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  • About the Cooler Master GM27-CFX gaming monitor

  • What we like

  • What we don’t like

  • Should you buy it?

  • Related content

  • About the Cooler Master GM27-CFX gaming monitor
  • What we like
  • What we don’t like
  • Should you buy it?
  • Related content

Pros

  • Decent value

  • Bright and vibrant picture

  • Robust stand

Cons

  • Low pixel density

  • Classic VA pixel smear

  • Sad speakers

Cooler Master avoids sacrificing image quality for speed with its vibrant and zippy GM27-CFX gaming monitor

About the Cooler Master GM27-CFX gaming monitor

An unassembled gaming monitor with all its parts neatly placed next to each other on the floor.
Credit: Reviewed / Tim Renzi

Everything included in the box.

Here are the specs of the monitor we tested:

  • Display size: 27 inches
  • Panel type: Curved VA with Quantum Dot layer
  • Resolution: 1920 x 1080 pixels
  • Refresh rate: 240Hz
  • Peak brightness: 400 nits (rated), 379.9 nits (tested)
  • HDR support: DisplayHDR 400
  • Color depth: 8-bit
  • Contrast ratio: 3000:1 (rated), 3360:1 (tested)
  • Pixel response time (GtG): 0.5ms
  • Ports: 2 x HDMI 2.0, 1 x DisplayPort 1.2, 1 x 3.5mm audio
  • VRR Support: Yes, Adaptive Sync
  • Other features: Built-in speakers, adjustable stand, cable guide, 6-axis color control, VESA mount

At this price, it’s most surprising to see some of the features Cooler Master thoughtfully included. The stand is made of sturdy aluminum and even includes its cable management clip and plenty of adjustments. The stand is also easily removed to swap out for VESA mounting.

Cooler Master has also gone for joystick controls, something cheaper monitors usually skimp out on. It also packs in a pair of 2-watt speakers. Awful though they are, they can make do when you just need a bit of sound in a pinch.

What we like

The bright and vivid picture

A gaming monitor stands on top of a desk.
Credit: Reviewed / Tim Renzi

The colors are nothing short of impressive.

The Cooler Master GM27-CFX may seem like it’s going to sell itself on the 240Hz refresh rate alone, but it most impressed us with the picture. It has a VA panel with a quantum dot layer, a potent combination we’ve seen from the likes of the Monoprice Dark Matter 34. That pairing allows for some stunning color with a wide gamut alongside solid brightness levels and the rich contrast VA generally panels provide.

With 100% coverage of the sRGB color space, over 90% coverage of both the DCI-P3 and Adobe RGB color spaces, and brilliant color accuracy and uniformity, the Cooler Master GM27-CFX is about as ready for photo editing as it is gaming.

The extra smoothness

Once you go fast, you never go back. While 144Hz may feel pretty smooth, it’s easy to feel the difference between that and the 240Hz that Cooler Master provides on the GM27-CFX. The mouse zips across the desktop. The crosshair whirls about the arena, and the display shows heaps of frames.

That smoothness is well managed, too, with Adaptive Sync support. We were able to run the monitor with G-Sync turned on (after first enabling Adaptive Sync on the monitor), and enjoyed our games without obnoxious tearing, which would have cut into the rich visuals.

The price

Given how accurate a picture the GM27-CFX is producing and the premium you’d expect for its speeds, it’s somewhat surprising Cooler Master isn’t charging more. At the $370 price we see it running on Amazon right now, it’s only half the price of the AOC Agon Pro AG254FG, another esports contender with a smaller display that’s generally dimmer and lacks the contrast of the GM27-CFX, mostly standing out for its faster 360Hz refresh rate. The price also helps it avoid falling prey to the Alienware AW2521H, which costs about the same amount and has a 360Hz refresh rate but can’t keep up when it comes to picture quality.

What we don’t like

The pixel response time

Top edge of the Cooler Master GM27-CFX gaming monitor.
Credit: Reviewed / Tim Renzi

You might want to turn down the motion blur setting in your games.

It’s a tale as old as time. Monitor makers can speed up VA panels all day, but they haven’t quite gotten the pixel response time to keep up. Though the pictures are very smooth at 240Hz, certain elements on the screen can leave distracting motion artifacts. There’s a ton of ghosting, especially behind high-contrast patterns.

That can turn things like stairs and fences into blurry messes in games. It also leaves the action a little harder to track while playing more frantic games like Overwatch. It’s less of a distraction in slower-paced titles like Sniper Elite 5 but can rear its head nonetheless. Thankfully, we didn’t see the monitor produce coronas, or inverse ghosting, which leaves a bright trail and can be far more distracting.

The screen door effect

While it can be nice to have a bigger display, the 27-inch panel on the GM27-CFX is stretching the limits of Full HD. We were often faced with its low resolution even when sitting at a reasonable distance from this monitor. This makes for more noticeable jagged edges to curves and diagonal lines on the display (e.g., almost all text), and can result in the screen-door effect as the dark gaps between pixels become visible. With a lot of motion on screen while gaming or watching a movie, it’s less of a distraction, but during mixed-use, it crops up far more often.

Should you buy it?

Yes, if your primary use is gaming

The Cooler Master GM27-CFX gaming monitor.
Credit: Reviewed / Tim Renzi

Certainly a great option for current gen consoles.

The Cooler Master GM27-CFX has some commendable qualities at a surprisingly low price. While the low resolution for a display this size is a pain in office-based scenarios, it’s less of a distraction while watching content and gaming.

In games, the smooth refresh rate and Adaptive-Sync excel. And it’s in that arena that the monitor can put its vivid picture and rich contrast ratio on full display. Getting to cruise at an extra fast 240Hz has its advantages over 144Hz, which is a strong consideration for competitive gamers—but you don’t have to sacrifice too much image quality to get there, as you often do on 360Hz monitors.

The Cooler Master GM27-CFX strikes a good balance. While gamers on a budget can get along quite well with something like the $229 Monoprice Dark Matter 24 or put more of their money toward visual quality and less toward speed with the Dark Matter 34, Cooler Master squeezes in among some serious competition with a monitor that holds its own.

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Prices were accurate at the time this article was published but may change over time.

Meet the tester

Mark Knapp

Mark Knapp

Contributor

Mark Knapp has covered tech for most of the past decade, keeping readers up to speed on the latest developments and going hands-on with everything from phones and computers to e-bikes and drones to separate the marketing from the reality. Catch him on Twitter at @Techn0Mark or on Reviewed, IGN, TechRadar, T3, PCMag, and Business Insider.

See all of Mark Knapp's reviews

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