There's practically never been a better time to upgrade to 1440p, as this $170 165Hz Gigabyte gaming monitor proves

A Gigabyte gaming monitor on a blue background.
(Image credit: Future)
Gigabyte GS27Q | 27-inch | 1440p | 165Hz | IPS | FreeSync Premium | $229.99 $169.99 at Amazon (save $60)

Gigabyte GS27Q | 27-inch | 1440p | 165Hz | IPS | FreeSync Premium | $229.99 $169.99 at Amazon (save $60)
A 1440p IPS panel with a 165Hz refresh rate is a real sweet spot for gaming and this one is well worth a look, especially at this price. We're fans of the straightforward, yet fully-featured gaming monitors Gigabyte makes, and its IPS panels in particular are firm favorites.

The golden resolution for the majority of PC gamers is 1440p—4K is often too dear, too demanding, but 1440p is just right. Many affordable graphics cards can push 1440p without too much trouble and 1440p gaming monitors do not cost all that much these days.

Take this one we've spotted over at Amazon: The 27-inch Gigabyte GS27Q is currently on sale for $170. That's $60 off the regular asking price, and the cheapest  in its history as far as I can see.

For that sum you score a 165Hz refresh rate with a 1ms MPRT response time. A solid foundation for any gaming rig screen. That's paired with AMD's FreeSync Premium Pro, which will keep most GPUs in sync with the panel's refresh rate. 

This screen is using one of Gigabyte's Super Speed IPS panels, which is similar to the two Gigabyte gaming monitors I use at home. IPS panels benefit from plenty of vibrance and a rich tone, though aren't always a match for VA in terms of contrast ratio.

Gigabyte has included only a simple stand with this monitor—at this price I suppose something had to give. At the very least, if not massively configurable, the stand is quite slight and shouldn't take up too much desk space. The screen is also lacking the USB hub found on many Gigabyte gaming monitors, but that's not a massive loss for the money.

All together, this monitor is just further proof that 1440p is the resolution of choice for PC gaming in 2024.

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Jacob Ridley
Managing Editor, Hardware

Jacob earned his first byline writing for his own tech blog. From there, he graduated to professionally breaking things as hardware writer at PCGamesN, and would go on to run the team as hardware editor. He joined PC Gamer's top staff as senior hardware editor before becoming managing editor of the hardware team, and you'll now find him reporting on the latest developments in the technology and gaming industries and testing the newest PC components.