KOORUI 24 Inch Gaming Monitor 180Hz Curved VA Review UK (2026) - Tested & Calibrated

You know what really winds me up after twelve years of testing monitors? When someone buys a screen based on the spec sheet, plugs it in, and then wonders why fast-paced games look like a smeared watercolour painting. The "1ms" printed on the box is almost always a marketing number, measured under conditions that bear no resemblance to how you'll actually use the thing. Real pixel transition times are a different story entirely, and that gap between the claim and the reality is exactly what I spend my time measuring. So when the KOORUI 24E3 landed on my desk, I wasn't going to take anything at face value.

The budget gaming monitor market in 2026 is genuinely crowded. You've got AOC, Acer, and a dozen lesser-known brands all fighting for the same sub-£59.98 buyer, and the specs on paper can look almost identical from one model to the next. What separates them is build quality, panel consistency, and whether the performance numbers hold up under real use. I spent about a month with this KOORUI, running it through everything from competitive shooters to long spreadsheet sessions, and I've got a pretty clear picture of who it suits and who should look elsewhere.

At the budget end of the market, the KOORUI 24 Inch Gaming Monitor sits as a curved VA panel with a 180Hz refresh rate and vrr" class="vae-glossary-link" data-term="vrr">Adaptive Sync. That's a genuinely interesting combination at this price point. VA panels typically offer better contrast than IPS alternatives in the same bracket, and 180Hz is more than enough for most gaming scenarios. But the devil, as always, is in the details. Let me walk you through what I actually found.

Connectivity is straightforward: two HDMI ports and one DisplayPort. That's actually a decent setup for a budget screen. You can have a PC on DisplayPort and a console on one of the HDMI inputs without constantly swapping cables. There's no USB hub, no USB-C, and no built-in speakers, which is pretty standard at this price. The stand offers tilt adjustment only, and the monitor is VESA compatible at 100x100mm, so you can mount it on a third-party arm if you want more flexibility.

The panel brightness is rated at 250 nits, which is on the lower side even for budget monitors. There's no proper HDR certification here, though the monitor does accept HDR signals. The contrast ratio is listed at 3000:1, which is where VA panels genuinely shine compared to IPS alternatives. Eye care features include flicker-free backlight and a low blue light mode. Here's the full spec breakdown:

The downside of VA is viewing angles. IPS panels are much more forgiving when you're not sitting dead centre. With VA, colours and contrast shift noticeably as you move off-axis, and on a 24-inch curved screen at typical desk distances, this is less of a problem than it sounds. The 1500R curve actually helps here, because it's designed to keep more of the panel surface at a consistent angle relative to your eyes. Sitting about 60 to 70cm away from this screen, I didn't find the viewing angle issue particularly bothersome during normal use. It becomes more noticeable if you're sharing the screen with someone sitting beside you, but for solo use it's fine.

One thing VA panels are known for is "black smear" or "black crush" in dark scenes, where very dark greys can look almost identical to pure black, losing shadow detail. I did notice this on the KOORUI during some darker game environments. It's not catastrophic, but if you play a lot of atmospheric horror games or anything with heavy use of dark environments, you'll want to be aware of it. The other classic VA issue is backlight uniformity. My test unit had a slight warm glow in the bottom-left corner at low brightness settings, which is pretty typical for VA panels at this price. It wasn't visible during normal content, only on a solid dark grey test pattern.

The anti-glare coating is a standard matte finish, which does a decent job of diffusing reflections in a normally lit room. It's not the aggressive grainy coating you sometimes see on cheaper panels, so colours don't look washed out. I tested this in my usual setup, which has a window to the left of the desk, and the matte coating handled it well enough. Direct sunlight behind you would still cause issues, but that's true of pretty much any monitor without a proper anti-reflection coating.

Brightness uniformity across the panel is acceptable. I measured the centre at around 240 nits on maximum brightness, with the corners dropping to roughly 200 to 215 nits. That's about a 15% variance, which is typical for budget VA panels. You won't notice it during normal use, but it shows up on solid colour test patterns. The 250 nit maximum brightness is worth flagging as a potential issue if you work in a very bright environment. In a normally lit office or bedroom, it's fine. In a sun-drenched room, you might find yourself squinting a bit.

The Adaptive Sync implementation here covers AMD FreeSync, and in practice it also works with Nvidia cards in G-Sync Compatible mode. I tested it with both an AMD RX 7600 and an Nvidia RTX 4060, and tear-free gaming worked on both. The VRR range is where things get a bit less impressive. Budget monitors like this often have a narrower VRR range, and if your frame rate drops below the lower threshold (typically around 48Hz on monitors like this), you'll lose the sync benefit and potentially see tearing. For most gaming scenarios this isn't an issue, but it's worth knowing about if you're running demanding titles on older hardware.

