Gadgetory

what's up guys today I am pretty gosh-darn excited because I'm taking a look at the first free sync supported display that I have ever had the privilege of reviewing this is the BenQ XL 273 0z a 144 hertz 2560 by 1440 TN panel with 8-bit color depth and a 1 millisecond response time the specs on this display make it a direct competitor to the G sync ready asus rog swift but retails for about 135 bucks cheaper which is great news for AMD graphics users well it may not have the fierce industrial design found on the Swift that makes it look like the bastard child of Peabody and Atlas from Portal 2 then Q chops up a modern style of their own and I rather like the simplistic design of the stand which features tilt swivel height and 90 degree pan adjustment at 18 millimeters thick the bezel could be slimmer but it's still thin enough to run a triple setup without much visibility gap on the right side is your power button and buttons for the on-screen display though BenQ includes a wired controller for easier navigation which works like a charm although you can place the controller and the shallow cup holder thing being able to physically secure the unit to the base would have been a nice touch as my mouse and keyboard cables were quick to knock it out of place most gamers including myself will rejoice at the monitors non-reflective matte screen one time I played Arkham Knight on a glossy monitor and could actually see the disappointed look on my face on the left side is a headset holder pulling out is advised to USB 3 ports running on a built-in hub and mic and headphone jacks you also get a sturdy carrying handle at the top of the stand making this panel an ideal choice for land parties on the underbelly of the display is an upstream port for your USB hub and a plethora of video inputs including d-sub DisplayPort which is what you'll need to take advantage of free sync to HDMI ports one of which is 2.0 and dual link DVI there's also a mini USB port for connecting that OSD controller a microphone pass-through if you won't be having your audio signal carry via HDMI or DisplayPort and a quick release button for removing your panel if you wish to toss the stand aside and use the built-in base amount for wall mounting or another stand of your choice additionally you can keep voracious thieves at bay by locking down your panel with a Kensington lock when attending public land events so far this panel has me intrigued but the real question here is how does it perform with day-to-day tasks and more importantly gaming well despite being a TN panel having 72% NTSC color gamut supports puts the color range of this bad boy fairly close to my three-year-old IPs though I'll admit the colors don't pop quite as much the just okay viewing angle is what you might expect from a TN and with some fine tuning in the OSD the contrast ratio looks great offering enough granularity between blacks and whites during low-light scenes to truly see the monitor at its best however jump into a fast-paced action game with free sync enabled and you get nothing but super sharp visuals with no tearing stuttering or visible tracing of any kind this makes my IPS panel look like a blurry mess in comparison and ultimately a hard panel to come back to once getting used to the BenQ the monitor supports a generous refresh rate window from 40 to 144 Hertz meaning you'll maintain that crispy smooth gameplay as long as your frame rate stays within that range what typically tends to happen if your frame rate ventures outside of those parameters is that the image begins to generate an unpleasant flickering effect on screen AMD combats this issue by giving users the option to enable or disable vsync while free sync is active with each option barring its own symptoms enabling vsync opens the door for some potential lag while disabling vsync introduces some screen tearing now just because I didn't run into either of these issues during my testing doesn't mean you won't so my advice if you're experiencing these problems frequently is to adjust your in-game quality settings so that you rarely ever dip below 40 fps now if you can manage that the variable refresh rate on this panel delivers ultra fast performance that really breathes new life into your games especially when it comes to those adrenaline-pumping first-person shooters while I wouldn't recommend the xl2 seven-30 z4 things like color grading or photo editing AMD graphics users who are serious about gaming will find that picking up this freesync display really is one of the best upgrades you can make to your gaming experience without cracking open your actual PC