Conclusion

Final Words & Verdict

As always, we'll be the first to admit that our monitor reviews are more subjective rather than objective. I mean it's great to get all the data from the colorimeter hardware including precise brightness levels and color gamuts, in the end though, often once you've calibrated a monitor, you'll still alter settings to match your personal preference. Also, there will be media outlets available with far more in-depth measurements. So please do look at my review more as a personal experience with my view on this product. That said, for me, a monitor works out the best if it offers a combo of features. I am an IPS / AHVA man myself, TN for me is a gnarly word, for you however that might be exactly the opposite as you care less about dark blacks, viewing angles but are all for incredibly fast refresh rate screens. Then you have people that are willing to chuck down 1500 to 2000 bucks for a monitor, others go "hell nooo" and find their limit at 300 USD. It's all these variables that make choosing the right monitor very difficult and subjective, let alone recommend one. What ASUS offers here purely seen from a hardware point of view and sheer design, is pron for geeks. Majestic looks, ROG logo projections and a monitor that simply draws all the attention in the room. When you add features to that like 3860x2160 pixels, a monitor that can do 144Hz and a GSYNC module hey, it's slowly getting a bit .. erotic?  And then that buzzword of the year 2018, HDR. Then 384 local dimming zones, color accuracy, Wide color gamut with Quantum Dots yeah, it is easily being swayed towards this chunk of hardware. 

Yeah, that is all pron; until you run into the price and suddenly that bubble will burst. 2000 USD or 2700 EUR, is what you need to hand over to be able to grab one of these puppies. For that kind of cash, this monitor simply needs to be perfect, and that, unfortunately, it is not.

The Negatives

You know, I am still trying to understand why this monitor needs to cost that kind of cash? The most I have ever paid for a monitor was 1200 EUR. So this kind of cash is way out of my comfort zone. Granted it's Ultra HD / HDR / 144 Hz, but we mentioned it a couple of times already, it's only at 27". Imho this should have been a 30~32" screen. That said, the 27" format is extremely comfortable on the eyes and neither was I bothered by scaling, Windows 10 does that well these days. So economically it makes more sense to go for 2560x1440 / 3440×1440. Pop in a GSYNC module and you'd sit in a 500 to 750 EUR range, right? 

There are two other caveats with the monitor, the color compression thing is a nag, but remains to be just that. At this price and quality level, there should not be any need for compromises. However, it's the result of DisplayPort 1.4, it is nothing that NVIDIA, ASUS or AOC could have done differently, or have prevented. This is 1st gen pioneering hardware driven to its maximum, within its segment, we need an improved DP connector standard and accompanying graphics cards that go along with it. Only then monitors can get the issue solved. For gaming it's a fair compromise, you're not going to notice it, trust me as the image quality is brilliant. In desktop usage, however, it will bug the living daylight out of you as you can see weird discoloration in the fonts. If bothered by it, your best alternative is to set up your monitor in 98 Hz, and all enforced compromises are gone, but now you had to make one (compromise). Yes, you did pay 2700 EUR to play in 144 Hz right? That's the compromise. My last nag is the stupid active ventilator. While not at a level that is annoying, you can hear it. Surely at this price level, ASUS could have used a bigger fan that you cannot hear?

The Positives

Never ever have I seen a gaming monitor so nice and bright with such dynamic in colors. HDR is dripping off your screen when the game supports it. It is the best I have seen, ever. So is it for you? Well, the needs, desires, and requirements differ per person. I can tell you though, it's such a good display. You can tweak the color output to your preference, it's razor sharp in image quality and fast with its 98 / 120 / 144 Hz refresh rate. On the NVIDIA side, GSYNC is just lovely, it'll kick in for the full Hz range, below 30 FPS it'll start to double up frames, LFC. That high refresh rate then, you set aside the color compression thing, 144Hz is a personal thing, for a generic majority of people 60 Hz screens are more than sufficient, true gamers like 144 Hz, especially fast ones with really low response times is gaming nirvana. And sure, it does make a substantial difference but that difference comes with a price tag. The trend, I happily agree with, is slowly moving towards 144Hz becoming a new standard norm and the PG27UQ does an excellent job at it - faster is better - but it also requires the corresponding expensive hardware, of course. The ASUS PG27UQ offers good response times even at 144 Hz, most AHVA panels sit at around 4~5ms. We measured this value at roughly 4ms (MPRT), however, we cannot measure it precisely or broadly, please do visit some colleagues that offer a more in-depth insight on this.

