KTC goes under the radar as a white label monitor manufacturer for companies like ViewSonic, but it also offers some of the best gaming monitors in terms of price-quality ratio and we have previously recommended them excellent OLED models at an affordable price. This new one £340/US$450 The M27P6 also promises great value for money, this time powered by a 27-inch 4K 160Hz mini-LED IPS panel. If for some reason you don't need an OLED, then a mini LED monitor like this one is your best bet.
The M27P6 is also hardly basic, with nice features including a wide selection of ports, a KVM switch, a 65W USB-C input, and a dual mode feature that quadruples the resolution to double the refresh rate, giving you a 320Hz 1080p panel that's even better suited for fast-paced esports games.
The M27P6 comes in a nice two-tone black and white color scheme similar to the model. Alienware AW3225QFalthough it lacks the premium finish that Dell has opted for due to the plastic frame and thicker bezels on the sides of the screen – however, for the price it's okay. It feels pretty durable for its more modest price, and its tool-free design with a snap-on stand and base makes it very easy to get started with.
This KTC panel is also highly adjustable with swivel, tilt and good height adjustment capabilities. It can also go into portrait mode if you want to use it as a second screen in your setup or for any vertical workloads in a pinch. The flat base it comes with takes up less space than the more typical V-shaped legs and also allows you to put things on it—in my case, a Sonos Beam soundbar for a more compact audio system.
The M27P6 also has a fairly advanced array of ports for its more modest price, which puts its more expensive competitors to shame. This includes a pair of two HDMI 2.1 and DP 1.4 ports, as well as a USB-C port with video output and power up to 65 W. HDMI 2.1 ports mean you can connect a PS5, PS5 Pro, Switch 2 or Xbox Series X and enjoy gaming at up to 4K resolution at 120Hz, and the USB-C input means you can connect and charge your laptop with a single cable. Additionally, you get a pair of USB-A ports that draw power from your PC's USB-B port, as well as a headphone jack. This KTC screen also has KVM functionality, so you can connect peripherals to two separate devices through the screen and switch between them at will.
This panel's OSD menu is subpar, being rather basic compared to more impressive options from Asus, Gigabyte and MSI. Of course, the standard settings like brightness, contrast, HDR modes and more are still available, and there are various picture modes to choose from, but some of the more interesting features are missing. The joystick used to control the menus is also unusually difficult to use, requiring more precision than you'd expect to register the correct input. Some menus, such as changing brightness or HDR mode, also require confirmation every time you do it, which becomes downright annoying.
While the OSD is a small indication of the cheaper nature of this screen, the panel included with it is not. Sure, the 27-inch 4K Fast IPS variant isn't too impressive at first glance, but add a 1,152-zone Mini-LED backlight with a full array of local dimming and it becomes a whole different ballgame. According to KTC, this allows this panel to achieve a stunning peak HDR brightness of 1,400 nits, which takes it a notch above more traditional IPS screens. The stated peak SDR is 400 nits, which matches my tests, and HDR support includes VESA DisplayHDR 1400 and DisplayHDR 600 modes. The screen lacks any more advanced support like Dolby Vision or HDR10+, although vanishingly few PC games support any HDR standard.
This panel also isn't certified for AMD FreeSync or Nvidia G-Sync VRR, unlike many of its contemporaries, although you can still manually enable those features on graphics cards from any manufacturer. I didn't notice any issues with judder or tearing when enabling this feature, so I suspect KTC simply doesn't want to pay for the expensive certification process.
Enabling local dimming made a lot of sense in all the cases I tested this panel, as otherwise my colorimeter produced unremarkable numbers that made it look like a brighter-than-usual Fast IPS monitor. Local dimming improves contrast and deepens black levels, expanding dynamic range. There's no terrible glow effect when it's on, largely due to the large number of dimming zones on offer.
The 4K resolution delivers excellent detail and sharpness, especially when combined with the mini-LED backlight, and the smooth 160Hz refresh rate keeps everything running smoothly, even in games like Cyberpunk 2077 And Forza Horizon 5 and even overall labor productivity looks clear. Of course, to take full advantage of the combination of resolution and refresh rate, you'll need a particularly powerful computer, since 4K is much more difficult to manage than 1440p and, of course, has four times as many pixels as 1080p.
With a dual-mode screen, you can also set the resolution to 1080p with a 320Hz refresh rate for even clearer motion in competitive games like Counter-Strike 2where it can benefit more competitive players. This is due many however, there was a noticeable decline in overall visual accuracy.
Pulling out the colorimeter and turning on Full Array Local Dimming gave me generally good results. Of course, peak brightness didn't necessarily exceed the 628 nits I noticed with FALD turned off, but the contrast ratio increased from 1110:1 to 3490:1, allowing for wider dynamic range, and black levels were much deeper (0.57 versus 0.10). Okay, the results may not be as good as competitively priced 1440p OLED displays, but these are some of the best results you'll find on an IPS screen at any price.
The M27P6 also has excellent color accuracy, with my colorimeter measuring 100 percent sRGB coverage, providing ideal primary color coverage for gaming and workloads. Additionally, 97 percent DCI-P3 and 93 percent Adobe RGB scores prove that this panel can happily be used for more color-sensitive and creative tasks without too much trouble, especially when combined with its excellent performance elsewhere.
Mini LED has become the dark horse of the monitor world as OLED has taken over the spotlight compared to the older VA, IPS and TN panels we've been quite happy with for years. In contrast, Mini LED offers a nice compromise, delivering excellent dynamic range, depth and peak brightness without the potential burn-in issues that are always in the back of our minds with OLED.
For £340/US$450 For its asking price, I'm very impressed with the KTC M27P6, especially because it's one of the most feature-rich panels available for the price, with crisp 4K images, excellent contrast, and deep blacks. In addition, it has excellent color accuracy, a wide selection of ports, and an easy-to-adjust stand. It's held back by little things like a fiddly OSD and a cheaper stand, but if you can look past those shortcomings, it's a very good gaming screen for the price.
