which is a relief.

GSync seems good. I quickly tried GTA EFLC. A somewhat relevant anecdote: the game has always run like ass but surprisingly it started to run even worse after I replaced my GTX 570 with a Titan X. Now I can't get more than 50-ish fps unless I turn eye candy way down, more than what I had with my old card. It felt hideous on the old monitor but GSync makes it run much better. I'm seriously lacking recent/decent AAA games I would bother playing so I'll need more testing with this.

ULMB is mostly positive. I have so far tried it on Wolfenstein: The Old Blood and for dragging windows on the desktop. :) It's worth noting that Wolfestein is a crippled game that limits itself to 60 fps. I used ULMB at 100 Hz. Motion is quite clear and brings me back memories from the good old CRT days. Seriously, it feels weird to actually again see what's on the screen while it's changing. Unpossible! I can't see any flicker on a static image, either, but neither did I see on my old CRT at high refresh rates (85+). I did still see trailing (double images) while playing Wolf which strains my eyes, though it could be a fault of the crippled frame rate having to sync to a different fixed refresh. Need to try a game that runs fluently at 100 fps. I briefly turned off ULMB to see the difference and was met with a nasty blurfest. Having to choose between GSync and ULMB is frustrating since I hate blurring but I also hate tearing and stuttering. I'm not holding my breath for an engineering marvel that can combine both without serious drawbacks, at least not with LCDs. One last note on ULMB: It has quite enough brightness at max. Tftcentral claims it's ~110 cd/m², close to 120 cd/m² which I would aim for at calibration anyway. Edit: tried Shadow Warrior on Linux. ULMB felt great. I saw none of the trailing as on Wolfenstein at 60 Hz. :)

The OSD menu does its job... mostly. Luckily ULMB on and off have separate brightness settings but I haven't figured out how to set different colour settings for them. ULMB mode has a visibly different tint at least on my unit.

The contrast and AG coating are better than on the NEC. I got less than 700:1 after calibration on the NEC and the AG was a lot more sparkly. On the Acer the sparkles are hard to see and most easily show up at white colours and extreme angles.

All in all the XB270HU is the best LCD I have used. I miss better contrast ratios but so far no VA panel with similar specs exists. Eizo could hit a jackpot if they made a successor to FG2421 with GSync and perhaps lower input lag. I haven't tried it myself, but 14 ms (according to tftcentral) on the blur reduction mode sounds awful considering what the 16 ms input lag feels on any monitor when using vsync at 60 Hz. I'm hoping this monitor will last until the OLED monitor days come.
 
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impulse_255 said:
Eizo could hit a jackpot if they made a successor to FG2421 with GSync and perhaps lower input lag. I haven't tried it myself, but 14 ms (according to tftcentral) on the blur reduction mode sounds awful considering what the 16 ms input lag feels on any monitor when using vsync at 60 Hz
Click to expand...

Vsync at 60fps in directx gives 33ms if using dual buffering, 50ms with triple buffering.

The fg2421 has unnoticable input lag (to me at least), while vsync at 60fps feels like playing in syrup.

According to eizos whitepaper on the fg2421 it has "Turbo 240 results in minimal delay – a little more than 10 milliseconds which is about 1.5 frames per 120 frames"

http://gaming.eizo.com/wp-content/uploads/file/turbo240_whitepaper.pdf
 
Just got mine... Amazon said I'd get it in June, then got an email saying I'd get it a month early. Got it all installed, and I've got 2 dead pixels (one on the left, one about 2 inches from the top dead center) and some trapped dust. March build date. No bleeding or anything else, but those pixels and dust... ugh. Why can't they make these things with better quality! I had to return my LG monitor too (granted it was a lot worse than some pixels/dust). I really didn't want to have to go through the mess of returning this.... not sure what I'm going to do yet.

edit: the wife had a good suggestion - bought a 2nd one :) Should get here in a week... then I'll compare and return the worse one.
 
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Got my replacement today! This one is much better. A LOT less light bleed in the bottom right corner.

There is 1 dust spec/dead pixel in the bottom right corner, but it doesn't bother me.

I'll be keeping this one. (I think I'm going to end up wall mounting it, such a wobbly stand!)

