Will a higher refresh rate monitor make you a better gamer? Whether you’re playing to win or playing for fun, this is the question every gamer asked themselves at some point, and we’re here to dive into this today.
As tech enthusiasts and gamers, ourselves, we’ve asked the exact same questions before. That’s why we decided to take matters into our own hands, with the help of thousands of community members, and launched Project Spectrum. If you may be wondering if the Spectrum QHD 280Hz monitor is the right choice for you, we will take a look at some of the key features of the monitor and see if it is the right choice for your needs.
Refresh rate
Let’s get straight into the big differences. Most displays limited to 60Hz will display fast-paced action with a lot of stuttering and skipped frames. Blurring or lagging is a noticeable issue while you're gaming, especially in first-person shooter games. If you’re a casual gamer thinking about upgrading from a 60Hz monitor, a 280Hz monitor that’s over 4 times faster will definitely make you feel the difference and see your gaming performance improve almost seemingly overnight.
Response time
The response time is also important for gaming as it determines how quickly each pixel can change from one color to another. Spectrum's 1ms response time results in less ghosting and blurring, giving you a no-lag gaming experience.
Higher equals better?
Variable 280Hz refresh rate means big changes. Your in-game reaction time, timing, consistency, speed and trajectory estimation will improve to a point you’ll no longer question “How did I miss it?”. Seeing targets sooner and putting less strain on your eyes are practical benefits whether you’re a competitive or a casual gamer. What about motion blur? As proven with our 4K 144Hz model, Spectrum QHD 280Hz will also include backlight strobing tuning that will significantly reduce motion blur and screen tear.
Tuned for Gaming
To make sure you get the most out of the monitor and play straight out of the box, we added presets tuned for trouble-free gameplay. If you’re into tweaking settings, you can also choose your own settings with extensive overdrive and backlight strobing controls. We believe it's essential to give gamers the ability to customize settings for their specific preferences, which include frame-rate overlay, crosshair overlay, and pixel-perfect integer scaling for a near-authentic retro gaming experience. It’s also certified with AMD FreeSync Premium Pro, Nvidia G-Sync Compatible, and VESA Certified AdaptiveSync.
Screen size and aspect ratio
The bezel-less Spectrum monitor is the ideal display for gamers and professionals to view content and games that gives you plenty of space to see all the action taking place, greeting you with a screen size of 27 inches and an aspect ratio of 16:9. No wonder this is the most popular monitor size preferred by our community.
Resolution
Quad-HD (1440p) resolution ensures you the performance sweet-spot between high-speed gaming and graphics details. No matter what game you're playing or what movie you're watching, you'll find yourself immersed and enjoying the visual content. A higher pixels-per-inch above >110 gives you sharp, crisp, and clear content and texts without getting distracted by individual pixels. By the time of writing, display technology is advanced and affordable enough that we would not recommend going for “Full-HD” monitors that can only output a pixelated and noticeably lower quality look. If you’re looking for the best value on a budget, stretching your dollar for a 1440p (especially if it’s higher than 60Hz) will return you with a noticeable added-value to your daily activities.
IPS panel
Gaming on TN panels can give you refresh rates higher than 280Hz. However, we want you to also enjoy your games, professional work, or entertainment content while doing so. We discarded the TN panels for the best all-round performer nano IPS panel, known for its accurate colors and wide viewing angles. After all, the highest possible speed with average-looking content isn’t the kind of experience we’re after.
High Dynamic Range (HDR)
The Spectrum monitor also includes an impressive HDR up to 750 nits of peak brightness, which means it can display a wider range of colors, shades and brighter than standard monitors without HDR. Blacks will be blacker; whites will be whiter. Your favorite fantasy games and cinematic movies will become more immersive and realistic. The peak dynamic contrast ratio of 10 million to 1 delivers excellent contrast and color performance that most budget monitors don’t have, presenting you with true-to-life images and videos with better contrast and detail.
Color Accuracy
To play open-world and adventure games with colors that feel like you’re in the game, the Spectrum monitor comes factory-calibrated with 99% sRGB coverage and 98% DCI-P3 color gamut. Basically, the closer to 100%, the better. It means you will never need to compensate for the colors you’re seeing, because what you see is what you get. The display industry considers a display to be color accurate if its ΔE (Delta E) value is lower than <2 (lower is better). However, the Spectrum displays an average ΔE of 0.6, thanks to the time-consuming yet absolutely-necessary calibration we added to our production process. All of this effort is to make sure you receive the best bang-for-buck color calibrated monitor with vibrant and saturated colors that pop, giving you a user experience great for gaming, and creative work like photography and color grading.
Connectivity
If you've done some looking, you will know how hard it is to find monitors with the essential ports you need. Well, we listened to our community and added a built-in hub right behind the monitor. Spectrum currently stands as the king of ports with the most advanced port selection in the monitor market. We listened to our community and they decided what ports should be included, and the functionality of the ports. The Spectrum monitor comes with HDMI 2.1, DisplayPort, USB Type-C, Type-A, and a headphone jack.
Enjoy a cable-mess free setup, and a single-cable setup with the built-in USB hub supporting up to 100W charging over USB-C enabling video, audio, and data. Two HDMI 2.1 ports unlock the peak performance of your next-gen gaming gear like the PlayStation 5 and Xbox Series X/S, enabling VRR (variable refresh rate) on a console. The simple design completely elevates the way you interact with your display and devices while taking care of your cables out of your sight.
Matte or Glossy coating
Where are all the glossy gaming monitors? We asked the same question, and then we found out almost every gaming monitor is coated with a matte surface finish, that's very effective in minimizing direct reflections but not everyone has the same setup in the same environment. To ensure a great user experience, we introduced the world's first glossy gaming monitor. So, the choice is yours. The industry-standard matte finish minimizes distractions by diffusing reflections and is ideal when you have little control over the lights in your environment. The new glossy finish enhances your experience by providing more vibrant colors, deeper blacks, and sharper content, perfect if you have control over light sources in your room. We talked about this in-depth in another post.
The Spectrum QHD 280Hz monitor is the upgrade you've been looking for if you need a high-speed competitive gamer without compromising any other high-end monitor features, or you prefer your setup without the maximalist RGB gamer aesthetics. The color accuracy, response time, and high-speed refresh rate make it the perfect monitor for any kind of task you throw at it, while it shines while you game. With its built-in USB hub and extra ports, the Spectrum has everything you need to connect all your devices. Choose between a matte or glossy coating that fits your needs. If it sounds like what you're looking for, check out the Spectrum today!
The Spectrum QHD 280Hz is the ultimate gaming beast with everything you need, and nothing you don’t – making you a better gamer than ever before. At the time of writing, Spectrum QHD 280Hz is in the PVT (Production Validation Testing) phase, just one step before mass production. Thanks for reading!