Samsung S27A950D

The Samsung S27A950D is a big, beautiful monitor with a massive 27-inch screen sitting inside a super slim bezel atop a curved aluminium base.

What’s on the inside is just as awe-inspiring – the 1920 x 1080, TN-based panel supports a true 120Hz refresh rate with 3D capability (one pair of active-shutter glasses are included).

The 3D technology runs off TriDef software, which supports 3D content such as side-by-side, top-and-bottom, and frame sequential (if you own an AMD 5000 series or above graphics card), plus the screen itself also has a built-in 2D to 3D converter which can convert any 2D input into a 3D image.

TriDef software is a different 3D suite to Nvidia’s 3D Vision and AMD’s HD3D technology, which unfortunately means SLI and Crossfire multi-graphics-card solutions are both unsupported. The list of compatible game titles is reasonably long however, with modern games being added all the time.

The active 3D capability of the S27A950D is leagues ahead of any passive solution, but it is far from perfect. I couldn’t play any of my favourite games with 3D enabled for more than twenty minutes or so without discomfort, particularly FPS games where the reticule always seems to be out of focus.

In 2D mode at 120Hz however is where the screen really shines. If your system has enough grunt to run games at 120 frames per second, motion looks brilliantly fluid compared to 60Hz monitors. It’s almost worth the asking price for this feature alone.

As for image quality, the S27A950D is about as good as any other decent TN-based screen. Response times are excellent over most transitions, and it has good shadow detail (if a somewhat high black level). Overall brightness and contrast quality score a big tick too.

One minor complaint I have with this monitor is the fact that it doesn’t ship with a dual-link DVI cable, which is required if you want to run it in 120Hz mode over DVI. Surely with a price tag over a thousand dollars they could have chucked in a $15 cable?

Overall, the S27A950D is an awesome screen. 27 inches might dominate your desktop, but image quality is excellent and 120Hz gaming (or even just general desktop use) is visual gold.