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Cooler Master made its name with stylish chassis and potent cooling solutions (the clue is in the company name). But like many peripheral hardware and component manufacturers, the company has diversified, and even has a console in the works in partnership with KFC, of all brands. Cooler Master has also been making gaming monitors for a few years, and one of the latest is the GM2711S. With a 180Hz refresh and affordable price, it has clear potential.
The basic specification of the GM2711S is fairly pedestrian by today's standards. This is a 27in panel with the 2560 by 1440 resolution that is the sweet spot for this screen size. The technology used is “Ultra-Speed IPS”, which claims to improve the grey-to-grey response to 2ms, where 4ms is more typical for IPS. The MPRT response is 0.5ms. We've seen a few displays offering similar IPS technology, such as the Gigabyte M27Q with its SuperSpeed system. But it's still pleasing to encounter IPS quality with better response.
The maximum brightness of 350cd/m2 and 1,000:1 contrast are typical for IPS, however. Cooler Master only promises 99 per cent sRGB colour gamut, although DCI-P3 is specified as 90 per cent and Adobe RGB 91 per cent. There's VESA Display HDR400 support for gaming and media, which again is something we would expect. That just leaves the 180Hz refresh, which is ahead of most 27in screens with this resolution. Cooler Master partners this with “Adaptive Sync”, without saying whether this is compatible with AMD or NVIDIA graphics (it wouldn't be much use if it wasn't, though).
There's a fairly typical array of video inputs, including two HDMI 2.0 and one DisplayPort 1.4. The monitor has built-in stereo 2W speakers and a 3.5mm minijack audio output. However, there's another 3.5mm minijack for a headset, including microphone. The latter is driven via a USB Type B hub connection, but you only get one additional USB 2.0 port for attaching peripherals. Ergonomic adjustments are comprehensive, including tilt, raising, swivel and rotating into portrait orientation.
With all of this available for a reasonable £265, the GM2711S has potential as a mainstream gaming screen. Read on to find out if it delivers on its promise.
Specification:
- Screen size: 27-inch, 16:9 aspect
- Native resolution: 2,560 x 1,440
- Curvature: None
- Refresh rate: 180Hz, Adaptive Sync
- Panel type: Ultra-Speed IPS
- Contrast ratio: 1,000:1 (typical)
- Brightness: 350cd/m2
- Response time: 0.5ms MPRT, 2ms grey-to-grey
- Display inputs: 2 x HDMI 2.0, DisplayPort 1.4
- USB hub: Yes, USB Type B input, 1 x USB 2.0 outputs
- Tilt: 5 degrees forward, 25 degrees backward
- Raise: 130mm
- Swivel: 45 degrees left and right
- Portrait: Yes
- Other: Audio output minijack, headset minijack, 2 x 2W stereo speakers
Retail Price: £264.98 (inc. VAT)
