Iiyama G-Master GB2570HSU 24.5in 165Hz Monitor Review

Rating: 8.5.

In all the excitement about curved and 4K screens, it's easy to forget that a fast, high quality Full HD screen could be all your gaming needs, particularly if you mostly play first-person shooters. Prices have been going down on high-refresh screens, and now 144Hz panels are almost in the “budget” category. Iiyama's G-Master GB2570HSU is one rung up from that at 165Hz, but still costs a reasonable £220.

The GB2570HSU is a 24.5in Full HD panel, but sits in an Iiyama Red Eagle family of models alongside a 23.8in version (GB2470HSU) and 27in version (GB2770HSU), all with 165Hz. There's another 27in model with 2,560 x 1,440 resolution called the GB2770QSU, which also offers 165Hz refresh. Unlike high-refresh monitors of a few years ago, the GB2570HSU uses a Fast IPS panel rather than TN, with the usual positives and negatives of this technology. The 400cd/m2 brightness is decent for IPS, but the 1,000:1 contrast falls behind VA technology.

The circuitry bumps up the perceived MPRT response time to 0.5ms, although the underlying grey-to-grey response will be considerably lower than this. As you would hope for a monitor offering fast refresh, adaptive sync is supported in the form of AMD FreeSync Premium, which is one rung up from the basic version, guaranteeing at least 120Hz at Full HD resolutions and low framerate compensation support. Unfortunately, none of Iiyama's monitors are on the official NVIDIA G-Sync Compatible list, so you would have to cross your fingers and hope if you have NVIDIA rather than AMD graphics.

Strangely, this monitor doesn't support swivelling, but it does offer height raising and pivoting 90 degrees into portrait mode, as well as tilting backwards and forwards. You also only get one each HDMI and DisplayPort connection, although there is a two-port USB 3 hub built in, so you can plug in keyboard and mouse to the screen and just have one USB wire to the PC.

There's a pair of 2W speakers built in and minijack for headphones. Overall, the basic spec and price give you what you need for no-nonsense gaming. Let's find out if the performance lives up to the specification.

Specification:

• Screen size: 24.5-inch, 16:9 aspect
• Native resolution: 1,920 x 1,080
• Curvature: None
• Refresh rate: 165Hz, AMD FreeSync Premium
• Panel type: Fast IPS
• Contrast ratio: 1,000:1
• Brightness: 400cd/m2
• Response time: 0.5ms MPRT
• Display inputs: HDMI, DisplayPort
• USB hub: Yes, 2 x USB 3.0
• Tilt: 3 degrees forward, 18 degrees backward
• Raise: 130mm
• Swivel: No
• Portrait: Yes
• Other: Audio output minijack, 2 x 2W speakers

Retail Price: £214.97 (inc. VAT)

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