Sceptre E275W-FW100T Review: 1080p 100Hz VA Monitor

The Sceptre E275W-FW100T is a popular budget 27″ 1080p VA monitor with a high contrast ratio and AMD FreeSync support. Here’s what you need to know about it.

Image Quality

Based on a VA panel, the Sceptre E275W-FW100T monitor has a high 3,000:1 static contrast ratio, which delivers noticeably deeper blacks than that of IPS panels (~1,000:1). There’s also no IPS glow, resulting in an overall more immersive viewing experience in dark rooms.

However, even though the specified viewing angles are 178° (the same as IPS), there are some minor gamma and saturation shifts when looking at the screen at certain angles. This isn’t an issue for everyday use, but if you plan on doing color-critical work, IPS is the way to go.

Moving on, the Sceptre E275W-FW100T has a 100% sRGB color gamut, meaning that the colors are accurate and not oversaturated. It also has true 8-bit color depth support for 16.7 million colors without the use of FRC.

Next, it has a peak brightness of 280-nits, which is more than bright enough under normal lighting conditions, but if you plan on using the screen in a particularly bright room (facing a window without curtains, studio lighting, etc.), you’ll need a brighter display.

The deciding factor for most users when it comes to this monitor is going to be the pixel density. The Full HD 1920×1080 resolution on a 27″ sized screen has 81.59 PPI (pixels per inch), which means that text and fine details won’t be particularly sharp.

In games and videos, this is less noticeable, but if you wish to use the monitor for office-related work, we recommend getting either a higher resolution 27″ display or a 24″ 1080p monitor for higher pixel density with sharper text.

The good news is that 1080p is not very demanding on the GPU, allowing you to maintain decent frame rates even with budget graphics cards.

Performance

The Sceptre E275W-FW100T has a maximum refresh rate of 100Hz, which provides you with a noticeable boost in motion clarity as opposed to the regular 60-75Hz displays.

In fact, we find that the difference between 100Hz and 60Hz is more noticeable than the difference between 100Hz and 144Hz.

The higher refresh rate also provides lower input latency, and with around 6ms of the monitor’s display lag, there’s no perceptible difference between your actions and the result on the screen.

Sadly, the monitor is a bit hampered by its slow pixel response time speed as there’s some noticeable ghosting behind fast-moving objects, regardless of the overdrive mode you use.

Some gamers are particularly sensitive to this type of visual artifact, while others won’t mind it. If you play a lot of fast-paced FPS games, you should consider a high refresh rate display with an IPS panel in this price range instead.

Lastly, the Sceptre E275W-FW100T has a flicker-free backlight and there’s a low-blue light filter mode, ensuring a comfortable viewing experience even after prolonged use (given that you take regular breaks).

Features

At the rear of the monitor, there’s a directional joystick for quick and easy navigation through the OSD (On-Screen Display) menu.

Besides the typical image adjustment tools (brightness, contrast, color temperature), you also get some advanced settings, such as aspect ratio control (full or 4:3), sharpness, 6-axis hue/saturation and gamma.

Note that in order to change the screen’s brightness, you should use the ‘Backlight’ setting on this monitor.

Variable refresh rate (VRR) is supported for tear-free gameplay up to 100FPS. The VRR range is 48-100Hz, so it even works below 48FPS thanks to LFC (Low Framerate Compensation). For instance, at 47FPS, the monitor changes to 94Hz to keep tearing at bay.

VRR works over DisplayPort for AMD and NVIDIA cards (GTX 10-series or newer), whereas only AMD GPUs provide VRR over HDMI on this monitor.

Alternatively, you can use the Blur Reduction feature. It reduces perceived motion blur by backlight strobing, but since the monitor has a slow response time, it’s not particularly useful as it sacrifices screen brightness, VRR and introduces screen flickering.

Another useful feature is Black Level Equalizer, which can improve visibility in dark scenes by altering the gamma curvature.

Design & Connectivity

The stand of the monitor is fairly sturdy, but it only supports -5°/15° tilt as far as the ergonomics go. Luckily, the screen is VESA mount compatible via the 100x100mm pattern, so you can easily detach it and mount it on a third-party stand.

Further, the screen has a light matte anti-glare coating that efficiently diffuses reflections without adding too much graininess to the image.

Connectivity options include two HDMI 2.0 ports, DisplayPort 1.2, a headphone jack and dual 2W integrated speakers. All inputs support 100Hz at 1920×1080. The audio quality isn’t very good (as expected from basic built-in speakers).

Price & Similar Monitors

The Sceptre E275W-FW100T price ranges from $103 to $120.

For gamers, we highly recommend getting a higher refresh rate IPS display for smoother gameplay, such as the KTC H24F8.

If you want a display for mixed use, you can find a 27″ 2560×1440 100Hz display around this price range, the KTC H27T13, which will provide you with more screen space, sharper details and wider viewing angles.

Conclusion

While the Sceptre E275W-FW100T is an overall decent budget monitor, there are better options in this price range.

Specifications

Screen Size	27-inch
Resolution	1920×1080 (Full HD)
Panel Type	VA
Aspect Ratio	16:9 (Widescreen)
Refresh Rate	100Hz
Response Time (GtG)	5ms (GtG)
Motion Blur Reduction	1ms (MPRT)
Speakers	2x2W
Adaptive-Sync	FreeSync (48-100Hz)
Ports	DisplayPort 1.2, 2x HDMI 2.0
Other Ports	Headphone Jack
Brightness	280 cd/m²
Contrast Ratio	3000:1 (static)
Colors	16.7 million (true 8-bit) 100% sRGB
VESA	Yes (100x100mm)