April build date btw.
 
chineseman said:
Whelp, after a couple hours of testing I gotta say this monitor is pretty amazing. Every game feels so "slow" now that I have a monitor that can kind of keep up with my reaction times. The games that showed the biggest improvements were Payday 2, Killing Floor 2, and GTA V (HUGE difference in these games between 60hz vrs 144hz + G-sync). TF2 showed some improvement but not as much as the aforementioned games mainly cause I don't think any monitor out there can keep up with my scout movement.

It's going to take some getting used to going from my HP ZR30W to this Acer as the Acer is noticeably smaller than the HP. I'd have to say the motion clarity and reduced eyestrain is probably worth it so I'll most likely keep this monitor and use the HP for work. Although my OCD might kick in cause the two monitors look weird side-by-side especially when the smaller Acer would be my main monitor.
Click to expand...

I actually did the same thing, just coming from DELL 3011,
for fun try using only Acer for good 3-5 days of FPS gaming and then try using your HP in those same games you will be shocked, at first i thought something is wrong with my Dell had to triple check :) and then i could not believe my eyes how could i play on that for so long it was just that bad.

As for the size you get adjusted really fast, the difference is not that big its just looks sharper on Acer since its higher DPI.
Best upgrade i did in last 15 years since CRT days.
 
Acer's finally going to send me another replacement. They stated that they didn't have any monitors, so they'd be sending me a new one. I'm guessing this means that if you request an RMA with them, you're probably going to get monitors other people have sent back for reasons such as dead pixels or backlight bleed, so don't expect to get a perfect one via RMA.

I was a little miffed that they claimed the first replacement was just to satisfy the customer because they were displeased, even though they only found 10 dead pixels. I had counted around 22, but I guess most of that was just dirt. Still, 10 dead pixels is something I'd say is flawed, and not just an upset customer with OCD (though I admit I do have OCD about wanting a pixel-defect free LCD).
 
gamingarena23 said:
I actually did the same thing, just coming from DELL 3011,
for fun try using only Acer for good 3-5 days of FPS gaming and then try using your HP in those same games you will be shocked, at first i thought something is wrong with my Dell had to triple check :) and then i could not believe my eyes how could i play on that for so long it was just that bad.

As for the size you get adjusted really fast, the difference is not that big its just looks sharper on Acer since its higher DPI.
Best upgrade i did in last 15 years since CRT days.
Click to expand...

Glad to hear you're also enjoying the monitor. I think I'm getting used to the smaller screen now after I scooted the monitor in a bit but I still find myself leaning in and hunching over a bit sometimes. I still think 30" @ 2560x1600 is the absolute sweet spot for monitors but everything nowadays seems to be either 27" or 34". It's the loss of the vertical screen space that's most noticable.

However, the Acer has been kicking ass with every game I've thrown at it. There's also a noticable reduction in eyestrain after playing FPS games and the 144hz helps tremendously in Dota 2 surprisingly.
 
my k/d in bf4 went thru the roof playing on this monitor, its almost like gsync is some sort of hardware hack because the hit detection is perfect on this monitor, even when I think I missed I am making hits, lol.

hard to explain.
 
Just got this monitor today. The only issue I found was one dim pixel near the border on the left of the screen. It certainly is not enough for me to send it back as it's very hard to see.

All around excellent display and G-Sync is awesome. Super smooth gaming so far playing BF4 and GTA V.
 
Has anyone here upgraded to the XB270HU from the Samsung SA950 120hz line of monitors or owned the SA950 in the past?

I am wondering how it compares. My 27 inch 1080p SA950 is working flawlessly but I would like to upgrade to something like the XB270HU if they ever fix the quality control issues.

:mad:
 
sanddemon said:
Just got mine... Amazon said I'd get it in June, then got an email saying I'd get it a month early. Got it all installed, and I've got 2 dead pixels (one on the left, one about 2 inches from the top dead center) and some trapped dust. March build date. No bleeding or anything else, but those pixels and dust... ugh. Why can't they make these things with better quality! I had to return my LG monitor too (granted it was a lot worse than some pixels/dust). I really didn't want to have to go through the mess of returning this.... not sure what I'm going to do yet.

edit: the wife had a good suggestion - bought a 2nd one :) Should get here in a week... then I'll compare and return the worse one.
Click to expand...

