[CES2015] ASUS MG279Q 2560 x 1440 Gamer 120Hz IPS 5ms GTG

xBanzai89 said:
Crossfire support is coming in the next driver release to my understanding.

Myself I am still debating on the BenQ and this ASUS Monitor.
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If you are at all partial to IPS, I'd go with the ASUS. I've used both the XL2730Z and MG279Q now. While the BenQ is a good TN, it's nonetheless still a TN: color accuracy and viewing angles are noticeably a step down from the ASUS.
 
Why do people care about viewing angle on a PC display? Don't you sit right in front of it?

I'd rather have a nice refresh and no ghosting/glow personally.
 
frunction said:
Why do people care about viewing angle on a PC display? Don't you sit right in front of it?

I'd rather have a nice refresh and no ghosting/glow personally.
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Because if you are even remotely perceptive of image quality you would notice the image changes quite a lot depending on angle... I don't mean the crazy ass psychadelic **** that you see on large angles... But the gamma and color accuracy changes.. less obviously then the full on massive changes at large angles... But still easily noticeable to someone who already knows it exists / will notice it instantly and it will irritate them.
 
Asus MG279Q or Acer XB270HU?

I've got one 980ti, I'm leaning towards the Asus (less $$ and better Quality)
 
mrjones said:
Asus MG279Q or Acer XB270HU?

I've got one 980ti, I'm leaning towards the Asus (less $$ and better Quality)
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either wait for the PG279Q or buy the XB270HU. the MG279Q doesn't have any kind of blur reduction which is important since it's slow-ass IPS. it's also freesync, so you obviously won't even be able to use that since you have an nvidia card.
 
PG279Q is Asus's g-sync version, just isn't out yet.

Good to know, thanks.
 
Got my Asus MG279Q finally yesterday. Haven´t had much time to play around with it yet, but here is some initial impressions:

Not a hint even of backlight bleed, no dead or stuck pixels. Stand seems sturdy and doesn´t wobble much when I touch it. Love the coating, especially after having used a glossy TN screen Samsung S27A950Dfor a while, since Ive played a bit FPS gaming. Much similar to the coating on my NEC2690WUXi, though I would have preferred the ATW polarizer on the NEC, since it removes IPS glow.

I would also have wished there was a sharpness control on the racing preset (I see its not greyed out on FPS preset). Havent done much calibrating and testing with colorimeter on this screen yet and just set it on the recommended racing preset. Fonts seemed a bit blurry on racing preset, so I had to use the "vividpixel" function and set it up to 50.

Tried the build-in speakers quickly. At first they seemed a bit hollow and thin, but after getting used to them a bit, they are not completely useless. Sound is clear, but have a notisable lack of bass and range.

I havent tried Freesync yet, but tried 144hz gaming a bit. Opened up COD Black ops 1 in training mode, since the AI seems to do follow the same pattern in the first map there and therefore easier to use as a base for comparison. It was a much more pleasant gaming experience then with the TN S27A950D@120hz. Both are smooth and the colors on the S27A950D seems more shiny with the glossy panel, but the image consistency of the IPS type MG279Q and lack of reflections from other lightsources made it more comfortable to game with it.

I need to spend more time with it and test it further, especially Freesync, but so far I am very pleased with it.
 
Just want to clarify: This monitor is the 144Hz where when the game is being played in the 35-90Hz range, we get 13ms lag but the moment it goes past 90Hz, FreeSync is turned off and the input lag goes down? Or does it increase in input lag and FreeSync activates only when it's set to <90Hz?
 
FreeSync on the MG279Q only works if you set the refresh rate of the screen to 90Hz or less. 120/144Hz can't be used with FS, selecting either of them disables FS completely and the OSD shows a warning.
 
yeah that is correct, lag is reduced as you get closer to 144fps. The lag isn't caused by freesync, its just the fastest the IPS panel can go at those frame rates. If you are getting over 120 fps chances are you wont notice tearing and wouldn't see the difference between freesync on or off at those framerates. That's why it would be nice to have a blur reduction feature like the benq and the rog swift.
 
reaper12 said:
Any more thoughts since?
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I have tried it out a bit more, including some Freesync. :)

Some notes that I need to crosscheck a bit to see if I can make a general statement of it, or if its game/system spesific:

Freesync:

Ive tested Freesync in only a limited number of games. Looks like you need to select 90hz for it to work. OSD is not showing the sync being variable when I use 144hz. Need to control check this though, since the OSD is a bit buggy about when it shows resolution and sync accurately.

Far Cry 3:
Used this game to test the Freesync effect. I put the refresh rate in windows at 90hz before start.
On low FPS, 35 - 60/70fps, it feels like there is a higher framerate going on and 50-60fps Freesync feels smoother then a solid Vsynced 60fps. 70fps and above with 144hz, there wasn´t that obvious difference. Probably because the screen refreshes each ~7ms @ 144hz, so its not long before each cycle.

Sniper Elite 3:
Tested it in DX mode. Object of the testing there was to see how the screen with Freesync on refresh rate < 35hz. I put the refresh rate in windows at 90hz before start.

This game is very smooth at lower refresh rates then other games, so the Freesync effect was less evident at lower refresh rates. Still, it was notisable smoother with Freesync. When the framerate was between 27fps and 38fps, the screen behaved like a normal screen without Freesync every time it jumped below 35hz (actually it seemed like at least below 34hz). There were no notifications that the screen was outside of Freesync range though. I could see the framerate change in the OSD while gaming. Since the OSD reported the screen having a lower refresh rate then 35hz, it might have synced lower then 35hz too, despite the lower end of the range is supposed to be 35hz. I need to control check this.

There is no support for windowed games, not even windowed fullscreen games. Only fullscreen games.

OSD:
OSD is very intuitive, but there is a bug when it comes to resolution change. If I change it to 1920x1080, it might show 2560x1440 even though its evident that the resolution is 1920x1080. The screen also scales everything to full screen, unless I override it in CCC. Aspect ratio control seems to be greyed out under each preset on the mini-dp connection. It also sometimes only show a resolution and refresh even when the refresh is variable or forced to a lower refresh. A bit annoying, because the OSD was/is a quick way to check if Freesync is available and working.

Inputs:
In addition to a mini-dp to DP cable, I also got a HDMI cable which I tried with a MHL adapter @ 1920x1080 with a Samsung Galaxy Tab Pro tablet. Aspect ratio control is active there and I can select aspect ratio, Full, 1:1 and overscan. When I rotate the tablet, the image on the screen rotates as well. Sound is transferred over to the build in speakers of the screen. The USB port on the screen is powered and can be selected to even recharge when the monitor is in stand by. Useful if you use MHL, since the adapter require power from the mini-usb -> usb charger cable.

When you switch inputs from HDMI to DP, the DP is being redetected. This breaks Freesync (need to control check this too) if you are in a game, which sucks. Nice to know though that if the DP connection should act up and give issues, changing it to an unused HDMI input and let it revert back could fix this instead of having to disconnect and reconnect.

Lots of more tests to do. :D Love this screen so far.
 
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Thanks Tamlin, Great post. Lots of very interesting info that I haven't seen anywhere else.

Yours is also the first review of a freesync/gsync monitor not going overboard about the smoothness etc. Were you disappointed with Freesync? Would you miss freesync if it wasn't there? that the 144hz IPS is the more attractive thing about this monitor.

The resolution bug shouldn't affect me as I will only be using the monitor in native resolution. It's nice that they supply cables. And the speakers don't bother me in the slightest. In fact I wish they didn't include speakers on high end monitors and reduce the cost of the monitor instead :)

Would you recommend this monitor? I am on the edge deciding between this, the BenQ one and a 34 inch widescreen.
 
I so want to buy this monitor but unfortunately is not available in Amazon or or BB. I have some gift certificates I want to burn :)
 
Well, I have no patience :) I couldn't even wait for your reply Tamlin, never mind wait until next week until the updated BenQ's arrive :p

I decided to go ahead and get this monitor. Go Me!!
 
reaper12 said:
Well, I have no patience :) I couldn't even wait for your reply Tamlin, never mind wait until next week until the updated BenQ's arrive :p

I decided to go ahead and get this monitor. Go Me!!
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I have no doubts this monitor is great for what I have been reading. Please let us know your impressions. Amazon! where are you! :D
 
Yeah I am sure it will fine :) I am upgrading from 23 inch 120hz monitor.

I am sure Amazon will get them in stock..... next year :p Ah, no, they are normally pretty quick, thought they would have them in stock already!!
 
reaper12 said:
Yeah I am sure it will fine :) I am upgrading from 23 inch 120hz monitor.

I am sure Amazon will get them in stock..... next year :p Ah, no, they are normally pretty quick, thought they would have them in stock already!!
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I'm also moving from an old 1080p 23" TN monitor. It served me well but I want to get back to IPS and with a bigger size (that's what she wants...)

