Gigabyte GS27FA 190 Hz gaming monitor review: Responsive and smooth gameplay without frills

27-inch FHD IPS gaming monitor with 190 Hz, Adaptive-Sync and HDR.

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Gigabyte GS27FA
(Image: © Tom's Hardware)

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If you’re an e-sports fan, you’ve likely looked at high-end FHD monitors with lofty refresh rates and decried their premium price tags. 500 Hz is great, but the screen and accompanying video card will put a significant dent in your wallet. But at a much lower price point is the Gigabyte GS27FA which offers a lot of that same feel and responsiveness for far less money.

Gigabyte GS27FA

(Image credit: Gigabyte)

The GS27FA runs natively at 180 Hz and has no problem overclocking to 190 Hz. At that speed, it goes toe-to-toe with 240 Hz screens and even beats some of them in my input lag test. When it comes to feel and responsiveness, it gives nothing away to those monitors. I observed no issues with either G-Sync or FreeSync operation. And the overdrive quality is equal to that of the very best LCD panels. Its precise tuning eliminated nearly all motion blur and showed no artifacts whatsoever. My only complaint concerned the artifacts I saw when using the Aim Stabilizer backlight strobe.

(Image credit: Tom's Hardware)

The GS27FA doesn’t need calibration out of the box, but I observed light gamma that flattened the image and desaturated color. Luckily, it only took minor tweaks to make a significant improvement in both depth and vividness. I wish there were a gamma preset that tracked 2.2 perfectly but compromising with a darker look worked well.

With few flaws, the Gigabyte GS27FA is a great choice for gamers looking for high frame rates at low cost. If you’re building a budget gaming rig, it’s well worth checking out.

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Christian Eberle
Christian Eberle
Contributing Editor

Christian Eberle is a Contributing Editor for Tom's Hardware US. He's a veteran reviewer of A/V equipment, specializing in monitors. Christian began his obsession with tech when he built his first PC in 1991, a 286 running DOS 3.0 at a blazing 12MHz. In 2006, he undertook training from the Imaging Science Foundation in video calibration and testing and thus started a passion for precise imaging that persists to this day. He is also a professional musician with a degree from the New England Conservatory as a classical bassoonist which he used to good effect as a performer with the West Point Army Band from 1987 to 2013. He enjoys watching movies and listening to high-end audio in his custom-built home theater and can be seen riding trails near his home on a race-ready ICE VTX recumbent trike. Christian enjoys the endless summer in Florida where he lives with his wife and Chihuahua and plays with orchestras around the state.