AOC AGON AG275FS Gaming Monitor Review - 1080p 360Hz Craziness

TweakTown's Rating: 88%

The Bottom Line

AOC's AGON AG275FS aimed directly at first-person shooter gamers looking to completely level up their in-game performance by pushing as many frames per second as possible, but without breaking the bank.

Pros

• + Ridiculously fast refresh rate
• + Feels extremely responsive
• + Price

Cons

• - Average picture quality
• - Color lacks vibrancy

Should you buy it?

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AGON by AOC has released the AG275FS, a 27-inch IPS LCD 360Hz refresh rate 1920 x 1080p gaming monitor that sports a 0.5ms response time.

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Firstly, only some games can take advantage of the full 360Hz refresh rate, meaning you want to check if your most played games are even capable of hitting this kind of FPS before purchasing the AG275FS. If you don't, and your most played game/s is capped at 60FPS, you will have effectively left a bunch of money on the table, as you aren't even utilizing the monitor's full potential.

Next, the AG275FS is clearly designed with eSports gamers in mind, which means fast-paced first-person-shooter titles, particularly ones that are already extremely popular, such as Apex Legends, Overwatch, Call of Duty, and Counter-Strike. The AG275FS is priced at $500, making it a low-to-mid-range gaming monitor, particularly aimed at gamers with a somewhat beefy graphics card and an overall mid-range PC.

If you happen to check all of the aforementioned boxes and are looking to push your competitive gaming to its limits, let's find out if the AG275FS is for you.

Specifications

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Design & Panel Breakdown

The AG275FS has sacrificed everything when it comes to looks to increase its raw power, and while that may seem like a harsh way to start off the physical design section of the review, the statement shouldn't be misunderstood - the AG275FS isn't ugly by any means, it just lacks any aesthetic flare that is worth highlighting. The closest things to something "cool" about its design are the brushed hard plastic shell and maybe the RGB LED light on the back of the display. Unfortunately, while the shell looks nice and has a very gamery feel to it, it doesn't feel very strong in hand.

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Moving to the front of the AG275FS, we can find a red AGON logo directly center-bottom, and on the right-hand side, the On-Screen-Display (OSD) multi-directional stick, which is also red. AGON has done a great job with the multi-directional stick as it makes swiping through all of the built-in monitor settings a breeze, and with every directional press, there is a nice, satisfying click.

On the right-hand side of the display is a slit in the side of the monitor where the headphone holder can be withdrawn from its sheath. This piece of plastic feels sturdy and well-built. I'd imagine it would have enough strength for any gaming headset on the market. Moving to the back of the display, we can see a nice AGON logo positioned at the center and a half-pentagon-shaped RGB LED light carved into the back of the display. This light can be controlled in the OSD and can be set to multiple different modes: static color, rainbow, breathing, and more.

The stand is worth mentioning as it is very sturdy and uses a quick-release system to attach/detach from the stand. This design is commonly seen on ASUS displays, and AGON is picking it up; whether it was first incorporated in the AG275FS or is present in earlier models, I'm not aware of - it's great to see.

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Keeping on the back of the display, we will find the standard connectivity ports for a gaming monitor: USB 3.2 Gen1 ? 4 / mini USB ? 1, HDMI 2.0 x 2, DisplayPort x 2, and a line-in port. Notably, DisplayPort 1.4 will enable the full 1920 x 1080 @ 360Hz refresh rate, while HDMI 2.0 is limited to 240Hz.

Overall, the physical design of the monitor doesn't come with many complaints besides its lack of flare, and while that might be a bit of a mark against the AG275FS, I do understand where AOC has made sacrifices to bolster up other aspects of the gaming monitor.

Performance

As with all of my gaming monitor reviews, I have tested the AG275FS for approximately a month, and during that time, I have played multiple games while also performing countless hours working - writing reviews such as these and constant news. The titles that were tested on the AG275FS are as follows: The Witcher 3, Cyberpunk, Apex Legends, Overwatch, and DOOM Eternal. The AG275FS performed, on average, great in all of the titles, but some shone much more than others, and if you guessed it was the fast-paced FPS titles, you would have guessed right.

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The AG275FS is clearly designed for FPS shooters, and while you could get away with playing RPGs such as Cyberpunk, if these are the types of games you mostly play, you are better off spending that same $500 on a gaming monitor that comes with more visual fidelity, rather than an insane refresh rate.

Throughout my time in RPG titles, I noticed the AG275FS really lacks vibrant colors. It feels as if all of the colors are too bright, making some of the blacks appear lighter than what I would look. It should be mentioned that the AG275FS is an IPS panel and can't hold a candle to the colors that an OLED can produce. However, for its price, I believe most gamers on a medium-sized budget would be happy with the color performance, especially if they are purely after the 360Hz refresh rate.

Responsiveness and smoothness are incredible at 360Hz. This is the part of the review where I sing the praises of the AG275FS. Even at 1080p, a rough resolution these days, the 360Hz refresh rate makes up for the lack of visual fidelity with buttery smooth gameplay. Simply put, I felt dangerous in FPS titles with this kind of refresh rate. I never experienced any tearing, shadowing, or anything out of the ordinary during my testing.

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Being used to the 0.03ms response time on OLED displays, the 0.5ms response time was a jump back up and was felt in-game, but it isn't a big enough problem to steer anyone away from the AG275FS. If you want raw frames and don't necessarily care too much about the visual fidelity, then the AG275FS is for sure a viable option.

Final Thoughts

So, who is the AG275FS for exactly, and can I give it a recommendation? The AG275FS is for a gamer who has saved up a bit of money and is looking to upgrade his 1920 x 1080p @ 60Hz/120Hz/144Hz. This gamer doesn't necessarily care too much about visuals; they just want as many frames as they can possibly get, and they want to do this without having to spend too much money.

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The AG275FS is aimed at those FPS gamers, and I believe it would be a satisfactory pickup for any FPS gamer who can fully take advantage of that 360Hz refresh rate. It should be noted that if you currently only have a 1920 x 1080p 120Hz/144Hz monitor, jumping from 120Hz/144Hz to 360Hz feels like the first time you jump from 60Hz to 144Hz.

For those on the edge wondering about 360Hz compared to 144Hz - trust me, you will feel the difference the same way you felt the difference between 60Hz and 144Hz. While it may not be as severe as the 60Hz to 144Hz, you will notice a massive improvement in overall smoothness, and if FPS titles are all you play, you should be aiming to have the smoothest in-game experience possible. The AGON by AOC's AG275FS will certainly get you there.