AOC Agon Pro AG276QZD review: It struggles to outpace OLED competitors

Price When Reviewed

$999.99

Best Prices Today: AOC Agon Pro AG276QZD

AOC is the most recent to enter the more and more aggressive area of 27-inch, 1440p, 240Hz OLED gaming displays. The Agon Pro AG276QZD makes an attempt to set itself aside with a novel, uneven design and good connectivity, however picture high quality quirks maintain again the AG276QZD’s potential.

AOC Agon Pro AG276QZD: What are the specs?

If the AOC Agon Pro AG276QZD’s specs really feel a bit acquainted, properly, that’s no shock. The latest flood of 27-inch, 1440p OLED gaming displays depend on a selected LG Paper White panel suited to laptop displays.

• Display dimension: 26.5-inch widescreen
• Native decision: 2560×1440
• Panel sort: OLED
• Refresh charge: 240Hz
• Adaptive Sync: G-Sync suitable
• HDR: Yes, HDR10
• Ports: 2x HDMI 2.0, 2x DisplayPort 1.4, 2x USB-A 3.2 Gen 1, 3.5mm audio-out
• VESA mount: Yes
• Speakers: Yes, 2x 5-watt
• Price: $999.99

That makes it arduous for anybody monitor to face out, and the AG276QZD isn’t any totally different. Its dimension, decision, and refresh charge precisely match competing displays from LG, Corsair, Asus, and Acer.

Further studying: See our roundup of the best gaming monitors to study competing merchandise.

AOC Agon Pro AG276QZD: Design

Matt Smith

AOC should’ve understood the Agon Pro AG276QZD’s technical similarities to its competitors, as a result of the corporate goes wild with the monitor’s design.

The show’s look revolves round an uneven pentagon form discovered on each the monitor’s rear panel and the monitor stand. It’s a daring various to the traditional symmetric shapes utilized by most opponents. AOC provides emphasis with customizable RGB-LED lighting on the rear of the monitor. The gentle’s aren’t brilliant, nevertheless, in order that they solely leap out in a darkish room.

AOC’s uneven design continues with the compact stand base. The design takes some adjustment, because it’s tough to know which orientation is the “correct” placement. Looks apart, the stand’s small, slim profile is sweet information for players with restricted desk house. Ergonomic changes can be found, too, with assist for peak, tilt, swivel, and rotation.

The stand attaches to the monitor with a clip mechanism as a substitute of a VESA mount. However, the show panel itself is VESA suitable, so a third-party monitor arm or stand stays an possibility.

AOC Agon Pro AG276QZD: Features and menus

A pair of HDMI 2.0 ports and DisplayPort 1.4 ports lurk behind the AOC Agon Pro AG276QZD’s rear panel, offering a complete of 4 video inputs. That’s glorious for any gaming monitor, and a slight enchancment over the options, which normally have three video inputs.

However, solely the DisplayPort 1.4 inputs can deal with the monitor’s 1440p decision at its most refresh charge of 240Hz. The HDMI 2.0 ports are restricted to 1440p at 144Hz. AOC’s opponents share this downside.

USB-C connectivity is proscribed to 2 USB-A 3.2 Gen 1 downstream ports powered by a single USB-B upstream. This isn’t quite a lot of USB connectivity—although, once more, it’s just like the competitors. If you need USB-C, think about the Corsair Xeneon 27QHD240.

AOC’s menu system is sufficient, however solely simply. A joystick on the monitor’s proper rear flank gives fast, responsive entry to the menus. However, the menu system’s association can show complicated. Some menu choices are adjusted with a left/proper motion, whereas others use an up/down motion. The lack of consistency can result in errors.

The monitor consists of a number of coloration modes, coloration temperature, and coloration gamma presets, however most will not be calibrated to a selected goal. There’s an sRGB and DCI-P3 mode, at the least. AOC chucks in gaming-centric options, like a crosshair and customization of the “LightFX” RGB-LED lighting on the monitor’s again panel. Picture-in-picture and picture-by-picture modes can be found, too.

Speakers are bundled within the AG276QZD, however don’t anticipate to depend on them. They ship skinny, hole sound that’s simply overwhelmed by bass. They’re okay for podcasts, however music, video games, and films can sound harsh, metallic, and grating.

How is the AOC Agon Pro AG276QZD’s SDR picture high quality?

The AOC Agon Pro AG276QZD’s 27-inch 1440p panel gives the know-how wanted to ship top-tier picture high quality. It lives as much as expectations in some areas, however stumbles in others.

Matt Smith

Brightness is an unsurprising limitation of the AOC Agon Pro AG276QZD. All displays based mostly on the LG Paper White OLED panel have issues on this space. That mentioned, a brightness of 244 nits is usable in most conditions, and I typically left the monitor at roughly 50 % of its most. Brightness is simply a difficulty when the monitor is utilized in a particularly brilliant room or close to a sunlit window.

Matt Smith

The AG276QZD delivers on OLED’s promised distinction with an successfully infinite distinction ratio. This happens as a result of the monitor can ship a brightness of precisely zero nits when required.

Infinite distinction results in a wealthy, immersive expertise. There’s an actual sense of depth and dimensionality to high-resolution, contrast-rich content material. This, together with the monitor’s skinny bezels, could make it appear as if you happen to’re wanting by way of a window, not at a show.

Dark, moody content material excels, as there’s no trace of the grayish glow widespread to most displays. Shadow element is properly preserved, too, so refined figures and silhouettes stay seen in dim scenes. That’s helpful when enjoying video games like Diablo IV or Left 4 Dead 2, and when viewing dimly lit motion pictures reminiscent of The Batman.

Matt Smith

Color gamut is the place AOC’s fortunes start to show.

