Hardly any of you have ever heard of League of Legends (better known as LOL), one of the most played PC titles in the world, with a constant number of players competing around the world. AOC, a brand known to many for its gaming monitors and other accessories dedicated to the gaming world, through its side brand AGON has collaborated with Riot Games to create the first monitor inspired by League of Legends: the AGON PRO AG275QXL.
The AGON PRO AG275QXL takes, in fact, extensive inspiration from the Hextech design present in the narrative universe of League of Legends, with a balanced fusion of magic and technology. In fact, the monitor offers some interesting features, and not only on a visual level: the League of Legends mode, the LoL QuickSwitch, exclusive on and off sounds, Light FX Sync and the LoL Signature OSD design. From the point of view of technical specifications we find the classic 1440p resolution, a refresh rate of 170 Hz, the IPS panel, 1 ms GtG response time, compatible with G-Sync. Where the AG275QXL differs from its peers is its ability to dynamically adjust RGB LEDs to suit your gaming actions during League of Legends sessions.
The very stable stand has a full range of ergonomic adjustments: the height can be adjusted by 130 mm, tilted by -5 ° / + 23 ° and rotated by 360 °. The way it rotates is great – the bottom of the stand stays planted, while the rest of the stand, including the RGB base, rotates above it. This means that the LOL logo and RGB are always centered in any perspective. Really impressive.
Aesthetically, the monitor has a frame and stand adorned with elements of the iconic Hextech design, while the Light FX system synchronizes the monitor’s lights with the action at stake; finally the LoL mode ensures that the view of Summoner’s Rift is always extremely defined and clear, to give maximum immersion to its players. The combination of black and gold colors and the work of the Hextech line evoke the MOBA aesthetic well, even if the large “League of Legends” logo that stands out in the center spoils the effect a bit, while understanding the need for Riot Games to show the brand in plain sight. The LEDs in the translucent base and rear of the AG275QXL also explode in an orange-gold glow that immediately catches the eye.
The AG275QXL has a good selection of connectivity options, with four USB 3.2 ports and 3.5mm stereo and microphone inputs, with video connectivity supported by two DisplayPort 1.4 ports and two HDMI 2.0 ports. It is a pity that HDMI 2.1 is missing here as it means that you will have to use DisplayPort if you want to take full advantage of the monitor’s 170 Hz refresh rate, while with HDMI 2.0 you can reach a maximum of 144 Hz. It is possible to reach 1440p at 120 Hz. on Xbox series consoles, but the PS5 is limited to 1080p at 120Hz (until Sony finds it useful to support 1440p displays).
With the button on the right rear of the frame you access the monitor OSD, where we find various audio and visual settings, with a variety of presets as well as more precise controls for fine-tuning the monitor, including lighting effects, which, however, are more configurable through the GMenu software, which will also be installed to use its integration with League of Legends.
Viewing the UFO ghost test at 170Hz, we notice that motion blur is negligible, even with overdrive turned off. In our tests, setting the overdrive to weak produced the best results, as the medium and upper settings introduce overdrive artifacts. With the weak overdrive setting enabled, responsiveness is nearly flawless, with the AG275QXL handling fast movements incredibly well. Performance is excellent from 60Hz up to 170Hz, and with support for both FreeSync and G-Sync, it’s super smooth without smudging. A godsend for the fastest titles.
The AOC AGON PRO AG275QXL has an above average peak brightness of 380 cd / m², which makes the monitor easy to see in a brightly lit room. At full brightness, this increases the black level to 0.44 cd / m², which is slightly higher than typical for monitors of this brightness, but not unusual for an IPS display. At 50% brightness (161.2 cd / m²) the black level is reduced to 0.21, which helps improve image quality when viewing in a dark room. The black / white contrast ratio of 860: 1 is a bit underwhelming and tapers down further as the brightness drops. This contrast ratio result shouldn’t be seen as a significant issue, however, as actual contrast between colors is outstanding, with clear definition between each step in our contrast tests.
Color saturation and coverage are very good. The AG275QXL has high gamma coverage that brings out colors and allows images to appear vibrant without oversaturation, although due to the higher black levels darker scenes may appear washed out. It’s just a shame that the contrast ratio isn’t a bit higher, as that would elevate this display to the next level. The panel of the AG275QXL has a color depth of 10 bits (8 bits + FRC), which allows it to display up to 1.07 billion colors. Gamma coverage is very good: sRGB has 99.5% coverage and 136.2% volume. AdobeRGB has 87.3% coverage with 93.8% volume and DCI-P3 has 90.2% coverage with 96.5% volume. For a monitor in this price range, they are excellent results.
The sound quality of the AG275QXL is good. It lacks a bit of bass at the lower end of the audio spectrum which can cause the speakers to lose some heat and they lack presence when it comes to projection, however, peak volume is very good with minimal distortion and sound. it is sharp without being harsh. Music doesn’t sound great, but for games and light entertainment it can be considered a more than decent fallback.
The AG275QXL is a great monitor with a distinctive style and great color management. Compared to other monitors in the same price range (on online stores at the moment it is around 500 euros), it holds up very well, particularly when it comes to movement management and liveliness. Contrast ratio and panel uniformity, as well as HDR quality, could be better, but these minor shortcomings are largely outweighed by the positives. If you are passionate about competitive games, but above all you live on bread and League of Legends, you might find it hard to get it out of your head.
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