Cooler Master Tempest GP27Q Review: Mini LED at an Attractive Price
By Christian Eberle,
2023-03-14
When seeking the highest possible contrast from an LCD panel, Mini LED is the technology of choice among the best gaming monitors . Its tiny form factor means the backlight can have more dimming zones. Larger screens have more than 1,000 dimming zones, while 27-inch 16:9 panels have 576. More zones mean better control of smaller parts of the image. LEDs can be turned completely off, making black levels low enough to be mistaken for OLED, which means high contrast. With local dimming engaged, some Mini LED monitors sport infinite contrast for SDR and HDR content.
Mini LED has commanded high prices as cutting-edge tech, but a few 4K monitors have dipped below $1,000. But what if you could have an even less-expensive screen? One with the stunning image afforded by a large color gamut and a bright backlight, but with faster frame rates than 4K? Cooler Master has created something unique with a QHD panel that ticks all the premium image quality boxes while delivering faster response and a lower price than any 4K display. I’m talking about the Tempest GP27Q, an IPS/QHD 165 Hz monitor with Adaptive-Sync , extended color and HDR 1000. Let’s take a look.
Cooler Master Tempest GP27Q Specs
I’ll answer the first burning question – how much money will you save buying the GP27Q over the GP27U? The 4K version of the 27-inch Tempest will run you nearly $1,100 at this writing, while the QHD model is $550. That’s a significant savings considering that the only thing separating the two monitors is resolution. The GP27Q has every other feature included with the GP27U and runs faster at 165 Hz. While the GP27U can hit 160 Hz, you’ll need a high-end video card to run at 160fps. The Q can hit 165 with less graphics processing power.
The image comes courtesy of an IPS Mini LED panel with 576 dimming zones. Natively, its dynamic range is around 900:1 but with local dimming turned on, black levels drop dramatically and render contrast unmeasurable. Add in a huge color gamut that covers almost 112% of DCI-P3, thanks to a Quantum Dot film, and you have the makings of a stunning image, especially in HDR mode, where peaks can top 1,200 nits. If all this sounds familiar, these are the same numbers I recorded in my recent review of the GP27U .
Gaming performance is exemplary with 165 Hz and Adaptive-Sync that operates over a 48 to 165 Hz range. The GP27Q has not been certified by Nvidia, but I verified flawless G-Sync operation. You can alternatively engage MPRT, a blur-reducing backlight strobe, if you prefer that enhancement. It works very well as does the overdrive which offers a user-adjustable mode with very fine control.
Though you’re saving substantially to buy the GP27Q, it doesn’t skimp on build quality or peripheral features. A KVM hub is built in with USB-C, B, and A ports. You can bind video inputs to the ports so a single keyboard and mouse can control multiple systems like a PC, console, or laptop. Also included is LED lighting in the back with multiple colors and effects.
Assembly and Accessories
While the GP27U shipped in a colorful box with attractive graphics, the GP27Q comes in the cardboard version of a plain brown wrapper. Opening it reveals contents protected by spongy foam that doesn’t crumble. The panel, upright, and base are packed separately and go together without needing tools. The cable complement includes an external power supply, USB-A/B, USB-C, DisplayPort and HDMI.
Product 360
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The GP27Q continues Cooler Master’s tradition of understated styling with a panel that could easily pass for an enterprise model when viewed head-on. The gaming cues are around the back with LEDs that light up two strips plus a circle around the stand’s attachment point. You’ll also see the main logo back here in the top center position. In front, only a tiny hexagon appears, along with a small power status LED. It glows a steady green when the power is on and flashes orange in standby mode. The bezel is reasonably narrow at 9mm on the top and sides and 15mm wide at the bottom. Reach around the back right corner to find the monitor’s only control key, a multi-function joystick.
The stand is slender but very solid and all-metal. It offers a 90-degree portrait mode, a 4.3-inch (110mm) height adjustment, a -5/20 degrees tilt, and 15 degrees swivel. Movements are firm and smooth and the GP27Q’s overall build quality is premium.
The input panel is fully stocked with two HDMI 2.0, one DisplayPort 1.4 and USB-C, which supports video and peripheral functions. Two downstream USB 3.2 and one upstream can be bound to the different video connections using the KVM controls in the OSD. Audio comes from two internal three-watt speakers or plug headphones into the 3.5mm jack. The speakers are polite and focused on the upper midrange frequencies but will play at reasonable volumes without distortion.
OSD Features
Pressing the GP27Q’s joystick brings up a comprehensive OSD. Clicking its four directions provides quick access to things like input selection, picture mode and gaming enhancements.
