Monoprice Dark Matter 27-inch 240 Hz Monitor Review: Cheap Fun, Solid Accuracy

A 240 Hz gaming monitor doesn’t have to cost a lot.

Monoprice Dark Matter 27
(Image: © Monoprice)

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Viewing Angles

Monoprice Dark Matter

(Image credit: Tom's Hardware)

Monoprice specs the Dark Matter 27 as an AHVA panel and our photos appear to confirm this. At 45° to the sides, the image shifts slightly blue and light falls off by around 20%. The top view is very green with a 40% brightness reduction but strong retention of detail. This is typical of the AHVA panels we’ve tested.

Screen Uniformity

To learn how we measure screen uniformity, please click here.

Monoprice Dark Matter

(Image credit: Tom's Hardware)

Our Dark Matter 27 sample had very good screen uniformity except for a visible hotspot in the screen’s lower right corner. It could just be seen when viewing a black field pattern in a totally darkened room, but it disappeared when there was a little ambient light. The rest of the screen was visually perfect. No color aberrations were observed.

Pixel Response and Input Lag

Please click here to read up on our pixel response and input lag testing procedures.

These test results show the Dark Matter 27 to be a gaming performance bargain. For less than $300, you’re getting an IPS monitor that’s as fast as the best monitors we’ve tested. When counting frames for the response test, the screen was fully drawn in somewhere between four and five milliseconds. That accounts for its excellent motion resolution. Response was also on par with any premium monitor out there at a total of 23 ms. You can see that this is typical performance for a 240 Hz monitor. So, going with Monoprice will save you money and you won’t sacrifice any speed.

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.