ASUS ROG Swift PG278Q 1440p 144hz Gsync Monitor

[maizenblue]

This isn't a detailed review, going over all the features of this monitor. Its just some first impressions of the monitor after upgrading from an 24" ASUS 1080p 60hz TN monitor. I have a GTX 980, which is the perfect GPU for this monitor, as its powerful enough to drive modern games on ultra settings at 1440p and still get good frame rates, but in some of the more demanding games might see FPS drops below 60, which is where Gsync can be beneficial.

 

-First off, the good.

The build quality and styling is top notch. The ROG logos and red LED ring at the base that glows red when Gsync is on are nice touches. The monitor is easily adjustable in every way, including tilting it 90 degrees if you desire.

 

I've read lots of complaints about dead pixels with this monitor, but I haven't noticed any on mine. No other glaring visual defects or issues with mine either aside from some minor backlight bleeding at the bottom edge of the screen.

 

144hz 1440p gaming with Gsync is a completely difference experience from 1080p 60hz. In games like BF4 it is night and day. The extra resolution is easily noticeable and everything looks significantly more sharper and detailed. I've seen some people state 1440p isn't that much more noticeable than 1080p, but for me its instantly noticeable, as is the higher refresh rate.

 

Playing BF4, the combination of the larger screen size,1440p resolution, 144hz, Gsync, and 1 ms response time with no discernible input lag is a total game changer from what I upgraded from. It is a totally different gaming experience. Aiming is easier with the higher resolution and larger screen. Everything is smoother and more responsive. I could cruise in between skyscrapers with a helicopter and make sharp maneuvers I could never do on my previous monitor. I was blown away by how much better everything looked and felt.

 

For every day web surfing and word processing, Its a slight improvement from what I came from, but nothing to write home about. This is definitely meant as a gaming monitor.

 

-Now for the bad:

 

Its a TN panel, and the viewing angles are disappointing. Just swiveling in my chair from side to side its slightly noticeable.

 

The color quality is a little disappointing as well. I've seen some people state the colors on this monitor are near IPS quality, but that isn't the case with my sample. Colors have a slightly faded or washed out look compared to IPS, and you really do need to have the viewing angle adjusted right or the image quality suffers. Its not horrible, but its not good either. Playing with the contrast, brightness and color settings didn't really seem to help much either.

 

All in all I have a slightly mixed impression of this monitor. On one hand I was totally blown away by the improved gaming experience, and I was relieved to discover my G1 gtx 980 seems to have more than enough horsepower to drive 1440p on ultra settings.

 

On the other hand the color quality and viewing angles were a little worse than I expected, given the ROG swifts reputation as this ultimate gaming monitor.  I can see now why so many people are willing to pay more for an IPS Gsync monitor.

 

I paid 565 USD dollars for this monitor. I had been looking into a 1440p monitor for some time and jumped on this one when it was briefly on sale for that price on Amazon. I don't really regret buying it at that price, since gaming is its primary use and it really is incredible for FPS gaming. If I had paid over 700 for it I might feel a little different.

 

If I had to do it over again I would probably get the ACER predator 1440p Gsync IPS monitor, as the better image quality would probably be worth the extra price since I don't plan on buying another monitor any time soon. Still, this monitor goes toe to toe with that one and even wins when it comes to response time, for those people really sensitive to ghosting.

 

 

[Aytex]

nice review

[Enderman]

TL:dr pls

pretty much the last sentence

[Aytex]

pretty much the last sentence

oh lol, im blind!!!

[BrightCandle]

I had a ROG Swift for about 9 months in all, well a series of them one after the after.

 

My first one had IPS like quality, all the subsequent ones had varying levels of washed out TN look. The acceptable brightness and contrast settings (and colour balance etc) really differed between them, one of the monitors was so bright and limited in its range I couldn't get it down to what I use (80 lumens) at all.

 

All of mine suffered the same failure in the end, the gsync module failed. It manifests with the screen blacking out and then returning with vertical lines. The GPU interprets the loss of sync with the monitor as a cable failure and it thus reduces colour quality and stops sending full data for each pixel, and that looks awful. A lot of people reported this only happening at 144hz, and indeed I didn't have issues at 100hz, but at the same time that is a significant drop in frame rate and more importantly the monitor had wildly different colour behaviour at different refresh rates and in all cases 144hz worked best.

 

I too found 1440p was sharper in games (a little small sometimes on the desktop) and 144hz on the desktop and games was great (but I already had a Benq XL2411T beforehand) but gsync was amazing. But I just couldn't get a good one that worked and with the Acer Predator having serious quality issues with dust and dead pixels I decided to wait for a quality manufacturer to release a decent monitor based on the technology.

[i_build_nanosuits]

...and with the Acer Predator having serious quality issues with dust and dead pixels

i have one and it has no dead pixels and no dust, perfect monitor slight light bleed on bottom right corner but not noticeable in any ways unless you really look for it on black background..not noticeable even in dark games such as batman the arkham knight for example.

This panel is worlds better than anything available on the market right now, including the swift.

Vibrant accurate colors, amazing viewing angles, super fast response time, very high refresh rates, Gsync, 1440P...IPS, couldnt be any happier with mine.

 

If I had to do it over again I would probably get the ACER predator 1440p Gsync IPS monitor, as the better image quality would probably be worth the extra price since I don't plan on buying another monitor any time soon. Still, this monitor goes toe to toe with that one and even wins when it comes to response time, for those people really sensitive to ghosting.

honestly, i think you should consider returning the swift and get the Acer instead.

Response time is honestly instantaneous from what i can tell i'm used to play on a 24'' 2ms TN panel and this one is at least as fast...and ghosting no i'm sorry this monitor is way to fast to suffer from ANY form of ghosting..

[ConnorDahne]

I never knew that the red ring indicated that gsync is on?!