Corsair Xeneon 27QHD240 OLED Review

2023 is the year of OLED gaming monitors, and Corsair’s Xeneon 27QHD240 is the latest to join the fray. It looks promising on paper with 1440p resolution, a 240Hz refresh rate, and a superb quoted contrast ratio of 1,500,000:1, but also finds itself going toe-to-toe with competitors from LG, Asus, and Acer that have nearly identical specifications. That makes it hard for Corsair to stand out, but added features and smart design decisions place it near the head of the pack.

Corsair Xeneon 27QHD240 – Design

Though new to the monitor arena, Corsair has carved out a unique and recognizable look defined by ultra-slim display panels and a monitor stand with a waterfall of triangles that creates a pleasing geometric pattern. The Xeneon 27QHD240 is not the most eye-catching monitor, to be sure: competitors like Alienware and Asus remain more identifiable. However, I think Corsair’s design is superior to the LG 27GR95QE-B, which appears more generic at a glance. 

It’s a well-built monitor, too, with sturdy materials that hold up on close inspection. Plenty of plastic cladding covers various components, but the monitor feels rigid and durable when handled. The texture and appearance of the materials is appealing and provides a bit of grip when the monitor is moved. 

The stand adjusts for height, swivel, tilt, and can pivot 90 degrees into landscape orientation. These features are typical for any monitor in the Xeneon 27QHD240’s price range but are appreciated all the same. The stand’s movement felt smooth and adjustments were easy. A 100mm x 100mm VESA mount is provided for use with third-party stands and monitor arms. 

Corsair Xeneon 27QHD240 – Connectivity & Features

The Corsair Xeneon 27QHD240 offers a total of four video inputs. There’s two HDMI 2.1 ports, one DisplayPort 1.4, and one USB-C port with DisplayPort alternate mode and 65 watts of power delivery. This array of connectivity makes it well suited for use with multiple input devices. You can connect a PC, Xbox Series X|S, and PlayStation 5 simultaneously and experience the maximum refresh rate provided by each input device. Many competitors offer similar input support but a few, like the Asus ROG Swift OLED PG27AQDM, stick with HDMI 2.0.

A USB-C hub is included and connects two four additional USB-A ports and one additional USB-C port. That’s more than found on most gaming monitors and provides a lot of flexibility for connecting wired devices. As an added bonus, all ports face rearward instead of downward, which makes connecting and disconnecting USB devices easy.

A joystick under the bottom right bezel provides access to the monitor features. It’s aided by a sensor that causes the on-screen shortcut menu to appear when your hand comes within about an inch of the joystick, a useful addition that makes the on-screen menu a tad easier to use. The menu is quick, responsive, and logically arranged.

Corsair provides a reasonable list of image quality adjustments. There’s a smattering of preset color modes, gamma adjustment, and color temperature adjustment with RGB color calibration. The monitor also has a Brightness Stabilizer that reigns in the monitor’s dynamic brightness to provide a more uniform level of luminance overall. It’s a handy feature, as OLED monitors are prone to noticeable swings in brightness depending on what’s displayed. 

While the menu system is good, it’s not much different from those offered by LG and Asus in their respective OLED monitors. The Asus ROG Swift OLED PG27AQDM is the best of this bunch, providing a slight edge over Corsair and LG thanks to its better selection of color space modes and additional color temperature options, as well as a slightly more attractive look. 

Corsair Xeneon 27QHD240 – Gaming Image Quality

Of course, most gamers won’t spend time in the menu system. Gaming is what really matters – and this is where the Corsair Xeneon 27QHD240 excels. 

It equips a 26.5-inch LG Paper White display panel with an RWBG subpixel layout. The same display panel can be found in the LG Ultragear 27GR95QE-B, Asus ROG Swift OLED PG27AQDM, and Acer X27U, among others. The panel provides a native resolution of 2,560 x 1,440 and Corsair promises a maximum brightness of up to 150 nits full-screen, as well as a maximum contrast ratio of 1,500,000:1. 

These traits are well suited to PC gaming. Unlike console games, which make good use of HDR, games aimed at the PC market typically stick to SDR (or have poorly implemented HDR support). That removes brightness as a noteworthy limitation, giving the 27QHD240 free reign to lean on its excellent contrast ratio and color gamut. The monitor scores well in both, with a maximum measured contrast ratio of 15470:1 and a color gamut that spans up to 97 percent of DCI-P3. 

These scores are not as impressive as OLED monitors with a QD-OLED panel from Samsung, such as the Alienware AW3423DWF, which can achieve an effectively infinite contrast ratio due to its ability to reach a measured minimum luminance of 0 nits even with panel brightness at its highest setting. The AW3423DWF also has a slightly wider color gamut that spans 99 percent of DCI-P3. However, the Corsair easily defeats the contrast ratio of Mini-LED monitors, and the color gamut, while not record-setting, is top-notch.

The result is an extremely rich, lush image. Colors take on a hyper-realistic look and dark scenes provide an incredible sense of ambiance and depth. This is helpful not only in the most graphically alluring games, such as Cyberpunk 2077 or Metro: Exodus, but also in more mundane games, like Diablo II: Resurrected. A game released more than 20 years ago may not seem an ideal use case, but its exceptionally dark presentation (which is preserved in the remaster) is difficult for most monitors to handle. The Corsair, however, has no problem, providing rich shadow detail and a truly abyssal look in the game’s darkest dungeons.

Games are sharp, as well. The monitor’s 2,560 x 1,440 resolution may fall short of 4K but, on a 27-inch monitor viewed at a distance of two to three feet, it’s a bit difficult to tell. That’s especially true in games that lean on a more cinematic look, such as Cyberpunk 2077, where significant use of post-processing effects can blunt the sharpness of the image. The unusual subpixel layout may cause occasional issues with text rendering but, within games, the issue didn’t seem significant.

