Hi everyone, SpookyFairy here. This is my review of the TCL 27R73Q gaming monitor. Quick disclaimer: I’m a gamer, not a professional monitor reviewer, and everything I’m about to say is based 100% on my own experience.
I’m coming from the cheaper TCL 27G64. I liked that monitor, but honestly, its HDR was bad, and the “fastest” 1ms response time was absolutely terrible. For me, it was unusable in any game. I wouldn’t touch it.
So, the biggest question I had for this new 27R73Q was: is the response time actually playable?
If you prefer a video review, here you go..
The Response Time & Ghosting Test
I jumped straight into testing. On the old monitor, the fastest setting was a blurry, unplayable mess. You can see it in my Bloodborne test—it’s just awful.
Now, look at the 27R73Q on its “fastest” setting in the same Bloodborne scene. It’s a night and day difference. It’s not just playable; it’s amazing. I was surprised at how good it was.
I tried hard to find inverse ghosting. In competitive games like Valorant and Counter-Strike, it was pixel-perfect. I couldn’t find any issues. In games with lots of darks and straight lines, you can find it. I finally saw some prominent ghosting in Void Breaker when moving past straight horizontal lines. But this was an extreme case, and honestly, you won’t notice it in most games. And if you do? Just drop the setting from “fastest” to “fast,” and it’s even less of an issue.
The bottom line is: you can actually use the fastest response time on this monitor.
The Good Stuff: Why It Beats My OLED Craving
This monitor is an absolute beast in other areas, so much so that it’s made me stop craving an OLED for now.
- Near-OLED Blacks: The black smearing that plagued the other VA panel? It’s gone. Non-existent. This monitor has 1152 local dimming zones, and it gives you incredible, deep, near-OLED black levels.
- Insane HDR Brightness: The HDR performance is exceptional. When I watched HDR videos and the brightness peaked, I literally had to squint my eyes. It was that strong. This adds so much realism to games. The colors just pop because of the huge contrast.
- All The Gamer Tech: You get a 240Hz refresh rate, which feels so much smoother than 180Hz. It’s also G-Sync compatible and has FreeSync Premium. That “premium” part gives you Low Frame Rate Compensation (LFC), which keeps gameplay smooth even if your frames drop, and it works.
The Trade-offs (No Monitor is Perfect)
Of course, it’s not perfect. It’s not an OLED.
- Blooming: It has 1152 zones, but you will still see some blooming. The good news is that it’s very subtle and extremely well-controlled. It’s not annoying at all.
- Dithering: This is an 8-bit + FRC panel. In some very specific gradient tests (mostly on YouTube videos), you can see the dithering. In gaming? I didn’t notice it at all.
- The Stand: The stand is very large and takes up a lot of desk space. It’s not flat, so this might be an issue for some people.
Later Observations
I found out that the display can have quite noticeable inverse ghosting depends on the refresh rate. In some games if you play at 60fps the inverse ghosting therefore stays on the screen for longer and can be noticeable if you play on ‘fast’ or ‘fastest’. However, because in almost all situations I play on much higher frame rate, I dono’t notice it but it can be problematic for some locked frame rate games. You can always reduce it to ‘Normal’ though to prevent it.
Final Verdict: It’s a Keeper
This monitor is outstanding. You get a playable fast response time, zero black smearing, incredible HDR that will make you squint, and deep, inky blacks.
If you’re like me and want that OLED “wow” factor without the burn-in anxiety, this is as close as I’ve seen. It’s not perfect, but the performance you get is amazing.
This one stays on my desk. It’s a keeper.
Thanks for reading.