Gigabyte Aorus FO48U with 48″ OLED Panel, 4K Resolution, 120Hz and HDMI 2.1

News piece originally published 13 April, 2021 now updated 11 June 2021

Back in April 2021 Gigabyte teased three new displays in their Aorus line-up on their website, with a “coming soon” holding page. There is a focus on 4K resolution, high refresh rates and the latest HDMI 2.1 connectivity. The new displays are Gigabyte’s first 4K gaming monitors and will be available in 3 sizes. There is the 31.5″ FI32U, a screen we already brought you some early information about in this news piece . There is the 43.4″ FV43U which we also covered in this news piece.

Perhaps most interesting of all though is a new flagship model which will be their largest screen so far, the 48″ FO48U which they talk about as being the World’s first 48″ gaming monitor. This screen uses an OLED panel and will be a direct competitor to the very popular LG 2020 CX and 2021 C1 48″ TV models for desktop PC use it seems. More information was then released in June 2021 on the Gigabyte website.

FO48U Specifications

Thanks to the official product page from Gigabyte we now have a lot more information about this screen than when we originally wrote this news piece in April.

The screen is certainly a large format and so is less aimed at desktop users, and instead aimed at more general entertainment/TV/console type usage. Although it does seem to be lacking in some OLED TV areas, discussed below.

This model is 47.53″ in size (48″ to you and I!) and will offer a 3840 x 2160 “4K” resolution and a 120Hz native refresh rate. The screen also uses adaptive-sync to support VRR and is certified under the AMD FreeSync Premium scheme. This should also work fine from NVIDIA systems, but it is not yet clear whether the screen will carry the G-sync Compatible certification as well.

A 1ms G2G response time is quoted and something which should be realistic given the use of OLED technology. The specs also include a 10-bit colour depth and a wide colour gamut covering 98% DCI-P3 (130% sRGB relative coverage).

Gigabyte have confirmed in their promotional video and on their website that familiar “tactical” features like Aim Stabilizer, black equalizer and game assist modes are provided like on their normal gaming monitor range.

Update 30/6/21 – Despite there being mention on the spec page and within the user manual we have confirmed with Gigabyte that this screen does NOT include their ‘Aim Stabilizer Sync’ technology sadly. That ‘sync’ version offers a Black Frame Insertion (BFI) mode equivalent to an LCD monitor strobing backlight which helps reduce perceived motion blur, but that can also be used at the same time as VRR. On the FO48U it still offers BFI mode (‘Aim Stabilizer’ normal) but cannot be used at the same time as VRR.

A limited 130 – 150 cd/m2 typical brightness spec

On the official Gigabyte spec page there is also a 135,000:1 contrast ratio listed thanks to the OLED panel, but quite strangely a rather limited 130 – 150 cd/m2 “typical” brightness. This is very low really, and likely applies to a full screen white pattern or similar. It is perhaps a measure taken by Gigabyte to help mitigate image retention and burn-in issues that are more problematic at high brightness levels.

This should be fine for normal close-up PC usage where the recommended luminance is 120 cd/m2 for normal lighting conditions, but what about for movies, console gaming, PC gaming, more distant viewing, bright rooms? Also what happens to this luminance when you enable the Aim Stabilizer BFI function, which always has an impact on screen brightness? Perhaps it can achieve higher than this in that operation, time will tell. We can’t help feel like this is very limiting on this screen. A flicker free operation is specifically listed by the way.

HDMI 2.1 provided along with PC connectivity options

HDMI 2.1 is provided (2x ports) to allow for 4K @ 120Hz from modern PC graphics cards as well as from latest generation games consoles where supported. The presence of HDMI 2.1 means that features like HDMI-org VRR and Auto Low Latency Mode (ALLM) are provided as well which is useful for modern games consoles.

Unlike all current OLED TV’s they have also added DisplayPort 1.4 (with DSC) which makes this more suitable for PC graphics card connectivity. That’s nice to see included, and the DSC (Display Stream Compression) allows you to run at 4K @ 120Hz without having to sacrifice colours.

KVM functionality is also included as is PiP and PbP support. 2x USB 3.0 and 1x USB type-C (without DP alt mode for video) are also available.

Updated: HDR is supported after all!

The most obvious omission on the original spec page was HDR, with their website listing at the time “n/a” for this! This was later updated around 11 June 2021 and now listed “Yes (HDR 10 / HLG)” and so thankfully HDR input signals are supported. While there is a limited 130 – 150 cd/m2 typical brightness spec Gigabyte later also added a “800-900 cd/m2 (@3% peak)” spec which is impressive if achieved.

As a side note, no TV features are included here such as tuners, Netflix, Disney+ apps etc.

Other features

Gigabyte talk about their “Space Audio” functionality as well with their website saying “With exclusive sound reinforcement techniques, AORUS FO48U presents you with the most pure and melodic sound experience and offers extra modes for tailoring to either game or any other entertainment.” This is a 2x 15W stereo speaker setup with an additional 20W sub-woofer. There is a headphone jack and a line out also provided.

The stand has no functionality by the way, no tilt, height or swivel adjustments given the large size – the same as TV’s though. VESA 300mm mounting is supported if you want.

Early Promotional Video

The FO48U appeared briefly on Amazon.com in the US in July but you can check local availability and pricing here (affiliate link)

Source: Gigabyte

Further reading:

• Our LG CX OLED review
• OLED Displays and the Monitor Market

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