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The OSD has a gaming design with hexagons at the top that show resolution along with Adaptive-Sync, HDR and overdrive status. A bar on the right side indicates the current input refresh rate. The Picture Setting menu has basic luminance sliders and nine picture modes. The best choice is the default, User 1, because it leaves all other controls active for calibration. If you’re having trouble seeing fine shadow detail, turn up the Black Stabilization slider. It’s useful when local dimming is engaged because the black levels can be extremely low.
Color Adjust has four color temps plus a user mode, six gamma presets, a color management system, blue light filter and color gamut presets. They can be set to any spec from sRGB to Rec.2020 and are fairly accurate with one caveat. Engaging any of them grays out the color temp controls. Most users will leave this setting on Auto, the default, to enjoy the GP27Q’s full color space, which covers well over 100% of DCI-P3.
In Gaming Setup, you can toggle Adaptive-Sync on and off, access Gaming Plus (timer, crosshair, fps counter), engage MPRT blur reduction or adjust the excellent overdrive. This has three fixed presets plus a dynamic mode and a user-adjustable option with 100-step control. It’s one of the best overdrives out there and matches what I experienced in my review of the GP27U. MPRT also reduces blur, although it cancels out Adaptive-Sync like most monitors. It has three levels delivering progressively less blur while reducing light output.
In the Advanced menu, you’ll want to turn HDR to the Auto setting so the GP27Q switches signal formats automatically. You’ll also want to turn on Local Dimming to one of its three levels, low, medium or high. All three settings render unmeasurable black levels because the backlight shuts down completely.
The KVM menu lets you set up your connected devices so multiple systems like a PC, laptop and console can be controlled with a single keyboard and mouse. Finally, the RGB Light sub-menu gives you control of the LEDs in the back regarding color and effect.
Cooler Master Tempest GP27Q Calibration Settings
The GP27Q presented a few unique challenges during calibration. Out of the box, the grayscale is quite cool, making the image look flat. Coupled with the huge color gamut engaged for both SDR and HDR content, you have a picture that needs some tweaking to achieve a more natural state. You can pick from sRGB, Adobe RGB, DCI-P3 or Rec.2020 gamuts but those choices gray out the color temp sub-menu. It’s best to leave that option set to Auto. Changing the color temp to User opens up RGB sliders which are precise enough to fix any visible errors. I had to change gamma from 2.2 to 2.4 and lower the contrast to compensate for some clipped highlights. The result was a very pleasing image; even though the gamut is enormous, it doesn’t overcook SDR content. If you want more contrast, turn on the local dimming. If you do this, you might need to up the Black Stabilizer to make deep shadow detail more visible. My SDR settings are below.
In HDR mode, you get three additional picture presets, User, Game and Cinema. User is the best option because it leaves the brightness slider unlocked. In dark environments, you might want to turn down the peaks a bit. 1,200 nits is really bright.
Gaming and Hands-on
There’s one bummer that I’ll get out of the way up front before I move on to the GP27Q’s many positives. You can’t use Adaptive-Sync in HDR mode. On the surface, that seems bad, but in practice, I didn’t notice it. Since I could run at 165fps all the time, I never saw a frame tear. Even when running the G-Sync pendulum demo, there was no issue over 80fps. I chalk that up to the superb overdrive. I tried the fixed modes, but the best way to go is Dynamic, which adjusts the amount of overshoot in real time with changes in frame rate. If you can peg the frame rate at 165, a User overdrive setting of 60 works equally well.
On to the good stuff, the GP27Q is absolutely stunning in HDR mode. It is a tad blue in cooler scenarios like the first level of Doom Eternal’s Horde mode which takes place in an icy arena. But later maps with trees and jungle are vividly green with deep earthy browns and super saturated skin tones. Color and contrast are simply on another level from just about any other monitor. Only an OLED or premium Mini LED like the GP27U compares, in my experience.
As a gaming monitor, the GP27Q is about as good as it gets, especially for $550. Motion resolution is excellent thanks to the overdrive and the high frame rates. I defy anyone to tell the difference between this monitor running at 165fps and an 4K screen running at 144fps. Even my GeForce RTX 3090 can’t run full detail in 4K that fast; it’s closer to 120fps on a good day. So don’t decry the loss of Adaptive-Sync in HDR mode; it just doesn’t make a difference, thanks to the excellent overdrive and low input lag.
The GP27Q ranks with the best 27-inch flat panels I’ve experienced for general use. The color is simply gorgeous. While not strictly accurate, I doubt anyone will complain about the extra saturation from the gamut covering over 100% of DCI-P3. When I needed to judge graphics for production work, the fixed gamut modes were right there to accommodate. Switching between sRGB, Adobe RGB, DCI-P3 and Rec.2020 at will is easy.
Text and fine lines were rendered cleanly with plenty of contrast. I kept the local dimming set to medium once calibration was complete and it served well for both SDR and HDR content. The GP27Q is a great monitor for any task, work or entertainment and delivers one of the best images for the money I’ve seen.
