AOC Agon AG271UG Review

Performance Analysis

Although it isn't a wide gamut display, our colorimeter suggests that the AG271UG will at least have no difficulty displaying any standard sRGB content – it achieves 100 percent coverage here.

The measured contrast ratio of nearly 700:1 is maintained at most brightness settings. This seems low compared to the 1,000:1 claimed figure, but most screens fall well below this with our colorimeter, and this is actually a decent enough result. Contrast certainly didn't feel lacking on this IPS panel.


The AG271UG can also go extremely bright, with the highest recorded value being over 400cd/m². We also measured an ideal white point value of 6,500K at both the default 'Warm' setting and the built-in 'sRGB' profile – another positive result.

Colour accuracy is a mixed bag, although an average delta E value of less than three still isn't something that most need to concern themselves with. The maximum value of 5.86 also shows that the screen isn't too off the mark in any one area; we've certainly seen a lot worse.

None of the gamma settings quite match the ideal curve, but the default 'Gamma1' setting is probably the best for most – 'Gamma2' raises the curve significantly, making greys lighter and reducing contrast, while 'Gamma3' goes the opposite direction, although not quite as extremely.


Screen uniformity in terms of delta E measures poorly, but we honestly struggled to see much difference ourselves. Meanwhile, luminance uniformity was actually excellent and the best we've seen so far. Looking at an all-black image at full brightness in a very dark room also revealed virtually zero backlight bleed, so you should be free of distractions in dark scenes in films and games.

Subjectively, the AG271UG also holds up well, with images popping with colour and contrast nicely and details at the extreme ends of the white and black scales displaying reasonably well. Of course, it's gaming that will matter to the intended customers of this screen, and here too it performs well, primarily due to G-Sync. It takes serious graphics hardware to run modern games at 4K with high or ultra settings, but it's possible with a GTX 1080 Ti, and seeing titles like The Witcher 3 and Deus Ex: Mankind Divided run smoothly and completely tear-free at such high detail levels is something to behold. IPS panels never do as well as TN panels when it comes to input lag, but the AG271UG isn't noticeably bad here (you may disagree if you play competitively), and although it does exhibit some signs of ghosting, it has overdrive settings to counteract it. The default 'Medium' setting is the best for this, as going beyond this you start to get reverse ghosting or pixel overshoot effects that are just as bad if not worse than the original ghosting artefacts.

Conclusion

As we said at the start, G-Sync doesn't come cheap. A 27” 4K IPS panel that caps out at 60Hz can be found for less than £350 (even with FreeSync support), but the asking price here is £600, although it sometimes dips below £550, and the primary reason is G-Sync. If you're determined to stick with Nvidia and also want to enjoy stutter and tear-free gaming, the fact is that your next monitor upgrade is going to be a fairly pricey one. This particular screen is geared more towards those who prefer jaw-dropping visuals and solid single-player experiences more than seriously competitive multiplayer gamers who'll likely want to trade resolution for a higher refresh rate instead.

Viewed in this light, the AG271UG isn't as terrible value as it may first seem; there are certainly many more G-Sync screens that cost considerably more. It's also not just a one-trick pony, as the range of physical adjustments, admirable performance in most areas, and little extras like the USB hub and headset support beam attest to.

In short, if both 4K and G-Sync are must-have features, this screen is, perhaps surprisingly, currently one of the least expensive means of obtaining them, and we don't think you'll be disappointed with what you get – we're happy to recommend it to such customers. If that doesn't apply to you, however, your cash can definitely be better spent elsewhere.