G-SYNC 4K 144hz is Here! The Asus ROG Swift PG27U

As reported here at Blur Busters earlier this year, Asus has been preparing to launch their newest 4K, 144hz powerhouse of a gaming display, the ROG Swift PG27U, also known in North America the PG27UQ.

Well, it’s finally here! And earning terrific reviews over at the trusty Tom’s Hardware Guide. Why is it so awesome? Quick recap:

27-inch, 3840 x 2160 resolution, up to 144 Hz refresh rate with G-SYNC.
1000-nit HDR10 capability with 90% DCI P3 gamut coverage via Quantum Dots. Gotta have ’em!
Terrific contrast and viewing angles, thanks to IPS + FALD (384 zones).
HDMI 2.0 input (for consoles or UHD Bluray players, limited to 60 Hz) as well as DisplayPort 1.4 for 144 Hz*.
Flicker-free backlight, with ASUS Eye Care, a blue light reduction mode for ergonomics.
Retail price is roughly 2K USD. Ouch! Better start saving.
Might as well get an RTX 2080 Ti to power it, you’ll need one to pump these kinds of pixel clocks.

*DisplayPort 1.4 is limited to 98 Hz (without DSC) in 10-bit colour at the full 4:4:4 chroma resolution, which is what one should use for general Windows desktop, but for full-screen games it’s perfectly fine to drop to 4:2:2 and go all the way to 144 Hz. For day-to-day desktop use, 98 Hz is plenty, or one can drop color depth to 8-bit.

The ASUS ROG PG27UQ is now available on Amazon.

6 Comments For “G-SYNC 4K 144hz is Here! The Asus ROG Swift PG27U”

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ttran7700

Hello,

I was toying with the idea of buying this display. I was planning to play in 4K and 1440p. I like to play with all the settings maxed. If my HW can handle it, I would play in 4K if not I would turn down res to 1440p. If I play at 1440p, will the monitor look as good as a similar spec’ed display with a native 1440p resolution? Basically, can 4K display run at 1440p and still look as good as native 1440p display (assuming same size, panel type etc…). In a CRT monitor, mixing resolutions is no issue. However, I’ve heard you should always play on native resolution with LCD.

Bishi

Hasn’t this crazily overpriced monitor been available since June?

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BattleAxeVR

I’m not sure, I think the PG27UQ was indeed released then, but I’m not sure what the difference is, if any, with the PG27U.

Often reviews come along when retail stock comes in, so that would explain the Tomshardware and Tech Radar review dates. The latter just came out yesterday:

https://www.techradar.com/reviews/asus-rog-swift-pg27uq

Ah I found the answer on Reddit.

“pg27uq = pg27u, Asus never print Q letter on the box”

So it is exactly the same screen. They don’t even list the non-Q on their site.

DaveKap

I’ve never heard of IPS + FALD and upon looking it up, there seems to be very little definitive discussion other than negative connotations attributed to FALD’s problematic halo effects.

FALD basically just takes IPS glow and limits it to the immediate surroundings of bright areas. So yes it’s haloing but I think it looks somewhat natural since lens glare and HDR blooming effects in games basically do that all the time, and it’s mostly really obvious on space scenes.

Lacking FALD entirely will make space scenes on a 1000:1 contrast display suck everywhere, not just around the brightest parts of the scene. Most of the time FALD is a massive boost to overall image quality and that’s why it’s becoming ubiquitous. On Vizio TVs you can get it for like 400 bucks now, which is insane.

People tend to complain a lot about relatively minor issues when the alternative is much worse or fixing it is much more expensive (an OLED TV. Or maybe a VA + FALD monitor). I own a 1000:1 IPS G-Sync monitor and this is definitely my last non-FALD LCD display I’m buying.

Plus you can’t really do HDR well without FALD and HDR is really an important image quality boost compared to SDR. And along with it comes wide colour gamut. There are some quantum dot LCDs without FALD that do WCG, some even in SDR mode, but they’re rare and a kind of half measure.