Conclusion

Final Words & Verdict

If you desire something big and phat as a monitor, then your prayers have been heard. And while I am not at all claiming this monitor to be perfect, ASUS manages to keep any deficits under control really well. It's powerful and bright, but due to the nature of it's led system you can see a tiny bit of bleeding with the screen all lit up. Some are bothered by that, others not so much, personally I fit that last category. This is an issue that will never be solved unless it would have been OLED or would have had hundreds of separately dimmed zones.  As a HUGE gaming monitor, this display ticks the right boxes, proper HDR brightness levels closing in at a 1000 nits, there are no Croma subsampling deficits, as DSC really works well. We also understand that DSC is something that a certain category of end-users seems to hate, hey it's a compression stream right? Yeah, but your 320kbit MP3 file is also compressed, can you hear the difference there? No, I am a firm believer that DCS is a proper way to deal with bandwidth issues as it instantly eradicated the issues we noticed with chroma subsampled color compressed desktop quality. At 144 Hz and this screen is refreshing 144 times each second at a resolution of 3840x2160 with HDR (10-bit). That's quite a lot to deal with, then the 144 Hz refresh rate with a 43" screen is something else as well. We like the fact that the screen can handle Adaptive Sync also. Now, I like HDR for gaming, really I do. So as a gaming monitor with what we think is roughly 900 nits you can see dynamic colors and bright imagery. The base design of the monitor is good, sturdy build, a good mount and it looks nice as well. Included are a handy remote control and the logo projector. That last one is a bit weird, as you need to install it separately, and that means a wire leading inwards to the monitor. Why isn't is built into the display?

Is this the screen for you? 

Honestly, you need to be damn sure that you want a screen of this size, as it is BIG. I could not, would not want to recommend it sitting on your desk, as even when gaming it can get uncomfortable due to its size. I do not mean the pixel density, as that is totally in balance, but the sheer size from top to bottom and left to right, sitting at that 40cm away is just uncomfortable.

Now I do see this monitor more in an environment where you have a game room with a couch, connecting consoles, and your PC. But as a desktop monitor, I could never recommend this. Needs, desires, and requirements differ per person and that means this also is a subjective personal statement to make. Aside from that remark, it is a lovely screen though, not perfect but it ticks the right boxes in colors, uniformity, and matches gaming needs with UHD and that fast 144 Hz refresh rate none color compressed thanks to DSC. That high refresh rate then, 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. To me, 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 monitor does an excellent job at it - faster is better - but it also requires the corresponding expensive hardware, of course. The ASUS PG43UQ offers good response times even at 144 Hz, most VA panels sit a bit higher though we cannot measure it precisely or broadly, please do visit some colleagues that offer more in-depth insight on this. HDR aside, of course, it also is an excellent SDR panel as well, once games and Windows properly support HDR, that's when you are keener on the HDR side of things. For gaming, right now it'll still 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 80 Watt range but can peak over 125 Watts, especially with bright HDR scenes. In standby mode, the monitor uses roughly 0.9 Watts, and if you leave the ROG projections on, that's good for extra wattage continuous in standby mode.

The Verdict

Monitor conclusions are always a notch subjective, as the needs and requirements for any perform, workload, gaming and even setting are different for each person. The PG43UQ is going to serve a specific audience. As stated, this is not a monitor to work on sitting at your desk. The pixel density is terrific, the screen simply is big. In a nice game room sitting on a couch with a bit of distance from the display, that's where the magic happens. Superb screen brightness, Ultra HD, HDR, 144 Hz, and DCS are a huge plus for the fast pacing gamers. Extras are nice adaptive sync ranges (48-144Hz ) for GSYNC and FreeSYNC and proper panel uniformity and colors. The downside, of course, is pricing, currently, you can purchase this PG43UQ unit for 1500 EUR/USD. And for that money, you can perhaps pick up two Ultra HD TVs. These will not have such high HDR Nit values or DCS and also the big price premium is to be found at that 144 Hz capability.

The thing I am about to tell you right now will be a bit confusing, while I have been evangelizing Display Stream Compression technology throughout the review, you will not feel a need for it for gaming or movies. The previous monitors we tested that we said needed DSC are monitors you place on your desk. You need DSC in desktop mode (windows), that's where you see the problem with discolored fonts, etc. In games and movies, you will never notice that. 

Given the fact that the PG43UQ is a monitor that pretty much cannot be used as a desktop monitor, it becomes a less relevant feature (as good as it is and works). So that makes the price premium harder to justify. Then again, it's a feature you cannot complain about either. That said and done, gaming on this monitor really is lovely, proper quality and sure, not a local dimming one but certainly more than sufficient enough for the majority of gamers. During our tests, HDR gaming worked well, but in Ultra HD we also quickly realize 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 graphics card is mandatory for this monitor. HDR content-enabled games albeit here for some time now are still in active development but do see more support. HDR on your Windows Desktop is still messy for movies and series playback. For games that do support it, it works well and is breathtaking to look at.

We like to hand out ASUS some love as overall for releasing a monitor of the large caliber. We have little to complain about it if you place it in a gaming room and sit on couch playing games, you'll enjoy the rich image quality and fast refreshing screen. We respect that it has DSC as a premium feature, for gaming, not a must; for desktop usage it however is. We feel it's a much-needed feature on a lot of monitors though. The price, however, is steep. Regardless we'll recommend it, as gaming on it really is a nice experience that brings a smile to your face. 

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