Asus ROG Strix XG27VQ 27 inch Full HD 144Hz Curved Gaming Monitor (FreeSync™)

Asus ROG Strix XG27VQ 27 inch Full HD 144Hz Curved Gaming Monitor (FreeSync™)

Features:

• 27 inch 1800R curved gaming monitor with ultra-fast 144Hz refresh rate designed for professional gamers and MOBA aficionados
• Features ASUS Extreme Low Motion Blur (ELMB) Technology with 1ms MPRT to further reduce ghosting and motion blur
• ROG Strix XG Series gaming monitors feature ASUS Aura RGB lighting on the back and a customizable light signature projection for gaming-inspired aesthetics
• Features an ergonomically designed stand to offer extensive swivel, tilt, and height adjustment
• Supports both Adaptive-Sync with NVIDIA GeForce* graphics cards and FreeSync with AMD Radeon graphics cards *Compatible with NVIDIA GeForce GTX 10 series, GTX 16 series, RTX 20 series and newer graphics cards

Asus ROG Strix XG27VQ Monitor Review

The Asus ROG STRIX XG27VQ treads a fine line between showmanship and useful functionality. The beautiful styling and head-turning details would be merely a veneer, if Asus hadn't got a very impressive display to mount inside this beast.

For the serious PC gamer, an ordinary monitor just won’t cut it. The high frame rates that modern GPUs can generate tend to cause screen tearing at standard refresh rates, impacting on the fluidity of fast-paced action.

The Asus ROG STRIX XG27VQ is a potential answer to that problem, providing up to 144Hz and variable refresh rate through FreeSync. If you play lots of PC games, have an AMD video card and some cash burning a hole in your pocket, the new Asus ROG STRIX XG27VQ might be just for you.

Performance

Tested with a Spyder5 Datacolor Calibrator, our analysis returned numbers that are remarkably close to those Asus is quoting.

The sRGB gamut is an impressive 96 percent, even if Adobe RGB is only 75 percent represented. In short, you get lots of hues, just not exactly the ones that anyone working in colour design might enjoy.

The default Gamma tracks the 1.8 profile reasonably closely, although it is probably nearer to 1.7 if we’re splitting hairs.

At a 100 percent brightness setting the screen outputs 296cd/m², almost exactly the 300 cd/m² Asus put in the specifications. The static contrast ratio is 930:1, which is about a third of what Asus quotes, but still decent.

We’re rapidly coming to the view that the Spyder5 sensor can’t detect the darkest contrast settings offered by the newest VA panels, and therefore underscores the contrast. If true, Asus’s numbers, like their brightness values, may well be spot on.

In gaming use the performance is excellent. Asus included all manner of special modes that you can quickly access from the menu that enhance the experience, irrespective of how you are using the screen.

There are seven modes including; Scenery, Racing, Cinema, RTS/RPG, FPS, sRGB, MOBA and User Mode. These modes can tweak the screen settings in subtle ways. The FPS mode reveals more shadow detail, and MOBA mode makes any HUD elements brighter. Whatever types of games you like, one of them should be appropriate. And if none are, you can access User Mode to fashion a custom one.

The caveat with these features is that most people have a fire-and-forget mentality to display configuration, and Asus has considered that dilemma.

Their solution is the Asus DisplayWidget, a PC application that also works with this monitor and their MG24UQ, MG28UQ and MG248Q models.

It enables the user to define what mode you’d like to see with specific applications, and have the system automatically change when you fire up a game or Photoshop, for example.

This app is certainly worth downloading and installing from Asus if only to automatically reduce the blue light levels when you’re in desktop mode.

Curved displays are a personal preference. The 1800R curve on this one is rather severe, and for it to be perceived as being flat, the viewer needs to be at least 5ft away. Sitting that far back seems to undermine buying a 27in screen, logically. Sit closer though, and it’s a bit like having you’re a personal IMAX cinema.

For all the things that Asus put in this design, there is one glaring omission. Why didn’t they include a USB hub? Given how this one item helps gamers by allowing them to reduce cable clutter, it seems bizarre that didn’t include one.