Tested & Reviewed
ASUS ROG SWIFT PG27UQ 144 Hz / G-SYNC / HDR
A 144 Hz gaming IPS panel going for a 1000 nits with G-Sync
A topic of long discussion and wait, announced a long time ago are Ultra HD screens, capable of a serious HDR1000 level peak brightness in combination with G-Sync. They are finally here and Nvidia has been all over these screens, even mandating and telling ASUS what and when to release it in an effort to continue developing and tweaking the panels up-to a level they can work with, and certify it. Yes, the trend for monitors this year and the years to come definitely is HDR and local dimming. HDR, however, has been a confusing topic to talk about with some monitors that have been tagged as 'HDR compatible' offering laughable low amounts of nits in the 300~350 cd/m2 range. Meanwhile, Nvidia is going aggressive with Ultra HD HDR GSYNC certified displays reaching a required peak level of 1000 nits, however, with prices easily doubled for that amount of nits. True dat, very few people can actually buy the new 27" panel formats (Ultra HD) goodness. Here in the Netherlands, we heard that merely a hundred units will be available in e-tail.
I'll immediately jump into my journalistic operating mode though, 27-inches for Ultra HD, isn't that a bit of a silly resolution DPI scaling wise? Is Ultra HD is the best choice at this moment in time? Personally, and a lot of people will frown at me right now, I do not believe so, at 24 inches up to 32 inches I feel panels at 2560x1440 or 3440x1440 are far better suited for the job, at a much lower price and a lesser need of graphics horsepower. However, I can only form an opinion on these monitors once I actually have tested one myself right? So with that in mind I just had to review the ASUS ROG SWIFT PG27UQ, a monitor that is currently priced at a nearly nauseating € 2.599,- This 27-inch ASUS 3840x2160 gaming monitor can drive the AOC panel at 144Hz combined with G-Sync (which eliminates stutter and tearing) while gaming in a HDR10 or compatible mode. This bad bot has 384 local dimming zones lighting system that will offer a peak brightness of 1000 Nits, it supports a DCI-P3 color space similar to what Hollywood uses in movies. A monitor offering image quality, connectivity, and features, lots of features that appeal to any PC gamer.
The ASUS ROG SWIFT PG27UQ is a monitor that is agile, color precise, has great response times, is fast and basically is offered to be a superior display that should leave the rest of the market far behind. The combination of HDR, resolution, refresh rate and G-sync make this a gaming monitor with close to NIL competition - well aside from the Acer Predator X27 of course, a monitor with the same panel that is slightly less expensive. We had to wait a long time for the PG27UQ, it's technology pioneering at multiple levels. Asus fabbed the PG27UQ in a delightful design that come with RGB lighting and wall projected logos. Of course, it's all about Nvidia G-sync and the ultra-fast switching 4K panel with an AU Optronics local dimming backlight. It is a brilliant monitor, however, does have shortcomings. Due to too little bandwidth on the DisplayPort interface, you are better off switching back to 98 Hz (or slower) in the Windows desktop, oh and it also makes noise with due to an active fan, yep. We'll talk about that on the next pages of course. So what do you get after spending two and a half grand? Let's find out.
