When I first saw the Asus ROG Swift PG27UQ a couple of weeks ago, I thought the future of monitors had finally arrived. After 18 months of waiting, false starts and an increasingly dizzying array of HDR standards, infuriating Windows 10 options and simply not being able to have as good a time as our console box friends with their fancy pants 4K HDR TVs, both the PG27UQ and the Acer Predator X27 (a review of which will be coming soon) promptly blew me away with their 1000cd/m2 bright, 4K IPS screens, 384 dynamic backlight zones, 144Hz refresh rates and Nvidia G-Sync HDR support (or high dynamic range, to you and me).
A month later, that rush of excitement hasn’t faded, and every moment I’ve spent with the PG27UQ has been – for the most part – an absolute delight. That is, when Windows 10’s playing ball and I’ve spent at least fifteen minutes fiddling around with the settings making sure the brightness level’s set correctly, followed by the same amount of time again in-game tweaking luminance levels to ensure the Fat Chocobo Triple-Decker sandwich in Final Fantasy XV isn’t a blown-out mess of white highlights and oversaturated colours. I was almost ready to crown it our best gaming monitor of all time. Then I found out how much it actually costs. Brace yourselves.
If a crate load of new TUF Gaming peripherals wasn’t enough hardware news for one day, Asus have also announced a brand-new 49in curved gaming monitor at this year’s Computex show to take on the likes of the stupidly wide Samsung CHG90. Much like its extra long 32:9 rival, the Asus VG49V comes with a curved 49in display with a 3840×1080 resolution and a super fast 144Hz refresh rate, giving you as much room as two 27in 1920×1080 monitors without any pesky bezels getting in the way.
One day, I promise to stop banging on about the marvels of HDR (also known as high dynamic range) and why you should really start thinking about upgrading your PC monitor in order to take advantage of its vibrant, life-like colours, increased brightness and general loveliness. Until then, however, I’ve got BenQ’s EW277HDR monitor to have a gander at, which might just be the best gaming monitor for HDR on the cheap I’ve seen so far. Read the rest of this entry »
It’s been 18 months since Asus’ super duper Nvidia G-Sync HDR monitor, the ROG Swift PG27UQ, was first announced to the world, but now the wait is almost over. Nvidia hinted last week we wouldn’t have to wait too long before it starting appearing on shop shelves, but now Asus themselves have confirmed the PG27UQ will definitely be here this June in all its 4K HDR glory.
HDR, or high dynamic range, has been around for a while, and you’ve probably heard countless barks from your console box friends about how amazing that new Dad of War looks on their giant OLED telly, or how they can never go back to a ‘normal’ screen after experiencing the wondrous glory of Final Fantasy Toast (even we’re a bit guilty of that last one, Alec and I, so please accept our belated apologies for all our Ignis-related food ramblings). PC monitors, on the other hand, have been much slower on the uptake.
Now, however, Nvidia have finally got their butts in gear and are about to release two of their long-awaited G-Sync HDR monitors: the Acer Predator X27 and the Asus ROG Swift PG27UQ. I went to see them earlier this week and I’m happy to report that they’re both bloody amazing. HDR on PC is finally here. Read the rest of this entry »
After much weeping and gnashing of teeth and disappointing first looks, proper, honest to goodness HDR finally looks like it’s about to become a reality on PC. We’ve already seen how AMD’s FreeSync 2 tech made the Samsung CHG90 one of the best gaming monitors I’ve ever tested, and it’s shortly going to be joined by the rather stunning Nvidia G-Sync HDR-enabled Acer Predator X27 and Asus ROG Swift PG27UQ over the coming weeks as well.
I’ll have more words on those two Nvidia monitors in the next day or two, but those on the FreeSync side of the HDR fence need not fret about being left behind, as AMD have announced another new addition to their FreeSync 2 roster, this time in the form of the BenQ EX3203R.
