Physical Design
Let's quickly dive into the physical characteristics of the Acer XB280HK and how it compares to other 4K and G-Sync monitors we have tested.
The look is sharp, though not as aggressive as the ASUS ROG Swift we reviewed last month. The red ring on the base gives a hint of the enthusiast nature of the display but doesn't go the full distance of angles and LED lights. The bezel on the XB280HK is also noticeably wider than the ROG Swift so setting multiple of these displays side by side is going to be a lot less appealing as well.
Speaking of that bezel – it's shiny, and kind of annoyingly so. The overhead lights in our office were often catching some portion of the glossy edges and creating white spots near the screen. We had to move and adjust the screen to find that right spot, or you could do as we have done in the past: put gaffer tape over the edges to dull them.
This monitor does suffer from a similar problem as the Samsung U28D590D 4K in that the stand isn't very stable and will wobble when touched or even if the desk it's resting on gets bumped. In contrast, both the ASUS 4K PB287Q and the ASUS PG278Q (ROG Swift) have better stand designs that provide more stability.
Acer made the back of the panel very functional though, again, without the "edge" provided by ASUS's PG278Q. The stand is removable and the monitor is VESA compatible (100 mm x 100 mm) for other mounting options.
The row of OSD buttons is located on the lower right side of the screen with a blue power LED. The buttons are easy to use but are also unlabeled keeping me guessing exactly which function I would enter at any given time. The buttons do a great job of blending in with the bezel though and don't stand out during gaming or productivity.
The round base is pretty small and also very glossy. Dust and fingerprints will stand out here.
Height adjustment is easy to change with a balanced slider. The image above shows peak height.
The lowest point basically touches the base with the bottom bezel.
The Acer XB280HK has quite a bit of angular adjustment capability as well, as demonstrated above. Also take note of two things in this image: two of the four available USB 3.0 ports thanks to the on-board hub and the thickness of the panel (not including the stand).
As I mentioned on the previous page, this screen can be rotated into a portrait mode with the included stand though you will likely have more issues with the TN viewing angles with this setup. That very noticeable bottom-inversion result would now essentially be in your left-to-right view.
As with all upcoming G-Sync monitors (for the current roadmap), the Acer XB280HK only has a single display input – DisplayPort 1.2. Because the G-Sync module can only accept DP input and now acts as the only scaler on the monitor, there isn't an ability to support HDMI or DVI without some significant hardware changes.
The power brick is internal with the Acer XB280HK which helps explain the wider design of the chassis.
Finally, on the far right hand side, you'll find the USB 3.0 input as well as the other two (of four total) USB 3.0 ports.
Can you post please the
Can you post please the colour calibration settings you use for this monitor?
I own one of these and the
I own one of these and the B2888 from Iiyama which is made from the same panel.
Take my word for it when I say that there is little need for these products to exist.
If you all ready own something around the 27-30″ the 16:9 format and overall size of these panels, is most likely going to feel like a downgrade.
If you own an IPS panel, then this will feel like a downgrade. I know there is debate about how you don’t need wide horizontal viewing angles, and that is somewhat true. However the vertical plane of these panels is noticeably poor. A lot of people like to put a little back tilt on their screen, and as soon as you do that with these monitors, you get the inverse contrast. Even when slightly forward tilted, the top 1/3 of the screen is still darker than the rest. You effectively have to sit above the monitor in order to get a somewhat uniformed contrast/brightness spread.
If you don’t have a REALLY good computer, there’s quite a few 3d games that will be unpleasant to play. Even if you ‘max’ out Crysis 3 right now on a 1600p monitor, you won’t with 4k. A lot of graphics options will have to be lowered.
Additionally these panels have built-in scalers that cannot be disabled. This induces input lag and causes vertical screen tearing and frame latency blips. Even when you use programs to lock your frame rate to the refresh rate, to ensure a capped 16.9 ms frame latency, it’s not enough. Furthermore mulit-gpu setups do not like these panels because of how they are actually two mini panels combined in one.
The monitors can be overclocked to 70hz, but it provides no discerning difference.
If you all ready own a nice quality 27-30″ 1440p or 1600p monitor, whether it be TN, IPS etc, then do not buy these 4k TN products. Get yourself a 1440p 120hz ‘catleap’ monitor. That’s a much better use of your GPU horsepower.
@Rex Aevum
1. Two GTX 970
@Rex Aevum
1. Two GTX 970 would be all right if paired with a decent CPU/motherboard. Some games you’ll cap 60fps even with your normal ultra settings and AA. Where as others will be better with AA off – also some shadow/ambient occlusion reductions.
2. As mentioned in my previous post, at these screen sizes, no it’s not that noticeable. You have to sit almost a foot away from the screen to really tell. And if the game doesn’t use native 4k or higher textures, then the only benefit from 4k is the overall image quality -particularly in the LOD/long distance views). It won’t do anything for your texture quality.
3. It actually works out that driving 4k content takes roughly the same horsepower as driving a 120hz/144hz monitor. However I personally feel that driving a 120hz 1440p monitor is easier and of course smoother than pushing 4k. I also mentioned in my post that these 4k panels do not like multi-gpu setups. Either way, if you want 1440p, get a Catleap IPS panel instead. The Swift is overpriced TN panel.
4. Color reproduction is surprisingly good, no bleed. The viewing angles are poor, especially vertically.
5. Someone else will have to answer that.
Hello, I was wondering if
Hello, I was wondering if this monitor can handle 2k at 120hz or 144hz. I only have a gtx 980 so is a bit weak for gaming at 4k high and get 50fps constantly. I ask this because if I play a game very detail demanding like crisis 3, I would love to down the resolution and get better performance.
Thanks a lot.
Best regards.
Wilfredo Fornes.