ASUS ROG Swift PG278Q G-SYNC Monitor Review
by Chris Heinonen & Jarred Walton on February 13, 2015 10:00 AM ESTDisplay Uniformity
The ASUS ROG display is a bit dim at the top of the display. Overall light levels fall close to 20% compared to the center of the screen. The lower-right corner also has as issue here, as light output falls up to 16% compared to the center. The center of the display is very good overall for light output, just the top 20% and the lower-right corner are dim.
Thankfully the black uniformity shows the same issues here, with drops in black level in the same areas that white level falls. This will provide blacker-blacks here, but more importantly it keeps the contrast ratios similar across the screen. Blacker-blacks are always good, but it could lead to a bit of shadow crush if the backlight is too low for the gamma curve and black floor.
Contrast uniformity is very even across the display. The lowest contrast ratio is 777:1 and the maximum is 947:1 with a median value of 865:1. This is very close to the center measurement so while parts of the screen have an issue with the backlight not being bright enough, overall the uniformity between black and white is good.
The biggest issue is with color uniformity. Since the dE2000 reading takes into account the luminance level of the color, this light fall-off causes the error levels to rise around the screen. The center of the screen is very good, but the top and lower-right cause the median dE2000 error to rise up to 1.65 with an overall average error of 2.15. This certainly isn’t up to the levels of a professional display, but is in line with a gaming display right now. Again, fine for gaming but not for photos.
The ASUS ROG has some definite issues with backlight uniformity that manifest themselves through being too dim at the top and lower-right. This causes a rise in the dE2000 errors for colors as the luminance is too low. The center of the screen, where you’ll look most, is nice and uniform but overall the display is just fair here.
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shonferg - Monday, February 16, 2015 - link
I found the article here on AndandTech that gave me the impression that G-sync can do self-refresh:http://www.anandtech.com/show/7582/nvidia-gsync-re...
"You can only do so much with VBLANK manipulation though. In present implementations the longest NVIDIA can hold a single frame is 33.3ms (30Hz). If the next frame isn’t ready by then, the G-Sync module will tell the display to redraw the last frame."
"Game/hardware/settings combinations that result in frame rates below 30 fps will exhibit stuttering since the G-Sync display will be forced to repeat frames"
Of course, that article was about first gen, pre-release hardware, and I don't know if things have changed since that initial article.
But if that's still the way it works, it sounds like it will only kick in if the frame rate is below 30 fps, and even then it's kind of dumb in that it waits the full 33 ms before re-showing the previous frame. So if the next frame is ready moments later, it will have to wait for the next refresh, causing a stutter.
Unfortunately, it sounds like it wasn't doing anything smart like noticing frame rate is falling lower than a certain threshold and then doubling the frame rate to prevent the possibility of flicker and stutter. Seems like it needs the ability for the GPU to send a "redraw the last frame now" command for situations like that so that frame refresh can be doubled without doubling bandwidth requirements.
GameLifter - Friday, February 13, 2015 - link
I got this monitor at launch and I'm still loving it. G-Sync is incredible, ULMB is incredible, the higher refresh rate makes a noticeable difference, and the color quality is very good for a TN panel. Heck, better than any TN panel I've seen.However, I did notice a dead pixel towards the top of the screen recently. It's not bad but I hope more don't start to show up. Back light uniformity is sub par but it's not very noticeable to me unless I have my lights off and the screen is black or a darker color.
Overall I'm very pleased with this monitor and hopefully higher refresh rate panels and VRR technology become the norm.
pandemonium - Saturday, February 14, 2015 - link
May as well remove the Input Lag from the reviews until you can produce some results for that. Every time I see that I get disappointed because that's a key metric for me.cheinonen - Saturday, February 14, 2015 - link
It's only missing on monitors that are DisplayPort only, which has only been the G-Sync models to this point. If we left the section out without the explanation, it would cause far more comments.wyewye - Saturday, February 14, 2015 - link
Why are you reviewing an year old stuff?What do you have to add compared to the other gazillion reviews of ROG Swift out there?
Apparently nothing.
Nothing about latency or input lag on a gaming monitor review.
Really pathetic.
Whats going on with you AnandTech? Severe budget cuts?
cheinonen - Saturday, February 14, 2015 - link
Input lag was addressed in the piece. Since the ROG Swift runs at a resolution beyond a CRT, and has no HDMI input for a lag tester, there is no way to generate a reliable number for lag. I've seen numbers for it that indicate under 5ms when using SMTT, but SMTT stopped issuing licenses and ours expired, so I cannot use it to test anymore. If you have a way to measure the input lag that is reliable and accurate and works with DisplayPort, we'd love to know.Slowking - Saturday, February 14, 2015 - link
"Why are you reviewing an year old stuff?"I clicked on the article half hoping it contained more information on a forthcoming cheaper version of the Swift.
Achaios - Saturday, February 14, 2015 - link
Honestly, I cannot see a difference between 60 Hz and 144 Hz, which leads me to assume that: 1. Either my eyes are defective or 2. Those who claim to see a difference between 60Hz and 144 Hz are lying.snuuggles - Saturday, February 14, 2015 - link
It's not your eyes, it's your brain. I guess it could be like being colorblind or something. In a way, it's an advantage to you because you'll never need to bother spending money on something like this :)Murloc - Saturday, February 14, 2015 - link
it's like being an audio peasant, you spare lots of money if you're content with desktop speakers.I've never tried a 144Hz monitor so the jury is still out for me.