Gigabyte has announced four new OLED gaming monitors featuring new brightness and image-enhancement technologies. Called HyperNits and AI Picture Mode, these new additions address some of OLED’s limitations, unlocking more of its potential, be it for SDR or HDR content.
A common challenge for OLED-based monitors is sustained full-screen brightness, where the image tends to appear overly darkened in HDR peak mode due to APL (Average Picture Level) limitations. To solve this, Gigabyte developed a smart tuning algorithm that intelligently reshapes the EOTF curve, which describes how digital signals are converted into visible brightness on a screen, boosting brightness by up to 30% while preserving highlight details. HyperNits allows you to choose between maximum brightness enhancement or a gentle 20% lift if you use the screen in a dark room.
While I don’t question HyperNits’ capacity to reach new levels of brightness, I wonder how well it will track the EOTF curve during the intermediary brightness steps. Both OLEDs and QD-OLEDs tend to overbrighten or overdarken the scene when coming close to their maximum luminance output, which appears as a loss of detail in highlights or shadows, making the image look less natural.
Brightness boost aside, Gigabyte is also bundling finely-tuned picture modes for HDR, including HDR Movie, HDR Game, and HDR Vivid, each optimised for different viewing scenarios. SDR isn’t left behind either, as it’s getting an AI-trained picture mode that automatically applies the appropriate mode in real time depending on the content on display. For example, it can reduce brightness and blue light for work comfort, boost contrast and tune gamma for cinematic content, or enable the black equaliser to enhance visibility in FPS games. Understandably, if you like keeping the creators’ intent intact, you won’t be enabling any of these.
For now, the HyperNits-ready lineup includes:
- The MO34WQC36, a 34in curved ultra-wide QD-OLED boasting 3440×1440 resolution, 360Hz refresh, and DisplayHDR TrueBlack 500 certification. It is based on Samsung’s fifth-gen QD-OLED panels, which feature the new V-stripe sub-pixel layout that offers sharper text rendering.
- The MO32U24, a 31.5in UHD QD-OLED running at 240Hz. In addition to the DisplayHDR TrueBlack 500 certification, this one also gets Obsidian Shield film, which combines anti‑reflective properties with improved contrast, image clarity, and scratch resistance. Gigabyte claims up to 40% improvement in the perceived black levels, and 2.5x greater scratch resistance.
- The MO27Q28GR, a 27in QHD monitor refreshing at 280Hz, based on 4th-gen RGB Tandem WOLED panels. Once more, we find DisplayHDR True Black 500 certification, but this time alongside a glossy film, which is preferred by many for its crisper images.
- The MO27Q2A Ice, a white version of the 27in QHD 280Hz QD-OLED MO27Q2A.
