When comparing iiyama G-Master Gold Phoenix GB2888UHSU-B1 vs BenQ ZOWIE XL2720, the Slant community recommends BenQ ZOWIE XL2720 for most people. In the question“What are the best monitors?” BenQ ZOWIE XL2720 is ranked 23rd while iiyama G-Master Gold Phoenix GB2888UHSU-B1 is ranked 74th. The most important reason people chose BenQ ZOWIE XL2720 is:
You can move between different display modes with a click of a button because using the configurable fast-access switch attached to the base of the monitor.
Specs
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Pros
Pro Fast response time, great for gaming
With a response time of just 1ms, the iiyama G-Master Gold Phoenix is one of the fastest monitors on the market. Ideal for fast-paced gaming situations such as first person shooters.
Pro Provides excellent viewing angles for a TN panel
Although the Gold Phoenix monitor uses a TN panel, the viewing angles of this monitor are excellent, especially regarding brightness. The brightness under a horizontal viewing angle of 45° is superior compared to other displays with a reading of 56%. For comparison: similar TN-panels such as G-Master Red Eagle only score about 47% in this brightness test.
Pro All cables included
All connection cables are included with the monitor, including HDMI, DisplayPort, mini-DisplayPort to DisplayPort, USB and Audio. No need to purchase any other connectors.
Pro Extremely sharp
The G-Master Gold Phoenix GB2888UHSU-B1 uses a 4K-display with a resolution of 2160 x 3840 pixels, which is four times the amount of pixels of a Full HD display. This results in an extremely sharp image and overall great image quality. In terms of pixel density (measured in pixels per inch), the Gold Phoenix has 157 ppi, while a Full HD screen of the same size has a ppi of 78.
Pro Has a remote
You can move between different display modes with a click of a button because using the configurable fast-access switch attached to the base of the monitor.
Pro Reduces the eye strain
The ZOWIE XL2720 causes noticeably less eye strain than the majority of competitors in its price range because the monitor is flicker-free and has a mode that reduces the intensity of blue light.
Backlight flickering and high-intensity blue light emitted by LEDs are among the main factors related to eye fatigue that is caused by extensive use of computer monitors.
Pro Decent ergonomics
You can adjust the monitor’s tilt angle, swivel angle, and height so you won't have much trouble configuring it according to your setup.
Pro Responsive OSD buttons
The five capacitive OSD buttons are built very well and react quickly each time you press them.
Pro Highly responsive
The monitor's input lag stays at the fantastically low value of 3.2 ms making the ZOWIE XL2720 one of the most responsive gaming monitors in its price range.
A monitor’s input lag represents the delay between your GPU generating a frame and the frame starting to appear on your monitor.
Pro Intuitive OSD
The OSD is organized in a user-friendly way so all of the settings in the menu are only a couple of clicks away. Additionally, you can customize the OSD menu.
Pro Displays motion well
The monitor's excellent motion handling capabilities allow the BenQ ZOWIE XL2720 to display fast-paced content free from motion blur and ghosting because of its panel's high native refresh rate and fast pixel response time.
Motion blur and ghosting effects are eliminated by the panel's quick pixels that need only one millisecond to change their color because of the monitor's full pixel response time of 1 ms. Such fast color change prevents fast-moving objects from leaving artificial trails.
The monitor’s 144 Hz panel refreshes every seven milliseconds making motion appear smooth and fluid.
Pro Good picture quality
Regarding its picture quality, the ZOWIE XL2720 is on par with the majority of gaming monitors in this price range as it offers sufficient contrast ratio, peak brightness, color accuracy, and gamma response.
While the monitor's dark scene performance is mediocre, it can still display vivid and accurate colors and eye-catching intermediate tones. It can recreate average-looking dark scenes with blacks that are neither overly flat, nor profound as the monitor's native contrast ratio is limited to 915:1. The colors pop and appear relatively accurate since the ZOWIE XL2720 combines relatively high peak brightness of 315 nits with almost unnoticeable color accuracy error dE of 2.2. Mid-tones look good and saturated thanks to the monitor's gamma response of 2.06 which is only 6.3% away from the ideal value.
Pro Great for gaming
The BenQ ZOWIE XL2720 is one of the best gaming monitors in its price range because it offers low input lag, flawlessly-handled motion, and high native refresh rate combined with decent overall picture quality.
Pro Built-in USB hub
You can connect up to three peripheral USB devices to your computer using the monitor's inbuilt USB 2.0 hub. This would come in handy for those who use a laptop and have a lot of stationary USB devices.
Cons
Con Low maximum refresh rate of 60 Hz, less ideal for fast-paced action
Compared to some other gaming monitors, the iiyama G-Master Gold Phoenix GB2888UHSU-B1 isn't as fast as some of its competitors. The maximum refresh rate is limited at 60 Hz, which is the industry standard for all monitors. Some fast-paced games greatly benefit from a higher refresh rate such as 120 or 144 Hz as it increases fluidity.
Con 4K resolution doesn't scale well with all software
Due to the native 4K resolution and the relatively small 28 inch screen size, text can be hard to read in Windows and other non-gaming environments, such as Adobe's software. Not everything scales well in 4K (yet).
Con Color gamut settings need calibration
Out of the box, color settings aren't optimal. The display has some over-saturated green and under-saturated red, while blue has too much of a purple tint. Calibration is needed to improve color gamut.
Con Mediocre luminosity uniformity
The uniformity of the display in terms of luminosity is measured at 78% which isn't a bad result, but other displays with similar panels can certainly do better with scores over 85%. In short, uniformity is a bit flat and might be noticeable.
Con Lacks adaptive sync
The BenQ ZOWIE XL2720 is not compatible with either Nvidia's G-Sync or AMD's FreeSync.
Con Lacks speakers
The ZOWIE XL2720 does not have inbuilt speakers.
Con Expensive
Priced just a bit below the $380 mark, this is a pretty costly 27-inch FHD monitor.