Cooler Master GP Series

Mit Cooler Master haben wir einen weiteren Player im Bereich des Monitor-Markts. Und mit dem GP27U meint es Cooler Master verdammt ernst und geht „all in“. Das UHD-Panel mit der 3840 x 2160p Auflösung kommt mit einer Bildwiederholrate von 160 Hz. Das Panel selbst kommt von AU-Optronics – Fast IPS und Quantum Dot enhanced mit 576 Dimming-Zonen und einer Mini-LED Full Array Hintergrundbeleuchtung erwartet uns. Gefertigt wird der Monitor bei KTC in China. Einen KTC mit LG OLED hatten wir uns ja letztes Jahr schon angesehen. Ist das jetzt gut, oder eher schlecht?

With Cooler Master, we have another player in the monitor market. And with the GP27U, Cooler Master is damn serious and goes “all in”. The UHD panel with 3840 x 2160p resolution comes with a refresh rate of 160 Hz. The panel itself comes from AU-Optronics – Fast IPS and Quantum Dot enhanced with 576 dimming zones and a mini-LED full array backlight awaits us. The monitor is manufactured by KTC in China. We already had a look at a KTC with LG OLED last year. Is that good or rather bad?

I think Cooler Master has nailed it with the Tempest GP27U. It’s a versatile monitor, great for gaming and productivity, and good for HDR consumption. It offers up to 160Hz refresh rate; however, VRR is only available up to 144Hz. But for a 4K monitor, 144Hz is enough. Depending on the game you are playing, 120 or 144fps can be difficult to achieve. You’ll need the best RTX 4090 GPU to push this monitor and render all those frames. Unfortunately, the 4090 is quite an expensive GPU, and other graphics cards are also great for 4K gaming.

Cooler Master are not the only one launching new MiniLED models this month, as I’ve seen a few pop up in my daily work, but they are the first one to get a sample to me, so they’re the best one I’ve seen yet! It’s certainly a big upgrade and the Cooler Master Tempest GP27U is by far one of the best monitors I’ve ever had the pleasure of testing, and there have been many. Brilliant colours from a truly stunning panel, fast refresh rates, high resolutions, excellent brightness and contrast, and HDR performance that is actually on par with high-end TVs. This may be £799, but it lives up to its price tag. If this is just the start of the MiniLED future for PC gamers, bring it on!

The Tempest GP27U is an impressive 4K HDR gaming screen, with an attractive price point. It’s really great to see investment in proper HDR capable backlights at the moment, with more and more screens shunning poor edge-lit local dimming in favour of FALD and Mini LED options. This gives you a big boost to HDR performance in the desktop monitor space.

The Cooler Master Tempest GP27Q is one of the most affordable gaming monitors capable of providing a "real" HDR gaming experience. It is equipped with an advanced Mini-LED FALD backlighting system with 576 individually controllable zones, a Quantum Dot UltraSpeed IPS panel, and a host of interesting features.

Recently, I brought you a review of the Cooler Master Tempest GP27Q Mini-LED Gaming monitor (here), by far one of the best, if not the actual best monitor I’ve ever tested. However, with its 4K panel, it wasn’t cheap, costing roughly £800… not exactly chump change for a 27″ monitor… but wow, it’s worth it. However, running games at 4K and high refresh rates isn’t easily achieved, so for many gamers, I think the GP27Q is the monitor that will prove the more popular of the two, it’s very similar with a few small feature changes, but most importantly it’s a 2K panel (2560×1440) and it’s about 300 quid cheaper at just £499.99.

The Tempest GP27Q is another impressive HDR gaming screen from Cooler Master, this time with a lower 1440p resolution panel if you don’t want or need 4K like the GP27U can provide. As we’d said in our GP27U review, it’s really great to see investment in proper HDR capable backlights at the moment, with more and more screens shunning poor edge-lit local dimming in favour of FALD and Mini LED options. This gives you a big boost to HDR performance in the desktop monitor space.