"Beauty or speed?" this is a question of the first order, and one that applies notably to gaming panels such as the new Monoprice Dark Matter 27-inch gaming monitor.

Of course, the choice of panel pace and image quality is nothing new. It has always been the case with gaming monitors. In the past, however, there was the conundrum of choosing between a fast but ugly TN screen and a slow but beautiful IPS display. Today, one can enjoy ultra-fast pixel response of 1 ms from color-accurate IPS panels.

So what's the problem? You can't get the beauty of a really high resolution like 4K or the moderate aesthetic appeal of 1440p at the same time as a really high refresh rate. Well, not without paying a hefty price. And even then, there are limits.

With this in mind, this is the new Monoprice Dark Matter 27-inch gaming monitor, which has been upgraded from the 165 Hz of the existing model (which is still available) to IPS (more specifically AHVA, an IPS panel technology invented by panel supplier AU Optronics, LG IPS panel technology invented by LG) panels to a full 240Hz and 1ms. Sure, you can get 240Hz 1440p panels. But at twice the price. And 4K panels operating at such high speeds are not regularly available.

Of course, the bottleneck is that Dark Matter is a 1080p panel. That's why Monoprice can offer 240Hz equivalent 1ms IPS goodness at this price point. It has fewer pixels. As it happens, it makes a lot of sense in terms of matching the price of this monitor with the overall system configuration.

If you can't stretch to a 1440p 240Hz panel, you can't afford the megabucks graphics card needed to drive it. On the other hand, this inexpensive panel option will not place such high demands on the graphics subsystem. So you don't have to subprime your mortgage or wait in line to die to buy an RTX 3080 or RX 6800 graphics card, and you have half a chance of hitting enough frame rates to get the most out of every Hz.

But high refresh and fast response are not all this monitor has to offer; it is also VESA DisplayHDR 400 certified and has basic HDR performance. It is also quite sophisticated in terms of design. The base of the stand is proper cast metal, feels great, and looks very sharp. There are slim bezels on three sides of the panel and subtle red accents on the back.

The overall package looks promising. The only question is how much of a problem the 1080p native resolution will be when stretched to a fairly roomy 27" panel; 1080p on a 24" or 25" monitor might be acceptable. But on a 27", it is .......

Upon initial startup, the Monoprice Dark Matter 27-inch gaming monitor was underwhelming. This monitor has 500 nits and a contrast ratio of 1,000:1, but it doesn't seem to pack much of a punch. By default, however, it is in SDR mode; to enable HDR mode, a switch must be pressed in both the Windows and Dark Matter OSD menus. Then the full 500 nits of output will be unleashed.

Interestingly, SDR content looks beautiful in HDR mode. In other words, it is entirely realistic to leave this monitor running in HDR mode all the time. This is great. Jumping between SDR and HDR is a complete pain because of the monitor's poor SDR performance in HDR mode.

Anyway, this is not a true HDR panel. There is no local dimming. But it is a very bright, bold, vibrant display with punchy colors. And certainly HDR content looks slightly better than SDR content. Playing a movie such as "Cyberpunk 2077" in SDR and HDR modes, the latter appears to be more dynamic and immersive, although the difference is not dramatic.

But what about the trivial matter of speed: Monoprice has three user-configurable overdrive levels in the OSD menu (and even a completely "off" setting). The medium and fastest settings have a bit of overshoot. However, they are actually usable rather than ridiculous in that regard. Even with the fastest setting, you have to know what you are looking for in the game to find the overshoot.

On Windows, it is a bit more problematic when scrolling through text in a browser, for example. However, this is completely configurable, so you can choose your pain level. More importantly, even with minimal overdrive, this display is really fast and wonderfully responsive; the 240 Hz refresh also means that there is almost no subjective delay. Move the mouse and the response is immediate. It's really quite simple, and in games like Apex Legends or Fortnite, dancing around enemies is what this monitor does best. You would have to be some sort of international esports champ to need anything faster than this.

But you wouldn't have to be terribly demanding to make the level of detail provided matter. That is because there is no way around it. Displaying 1080p on this panel size would result in large, fat pixels and a soft, blotchy image quality overall; a 27-inch monitor at 1440p would be overwhelmed by the level of detail, let alone the myriad 4K options.

Overall, it would be difficult to live with 1080p at this panel size. For most people, 144Hz and 1440p is a better overall compromise than 1080p and 240Hz in most cases, and one that Monoprice itself can supply at a lower cost. If speed is your first priority, then this panel is a good candidate. Just be clear about the compromise.