LG UltraGear OLED 27GX790B-B gaming monitor review: Basically flawless

A good monitor can be a complicated thing to pick out from the crowd, not least because we all have slightly different priorities and requirements, even within the gaming monitor market. Are you all about resolution, needing 4K at a minimum? Or is a sky-high refresh rate higher up the wishlist?

Well, I can't say that LG's new GX7 UltraGear monitor fits every single brief on the planet, but for those who know they're happy with 1440p gaming it's extremely hard to fault. Its picture quality is something to behold, and its simple, clean design makes it a graceful addition to any desk, while its refresh rate specification is enviable. Using it on loan from LG for a couple of weeks has been quite the ride.

Price and Availability

This version of the GX7 is a complicated one from the availability side of things. While LG has been selling it for some months now, it has only just made a review sample available, so it's in plenty of people's hands (and in their setups) already.

That also means that pricing is a little flexible. At full price, the monitor costs £899.99 here in the UK, $999.99 in the US and €849.99 in the EU. However, thanks to it being on the market for a while, deals abound now; here it is from LG for £599.98 in the UK, or on Amazon for $679.99 in the US, and for €754.23 in France.

That makes assessing the monitor at this point a little different from what it would have been at launch – it already looks like substantially better value now.

Design and Specs

This GX7 isn't exactly a monitor that rips up the rulebook from LG, and I think there's very little wrong with that. From a design standpoint, it leans on subtlety, at least when you're sat in front of it.

A hexagonal stand has a decent footprint on your desk, but nothing egregious at all, and the monitor's stand is quite slimline compared to others I've tested. That said, it lacks cable management solutions, which does impact the tidiness of a desk setup with multiple inputs connected.

The back of the monitor is a little less minimalistic, with an UltraGear logo and some RGB lighting that you can turn off if you don't fancy it. I think it looks decent enough, though.

I/O is relatively easy to access, too, and comprises one DisplayPort 2.1 port, two HDMI 2.1 ports, one USB Type-C port with passthrough charging power, and one USB 3.0 port to round things out (along with the power delivery port).

Under the display you'll find a single button that toggles between Dual Mode (for higher refresh rates), normal output and powering off. Next to it is a small control nub that acts as a little joystick for navigating the monitor's menus and controls. It works a treat, and those menus are relatively straightforward to get through.

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The display itself has slim bezels on all sides and is impressively shallow, so it's not too difficult to fit on your desk. That said, it does sit quite far forward from the back of the stand, so it's not necessarily the easiest to push further back if it's against a wall.

Adjustments are available, including easily changing its height and turning it left and right without moving the stand, along with both tilting and pivoting options. So, you can pretty straightforwardly arrange it exactly as you wish.

On the technical side, this is a 2560 x 1440, 26.5-inch monitor, and it's an OLED panel that brings all the benefits of that tech.

You get a maximum refresh rate of 540Hz at maximum resolution, but you can drop down to 1080p for a boost to 720Hz. Response times sit at 0.02ms, and the monitor has DisplayHDR 500 True Black certification for really inky blacks.

It works with both Nvidia G-Sync and AMD FreeSync Premium Pro, but doesn't have any built-in speakers. The volume control that can be easily accessed is for whatever output source you connect to the monitor.

Performance

Of course, not many of us buy a monitor with the aim of sitting back and admiring its design – it's one of the more functional pieces of tech you could shop for, and the real test is how it looks in regular use.

I used the GX7 as my daily monitor for a couple of weeks, and that meant long days at the coalface of online media, but also evenings and lunchtimes gaming. It's been a busy few weeks for gaming releases, too, so I've been able to put quite a lot of variety through the screen.

I played hours of Battlefield 6, as usual, and the monitor's refresh rate came in handy for that, ensuring smooth responsiveness and crystal-clear details, including when playing on my PS5 Pro. Rocket League was even more legible, since it's simpler, and the frame rate limit again was useful and reliable.

I never really felt the urge to get a higher ceiling by going down to 1080p, but it's good to know that option is there for the competitive gamers among us. On PC, meanwhile, I've been enjoying the opening hours of The Blood of Dawnwalker, and its moody landscape looks lush and realistic on the GX7.

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That's helped by the OLED panel bringing out really vivid colours and contrast. We all know that this technology makes for deeper blacks, but LG's panel feels really mature and consistent across the colour gamut.

Swapping between inputs isn't always the smoothest, though – the monitor doesn't seem to detect when a connected device powers on, to prompt you with the option of a swap. I've found that feature handy on other monitors, so it would have been nice here.

However, changing between display presets is really easy, and you get some loaded out of the box to help you ensure the monitor is matching its features to the type of game you're playing.

Outside of gaming, I've found the monitor really easy to use for work – it doesn't suffer from fringed text or blurriness, in my experience, and is bright enough to power through even direct sunlight into my study. Its anti-reflective coating is also terrific, making for really muted reflections.

I'm always an advocate for a third HDMI 2.1 slot where possible, since I think there's never any harm in having an extra port, but I should obviously point out that LG is one of many, many monitor makers sticking to just two there.

Verdict

The 27GX790B-B proves that you don't need a catchy name to make it as a successful gaming monitor – being extremely reliable on every meaningful feature is the best way to do that. The GX7 (to call it by its more obvious nickname) is a great performer that works just as well for productivity as it does for excellent gaming in your downtime.

At full price, it looks like a tall order for a 1440p panel, and that's a fair stick to beat it with. However, now that it's been out for a little while, you can find deals that make it far more approachable, and which might make the competition squirm a little. This is another great OLED panel in a year full of excellent monitors.

Also consider

It's not really in the same bracket in terms of size, but I can't stop thinking about the Alienware AW3926QW that I tested earlier this summer – as that's a genuine blockbuster of an ultrawide monitor. Its RRP is the same as this LG monitor, but it fulfils a very different brief; still, I think people should consider it as an ultrawide that really makes the format more user-friendly.

If you're keen to stick with a flat panel and want something that's in direct competition with LG's monitor, consider the Sony Inzone M10S – which now has a second-gen version. It's another stunning 1440p monitor, but will play slightly nicer with your PS5 if you connect that, too.