ViewSonic had a delightful set of displays and projectors targeting the DIY PC crowd, particularly gamers, under its Elite brand of gaming monitors. The Elite XG272-2K isn't just another 27-inch planar WQHD (1440p) gaming monitor, it comes with a blistering-fast 400 Hz refresh rate, support for AMD FreeSync Premium Pro and NVIDIA G-SYNC (compatible); 1 ms response time, 400 nits brightness, DisplayHDR 400, and inputs that include HDMI 2.0, DisplayPort 1.4, and USB-C (90 W power input + DP passthrough).

The Elite XG341C-2K is an Ultrawide (21:9) gaming monitor with a 1500R curvature, and a native resolution of 3440 x 1440 pixels, with a maximum refresh-rate of 200 Hz and 1 ms response time. FreeSync Premium Pro, DisplayHDR 1400, and PureXP Motion Blur reduction. Inputs include HDMI 2.1, DP 1.4, USB-C. You also get an in-built KVM. It is priced at USD $1,500. The VX2722-4K-OLED is a 27-inch pure OLED monitor with 4K UHD (3840 x 2160 pixels) resolution, with 100% Adobe RGB and DCI-P3 coverage, 540 cd/m² brightness, and HDR True Black 400. This monitor will be available from Q4-2023.

Just a while ago the first 4K 144 Hz monitors became available with the ASUS PG27UQ and Acer X27. These $2,000 monitors no longer force gamers to pick between high-refresh rate or high resolution, since they support 3840x2160 and refresh rates up to 144 Hz. However, reviews of early-adopters report a noticeable degradation in image quality when these monitors are running at 144 Hz. Surprisingly refresh rates of 120 Hz and below look perfectly sharp.The underlying reason for that is the DisplayPort 1.4 interface, which provides 26 Gbits/s of bandwidth, just enough for full 4K at 120 Hz. So monitor vendors had to get creative to achieve the magic 144 Hz that they were shooting for. The solution comes from old television technology in form of chroma subsampling (YCbCr), which, in the case of these monitors, transmits the grayscale portion of the image at full resolution (3840x2160) and the color information at half the horizontal resolution (1920x2160).

It's confirmed: no 144 Hz 4K gaming with HDR in 2017 for NVIDIA gamers who want to make use of G-Sync t avoid screen tearing in their games. Acer last week announced that its 4K HDR Predator X27 gaming display would be delayed to Q1 2018 (meaning, no such thing below your Christmas tree or on your fireplace sock, sadly.) But it isn't Acer's fault, apparently: ASUS's ROG Swift PG27UQ, which features virtually the same specifications, has also been delayed to 2018. Both these monitors are based of an NVIDIA reference design showcased at Computex 2017 (you may remember a slight foul play there as well.)

The Acer Predator X27 and the ASUS ROG Swift PG27UQ are based on AU Optronics' M270QAN02.2 AHVA panel, which offers a 3840×2160 resolution and can reach a 144 Hz refresh rate. Something that really should make these monitors shine is the usage of a direct LED backlighting system with 384 zones, which can be individually dimmed or brightened as needed, which allows the panel to deliver much higher levels of contrast, needed for true HDR display. At least until OLED panels make their way to high-performance gaming monitors, these are expected to be the best of the crop.

AMD today officially announced FreeSync, an open-standard technology that makes video and games look more fluid on PC monitors, with fluctuating frame-rates. A logical next-step to V-Sync, and analogous in function to NVIDIA's proprietary G-SYNC technology, FreeSync is a dynamic display refresh-rate technology that lets monitors sync their refresh-rate to the frame-rate the GPU is able to put out, resulting in a fluid display output.

FreeSync is an evolution of V-Sync, a feature that syncs the frame-rate of the GPU to the display's refresh-rate, to prevent "frame tearing," when the frame-rate is higher than refresh-rate; but it is known to cause input-lag and stutter when the GPU is not able to keep up with refresh-rate. FreeSync works on both ends of the cable, keeping refresh-rate and frame-rates in sync, to fight both page-tearing and input-lag.

Barebone and nettop specialist Shuttle, has introduced a new version of the X27 nettop barebone, featuring dual-core Intel Atom 330 processor, running at 1.60 GHz. The X27D measures 250 (L) x 185 (W) x 70 (H) mm, and houses an Intel 945GC-based ITX motherboard featuring Intel GMA 950 graphics.

The motherboard feautures one DDR2 memory slot that has to be populated with a DDR2-533/667 MHz memory module, with up to 2 GB in capacity. It offers an IDE connector and two SATA II ports for connecting hard drives. Peripheral options include DVI and D-Sub connectors for video output, six-channel audio, and gigabit ethernet. The company marks this product as Windows Vista ready. It has started selling in Europe for €215.

Shuttle, specialist with small form-factor PCs, is planning to release one with an even smaller footprint, the X27. Shuttle says the new PC will use as little as 23 W in idle mode, and 36 W on load. That's takes it more into the power consumption domain of some business-class laptops. The X27 falls into the 'Nettop' category of low-cost desktop PCs, and uses the Intel Atom low-power processor. It also has a tiny acoustic footprint at a mere 23 decibels, that's -- quieter than a "bedroom at night" (late night), according to decibel noise charts, reports Smart Planet.

The low noise is matched by a suitably small case which measures 10 inches long, 7 inches wide and 2.75 inches tall; about the same size as Asus' Eee Box. Pricing and availability are yet to be disclosed. Detailed specifications are provided: