Excessive velocity OLED gaming screens are lastly legit. That is thanks in no small half to Alienware’s spectacular AW324DW QD-OLED (opens in new tab), with loads of different manufacturers following go well with. Amongst them, Asus has unleashed the ROG Swift PG42UQ OLED, a 41.5-inch behemoth that legitimately might be the one monitor you will ever want for the foreseeable way forward for gaming. Leveraging the identical panel from the LG C2 OLED TV, the Swift PG42UQ provides on greater refresh fee, an anti-glare coating, DisplayPort 1.4 and extra gaming monitor accoutrements. The outcome is likely one of the greatest 4K gaming screens round.
The principle query is whether or not it is well worth the $1,399 price ticket. At that value it is costlier than LG’s 42-inch C2, nevertheless it does a number of issues higher for the premium. Firstly, it really works like a correct monitor and never a wise TV. One big irritant with Sensible TVs is they cannot wake and sleep in tandem together with your PC, necessitating guide management. Not so with the Swift PG42UQ which works similar to any monitor and even has USB upstream. Along with its 4 USB downstream ports could make plugging in your peripherals a lot simpler. Take that C2!
Very importantly although, it is available in with a 138Hz refresh, over the C2’s 120Hz. It is solely a small enchancment, however will likely be appreciated for anybody packing probably the greatest graphics playing cards (opens in new tab) on the market proper now. Throw in 0.1ms (2ms GTG) response time, in addition to G-Sync compatibility, and Asus is onto a winner.
One factor to notice is that nowhere within the official spec does it say FreeSync, although as a way to be G-Sync suitable we assume the VRR works for the purple group.
ROG Swift PG42UQ specs
Panel dimension: 41.5-inch
Native decision: 3840 x 2160
Refresh fee: 138Hz
Response time: 0.1ms MPRT (2ms GTG)
Panel kind: OLED
Peak brightness: 450 cd/m² typical
Sync tech: G-Sync suitable
Inputs: 1x DisplayPort 1.4, 2x HDMI 2.1, 2x HDMI 2.0, 4x USB 3.2 Kind-A, 1x USB 3.2 Upstream, 3.5mm
Value: $1,400 (opens in new tab) (US) | £1,399 (opens in new tab) | $2,299 (opens in new tab) (AUS)
In fact, the Swift PG42UQ can also be an OLED, which nearly instantly offers it a bonus over the competitors by way of colour accuracy, distinction and response. 1,500,000: 1 distinction ratio is not any joke; it makes the 10-bit colour pop and sizzle. Whereas the matte show dulls issues a bit in comparison with shiny C2, it nonetheless appears wonderful and works wonders for rejecting pesky reflections. And with 98% DCI-P3 and 133% sRGB colour house with a Delta of E<2, it is fairly good for skilled content material creation and colour work, too.
Out of the field, colours are already wonderful, with wealthy saturation, vibrance and distinction. There are a number of colour profiles to select from the OSD together with devoted DCI and sRGB modes. Dive into the OSD and you’ll simply calibrate the monitor to your liking. SDR brightness peaks out about 450 nits and as much as 750 nits in HDR. Not the brightest however with good blacks, who wants extra brightness?
And HDR is totally gorgeous on the Swift PG42UQ. In darkish, moody video games like Resident Evil Village (opens in new tab) or A Plague Story: Requiem (opens in new tab), I discovered it laborious to not be legitimately spooked in these darkish corridors. Future 2: The Witch Queen (opens in new tab) bursts with wealthy, vibrant colour—in Throne worlds, actually, the photo voltaic grenades really blind momentarily on explosion.
At 42 inches, it’s not the largest panel ever nevertheless it’s lots to utterly fill your imaginative and prescient and pixel peep. The scale does stretch the bounds of pixel density, although, and I seen the textual content and icons aren’t fairly as sharp as I would have appreciated. The issue of colour fringing round textual content, particularly on white backgrounds, is typical with LG OLED, although it isn’t as unhealthy right here as it may be. Home windows Cleartype helps treatment the issue, in addition to sitting a bit of bit additional again from the display screen. I discovered about 3-4 ft was ok however if you happen to do quite a lot of studying/writing, stick with darkish mode to keep away from eye pressure. That is not going to be straightforward if you do not have quite a lot of desk house, nonetheless.
The stand on the PG42UQ isn’t too dissimilar from a TV stand—it’s huge however not too deep, leaving loads of room in entrance of the monitor. Whereas it does provide you with 5 diploma tilt, there’s no peak or swivel adjustment, so if you would like extra vary of movement VESA mounting is your solely choice. Because the monitor sits so low on its stand, Asus has properly put the ports panel on the left bottom for straightforward entry. There are two HDMI 2.1 ports, two HDMI 2.0, and a DisplayPort 1.4. That is alongside the USB upstream and 4 USB 3.2 Kind-A downstream.
Asus has even added a quarter-inch screw threading on the prime of the monitor to mount a streaming digicam, together with an adjoining USB port to plug it in. The facility port is on the far reverse facet of the monitor, although, which makes cable administration a little bit of a ache.
By way of sound, the PG42UQ has a few of the greatest audio system I’ve heard on a gaming monitor. It makes use of Harman-Kardon audio system that get actually loud with out distorting, with a 15W subwoofer that gives tasty bass.
The OSD controls sit on a big tab (or chin?) on the base of the monitor within the middle. It is donned with an indignant purple ROG brand and navigating is completed through a contact delicate joystick and buttons. Menus are clear and easy, so no probability of confusion, and there is even a devoted Gaming part for overclocking, black equalizer and all the same old gaming enhancers. It additionally has some methods to stop the dreaded burn-in, together with periodic pixel shift and refresh, in addition to an computerized brightness limiter. Solely time will inform, in fact however I believe if you happen to’re conscious of the fundamentals, burn-in shouldn’t be an issue.
The Asus ROG Swift PG42UQ completely slaps and I’ve totally loved utilizing it for the previous few weeks. The principle downside is how costly it’s, although. With LG’s C2 42 coming in $300 cheaper, and providing quite a lot of the identical expertise, it is troublesome to suggest the Swift for merely your common film watcher. Nevertheless, the usual C2 just isn’t (and can by no means be) a gaming monitor. The Swift brings all the perfect elements of the C2 into the gaming house, bettering it in a number of ways in which avid gamers will likely be higher happy with. Certain the changes are restricted, however the ROG Swift PG42UQ is a avid gamers bestie the place it issues, and definitely one other champion for the OLED trigger.