Its been sometime since I have needed to upgrade my gaming rig with a new monitor but now I have a brand new high-end GPU and reaching over 60FPS the majority of the time, I thought it is now a good time to upgrade to a 144hz gaming monitor. So I checked around and found what looks to be a bargain for what the monitor was offering the new Element Gaming 27″ QHD 144hz 1ms Gaming Monitor.
So let us get on with this review, a Gaming Monitor that offers a lot, looks amazing, but is it really all bells and whistles?
Key Features are the following
- 2560 x 1440 QHD
- HDMI, Displayport & DVI
- 144hz / 1ms Response Time
- Panel Type: TN
- AMD FreeSync
So when the product arrived it was all packed away and well protected during delivery, which is great. But we had to ask ourselves who are Element Gaming Now? well their site has been taken down and is getting a redesign, but thanks to the Wayback machine we found this;
‘We may be the new kid on the block but we know our products will rock the gaming world. With our revolutionary approach, our innovative design and market-leading technology Element aims to bring a new and unique vibrancy to the UK gaming scene.’ Elsewhere it spoke of matching ‘high quality’ with ‘low prices’
Now based on previous products we have had to review which you can find here https://invisioncommunity.co.uk/page/1/?s=element+gaming, their products scored rather well from our staff which is great for them. So how does this new Monitor stand up?
So we come to the opening up and setting up the monitor, and the first thing you will be doing is attaching the stand to the monitor, which is nice and thin and made of metal. It attaches with two screws and that’s it, but the screen wobbles whenever you touch is or you accidentally bump your desk. Now I first thought it was going to fall off, but based on some bump tests it never did, so even though the stand is not the greatest in its design it does its job adequately. But then I looked for a way to move the screen into a position more suitable for me, there was literally almost no flexibility, now that sucks.
Looking at the back you have a number of connections DVI-I, HDMI, and a DisplayPort. There is a 3.5mm audio connection but no speakers, But I very much doubt anyone will be using a connection on the monitor over there PC setup. Now you would expect a company selling a FreeSync Monitor would send a cable that works with FreeSync? Nope they don’t, FreeSync only works with the DisplayPort connection, so lucky for me I had a few hanging around, so a note to AMD users, that want this screen purchase a DisplayPort Cable as well.
What muppet in marketing or packaging decided not to put a FreeSync enabled cable when selling.
Keeping with the back of the monitor, there is something I have not seen before, a very small joystick that looks like an inflatable valve used to inflate something, but it is not its a device to control the menu system. The implementation of this feature sucks, I much prefer menu buttons to be on the front, not on the back of the screen, it is a stupid idea and the actual implementation is a joke, what bright spark thought this was a good idea. There is no real need to use the menu as its set up perfect for gaming, but if you do there are a few options available from controlling some colour modes based on different factors like gaming and movies, Contrast, Gamma, brightness, and a few other options.
Now we are no tech site but we do know our stuff when it comes to technology and we also know FreeSync does not work with Nvidia cards, it is rather obvious since its AMD technology and they never work together, but there is a workaround which can be found here. It is not in any way perfect, but we have tested it and it works. Let’s say you are not interested in finding a workaround and have a Nvidia card then this monitor is useless for FreeSync, but it does have a 1ms response time which enables your gaming experience to be smooth and uninterrupted.
Then you have the 144hz which is amazing if you have a GPU that can for the majority of the time push past 60FPS, otherwise there is no point upgrading unless you are looking to upgrade your GPU in the future, but then again, would you be going for AMD or Nvidia, it is a choice you have to make for yourself. I have a 1080TI and can easily push past 60fps with all games running at 1080p so I get the benefit of a 144hz screen. However, my AMD rig does not push past 60FPS so the benefit of having 144hz is not worth it.
We then have the actual display TN over IPS, TN is the cheaper option and the colours are not as vibrant, looking at an IPS monitor you can clearly see the difference, for a gamer I doubt it will make much of a difference, for a person that uses photoshop or deals with photos and film work, in general, they might want to get an IPS over a TN panel. Overall, the Monitor performs fantastically during all the games I played, which for the majority of the time was Two Point Hospital, but I also checked out Shadow of the Tomb Raider and Assassin’s Creed Odyssey.
Now, what do I think of it, for me, it is a great monitor and I can use every aspect of it even with a Nvidia card, its design is great, thin and takes up little to no room on my gaming desk. The Element Gaming name on the front of the monitor I feel is a bit cheap and they should have just embossed the logo somewhere instead, I just covered it up with a Tobii Eye Tracker, as I tend to use that with any game that offers the technology.
Playing games on it from the latest Assassins Creed to Shadow of the Tomb Raider and putting the screen next to my IPS panel. You can see the difference, but I doubt I would care if I did not already own the IPS screen to compare it with. So I popped the screen over to a friends house to get his opinion, he said the colours do feel washed out a little, but for a gamer, I do not care, everything looks good.
So the last thing to discuss would the monitors choice of resolution, it is not 4K or Full HD its 2560 x 1440 QHD. Now currently PC gamers seem to prefer this resolution even myself as getting good FPS with graphically intense games is rather difficult, 1440 seem to be the sweet spot. The use of 144hz and getting a good FPS is something you need to achieve otherwise what is the point, you have a monitor that can truly give you amazing visuals, but you simply are not getting the FPS to give you these sweet visuals.
So why would you want this monitor? AMD user? you get Freesync, which takes away some work off your GPU, You getting good FPS? then the 144HZ will improve your visuals and the 1ms response time, well that’s a no-brainer. Nvidia user? you could use the workaround, or just use the monitor for the 144hz, but you can get monitors cheaper without FreeSync. If you have a low-end GPU, FreeSync will be great for you, but if you not reaching past 60fps then the extra Hz is not going to benefit you in any way. So how do you decide? if you should purchase this monitor or not, well I got it as I have both GPU’s, I use the workaround to use FreeSync, and I love the extra Hz, for you, it would be based on your current system or a system you intend to upgrade to in the future.
There is nothing truly wrong with this monitor just some stupid design choices, from the joystick on the back, the stand and lack of positioning options and the ugly element gaming name on the front. There are just choices IPS over TN, are you getting the FPS to enjoy the 144hz and AMD GPU for FreeSync or Nvidia and workaround for FreeSync. I can not tell you this monitor is a must-have, in a way it is and in other ways it’s not, but overall its a great budget gaming screen for gamers.
We would like to thank eBuyer for sending us the monitor and we shall take good care of it, you can see all your other Element Gaming peripherals reviews here. Invison Game Community was one of the sites that Element Gaming wanted to have their products on when they first started and our students were more than happy to help them, by reviewing and creating blog posts for their gaming blog. We were shocked when we reached out to the Social team and got told this ‘we’ve already got key partners for our products but thanks for your interest!’ when we are one of their partners and was never told any different.
We hope to carry on reviewing their products for you and for them as we all love new technology and gaming peripherals.
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