ASUS RoG Swift PG279Q
A super-high-end gaming option.
Sure, spending more on a monitor than some do on an entire gaming PC might seem extravagant. But the ASUS RoG SWIFT PG279Q isn’t just any rinky-dink monitor. Measuring in at 27-inch, it uses an IPS panel with a 2,560 x 1,440 resolution and 4ms response time. The PG279Q is also equipped with a high 165Hz refresh rate and Nvidia’s G-Sync, to avoid stuttering or tearing when gaming.
Is testing, the monitor was more than happy to perform, and provided a smooth, seamless experience at extremely high framerates. Thanks to the IPS panel, the colours (100% sRGB colour gamut) are extremely good even when viewed off angle. The backlight is even with no noticeable light bleed, and the thin (6mm) bezels make it ideal for multi-monitor setups. You do need a beefy Nvidia GPU to get the most from the PG279Q with G-Sync, but it does result in a very smooth, stutter free gaming experience.
The RoG monitor also has a bunch of other gamerfocused features, such as a crosshair overlay, game timer and frame per second counter overlay. The excellent OSD (with joystick interface) also includes presets for different game types, and there’s a hardware hotkey for quickly switching between different refresh rates. The PG279Q stand is top notch, with full height, pivot, tilt and swivel adjustments, as well as indicators to make it easy to reset your exact setup.
Round the back, the monitor has HDMI and DisplayPort inputs, as well as a 3.5mm earphone jack, and two USB 3.0 ports.
Verdict
A featureset almost without compare, but only for those able to handle the premium price.