Narrowing down the list of gaming monitors to the right one for you is a difficult task. A gaming monitor is a big purchase. It's the kind of thing you pay for and don't replace for years. I have replaced several graphics cards in my gaming PC over the course of owning a monitor. It's hard to pull me away from something I've used for so many years.

The Omen 27u gaming monitor was the first to convince me that gaming in 4K is a great thing. For me, 1440p was the sweet spot because it fit the type of games I play. I am not an esports player, I play "Overwatch" casually with friends. That doesn't mean I don't like the game running at a smooth 144fps graphics setting, with magical abilities and characters that look beautiful. I have since tried playing the game on my old 1080p monitor and it looked disgusting.

The Omen 27u makes this problem even worse. I have now seen how Overwatch and several other games look in 4K and now 1440p looks kind of ugly. Not groundbreaking news for those who understand that the more pixels you have, the sharper the image, but I didn't think it was such an important upgrade when I wasn't trying to immerse myself in ultra cinematic games like the latest "Battlefield" or "Horizon": I didn't think it was that important except when you're trying to immerse yourself in a hyper-cinematic game like "Forbidden West.

Now, I'm someone who can argue that 4K is pretty sick, especially on a game like The Elden Rings, but frankly it deserves a fidelity boost: the Omen 27u's 4K IPS screen gives the game an image quality equivalent to the burnt "leopard" crust on a real pizza. It's still pizza without it, but the added texture enhances what you're already aiming for and differentiates it from what's sitting in your freezer.

The Omen 27u surprised me right out of the box. The monitor is on the heavier side at about 17 pounds. I had to tighten the stand to grip this monitor, which is probably not a big deal for something that will be stationary for most of its life. 2 USB 3.2 ports, 1 USB Type-C port, HDMI 2.1 port, HDMI 2.0 port, one DisplayPort 1.4 port. All of these are included because it is proposed as an all-in-one solution for gaming on PC, console, or both.

And it works; not many games support 120Hz 4K on the Xbox Series X or PlayStation 5, but the inclusion of HDMI 2.1 is a boon, if it improves over time. It would be nice to be able to switch between PC and console, although that may not be most people's situation yet. Otherwise, the Omen 27u has a band of RGB LEDs wrapped around the back of the monitor and, for some reason, a rectangular RGB LED on the bottom; the Omen software can change the color and animation of the lights, but I am not inclined to consider this an important feature compared to the lights on the front of the monitor.

The Omen 27u's 144Hz 27" IPS panel claims a fast 1ms GTG for fast-paced gaming and other media, but as is common with monitors of this type, it is only available in the highest overdrive setting. However, as is common with such monitors, it is only available at the highest overdrive setting. At these higher settings, the image will begin to have ugly ghosting, and the response time will not be as fast, but combined with the high refresh rate, it will not be noticeable unless you plan to play in an esports environment. It also has VESA DisplayHDR 400, a contrast ratio of 1,000:1, and 95% coverage of the DCI-P3 color space (no sRGB mode, however).

I used the Omen 27u as my main monitor for several weeks, and with some brightness adjustment, the display was impressive from the start. Everything from the scenery in "The Elden Ring" to the text-centric interface in "Citizen Sleeper" was displayed in great detail and impressively, with no incredible color fading or white-outs. And even knee-deep in a tense game of "Overwatch 2," as long as you have G-Sync or FreeSync (labeled AMD FreeSync Premium Pro on the box) turned on, it is buttery smooth.

HDR is another story, look for something like the Alienware 34 QD-OLED, as 450 nits of HDR is hardly even HDR. This is an IPS monitor, not an OLED. It will be difficult to reproduce a really good contrast range across the panel, especially at this level of brightness. If you are experiencing this for the first time, it may be a novelty for a short time, but compared to the normal SDR mode, it is not enough at all.

The $699 Omen 27u competes directly with our second favorite gaming monitor, the LG 27GN950-B. The LG lacks the same excellent HDR as this monitor, but has a Nano IPS panel with better color range. I have not used the LG myself, but the two monitors appear to be competitive for the most part. After all, the Omen 27u has an HDMI 2.1 port, which means it has accessibility that the LG does not.

If you have the graphics card to fuel this monitor with 4K games or have a budget ready for when they permanently drop in price, the Omen 27u is a great choice, especially if you have a console and squeeze setup too, Great choice. This is the kind of monitor to get if you don't have room for a big TV but want the benefits of 4K for every gaming platform you have. Also, if you like to sync the RGB lights on all your devices, you can do that too.