In PC gaming, 4K has been a prohibitively expensive venture for years now. This is due to the simple fact that it involves moving large numbers of pixels at once. The power to push pixels equals money; to experience 4K at its best, you need a graphics card that can handle the task and a gaming monitor that can display the end result. And neither has been inexpensive for a long time. [but all that is starting to change, as the Gigabyte M28U proves with its excellent price and superior 4K feature set.

We also caught a glimpse of some really affordable 4K graphics cards, but those have long since been destroyed by the ongoing chip shortage. As such, they were passed over. However, if you are planning to upgrade your monitor for the arrival of 4K, or already have a decent GPU in your rig, the M28U may be the best choice.

Not long ago, you had to spend a lot of hard-earned cash on a 4K, 144Hz, IPS gaming monitor; the Gigabyte M28U is a classic example of the declining product premium for higher resolutions.

The Gigabyte M28U features a 28" IPS panel within four slim bezels; IPS panel technology offers exceptional color depth and clarity, and superior performance in most other respects, especially viewing angles. Black and white levels were particularly high, and even a slight drop in contrast was noticeably identifiable on the screen during our testing. This clarity of black levels is very impressive even for an IPS, especially one without such a seriously impressive contrast spec; the M28U is rated at 1000:1, and while there is some IPS-specific sparkle at the edges in darker images, neither is very noticeable during gaming.

The monitor also supports DisplayHDR 400, but the brightness is a fairly standard 300 cd/m2. In any case, HDR capability is not a major issue, and we do not recommend choosing this monitor specifically for its HDR capabilities; it cannot show off everything that HDR has to offer, and it is not a good choice for those who are looking for a monitor that can show off the best of both worlds. Needless to say, HDR on a Windows PC is still not that enjoyable an experience.

The M28U, however, provides a rich canvas for gaming, not only in image quality, but also in response and refresh rate.

With a response time of 2 ms MPRT and 1 ms GTG, the M28U is quite fast. It can also be a bit exaggerated to get there, especially when the speed overdrive setting is enabled. The resulting overdrive artifacts can negatively affect image quality. My recommendation is to stick with Smart OD, which provides adequate blending performance that eliminates ghosting without creating artifacts.

The big selling point, however, is the 144Hz refresh rate, so you no longer have to forgo high frame rates for full fat 4K resolution. The key here is to have a GPU that can achieve such high frame rates for most games, which is no easy task; AMD's Radeon RX 6900 XT worked well in my experience, but Asus' GeForce RTX 3070 Noctua OC Edition, I often struggled at 4K with high presets enabled when I was testing it.

One thing to consider before purchasing the M28U is whether to buy a 4K, 16:9 panel or an ultrawide. The former has the advantage of pixel count, which makes games look amazingly detailed, while the latter has the potential to reduce the performance load on the GPU while still maintaining enough area for gaming and productivity. This is a difficult decision, and I think a great case can be made either way.

You want to make this decision with graphics cards in mind. Currently, it is not that easy to obtain these powerful silicon chips. You don't want to run your 4K monitor at a lower resolution to achieve a playable frame rate. In particular, you may not feel you are getting all you can out of this 144Hz 4K monitor.

If you decide on a straight 4K panel, you won't find many monitors more satisfying than the M28U. That said, we would be remiss not to talk about some of its shortcomings, even if they are not important to those of you who have read this far.

The first drawback of the Gigabyte M28U is its 28-inch screen size, which is a bit smaller than I usually recommend to maximize 4K resolution. Also, the text may appear small in some games.

This scaling issue is mostly mitigated, at least when playing games. In this regard, the M28U is the perfect size to let pixel density and detail shine through without overpowering the desktop, and it feels much less intimidating when placed next to my 32" monitor. That makes it a little less immersive, though.

Then there's the stand. Monitors in this price range need to cut costs, and the stand takes the brunt of it. It is sturdy and is practically all that is needed, but its movement is restricted to height and tilt adjustments only. It also looks a bit cheap and relies on a pad glued to the underside for grip against the desk. In my review sample, these pads are already starting to peel off with the small adjustments I made over time and may have to be replaced just to stabilize the screen. [Resolution, refresh rate, and IPS panel make the M28U the perfect all-rounder for stepping up to 4K, not only for PC gaming, but also for console gaming at 120Hz thanks to its HDMI 2.1 port. Gigabyte has not made any major sacrifices to tick all the boxes with the M28U, and at $650 (£660), this performance is truly impressive.