Gigabyte GS27FC 180 Hz Gaming Monitor Review: Surprisingly High Speed at a Surprisingly Low Price

In the category of budget gaming monitors, it’s getting harder and harder to find a bad example. Competition has certainly upped the bar for performance and quality to the point where buying a 27-inch fast refresh display with Adaptive-Sync and HDR for less than $200 is possible. Add in a curved screen, gaming enhancements and blur reduction, and you have a winning combination.

Gigabyte’s GS27FC is one such product ripe for inclusion as one of the best gaming monitors. It runs at 180 Hz without overclock and supports both FreeSync and G-Sync. It’s FHD resolution, so that might give pause to some. But with that comes high frame rates at a lower cost. You won’t need an expensive video card to drive it. A VA panel delivers high contrast, and the curve adds a bit of immersion. You also get HDR support, so all the latest games can look their best. And it sells for $180 at this writing. Let’s take a look.

Gigabyte GS27FC Specs

Let’s get what is not here out of the way first. The GS27FC doesn’t have integrated speakers or USB ports. There’s no LED lighting and pixel density is 82ppi. It’s high enough for a good picture, but you can see the dot structure if you sit too close. The stand is basic, with only a tilt adjustment. There’s no dynamic contrast for HDR content. And the color gamut is sRGB rather than DCI-P3.

But for the money, the GS27FC delivers excellent gaming performance with a 180 Hz refresh rate, no overclock required, and Adaptive-Sync in both flavors. It has not been certified by Nvidia, but I had no problems running G-Sync all day long during my tests. If you prefer a backlight strobe for blur reduction, that feature is included under the label Aim Stabilizer.

The panel is VA with a flicker-free LED edge backlight and a low blue light mode. Contrast is a claimed 3,000:1 but I measured around 4,000:1 in my tests. My initial impressions were very positive, thanks to deep blacks and nicely saturated color. The gamut is sRGB with a little bonus red and green and coupled with high contrast, delivers a solid and accurate image. The GS27FC does not need to be calibrated in its default picture mode. The curve is 1500R, which means it’s relatively benign. It adds a little immersion to gaming but won’t affect productivity.

Additional bits include aiming points, gaming timers, a frame rate counter and alignment marks. These are found in the Game Assist menu, a feature common to all Gigabyte gaming monitors. A handy joystick controls everything, and build quality is high.

Assembly and Accessories

The handled box opens to reveal the GS27FC’s panel, upright, and base, which require assembly. It goes together without tools to create a solid and lightweight package. If you prefer a monitor arm, a 100mm VESA mount is in the back. The power supply is internal, so there’s no brick to deal with. You get an IEC cord and an HDMI cable but not DisplayPort. A small clip goes on the stand for wire management.

Product 360

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The GS27FC’s screen has a thin flush bezel of just 7mm around the top and sides. You’ll barely notice it’s there when playing. A trim strip across the bottom features the Gigabyte logo and a chiseled styling cue. The power LED is in the center of the OSD joystick and can’t be seen from the front. If your room is dark enough, it projects a soft white glow onto the base. It can be turned off if you wish.

The stand is a minimal affair with only 5/20 degrees tilt. The fulcrum is low, so when you tilt, the top of the screen moves away from you. This is not ideal for a curved display because it makes the entire image harder to focus. I recommend raising the GS27FC on a pedestal so you can set the panel vertically with your eyepoint at the center.

The side view shows the cable clip in place on the stand. You won’t have too many wires to deal with as there are just three inputs, one DisplayPort 1.4 and two HDMI 2.0. An audio port supports headphones and powered speakers. There is no internal audio. All video inputs support FHD resolution at 180 Hz with Adaptive-Sync and HDR. And in the center of the last photo above, you can see the joystick which is the GS27FC’s only control key.

OSD Features

Pressing the GS27FC’s joystick brings up a quick menu that can be programmed by the user. An up-click summons the full OSD, which is well-stocked with image and video processing options.

