Gigabyte is adding a new 4K gaming monitor to its display lineup, featuring a SuperSpeed (SS) IPS panel with a native refresh rate of 160Hz. Dubbed ‘M27UA’, this new screen offers something simple yet performant, potentially coming at a reasonable price too.
As its name suggest, M27UA packs a 27in panel. It uses a so-called SS IPS panel, a branding used exclusively by Gigabyte to describe screens with low response times. While this LCD is naturally slower than competing OLEDs, it clocks in at 1ms MPRT and 5ms GtG. This is about where we expect backlit displays to be, complemented by the usual 400nits of brightness and 1000:1 contrast.
M27UA will cover a healthy 95% of the DCI-P3 colour gamut, alongside 128% of sRGB. These specs could make the monitor ideal as a creative and gaming monitor, providing its accuracy is up to scratch. It also supports HDR but there’s sadly no local dimming zones to speak of, making it a largely surface level addition. However, picture-in-picture and picture-by-picture features are handy and welcome.
When it comes to display inputs, M27UA includes two HDMI 2.1 ports and a single DisplayPort 1.4. Both are capable of driving the monitor at its native resolution and refresh rate, but do note that consoles will top out at 4K/120Hz. Of course, Adaptive Sync is here too, in the form of AMD FreeSync Premium.
Meanwhile, Gigabyte gives M27UA a healthy assortment of USBs too. On the underside of the chassis, there are three USB 3.2 Type-A ports, alongside a single USB Type-C. The latter supports DP Alt Mode and 18W power delivery and serves as one of the connection points for the included KVM switch. The monitor’s power supply is integrated, meaning there’s no bulky adapter to deal with. That said, I actually prefer an external power brick to aid repairability.
Gigabyte is unfortunately yet to share pricing information for M27UA. Based on its specs, though, we’d expect it to fall somewhere between £400-500 but that’s just our best guestimate.
