Gigabyte launches a 27-inch 'tactical' FreeSync 2 HDR gaming monitor for $459

Gigabyte has introduced what it claims is the "world's first tactical" gaming monitor, the Aorus CV27Q. At the root of Gigabyte's claim is its Black Equalizer 2.0 technology.

As Gigabyte explains it, this feature "divides the screen into 1,296 subareas and equalizes each subarea individually, so gamers can see the dark areas more clearly without having overexposure in the bright areas." In theory, this is done without affecting other areas of a scene.

Here's a before and after example, provided by Gigabyte:

According to Gigabyte, the latest implementation is significantly improved over the previous iteration. I've never seen it in action and am certainly skeptical. Fortunately for Gigabyte, however, this display has other things going for it.

The Aorus CV27Q is a 27-inch display with a curved (1500R) VA panel, 2560x1440 resolution, a fast 165Hz refresh rate, and a 1ms MPRT (motion picture response time).

This is also a FreeSync 2 HDR display, so it can match the refresh rate to your supported Radeon GPU for smoother gameplay. As it pertains to the HDR portion, brightness is listed at 400 nits. That meets the baseline level for VESA's DisplayHDR 400 certification, though 1000 nits is where HDR content really starts to shine.

Apparently this monitor is currently undergoing testing by Nvidia for its G-Sync Compatible program. Incidentally, Newegg is already listing the display as being "verified G-Sync Compatible," and while that might be true, it does not yet show up in Nvidia's list of certified displays.

Gigabyte also touts 90 percent of the DCI-P3 color space. That essentially means it offers a wide color gamut, and should look markedly better than a standard TN panel (though wait for hands-on reviews to be sure).

On the connectivity side, the Aorus CV27Q offers up two HDMI 2.0 ports and a DisplayPort 1.4 input. There's also a pair of USB 3.0 downstream ports, and a couple of 3.5mm jacks.

One interesting feature Gigabyte highlights is a second generation version of its active noise cancelling (ANC) technology, by way of a special chip.

"Using an exclusive IC design with microphone array, the ANC feature cancels the ambient noise making the communication with your teammates much better than before. The upgraded ANC 2.0 provides 120 dB signal-to-noise-ratio (SNR) and supports high impedance headphones up to 600 ohm(Ω). Now users can plug in their high-end headphones to the monitor and enjoy the crystal sound that ANC 2.0 provides," Gigabyte says.

27-inch VA panel
2560x1440 (Quad HD)
FreeSync 2 HDR
165Hz refresh rate
1ms MPRT
400 nits brightness
3,000:1 typical contrast ratio
12,000,000:1 dynamic contrast ratio
2x HDMI 2.0, 1x DisplayPort 1.4
2x USB 3.0

This monitor is available now on Newegg for $459.99, which is the MSRP.

Paul has been playing PC games and raking his knuckles on computer hardware since the Commodore 64. He does not have any tattoos, but thinks it would be cool to get one that reads LOAD"*",8,1. In his off time, he rides motorcycles and wrestles alligators (only one of those is true).