LG Unveils A 480Hz OLED Gaming Monitor With DisplayPort 2.1 And A Big Question Mark
LG is leaning heavily into support for the DisplayPort 2.1 specification on its new UltraGear GX7 (model 27GX790A) gaming monitor with an OLED panel, and for good reason. It's a fast 27-inch monitor with a blistering 480Hz refresh rate and QHD (2560x1440) resolution, and in theory, the DisplayPort 2.1 connector should provide 80Gbps of bandwidth to full advantage of the monitor.
That's what the product page indicates, anyway. Where things get messy is with the accompanying press release. It indicates that "DisplayPort 2.1 yields a 67% increase in bandwidth compared to DisplayPort 1.4, meaning it can support higher resolutions and refresh rates."
Let's do some math, shall we? DisplayPort 1.4 supports a maximum bandwidth of 32.4Gbps. As spotted by and pointed out by the folks at TFTCentral, LG's claim of a 67% increase over DisplayPort 1.4's maximum bandwidth still only amounts to 54Gbps and change.
It could be a typo, bad math, or simply misunderstanding on the part of LG's marketing team. Whatever the reason for the discrepancy, though, it's an important one. Having access to DisplayPort 2.1's full 80Gbps of bandwidth means being able to run the UltraGear GX7 at its native resolution (1440p) and refresh rate (480Hz) without using Display Stream Compression (DSC).
Not to overstate the situation, it's mostly a moot point with the lack of consumer graphics cards supporting DisplayPort 2.1. However, that could change with next-gen models from AMD and NVIDIA (and also Intel) on the horizon, though we'll have to wait and see. Still, as far as gamers go, it's a future-proofing specification (to the extent that future-proofing is possible).
Moving on, there's plenty to like about this display. It's OLED, which means you should expect high color fidelity (LG lists 98.5% coverage of the DCI-P3 color space); it's fast with a low response time to boot (0.03ms, which is another advantage of OLED); it features HDR support, and is both FreeSync Premium Pro certified and G-SYNC compatible for tear-free gaming whether you're running a supported Radon or GeForce graphics card.
We're waiting for clarification on the DisplayPort 2.1 situation. In the meantime, if that doesn't matter to your and/or you want to roll the dice, the LG UltraGear GX7 is available to preorder for $999.99.
Side note: be sure to check out our Displays: 101 guide that covers what to look for when shopping a monitor or TV.
