It's been a long time coming. But that ultra-crispy, high refresh 4K gaming experience is affordable at last. At least, the monitor part of the hardware package is, even if the graphics card might not be. We give you the Acer Nitro XV273K, yours for a piffling $379 in one of the best Black Friday gaming monitor deals we've found yet.
OK, that's not throw away money. But the XV273K launched at $899 a couple of years ago, which gives you an idea of just how much monitor you're getting for your money. It's a proper IPS panel with 144Hz refresh, 1ms response, and 400 nits of brightness. This is no cheapo, smeary, overshooting VA lump. It's the real, high-fidelity IPS deal.
Of course, to make the most of a 4K monitor and the incredible image detail it offers, you're going to need some serious graphics fire power. But not quite as much as you might think. For that we all have Nvidia to thank, even if you buy or already own an AMD GPU. The reason is upscaling technology, largely pioneered by Nvidia's DLSS tech and now emulated by AMD FSR. With upscaling, 4K at decent frame rates is now possible on a wider range of graphics cards than ever before. Put simply, 4K is now viable in way it never used to be.
The one catch with that Acer panel is that it measures just 27 inches. In outright terms, that's hardly puny. But 4K is arguably overkill for gaming on a 27-inch monitor. Which is where the Gigabyte M32U comes in. It's the full 32-inch deal and matches the Acer Nitro is all other regards.
So, the Gigabyte M32U is a quality IPS panel with 144Hz refresh. However, it has one extra trick that the Acer can't match, namely HDMI 2.1 connectivity, allowing high-refresh gaming on not just PC but also console. If you want to tag team a gaming PC and console on a single screen, the GIGABYTE M32U could be the 4K panel you've been waiting for.
In an absolutely ideal world, of course, your high-refresh 4K gaming panel would also be OLED. Only with OLED technology do you get proper per-pixel lighting control and true sub-1ms response. LCD panels simply cannot compete.
And you know what? 4K high-refresh OLED technology is also more affordable than you might think. OK, at $779 the Aorus FO48U is a significant investment. But in the context of the current price of graphics cards, it's not exactly outrageous.
So, there you have it. A trio of surprisingly affordable high-refresh 4K options thanks to Black Friday. Grab 'em while they last.
