ASUS Announces ROG SWIFT PG278Q Premium Gaming Monitor

The wait is killing me. I built this crazy new computer, but I don't want to play games on it until I get a better monitor.
 
Got mine. No dead pixels, no serious backlight issues (a little standard stuff in the upper left corner, barely noticeable), far better than the GD235HZ I was playing on.

Perhaps they've sorted things out on the more recent batches? Either that or I just won the panel lottery.
 
eta on mine is wednesday due to the weekend, even though it's via amazon prime.

Assuming I get it to work properly I'll test ulmb mode on some easier to render games like "Dishonored" , "TF2", "L4D2", etc.. and g-sync on others like shadow of mordor (w/o the ultra texture pack). I'm still only using a single 780ti for now.
 
cybereality said:
The wait is killing me. I built this crazy new computer, but I don't want to play games on it until I get a better monitor.
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Wow, those are really high end specs:

"Intel i7-5960X 8-Core @ 3.0GHz | Asus X99-Deluxe | EVGA GTX 980 x 3 | Corsair Vengeance LPX 32GB DDR4
Samsung 840 Pro 512GB | WD Black 4TB x 2 | Corsair Obsidian 550D | Corsair Hydro H55 | Corsair AX1500i"

How much did you spend on that build? :eek:
 
I just bought one from B&H (2 day free shipping, no tax outside NY). Was hoping for Best Buy, to make returning it easier in case I don't like it. Anyone have experience with B&H returns?
 
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WetMacula said:
I just bought one from B&H (2 day free shipping, no tax outside NY). Was hoping for Best Buy, to make returning it easier in case I don't like it. Anyone have experience with B&H returns?
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I'm waiting on BestBuy. I bought a monitor and another tv from B&H, but I didn't have any issues, so I do not have any experience with returning with B&H. But I bought the monitor and TV after doing some research, and neither had big quality control issue.
 
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Was thinking about canceling but just got an email "We regret to inform you that due to a system error the ordered merchandise is not in stock. " ...Fuck 'em. I will wait it out and give the money to Best Buy. At $750 + tax, it's still a few dollars cheaper and I can always return it at nearby store.
 
beowulf7 said:
Wow, those are really high end specs:

"Intel i7-5960X 8-Core @ 3.0GHz | Asus X99-Deluxe | EVGA GTX 980 x 3 | Corsair Vengeance LPX 32GB DDR4
Samsung 840 Pro 512GB | WD Black 4TB x 2 | Corsair Obsidian 550D | Corsair Hydro H55 | Corsair AX1500i"

How much did you spend on that build? :eek:
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Missing M2 SSD. (with 512GB SSD as "storage" :D)
 
beowulf7 said:
Wow, those are really high end specs:
...How much did you spend on that build? :eek:
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Well, yeah. Set me back around $6k. Still have to get the monitors.

I looked into M2 SSDs but couldn't find one that looked very good and the placement on the Deluxe is strange.

Not to derail the thread, but the whole reason I built this computer was to power 3x Asus Swifts in 3D Vision Surround (and I'm still doubting whether modern games can run at 7680x1440 in stereo 3D at good rates).

Hope to find some in stock soon, and I will report back with my findings.
 
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I've been trying to find one of these f'ing monitors in stock for the last month! They are literally sold out in minutes. Does each store get like 5 in stock every 2 weeks? What doesn't Newegg every have them in stock? or any of the other major online retailers? Asus you f'ing suck! I hope someone comes out with something better for half the price
 
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I have like 6 sites all bookmarked that sell this item, check it in the morning, afternoon, and night. Seriously this thing is like Red October.
 
You really need to setup an alert on nowinstock.net if you want this monitor. It checks for stock every five minutes from Amazon, Newegg, B&H, TD, etc. and can send you a text message.

They come and go in bunches, usually around 3 - 5 - 10 at the most. It's very sporadic too... I've gotten stock notification at 5AM and then a couple of days later at 2PM. Then a few days later at 8:00AM. Have your 1-click setup on Amazon helps too :).

The monitor is in stock every couple/few days though... just at random times. Checking at set times through the day will probably get you one in February to be honest...
 
