Home > Monitor > Monitor Review

Acer Predator XB273U F5 review: a speedy display sporting Nvidia’s latest G-Sync Pulsar

Expanding on G-Sync capabilities, here's what a Pulsar monitor can do.

Sebastian Kozlowski

Last Updated on May 11, 2026

Acer Predator XB273U F5 review: a speedy display sporting Nvidia’s latest G-Sync Pulsar

PC Guide is reader-supported. When you buy through links on our site, we may earn an affiliate commission. Read More

Acer Predator XB273U F5
Pricing and availability

Prime Day may have ended, but that hasn't stopped major retailers slashing prices on popular tech hardware. Below, we've listed some of the best deals available today.

Design and specifications
OSD, features, settings, and warranty
Screen testing

Color gamut
Color accuracy, contrast, gamma, and brightness
Panel uniformity

Viewing angles
Gaming performance
General performance and productivity

Acer Predator XB273U F5

Conclusion

NVIDIA unveiled another upgrade to its G-Sync technology with the release of ‘Pulsar’ at this year’s CES trade show – with compatible monitors producing a perceived “1,000 Hz effective motion clarity.” The VRR technology allows Pulsar-enabled monitors to combine refresh rates and backlight strobing, increasing motion clarity exponentially.

One of the latest monitors to feature G-Sync’s gold standard of VRR is the Acer Predator XB273U F5, which we’ll be putting to the test in today’s review. Sporting a 1440p, 360Hz (27-inch) display, it has a lot to offer in terms of quality and speed combined. So here’s how it fared in our tests.

Acer Predator XB273U F5

4.5 /5

Editor’s Rating

How We Review

Specifications

Panel type: IPS
Resolution: 2560×1440
Refresh rate: 360Hz
Response time: 0.5ms
Panel size: 27-inch
I/O ports: 2x HDMI 2.1, 1x DisplayPort 1.4, 3x USB 3.2 Gen2 Type-A, 1x Micro USB, 1x USB Type-B, 1x Headphone Out

What We Think

By changing up its backlight strobing and combining it with ULMB, Pulsar delivers an excellent viewing experience. The Acer Predator XB273U F5 pairs that technology with a sleek design to create a fast, clear display. Even for an LCD panel, the brightness and image clarity are impressive, though the price may make it a tougher recommendation. Still, the built-in ambient sensor can help reduce power consumption and offset some of the running costs.

Reasons to Buy

Great motion clarity for an LCD, thanks to Pulsar
Bright and sharp out of the box
Well-calibrated from the factory
Top sRGB color coverage
A vast amount of connectivity

Reasons to Avoid

Not a great gamut in AdobeRGB and DCI-P3
A more expensive model versus non-Pulsar options
OSD has its quirks

Pricing and availability

Having been released back in January, this model is already available at a good range of retailers. One of which is Amazon, where you can pick up the F5 version of the XB273U monitor for $649.99/£599.99. Not exactly a cheap display to buy, but not surprising either – when you factor in the technology it offers.

Prime Day may have ended, but that hasn't stopped major retailers slashing prices on popular tech hardware. Below, we've listed some of the best deals available today.

Prices correct as of October 9th, 2026.

In comparison, the LG 27G640A-B is available for $246.99/£339.99, the ASUS TUF VG27AQM5A for $299/£319, and the ASUS ROG Strix XG27ACMS for $349/£318.95. Although those might be a bit slow at 300-320Hz, the 1440p monitors are significantly cheaper for similar specs, minus the pulsar feature.

Design and specifications

Right from the get-go, the unboxing experience is straightforward and user-friendly. The monitor is packaged entirely with cardboard and recyclable materials, and the box design makes it easier to access than usual, opening from the side instead of requiring you to slide everything out. Inside, you’ll find all the essentials, including the stand, cables, and power supply, alongside extras like a factory calibration report. Acer even prints setup instructions on the side of the box, making it easy to get started before you’ve fully unpacked the monitor.

1 of 6

Once the top layer is removed, the monitor is revealed, wrapped in a protective foil covering. There’s no cutout that lets you attach the stand while the display remains in the box, but since the monitor is relatively compact, it’s easy enough to lift out and assemble separately. The stand itself is well designed, featuring a sturdy two-pronged base and a stem with built-in cable management for a cleaner setup.

Beneath the stand mount, you’ll find the monitor’s connectivity options. These include two HDMI 2.1 ports, one DisplayPort 1.4 connection, three USB-A ports, and a USB Type-B upstream port. The OSD controls are positioned on the back-right side of the monitor, consisting of four buttons and a joystick located underneath them. Conveniently, the power button sits slightly higher than the rest, helping to prevent accidental presses while navigating the menu.

