ASUS ROG Swift PG278Q G-SYNC Monitor Review
by Chris Heinonen & Jarred Walton on February 13, 2015 10:00 AM ESTsRGB Data and Bench Tests
Before calibration, the ASUS ROG monitor displays a blue tint to the grayscale but it keeps the overall grayscale errors below the visible error level of 3.0 dE2000. The gamma tracks low, at closer to 2.0 than 2.2, which will give the image a bit more of a washed-out look than the proper gamma will. The larger errors exist in the color gamut, where there is an oversaturation to reds, yellows, oranges, and especially blues. Blue has both a tint and saturation issues, and the errors there grow steadily as the saturation ramps from 0% to 100%. Unfortunately, since the ASUS ROG has no internal LUT, like most displays, these color errors probably cannot be fixed.
For calibration, we use SpectraCal CalMAN 5.3.5 with our own custom workflow. We target 200 cd/m2 of light output with a gamma of 2.2 and the sRGB color gamut, which corresponds to a general real-world use case. The meters used are an i1Pro2 provided by X-Rite and a SpectraCal C6. All measurements use APL 50% patterns except for uniformity testing, which uses full field.
| Pre-Calibration | Post-Calibration, 200 cd/m2 |
Post-Calibration, 80 cd/m2 |
|
| White Level ( cd/m2) | 198.7 | 200.9 | 81.8 |
| Black Level ( cd/m2) | 0.2253 | 0.2246 | 0.0952 |
| Contrast Ratio | 882:1 | 895:1 | 859:1 |
| Gamma (Average) | 2.02 | 1.97 | 2.07 |
| Color Temperature | 6659K | 6515K | 6557K |
| Grayscale dE2000 | 2.48 | 2.47 | 0.76 |
| Color Checker dE2000 | 3.64 | 2.16 | 2.74 |
| Saturations dE2000 | 2.85 |
Post-calibration the gamma and RGB balance are almost perfect. The average grayscale dE2000 falls to below 0.6 which is invisible to the naked eye. The only issue is the contrast ratio, but I believe that is a bad reading at 0% since it is coming out much higher than our black reading at maximum backlight earlier. The contrast ratio should be closer to 850:1 based on the amount of fixing needed for the RGB balance. The 80 cd/m2 measurements will back this up, so this number is just a bad read.
Colors are better, because the luminance values have improved, but the overall errors are still high due to over-saturation of certain colors. Blue continues to be the worst, followed by yellow, with all skin tones on the color checker showing errors close to 3.0. On photos of people they look a bit sunburnt, as the saturation of reds and oranges is too high, compared to a proper display. It isn’t awful, but it isn’t a monitor I would use for photo editing either. Since ASUS positions the ROG for gamers I don’t think this is a big deal as the numbers are close enough. The pre-calibration numbers are really more important here, and those indicate a bit more of this red push than after calibration.
Changing our targets to 80 cd/m2 and the sRGB gamma curve, we see similar results on another calibration. The contrast ratio here is 859:1, indicating there was a bad read earlier on the 200 cd/m2 data. The RGB balance is again perfect though the gamma curve not as much. sRGB is harder to get right, and it is dimmer providing less room for adjustment, so this isn’t surprising.
Colors show the exact same issues as with 200 cd/m2 since adjusting the backlight level doesn’t affect the saturation of the colors. People look like they have gotten a bit too much sun compared to what they should look like. For gaming, where the colors are just imaginary to begin with, I don’t think this is a big problem but it just means it can’t serve double-duty as a display for editing photos or other things. Movies will also look a bit off on it, but no worse than a regular TV will before a calibration.
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Antronman - Sunday, February 15, 2015 - link
There's really no reason to use IPS for gaming as the colors are still heavily saturated so you just get even richer, more saturated colors that are gross.Death666Angel - Sunday, February 15, 2015 - link
Color satuartion has no direct link with the panel tech. I've had oversaturated TN panels (HP w2408h) and I've had undersaturated IPS panels (Qnix 2710LED). The difference between IPS and TN that makes IPS more desireable for me personally are the viewing angles. With TN, I need my head to be pretty much in the right spot (like the old Nintendo 3DS) in order to have a good picture. If I move around the colors get inverted or washed out and if I want to show someone something on the monitor, they have a shitty picture or they need to be in my spot. With IPS, colors are the same from almost any angle.doggghouse - Wednesday, February 18, 2015 - link
The saturated colors have more to do with the type of backlight used. A lot of the earlier monitors with IPS panels were designed for professionals (photographers etc) so they used a special bulb in the backlight to give an extended gamut to better match the color spectrum available for print. But you can find IPS displays that cover the standard RGB gamut.oobga - Sunday, February 15, 2015 - link
I was looking at the PG278Q, but as soon as I was thinking of getting one the prices jumped another $50+ everywhere in Canada which totally turned me off. Then started to read about the Acer XB270HU which might end up being a superior monitor. At the least that should make ASUS compete a bit with their ridiculous pricing.gostarkgo - Monday, February 16, 2015 - link
Honestly BenQ has been making monitors like this for a while now and they cost much less. I've got one that has almost identical spec's and it is three years old now. Didn't even come close to costing that much. Hilarious article.oobga - Monday, February 16, 2015 - link
I think you're missing how this monitor has g-sync, but still, that should only be a ~$200 premium. ASUS is very obviously taking advantage of having the only monitor with these resolution/refresh rate specs with g-sync. That should change later this year though. If you can wait for g-sync, you really should. This monitor is very close to being a low end 1440p/144hz +g-sync monitor.nos024 - Monday, February 16, 2015 - link
I owned the ASUS VG248qe for a year before selling it off to a friend. It was the best monitor for gaming I've ever used...for gaming. The so called not-so-accurate colors, and not-so-great viewing angle of a TN panel is irrelevant for gaming IMO. What bothered me was when using it as an everyday panel for productivity because the panel uses PWM lighting. On white backgrounds, it was just too much for my eyes to handle. So when working in Excel, Word, and web browsing...When gaming, it was plain awesome. But I felt 24inch/1080 was too small for my taste. When I heard the Swift ROG was coming out at 27inch/1440 i almost pulled the trigger on getting one. With all the QA issues, I was hesitant. I will wait awhile until the dust settles to get one. I saw one on display at the local Microcenter and I was quite impressed with it. I think if they had one in stock at the time I would've bought it and hope I win the lottery on getting a non-defective one.
bebimbap - Tuesday, February 17, 2015 - link
If you get the gsync board for the vg248qe it gets rid of the pwm lightingmilkod2001 - Monday, February 16, 2015 - link
If not in rush it might be better to wait for IPS/PLS monitors with Gsync/Free Sync enabled. Q2/q3/15$790 for TN + Gsync is a bad ,very bad joke
oobga - Tuesday, February 17, 2015 - link
I've been watching inventory of online stores in Canada. Very little if any movement in their stock for this monitor in the last few weeks. Looks like people have caught on better things are coming out soon for high res/high refresh rate monitors with g-sync. Unfortunately, those stores are stubbornly holding their prices ($950+ CAD). They should have no choice soon to cut those down though.