LG 27GL83A Review: 1440p 144Hz 1ms IPS FreeSync Gaming Monitor

The LG 27GL83A is a 27″ 1440p 144Hz gaming monitor based on an IPS panel with wide viewing angles, vibrant colors, and fast response time speed.

Additionally, it has an ergonomic stand and supports a variable refresh rate for tear-free gameplay. On top of all that, it’s affordable!

Image Quality

The LG 27GL83A display is based on an IPS panel with wide 178-degree viewing angles, 10-bit color depth support, 1ms (GtG) response time, 1440p resolution, and a 350-nit peak brightness, while its static contrast ratio varies between 700:1 and 1,000:1, depending on the unit.

You will find the same specifications in the popular and more expensive LG 27GL850, which is the same version of this monitor but with a USB hub.

The monitor is factory-calibrated and covers 98% of the DCI-P3 color space; the colors are accurate and precise and even fit for some entry-level color-critical work.

1440p resolution ensures crisp details and plenty of screen real estate on 27″ sized monitors thanks to the ideal pixel-per-inch ratio of ~108 PPI, which eliminates the need for any scaling.

As it’s the case with all IPS panels without local dimming, the contrast ratio rarely surpasses 1,000:1, meaning that blacks won’t be as deep as that of VA panel displays, which, naturally, have other disadvantages of their own.

While VA panels have a higher static contrast ratio of ~3,000:1, they don’t have as vibrant colors or good viewing angles as IPS panels.

Moreover, they have slower response times resulting in visible smearing in fast-paced games, at least at this price range.

Another disadvantage of IPS panels is the IPS glow.

If you’re watching dark scenes in a dark room, you’ll be able to notice some ‘glowing’ around the corners of the screen. This is the expected downside of IPS panels, and it’s manageable.

No monitor is perfect, especially at this price range, so compromises have to be made. If you want great image quality as well as fast pixel response time, IPS is the way to go.

Performance

The LG 27GL83A is one the fastest IPS panel monitors with a 1ms (GtG) pixel response time speed, which prevents ghosting in fast-paced games.

In order to get the specified 1ms speed, you need to set the response time overdrive option to ‘Faster’ in the OSD (On-Screen Display) menu of the monitor. However, this will introduce inverse ghosting, aka pixel overshoot.

Luckily, with the overdrive option set to ‘Fast,’ you won’t get any overshoot or visible trailing behind fast-moving objects. The speed may not be technically ‘1ms’, but it’s more than fast enough to keep the pixels up with the 144Hz refresh rate.

The LG 27GL83A input lag is only ~4ms, which makes for imperceptible delay between your actions and the result on the screen.

AMD FreeSync is supported with a 48-144Hz VRR (variable refresh rate) range over DisplayPort and 48-100Hz over HDMI for tear-free gameplay.

The monitor is certified as G-SYNC compatible by NVIDIA, so FreeSync will work without issue with compatible NVIDIA GPUs.

Features

The LG 27GL83A monitor offers plenty of useful features for gaming, including Black Stabilizer (improves visibility of objects in shadows), Crosshair (custom crosshair overlays), and pre-calibrated picture presets (FPS, RTS, Reader Mode, sRGB, and two customizable Gamer profiles).

Navigation through the OSD menu is a breeze thanks to the 5-way joystick placed beneath the bottom bezel of the screen, while the menu itself is intuitive and well-organized.

Besides the standard image settings, there are four gamma modes and color temperature fine-tuning (in 500K increments).

The backlight of the monitor is flicker-free, and there’s an integrated low-blue light filter.

Design & Connectivity

The LG 27GL83A design consists of ultra-thin matte-black bezels and subtle ‘gamery-red’ color accents.

The stand is sturdy and offers decent ergonomics, including up to 110mm height adjustment, 90° pivot, -5°/15° tilt, and 100x100mm VESA mount compatibility.

You cannot swivel the stand to the left/right, though.

There’s no RGB lighting of any kind, while the monitor has a low-haze anti-glare matte coating, which effectively eliminates reflections, but doesn’t make the picture appear grainy.

Connectivity options include DisplayPort 1.4, two HDMI 2.0 ports and a headphone jack.

Both DP and HDMI support 144Hz at 1440p, but if you enable FreeSync, the refresh rate is limited to 100Hz over HDMI.

Unlike the LG 27GL850, the GL83A doesn’t have a USB hub.

Price & Similar Monitors

The LG 27GL83A price ranges from $250 to $300.

At this price range, we recommend the Acer XV271U M3 instead. It has a more ergonomic stand, a 180Hz overclockable refresh rate and it can be found for $200.

Here’s a summary of all LG’s monitors with similar names and specifications:

For more information and monitors, visit our comprehensive and always up-to-date best gaming monitor buyer’s guide.

Conclusion

All in all, the LG 27GL83A 1440p 144Hz IPS gaming monitor delivers immersive image quality, buttery-smooth performance and plenty of features.

Specifications

Screen Size	27-inch
Resolution	2560×1440 (WQHD)
Panel Type	IPS
Aspect Ratio	16:9 (Widescreen)
Refresh Rate	144Hz
Response Time	1ms (GtG)
Adaptive Sync	FreeSync (48Hz-144Hz) (48-100Hz HDMI)
Ports	DisplayPort 1.4, 2x HDMI 2.0
Other Ports	Headphone Jack
Brightness	350 cd/m2
Contrast Ratio	1000:1 (static)
Colors	1.07 billion (8-bit + FRC)
HDR	HDR10
VESA	Yes (100x100mm)