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To compare the GP27Q’s performance, I’ve rounded up a mixed group of screens ranging from 160 to 240 Hz. Since buyers will want to compare Cooler Master’s Tempest GP27U , I’ve included it as the only 4K panel. QHD monitors are also available in 240 Hz so the BenQ EX270QM represents that category. The others are more directly comparable – Galax’s VI-01 , Gigabyte’s M27QP and the HyperX Armada 27 from HP.
Pixel Response and Input Lag
Click here to read up on our pixel response and input lag testing procedures.
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240 Hz will always deliver a smoother moving image regardless of panel resolution. 4ms is visibly better than 6ms which you can expect from any 165 or 170 Hz monitor. The GP27Q is on par with other screens at this speed. It has a better overdrive than the others though, which is a major point in its favor. You can also engage a backlight strobe that doesn’t exhibit the phasing artifact common to this technology. The GP27Q offers many choices, all of them good.
It also has lower input lag than many other screens with only a 2ms deficit to the 240 Hz BenQ. You can also see that the GP27U matches numbers though it is pushing more pixels. That choice comes down to video cards. If you have enough GPU power to run at 160fps, then the extra resolution is a benefit. But if your PC is not high budget, the QHD GP27Q is the better choice.
Viewing Angles
The GP27Q has some of the best off-axis image quality I’ve seen to date. At 45 degrees to the side, only a tiny reduction in brightness can be seen. There is no color shift or change in detail rendering. It doesn’t get much better than that. The top view is green and red in tone, but detail isn’t washed out too badly.
Screen Uniformity
To learn how we measure screen uniformity, click here.
Obviously, Cooler Master takes quality control seriously. The two GP27s are among the very best samples I’ve ever tested for screen uniformity. 3.15% is well below the visible threshold. You won’t see any glow or bleed, or anomalies of any kind. Full field patterns of every color and brightness level are perfect from edge to edge.
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To read about our monitor tests in-depth, please check out Display Testing Explained: How We Test PC Monitors. We cover brightness and contrast testing on page two.
Uncalibrated – Maximum Backlight Level
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Cooler Master claims 600 nits for the GP27Q, but I measured just under 500. And it’s just as well. No SDR image will benefit from such a high peak output level unless you’re viewing it in bright sunlight. In an indoor environment, 500 nits is painfully bright. The issue I have is that lower levels are hard to achieve. The GP27Q goes down to 55 nits which is good, but each click of the slider changes the setting by 5 to 7 nits. It’s hard to hit a specific spec like 200 or 120 nits right on the head.
Black levels are fairly high, making the default contrast ratio high as well. 765:1 is below average among IPS panels. You’ll want to reduce the local dimming for SDR content to get the best possible image.
After Calibration to 200 nits
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Calibration improves contrast to 880.1:1, but I still prefer the image with local dimming on low. Contrast performance is still below average in the IPS monitor category.
ANSI contrast is almost identical to static at 888.7:1. This is a point in favor of Cooler Master’s quality control which is excellent in all respects. Like the static test, local dimming renders the ANSI value infinite since the black zones have the backlight turned off.
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The GP27Q has many picture modes and gamut options that can be confusing if you start tweaking too much. I advise sticking with User 1 and leaving the gamut on Auto. With a few simple adjustments, the picture goes from good to stunning.
Grayscale and Gamma Tracking
Our grayscale and gamma tests use Calman calibration software from Portrait Displays . We describe our grayscale and gamma tests in detail here.
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Out of the box, the GP27Q has a bluish-red grayscale with visible errors starting at 20% brightness. This makes the picture flat with familiar tones like skin and grass looking too cool. Gamma tracking is excellent, though, which means this is a good starting point.
The User color temp allows fine control, so I eliminated all grayscale errors. But I also had to reduce the contrast slider and change gamma to 2.4 because of control interaction. Ultimately, the picture is much better, so I recommend using the settings from page one.
The fixed gamut modes deliver decent accuracy, which is good because you can’t alter the color temp in any mode but Auto. I’ve added the sRGB chart here as an example of the performance you’ll see in all the gamut modes, sRGB, Adobe RGB, DCI-P3 and Rec.2020.
Comparisons
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The GP27Q’s default grayscale error of 7.8dE means you’ll want to make some adjustments to get the best image. You can reduce this number to around 3.2dE in one of the fixed gamut modes. Or calibrate to get on par with the results delivered by the competition.
Gamma tracking compares well after calibration with a tight 0.29 value range and a final result of 2.18, a deviation of just 0.9%. Note that this is achieved with local dimming turned off. When it’s engaged, the black level can’t be measured, so it’s impossible to get an accurate gamma result. But trust me; the picture looks better with it turned on. I recommend completing any calibration and adjustment before engaging local dimming.
