AOC AG271QX Agon 27-inch FreeSync Monitor Review

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OSD Setup & Calibration

The OSD is the now familiar strip across the bottom of the screen seen in all AOC monitors. It’s logically organized into seven sub-menus, and a few of the options are not where you'd expect. Check out our tour below to see where to find everything.

The Luminance menu offers brightness and contrast sliders plus access to six picture modes. This is separate from the additional presets found in the Game Mode menu. More on that later. For best results, stick with the default Standard mode and try our calibration settings detailed below. The AG271QX needs a little tweaking for optimal performance. Of the three Gamma options, 1 is the default, but 3 comes closest to our 2.2 standard. DCR is the monitor’s dynamic contrast option, which is best left off.

Image Setup is only accessible when an analog signal is present. Here you can adjust clock, phase, sharpness, and image position.

In the Color Setup menu there are three white balance presets plus User and sRGB modes. The latter locks out all other settings and is fixed at around 320cd/m2. As you’ll see on page four, it isn’t quite the fire-and-forget mode we hoped it would be. In the User mode, the RGB sliders begin at center range, so it’s easy to calibrate without sacrificing contrast. The DCB modes enhance specific colors like sky or grass and are best left off if accuracy is the goal.

Picture Boost is a handy feature that highlights a particular area of the screen. You can size and move it and adjust luminance within to add emphasis to your content. It’s something we haven’t found on any other monitor brand.

OSD Setup has the options you’d expect, like transparency, language, and timeout. But it also has the HDMI and DP version controls along with a volume slider. The default settings are all correct, but if you have a video card that doesn’t support HDMI 2.0 or DisplayPort 1.2, you can fix that here.

In the Game Setting menu, there are three more picture modes plus three user-programmable memories. Shadow Control boosts low-end gamma to help shadow detail become more visible. Low Input Lag disables the internal frame buffer to decrease latency. This option is grayed out in FreeSync mode. Game Color acts just like a saturation control and affects all six colors at once. Low Blue Light adds red to the white point in an effort to reduce eye fatigue. And finally, the Overdrive option has three settings: weak, medium, and strong. We found strong worked extremely well, providing clearer motion resolution without ghosting.

The Extras menu has all remaining options and can be left un-adjusted in most cases. On the right is basic signal information. It will indicate FreeSync operation, but that replaces the vertical refresh rate value, so you won’t know you’re at 144Hz unless you check the Windows Control Panel.

Calibration

The AG271QX ships in its Standard preset with Game Mode turned off. This offers fair picture quality, but there are some performance gains still to be had. The biggest flaw is gamma which should be changed from preset 1 to preset 3. That will firm up color tracking significantly. The color temp presets offer an sRGB mode, but that locks out all adjustments and fixes output at 320cd/m2. It also inherits the poor gamma tracking from Standard. We suggest incorporating the settings below to extract the maximum accuracy from your AG271QX.

Swipe to scroll horizontally
AOC AG271QX Calibration Settings
EcoStandard
Brightness 200cd/m250
Brightness 120cd/m225
Brightness 100cd/m219
Brightness 80cd/m213
Brightness 50cd/m24
Contrast49
Gamma3
Color Temp UserRed 47, Green 52, Blue 53
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.

  • Voliax
    It looks great but i prefer ASUS products anyway.
    Reply
  • JQB45
    I've had a standard AOC 27" 1080p 60hz monitor for nearly 4 years now and would give this a try except I don't want red.
    Reply
  • hannibal
    Very good monitor indeed!

    Just need 4K monitor that can also go down to 30MHz, and maybe even IPS it would be perfect. But of course it would also cost a lot more.
    But a good gaming monitor, this is in anyway. I personally prefer wider wieving angles, with more accurate colors, but that it only a personal preference.
    Reply
  • uglyduckling81
    So Free-sync has the same operating frequency as G-Sync. Remind me why G-Sync monitors more expensive again?
    It would be amazing if they would just shit can G-Sync so we aren't screwed over by buying one type or the other.
    There is no way in hell I'm buying G-Sync now that Free-Sync is it's equal but far cheaper.
    Reply
  • thor220
    19094929 said:
    So Free-sync has the same operating frequency as G-Sync. Remind me why G-Sync monitors more expensive again?
    It would be amazing if they would just shit can G-Sync so we aren't screwed over by buying one type or the other.
    There is no way in hell I'm buying G-Sync now that Free-Sync is it's equal but far cheaper.

    Actually Free-Sync is theoretically better. The bottom refresh rate is 4 Hz, it's just that no monitor has implemented anything like this.
    Reply
  • Virtual_Singularity
    Thanks for the Review. Too bad the BenQ XL2730Z, known now as BenQ Zowie XL2730 (TN/FS, $549) and Acer XG270HU (TN/FS, $469) weren't included as comparison monitors, as the AOC AG271QX seems to be in direct competition with both, especially the BenQ though.
    Reply
  • nitrium
    19094929 said:
    So Free-sync has the same operating frequency as G-Sync. Remind me why G-Sync monitors more expensive again?
    It would be amazing if they would just shit can G-Sync so we aren't screwed over by buying one type or the other.
    There is no way in hell I'm buying G-Sync now that Free-Sync is it's equal but far cheaper.
    Well the reason is because nVidia is screwing its customers (who mostly lap it up) by leveraging their popularity with proprietary technology in order to maximise profits. So it's just business to them (as it should be, given they have shareholders and board to answer to). Doesn't mean you have to happy about OR support them. I stopped doing just that a few years ago, despite being an nVidiot for almost two decades.
    Reply
  • cinergy
    I'd be interested if this model came 24" version and lower price. If I want bigger screen, I can use my tv when needed.
    Reply
  • zivnix
    Could you please review PIXIO PX277?
    Reply
  • zivnix
    CINERGY, check out AOC G2460PF.
    Reply