Well, an update. Second monitor was the April build date - packaging inside was a lot better for this monitor. Putting them side by side, I'm so glad I bought the second one. I hadn't noticed the light bleeding on the first monitor (March build) but my new monitor has no dead pixels, no trapped dust, and looks basically perfect.

Returned the first to Amazon, didn't have to pay shipping or anything. My advice? Try to get an April build monitor and use amazon.
 
Can't wait to play The Witcher 3 on this thing, but too bad the 980 ti (or whatever the cut down GM200 is) isn't out yet :mad:
 
gamingarena23 said:
I actually did the same thing, just coming from DELL 3011,
for fun try using only Acer for good 3-5 days of FPS gaming and then try using your HP in those same games you will be shocked, at first i thought something is wrong with my Dell had to triple check :) and then i could not believe my eyes how could i play on that for so long it was just that bad.

As for the size you get adjusted really fast, the difference is not that big its just looks sharper on Acer since its higher DPI.
Best upgrade i did in last 15 years since CRT days.
Click to expand...

Wow thats good to read because im using my Dell 3011 for gaming and I really do not like it. Was looking into the Acer but its always so hard to make a decision because people say its amazing only for the next guy to say its crap. Your comments might make me pull the trigger on one....:D
 
Is it relatively safe to buy this thing yet? Seems QA is really problematic...
I can wait until about early July probably, pricing seems to be going down slowly to more like 700$ too!
I do need a better gfx card with it though, my GTX 670 and Samsung S23700AD combo is almost 3 years old.
 
wasabiman123 said:
Is it relatively safe to buy this thing yet? Seems QA is really problematic...
I can wait until about early July probably, pricing seems to be going down slowly to more like 700$ too!
I do need a better gfx card with it though, my GTX 670 and Samsung S23700AD combo is almost 3 years old.
Click to expand...

I would wait longer unless you are not very picky or if you dont mind returning and being patient on that front. I had one come from amazon two weeks ago that was one of the worst panels ive ever seen. I sent it back 12 hours later. didnt even wait a full day. Kept the one I had from newegg because the glow in the bottom right isnt nearly as bad as the entire screen.
 
wasabiman123 said:
Is it relatively safe to buy this thing yet? Seems QA is really problematic...
I can wait until about early July probably, pricing seems to be going down slowly to more like 700$ too!
I do need a better gfx card with it though, my GTX 670 and Samsung S23700AD combo is almost 3 years old.
Click to expand...

If you can wait, then wait. There are still a few others who bought theirs recently and have problems.
 
Here's a another icc profile post-calibration for the XB270HU by digitalversus - not sure if its any good or better than the one from tftcentral

http://img1.focus-numerique.com/focus/profils-LCD/xb270hu.zip

"Now, we've got a colour temperature of 6485 K, a gamma of 2.2 and a Delta E of 1.1. The XB270HU's calibrated picture is now perfectly natural to the naked eye. Contrast has unfortunately dropped to 990:1. but this is still an acceptable ratio. All in all, the calibration has significantly improved the default picture."
 
Well, monitor #3 arrived, and while no dead pixels, it has dirt specs again throughout the monitor. This is a brand new monitor directly from Acer. Dirt spec directly in the very center of the screen, and quite a few (about 8) on the corners of the screen. If looking directly over them, it appears fine, but otherwise, if viewed at an angle, appears like dead/stuck pixels. (Since I focus on the center of the screen and not the edges, and look at the edges with sort of an angle, gives the appearance of tons of blotches).

I'm just fed up with trying to get a decent screen, and not going to gamble any more.
 
Nytegard said:
Well, monitor #3 arrived, and while no dead pixels, it has dirt specs again throughout the monitor. This is a brand new monitor directly from Acer. Dirt spec directly in the very center of the screen, and quite a few (about 8) on the corners of the screen. If looking directly over them, it appears fine, but otherwise, if viewed at an angle, appears like dead/stuck pixels. (Since I focus on the center of the screen and not the edges, and look at the edges with sort of an angle, gives the appearance of tons of blotches).

I'm just fed up with trying to get a decent screen, and not going to gamble any more.
Click to expand...

Remove the AG Filter. Put some paper towel in a bowl with distilled water and then squeeze out the excess water then lay on the panel. You will need to take the bezel off first though before doing this. Let the towels sit on the screen for 5-6 hrs and continue to keep them moist with distilled water.

