Reviews - Asus ROG Swift PG278Q

[HEXUS]

The best gaming monitor around?

Read more.

[Tunnah]

I like the idea of this technology, and while you make good points for having the technology, I fear it may conflict with the type of user who may purchase this.

You say that people with a card that crunches in the range of 40-60fps would benefit from this tech the most. However it is a very high end product, reflected in the price, and anyone who would fork out that sort of money for a monitor would also be the type of person who runs high end graphics; they would buy this screen for visual fidelity in gaming above all other scenarios, and it stands to reason that they would also invest in their graphics cards with similar aplomb.

I personally run 2 GTX670s, cards that still crank out 60fps with settings maxed at 1200p, even 2 years down the line. They cost £660 but at the time knew it was at least a 3+ year investment (knowing that it would be a higher spec monitor that would be causing me the next upgrade, something I'd never previously thought, until now graphics could always get beefier, was a great time to be aliiiive! But I digress). How does this monitor compare to another monitor at 60fps ? If it's not much of an improvement, dropping that sort of cash now might not seem such a good idea, as I could have a 4k screen, or go in a different direction and upgrade my TV for gaming (some games just suit 50" over fidelity).

Also, upgrading to 4k means having to upgrade cards; I'd rather pour acid in my eyes than play a game with less than maximum settings (note to self: don't test that theory), so if it came down to it I think I'd rather have a bigger screen and know I'm keeping to 60fps.

Of course I don't expect this to be a shared opinion; from people I've spoke to, there is such a division when it comes to the idea of monitor vs TV gaming.

[aidanjt]

I'd echo that sentiment. Although I'd still like a 4K IPS monitor with G-Sync, even if it were just limited to 60Hz, G-Sync can take the pain away from below 60fps framerates, and I can always drop the resolution down to 2K in game to keep the framerates from dropping below 30fps.

[Sy7ygy]

Stopped reading at TN.

[aidanjt]

Stopped reading at TN.

Only TN runs at 144Hz. Admittedly 144Hz isn't quite as necessary with G-Sync, but Asus were making the ultimate high refresh, low latency gaming monitor, not a workstation-grade colour-perfect monitor, which can't keep up with TN performance. So ruling out TN out-of-hand is silly.

[DemonHighwayman]

Stopped reading at TN.

lol, same here ! £649 almost stopped me reading - for a gaming monitor that seems a tad high, i'd think that is more in a professional price range but they wouldn't bother with TN the Pro's.

[MickyTek]

I would never ever touch any thing ROG badged ever again after having a Striker II extreme mother board ever again, let me re frase that 4 X Striker II extreme mother boards, Rog are nothing more than a con and nothing about quality or support oh yeah Asus support has to be the worst support in the world, one retailer friend of mine in Tottenham court road in London has 62 Asus motherboards that Asus just keep trying to worm their way out of replacing under warranty. I now have and only use EVGA and only will now use EVGA 100% perfect support and immediate swap out on any faulty kit, Asus and ROG are two of the biggest rip off cowboys in the industry and its about time the Courts stood up and dealt with these Cowboys.

[aidanjt]

...Asus...

I have a 7 year old P5B-E Plus, and a 4 year old Rampage II Gene, both working perfectly, and I only recently stripped down a 10 year old P4C800-E Deluxe based machine, which also worked perfectly for far longer than a computer could ever be practically useful in an interactive capacity. The one thing all 3 have in common is Intel chipsets. You got an nForce-based board, and got nForce reliability. It happens. I got an EVGA Z87 Stinger this time around, and I'm not happy with its firmware, and I'm looking to replace it with an Asus Maximus VII Impact whenever it's released precisely because Asus do build good quality and reliable boards with a well developed firmware.

[Spreadie]

Dress it up any way you like, you're still paying the lion's share of £700 for a 1440p TN panel.

Not. Flippin'. Likely.

[m_kinder]

When quoting viewing angles as a negative point on this monitor I feel you are kind of missing the point. This is clearly a product aimed at gamers and i'm yet to meet anyone who plays in any other position other than straight on. Also, having a refresh rate higher than 60fps with G-Sync is perfectly fine with me as again this is aimed at gamers so if you dial down a few settings and get 80fps your screen would run at 80Hz with no tearing and you'd have a 20Hz advantage over the majority of players (and believe me higher hz makes a massive difference). If you play FPS on line, have never used a higher than 60hz monitor and are ready to dismiss TN panels than I'm afraid you are missing out as I'd trade colour reproduction and viewing angles for smoothness and reduction in any kind of gaming display lag any day.

[Wiczy]

I'm afraid that price is absolutely disgusting. I enjoy gaming, but I don't need a £700 TN panel to do it on. Not to mention it's an Asus, and no doubt comes with their dire customer service.

I'll have forgotten all about it by bedtime

[Gambler FEX onl]

We manually set it to 85Hz in the Asus on-screen control panel and put a GTX Titan Black into the machine. Decreasing quality settings a touch, ULMB, arguably, does reduce motion blur.

Maybe you should have tried 120hz and ULMB the effect should be much better. Try a game that is a couple year old or dial down the settings some more. I'd trade aa, high shadows and shaders to get 100+ fps any day.

When quoting viewing angles as a negative point on this monitor I feel you are kind of missing the point. This is clearly a product aimed at gamers and i'm yet to meet anyone who plays in any other position other than straight on. Also, having a refresh rate higher than 60fps with G-Sync is perfectly fine with me as again this is aimed at gamers so if you dial down a few settings and get 80fps your screen would run at 80Hz with no tearing and you'd have a 20Hz advantage over the majority of players (and believe me higher hz makes a massive difference). If you play FPS on line, have never used a higher than 60hz monitor and are ready to dismiss TN panels than I'm afraid you are missing out as I'd trade colour reproduction and viewing angles for smoothness and reduction in any kind of gaming display lag any day.

I agree with kinder, for many people 120hz can be a huge upgrade not only for the games but also for the desktop. If you haven't seen a 120hz monitor yet you should! Just don't use Windows 8.1 to do so, the usb polling is broken there.

I'm afraid that price is absolutely disgusting. I enjoy gaming, but I don't need a £700 TN panel to do it on. Not to mention it's an Asus, and no doubt comes with their dire customer service.

I'll have forgotten all about it by bedtime

The TN panel should be very good for a TN
youtu.be slash EgquRkMHgwE

So ULMB, g-sync and 1440hz might not have such a bad tradeoff, and this is the first ever 1440p 27" gaming monitor. But yes the Asus forums and their support system is poor.

[mustaffaleek]

£649 for a non-4K monitor is pretty steep.

[Aftershock]

Im sure there is a market for this, but I prefer to sit back on the Sofa with steam big picture and play on my 50" TV... Wasn't there talk of Gsync adaptors for normal monitors?

[Mullet]

Any other Swift owners had trouble with text blur?



And in another application:

[Tunnah]

Ouch. Yeah I had some issues returning my graphics card, I went back and forward for over 2 months online, but then got in touch through facebook and someone got back to me.

However my case was a tad different, I no longer had the receipt and the shop had closed down (although the product hadn't been out for 3 years anyway so it had to be in warranty), so I have to pay a £20 "handling fee", which frankly I'm fine with if it means getting the card fixed/replaced.

It's the first Asus part I've ever had to return though and I've used them for about a decade (2 PCs updated semi-regular, so probably 5 motherboards & 8 graphics cards).