Company GIGABYTE For more than 30 years it has been one of the leading positions in the world ranking of computer hardware manufacturers, and its range includes products for the gaming industry market, produced under the brand AORUS…
One of the directions is gaming monitors, and today we will talk about one of them. For testing our edition was provided with a model AORUS FI25F… Its cost is about 45,000 rubles…
PACKAGING, APPEARANCE AND CONNECTORS
The monitor is packed in a black thick cardboard box with color printing and a plastic handle on top for easy portability. The AORUS FI25F is majestically depicted on the largest sides of the package, while the AORUS logo and the FI25F model are located in the corners. On the side faces, the manufacturer in the form of pictograms showed the main advantages of the monitor, which we will talk about below, and also mentioned the definition of “tactical” in the name – Tactical Gaming Monitor.
When you open the box, you will notice on one of its surfaces a visual brief instruction on how to remove and assemble the monitor. Under a bunch of textured foam, in addition to the AORUS FI25F itself, the following components are waiting for you: a two-piece stand; power cable; HDMI and DisplayPort interface cables, USB Type-B to USB Type-A cable for connecting a built-in USB hub; quick start guide and warranty card.
The company is shaping the image of AORUS gaming devices in direct association with the digital world of the future. The corporate logo is based on a stylized image of a falcon head. This indispensable design element of any AORUS-branded product can be seen in the details of the monitor case, as well as in the illuminated AORUS emblem on the outside of the leg, which adorns the entire ensemble of recessed lighting. There is also a backlight on the sides of the rack – it resembles a comet’s tail in shape. The main part of the back illumination was placed on the back wall of the monitor case symmetrically in the upper part on the sides from the place where the stand is attached to the display.
The high-gloss, backlit inserts evoke upturned cybernetic wings with glowing feathers. Looks futuristic. In turn, the triangular base and leg post, made of cast metal, evoke associations with the outlines of the body and legs of a mechanical bird.
Some parts of the rack are covered with glossy plastic, for example around the glowing logo. At the top there is a wide handle for easy carrying of the monitor. The rest of the screen is made of black plastic, including the frame around the display. There are no built-in speakers.
The bezels of the AORUS FI25F are very small – 2 mm wide on the sides and top, if you count only the outer plastic part, and 6 mm if you take into account the black frames of the display itself and the gap between the display and the plastic frame.
The widest part of the bezel is 20 mm, and in the middle is the silver AORUS logo and the monitor power indicator.
The edge of the screen is only 13 mm thick. By the middle, it increases to 45 mm due to the built-in filling and the power supply. With a stand, this model has approximate dimensions of 558 x 485 x 255 mm, weight – 9.7 kg with a stand and 6.66 kg without it.
The dimensions of the working area are approximately 544 mm horizontally and 303 mm vertically. From the adjustments, an inclination of 5 ° backward and 21 ° forward is available. You can rotate the screen horizontally to the right and left by 20 °.
The monitor can be adjusted in height thanks to the lift mechanism built into the post, in a range of 130 mm. At the lowest height, the screen has a distance to the table surface of about 90 mm. Portrait orientation is also provided for this model.
Additionally, the AORUS FI25F supports wall mounting using a standard 100 x 100 mm VESA bracket. The connectors on this monitor are facing down, so this will be just the thing if you decide to hang it.
In addition to the standard connector for the power supply, you will find a toggle switch next to it to completely turn off the monitor’s power. Two HDMI version 2.0 and one DisplayPort 1.2 are available from video outputs. Although this monitor does not provide speakers, it can still output sound through the 3.5 mm audio jack, and there is also a separate 3.5 mm slot for a microphone. Nearby is a USB 3.0 Type-B port for connecting a built-in hub for two USB 3.0 Type-A ports. The corresponding cable is used to fully function the proprietary AORUS OSD Sidekick application. The ports on the hub can charge devices with an output power of up to 7.5W.
There is a Kensington lock hole to protect against theft. But cable management is practically not provided. The stand has a hole through which you can thread cables, but in general it does not hide the wires sticking out of the monitor.
SPECIFICATIONS
This gaming monitor is 24.5 “(62.23 cm) diagonal and uses an 8-bit” Super Speed ”IPS Full HD (1920 x 1080 pixels).
The screen supports a maximum refresh rate of 240Hz, and its surface has received a matte anti-reflective coating.
The brightness of the matrix is 400 cd / m2, it is certified within the VESA DisplayHDR400 standard. The static contrast ratio is 1000: 1. AORUS FI25F supports about 100% sRGB color space. Viewing angles – 178 ° vertically and the same horizontally.
To prevent tearing and distortion in dynamic scenes, the monitor is equipped with adaptive frame sync technologies – AMD FreeSync Premium and NVIDIA G-Sync Compatible. Flicker-Free technology does not flicker.
CONTROL, SETTINGS AND APP
Control on this device is realized with a small joystick, which is located in the middle of the case at the bottom of the screen.
After turning on the monitor, by pressing the joystick, you get to the quick menu, where, depending on the direction you can go to the settings you need: to the left – the Dashboard menu (information panel), up – the menu, to the right – go to the “Game assistant” menu, down – turn off the monitor, and the second press – exit from the quick menu. The mentioned Dashboard menu displays information about frequencies, temperature and current system performance, and in the “game assistant” you can turn on the timer and game counter, adjust the screen sight and activate the screen alignment function.
If you do not go to the quick menu, then when you tilt the joystick in the right direction, you quickly get to four more sections: to the right – select the input video signal, to the left – adjust the volume, down – select graphics settings, up – adjust the black balance. If desired, quick access when deflecting can be customized through the OSD menu or through the AORUS OSD Sidekick app.
