AOC C24G1 24" Curved Frameless Gaming Monitor, FHD 1080p, 1500R VA panel, 1ms 144Hz, FreeSync, Height adjustable, VESA, 3-Year Zero Dead Pixels Black

I have been currently using this monitor for the past two and a half months, and my experience with it has been an interesting one.Firstly let's get the specs out of the way. This is one of the cheapest monitors that you can buy that gives you 1440p, 27", 144Hz refresh rate, Adaptive Sync, and 1ms response time. Most other panels of this quality are around $300 minimum, so getting this for $260 is a steal. In addition, the stand for being a budget monitor is fantastic. Giving you both tilt and height adjustment is unheard of at this range. No corners were cut here. The picture quality is fantastic as well. QHD at 27" inches is a treat to look at (I was using a TN 1080p 24" 60Hz monitor before). Also the control quality is fantastic as well. AOC's promise of a 3-year zero dead pixel warranty and 1-year accidental damage is extremely generous compared to the rest of the competition. If you do encounter a problem you should not worry about your few hundred dollar investment.Now here are some caveats and issues that I had faced with this monitor in the first month of use. For my PC I am using the AMD RX 5700 graphics card, which has always been prone to driver bugs and issues. During this first month of use, I had times where the monitor would not detect the GPU output and not switch inputs over to the connected HDMI. I would have to reboot the monitor entirely to get it working again. This however has been fixed with the latest AMD Adrenaline driver update. In addition, I had issues with how Adaptive Sync worked with my GPU. The most glaring issue being when I enable a custom GPU fan profile using MSI Afterburner, the monitor would go black for seconds at a time, and would occur every half minute or so. I would need to turn off my custom fan profile and suffer higher GPU temperatures in order to use my monitor. However, the latest AMD GPU driver patch fixed this issue as well. As of now, I have no issues with my PC detecting my monitor or face any strange issues with the display turning on and off.Aside from driver issues, the usual caveats with VA panels apply to this monitor as well. You have great contrast ratio with the better blacks than IPS or TN, but you do suffer from poorer GTG response times. This can lead to black smearing when your game encounters dark environments. I haven't noticed this smearing in my own use, however YMMV. Also, the brightness is definitely on the lower side at 250 nits. I would have really appreciated 300 nits minimum. I use this monitor in a dark room so 250 nits is not an issue, but if you use this monitor in a naturally lit environment you may struggle to use this monitor.Overall, I am extremely satisfied with this monitor, but my first month and a half of ownership of this monitor could have been smoother. Though this was at the fault of my own hardware and not the monitor. I anticipate anyone with an Nvidia GPU would not have face the same issues as I did. If you have a flat budget of $300, I highly recommend this monitor (if it is ever in stock). Otherwise, I would try to stretch the budget to get a brighter IPS gaming monitor.

I took a real chance on this thing. It was made by a company I've never heard of, it was the cheapest monitor in its class by far, and I was getting it "open box" condition. But I gotta say, I'm glad I took the plunge!Usually when you get something that costs so much less than its competitors, there's a reason for it. It may still be a good product, but compromises had to be made somewhere. But in this case, I can't find them. It's very well built, works flawlessly and doesn't have any weird compatibility issues like my old Acer monitor. Looking at other reviews of this monitor, the general consensus seems to be that the only downsides are some minor color inaccuracies and that it doesn't get very bright. Well, I can't speak for color inaccuracies because I couldn't care less, but this thing was almost painfully bright when I first turned it on. Now maybe that's just because I'm coming from a monitor that was..adequate, to be polite about it, but I really can't imagine someone needing something brighter than this.The only complaint I have is that the buttons along the bottom need to be marked more clearly. They're just slightly raised icons just barely darker than the rest of bezel; impossible to see without extra light. But that's par for the course when it comes to monitors. I've seen ones that cost 3x more than this one that still have the same problem.Overall, a fantastic monitor even without factoring in the price. But when you can snag it for $200? That would be a good deal even for a 1080p monitor in the 144hz class, let alone 1440p.

This is a fantastic monitor for the price! And honestly, its competitive with monitors that cost double the price.People often overlook VA panels because VAsjust have a general bad rap. I don't know where it comes from, but the stereotype that you need IPS is mostly false. IPS does have the best color accuracy, but unless your doing photo/video work that demands perfect colors, a VA will do great. The colors are vivid and accurate, and the viewing angles are good too. Unless you're gaming at a 70 degree angle from the front of your screen you will never have issues. Also, monitor preference is very subjective. While some people may prefer the faster technology of IPS (which can mean less ghosting), many others (myself included) care more about the superb contrast ratios provided by VA. For one, I have yet to encounter ghosting issues on my display. But also, this VA literally has a 4X better contrast ratio than the average IPS. I played on IPS for years and I always hated how every black color was just turned into a grayish blob. Now I can see different levels of darkness in full detail. Nighttime levels in games are playable and enjoyable now!So for half the price, you can get a 144hz 1440p monitor that rivals $500 dollar IPS options. It's a no-brainer. To top it off, the packaging is superb. When I opened it I was not concerned at all about potential damage. And it has zero dead pixels.The only con I have to mention concerns g-sync compatibility. This monitor is not on the official Nvidia list of compatible monitors. However, when you go into the Nvidia control panel to set it up, it indicates that the monitor is, in fact, compatible. The g-sync works well, and I was amazed by the buttery smooth feel I got even at frames well below 100. Now here's the downside. Apparently there is a strange but replicated bug when you have this monitor plus a 1000 series Nvidia gpu. IF and ONLY IF you turn on g-sync, and your frames drop under 100, the screen will randomly lose display for a second before coming back as normal. I found a reviewer that discussed this issue and they found it persisted across several of these monitors and when trying different cables. https://pcmonitors.info/reviews/aoc-cq27g2u-cq27g2/It doesn't happen if you stay over 100 fps. It happens rarely (once per hour) between 100-80 fps. And it happens more frequently (once every 20-30 minutes) under 80 fps. The times are not consistent those are just my rough estimates based on usage. If you turn g-sync off this doesn't happen at all. Also, it has been reported that this issue doesn't appear of you have a 2000 series gpu.Honestly, I still leave it on most of the time, because I'm willing to lose display for a second or two per hour in exchange for buttery smooth goodness the rest of the time. However it is disappointing that the issue exists at all.