LG UltraGear 27GX790A Review: Experience Blazing 480 Hz Gaming!

When I first switched from a 60 Hz to a 120 Hz screen, I hadn’t activated the 120 Hz setting, but I was convinced that my frame rate had doubled. It was a good placebo effect, and after adjusting the settings, I truly saw the difference, and it was clear. However, I became somewhat skeptical about even higher refresh rates.

I recently tested a 360 Hz screen and initially doubted the necessity of such high refresh rates. Yet again, I was convinced of its utility. But what difference could there be between 360 and 480 Hz, for instance? The gap seems laughable, and we are approaching frequencies where the difference is not proportionally as significant. Is it really useful?

Technical Specifications

This screen was loaned by LG for the purpose of this review.

A Design That Screams Gamer

The UltraGear range from LG is highly codified. It adopts all the conceivable gamer aesthetics with pronounced curves and an aggressive design. The front features minimal bezels. A slight protrusion is placed on the lower edge, made of plastic, to house the screen’s navigation button.

Besides, the screen is particularly slim at its edges. The panel is thinned to the maximum around the entire perimeter of the screen but has significant thickness in the middle, at the rear of the LG UltraGear 27GX790A. This area houses all the connections, and either the VESA mount or the junction with the stand included in the box. This area is quite thick, but it remains a design choice, which one may or may not appreciate.

Moreover, the panel itself does not present a sensational design or new features like Philips’ Ambilight, for example. A discreet LG UltraGear logo is inscribed on the rear face to round off this tour of the device.

Connections

The connections of a 27-inch screen are not often very extensive and remain standard for the market. Here, you will find a trio of video ports, with two HDMI 2.1 and one DisplayPort 2.1 also. However, the extras expected from such high-end products include USB ports. There is one USB-B for upstream and 2 USB-A for downstream. In addition, there is also a 3.5 mm audio port, compatible with DTS-X.

Screen Stand

As always, brands provide screen stands with PC monitors. Of course, the LG UltraGear 27GX790A is VESA compatible, allowing it to be mounted on a screen arm that you have previously purchased. However, the stand provided by LG is certainly not the worst, on the contrary.

The stand itself is heavy, as part of it is made of metal. This ensures stability on the desk, but it will be more complex to handle. Nonetheless, the base of the stand itself is well thought out. By creating a relatively small flat area, you can still place things on it without any problem. You do not lose space on the desk, which is a positive point. Also, what I particularly loved about this screen is the cable management groove carved into the back part of the stand.

This cable management is right at the height of the rear connections, thus simplifying the connections. In addition, the connections are oriented towards the wall behind, facilitating this direct passage. In short, a well-thought-out stand, which you can keep even if you have a dedicated arm.

Image Quality, It’s Stunning, Really

When testing the image quality of a screen, there are always two elements to balance. On one hand, we have the experience, and on the other, the technical measurements. And here, both go hand in hand to prove that the image quality is excellent.

In regular use, the LG UltraGear 27GX790A screen delivers an excellent rendition of all multimedia. Whether it’s for simple office work, streaming movies or series, or even YouTube videos, the quality is sharp and deep.

I enjoyed watching the most beautifully shot recent series on this 16/9 screen. The image feels ample, even though the technical sheet and positioning show that the focus is on gaming.

However, all this remains my experience; perhaps my eyes are skewed from the reality of technical measurements. Rest assured, my eyes are fine, and the measurements can attest to that: less than 3 DeltaE, well-covered color spaces, and almost ideal temperature.

To go into detail, in SDR, with the RTS mode, we reach 2.85 DeltaE. As a reminder, the goal is to be under 3, because below that, the naked eye cannot see the difference between the desired and displayed color. Regarding the “Gamer 1” mode, the default mode, it exceeds 3. Thus, you’ll need to switch to have better colorimetry. For color temperature, we reach a value of 6,306 K. This is very close to the neutral value of 6,500 K that we aim to achieve.

In HDR mode, we remain in very correct values. The Gamer 1 mode is only at 2.52 DeltaE, which is more than sufficient, with some colors more or less faithful, as you can see on the graph below.

Finally, the last interesting measurement relates to the coverage of standard color spaces. The BT.709 is covered at 146%, the DCI-P3 struggles, at 98%. We are close to the ideal value of 100%. And finally, the BT.2020 is covered at 67%. This is very correct and within standard values.

The last measure that tarnishes the picture is brightness. This is rather low, which is quite unfortunate. OLED has variable brightness depending on what is displayed on the screen. Thus, on a test pattern of white color covering 1% of the screen, in SR, we barely reach 320 cd/m². In 100%, a use a bit closer to reality, it’s only 242.

In HDR, we reach a peak maximum of 928 cd/m², on a 1% test pattern. These are relatively standard values for this range, even though some screens now far exceed 1000 cd/m² for bright details, including at LG.

A Delight to Use in Gaming!

The UltraGear range from LG is the gaming line, so let’s talk about gaming! It’s a 480 Hz screen, aiming to display an ultra-high number of frames per second to provide more potential responsiveness to the player. To properly test this screen, I used it primarily on the competitive FPS Valorant.

At 480 Hz in OLED, you feel the fluidity at every second of gameplay. I have a machine that easily runs video games of this kind at 480 FPS, and it’s a treat for the eyes. Compared to my classic 240 screen, and even compared to the 360 Hz I had tested, the difference is clearly noticeable.

In reality, the difference in fluidity isn’t immediately felt. Like many innovations, it’s the step back that is noticeable, especially if you have the eye for it.

Price and Availability

The LG UltraGear 27GX790A is priced at 999 euros at full price. It seems to have stabilized around 800 euros on many sites, and has been for a few weeks. In any case, it remains a screen that does not exceed the critical threshold of 1000 euros, which would have earned it a poor rating.