ASRock has launched the Challenger Series of gaming monitors. The firm made its debut in the premium gaming monitor market just over a year ago with the Phantom Gaming Series. The new Challenger Series is aimed somewhat lower at customers interested in “Light Gaming,” to use ASRock’s terminology. ASRock lays the foundation of the Challenger Series with two flat-screen FHD monitors: the 25-inch CL25FF and the 27-inch CL27FF .
Introducing the more affordable monitor line, ASRock seeks to assure would-be customers that plenty of attractions remain. It says these monitors deliver all-round performance for office tasks, entertainment, and gaming. Thus, features like flicker-free technology, AMD FreeSync, and low blue light modes remain. Furthermore, it says these “light gaming” screens still offer “a remarkable 100Hz refresh rate” and 1 ms (MPRT) 4 ms (GTG) response times. This represents a worthwhile upgrade from a bog-standard 60 or 75 Hz office monitor.
The ASRock CL25FF and CL27FF appear remarkably similar when we check through the key specifications. Apart from the physical dimensions and pixel pitch, the only other primary spec that varied between the two was the contrast ratio, which is a superior 1300:1 on the smaller monitor and 1000:1 on the 27-incher. Both values are average for IPS screens. Check out the table below for a thorough spec rundown with the 27-inch monitor spec differences put in brackets.
Spec | ASRock CL25FF (CL27FF) |
|---|---|
Screen size | 24.5-inches (27-inches) |
Resolution | FHD for 0.2832 mm pixel pitch (0.3114 mm) |
Panel type | Flat IPS anti-glare with 16:9 ratio, wide viewing angles |
Color | sRGB 99%, 16.7M colors |
Max brightness | 300 nits |
Contrast | 1300 : 1 (1000 : 1) |
Performance | 48-100 Hz refresh, 1 ms MPRT or 4 ms GTG response time |
Ports | 1x HDMI 1.4 with cable included, 1x VGA |
Stand | Tilt: +20° ~ -5°, VESA 100 x 100 option |
Max power | 18 W (21 W) |
Pondering over the above, you can see that some specs might be described as entry-level, especially the max brightness levels and ASRock’s simple stand. However, we should hope that ASRock would reflect the admitted “light gaming” and humble specs in the price. No pricing has been revealed, and we couldn’t find any listings for the ASRock Challenger CL25FF or CL27FF monitors at the time of writing.
We reviewed the ASRock Phantom Gaming PG34WQ15R2B monitor back in February, where it won a well-deserved four stars, largely thanks to its great HDR image quality. However, it still wasn’t good enough to earn a place in our Best Curved Gaming Monitors 2023 list. The new Challenger series isn’t likely to make a splash in our best monitors lists either, unless perhaps we open up a new budget “light gaming” category.