The main menu is made in black and orange colors, traditional for AORUS. Its indisputable advantage is that the current monitor settings are displayed on top, including information about the activity of various functions and the current settings, such as resolution, refresh rate, black balance, color temperature and much more. The controls in the menu are quite responsive and do not make you wait long when navigating between sections, of which there are six:
- Game – In this menu you will find various options related directly to games. Here you can enable the AIM Stabilizer, which is essentially a function to reduce input lag. You can also adjust the black balance and ultra-high resolution, which is designed to improve the clarity of the picture. In the display mode section, you can switch the aspect ratio and the size of the displayed screen (diagonals from 22 to 24 inches are available). In addition, there is a setting for the display mode, in which you can choose between priority on picture quality, operating speed or balanced setting. Also in the games section, you can enable frame rate synchronization between the monitor and the AMD FreeSync Premium graphics card.
- Graphics – here are various pre-installed graphics modes, where, in addition to the standard profile and three free slots for profiles created by the users themselves, there are a couple of settings for gaming genres, for watching movies, for reading, sRGB and even a branded AORUS. In most modes, you can adjust parameters for brightness, contrast, saturation, blue light filtering, color temperature, and so on. Or reset everything to the initial settings of a particular mode.
- Display Mode – This section is dedicated to configuring the input video signal. In addition to selecting the desired video connector, here you can adjust the RGB over HDMI range and increase the scale of the displayed input video signal.
- PIP / PBP mode – in this section you can enable picture-by-picture or picture-in-picture functions when connecting two signal sources to the monitor at the same time. In addition to the position and size of the window (in the case of picture-in-picture mode), you can also switch between picture and sound sources and adjust the screen format (automatic, where the picture from the source is displayed in accordance with its aspect ratio, and wide, where the working the allotted space is completely filled with the source image regardless of the aspect ratio). In other settings, you can configure the DP connector version, power LED, and automatic shutdown and switching of the input signal.
- System – in this section, the manufacturer has collected the remaining system functions of the device. Here you can customize the language of the on-screen menu, and it’s worth noting that the nice font here is only in English, and in other cases Arial is used. In the same section, the backlight setting is located – there are three options for adjusting the effect and turning it off completely. To fine-tune the backlight, you’ll need to use the RGB Fusion app. There is a volume block next to it – you will need to go into it if you decide to connect headphones via a 3.5 mm jack. Next door you will find the settings of the OSD itself, including its transparency and display time. In this section, you can also configure quick access to the desired sections when you move the joystick.
- Save settings – here you have three slots for saving your monitor settings.
At the end of the list of sections there is a full reset and factory reset function.
GYGABYTE offers AORUS OSD Sidekick and AORUS RGB Fusion 2.0 proprietary applications for more convenient and advanced monitor setup.
The AORUS OSD Sidekick not only allows you to do everything you can do through the OSD, but also bind graphic profiles to specific applications, configure hotkeys, apply active noise cancellation, and the microphone position of an AORUS gaming headset connected to the monitor. You can also update the monitor’s firmware via the app, if available.
AORUS RGB Fusion 2.0, in the case of the AORUS FI25F, allows for fine-tuning of two lighting zones – behind the screen and on the stand. A range of effects are available, there are a huge number of colors and shades, including our favorite rainbow, as well as adjustments to the speed and brightness of the backlight.
TESTS AND GAMES
As we said above, the declared brightness of this display is 400 cd / m2, and the static contrast is 1000: 1. In the DisplayHDR Test program, we were able to determine the maximum effective value at 408.76 nits, and the minimum at 0.05270 nits. According to the manufacturer’s data, AORUS FI25F supports the DisplayHDR 400 standard. It is worth noting that this standard is the basic one for LED-backlit displays with a common 8-bit matrix backlight control and 400 cd / m2 brightness.
HDR performance was tested not only on a typical desktop PC, but also on PS5 game consoles with Xbox Series X. On the first two, we noticed an increase in contrast and image detail. However, Series X did not find support for this monitor for high dynamic range, although in the settings it was possible to activate this parameter manually. As a result, the picture became darker and the number of halftones decreased.
We tested the AORUS FI25F on projects such as Forza Horizon 4 (PC), Cyberpunk 2077 (PC), Gears 5 (XSeX), Watch Dogs Legion (XSeX), Demon’s Souls (PS5) and Marvel Spider-Man (PS5).
The PS5 was only able to deliver 1080p @ 60Hz on this monitor and offered HDR and screen edge adjustments. On Xbox Series X, you could set the maximum resolution to 1080p @ 120Hz. Also, when the FreeSync option was enabled in the settings on the Xbox, the function to eliminate video signal output delays and image tearing was active. The AORUS FI25F performed best on a PC, demonstrating a very smooth and clear picture without tearing and artifacts.
In terms of performance, the AORUS FI25F is capable of delivering 240Hz refresh rates over both DisplayPort and HDMI. The minimum matrix response time is 0.4 ms (according to the MPRT method). There were also no complaints about color rendition and viewing angles during the tests. The colors are rich, the image is pleasing to the eye. The only, perhaps, minus – flare in the corners from the bottom of the screen. It is especially visible in dark scenes or when watching movies with dark borders at the top and bottom of the screen. However, the manufacturer promised to fix this in a microcode update, which should be expected very soon.
TOTAL
The AORUS FI25F display is rightfully called a “tactical gaming monitor” thanks to its super-fast sensor, impressive functionality and solid approach to settings. The monitor will delight players with high-speed performance and color rendering. The only thing that puzzled us was the light in the corners and the price that was somewhat overpriced, in our opinion, given the matrix’s not the largest diagonal by modern standards. Nevertheless, this model will certainly find its users, including among people who are fond of esports.
Author: Sergey Dyakonenko (Madnfs)
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