The AG276QZD gives a coloration gamut that spans 100 % of sRGB, 91 % of AdobeRGB, and 87 % of DCI-P3. That’s wanting the competitors. Corsair’s Xeneon 27QHD240 and Alienware’s AW3423DWF each outperform the AOC in coloration gamut. The similar is true of AOC’s Agon Pro AG274QZM, a Mini-LED various.

Matt Smith

And coloration accuracy is the place the story actually sours. The AG276QZD scored somewhat poorly in coloration accuracy with a mean coloration error far past any of its options.

I’ve examined sufficient displays based mostly on LG’s Paper White panel to, at this level, name disappointing coloration accuracy a typical downside for this panel sort. The AG276QZD is the worst of the bunch, nevertheless, and it exhibits.

Colors have a tendency to seem overly saturated and neon-like on the AG276QZD. This is most evident in yellow, which tends to shift in direction of an unnatural yellow-green hue, however I noticed an analogous over-saturated skew current in cyan and magenta. I attempted to tame this impact with the monitor’s coloration calibration options, however with restricted success.

How a lot this issues will depend on how you propose to make use of the monitor. Gamers doubtless gained’t discover something amiss. Indeed, a considerably over-saturated and vivid look can appear subjectively higher in video games, even when it’s not technically correct. If you’re a content material creator who works with images, video, or digital artwork regularly, nevertheless, give the AG276QZD a move.

I additionally seen the monitor’s default gamma was off at a studying of 1.9. This signifies photos seem a bit extra luminous than they need to. Color temperature was acceptable, although, with a studying of 6800Ok (only a tad cooler than the specified 6500Ok).

Sharpness may be a difficulty. Most OLED displays at the moment accessible have a sub-pixel format that differs from the RGB format Windows expects, which results in coloration fringing points round high-contrast borders. When studying a wonderful textual content, for instance, it’s possible you’ll discover the house between letters or digits has a jagged and considerably off-color look. It’s not a significant downside for net looking, nevertheless it may develop into annoying if you happen to spend most of your time in Excel.

How is the AOC Agon Pro AG276QZD’s HDR picture high quality?

The AOC Agon Pro AG276QZD helps HDR however, not like its competitors, it’s not VESA DisplayHDR 400 True Black licensed. This proves much less essential than you may assume, however HDR efficiency is disappointing.

That’s as a result of the AG276QZD, like all OLED displays, has issue attaining and sustaining a excessive stage of brightness. I measured a most HDR brightness of 224 nits (a bit lower than SDR, really). That’s method under the 600 to 800 nits required for a satisfactory HDR expertise. In real-world viewing, the monitor’s restricted brightness means brilliant areas of a picture that ought to reveal extra element as a substitute seem washed-out and uniform.

I additionally seen the same old points with SDR tone mapping when HDR is turned on in Windows. SDR content material seen on the Windows desktop will seem much less coloration correct when HDR is turned on. Many displays share this downside, and it’s definitely noticeable right here.

No OLED gaming monitor available on the market proper now is a good choose for HDR content material. Still, the AG276QZD’s total efficiency is lackluster. In common, players who wish to use HDR on an OLED gaming monitor ought to look in direction of monitor’s with Samsung’s QD-OLED panel, such because the Alienware AW3423DWF and Samsung Odyssey G8 OLED, as they ship superior peak brightness.

How is the AOC Agon Pro AG276QZD’s movement efficiency?

Matt Smith

Motion readability is an simple win for the AOC Agon Pro AG276QZD. It delivers the killer combo: a 240Hz refresh, extraordinarily low pixel response occasions, and Nvidia G-Sync assist.

The 240Hz refresh charge gives buttery-smooth gameplay with a decent, crisp response to person enter. Granted, the sport you’re having fun with might want to render at 240 frames per second to completely use this characteristic, however the monitor’s 1440p decision (which calls for much less of a video card than 4K decision) makes this achievable in esports titles on midrange graphics {hardware}.

Low pixel response occasions assist benefit from the 240Hz refresh charge. OLED panels can obtain response occasions right down to 0.03 milliseconds gray-to-gray. This ends in much less movement blur, as pixels “respond” to adjustments in coloration shortly. While that is helpful at 240Hz, it additionally applies at decrease refresh charges, which is useful if you happen to get pleasure from demanding video games that dip your body charge into the double-digits.

Official Nvidia G-Sync assist is appreciated, too. There’s nothing fallacious with AMD FreeSync however, as Steam’s {hardware} survey makes clear, most PC players go for an Nvidia graphics card. And there’s a bonus: although not formally listed, AMD FreeSync Premium once I linked the monitor to an AMD Radeon 6600 video card.

The AG276QZD’s glorious movement readability isn’t uncommon for the class. All 27-inch, 1440p, 240Hz OLED displays obtain related outcomes. Still, the movement readability provided right here is certain to please each informal and aggressive gamers.

Is the AOC Agon Pro AG276QZD value it?

The AOC Agon Pro AG276QZD has a intelligent design and good characteristic set for a 27-inch 1440p OLED monitor, nevertheless it looks like an also-ran within the class.

Alternatives just like the Corsair Xeneon 27QHD240 ship higher total picture high quality with a aspect of USB-C connectivity. The actual risk, nevertheless, is the Alienware AW3423DWF and Samsung Odyssey OLED G8: these 34-inch ultrawides ship a bigger show, higher coloration efficiency, and brighter HDR at an analogous value.

If you’re not dedicated to OLED, the AOC Agon Pro AG274QZM is a compelling various. Priced simply $50 greater, this Mini-LED monitor scores wins in brightness, coloration efficiency, sharpness, and HDR picture high quality.

The AOC Agon Pro AG276QZD is an honest OLED gaming monitor however, absent a significant low cost, it’s powerful to suggest over the options.