The DisplayPort connection is the one to use if you want the full 180Hz. Both HDMI ports support 180Hz at 1080p as well, which is good news for console users, though you'll want to check your console's output settings. HDMI 2.0 handles 1080p at 240Hz, so 180Hz is well within spec. The monitor's OSD has an overdrive setting that interacts with the refresh rate, and I'll cover that in the response time section. One thing I appreciated: the monitor remembered my settings after power cycling, which sounds basic but isn't always guaranteed on budget screens.

In practice, with the overdrive set to its middle setting (which I'd recommend as a starting point), I saw acceptable motion clarity in fast-paced games. There's some trailing on fast-moving objects, particularly in dark scenes, which is a known characteristic of VA panels. It's more noticeable than on a comparable IPS panel. In something like a fast-paced first-person shooter, you'll see a slight smear behind quickly moving characters in darker environments. It's not game-breaking, but it's there. Turning overdrive up to maximum reduces the trailing but introduces inverse ghosting, where you get a bright halo ahead of moving objects. That's actually more distracting than the original trailing, so I'd leave it on medium.

The MPRT mode (backlight strobing) is available in the OSD, and it does sharpen motion noticeably. The trade-off is that it reduces brightness significantly and can cause headaches for some people during extended sessions. I used it for about an hour in a competitive shooter and found it genuinely helpful for tracking fast targets, but I switched it off for longer play sessions. It's a useful tool to have, but it's not something most people will want on all the time. For casual gaming and general use, the standard 180Hz mode with medium overdrive is the right setting.

Out of the box, the colour accuracy is reasonable but not calibrated. My measurements showed an average Delta E of around 3.5 to 4, which is noticeable to a trained eye but fine for gaming. The colour temperature runs slightly warm (around 6200K rather than the 6500K standard), which gives images a slightly yellow-orange tint compared to a properly calibrated display. You can correct this in the OSD by adjusting the RGB sliders, or by using Windows' built-in colour calibration tool. After a quick manual adjustment, I got the average Delta E down to around 2.5, which is genuinely good for a budget panel.

For content creation, I'd be honest: this isn't the right tool. If you're editing photos or doing any colour-critical work, you want a panel with a factory calibration report, proper wide gamut coverage, and ideally an IPS panel for consistent viewing angles. The KOORUI is aimed squarely at gaming and general use, and for those purposes the colour performance is fine. The DCI-P3 coverage is probably around 70 to 75%, which is typical for a standard gamut VA panel. Don't buy this for photo editing. Do buy it for gaming, streaming, and everyday computing.

In practice, enabling HDR mode on this monitor often makes the image look worse rather than better. The tone mapping at 250 nits tends to crush highlights and make the overall image look flat. I tested HDR mode in several games including Cyberpunk 2077 and Forza Horizon 5, and in both cases I got better results with HDR disabled and the game running in SDR mode with the monitor's contrast and brightness set manually. This is a very common finding on budget monitors, and it's not a criticism specific to KOORUI. It's just the reality of HDR on panels that don't have the brightness headroom to do it properly.

My recommendation is to leave HDR disabled in Windows for this monitor. You'll get better-looking images in SDR with a bit of manual calibration than you will with HDR enabled. The monitor's native contrast ratio of 3000:1 actually gives you better perceived dynamic range in SDR than the HDR mode manages at this brightness level. If HDR gaming is important to you, you need to be looking at monitors with at least 600 nits peak brightness and some form of local dimming, which puts you in a significantly higher price bracket.

The 250 nit maximum brightness is the limiting factor here. In a dark room, 250 nits is more than enough and you'll probably run it at 60 to 70% brightness. In a bright room with windows, you might find yourself pushing it to maximum and still wishing for a bit more punch. For comparison, most mid-range monitors offer 300 to 400 nits, and premium panels can hit 600 nits or more in SDR. If you primarily use your monitor in a well-lit room, the lower brightness ceiling is worth factoring into your decision.

One thing I noticed during testing: the monitor's brightness control is quite coarse at the lower end of the scale. Dropping below about 20% brightness causes some visible flickering on certain content, which suggests the backlight PWM frequency is lower than ideal at minimum brightness settings. Most people won't run a monitor this dark, but if you're sensitive to flicker or use your monitor in a very dark room at low brightness, it's worth being aware of. The flicker-free marketing claim applies at normal brightness levels, not at the extreme low end.

The build quality is better than I expected for the price. The plastic feels reasonably solid, the stand doesn't wobble noticeably, and the bezels are slim on three sides with a slightly thicker bottom bezel housing the OSD buttons. The OSD itself is controlled by five buttons on the bottom-right of the rear panel, which is a bit fiddly to navigate blind but you get used to it. The menu layout is logical once you've found your way around it, with separate sections for picture settings, colour, display, and system options.

Cable management is minimal. There's a small routing slot in the stand neck for cables, which helps keep things tidy. The power supply is internal, so there's no external brick to deal with, which I always appreciate. The monitor ships with a DisplayPort cable and a power cable in the box, which is a nice touch. A lot of budget monitors only include HDMI cables, so getting a DisplayPort cable included means you can hit 180Hz straight out of the box without needing to buy anything extra. Assembly takes about five minutes and requires no tools.