Then take a razor blade and carefully lift up the corner with the ag film is, be careful not to remove the polarizer!!!

I have done this on many displays with great success! I did it most recently on the Samsung s24d590 and s27d590 displays ( PLS displays ) and it made them both look ALOT better!

I will be doing it on this display too once I get it.
 
wasabiman123 said:
Is it relatively safe to buy this thing yet? Seems QA is really problematic...
I can wait until about early July probably, pricing seems to be going down slowly to more like 700$ too!
I do need a better gfx card with it though, my GTX 670 and Samsung S23700AD combo is almost 3 years old.
Click to expand...

I'm waiting to pull the trigger too. Acer's QA sounds horrible...The first Asus Swift I got was perfect, but I got it pretty late so maybe all the QA problems were sorted out by then.

All this stuff about sending back 3 monitors sounds incredibly tiresome. I was thinking somebody should open a QA store where he deals with checking the panels and sending them back. Then you can just order from that store and be sure to get a good panel on the first go (of course the downside is you'd lose the thrill of unboxing a brand new item :D).
 
Malangyar said:
I'm waiting to pull the trigger too. Acer's QA sounds horrible...The first Asus Swift I got was perfect, but I got it pretty late so maybe all the QA problems were sorted out by then.

All this stuff about sending back 3 monitors sounds incredibly tiresome. I was thinking somebody should open a QA store where he deals with checking the panels and sending them back. Then you can just order from that store and be sure to get a good panel on the first go (of course the downside is you'd lose the thrill of unboxing a brand new item :D).
Click to expand...

Do you no tlike your Swift? Any reason your going to the Acer? I assume because its IPS right?
 
coolhandm3 said:
Do you no tlike your Swift? Any reason your going to the Acer? I assume because its IPS right?
Click to expand...

I love it, best monitor I've had, but the viewing angles are bothering me because I don't always look at the monitor head on. So yeah I want to get the Acer because it's IPS.

Apart from the TN panel I think the one complaint I have about the Swift is the "gamer" design which IMO is a tad too much. But that's subjective anyway, and you can turn off the glowing red lights if you dislike them. :)
 
coolhandm3 said:
Remove the AG Filter. Put some paper towel in a bowl with distilled water and then squeeze out the excess water then lay on the panel. You will need to take the bezel off first though before doing this. Let the towels sit on the screen for 5-6 hrs and continue to keep them moist with distilled water.

Then take a razor blade and carefully lift up the corner with the ag film is, be careful not to remove the polarizer!!!

I have done this on many displays with great success! I did it most recently on the Samsung s24d590 and s27d590 displays ( PLS displays ) and it made them both look ALOT better!

I will be doing it on this display too once I get it.
Click to expand...

You'll be the first I believe. I don't think anyone has done this with the Swift either.

The coating on this screen isn't that bad in action.
 
So when you guys say "wait if you can", forgive me for sounding like a noob but wait for what? A new revision of the monitor? Isn't Acer sorta like the Walmart of computers? They usually do cheap stuff. Isn't there another better brand with the same specs out yet? :confused::(
 
My brother and friend have both recently purchased this monitor. The results: no dead or stuck pixels, no dirt under the screen, no abnormal amount of backlight bleed.

I was very impressed seeing them first-hand. I hope there will eventually be a Freesync equivalent that's not made by Asus.
 
buzzfunk said:
Wow thats good to read because im using my Dell 3011 for gaming and I really do not like it. Was looking into the Acer but its always so hard to make a decision because people say its amazing only for the next guy to say its crap. Your comments might make me pull the trigger on one....:D
Click to expand...

Just do it :D
 
Keep up the feedback for those who jumped in early, I wanna see how things evolve by in a month or two because it seems like an ace panel on paper, with no competition even announced yet!
 
buzzfunk said:
So when you guys say "wait if you can", forgive me for sounding like a noob but wait for what? A new revision of the monitor? Isn't Acer sorta like the Walmart of computers? They usually do cheap stuff. Isn't there another better brand with the same specs out yet? :confused::(
Click to expand...

Not really. Maybe some off brand Korean ones? An ASUS g-sync IPS is due out soon though. WAS out to distributors I think, then got recalled.
 
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