As 2560×1440 gaming monitors go, the 32in Asus ROG Strix XG32VQR might be one of many higher screens you should purchase right this moment. I’d even go so far as saying it’s potential best gaming monitor materials if ever immediately grew to become rather a lot cheaper than our present 1440p suggestion, the MSI Optix MPG27CQ, however even at its present worth of £489 / $550, the XG32VQR is remains to be a superb, beautifully correct 144Hz FreeSync 2 display screen whose curved VA panel does virtually the whole lot you can presumably need from a high-end gaming show. It’s simply so immensely irritating that even now within the yr 2019 its built-in HDR help remains to be such a faff to get working correctly with regards to taking part in all these pretty HDR games.
Admittedly, this isn’t a lot the monitor’s fault because the horrible, ongoing state of getting HDR to play nice on Windows 10 generally, nevertheless it nonetheless put a little bit of a downer on the entire thing that I might by no means fairly shake throughout my testing. What’s extra, even if you happen to do have the requisite AMD graphics card with a view to make the most of it, it’s not like its HDR is admittedly going to blow your socks off anyway, because it solely meets VESA’s lowest HDR certification in the meanwhile, DisplayHDR 400.
That means its peak brightness should attain a minimum of 400cd/m2 (a feat that a number of non-HDR displays can already do anyway), and have a color accuracy rating of a minimum of 95% on the BT 709 (i.e: the usual sRGB) color gamut scale. Not the DCI-P3 color gamut, which is generally used to measure HDR screens. Oh no. Technically, it doesn’t want to fulfill any sort of requirement for that exact gamut – though fortunately Asus have gone above and past the decision of responsibility right here, stating that it ought to cowl a minimum of 94% of the DCI-P3 gamut over on the monitor’s specs page.
In fact, I wasn’t in a position to get wherever close to that determine in my very own testing. The finest I got here with my X-Rite i1 DisplayProfessional calibrator was 86% DCI-P3, and that was after I’d tinkered with its customisable User settings and calibrated the monitor. I’m not too apprehensive about it, although. 86% remains to be fairly nice within the grand scheme of issues, and plenty of the perfect HDR screens on the market normally solely have a fraction extra protection across the 90% mark.
Instead, a extra urgent concern for me is the XG32VQR’s sRGB protection, and I’m completely satisfied to report that is completely distinctive, hitting a improbable 99% of the gamut. This greater than makes up for these couple of lacking per cent over within the DCI-P3 enviornment, as colors nonetheless look wealthy and vibrant even while you’re not doing something in HDR. I additionally noticed a beautiful excessive distinction ratio of 2860:1, and a pleasingly low black degree of 0.19cd/m2 (the nearer to 0.00cd/m2, the higher).
It wouldn’t be an Asus monitor with no light-up ROG brand being burned into your desk.
Its most brightness can also be rather a lot greater than its DisplayHDR 400 certification would possibly suggest. On its FPS preset, for instance, I really measured a peak white degree of 567cd/m2, though it did drop all the way down to round 530cd/m2 once I converted to User mode. Still, that’s fairly darn vibrant at the perfect of instances, and virtually unbearably so when its deep stand means you’re pressured to have it fairly far ahead in your desk and also you’ve acquired its 1800R curvature radius wrapping itself round your already overwhelmed eyeballs. Indeed, I discovered I usually needed to flip the monitor’s brightness proper all the way down to someplace close to the opposite finish of its brightness scale for on a regular basis use, because it was merely an excessive amount of to have a look at for eight-odd hours a day.
On the plus facet, although, man alive does it make these highlights actually sing while you lastly reach wrestling its HDR to life. In Final Fantasy XV, for instance, the energetic metropolis of Lestallum actually got here alive on the XG32V once I was rummaging round its slender streets at night-time, the intense, piercing glow of its street-lined lanterns making a palpable sense of distinction to the pitch black sky above.
However, even with a peak brightness of almost 600cd/m2, the XG32VQR nonetheless can’t compete with, say, a correct HDR TV that may pump out a whopping 1000cd/m2 of brightness to make its day scenes simply as thrilling and impactful to have a look at as its night ones.
Yes, the autumnal forests of Assassin’s Creed Odyssey seemed pretty and vibrant on the XG32VQR, however the high quality and general wow issue of the noon daylight left me chilly. It additionally took fairly a little bit of wrangling earlier than I acquired Odyssey’s varied in-game brightness bars to behave, too, which is especially annoying when this is among the few games round right this moment that particularly helps AMD’s FreeSync 2 HDR commonplace.
I additionally seen a really gentle flickering happening each time I had HDR enabled, too, as if the backlight was going a bit haywire making an attempt to maintain its vibrant bits vibrant and its darkish bits darkish. This undoubtedly isn’t one thing you wish to cope with after spending 1,000,000 years getting it to work within the first place, and simply made me wish to flip the entire thing off and play in common ‘SDR’.
The XG32VQR comes with a good number of ports, together with two HDMI 2.Zero inputs, a single DisplayPort 1.2, a headphone jack, and two USB3 ports.
I wouldn’t advocate shopping for the XG32VQR as an HDR monitor, then, however as an everyday 1440p monitor with a 144Hz refresh charge, there’s rather a lot to love right here. While not technically one among Nvidia’s official G-Sync Compatible monitors (but, anyway), I didn’t discover something untoward once I tried taking part in games at 144Hz with an Nvidia graphics card plugged into my PC, for instance, and it dealt with the fast-paced motion of Doom with no single little bit of display screen tearing, too. As such, I reckon Nvidia graphics card homeowners will most likely be completely wonderful shopping for this as variable refresh charge display screen. Just don’t strive utilizing HDR as effectively, as a result of hoo boy it ain’t fairly, lemme inform ya.
The XG32VQR’s viewing angles have been good, too, and I used to be additionally happy to see 5 completely different blue mild filter settings in its easily-navigable onboard menu system. The solely remaining hurdle is the value. At £489 / $550, it’s costlier than each my present finest 1440p monitor alternative, the MSI Optix MPG27CQ, and two of its very similarly-specced FreeSync 2 HDR rivals, the AOC Agon AG322QC4 and BenQ EX3203R.
The Asus does, admittedly, beat each on picture high quality by fairly a significantly margin, however when the AOC might be had for £385 / $500 whereas the BenQ is presently an much more interesting £380 / $450 at time of writing, some would possibly discover it arduous to justify spending virtually £100 / $100 extra on one other 10% sRGB protection and 15% DCI-P3. Personally, I’d be tempted to go along with the AOC if I used to be selecting a FreeSync 2 HDR monitor right this moment, if solely as a result of I didn’t see any flickering once I did ultimately get HDR working. It additionally has a useful headset hook on the facet and a second DisplayPort enter around the again, which its rivals lack.
Really, although, the £420 MSI Optix MPG27CQ nonetheless reigns supreme for me within the 1440p class, though I’m keenly conscious it’s turning into more and more tough to pay money for today, particularly over within the US. I’ll do my finest to check some extra 1440p displays quickly to attempt to discover a new best gaming monitor contender to switch it, however till then, the MSI MPG27CQ remains to be the monitor to beat if you will discover it.
