Acer Predator XB271HU – Image Quality

This monitor is fantastic. It’s bright, has strong contrast and accurate colours, and the step up in the consistency of the image compared to any TN-based gaming panel is huge. Plus, as mentioned on the previous page, the out-of-the-box settings are fantastic.

As a far as the numbers are concerned, colour temperature sits at 6,429 (the ideal is 6,500); contrast is 1,238:1; gamma is 2.19 (ideal is 2.2); and brightness is 281 nits (and that’s at only 80/100 on its brightness setting). The Predator also covers 96.9% of the sRGB colour space and has a Delta E of just 0.52 – anything below 3 is good; below 1 is excellent.

All that’s required for image quality perfection is to reduce the brightness to around the 25 mark (150 nits) and you’re good to go.

If you do have a calibration tool handy then things get even better. Following a full calibration with DisplayCAL, I measured this display having a colour temperature of 6,545, 99.9% sRGB, 0.47 Delta E and gamma of 2.2. The only casualty being that contrast dropped to 922:1, which is still very good.

The uniformity of this display is decent, if not outstanding. In the top-right corner brightness drops by 9.92% compared to the middle, while colour varies by as much as 3.3%. Anything below 10% is pretty much imperceptible, but obviously that figure comes close. On average, though, the variation across the display is just 3.6%, so overall it’s fine.

Peer closely and there’s a slight softness to the image that puts it behind the best, more conventional 60Hz IPS screens – monitors such as the ViewSonic VP2770, for instance – but it’s a small enough difference to be negligible for most users. Only those seeking truly professional-class imaging displays will want more from their monitor.

Testing for input lag is something of a pointless exercise on a high-refresh-rate monitor, as I only have a Leo Bodnar lag tester, which works at a maximum of 60Hz and using HDMI. Nonetheless, it recorded a figure of 12.8ms, which is plenty low enough.

As for that high refresh rate, it’s amazing! The combination of 165Hz refresh rate, IPS image quality and G-Sync creates simply the finest gaming experience you can currently get. Everything responds in an instant and you get a clean, crisp, high-quality image along the way.

In contrast, TN panels have relatively poor image quality, while 60Hz IPS panels feel so slow. What’s more, you don’t get the slight ghosting effect that plagued the AOC C3583FQ, which used a 160Hz MVA panel.

Related: Best monitor 2016

Should I buy the Acer Predator XB271HU?

Yes. If you’re an Nvidia gamer and you’re looking for the best gaming monitor you can buy right now then the Acer Predator XG271HU is it  as is the Asus ROG Swift PG279Q. Both offer the same fantastic feature set and image quality, but the Asus has a slightly better design while the Acer is slightly cheaper, so it’s a bit of a toss up as to which you consider more important.

It’s also worth noting that both are markedly more expensive than equivalent displays that sport FreeSync. The Acer XF270HU and Asus MG279Q have pretty much the same image quality, but have cheaper stand designs. However, they’re both nearly £200 cheaper than the G-Sync models. Of course, you need to be using AMD graphics to take advantage of their FreeSync capabilities however.

Verdict

If you’re an Nvidia gamer then this is just about the finest gaming monitor you can currently buy.

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