Gigabyte M27Q X

Name: Gigabyte M27Q X
Brand: Gigabyte
Price: 400 USD
Availability: InStock

Two hundred and forty hertz at 1440p with a KVM for around $400 undercuts the next monitor here that manages all three by more than $200. What it gives up to get there sits on the connector panel: HDMI 2.0 and no DSC, so only DisplayPort reaches 240 Hz and a console stops at 1440p120. The panel is a conventional RGB stripe, so Windows text needs no ClearType coaxing.

Approx. price

~$400

snapshot, not a live price

Sharpness

46ppd · sharp

text is clean; pixel edges show if you look for them

HDR tier

Accepts an HDR signal

an edge-lit backlight with no dimming zones — HDR mode changes the tone curve, not the contrast

Peak brightness

400nits claimed

DisplayHDR 400

USB-C power

18 W

tops up a handset; not a laptop supply

Max refresh

240 Hz

1 ms GtG rated

Port speed — can each input carry this panel?

2×HDMI 2.0· below the panel's maximum
DisplayPort 1.4· full speed at 8-bit
USB-C (DP Alt Mode)· full speed at 8-bit

This panel needs 31.9 Gbps at 2560×1440, 240 Hz and 30 bits per pixel, with no DSC to fall back on.

Best for: High-refresh 1440p and a KVM on the smallest budget that buys both

No input on this monitor carries 2560×1440 at 240 Hz and 30 bits per pixel at once. The panel will reach its advertised refresh rate at 8 bits per channel instead, which is what the specification sheet is quietly describing. How the arithmetic works.

Specifications

Approx. price: ~$400
Type: Gaming
Screen size: 27 in
Resolution: 2560×1440
Aspect ratio: 16:9
Pixels per degree: 46 — sharp
Pixels per inch: 109
Panel: Fast IPS
Finish: matte
Curvature: Flat
Max refresh: 240 Hz
Response time: 1 ms GtG
VRR: FreeSync Premium
HDR tier: Accepts an HDR signal
HDR certification: DisplayHDR 400
Peak brightness: 400 nits claimed
SDR brightness: 350 nits
Local dimming: None
Static contrast: 1,000:1
Colour gamut: 92% DCI-P3
Colour depth: 8-bit+FRC
HDMI: 2 × HDMI 2.0
DisplayPort: 1 × DisplayPort 1.4
DSC: Not supported
Port speed: No input reaches the panel's maximum
USB-C: Video in over USB-C
USB-C power: 18 W — Phone and tablet
Thunderbolt: No
KVM: Built in
USB hub: 2 ports
Speakers: Built in
Stand: height, tilt
VESA: 100x100
Released: 2021
$ per inch: $15
$ per megapixel: $109

Features

240 Hz at 1440p
Built-in KVM switch
Two-port USB hub with USB-C
Black equalizer and aim stabilizer
Built-in speakers

What it does well

240 Hz and a KVM for around $400 — no other monitor here pairs those at this price
Two-port hub with a USB-C data input, which is unusual at this money
46 pixels per degree, the standard 27-inch 1440p sharpness
Takes a 10-bit input through 8-bit plus FRC dithering, so gradients hold together better than the native panel depth suggests

What it gives up

HDR is a badge and little more: 350 nits, 1000:1 and no dimming zones, so SDR is the better place to live
HDMI 2.0 with no DSC, so 240 Hz is DisplayPort-only and a console is capped at 1440p120
Two revisions ship under one name and the later one covers 94% DCI-P3 rather than 92%, which sellers rarely state
Tilt and height only, so squaring it up beside a second monitor means moving the whole stand

The two lists above come from the maker’s specifications and from published third-party measurements, not from owner reports. Where owner discussion has been read it appears in its own section below, so the two are never mistaken for each other.

What owners say

Bought as a fast, cheap 1440p panel with a KVM bolted on, it mostly delivers exactly that. The most enthusiastic owner post comes from someone stepping up from a 24-inch 1080p screen who found the colour, the smoothness and even the adjustable stand a revelation, and that is the honest audience: this is a big upgrade from an entry-level monitor and a lateral move from anything better.