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The quick menu makes it easy to access oft-used functions without visiting the full OSD. It’s configured to activate aiming points and call up the Game Assist menu. It includes four crosshairs, count up/down timers, a refresh rate indicator and alignment marks for multi-screen setups.

Moving on to the full menu, you have gaming front and center with Aim Stabilizer (backlight strobe), Black Equalizer (shadow detail enhancer), Super Resolution (edge enhancement, do not use), aspect ratio, Overdrive (on or off) and a FreeSync toggle. To use the backlight strobe, you must first turn off Adaptive Sync. It reduces brightness by around 20% and causes the phasing artifact common to this feature. I preferred to use the overdrive, which is a bit weak but reasonably effective. I could see slight white trail artifacts when it was turned on, but it does reduce blur noticeably.

The GS27FC doesn’t need calibration in its default Standard mode but you can choose from five gamma presets, four color temps and a set of RGB sliders if you like. The seven picture modes include sRGB, but since the gamut is already that, it’s redundant. Most users will be satisfied with Standard mode and simply adjusting brightness to taste. HDR signals are supported with an automatic switch and again, no calibration is required. Quick Switch refers to the joystick and its four directions, which can be set to a variety of functions. This makes it easy to alter commonly used settings without digging through the OSD.

Gigabyte GS27FC Calibration Settings

The GS27FC’s Standard mode is free of visible color errors without calibration. I made slight improvements in the measured values with a few RGB adjustments. Gamma is a tad light, but it's too dark if you choose a darker preset. The default setting of 3 is the best. HDR signals gray out all picture controls including brightness, but I found decent accuracy there as well. My SDR settings are below if you wish to try them.

Gaming and Hands-on

I spent some time surfing the web with the GS27FC and found it provided just enough pixel density for a clear image. Small text was readable without difficulty from about three feet away. Sitting any closer showed the pixel structure, so you’ll have to decide if an FHD resolution of 27 inches is right for you. It’s a great way to save some money, but a 27-inch QHD monitor with similar specs is only $80 more if you buy Gigabyte’s G27QC.

Graphics and photos looked sharper than expected, thanks to the deep contrast. There aren’t many LCD monitors that can top 4,000:1 natively, so that is a major point in the GS27FC’s favor. Scrolling content was smooth and clear, but I could see a slight ringing effect thanks to the weak overdrive.

That issue was more obvious during gameplay, especially in HDR mode. In Doom Eternal, I could see the ringing in areas where objects and backgrounds were highly contrasted. It wasn’t overly distracting, but it might be an issue if you’re a picky player.

Video processing was speedy, however. Lag was very low with instant response to mouse and keyboard inputs. I was able to aim with precision at many enemies in quick succession. Blur was not a factor, and I did not need the backlight strobe (Aim Stabilizer). I tried it out for a time but found its phasing artifact too distracting. It turned fast camera pans into a mushy blur of reduced detail. Adaptive-Sync with the overdrive was the best way to play.

HDR images looked visibly better than their SDR counterparts. Though no more contrast is available, the GS27FC does a good job with HDR color and luminance tracking. It won’t fool you into thinking that zone dimming is happening, but it is one of the better examples among budget screens.

The stand, while solid, was too minimal for me. If the GS27FC were flat, I wouldn’t notice it as much, but as a curved screen, it’s a bit disorienting for me to have it angled upward. The tilt adjustment’s low fulcrum point made this condition slightly more apparent. I set the monitor up on a pedestal to make it vertical, which was a marked improvement. If I were using it long term, I would install an aftermarket arm.

Takeaway: The GS27FC is a very capable productivity monitor if you’re OK with a little less pixel density. 27 inches is at the limit of FHD, in my opinion. Sit back around three feet for the best picture. High contrast helps make the image a bit sharper and more saturated. Though it is an sRGB panel, I didn’t really miss the wide gamut. Thanks to quick response and low lag, gaming is a very good experience, but it would be better if the overdrive were more aggressive. Aim Stabilizer has too much phasing to be a viable alternative. But for $180, it is competitive with displays of similar spec.

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