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Viotek GN27D 144Hz Curved Gaming Monitor Review: 1440p Curved Display on a Budget

The Viotek GN27D curved gaming monitor features WQHD 2k 2560x1440p resolution and supports up to 144Hz refresh rates for gaming speed with native AMD FreeSync technology. The GN27D curved monitor gives you good immersion, great bang for buck along with a beautiful picture and 178 degree viewing angle. It’s optimized for gaming and comes with the confidence of Viotek’s Zero Dead Pixel Policy.

Viotek GN27D 144Hz Gaming Monitor ReviewThe Viotek GN27D has a pleasant design with a sturdy tri-pod style metal stand. The stand however is not adjustable and remains at a fixed height of about 4 inches from the bottom edge of the monitor to the table top. The stand is solid for sure but could benefit with a vertical height adjustment and articulation.

It can only tilt forward and back and cannot rotate or pivot at all. This can be an annoyance if you like to rotate the screen frequently. Ideally this monitor is best suited for VESA mount if you have that type of setup or don’t mind a stand that you can’t really adjust. Viotek does make an inexpensive VESA mount dual monitor stand for about $30 that you can add to the setup if you plan to purchase two curved Viotek displays.

Viotek GN27D 144Hz Gaming Monitor ReviewViotek has provided the GN27D Curved Gaming Monitor to us so that we could provide first hand review coverage of the display quality, performance, and build quality along with our experience with it to our readers.

Specs

The GN27D curved 27″ gaming monitor can display up to 2560x1440p QHD (Quad High Definition) resolution with 16.7 million colors at 1,000,000:1 contrast ratio. The 16:9 widescreen aspect ratio & 1800R curve give you a wonderful viewing angle and enough real estate for side by side layout work or immersive game play.

Check out our quick overview on display panel types.

Viotek’s gaming optimized monitor is able to produce refresh rates up to 144Hz for smooth gaming video and a quick response time of 4.8ms. It’s got built-in PBP and PIP make this monitor a great choice for dual PC connections for streaming, live chat or broadcasting situations.

Equipped with FreeSync technology for AMD graphics card users keep the detail crisp even when the action is fast and furious. FPS/RTS optimized settings include multiple Gameplus native crosshairs can be enabled on-the-fly using the OSD controls.

Viotek GN27D 144Hz Gaming Monitor Review
Top View Viotek GN27D display thickness (Blk model shown for clarity)

It weighs just under 10 lbs and measures 24.1 x 9.5 x 17.9 inches. The GN27D comes in Black and White with anti-glare screen & low blue light setting to help with eye strain and fatigue. Inputs include a Display Port & 2 HDMI ports (1x 1.2 DP and 1x 2.0 DP). Also comes with built-in speakers for sound. The speakers are there, they work. Not a ton of volume but chances are if you’re a multi-media type or gamer you’ll already have your own existing sound setup.

For those of you interested in the guts of the display, the GN27D uses a VA type display panel. Coming from the graphics world, we’re pretty hell bent on IPS panel monitors for color accuracy but an In-Plane Switching monitor isn’t necessarily the best for every situation.

Viotek’s Zero Dead Pixel Policy

High-end monitors can run into the thousands. It’s never fun being disappointed that your new display has a pixel out that you can’t take your eye off of. Then add insult to injury when you spend time arguing with the company about a new display you bought that came with a defect.

While a single dead pixel might not seem like much to a manufacturer. That single pixel can be quite an eye sore for the end-user. We’re thankful that Viotek replaces your new monitor without issue even from a single dead pixel.

The Physical Design

The display is relatively thin, due to the curvature and guts the monitor is thickest at the middle and tapers down quite a bit at the edges. Still, you aren’t often looking at the side or back so this isn’t really an issue for looks. The monitor comes in Black and White. We are currently using the white version and for the most part you can’t see the white except along the bottom edge where the logo and control icons exist. Overall the physical appearance and aesthetics look good.

Viotek GN27D 144Hz Gaming Monitor Review
Viotek GN27D OSD controls

Monitor Controls

The monitor controls reside on the bottom and are marked by printed icons on the front-side. While this wouldn’t normally be a huge issue, the GN27D required us to change color profiles and adjust the output to optimize the media being shown on screen. We found that leaving the color settings in one place did not suit all situations.

Using the UI can be cumbersome and could be redesigned a bit to make things a little easier to use. With the amount of fiddling we found necessary it would have been better to have the buttons front-facing for ease of use. That said most monitors don’t have very convenient OSD control.

Viotek GN27D 144Hz Gaming Monitor Review

Performance

The GN27D makes for a great cost effective curved display. It’s not the most curved or best quality but the price point at approx $300 makes it a great choice for AMD gamers or a general media curved display on a budget.

The color accuracy isn’t there out of the box. It was necessary to tweak the settings to get the picture the way we liked it. You’re going to want to get familiar with adjusting the settings as you’ll be using them often.

Blacks are deep and rich and you can play with the colors if you prefer that over-saturated look. You can limit the RGB range to full or limited. Under limited you’ll see much deeper blacks but you’ll lose some details. Your whites can get blown out and often do without some tweaking of color settings. You’ll spend a little time getting the settings personalized to your taste and finding that balance between detail and color.

FreeSync is not enabled by default so you’ll want to enable that if you are running an AMD card. You can still run into some isolated situations where you can experience some slight ghosting effects dependent upon your setup.

That said the performance with FreeSync on an AMD graphics card is pretty nice. The video is ultra-smooth with good definition of details. If you are not using an AMD card FreeSync just won’t benefit you. The display can still be used for general purpose, game console or multimedia display.

The GN27D could benefit from some customizable presets but unfortunately we were unable to locate any outside of the pre-configured Picture Modes: Standard, Text, Movie, Game, FPS, RTS.

Viotek GN27D 144Hz Gaming Monitor ReviewPros

The Viotek GN27D features an immersive viewing experience with the curved display. It uses an VA panel with good viewing angles for gaming, multimedia and general use.

It’s able to display up to 2560 x 1440 resolution at up to 144Hz and comes ready with native Free-Sync technology for AMD gamers.

There is no bezel outside of the bottom plate. The monitor does have a black border around but the screen is pleasant to view once the colors, gamma, contrast, color temps etc have been adjusted to suite your taste.

Cons

If you are worried about onboard sound, the GN27D lacks any punch. You can turn up the volume in the OSD but it doesn’t add much. Chances are you are already using external speakers or headphones so it won’t matter that much for gaming and multimedia.

The OSD is bulky and cumbersome to use. There’s a lack of any customizable preset profiles outside of the per-configured ones, so you’ll be stuck fiddling a bit in different situations.

Viotek GN27D 144Hz Gaming Monitor Review

That’s a Wrap

If you’re looking for a good curved gaming monitor with native FreeSync technology built in for AMD graphics card users, the Viotek GN27D is a great choice at the lower end of the price spectrum. Viotek’s GN27D offers QHD 2560×1440 2k resolution and supports up to 144hz refresh rates for fast, ultra-smooth, stutter-free gaming. The  GN27D is a great budget-friendly curved gaming monitor that delivers good picture for general use, fast refresh rates for gaming and comes with the confidence of Viotek’s Zero Dead Pixel policy.

Viotek GN27D 144Hz Curved Gaming Monitor $390.00 $349.99

viotek.com