Amazon better start selling them soon otherwise will make the jump with NewEgg by the end of the week. :p

Do you guys feel it's a good idea to pay for the 2 years extended warranty through NewEgg? Do they really honor it?
 
Just been reading the thread over on Ocuk about this monitor, a few people have complained about it been "blurry" especially on text.

Can one of you guys who has the monitor check this out please?

About Newegg, sorry I don't know, have never bought anything from them.
 
I will accept a small amount of BLB and some IPS glow is expected... But the panel I have the bottom right glow is excessive... it takes up approx 1/4 of the screen at night and is MUCH worse than the 4 other corners... If it did not have the bottom right red bleed (even visible in daylight on black backgrounds and very obvious in the dark) I would probably keep this panel... But the bottom right red colored bleed pretty much ruins dark scenes... I just want to know that if I return for a replacement instead of refund that it is actually possible to get a panel without a large amount of red bleed / glow in the bottom right.
 
reaper12 said:
Wait until my review tomorrow. I will have my monitor by then and can give a straight up honest answer to any questions you will have.
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Ah!!! A little too late. I ordered as soon as I read all the NewEgg reviews plus the latest article. I have no doubt this is what I want. I would love having the PG279Q but will be $200 more just for the G-Sync and I don't like to be trapped with one GPU brand.
 
Nicholars said:
I will accept a small amount of BLB and some IPS glow is expected... But the panel I have the bottom right glow is excessive... it takes up approx 1/4 of the screen at night and is MUCH worse than the 4 other corners... If it did not have the bottom right red bleed (even visible in daylight on black backgrounds and very obvious in the dark) I would probably keep this panel... But the bottom right red colored bleed pretty much ruins dark scenes... I just want to know that if I return for a replacement instead of refund that it is actually possible to get a panel without a large amount of red bleed / glow in the bottom right.
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Can you try an exchange? You may have a defective one. I haven't read anybody complaining about that issue for this model.
 
reaper12 said:
Thanks Tamlin, Great post. Lots of very interesting info that I haven't seen anywhere else.

Yours is also the first review of a freesync/gsync monitor not going overboard about the smoothness etc. Were you disappointed with Freesync? Would you miss freesync if it wasn't there? that the 144hz IPS is the more attractive thing about this monitor.

The resolution bug shouldn't affect me as I will only be using the monitor in native resolution. It's nice that they supply cables. And the speakers don't bother me in the slightest. In fact I wish they didn't include speakers on high end monitors and reduce the cost of the monitor instead :)

Would you recommend this monitor? I am on the edge deciding between this, the BenQ one and a 34 inch widescreen.
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Thanks. :)

No, I am not disappointed with Freesync. Freesync/G-sync is very beneficial on low FPS situations. Not so much so on high FPS situations. But, since I switch between Nvidia cards and AMD cards often, it was more important to me to get an all-around screen which would be great regardless of GPU and this one certainly is. I would miss Freesync, but the image is smooth with 144hz, so its mostly the ability to game smooth at lower framerate I would be giving up if/when I connect it to a Nvidia card. I considered waiting for the PG279Q, but I am glad I didn´t. I might have gotten G-sync with a range above 90hz up to 144hz with the PG279Q, but I can only use that if the framerate is at 90 -
> 144hz since the screen syncs 1:1 with the framerate. 90hz/90fps variable refresh is plenty.

The PG279Q also includes ULMB (or Lightboost as some call it), but I have tried it with the S27A950D and though it works, it screws up the image too much. The "fixes" shown on blurbusters site also screw up the image.

G-SYNC screens have limited connection options and also lack different user profiles. I don´t want to loose that.

However, for those that only use Nvidia cards, I would recommend waiting for the PG279Q. Having a variable refresh option is worth it in my opinion.

For those that use both AMD and Nvidia, I would recommend the MG279Q above the PG279Q. In my opinion, this is the best "all-around" LCD monitor out there. :)

reaper12 said:
Just been reading the thread over on Ocuk about this monitor, a few people have complained about it been "blurry" especially on text.

Can one of you guys who has the monitor check this out please?

About Newegg, sorry I don't know, have never bought anything from them.
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I saw this too and wrote some about it in my first impression post and also a little bit regarding the lack of sharpness control in the OSD for the "racing preset". Used "vividpixel" at 50 instead of the default 25 as a quick fix, but it does overshapen a bit too much, so I am going to use other presets at a later stage. I think all the presets except Racing and sRGB has sharpness control. For most text, I could just use the cleartype calibration tool in windows (use windows search for cttune.exe), but I will probably do my own settings later with a colorimeter. Its a great feature with this screen, you can select preset with a click of a button on the screen (gamevisual is what Asus calls it).
 