Overall

ASUS is offering a very compelling product with the PG27UQ, the performance seems really good, it also offers exceptionally good contrast, color precision, and viewing angles. With 384 local dimming zones I was hard-pressed to spot any blooming, I can say little negative about it. The screen offers nice black-levels and contrast, display quality and color precision overall. In SDR we normally see 350cd/m2 in whites, which is pretty spot on, we reached 600cd/m2, but once you are in HDR mode brightness can peak higher at a notch over 1000cd/m2. HDR is terrific if the game supports it well enough; FFXV offers great HDR, Battlefield 1 really looks crisper, F1 2017 offers more contrast but lacked a little in color and Far Cry 5 was eye-searing. For HDR movies and series or your 10-bit Windows 10 desktop, no... just no. If you like to watch HDR movies and series, invest in a proper HDR Ultra HD TV and run Netflix / Amazon Prime in HDR from the smart TV apps. On a PC (IMHO) it's just not worth the effort, time and irritation trying to get things working, this is a gaming monitor, use it as such. 

HDR aside, of course, it also is an excellent SDR panel, once games and Windows properly support HDR, that's when you are ready on the HDR side of things. For gaming, right now it'll be hit and miss currently with some exceptions here and there. The games that do properly get support honestly bring in more detail with a dynamic range that will make your game more immersive, seeing is believing. Power consumption will sit in the 55 Watt range but can peak over 100 Watts, especially with bright HDR scenes. In standby mode, the monitor uses roughly 0.3 Watts, and if you leave the ROG projections on, that's good for 5 watts continuous in standby mode.

The Verdict

Right, you might as well grab a coffee, this conclusion will be a lengthy one. What a beauty, but sure .. beauty these days comes at a price of 1999 USD or 2700 EUR. For that money, you receive a monitor that ticks a lot right boxes with Ultra HD, high refresh rates and of course HDR with a proper 384 dimming zones assist. Regardless of all that sweet 'n good, I am a bit in doubt whether or not to recommend this monitor. See for that insane kind of cash, your monitor needs to be perfect, mint, exceptional. And while it is a damn good monitor (it really is), it remains to be limited towards that HDMI 2.0 and DP 1.4 connectors and their accompanying bandwidth.

See, after spending the cash, you immediately need to make a compromise as the screen reverts to either color compression (144 Hz) or 8-bit (120 Hz)  at anything above 98 Hz. It's not that the panel cannot handle it, but the main limitation is signal bandwidth over its main connector, DisplayPort 1.4. The bandwidth DisplayPort 1.4 offers is too narrow drive a 4k resolution at 144 Hz combined with HDR. To bypass that, the screen monitor signal reverts to 4:2:2 chroma subsampling. In games, you will not see it, in Windows desktop mode the first time you see it will be a WTF moment. Are you willing to compromise to 98 Hz with that 2700 EUR you've just spend? That is my main worry here. So yes, that's a dilemma. Personally, I would advise waiting for a generation until both the graphics cards and monitors can manage 144 Hz @ Ultra HD HDR, and read that wisely, both the GPU and monitor need to support it. For that, you need HDMI 2.1 or DisplayPort in a newer revision. Say DP 1.5, but I haven't even seen a spec for that just yet - so really the shortest route is HDMI 2.1 or DisplayPort 1.4 in a new revision. How bad is it image quality wise? Here's the thing, the PG27UQ is 27-inches, and that screen diagonal does work in its advantage as the pixel density is so high at that relatively small panel size. The bigger a screen gets, the more you would notice color compression. Come to think of it, this is going to be a BIG challenge for the upcoming 65-inch NVIDIA based Big Format Gaming displays.

