Acer Asks: Hey, Did Anyone Ask for a 1,000Hz Gaming Monitor Around Here?

(Credit: Joseph Maldonado)

LAS VEGAS—Acer brought its PC monitor A-game to CES 2026 with a quartet of attractive Predator, Nitro, and content-creation panels, each with a unique hook. We got to go eyes-on with all of them.

Acer Predator XB273U F6: Here Comes True 1,000Hz, With a Catch

The biggest news-breaker of this lot is the Predator XB273U F6. This is a $799 panel with a 27-inch QHD (2,560-by-1,440-pixel) display based on IPS technology (note, not OLED). It has a maximum 500Hz refresh rate at its native QHD resolution, but the big difference here is that the monitor has an alternate refresh rate mode that's geared toward extreme esports and competitive play.

The alternate mode operates the monitor at a peak 1,000Hz refresh rate at 720p. For those not in the know, serious esports competitors sometimes opt for running their games at low resolutions (and, sometimes, low detail settings) to maximize frame rates in twitch-style shooters and similar games in which fast response is everything. Until this point, gaming monitors to date top out at 500Hz or slightly higher with panel-overclocked settings; this 1,000Hz true native refresh rate is the first of its kind we've seen in the flesh (though, of course, CES is still young).

If you're in the market for a panel like this, you'll likely be switching between these modes frequently. To that end, Acer has incorporated a nifty mini remote that gives you easy access to the monitor’s on-screen display without having to fidget with tiny buttons on the back.

Acer Predator X34 F3: Glorious QD-OLED With a Remote

This 34-inch monitor may not be a vehicle for any groundbreaking firsts, but it's one heck of an eye-appeal panel. Native resolution is 3,440 by 1,440 pixels, and the panel itself is quantum dot OLED (QD-OLED). It features a 360Hz maximum refresh rate and supports AMD’s FreeSync Premium Pro, versus the just FreeSync Premium of the Predator XB273U F6. It has a mild curve, at an 1800R curvature rating.

The panel supports 99% of DCI-P3 and also supports the same mini remote as the above Predator monitor. We'd like to see this remote on a lot more panels.

Acer Nitro XV270X P: 5K and QHD Dual Mode

This Nitro panel is an unusual hybrid-type model. The Nitro brand is typically associated with budget gear, and in a sense, at $799, this panel has budget-oriented traits, given its price point. It's a 5K (5,120-by-2,880-pixel) gaming monitor with dual refresh-rate modes: 165Hz at its native 5K, or 330Hz at 1440p.

How many folks are going to be playing games at 5K is an open question; with most demanding PC gaming titles, you will have a heck of a time powering up to frame rates that will push even the 165Hz in that resolution mode. But if you're a content creator who takes gaming seriously, this is a good dual-use panel that will let you do things like 4K video editing while leaving pixels left over around the edge for your toolbars and palletes. And when you move to gaming, the 330Hz at 1440p is likely a more realistic match.

One unexpected extra feature on the XV270XP is what Acer dubs a “reading light,” which is situated below the center of the bottom bezel. If you wave an object (or your hand) down there, a small light that pops on, letting you read notes or view small objects under low light. We were a bit skeptical as to why this appeared on a gaming monitor, of all places, but we can see the utility if you're working or shopping in a dark room and need to read numbers off your credit card or view handwritten notes.

Acer ProDesigner PE320QX: A New Creator Line

This model marks the initial entry in a new ProDesigner family from the company, replacing Acer’s now-defunct ConceptD line, which it introduced for content creators and graphics professionals a few years ago.

The ProDesigner is a 6K panel (that's 6,016 by 3,384 pixels) with a special Acer-specific anti-glare coating and an impressive 99% coverage of the Adobe RGB color gamut. Acer rates the maximum brightness at 600 nits.

This is a 31.5-inch panel that features a built-in color-calibration tool. On a small hinge at the top of the screen, the calibration sensor flips down, automatically summoning an on-screen calibration utility.

The connectivity on this model is different from that on the HDMI- and DisplayPort-dominated gaming panels. This model supports DisplayPort 2.1 and USB-C input. Expect it at $1,499.

About Our Expert

John Burek

Executive Editor and PC Labs Director

My Experience

I have been a technology journalist for almost 30 years and have covered just about every kind of computer gear—from the 386SX to 64-core processors—in my long tenure as an editor, a writer, and an advice columnist. For almost a quarter-century, I worked on the seminal, gigantic Computer Shopper magazine (and later, its digital counterpart), aka the phone book for PC buyers, and the nemesis of every postal delivery person. I was Computer Shopper's editor in chief for its final nine years, after which much of its digital content was folded into PCMag.com. I also served, briefly, as the editor in chief of the well-known hard-core tech site Tom's Hardware.

During that time, I've built and torn down enough desktop PCs to equip a city block's worth of internet cafes. Under race conditions, I've built PCs from bare-board to bootup in under 5 minutes. I never met a screwdriver I didn't like.

I was also a copy chief and a fact checker early in my career. (Editing and polishing technical content to make it palatable for consumer audiences is my forte.) I also worked as an editor of scholarly science books, and as an editor of "Dummies"-style computer guidebooks for Brady Books (now, BradyGames). I'm a lifetime New Yorker, a graduate of New York University's journalism program, and a member of Phi Beta Kappa.

The Technology I Use

I use a lot of computers on rotation in my daily work, but I rely on just a few to get things done. I split my work life mostly between a Microsoft Surface Laptop 3 (a 15-inch Ryzen model), paired with a Lenovo ThinkVision portable monitor, and a custom-built big-chassis Windows 10 desktop PC that has served me well for years now. (Specs: Liquid-cooled Intel Core i7-6950X Extreme Edition, 32GB of RAM, and a GeForce GTX 1080 card.) That's all in a giant chassis with six hard drives and SSDs packing its bays. (As I upgrade systems, I just keep moving the old warhorse drives over.) This behemoth is hooked up to a 32-inch LG monitor.

I also have a bunch of PCs around the house, all custom builds: another one attached to my main TV (for gaming and occasional forays into VR), a mini-PC on the bedroom TV (acting as a media server), and a Mini-ITX desktop in a corner of the living room...just because. I carry around an oversize OnePlus phone, but when I do long-haul travel, a vintage iPod Touch comes along, too, for old times' sake.

I wasn't always a PC guy. I cut my teeth on a cassette-drive-equipped Commodore VIC-20 in the 1980s. But I got serious with Apple desktops in the early 1990s, starting with a Macintosh SE, then a Macintosh LC, and finally one of the short-lived Umax "clone" Macs, before building my first PC and never looking back.

With all my typing and editing work over the years, I've become a huge proponent of thumb trackballs, which minimize wrist action (and my wrist pain). I have a secret cache of the long-discontinued Microsoft Trackball Optical Mouse (my personal favorite), held in an undisclosed location.

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