Review: ASUS ROG STRIX XG279Q Gaming monitor

I swear they rehash this monitor every year. Same 27” 1440p WQHD IPS panel.

 

Hello,
Hilbert Hagedoorn, can you pretty please post monitor settings and calibration .icc file? I'd be thankful forever

 

Is this monitor using the same panel as the MG279Q ? Wonder how quality control is these days. QC was not really good when the MG279Q was released and the pictures of crazy backlight bleed still makes me think twice before buying one.

 

That's a monitor from 2015, I'm 99% sure they moved on to newer panels. Especially at this price point

 

I don't get this obsession with 27" monitors! 32-34-36-40inch monitors please! My LG 32" 1440p is good but I can notice that sort of old CRT block like image. Noticable on RDR2 in the snow

I just want a 32" IPS, 144Hz, 2160 or 1440p, HDR, G-Sync NONE CURVED! God I hate those things... Job done! But alwasy 27"? Tech is going backwards

 

I think the obsession with 27" is that on most desks a 32" is huge.
Really huge, and not many people have a gaming only desk, is usually work + desk on a room that is already shared for some other task other than working + gaming.

 

Too small, too expensive.

 

@Jamethe80sman ....32" all the way ! but I think 32 on a flat panel with be ugly as hell .... so the curve does help ! ! !
@asturur ... my personal sweet spot is 32 , for now I own a 24" and I want to upgrade ... 27 is to little and above 32 is JUST a TV for me ... so I must stop at 32 or max 34'' ...
As you mention ... not many ppl own a PC just for gaming ... but for me ( maybe only for me ) this is my relaxation spot .. some go fishing , some hiking ... some love cars . But after work I just want an hour to play a little ( or to Acad / Catia ) on some projects.

 

If they can fix that weird, what looks like a bend in the centre of the screen due to the curve then yeah I could get on board. But I'm a man who moves around a lot on my chair (nice big office comfy chair). but just sitting in the same position hour after hour can become a little stale if you know what I mean. And the curve will be come more prominent on a 32" if I do that and it's not something I want for a 500 monitor. On a flat monitor it still looks fantastic specially if you get it to the right distance. I know some will say then what's the point but 32" is just always better than 27. And that's why I want a 32" IPS panel were there won't be any problems with blacked out edges and you can put it as close to your face as you like and you'll lose no detail...

 

The Samsung 32" 144Hz 1440p monitor might be right for you. You can't adjust the height but some aren't too bothered about that. But everyone seems to love...

 

Was it mentioned what sort of back-lighting tech is used on this monitor? I mean is it single backlit or edge lit? I know its definitely not proper full array back lit (even with just a few zones).

I think monitor manufacturers are really pulling a fast one for last few years... shoveling old technology (a 400 nit backlit IPS panel is donkeys years old). They used the "fast refresh" overdrive as an excuse to pull a few more years out of the old cheap tech.

By now they should be giving us a 200+ zone full array backlit panel which is at least 800 nits - or even better an OLED panel - for these sorts of prices.

To me this monitor sounds like poor colour, terrible gamma, fake HDR, fake GSync in a fancy plastic backcover which nobody ever sees up against a wall.

When will we get reasonable priced OLED or MicroLED monitors?? \rant

 

Monitor's are in a very odd spot, least for me. there is no real change or progression right now with a lot of them. and the ones that are showing some progression although minor, are being thrown massive expensive price tags to them. This is almost the same monitor I bought 5 years ago from Asus with an extra 5 hz attached, and a feature but being sold at the same price? few other bits and bobs under the hood I understand but why are monitors being priced so highly?

TV's you see drop their prices and the cheaper models get the good stuff, Ended up getting a LG C9 for £1300, which has all the bells and whistles 120hz, 4k, OLED, HDR10. then you get stuff like this for £600 which is missing so many features, even the new LG monitor also annouced on here has less features or worse features and is currently being priced more expensive than the TV I just bought from the same company. I'd say response time is still a big thing for monitors but OLED's have done some crazy stuff with that making the normal benefit of monitor response time a thing of the past.