Back to the PG27UQ though, personally, I can see the difference, however, I need to look hard for it and I do have a trained eye. So, honestly, the generic gamer will likely never notice it. However, at this price level, we're not talking about generic gamers, are we? It's a call you need to make. If you didn't know about all this would you see it? Well, yes in desktop mode .. but if you switch from say 60 Hz to 144 Hz in your game you need to look damn hard with trained eyes though. My advice, check out the monitor on a store, test it yourself, look for it. 9 out of 10 folks won't notice it.

Right, I'll leave that topic for what it is as I think I have shared enough about the Achilles heel of this monitor series. Remember though and please understand that this is an exceptionally good monitor regardlessly. Yes, the PG27UQ is truly is a proper good gaming monitor that ticks the most boxes. I like local dimming, I love that has 384 zones of them. I looked hard and had a hard time spotting any blooming. In a brightly white-lit area and dark background you I could see a tiny bit of blooming with a white mouse pointer in that area. But I am truly nitpicking here. As mentioned, for Ultra HD, I feel a screen size at 30 inches or higher would be better suited. At 27" the pixel density is so dense that 2560x1440 could be more than sufficient as well. It's the same idea as your smartphone, did you know that Samsung modified the resolution of your Galaxy S7 / S8 Smartphone from 2560x1440 towards 1920x1080 for reasons of energy consumption? Do you notice a difference? Probably not, and that is pixel density. There are so many pixels in such a small space that your eyes cannot tell a difference anymore. Looking at it from another side, 27-inch is a very comfortable format to have on your desktop for gaming, but I would settle for 2560x1440 just as well, which would be able to do 4:4:4 144 Hz and HDR and is cheaper, and will require fewer graphics rendering performance ;)

The combination of G-Sync, 144 Hz and a whopping 1000 nits for your HDR experience is staggering to see. Colors feel vibrant and dynamic as color ranges become boosted and dynamic. It really does make a very nice difference. However, you do need to realize that there are only a few gaming titles available, and yes you are bound to run into compatibility issues with HDR, it's often the content. We need more properly developed HDR games and some pretty huge improvements and advancements in Windows 10. The upside, you are HDR ready with a screen that already offers really good SDR quality and performance. Color reproduction is good, screen uniformity is damn good.

ASUS gives the monitor just one Displayport 1.4 and HDMI 2.0b connector as well as the USB 3.0 hub with two ports. I would like to see more source inputs. From an aesthetics point of view, the screen looks fantastic, the bezels, however, are on the thick side. You will need to like the ROG style and the ROG logo being projected at the bottom and top side (which can be turned off as well). The all new and very cool local dimming zones, (yes 384 of them!) bring beautiful contrast levels towards this panel, here however that same technology also causes a bit of lag, the panel is rated at 15~16ms. Most can live with that, but we know a lot of hardcore gamers, simply cannot accept that value. 

During our tests, HDR gaming worked well, but in Ultra HD we realized that high refresh rates and FPS will require some serious horsepower inside that PC to be able to deal with that, yes an expensive high-end GeForce graphics card is mandatory for this monitor. HDR content enabled games albeit here for some time now are still in development. HDR on your Windows Desktop is messy for movie and series playback. For games that do support it, it works well and is breathtaking to look at. One more note, yes these monitors require active cooling, there is a ventilator inside the monitor! You can only slightly hear it though. Final words, the ROG Swift PG27UQ is an amazing product which you'll like very much given the right graphics horsepower. The technology as is in 2018 however still feels like it's in early development stages. If anything the bandwidth requirements needed on DP and HDMI proof that point. For those that are willing to compromise just that little bit, the monitor will be perfect. However, it's a tough call to make, being an early adopter in this price segment. For that, we need to give ASUS some kudos as overall this has been the best monitor we've ever had our hands on and as such personally I would be willing to make that compromise of 98 Hz. All my comments and allergic reaction to price aside will still make me hand out a top pick award. The monitor as product and design all by itself is incredibly sweet, and the panel quality is out of this world, go watch it in a store as only then you'll understand what I am trying to say.

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