In short – the Corsair Xeneon 27QHD240 looks spectacular. I can only provide one complaint: as awesome as it looks, it has no notable advantage over other OLED competitors that use the same LG panel.

Corsair Xeneon 27QHD240 – HDR Image Quality

The Corsair Xeneon 27QHD240 is great for SDR gaming, but the monitor’s HDR performance isn’t as impressive. 

Brightness, or the lack of it, is the issue. The Corsair Xeneon 27QHD240 claims a maximum brightness of 1,000 nits when just three percent of the display is lit, but that is reduced to 800 nits at 10 percent, and 450 nits at 25 percent. My measures were even less than that, gauging the monitor to provide 450 nits at 10 percent and 400 nits at 50 percent, as well as a maximum of 140 nits when the entire screen was filled with a bright, white HDR test video. 

That’s a problem. 140 nits is simply insufficient, not only to provide the level of luminance detail that HDR is meant to deliver but also, more fundamentally, to deliver visual oomph to bright, vibrant content. This becomes noticeable in highly saturated and vibrant games such as Forza Horizon 5. The image can look a bit dull and dusty in the brightest scenes. 

Does this mean the monitor’s HDR performance is wholly inadequate? Not exactly. HDR content still benefits from the monitor’s contrast ratio and excellent color performance, and small, bright objects can still look spectacular. The Corsair Xeneon 27QHD240 is excellent for space games, horror games, and other games that only show small, short bursts of brilliance.

What about the competition? I don’t have comparable results for the LG 27GR95QE-B, but the Asus ROG Swift OLED PG27AQDM performs better in HDR with superior brightness in all situations. The Alienware AW3423DWF is much brighter full-screen but similar in brightness when only portions of the display are brightly lit. However, none of these monitors can match the HDR brightness served up by a Mini-LED monitor like the Cooler Master Tempest GP27U. 

Corsair Xeneon 27QHD240 – Motion Performance

Competitive gamers may easily overlook the Corsair Xeneon 27QHD240’s lackluster HDR performance once they witness its motion clarity. The monitor provides a refresh rate of up to 240Hz and a pixel response time as low as 0.03 milliseconds, traits which it shares with other monitors that use LG’s Paper White panel.

The result is truly fantastic clarity in all situations. Test images of League of Legends and Dota 2 showed that significant detail was visible while scrolling across the map. Character silhouettes, names, and health bars were legible, and map terrain was well defined. Motion clarity remains a tad behind 360Hz and 500Hz monitors like the Asus ROG Swift PG27AQN and Alienware AW2524H but superior to most 240Hz displays. 

Motion clarity is good at refresh rates below the maximum of 240Hz, too, a trait tied to the monitor’s excellent pixel response times. Games that can only achieve a framerate of 120 or even 60 frames per second still deliver a marked improvement in motion clarity when compared to gaming monitors that lack an OLED panel. 

The monitor supports AMD FreeSync Premium and is Nvidia G-Sync compatible. This eliminates screen tearing to provide a smooth visual experience on AMD and Nvidia video cards. However, most competitors provide the same level of compatibility. 

Corsair Xeneon 27QHD240 – Day-to-Day Use

The Corsair Xeneon 27QHD240 is a compelling monitor for PC gamers and delivers the motion clarity competitive players demand. Unfortunately, snagging these perks does require a few sacrifices in more mundane tasks. 

Color performance remains a strength. The monitor’s wide color gamut is paired with good color accuracy and excellent gamma and color temperature results. Content viewed on the monitor looks much as its creator intended and the monitor’s color performance is useful for photo and video editors. 

Sharpness is a problem. The monitor’s 2,560 x 1,440 resolution means it’s incapable of displaying a 4K image, which is an obvious issue if you want to view 4K video or edit high-resolution photos. This is worsened by the monitor’s RWBG subpixel layout which further reduces sharpness in Windows 11. Small objects and fine fonts appear blocky and may show patches of undesired colors between characters. 

Brightness is lacking. As mentioned earlier, I measured a maximum full-screen brightness of 140 nits. That’s not great even for an OLED monitor. Lumiance stability is an issue, too. The maximum brightness of the monitor increases as the size of bright elements on the display decreases. This can cause a noticeable change in the monitor’s brightness while flipping between windows or minimizing and maximizing apps. The Brightness Stabilizer feature almost entirely solves this issue but also lowers overall brightness, which might be undesirable if you’re using the monitor in a well-lit room.

None of these problems ruin the Corsair Xeneon 27QHD240 if you just need to browse the web or watch YouTube, but they should give you pause if you plan to use this monitor for remote work or content creation. You can snag a better productivity and content creation monitor, like the Asus ProArt PA279CRV, for half the Corsair’s price. To be fair, however, these complaints apply to all OLED gaming monitors currently available. OLED, despite its many strengths, isn’t the best choice for basic day-to-day productivity. 

Corsair Xeneon 27QHD240 – The Competition

The Corsair Xeneon 27QHD240 has many direct competitors including the LG 27GR95QE-B, Asus ROG Swift OLED PG27AQDM, and the Acer Predator X27U. There are differences between the specifications of each monitor, but they all use the same OLED panel produced by LG and deliver roughly similar image quality performance. 

I think the Corsair Xeneon 27QHD240 is the best of the pack so far (with the caveat that I’ve had little more than a brief glance at the Acer Predator X27U). My preference comes down to minor differences like the orientation of the ports and the look and feel of the monitor.