The Asus ROG Swift PG27UQ G-SYNC HDR Monitor Review: Gaming With All The Bells and Whistles
by Nate Oh on October 2, 2018 10:00 AM EST- Posted in
- Monitors
- Displays
- Asus
- NVIDIA
- G-Sync
- PG27UQ
- ROG Swift PG27UQ
- G-Sync HDR
Display Uniformity and Power Usage
Especially with localized dimming, the PG27UQ's panel uniformity was solid. In the default out-of-the-box configuration (FALD enabled), the maximum local difference of white levels is around 5% of the center brightness.
Black levels were more uneven, with a general trend of brighter blacks towards the top and darker blacks towards the bottom.
Color reproduction across the panel, however, is excellent, and virtually imperceptible between different parts of the display.
Power Use
As far as power usage goes, the PG27UQ has been specified for a peak 180W with HDR on. Stand-by was specified at 0.5W, but in practice the monitor often idled for some time around 27W in the power-off mode, before finally going to sub-1W power draw. The fan is on at that time, and it's not exactly clear how this state is governed.
With G-Sync and HDR enabled, peaks of around 150W to 160W were observed during gaming, with a peak of 162W. In SDR mode, power consumption is more-or-less in line with typical monitors.
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imaheadcase - Tuesday, October 2, 2018 - link
3840x1600 is the dell i mean.Impulses - Tuesday, October 2, 2018 - link
The Acer Predator 32" has a similar panel as that BenQ and adds G-Sync tho still at a max 60Hz, not as well calibrated out of the box (and with a worse stand and controls) but it has dropped in price a couple times to the same as the BenQ... I've been cross shopping them for a while because 2 grand for a display whose features I may or may not be able to leverage in the next 3 years seems dubious.I wanted to go 32" too because the 27" 1440p doesn't seem like enough of a jump from my 24" 1920x1200 (being 16:10 it's nearly as tall as the 16:9 27"erd), and I had three of those which we occasionally used in Eyefinity mode (making a ~40" display). I've looked at 40-43" displays but they're all lacking compared to the smaller stuff (newer ones are all VA too, mostly Phillips and one Dell).
I use my PC for photo editing as much as PC gaming but I'm not a pro so a decent IPS screen that I can calibrate reasonably well would satisfy my photo needs.
Fallen Kell - Tuesday, October 2, 2018 - link
It is "almost" perfect. It is missing one of the most important things, HDMI 2.1, which has the bandwidth to actually feed the panel with what it is capable of doing (i.e. 4k HDR 4:4:4 120Hz). But we don't have that because this monitor was actually designed 3 years ago and only now finally coming to market, 6 months after HDMI 2.1 was released.lilkwarrior - Monday, October 8, 2018 - link
HDMI 2.1 certification is still not done; it would not have been able to call itself a HDMI 2.1 till probably late this year or next year.imaheadcase - Tuesday, October 2, 2018 - link
The 35 inch one has been canceled fyi. Asus rep told me when inquired about it just a week ago, unless in a week something has changed. Reason being panel is not perfect yet to mass produce.That said, its not a big loss, even if disappointing. Because HDR is silly tech so you can skip this generation
EAlbaek - Tuesday, October 2, 2018 - link
I bought one of these, just as they came out. Amazing display performance, but the in-built fan to cool the G-Sync HDR-module killed it for me.It's one of those noisy 40mm fans, which were otherwise banned from PC setups over a decade ago. It made more noise than the entirety of the rest of my 1080 Ti-SLI system combined. Like a wasp was loose in my room all the time. Completely unbearable to listen to.
I tried to return the monitor as RMA, as I thought that couldn't be right. But it could, said the retailer. At which point I chose to simply return the unit.
In my case, these things will have to wait, till nVidia makes a new G-Sync HDR module, which doesn't require active cooling. Plain and simple. I'm sort of guessing that'll fall in line with the availability of micro-LED displays. Which will hopefully also be much cheaper, than the ridiculously expensive FALD-panels in these monitors.
imaheadcase - Tuesday, October 2, 2018 - link
Can't you just replace the fan yourself? I read around the time of release someone simply removed fan and put own silent version on it.EAlbaek - Tuesday, October 2, 2018 - link
No idea - I shouldn't have to void the warranty on my $2000 monitor, to replace a 40mm fan.madwolfa - Tuesday, October 2, 2018 - link
Is that G-Sync HDR that requires active cooling or FALD array?EAlbaek - Tuesday, October 2, 2018 - link
It's the G-Sync HDR chip, apparantly.