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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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.