[The AOC U28G2XU gaming monitor is a budget option for those who have acquired a high-end GPU with UHD support but have to cut back on their budget because they've spent a little too much. It's a commendable option for those who want to enjoy high-resolution gaming, but it also has a few small drawbacks that may stump console players.

Out of the box, the AOC U28G2XU gaming monitor looks like a spaceship panel on a desk to a sci-fi writer: a 28-inch anti-glare, IPS panel housed in a sharp, stylish design with a go-faster red flash The "faster" is a particularly important aspect of the console. Faster" is a bit on the wishful thinking side, especially for console gamers, but we'll get to that later.

Most of the weight of the monitor is set close to the font, so if you are using a small monitor stand, make sure the footprint fits. I tried putting mine on a box lid that was too small, but the weight was so unstable that the feet were sticking out of the front and a slight jolt would have sent it crashing to my knees.

Compared to something like LG's UltraGear 27GN950, the AOC falls short in terms of brightness and only has standard IPS panel technology (as opposed to Nano IPS). However, it is much more reasonable in terms of price.

For £569, you get the same resolution, response time, and twice as many USB pass-through ports.

The panel is Vesa's DisplayHDR 400 certified, which means it has a less wide gamut than other panels and is at the lower end of the spectrum with no local dimming. Essentially, this helps keep the price down, but means that the AOC U28G2XU is not ideal for HDR. AOC's choice of dynamic contrast means that it tries to adapt as it gets darker to compensate for such a low contrast ratio IPS monitor, and does a so-so job at it.

A small warning pops up asking if you mind consuming extra power for the privilege, but the contrast ratio test proved acceptable and the general contrast left each band of the Lagom contrast test clear: AOC U28 The G2XU's gamma test was fairly accurate, and no complaints were made in terms of vibration. Viewing angles are also impressive. This monitor is in a great stance in terms of image quality at this price.

Gaming console users, however, will be the hardest to please here.

This monitor has only an HDMI 2.0 port, limiting the 4K refresh rate to 60 Hz. DisplayPort 1.4 is capped at 120 Hz at the same resolution. DisplayPort's DSC (Display Stream Compression) brings it to 144 Hz. This is not a problem for us PC gamers, as DisplayPort's DSC (Display Stream Compression) can boost it up to 144Hz, but console users will be stuck with 60Hz on UHD. [However, users with Nvidia GeForce GPUs will be sorry to hear that G-Sync is off the table.

Motion Blur Reduction (MBR) mode sacrifices adaptive sync and also fixes brightness depending on the level used; MBR helps get rid of some motion blur but is not super effective at its job. It is one of those features worth turning off to get the most out of adaptive sync. Turning on the low-input lag mode would be laughable. It's not the absolute top class of gray-to-gray response time, but it's almost more than acceptable for competitive gaming.

There were a few notable issues with the overdrive mode. As we moved to higher overdrive settings, we found that reverse ghosting occurred more and more.

Overdrive boost mode was the worst culprit, but with the medium setting enabled, we found it to be perfectly playable.

Despite these small trip-ups, you're still getting a 4K monitor that covers all competitive gaming basics at one of the best prices on the market today; the lack of G-Sync compatibility puts Nvidia GeForce users at a disadvantage, but the AOC U 28G2XU is still well worth the money; minor complaints about HDR performance and overdrive ghosting are easily overlooked given the panel's speed, resolution, and image quality.

Sadly, it appears to be currently only available in the UK and Europe.

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