Who knew late April was the time for oodles of monitor announcements, eh? Well, if yesterday’s news of the FreeSync 2-equipped AOC AGON AG322QC4 didn’t make your eyes pop out of their sockets, then the jumbo Philips 436M6VBPAB almost certainly will thanks to its blinding max brightness of 1000cd/m2.
This giant 43in VA panel is the first of a new line of Momentum monitors from Philips, and is the first in the world to get VESA’s DisplayHDR 1000 certificate rating, essentially giving it lots of the same high-end credentials you’ll find in Ultra HD Premium TVs but in monitor form. This includes that aforementioned 1000cd/m2 brightness, 97.6% of the DCI-P3 colour gamut, and a sort-of 10-bit colour depth panel. Read the rest of this entry »
The Samsung CHG90, or the LC49HG90DMNXZA to give it its full and proper title, is by far the most ludicrous monitor I’ve ever seen. Measuring a whopping 49in across its fancy curved diagonal, this ultra-super-stupidly-wide 32:9, 3840×1080, 144Hz, HDR (let me catch my breath for a second) FreeSync 2 VA display is proper bonkers. And I sort of kind of love it. Read the rest of this entry »
RPS Feature
Tomorrow's display tech isn't quite ready for prime-time
A few of the things I have had to do in order to get a workable version of HDR (also known as high dynamic range), the new-ish display technology that significantly ramps up brightness, darkness and vibrancy, on my PC (not including the acquisition of a fancy monitor):
– Try four different display cables
– Adjust as many as seven different brightness/contrast/colour etc shaders per game. (I have spent long, unhappy hours doing this to date)
– Manually turn on HDR on the monitor, manually turn HDR on in Windows then manually turn on HDR in the game settings. Or sometimes HDR off in Windows but on in the game then alt-tab back to Windows and turn HDR on, and off, and on, and off. Or sometimes alt-tab and alt-tab and alt-tab and alt-tab and alt-tab until HDR suddenly, randomly kicks in. When I exit the game, I have to manually turn it all back off again or Windows is unusable.
– Install an unfinished preview build of Windows 10 whose HDR isn’t totally broken on Nvidia cards.
– Almost completely lose my sense of whether anything is actually different after all of this.
4K monitors have been around for a while now, but 4K monitors that also come with built-in HDR support are still few and far between, making BenQ’s brand-new EL2780U something of a rarity.
At 28in, this 4K HDR screen may not be the biggest Ultra HD monitor money can buy, but at just £329 / $500, it’s arguably one of the cheapest that does HDR. It’s not on sale yet in the UK, sadly, but should you be considering the BenQ EL2870U for games like Final Fantasy XV or Assassin’s Creed Origins over some of the other best monitors I’ve tested so far? Let’s find out. Read the rest of this entry »
Occasionally, it falls upon me to make solemn sacrifices in the name of empirical endeavour, the advancement of science and the betterment of mankind. It is very much in this altruistic spirit that I recently embarked upon an exhaustive and forensic investigation into the merits of the latest UHD / 4K / HDR TVs as PC monitors. Yes, I’ve been playing games on TVs. This is what I learned. Read the rest of this entry »
There was a time when all you had to worry about with an LCD display was whether you cared enough to pay extra for a monitor with an IPS panel. Well, that and its size. And resolution. And maybe its native colour depth. And brightness. And contrast. And pixel response. And inputs. OK, it was never that simple. But it’s certainly not getting any simpler: the last few years have added further unfathomables including frame syncing, higher refresh rates, new display interconnects and the 4K standard.
Now there’s more for you to worry about in the form of HDR. Or should that be UHD Premium? Or Rec. 2020? Or BT.2100? Maybe SMPTE 2084 or HDR10? Whatever, it’s mainly about colours, lots and lots of lovely colours. This is already a big thing in HDTVs. It’s coming to the PC. But what’s it all about and is there any chance of making sense of what is, currently, a bit of a mess?
