Philips Brilliance LCD Monitor with Nvidia G-Sync

The Philips Brilliance LCD Monitor with Nvidia G-Sync (272G5DYEB) ($649) joins the growing directory recently released gaming monitors that utilize Nvidia's G-Sync technology. Furnished with a 27-inch, Twisted Nematic (TN) panel using a 144Hz refresh rate, the 272G5 delivers a silky smooth gaming experience, with bold colors and deep blacks. It possesses a great fully adjustable ergonomic stand and a four-port USB hub, however with a maximum resolution of 1,920-by-1,080, it wouldn't match the whole picture detail of the company's higher-resolution competitors.

G-Sync technology got its start by Nvidia to eliminate the screen tearing and stuttering artifacts that plague a lot of today's graphics-intensive games. Tearing occurs when the monitor just isn't in sync while using GPU since it attempts to display multiple video frames in a single refresh cycle. Apparently as a disjointed, skewed image and will usually be spotted involved with the screen. Enabling Vertical Sync (V-Sync) within your graphics card's board can help reduce or eliminate tearing, nevertheless it introduces other issues, including increased input lag (the time it takes with the screen to react to a controller command) and stuttering.

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Stuttering occurs when the GPU, while expecting the screen to refresh, sends the same frame many times, causing an obvious delay. This also causes input lag issues as being the screen tries to experiment with get caught up. With G-Sync, the GPU takes management of screen refresh rates, rather than the monitor. A G-Sync-enabled monitor is equipped with an exclusive module that communicates with the GPU, allowing the computer monitor to work using a variable refresh rate in order to display frames quickly and the correct order as they are rendered from the GPU. The results is a much smoother gaming experience, with decreased input lag. Here are a few caveats, however; G-Sync is only for a DisplayPort 1.2 signal, also it requires an Nvidia GeForce GTX 650Ti BOOST or more GeForce GTX graphics card.

Design and Features
The 272G5 eschews the angular styling and LED lighting on the Asus ROG Swift PG278Q. Having its matte-black cabinet, 0.75 -inch bezels, and matching stand, it looks similar to a profitable business monitor than a gaming one. The stand supports the 11-pound cabinet employing a sliding hinge providing you with 5.9 inches of height adjustment, 90 degrees of pivot, and 25 degrees of tilt adjustability. Additionally, the mounting arm incorporates a 130-degree swivel range, so you will have no trouble positioning this monitor for optimal viewing.

Philips Brilliance LCD Monitor with Nvidia G-Sync (272G5DYEB)
The 27-inch TN panel has a non-reflective coating and a maximum brightness of 300 nits. Unfortunately, it tops out at 1,920 by 1,080, a rather low resolution for any big-screen display. While the 272G5 delivers a clear HD picture, the Asus PG278Q as well as the Acer XB280HK$1,029.99 at Amazon (both G-Sync monitors) offer higher resolutions of two,560 by 1,440 (WQHD) and 3,840 by 2,160 (UHD), respectively. Like with the Asus and Acer models, the 272G5 has one DisplayPort input, that is all you could get in terms of video connections. However, you do get five USB 3.0 ports (one upstream, four downstream), these all are conveniently located on the left side from the cabinet. The 272G5 is 3D-ready, but you will need to get hold of a separate Nvidia 3D Vision Kit to savor multi-dimensional gaming.

5 touch-sensitive buttons situated on the lower bezel employed to power up the computer monitor and navigate the settings menus are clearly labeled and responsive. The left arrow button doubles being a hot key for enabling the crosshair-aiming feature, and the down arrow permits you to choose one of six crosshair-aiming scopes. Inside the Picture settings menu, you can adjust Brightness, Contrast, SmartResponse (pixel response), and Gamma settings. Color adjustments are limited; you can choose one of six color temperatures starting from 5,000K to 11,500K, an sRGB setting, or maybe a User Defined setting with adjustable Red, Green, and Blue levels. There aren't any picture presets or power-saving ECO modes. The 272G5 incorporates DisplayPort and USB (upstream) cables, an origin CD, as well as a power brick. Philips covers this monitor having a three-year warranty on parts, labor, and backlight.

Performance
Once we saw with the Acer XB280HK along with the Asus PG278Q, the 272G5's G-Sync feature worked as advertised. I made use of Nvdia's Frame Capture Analysis Tool (FCAT) to toggle between V-Sync off, V-Sync on, and G-Sync on, i ran our Heaven and Valley benchmark tests at Ultra quality with 4X antialiasing enabled. Minor screen tearing and stutter was evident while running the games with V-Sync disabled, along with the tearing artifacts were eliminated with V-Sync enabled. I didn't notice any stutter therein mode, even so the action was noticeably smoother when I switched to G-Sync mode. Effects were similar while playing Crysis 3 in high-quality mode. Thanks to single-millisecond pixel response and also a 144Hz refresh rate this monitor failed to exhibit any motion blur or ghosting artifacts.

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