SDC's new 27-inch 4K 165Hz Nano-IPS monitor features DisplayPort 2.0, costs just $415

Super Display Co (SDC) has just released its new SDC 27X1U monitor, featuring a 27-inch 4K Nano-IPS panel with a super-smooth 165Hz refresh rate and the latest DisplayPort 2.0 and HDMI 2.1 connectivity.

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The new SDC 27X1U monitor costs just $415, but it features DP2.0 and HDMI 2.1, as well as a 4K 165Hz panel for that price, which isn't too damn bad at all. It's also another DisplayPort 2.0 monitor to add to the pile, which will only work on AMD Radeon RX 7000 series GPUs and Intel Arc GPUs... NVIDIA GeForce RTX series GPU owners miss out on DP2.0 fun.

SDC uses a flat 27-inch 4K Nano-IPS panel from LG (model LM270WR8), which is used in some of LG's in-house gaming monitors, with the SDC 27X1U supporting 10-bit color, HDR600 with a measured brightness of around 680 nits in HDR mode. There's also support for Variable Refresh Rate (VRR), it's compatible with VESA VRR, and AMD FreeSync, NVIDIA G-SYNC, and VRR functionality works on the PlayStation 5 (48 to 120Hz).

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On the DP2.0 side of things, you'll need to be careful -- as I said before, DP2.0 and DP2.1 are only compatible with particular GPUs -- NVIDIA's entire fleet of cards doesn't have DP2.0 or DP2.1, that'll come with the GeForce RTX 50 series GPUs -- but if you've got an AMD Radeon RX 7000 series card, you'll be as good as gold.

AMD's current-gen Radeon RX 7000 series GPU is the only one that supports the UHBR13.5 transmission rate, with Radeon PRO 7000 series workstation GPUs supporting UHBR20 mode. Intel Arc GPUs will support UHBR10 mode, but it's not enough to support this monitor fully, as some of the reviewers of the SDC 27X1U found out.

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UHBR13.5 mode on the RDNA 3-powered Radeon RX 7000 series GPUs enables the full 4K 165Hz without Display Stream Compression (DSC), while GeForce RTX 40 series GPU owners will need to enable DSC tin order to enjoy 4K 165Hz. I don't know why you'd be using an Intel Arc GPU with a 4K 165Hz monitor, but if you do, without DSC you'll be limited to 120Hz.