LG UltraGear 27GX790A Released with 27″ 1440p 480Hz OLED Panel and DisplayPort 2.1

Originally published 15 Nov 2024, last updated 22 Nov 2024

LG have announced the release of their new UltraGear 27GX790A gaming monitor, a 27″ OLED screen offering a 2560 x 1440 resolution and a 480Hz combined. Despite the underlying WOLED technology panel being produced by LG.Display, LG Electronics have been a little slower to market to release their monitor, behind other manufacturers who have announced or even released their own versions already. We have already reviewed in detail the Asus ROG Swift PG27AQDP for instance, the first to market using this panel which will give you a good indication of expected performance.

Updated: DisplayPort 2.1, but its bandwidth now appears to be UHBR13.5 (54Gbps)

One reason for the delay with LG’s own model is likely the inclusion of the latest DisplayPort 2.1 video connection. At the time we published this news piece on 15 Nov the official LG product page for this screen specifically mentioned “80Gbps” of bandwidth, leading us to conclude that the connection provided was a full-speed UHBR20 / 80Gbps DisplayPort 2.1 connection. This was much better than low-speed “DisplayPort 2.1” connections on the competing Sony INZONE M10S which only offered UHBR10 (40Gbps) and was largely pointless.

The LG product page has only one mention of a bandwidth for this connection, alongside many mentions of simply “DisplayPort 2.1”. We already know that listing “DisplayPort 2.1” on its own doesn’t mean much at all, and so confirmation of the available bandwidth and UHBR tier is vitally important:

However, LG later confused this with their official press release which was published more recently on the 18 Nov. This throws the product page information in to doubt as the only mention of DP 2.1 speed in the press release is as follows:

If you do the calculations then a 67% increase from the 32.4 Gbps that DisplayPort 1.4 offers only takes you to 54Gbps. That would indicate that perhaps the DP 2.1 connection being used here is UHBR13.5 @ 54Gbps. There’s no other clarification in the LG press release on this at all.

We’ve reached out to LG to try and clarify the situation here and confirm the UHBR tier and bandwidth of the DP 2.1 connection on the 27GX790A but we’ve not yet had a formal reply.

LG support reps on the product page have been replying to questions telling people that it is indeed UHBR13.5 (54Gbps) on this model after all. We await final confirmation from LG’s product team, but it’s certainly starting to look like it is UHBR13.5 after all. We will update this news piece when we know more.

Why is the DisplayPort 2.1 UHBR tier so important?

This is vitally important as a DisplayPort 2.1 UHBR20 (80Gbps) connection would allow those with compatible graphics card to power the screen at 1440p 480Hz without needing to use Display Stream Compression (DSC). Although you need to keep in mind that support for DP 2.1 UHBR20 is very limited at the moment, with only professional-grade AMD cards even offering it. No consumer-grade cards support this full speed yet. NVIDIA so far do not have any graphics cards officially announced with DP 2.1 of any type. Although CES is coming up in a couple of months so we could well see things change there in the graphics card segment.

If DP 2.1 UHBR20 is actually available on this monitor, as and when you have a compatible graphics card you should be able to bypass DSC for an uncompressed video signal. This won’t provide any visual benefits over current DP 1.4 + DSC approaches since DSC is visually lossless anyway, but it will in theory help avoid annoying DSC bugs like slow Alt + tabbing from games, black outs and challenges with multi-monitor setups.

If the DP 2.1 connection ends up being only UHBR13.5 (54 Gbps) as the LG press release implies, then this is actually not enough bandwidth to handle 1440p @ 480Hz without DSC anyway. That’s only possible if UHBR20 is available.

LG 27GX790A Specs

The new screen is 27″ in size (well, accurately 26.5″) and has a flat format LG.Display WOLED panel. It has a 2560 x 1440 resolution, 0.03ms G2G response time, 1.5 million:1 contrast ratio, 275 nits brightness (SDR), 178/178 viewing angles, a 10-bit colour depth and a wide colour gamut covering 98.5% DCI-P3.

The screen has the standard matte anti-glare coating. It also supports hardware level calibration like some of their previous monitors via their ‘True Color Pro’ software, a feature not offered by competing models from other manufacturers.

For HDR the screen has been certified under the VESA ‘DisplayHDR 400 True Black’ tier, that’s confirmed in the spec page.

LG do not provide a peak brightness spec in their table oddly, but we know the panel itself is rated to 1300 nits peak (for low APL scenes) and this marketing image on their product page also implies that capability. This is possible thanks to the latest MLA+ panel technology.

The high 480Hz refresh rate is supported by adaptive-sync for VRR from compatible systems, with the screen being certified under the AMD ‘FreeSync Premium Pro’ and NVIDIA ‘G-sync Compatible’ schemes. Note that LG have confirmed that this screen does NOT support Black Frame Insertion (BFI).

Response time spec confusion – 0.02 or 0.03ms G2G?

We’ve seen this query pop up in several places already so thought it was worth addressing here too.

The confusion arises because of this YouTube video, and this press release from LG, both of which suggest the screen should have a 0.02ms G2G response time spec, not the 0.03ms G2G that LG have listed on their product page/press release for the new monitor.

However, that press release and video is actually from the panel manufacturer, LG.Display as opposed to the monitor manufacturer LG Electronics. We wouldn’t put any stock on claims of “fastest response times” like this for OLED, it’s pure marketing and basically meaningless. OLED response times are always near-instant anyway and even if these figures were realistic (which they aren’t based on our testing), no one would ever be able to tell the difference between a 0.03 and a 0.02 G2G response time anyway.

In our opinion it’s just chasing numbers for the sake of competing against Samsung Display and their QD-OLED panels really, the far more important aspect here is the higher 480Hz refresh rate which does at least have a direct visual and measurable impact on gaming experience, motion clarity etc. That’s measured and discussed a lot more in our review of the competing Asus PG27AQDP here.

For what it’s worth all the monitor manufacturers who have produced a 480Hz OLED monitor like this have ALL rated the response time as 0.03ms G2G, so you can take that as an indication of whether they feel the LG.Display spec is either realistic or meaningful too.

Connectivity and stand functionality

The screen has 1x DisplayPort 2.1 (UHBR20 to be clarified as explained above) and 2x HDMI 2.1 video connections. There are also 2x USB data ports and a DTS sound 4-pole headphone jack which handles headphone and mic audio. The stand offers a full range of tilt, height, swivel and rotate adjustments.

Warranty confusion, and no burn-in cover?

The main LG product page says that you can “Rest easy knowing your OLED monitor is built to last. The 2-year limited warranty covers key components, including the OLED panel. And OLED Care tools such as pixel cleaning keep your display sharp, for reliable top-tier performance.” LG’s support team have confirmed that the screen features a small quiet cooling fan like their previous OLED monitors.

However, confusing if you go to the specs section, the warranty is then listed as 1-year. LG have never been particularly clear about their OLED monitor warranties and that continues here.

There is no mention at all of burn-in cover, so as we’ve commented on in the past we would continue to assume that it is not included. See our review of their 32″ 32GS95UE for more commentary on their warranty and confusion around burn-in cover.

Pricing and availability

The 27GX790A is listed at $999.99 USD and is available to pre-order now from some retailers including LG directly, and Bestbuy. Delivery is forecast for 13 Jan 2025 at the moment via Bestbuy, so it looks like it will be released fully in early Q1. You can check latest availability and pricing here.

Source: LG product page and LG press release

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