Even when I thought Asus was going in the right direction with the 4k 120hz monitor, a few years back now they gave it a whooping price of over 3 grand. PC market has gone a bit crazy with the "gaming" tag being thrown on to justify price. Anyway rant over, as much as this is a nice monitor the price tag is a big turn off considering you could get the same thing 5 years ago and back then it was far newer tech.

 

I think screens in general are very HARD to compare, that's because each model / panel seems to have its own problems that cannot be infered from a tech sheet.
Just knowing that something is "144hz" doesn't mean it handles motion well.

From what I've researched so far, there are some non obvious issues:

• some VA panels have nasty overshooting
• high refresh monitors can have very bad refresh consistency (e.g. some parts of the screen have worse response times than others)
• like the above, but dependant on framerate - some monitors have great response times only at certain framerates - IIRC the Gigabyte ad27qd response times suffered a lot when below 100 fps
• etc etc

So while TVs in general can have impressive specs, I'd bet that they don't perform near as well when it comes to motion in the context of gaming...
but I'm just speculating, reviews are the only way to know

 

Great review! Liked the graphs with contrast relative to the brightness, a very important aspect that i generally don't see in monitor reviews, would be great to see results before and after calibration even thought it hasn't changed much as said.
I have problems with some IPS monitors, while they have a wide color range the colors don't look so accurate while displaying a lot of colors at the same time, i generally see a tint or some time type of color cast where it shouldn't.
I have only seen great colors with full RGB led backlights, so in general VAs are better in this area even though most monitor review methodologies don't show that anomally, primarily because the color checker does not test all the colors at the same time in different patterns using the full display area.

 

Nice review 1USMUS, good to see the extra lengths you went to in your review re colour calibration results as well as colour analysis of the screen modes in their default state...I also appreciated the BlurBusters UFO testing - as a high refresh rate gamer myself who also calibrates his screen using a colorimeter (Spyder4Pro) I appreciate and understand the technical detail you went into in this review...this style of monitor review is definitely up-my-street!

I do have a couple of questions. I noticed there was an overclocking section in the screen menus - what kind of overclocking options does this monitor have, e.g. can you overclock it above 170Hz? I've got a TN g-sync monitor which is overclockable in the menu from the default 144Hz to 160/170/180Hz, but I've noticed both visually & through colorimeter measurements of contrast that the contrast takes a massive nosedive as refresh rate increases - is that the case with this monitor you reviewed? (In fact my monitor has it's highest contrast ratio below the default refresh rate at a refresh rate of 100Hz).

And finally, my last question, do you have much experience of different types of high refresh rate panel technology, because I want to ask what your personal impressions are regarding blurring when comparing high refresh rate TN panels vs high refresh rate IPS (ie this monitor you reviewed)? (and how about your experience with VA panels & blurring?)

 

How big is your computer desk that you can sit right in front of a 32" monitor? I'm been on 23" for about 8 years, mostly gaming at 1440p. Anything bigger than 27" (which I plan to buy next year) and I would have to sit further back with my keyboard and mouse on my lap LOL. Not to mention I have a phone, speakers and subwoofer on my desk so I barely have the width for a 27". Plus at 1440p on a 32" the PPI would be worse than I'm used to. Might as well make it 4K at that size, IMO.

 

I don't want to sound too critical but I would like something a little bit more "clean and refined looking" from ASUS. Almost akin to how the Zenbooks are. Great review though!

 

My desk is not that big and i have a 34 UW screen. But the speakers are placed on a lower shelf because of the width of the screen...

 

My desk might hold a 32" but that is max so I understand. I multi use my office for work and play so speakers, laptop/dock, desktop PC, KVM switch, printer, etc space is a premium.