1 of 8

Around the front, the monitor features a little chin with sensors built into it. As part of the Pulsar technology, it features an ambient light sensor to adjust the brightness and color for the Ambient Adaptive feature that’s part of the OSD. As for the general specs of the monitor, it comes with a 27-inch, 2560 x 1440p resolution display, with a 360Hz refresh rate.

1 of 7

OSD, features, settings, and warranty

Accessing the OSD, it immediately throws up a mini menu with some quick settings to alter. This includes options for contrast, input, and peak white – an alternative to the usual “brightness” level slider, which is often found on monitors. While not too problematic, having this in the quick menu did cause some issues during our testing of the panel.

1 of 7

Diving deeper into the menus, we find the usual array of settings – including dark boost and max brightness. Alongside this, users can tweak the color settings of the monitor, dial in the audio (includes 2 x 5W built-in speakers), and fine-tune all the G-Sync settings too. All pretty standard as far as OSDs go.

1 of 3

Screen testing

Next, I put the monitor through its paces in our testing lab. Here we test the color accuracy, gamut, and uniformity of the panel to see how well it’s made – and how well it performs versus similar alternatives.

1 of 4

Color gamut

First up, we’ll be testing the color gamut of the display. For this test, we use a colorimeter to determine what percentage of the sRGB, Adobe RGB, and DCI-P3 gamuts the display can produce. This is a good indicator of how many different colors the monitor can display.

1 of 3

Acer Predator XB273U F5 standard gamut, Image by PC Guide

Acer Predator XB273U F5 calibrated gamut, Image by PC Guide

Out of the box, the gamut coverage in sRGB reaches 99.8% and is pretty close to perfection. However, the Adobe RGB is only at 79.1%, and DCI-P3 is at 88.8%. So it isn’t exactly great for color-accurate work beyond the sRGB spectrum.

Even after calibrating it myself, the dials didn’t exactly budge much beyond that. As the sRGB coverage stays at the same level, AdobeRGB increases 0.1%, and DCI-P3 increases by 0.2%, so it’s pretty much as good as it gets out of the factory.

Color accuracy, contrast, gamma, and brightness

I also checked the presets available on the monitor for general accuracy. Checking the white point, black depth, contrast, and gamma levels, as well as how the colors vary from ideal.

	White	Black	Contrast	Average deltaE*00	Max deltaE*00	Gamma	Brightness
IDEAL	6500K	0 cd/m²	infinity:1	0	0	2.2	120 cd/m²
Standard (Out the box)	7155K	0.1092 cd/m²	1097.9:1	1.67	5.52	2.15	119 cd/m²
Eco	7281K	0.1064 cd/m²	1129.1:1	1.82	4.83	2.13	120.2 cd/m²
Graphics	6504K	0.4183 cd/m²	1095.7:1	4.5	9.31	1.82	458.3 cd/m²
Movie	6504K	0.345 cd/m²	1085.8:1	3.48	7.33	1.93	374.6 cd/m²
User	6504K	0.1114 cd/m²	1069.3:1	1.8	5.58	2.13	119.1 cd/m²
User calibrated	6504K	0.1091 cd/m²	1081.9:1	0.36	1.59	2.19	118.1 cd/m²

Compared to ideal reference levels, the Standard preset appeared noticeably cooler than expected. Black levels were also significantly higher than the near-perfect blacks an OLED panel can achieve, resulting in less impressive contrast performance overall. Eco mode pushes this even further, clearly prioritizing lower power consumption over image accuracy.

The Graphics, Movie, and User presets performed better when it came to white balance, though black levels and gamma values climbed noticeably higher. Some of these presets also lock brightness controls, limiting adjustment options. Color accuracy varied between modes as well. Average Delta E values increased in both Movie and Graphics modes, while Standard and User modes remained below a Delta E of 2. However, maximum deviations still peaked above 5.5 in certain cases.

Switching the User color settings to Custom allowed for more precise tuning. By adjusting the RGB values to 114, 108, and 98, respectively, color accuracy improved substantially. The average Delta E dropped to 0.36, with a maximum deviation of just 1.59, all while color gamut coverage remained largely unchanged.

Panel uniformity

After checking the accuracy, I then checked the uniformity of the panel we received. Comparing the color and brightness around the whole screen and comparing it to the center.

Around the center, it wasn’t too bad, except for the top right, which drops in luminance and accuracy, yet it still passes. All around the edge, though, the monitor does fall behind in several areas, with nominal tolerance exceeded – but somehow some of it still passes, a very mixed bag of brightness and color levels around it.

Even if the instrument might have picked up this variation, I must admit it’s not exactly the most noticeable thing with the naked eye. It might not be ideal for color-accurate work, where you want it to stay even, but day-to-day use is pretty much imperceptible.

