LG has just unveiled the Ultragear GX7 27GX790A, which is among the first gaming monitors to offer a massive 480Hz refresh rate at a 1440p resolution. We’ve seen several 500Hz+ gaming displays already, but these have had a 1080p resolution, so the move up to 1440p will mean a much sharper, super-fast image from this new LG OLED gaming monitor.
Most games don’t meaningfully benefit from such ludicrously fast refresh rates, but the best gaming monitor options for games such as Counter-Strike 2, Valorant, Apex Legends, and Overwatch will all be those that can run essentially as fast as possible. And now, with this new LG panel, you’ll get that speed as well as visual sharpness.
This is actually the second OLED gaming monitor LG has offered that’s able to hit 480Hz, with its 32GS95UE offering the feature as a switchable mode. That 32-inch display can do 4K at 240Hz or 1080p at 480Hz, and you can watch out for our LG Ultragear 32GS95UE review coming later this week where we put this display to the test.
Back to the LG Ultragear 27GX790A, this monitor has a 27-inch display with a fixed maximum resolution of 2,560 x 1,440. We noted in our LG Ultragear 27GR95QE review that this screen size and resolution can have some major issues with text clarity on OLED displays, but this new LG screen uses a new panel coating and has microlens array technology, which could help alleviate these issues.
The latter is also a tech that’s meant to help boost brightness – another problem with the 27GR95QE – with the panel able to hit a peak brightness of 1,300 cd/m², although the new panel’s typical brightness is a much more modest 275 cd/m².
The 27GX790A uses LG’s WOLED display technology, which partners the traditional three sub-pixel colors of red, green, and blue with an extra white sub-pixel. This helps to boost peak brightness for lighter, whiter shades, helping the OLED panel last longer.
However, in our tests, it’s not as bright as Samsung’s QD-OLED technology when it comes to strong colors, and the text quality issues mentioned above are even worse on WOLED than QD-OLED. It really will be interesting to see how this new panel performs with regards these factors.
You can be confident in the image quality of the panel during gaming, though, and when it comes to contrast, thanks to the inherent ability of OLED panels to show vivid colors and true black levels. This display boasts a 1,500,000:1 contrast ratio and it has VESA DisplayHDR True Black 400 certification.
One new feature that’s also notable, and which isn’t featured on this display’s most direct rival, the Asus PG27AQDP, is the move to a DisplayPort 2.1 input. Without this, the display couldn’t offer a 480Hz refresh rate at 1440p without using some sort of display compression. However, if you have a DisplayPort 2.1-capable graphics card and this display, you’ll get true uncompromised 480Hz@1440p action.
Notably, no Nvidia GPUs yet support DisplayPort 2.1, with only AMD’s most recent GPUs supporting the feature. The display also supports HDMI 2.1, which doesn’t support 480Hz at 1440p without compression, but still can still cope with 1440p at 360Hz and 4K at 120Hz.
LG claims this is its most compact Ultragear OLED display yet, referring to its screen size, ultra slim bezels, and compact base design. If you have a small space in which you can slot this screen, it shouldn’t have a problem fitting. That said, the contrast between the ultra-thin panel, thin and flat base, and the strangely wide stand is amusing to us.
The LG Ultragear 27GX790A price is available for pre-order now with a price of $999.99, which is high for a 27-inch 1440p display, but OLED screens do still generally demand a premium, and this one is pushing boundaries with its 480Hz and 1440p combination.
If you’re tempted by this combo, but can settle with a 360Hz refresh rate, check out our MSI MPG 271QRX review, which details the performance of this 27-inch, 1440p, 360Hz OLED display that’s available for $775.
