AOC 25.5″ 240Hz AG251FZ Gaming Monitor Review

Final Thoughts

Pricing

A monitor of this class doesn’t come cheap, clocking in at £430 on Amazon, which is a lot of money for a 1920 x 1080 panel, and to be honest, it’s like finding a fly in your soup in terms of value. The price hurts quite a bit, and you can get 4K panels for the same money, nice ones at that. However, when it comes down to raw refresh rate, you’re paying for all out speed and this monitor certainly delivers what few other monitors can.

Overview

When you want the absolute best-in-class performance from any product range, you’re basically going to have to dig deep into your wallet and pay the price. Of course, this monitor is not cheap, but you certainly get a lot for your money. This may only have a 1920 x 1080 panel, but it’s one of the best I’ve ever tested. The build quality is superb too, with a durable and very nicely designed stand, allowing for adjustment of the horizontal and vertical axis, as well as height adjustments to suit your needs. There are built-in USB and headset connections on the side too, allowing you to charge your phone, connect your gaming headset, etc, making it very gamer friendly.

The range of connections on offer is robust, and while it works great on any graphics card, those using AMD hardware can also reap the benefits of FreeSync technology to help mitigate any screen tearing. However, if you keep your game refresh rates North of 120, it’s unlikely you’ll have a problem with screen tearing anyway. That being said, pushing a lot of graphic intensive games to a range of 240fps isn’t as easy as you might think. It’s certainly easier with games like LoL, where graphics aren’t too intensive, but even my GTX 1080 runs most games sub 200FPS with high settings, but the overall experience is still incredibly smooth. That ghost free image also leads to exceptional clarity, something that has to been seen to be appreciated, and it takes some of the bite out of running the game at 1080p, at least for myself who normally games at 4K.

For competitive gaming, this monitor is as good as they come. Lag of any kind is bad for eSports, and knowing that the pixel of your crosshair is exactly where it appears to be at any exact moment in time is the difference between a headshot and a complete miss. For your average adventure game lover, the tech isn’t as necessary, but again, it’s nice to have nice things and there’s still an aesthetic and overall pleasing experience to be had with extreme frame rates, although those already running on displays with a higher resolution may not want to sacrifice the boost to productivity those displays can provide.

Pros

• Aesthetically pleasing design
• Excellent build quality
• Versatile and adjustable stand design
• Built-in USB and headset connections
• External controller for OSD
• Excellent out of the box calibration settings
• Blazing fast refresh rates
• FreeSync
• Perfect for competitive gaming

Cons

• None

“The AG251FZ doesn’t come cheap, but you get blazing performance in return for your investment that few monitors can match. If you’re looking for a slick pro gaming monitor, look no further!”