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Thanks Again Tamlin for the detailed response :) My review will be more like, "picture good, games play fine, yeah cool" :D

I have ordered anyway and I will be getting it tomorrow so We can compare notes then :) I will also understand more about the menus and stuff so will be able to try a few of your settings to see if it works.

It's just strange that none of the professional reviews picked up on the blur. Golden samples to reviewers maybe?
 
xXxDieselxXx said:
Ah!!! A little too late. I ordered as soon as I read all the NewEgg reviews plus the latest article. I have no doubt this is what I want. I would love having the PG279Q but will be $200 more just for the G-Sync and I don't like to be trapped with one GPU brand.
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haha then we can have a good moaning session tomorrow when we both get dud monitors :p
 
reaper12 said:
Thanks Again Tamlin for the detailed response :) My review will be more like, "picture good, games play fine, yeah cool" :D

I have ordered anyway and I will be getting it tomorrow so We can compare notes then :) I will also understand more about the menus and stuff so will be able to try a few of your settings to see if it works.

It's just strange that none of the professional reviews picked up on the blur. Golden samples to reviewers maybe?
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The blur is very subtile, so they might not have picked up on it. Call it free AA. :p Try first doing the cleartype calibration and see if its enough for you. If you are in a bright room, Color temperature "normal" preset under "racing" preset might give you clearer whites then the default user preset. Color temperature is depended on ambient lights in the room, so choose a setting that suits your enviroment. Lots of settings to play around with. :D

Its going to be fun to see what you think. I´ve had limited time to test it properly, since I used some of my free time to game on it and time flew away.
 
You are going to laugh when I tell you the main reason I am upgrading.

Height adjustable stand :) My monitor doesn't have Vesa mounts and is sitting on top of a box to be at the right height. It's driving me crazy lately.

All the other things, freesync, 144hz IPS etc, are just icing on the cake :D
 
haha good one!! I should have bought the fury first then I could have used that excuse too :)

I wish the Asus had a headphone holder feature like the BenQ.
 
As usual I know I can count on Tamlin to break it all down for us. Thanks man! :)
 
Why do people treat buying G-Sync monitor as vendor locking, but not Free Sync, when both versions of syncs are exclusive to each other, and both kinds of monitors work as a normal monitor when plugged in with another vendor's GPU?
 
G-Sync ups the price of its monitors by $200 and was specifically designed to be only usable with Nvidia cards. AMD just made Adaptive-Sync compatible with their cards using drivers IIRC.
 
chenw said:
Why do people treat buying G-Sync monitor as vendor locking, but not Free Sync, when both versions of syncs are exclusive to each other, and both kinds of monitors work as a normal monitor when plugged in with another vendor's GPU?
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The ONLY reason you are "locked" to AMD on freesync... is because Nvidia will not support freesync so they sell more Gsync screens... It is Nvidia's fault, all Nvidia would have to do is change the drivers and freesync would work, unfortunately Nvidia are not very nice and refuse to do this.
 
Q-BZ said:
As usual I know I can count on Tamlin to break it all down for us. Thanks man! :)
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LOL! :p Thanks, but I haven´t had enough time yet to completely break it down.

Nicholars said:
The ONLY reason you are "locked" to AMD on freesync... is because Nvidia will not support freesync so they sell more Gsync screens... It is Nvidia's fault, all Nvidia would have to do is change the drivers and freesync would work, unfortunately Nvidia are not very nice and refuse to do this.
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True. Freesync is only AMDs name of their DP 1.2a variable refresh support and is even less as a vendor lock-in then HDMI 2 support, which only Nvidia support at the moment, since DP 1.2a is royality free and open and HDMI 2 is licenced with royality fees. Keep in mind that the MG279Q wasn´t originally launched as a Freesync screen, only as a screen with DP 1.2a variable refresh capabilities.
 
My monitor arrived yesterday after shipping from LA. The refresh rate and freesync are awesome, but I have 3 dark specks on the monitor that don't clean off. I think they are dust trapped inside of it. They show up clearly on any white backgrounds. What should I do with the monitor? Exchange with newegg or send back to asus on warranty? I believe I would have to pay shipping for newegg to exchange it, but I'm also worried that asus customer service would screw me over.

I knew this was going to happen. :(

IPS glow is pretty strong with this monitor also fyi.
 
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