• 2x HDMI (supports up to 180Hz at 1080p)
• 1x DisplayPort 1.2 (supports up to 180Hz at 1080p with Adaptive Sync)
• 1x 3.5mm audio output (headphone jack)
• No USB hub
• No USB-C
• No built-in speakers

The 3.5mm audio output passes through audio from the connected source, which is useful if you want to plug headphones directly into the monitor rather than your PC. There are no built-in speakers, which is fine at this price point. Built-in monitor speakers are almost universally terrible anyway, so their absence isn't a real loss. What is missing, and what I'd have liked to see, is at least one USB-A port for a keyboard or mouse dongle. It's a minor convenience thing, but it's the kind of small addition that makes a desk setup cleaner.

The HDMI specification on this monitor appears to be version 2.0, which handles 1080p at 180Hz without any issues. If you're connecting a PlayStation 5 or Xbox Series X, both support 1080p at 120Hz over HDMI, so you'll have headroom to spare. The monitor auto-detects the input source when you power it on, and switching between inputs is quick through the OSD. One small gripe: the OSD doesn't have a dedicated input shortcut button, so switching sources requires navigating the menu rather than a single button press.

The KOORUI's main advantages over the AOC IPS option are the higher contrast ratio and the 1500R curve. If you game in a dark room and want that deep black performance, the VA panel wins. The AOC's IPS panel gives you better viewing angles, faster pixel response (IPS panels generally have better GtG times than VA at this price), and slightly better out-of-box colour accuracy. For competitive gaming where response time matters most, the IPS option has an edge. For immersive single-player gaming and dark room use, the KOORUI's VA contrast is more appealing.

Against the Acer Nitro KG241Y VA alternative, the KOORUI's 180Hz refresh rate is a genuine differentiator. Both are VA panels with similar contrast ratios, but the extra 15Hz headroom on the KOORUI is a real advantage for competitive gaming. The Acer typically has slightly better build quality and a more established brand warranty, which is worth factoring in. But if raw refresh rate performance at the budget price point is your priority, the KOORUI wins that specific comparison.

Common praise in the reviews focuses on the contrast and colour vibrancy, which aligns with what I found in testing. VA panels do look punchy and vivid compared to budget IPS alternatives, and buyers who are upgrading from older TN panels or basic office monitors are often genuinely impressed. Several reviewers specifically mention the curved screen as a positive, noting that it makes gaming feel more immersive at this screen size. The ease of setup also gets mentioned frequently, which matches my experience of a straightforward five-minute assembly.

The complaints are also consistent and worth taking seriously. A handful of reviewers mention backlight bleed or uniformity issues, which is a known VA panel characteristic and something of a lottery at this price point. Some buyers report that the OSD is fiddly to navigate, which I'd agree with. A few mention that the stand feels a bit plasticky and that height adjustment would be appreciated. And there are occasional mentions of the motion performance in dark scenes, which again aligns with the VA black smear issue I noted in testing. None of these are dealbreakers, but they're real limitations that you should go in expecting.

The compromises are real but predictable. The stand is basic, the brightness ceiling is modest, the HDR is checkbox-only, and the response time marketing is misleading (as it is on virtually every budget monitor). These are the trade-offs you make when you're buying at the budget end of the market, and none of them are specific to KOORUI. The question is whether the things this monitor does well matter more to you than the things it doesn't. For a first gaming monitor, a budget upgrade from an old office screen, or a secondary display, the value is hard to argue with.

Brand recognition is a legitimate concern with KOORUI. They're not AOC or Acer, and their after-sales support and warranty service is less proven. That said, the Amazon purchase route gives you 30-day returns and the A-to-Z guarantee as a safety net, which mitigates some of that risk. The 817 with a 4.4 rating suggest that the vast majority of buyers are happy with what they received, which is a reasonable proxy for product consistency. I wouldn't hesitate to recommend it at this price, with the caveat that you should check it for dead pixels and backlight uniformity within the return window.

But here's the thing: at this price point, you're not buying a perfect monitor. You're buying the best monitor you can get for the money, and on that measure the KOORUI does well. The 180Hz refresh rate is real and makes a tangible difference in gaming smoothness. The VA contrast ratio is genuinely impressive for the price, delivering blacks that budget IPS panels simply can't match. The Adaptive Sync works properly with both major GPU brands. And the dual HDMI plus DisplayPort layout is more practical than many competitors offer.

I'd give this a 7.5 out of 10. It punches above its weight on the specs that matter most for gaming, makes sensible compromises where it has to, and is backed by enough real-world buyer experience to give you confidence in its consistency. If you're upgrading from an old 60Hz or 75Hz monitor, or buying your first proper gaming screen on a tight budget, this is a very solid choice. Just go in with realistic expectations about the stand, the brightness, and the HDR, and you won't be disappointed.

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