Overall and Final Verdict
The AOC isn’t the first 1440p display with a refresh rate of 240 Hz, it's also not the highest refresh rate you can get at that resolution or the first to be curved. As far as features go the CQ27G3Z hits all of the marks for a great upgrade for anyone with an older 1440p display or looking to move up from 1080p and gamers are going to be happy to not sacrifice refresh rate while doing it. You get HDR but you will need to remember to go into the menu to turn it on. The CQ27G3Z also supports FreeSync Premium and in our testing, Nvidia cards will support it as well. The 1000R curved display isn’t going to be everyone's preference, personally, I like curved displays when I’m running just one monitor but my main setup which utilizes four 27-inch displays didn’t work as well when using curved monitors. The 1000R curve has a tighter radius than some of the older displays but the idea is to keep the viewing distance the same if you are looking at the middle of the outer edges and it does that.
As far as styling goes, I could go without the red accents, especially the vents on the rear that give the impression that the CQ27G3Z has built-in speakers when it doesn’t. The stand however is surprisingly nice. It has a wide range of movement and you can drop the monitor down almost to your desk with the height adjustment if you want. The stand does have one large hole in the back for wire management which is nice but a second clip down at the bottom would complete the wire management to keep wires completely hidden away. The stand was also really easy to put together with just one tool-less screw needed to build the stand and the display itself clips right onto the stand and can be removed just as easily while also still having support for VESA mounting if needed. As far as the displays performance the only issue that I ran into was a little bleed in the corners on the left. Beyond that performance was good. It isn’t an IPS display and with that, there is always room for improvement but unless you have extremely high standards you are going to be happy with it.
It is the pricing of the AOC that is what makes it a good monitor. It has an MSRP of $399.99 which isn’t cheap but once you take into account it being a 1440p 240 Hz display is a deal. That resolution and refresh rate has been a nearly $1000 display for a while now and there are finally a few cheaper options available. Newegg has just one Acer and one HP that are cheaper at $379 and $384. Samsungs cheaper 27-inch 1440p 240Hz option is $499 and everything else is $700 or more. With 1440p high refresh gaming finally being easier to reach with the current generation of video cards this in my opinion is the sweet spot where you can enjoy high refresh gaming, a good resolution, and not completely break the bank on PC hardware to push it all. Especially if you are aiming to play e-sports-focused titles that are less demanding.
Live Pricing: HERE
