Editor’s choice: Asus ROG Swift PG279Q gaming display screen

There a extra painful sphere of expertise to store in than c omputer displays? It’s an limitless guidelines of specs and standards that nobody product ever seems to fulfill in full, concerned with a higher rate than you feel like you’ll want to be paying. And the circumstance is even worse with gaming displays. The center of attention on cutting-area efficiency locations their relative deficiencies into even starker aid.

I strongly consider that when you’ve got a excessive-conclusion workstation however don’t have a very good gaming display screen, you’re wasting precious hardware. despite the fact, there is one — and just one — gaming video display that i will be able to wholeheartedly suggest. It’s referred to as the Asus ROG Swift PG279Q, it become launched almost three years ago, and it nevertheless fees about $ seven hundred. It’s my personal choice since it’s the most effective choice I’m privy to that does every thing i want it to, most of what I’d find it irresistible to, and very nearly none of what I don’t desire it to.

The PG279Q is, to place it in brief, a sixteen:9 27-inch 1440p 165Hz IPS G-Sync computer screen. There are very few screens with all of those attributes, and Asus’ ROG Swift range has lots of similar models with close-similar product numbers, just like the more affordable TN panel-outfitted PG278Q, the MG279Q with FreeSync, and the 4K 60Hz PG27AQ. The foremost option to clarify why the PG279Q is my monitor of alternative is to move through exactly why each and every of its specs is right for me.

First off, why do I want a sixteen:9 video display? To be sincere, the form of the element is the biggest quandary I have. I’ve owned ultrawide 21:9 screens during the past, and that i do love the experience when every little thing works completely. but incompatibility issues with many video games are only infrequent enough for it to now not reasonably be value the drawback. (as an instance, Monster Hunter World’s past due pc version launched the day prior to this with none ultrawide guide.) 16:10 is a more often valuable point ratio for non-gaming applications, and the worst you’ll ought to deal with in games is mild letterboxing, however no one makes first rate sixteen:10 gaming screens. So, sixteen:9 it is. 

The next question is resolution, and i’m adamant that 1440p is the best choice for many people at this point, and 27 inches is essentially the most acceptable size for scaling and sharpness factors. An Nvidia GTX 1080 can drive most games on extremely settings and 1440p resolution at sky-high frame charges — still representing a seventy seven % decision boost over 1080p — whereas it’ll battle to hit 60 fps at 4K. Will the subsequent generation of Nvidia GPUs deliver reputable 4K / 60 fps efficiency? likely, but I’d still take the larger refresh cost over the greater decision, mainly with the awkward state of high-DPI scaling in home windows 10.

That brings me to 165Hz. Technically the PG279Q has a 144Hz panel that is “overclockable” to 165Hz with the cost of a moderate increase in photograph blur. I just go away it set at 144Hz as a result of if you can tell the difference between that and 165Hz, be sure you either join the Overwatch League or donate your eyes to science. nonetheless. it’s pleasant to know the possibility is there. 

no matter if you’re enjoying a online game all the manner as much as 144 fps or struggling to spoil 90 fps with whatever more performance-intensive, the PG279Q will keep every little thing perfectly clean, thanks to its G-Sync variable refresh rate functionality. What this does is will let you run video games at any frame fee with out being concerned about tearing, stuttering, or body-pacing because the monitor will best screen a body as quickly because it’s rendered by the Nvidia GPU in full. (AMD GPU owners may still go for a FreeSync-suitable model like the MG279Q as an alternative.) Variable refresh rate may not sound like a big deal to any person who hasn’t seen it work in adult, however’s actually transformative, and it makes every little thing think so lots smoother and extra herbal.

eventually, the PG279Q has an IPS liquid crystal display panel that, even though it received’t compete with whatever like an iMac, grants decent color replica, contrast, and viewing angles. loads of gaming screens still use TN panels, that may have a moderate advantage in response time, however the vastly inferior picture pleasant might be a bigger problem for virtually each person. pals don’t let non-e-sports-skilled chums buy TN panels.

The PG279Q isn’t the best display screen on earth with the above aspects on its spec sheet. but it became the first, and as far as I know it continues to be the only 1 that doesn’t seem to be obnoxiously gamer-styled, at the least from the entrance. Admittedly, from in the back of, it appears like it fell off the wing of a TIE fighter. but when you switch the pink lights off, you’ll have a reasonably alluring, slim-bezeled video display that received’t be out of place on too many desks.

The PG279Q additionally has most of the more mundane features you’d are expecting from a fine monitor. There’s a relatively simple UI managed with an easily purchasable joystick, which lets you access quite a few colour profiles, blue gentle settings, etc. There’s both HDMI and DisplayPort connectivity, together with two USB 3.0 ports. The monitor has constructed-in 2-watt stereo audio system, which sound relatively unhealthy. however once I want issues to sound first rate on my notebook, i exploit headphones. The developed-in audio system are helpful enough that I don’t should put committed ones on my desk.

What greater may you need? well. The PG279Q is no longer probably the most advanced gaming computer screen around, now that 4K HDR 144Hz G-Sync fashions like Asus’ personal PG27UQ are eventually shipping. however as a lot as i might like to personal one, those are bleeding-aspect products that would be wildly irresponsible purchases for definitely any one. HDR guide on computer is still a mess. actually no one has a laptop that can run contemporary games in 4K with ultra settings at 144 frames a second, and the bezels are chunky. Oh yeah, and this stuff charge $ 2,000.

sooner or later, we are able to reside in a global the place everything can effectively be run in 4K HDR at frame rates smoother than the attention can understand. these days, regrettably, we don’t. And unless we do, I’m going to be satisfied with the Asus ROG Swift PG279Q, a groundbreaking computer screen that makes completely every game look great at an handiest just a little unreasonable price.