Who doesn't love a 1080p screen with a 500Hz refresh rate or a huge 120Hz 4K display, and LG's UltraGear 27GR95QE-B, one of the first 1440p 240Hz OLED gaming monitors on the market, is sure to get noticed and Likely.

This UltraGear has an extremely fast response time of 0.03ms. It is a gorgeous monitor that perfectly blends speed, performance, and insane image quality. Most impressive is the price of only $1,000, which is a lot of money for a 27-inch 1440p display, but when you start listing features and specs, the price point is quite competitive with other similar OLEDs coming soon. The 240Hz refresh feels forward-looking, especially now that a new generation of GPUs from Nvidia and AMD have just hit the market. 1440p has long been the sweet spot for PC gaming (open in new tab), although 240Hz and 360Hz 1440p monitors do exist, This is the first time I've seen 1440p at 240Hz on an OLED panel.

I was actually able to check out the LG UltraGear 27GR95QE-B along with its 45-inch, curvier (and more expensive) cousin, the 45GR95QE (opens in new tab) A couple of Evil Genius pros played a few games of Valorant with its I was quite impressed with its performance when it showed off its high refresh rate and low latency, and now that I've spent a fair amount of time with the UltraGear, its speed and latency were something else; it's clear from using it that OLEDs are superior to other panel types for competitive gamers. If you compete, this is the monitor for you.

I can't say enough about how great the games look playing on this monitor. I love seeing the detail in Blade and Iron Man's futuristic armor sets, as well as the stunning swirls of particles when the Hydra soldier is smashed to pieces. Also, in God of War, the frozen kingdom filled with murderous elves has never looked more beautiful.

Speaking of Fortnite, playing at 240 Hz at 1440p is a little weird at first, but after a couple of games I had no other way to play this game. Even if you don't have the hardware to hit 240fps. Frankly, 240Hz may be overkill for many games other than your favorite shooter.

It would be really nice to be able to choose between speed or image quality, or both. So even if you are playing "Valorant" at the highest possible frame rate, you can still take advantage of the beauty of the look of most games, regardless of the type of game. It may sound cheesy, but watching the New York sunset while sitting on the roof of the Empire State Building in "Spider-Man: Miles Morales" was quite a sight.

While I was impressed with the picture quality, LG cannot escape a common problem that plagues some OLED gaming monitors: brightness. In my tests, the OLED's non-HDR peak brightness was only slightly above 200 nits, which is frankly abysmal; LG claims that with HDR on, it will be around 800 nits, but this only applies to small, bright objects. So while this may be relevant for gaming, it is not expected to be anything close to the brightness that can actually be obtained from a screen capable of 800 nits full screen.

When playing with the lights on during the day, the lack of brightness was noticeable in dark areas of the game. While playing "Dead Space Remake," I often found myself squinting in dark hallways. Also, in shooters like "Fortnite" and "The Finals" playtests, it was extra difficult to spot enemies in the distance in the nighttime levels. If you play in a dark room, you can get by with lower brightness.

OLED panels are not known for their brightness compared to other panel types, which is low for OLEDs, averaging around 250-300 nits. For example, the Alienware 34 OLED (open in new tab) monitor is about 250 nits and is the best OLED gaming monitor (open in new tab) on the market today. Switching to reader mode brightens things up a bit, which makes sense since reading text on a low brightness screen can tire the eyes. Another problem I often find is that the HDR is a bit inconsistent, and I find it tends to result in distracting, oversaturated colors. I leave it off because I'd rather play with good colors on a dark screen than too bright and have white pops.

Since this is an OLED display, there is a risk of burn-in if a still image is on the screen for an extended period of time. However, LG seems to have this figured out. It even recently started bad-mouthing Samsung for its burn-in problem (opens in new tab). Thankfully, LG uses many of the same techniques to prevent burn-in that they do with OLED TVs, such as automatically pixel cleaning when the monitor is closed after prolonged use.

Another minor complaint is that many of the monitor's functions can be controlled with a remote control. I am trying to eliminate clutter from my life and yet I have to use the remote control to manage it. Some things on the monitor, such as changing inputs, volume, and brightness controls, can be done with the little knobs on the bottom.

In terms of design, not much has changed from previous UltraGear monitors, which is not bad. It can be rotated into portrait mode and has two USB and HDMI ports. I like the cable catch on the back and the thin display bezel, and the HDMI 2.1 port allows console gamers to play games at 120Hz. There are no speakers, but there is an optical component that can be connected to a soundbar.

The UltraGear isn't very flashy, but there are RGB light strips on the side if you want to get fancy; the V-shaped stand doesn't take up much space, so two of them side by side won't look bad; we really like LG's ergonomics, and the UltraGear's design is very comfortable to use. It tilts back and forth, left and right, and can be raised from 18" to 22".

The LG UltraGear 27GR95QE-B is a hell of a monitor and the right choice if you want speed and picture quality for any type of game. The low brightness and the need to use a remote control to set it up are disappointing, but this is still the best looking and easiest to play with OLED gaming monitor I've ever used. It will be interesting to see what the next few months bring when other manufacturers like Asus, Acer, Samsung, and others start offering OLEDs like this. Will they be able to address the brightness issue?