LG Ultragear 27GX790A Review: Blazing-Fast 480Hz OLED Gaming Monitor

The Ultragear 27GX790A from LG, often referred to as the 27GX790A-B, is a 27-inch desktop monitor with an OLED panel and 1440p resolution. I would say that’s just the right amount of pixels for a screen of that size. At a “reasonable” arm’s length from the screen, it delivers excellent sharpness, and there aren’t as big gaps between the light points on the screen as in some other OLED panels.

The screen has a thin panel with rounded edges, a matte, anti-reflective surface on the front, and a sturdy base with a wide footprint. An unusually wide, black arm supports the screen and gives it good mobility. It is height-adjustable by over a decimeter, but I would have hoped it was more lowerable than height-adjustable, so to speak. It is already relatively high in the lowest position. It has tilt and side-to-side swivel with stable mechanics, and you can position the screen on its edge with a 90-degree pivot in one direction.

LG categorizes it under their gaming products, and it has a certain gaming aesthetic in the design, but not excessively so. A beveled black back with an RGB diode strip along the sides, where you can control color and effect in the screen’s easy-to-use menus, or an equally easy-to-use control program on the computer called LG Switch.

You can, of course, also completely turn off the light effect, which I do. I’ve never really understood what it’s supposed to be for, and isn’t it extra distracting for immersion when you’re about to play games? But to each their own.

Fast screen that can get faster

And of course, in addition to the design, the screen also has exactly the right features for gaming. Up to a full 480 Hz refresh rate, and the typical 0.03 ms gray-to-gray response time that many good OLED screens have. You get support for HDR10 with up to 1,300 cd/m2 of peak brightness, and support for Nvidia Gsync, AMD Freesync Premium Pro, and VRR.

It is also supposed to be good at providing image clarity during a lot of movement on the screen and is the first OLED screen to be Vesa Clear MR 21000 certified. This is noticeable in fast games where you may need to see a lot of details even when they rush past. So you have all the prerequisites for a quick, beautiful and problem-free image from a fast PC connected to one of its two HDMI 2.1 video inputs or a DisplayPort 2.1.

If you want even more refresh rate, LG also has a solution. They can transform this 27-inch 1440p screen into a 24-inch 1080p by simply reducing the active image area. Then you get a wide black frame around a smaller image area, but the screen doesn’t need to remap and stretch pixels. It’s an option for those who, for example, are serious about e-sports. Sometimes extra frequency can be worth sitting a little closer to the screen.

More than a gaming screen

Several of these features also make the screen excellent for things other than gaming. It is not enormous, but perfectly sized for multitasking and productivity. And the high contrast makes text on web pages and documents comfortably readable. The high brightness, HDR features and the fine luminance control in the OLED panel, together with 10-bit color, dci-p3 class on the color gamut and excellent color accuracy, make it equally good for streaming movies as it is for cutting video or editing photos.

What you don’t get is sound, the 27GX790A has no built-in speakers. If you have analog headphones, you can connect them at the bottom and there is high quality on the 3.5 mm port, with support for DTS:X. I haven’t seen that before on a screen.

All blue light outside the visible spectrum is filtered out as standard, so long sessions of gaming, work or surfing should not be directly harmful. There is then a screen mode for reading that filters out more. There are many other screen modes, separate for RTS and FPS games, others that match sRGB and dci-p3, and several personally customizable ones. You can of course also get features like an FPS counter in the corner and crosshairs in the middle of the screen, if you want.

One thing is missing

The video inputs are centrally located and are rear-facing. Here we also find a USB-B connector which, with USB 3 speed, forms a simple hub with two USB-A connectors. Convenient to connect a mouse and keyboard or maybe USB speakers.

One thing is missing, however: video and data input on USB-C. So if you want to connect many modern laptops, you may have problems. Some have an HDMI output, but far from all. And with a multiport like USB-C, many screens today become powerful docking stations. But not this one. A bit of a shame.

The Ultragear 27GX790A costs between approximately 940and940and1,220 depending on where you buy it. That’s a lot for a 27-inch 1440p screen. There are even OLED screens with gaming features and similar color qualities that cost less.

But few that are as good as this one. With its high peak brightness and refresh rate, modern connections and high user-friendliness, it can be worth its money. If only it could USB-C dock, then it would have been a home run.

Specifications

• Product Name: LG Ultragear 27GX790A-B
• Tested: April 2025
• Manufacturer: LG
• Size: 26.5 inches
• Mobility: Height, side-to-side, tilt, pivot
• Resolution: 2560 x 1440 pixels
• Panel Type: WOLED with MLA+, matte surface
• Brightness: 275 cd/m2 (typical), 1300 cd/m2 (peak)
• Contrast: 1,500,000:1 static
• HDR: Vesa Display HDR400 True Black, HDR10, Dolby Vision
• Color Depth: 10 bits
• Color Gamut: 100% sRGB, 98.5% dci-p3, 89.7% Adobe RGB
• Refresh Rate: Up to 480 Hz
• Response Time (GtG): 0.03 ms
• Video Inputs: 2 x HDMI 2.1, DisplayPort 2.1
• Other: Hub with 2 x USB 3 type A (USB-B in), headphone port, RGB lighting
• Size: 60.45 x 24.9 x 46.2 – 57.5 cm
• Recommended Price: $1,220