ASUS ROG Swift PG278Q G-SYNC Monitor Review
by Chris Heinonen & Jarred Walton on February 13, 2015 10:00 AM ESTBrightness and Contrast
Set to maximum output, the ASUS ROG can output up to 352 cd/m2 with a 50% APL pattern. This is far too bright for night time use, but will work well to overcome reflections and lights during the day. Setting the brightness down to the minimum level the output falls to 45 cd/m2. This level is actually very good as it is sufficiently dim for a completely dark room, but not so dim as to be unusable. For any environment, the ROG has a level of backlight flexibility that will work for you.
Black levels are pretty good for a TN panel with the ROG. At the maximum backlight we see 0.3916 cd/m2 of light using a black 50% APL pattern. Going to the minimum backlight level this falls down to 0.0516 cd/m2. As always we use APL patterns because they prevent the screen from completely turning off the backlight to trick the test, and it is more like the real world than a full field pattern is.
The contrast ratios these readings produce are between 882:1 and 901:1. For a TN panel, I think these are pretty good overall. IPS and especially VA panels can do better, but for TN the numbers are solid.
The ASUS ROG has good flexibility for a the backlight and produces good overall results for brightness levels and contrast ratios.
101 Comments
View All Comments
Antronman - Saturday, February 14, 2015 - link
The picture quality still won't be hugely impressive with IPS, because the color palettes used in games have saturation gradients, and the areas of a map or character that should be noticeable will be extremely heavily oversaturated, whereas the less important, insignificant parts will have very, very little saturation and less polys than the important parts that the saturated colors will be on.bznotins - Friday, February 13, 2015 - link
Currently still rocking a 3007WFP from 2006. Best $1100 I ever spent on electronics. Love the zero input lag and 16:10 resolution.Once we see a 60hz+ 32" 4K monitor, I will finally upgrade. GSync would be awesome.
I just can't bring myself to go down to 27" now, GSync or not.
zodiacsoulmate - Friday, February 13, 2015 - link
Linus just reviewed a 31 inch 4098x2160 LG 31UM97, seems very niceyefi - Friday, February 13, 2015 - link
Ditto that. I'd love gsync on a 30" 2560x1600 monitor, but these gamers are apparently satisfied with tiny little monitors and their 16:9.Antronman - Saturday, February 14, 2015 - link
A large monitor just means I have to move the monitor farther back and move my chair farther back.rtho782 - Saturday, February 14, 2015 - link
I went from a 3007WFP-HC, to a RoG Swift. The size drop was a little annoying, but when my 2nd Swift failed last week the 3007 seemed weird because of the aspect ratio, and I missed 144hz.TheEkorn - Friday, February 13, 2015 - link
I`m wondering where the input lag graph on page 6 is?JarredWalton - Friday, February 13, 2015 - link
"Like the other G-SYNC displays I have tested, the ASUS ROG has no inputs aside from a single DisplayPort. Because I have no CRT monitor that can run at the same native resolution as it, nor a DisplayPort compatible lag tester, I can’t produce an accurate input lag measurement for the display. Obviously this is not an ideal result for a gaming display, but any number I could produce I would have zero faith in."TheEkorn - Friday, February 13, 2015 - link
Thanks :)i4mt3hwin - Friday, February 13, 2015 - link
No talk about the inversion issue this monitor has? Between this:http://rog.asus.com/forum/showthread.php?50004-PG2...
and
http://rog.asus.com/forum/showthread.php?52705-PG2...
This monitor clearly has some issues at the panel level. http://gyazo.com/ff54f6a888ded6aac5472ac3d480ffba
The vertical lines going through the grey part of the rifle (looks like a crosshatch) appears on all bright colors when the monitor is in motion.