Two things complicate the purchase. The first is overdrive — overshoot comes up on both revisions, and several owners report that motion looks worse at mid frame rates than at the top of the range, which is the opposite of what people expect when they buy for speed. The second is the revisions themselves: the same model name covers more than one hardware version, published measurements cover only the earlier one, owners cannot reliably tell which they received, and the colour settings people share do not transfer between them. Add the usual scattering of bleed complaints and a few in-service faults — a horizontal line appearing, flickering lines on the first cold start of the day — and the picture is a competent panel with more variability than its price suggests.

Good fit: someone who plays shooters, works on the same screen, refuses to worry about burn-in, and wants the speed without the OLED price. Poor fit: anyone who wants a known quantity, since which physical panel arrives is partly a lottery, and anyone whose frame rates sit well below the ceiling, where the overdrive tuning is least convincing.

What owners like

One owner's write-up after moving from a 24-inch 1080p panel captures why it sells: beautiful colour, better contrast than he expected from the class, no dead pixels, and a height-adjustable stand he had never had before
240 Hz at 1440p for the money is the whole argument, and it lands in shortlists between roughly $300 and $415 depending on region against the MSI, AOC and Dell alternatives
It has been sold long enough to have a deep pool of owner reports, which buyers explicitly weigh against cheaper rivals that nobody has written about
The KVM and USB-C input give it a second life as a work monitor for people who also plug in a laptop, which the equally fast panels at this price usually lack
Owners who work as well as game choose it over an OLED for exactly one reason and say so plainly: eight hours a day of static windows is not something they want to worry about

Common complaints

Overdrive is the recurring technical complaint, showing up as overshoot on both revisions and as visibly worse motion when frame rates sit near the middle of the range rather than at the top
Two hardware revisions ship under the same name with no clear public documentation of what changed, so owners cannot tell which one they bought, published measurements only cover the first, and the recommended colour settings differ between them
Backlight bleed shows up on new units often enough that owners post photos asking whether what they are seeing is normal
Panel faults appear in service: a horizontal line materialising after months of use, and flickering lines that show up only on the first power-on of the day and then clear
One owner lost the 240 Hz option entirely after a reboot, with text showing colour fringing above 60 Hz and no way to recreate the mode in the driver — a bandwidth problem this model has fewer tools to absorb

Questions owners ask about the Gigabyte M27Q X

How do I tell which hardware revision I have, and does it change anything?

Check the label on the back of the panel rather than the retail listing, because sellers frequently do not say. It matters more than it should: owners report that published measurements and the shared colour settings that circulate were made on the earlier revision, and people with the later one find those numbers do not land the same way. If you are buying to match an existing unit for a dual setup, ask the seller for the revision before ordering.

Why does motion look worse at 120 fps than at 240?

Overdrive on this panel is tuned for the top of its refresh range, so at mid frame rates the pixel transitions are pushed harder than the refresh rate needs and you see overshoot — a bright trailing edge rather than a smear. The fix is to step the overdrive setting down from the most aggressive mode when you are playing something that runs at half rate, rather than leaving it maxed and blaming the panel.

Why did the 240 Hz option vanish, and why does text look fringed?

One owner rebooted and found the top refresh rate gone from the list, with text showing colour fringing at anything above 60 Hz — the signature of the connection falling back to reduced colour sampling. That combination points at the link itself rather than the monitor: reseat or replace the DisplayPort cable, check you are in the right input, and confirm the driver has not quietly fallen back after an update.

Flickering lines appear only when I first turn it on. Should I worry?

An owner reported exactly this — lines on the first power-on of the day or after a long idle period, clearing on their own, unaffected by refresh rate, power outlet or cable changes. Behaviour that correlates with a cold panel and nothing else reads as a hardware issue rather than a signal one, so it is worth raising as a warranty claim early, while the pattern is still easy to demonstrate.