Color Gamut Accuracy
Our color gamut and volume testing use Portrait Displays’ Calman software. For details on our color gamut testing and volume calculations, click here.
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To illustrate the GP27Q’s gamut performance, I’ve included the default measurement referenced to both DCI-P3 and Rec.2020. You can see that Cooler Master is swinging for the fences by going for the Rec.2020 spec. The GP27Q and the GP27U cover a larger color space than nearly any other monitor. SDR content viewed in this gamut will look very colorful and sometimes too much so. It will depend on user preference but remember, smaller gamuts are available in the OSD, so you have choices.
I calibrated using the Rec.2020 reference and got an excellent result of just 2.82dE. Since full 2020 monitors are rare, it’s awesome that Cooler Master can deliver reference-level performance for just $550.
In sRGB mode, the red primary is a bit under-saturated, and the blue white point pulls magenta and cyan off-hue. But enough points are on target to get the average down to just 2.15, which is very good performance.
Comparisons
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In the gamut error chart, I’ve referenced Rec.2020 for the two Cooler Master monitors and DCI-P3 for the others. Any value under 3dE indicates no visible error, so both screens deliver excellent accuracy.
The volume chart shows why you should consider buying one of these Cooler Master monitors. Both GP27s render well over 100% of DCI-P3. While their sRGB gamuts are a little under the mark, that’s only due to the red primary coming up a tad short. By loading a compensation profile, you can use the GP27Q for color-critical work. Since it has so much color, it can correctly render any gamut smaller than Rec.2020, which is all of them.
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Our HDR benchmarking uses Portrait Displays’ Calman software. To learn about our HDR testing, see our breakdown of how we test PC monitors.
The GP27Q delivers superb HDR quality thanks to its 576-zone Mini LED backlight. Apart from an OLED, no monitor will compare. Just remember to switch HDR to Auto the first time you fire it up. Then it will go back and forth without user intervention.
HDR Brightness and Contrast
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The GP27Q easily beats its claimed 1,200-nit spec with full field and window patterns. To get this much output for $550 is a real breakthrough for Mini LED.
I could not measure black levels even when I displayed a small object near the meter’s sensor. The GP27Q uses its zone dimming to excellent effect. This is about as close as an LCD panel can get to matching the depth and dynamics of an OLED. For these tests, I set the HDR mode to User with full brightness and local dimming on low. If you turn off local dimming, the HDR contrast ratio is around 900:1.
Grayscale, EOTF and Color
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I was disappointed to see that there are no color temp adjustments possible in HDR mode. The GP27Q runs fairly cool in the brighter areas of the image. This is slightly mitigated by the super saturated color, but a warmer white point would make the picture even better. Luckily, the EOTF closely follows the reference with slightly dark shadows and a tiny rise below the tone-map transition. These are very minor errors that can’t be seen in actual content.
You can see in both HDR gamut charts that the blue white point pulls both cyan and magenta off their hue targets. Saturation is very good for all colors, with a linear progression from bottom to top. And since the GP27Q covers most of Rec.2020, you’ll see HDR content the way its creators intended. While these test results could be improved upon, the HDR quality is well above all but the very best premium monitors. And don’t forget that the GP27Q costs just $550.
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As I wrote this review, I continued to be impressed by the value proposition of the Cooler Master Tempest GP27Q. Mini LED is still a new and premium technology, and it has only recently reached the $1,000 range. It is astounding that you can get every advantage of Mini LED for $550, with the only sacrifice being QHD resolution.
I’ve often said that frame rate is more important than pixel density. When you’re playing a game, it’s the motion resolution that counts. Higher frame rates mean smoother motion; it’s that simple. 4K comes mostly in the 144 Hz flavor with only a single monitor, Samsung’s Neo G8 hitting 240 Hz. And in practice, you’ll need an extremely expensive video card to approach those speeds. A QHD monitor, on the other hand, can easily hit 165fps with a less-costly system requirement.
The GP27Q delivers every feature and performance metric of its more expensive stablemate, the GP27U. I verified its peak HDR output at over 1,200 nits. It beats its claimed color volume spec with nearly 113% coverage of DCI-P3. It even approaches the brass ring, Rec.2020, close enough that I can call it a Rec.2020 display. And with its 576 dimming zones, contrast in both SDR and HDR is infinite when local dimming is turned on. It looks amazing when that happens.
Gaming performance is equally impressive, with one of the best overdrives I’ve seen and a backlight strobe that doesn’t create artifacts. The user has many choices for video processing, all of them good. The only bummer is a lack of Adaptive-Sync in HDR mode. But during my gaming sessions, I didn’t notice its absence.
Honestly, all you have to know is that the Cooler Master Tempest GP27Q is a Mini LED monitor for $550, which is significant. That it’s also a stunning-looking, great playing gaming monitor, is icing on the cake.
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