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
The (Asus) G-Sync HDR Experience: Premium Panel for Premium Price
In the end, gamers are given the ultimate guidance with the price point: $2000. The cost doesn't pull any punches, and while it may not be explicitly communicated to consumers, the price is all about the panel functionality, while everything else takes the backseat. Though we can only say this directly about the Asus PG27UQ, this is presumably the case for Acer's Predator X27, which shares the connectivity, large physical design, and active cooling setup.
Some of this is out of Asus's hands, and with the G-Sync HDR module's capabilities and limitations, something that they can only package up and support the best they can. Manufacturers on the display design side would be limited in expanding the basic range of use of G-Sync HDR. Some aspects are even out of NVIDIA's hands when it comes to HDR support in the OS, which goes back to Windows' historically poor management of anything non-SDR and non-sRGB; if the monitors were ready before the Windows 10 April 2018 Update, ease-of-use would've been a big issue.
As one of two current G-Sync HDR implementations, the Asus PG27UQ is also just one of three VESA DisplayHDR 1000 certified products, alongside the Acer counterpart and a Phillips 4K TV, and one of three UHDA Premium certified monitors, alongside two proviz monitors. So by certifications, it would be one of the best HDR PC monitors on the consumer market anyway, G-Sync or otherwise. It seems more likely than not that the 35-inch and 65-inch models are not imminently ready, although resolving firmware issues with FALD backlighting should be a shared investment between them. But for now, G-Sync HDR can only truly stretch its legs in a niche case: single-monitor non-silent PC gaming with HDR titles on NVIDIA G-Sync HDR supporting hardware powerful enough to target 4Kp144 target. The last bit is already niche on its own: the GeForce GTX 1080 Ti was the first card to really hit 60fps on no-compromises 4K, and both AMD and NVIDIA have stepped back from multi-GPU and multi-card solutions.
As an aside, we know now 144fps is perhaps even further out given that NVIDIA's next generation offering of the GeForce RTX 2080 Ti is more-or-less in the Titan V gaming performance bracket, which is to say it's only about 37% faster than the GTX 1080 Ti. The majority of this review was done prior to the RTX 2080 Ti and RTX 2080 launch, but doesn't fundamentally alter the core premise of 4Kp144 being out-of-reach.
And when you're paying more dollars than most people have horizontal pixels on their screen, especially when that price is especially baked in to that use case, that niche becomes extremely relevant. There's no price tiering right now in terms of non-4K G-Sync HDR or non-HDR 4Kp144 G-Sync, so pursuing either combination still leaves you at the $2000 price point. So let's find out if the prospect of playing PC games with the cutting-edge of 2018 visuals measure up.
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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.