Viewing angles

As an IPS panel, the monitor does come with decent viewing angles. Spec’d to 180°, you can pretty much look at it at any angle without losing brightness or usability.

1 of 2

Gaming performance

Of course, I then put the monitor through a test of its gaming performance and how it felt using it. Particularly seeing how the Pulsar element of the monitor shows up on it.

1 of 7

As with any G-Sync module, you’ll need to ensure it’s enabled via both the OSD and in the Nvidia app. Also checking it’s done for fullscreen and windowed, or just when the game is in fullscreen mode.

With these features combined, the monitor delivers an impressively high level of performance without suffering the usual drawback of a significantly dimmer image. The added HDR support also helps elevate the overall experience, making on-screen details stand out clearly and giving games a more vivid presentation.

What truly stands out, though, is the monitor’s exceptional responsiveness. The native 360Hz refresh rate already provides an incredibly smooth experience, but the Pulsar backlight strobing feature pushes motion clarity even further. Movement remains sharp across the screen with very little blur, making targets easier to track and allowing for more precise aiming during fast-paced gameplay.

The resulting motion clarity rivals that of OLED panels, with the pulsating backlight creating a remarkably crisp image. Achieving such high peak brightness alongside rapid backlight switching is especially impressive, and it helps deliver a genuinely premium gaming experience.

1 of 4

Although hard to convey in just images, the monitor also makes playing non-Esports titles more enjoyable. Providing a decent contrast, color level, and brightness that make the scene surprisingly vibrant and great to look at. It’s not a washed-out screen that you might expect from having a fast backstrobe.

General performance and productivity

In general usage, it takes some time getting used to the controls. Even though it uses a joystick to navigate, the addition of some of the buttons makes it a bit awkward at first. That said, there is a lot of adjustability in the stand, providing a good amount of room to get around to the connections or sides without needing to bend around the back.

With a wide range of modes available, the monitor offers plenty of flexibility – depending on your use case. You can switch between brighter, HDR-focused settings with stronger colour output and more accurate presentation, or opt for Eco mode when you want a more eye-friendly experience and reduced power consumption.

For colour-accurate work, it’s best to stick to the native sRGB mode, as both AdobeRGB and DCI-P3 profiles are not especially accurate in this configuration. That said, for general everyday use, the overall versatility is still impressive, backed by some strong underlying display technology. Additionally, if you frequently adjust brightness, the built-in ambient sensor is a useful feature that can automatically manage levels for you.

On the Acer Predator XB273U F5, these tools make it easier to tailor the display to different scenarios without constant manual tweaking.

Acer Predator XB273U F5

4.5 /5

Editor’s Rating

How We Review

Specifications

Panel type: IPS
Resolution: 2560×1440
Refresh rate: 360Hz
Response time: 0.5ms
Panel size: 27-inch
I/O ports: 2x HDMI 2.1, 1x DisplayPort 1.4, 3x USB 3.2 Gen2 Type-A, 1x Micro USB, 1x USB Type-B, 1x Headphone Out

Conclusion

Overall, Acer has designed an amazing gaming monitor in the XB273U F5. Using G-Sync Pulsar as the core technology, Acer has built a gaming monitor that prioritizes speed, clarity, and stunning colors. Right out of the box, the display pops with vibrancy, offering a very playable experience without users needing to tweak many settings. However, the real joy of this display comes when you start diving into the technologies it comes equipped with.

Enabling G-Sync Pulsar provides users with near-perfect motion clarity, ideal for competitive gaming and single-player titles alike. HDR support and strong peak brightness also help preserve image vibrancy, ensuring the panel doesn’t fall into the overly dim presentation that can sometimes come with aggressive strobing technologies. Build quality is solid too, with a well-designed stand, strong adjustability, and a practical port selection that covers modern HDMI 2.1 and DisplayPort needs.

Overall, a decent gaming monitor that, despite the price tag, is still worth it in my opinion.

About the Author

Sebastian Kozlowski

With a fascination for technology and games, Seb is a tech writer with a focus on hardware, news, and deals. He is also a tester and reviewer for the site. Contact him @ [email protected]

Subscribe to our newsletters

Acer Predator XB273U F5 review: a speedy display sporting Nvidia’s latest G-Sync Pulsar

Table of Contents

Acer Predator XB273U F5

Pricing and availability

Prime Day may have ended, but that hasn't stopped major retailers slashing prices on popular tech hardware. Below, we've listed some of the best deals available today.

Design and specifications

OSD, features, settings, and warranty

Screen testing

Color gamut

Color accuracy, contrast, gamma, and brightness

Panel uniformity

Viewing angles

Gaming performance

General performance and productivity

Acer Predator XB273U F5

Conclusion

About the Author