ASUS ROG Swift PG278Q G-SYNC Monitor Review
by Chris Heinonen & Jarred Walton on February 13, 2015 10:00 AM ESTBrightness and Contrast
Set to maximum output, the ASUS ROG can output up to 352 cd/m2 with a 50% APL pattern. This is far too bright for night time use, but will work well to overcome reflections and lights during the day. Setting the brightness down to the minimum level the output falls to 45 cd/m2. This level is actually very good as it is sufficiently dim for a completely dark room, but not so dim as to be unusable. For any environment, the ROG has a level of backlight flexibility that will work for you.
Black levels are pretty good for a TN panel with the ROG. At the maximum backlight we see 0.3916 cd/m2 of light using a black 50% APL pattern. Going to the minimum backlight level this falls down to 0.0516 cd/m2. As always we use APL patterns because they prevent the screen from completely turning off the backlight to trick the test, and it is more like the real world than a full field pattern is.
The contrast ratios these readings produce are between 882:1 and 901:1. For a TN panel, I think these are pretty good overall. IPS and especially VA panels can do better, but for TN the numbers are solid.
The ASUS ROG has good flexibility for a the backlight and produces good overall results for brightness levels and contrast ratios.
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RandomUser13 - Friday, February 13, 2015 - link
Friday the 13th and this is the first comment, great!Great review by the way.
TerdFerguson - Sunday, February 15, 2015 - link
C'mon, the review started with "The ASUS Republic of Gamers (ROG) line includes everything you want for building a high-end gaming." How can anyone trust a review that contains drivel worse than a press release?Jaaap - Sunday, February 15, 2015 - link
Yes. For building *a* high-end gaming PC.Not for building the best or the cheapest or whatever.
It's a statement about the completeness of the line-up.
Antronman - Sunday, February 15, 2015 - link
Because it's true since it's ASUS' top-end product line?Anon Zero - Friday, November 27, 2015 - link
And the winner for "Most Asinine Comment IS...(drumroll)QuantumPion - Friday, February 13, 2015 - link
I tried buying an ROG Swift and really liked the panel's speed, color, and g-sync. However I went through 4 monitors, all defective, before finally giving up. One monitor was utterly damaged (cracked LCD panel). The other 3 had extremely bad color calibration with gamma as low as 1.6, making everything extremely washed out and looking worse than a low end budget LCD from 2005. The gamma was so far off that attempting to calibrate it caused terrible color banding and white/black crushing.Inglix - Friday, February 13, 2015 - link
It took me four months and 5 monitors to get a non-defective one.I've since had a nightmare where it fails with red lines down the middle. Asus RMA support reportedly ships them back in a back in a normal cardboard box with one piece of crushed paper to protect it.
cknobman - Friday, February 13, 2015 - link
Pay the Nvidia tax, lolNo thanks G-SYNC is not worth an extra $400 for a crappy TN panel.
PlugPulled - Friday, February 13, 2015 - link
i got to agree with you. But its the best TN panel out there for 144hz with 3d vision and Gsync. Can't get lower response time on IPS.yefi - Friday, February 13, 2015 - link
No longer the case. Acer XB270HU - 144Hz IPS.