Reading this stuff lately
http://wccftech.com/gtx-980-lose-performance-crown-amds-r9-380x-febuary-2015/

possible r9 380x release in febrary

20nm; 3D stacked HBM memory

300 series will have 3 codenamed chips belonging to the pirate Islands micro-architecture

Bermuda - 390x / against gtx980ti
Fiji - 380x / against gtx980(970)
Treasure Island - 370x / against gtx960
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They're going to miss the whole holiday season and give nvidia a 6 month lead on this generation. I sure hope 20nm and 3d stacked memory are worth it.
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with Maxwell they're about half a gen ahead overall, maybe a bit more and by power consumption a gen ahead, maybe more even. Something like 10-15% more performance with the 980 over the 290X with ~2/3 power consumption or even a little lower is quite frankly ridiculous.
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Whole generation ahead in technology, not in architecture. Maxwell architecture obviously craps on Tonga/Hawaii/Tahiti but they use similar tech.
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The reason I bring that up is because word is that nvidia's 20nm (980ti ?) will be winter 2015. Since I can probably score a second 780ti sc or classified for $400 - $440 used, I'm leaning toward that until next winter rather than sell my single 780ti sc for $400 - $440 used and dumping $1140+ (plus tax?) on dual 980 sc 's now.
That would be $1200 or so on dual 980 sc's, later minus ~ $400 if I sold 780ti sc ~> $800 out of pocket . That is assuming I could sell the 780ti without issue, and some random buyer doesn't try to cry foul or screw me somehow. I'm not a big fan of selling since I don't trust people to treat things with the same care I do in general (especially over-clockable things) and I'd rather not use ebay.. so I'd prob just post it in H's sale forum if I decided to try selling it.

This all relates to this thread in that I'll be moving up to 2560x rez when the monitor gets here tomorrow if all is well so I'm planning to go dual card in the near future in hopes of (on most of the modern, more demanding games) hitting 80 or 100fps average fps depending on the game.

Cheapest option is add another evga 780ti sc or classified w/acx (~$400 used) until the 20nm nvidia card drops later next year. That option is also not dependent on clean and easy (or not) sale of existing gpu.
 
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Got mine in. There is a small (quadrant) of dead pixels in the extreme bottom left-hand corner, though it could be 1x1 or 4x4 with how small these pixels are. About 1cm in and 4cm up. Bastards.

Trying the pixel fix thing now, but I'll see how it is in general. I didn't see it until I went looking for it at least :). No BLB that I can see though, and playing Titanfall with g-sync was nice. Colors will do too. It's not that far off from the IPS for how I use the screen, and the viewing angles haven't presented themselves as an issue.

Quake Live was great as well, of course. Had a lot better accuracy than normal (about 15% better), but that could just be a good day.
 
Elvn, I am looking forward to your impressions!

I am gonna order two more when they ever become available and do a triple debezel surround setup :eek:

The bezels look thin on these, hopefully they turn out similar to my old 5x1 samsung setup!
5x1club3.jpg
 
Jesus Christ, my god man this is borderline porn. That is seriously beautiful. I plan on doing a 3 landscape setup my self, but the damn thing is nowhere to be found. 1, ONE came in stock today in Amazon, at a higher cost than stock.

But really, I am impressed with the 5 way portrait. The tiny bezel actually makes it viable, most other monitors, even other "thin" ones that we had before where still too thick, made it look like you were gaming through a jail cell.

Please post specs of your rig and the FPS you get running that monster of a resolution.


------------------

@Elvn,

I think there is some compelling evidence/rumors that Nvidia will be releasing another card this year, so in the next 1-2 months. It's just rumors and I haven't checked on their validity recently, but I think its fairly likely, if that is the case I would say just hold tight at least until early December and if no news comes it is a pretty good time to sell. People are always lookin to buy around the Christmas time.
 
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I LOVE THIS DISPLAY :eek:

ULMB seems better on here then the Eizo and is clear as a CRT. High-FPS g-sync feels smoother then the Acer 4k g-sync monitor, though probably because the Acer maxes out at 60 FPS.

My quake live hit % was up in the low 50s today when it normally is in the high 20s/low 30s. We'll see how it is tomorrow.

Sorry to beat a dead horse but this display is great. I'll be quiet now!
 
Hooked up the monitor and tweaked it. Other than the TN shift ~ shade gradient at the top, which I was used to on my samsung a750D and which is not noticeable in games to me, it looks really good. No obvious defects that I can see so far. I ran a bunch of 2560x1440 fantasy wallpapers I have in a folder which have various colored backgrounds, as well as some plain solid color backgrounds. After I tweaked the vibrancy, contrast, and brightness they started looking really nice. I'm impressed. I was really afraid that the colors would be pale and washed out and that the coating would play into that more. I can see the coating on some plain solid backgrounds but I've used matte/ag coated monitors of this level before. It's most noticeable in 3rd party file manager and on white pages as well as web pages I've customized via firefox "nosquint" addon, I change bright web pages and my file manager to solid grey backgrounds so that I'm not looking at white pages all of the time (only change bright web pages to grey though, [H] doesn't require that obviously). I still have a 27" 2560x1440 60hz glossy ips at the same desk so this isn't a huge deal for me.

Regarding gaming, so far I only tried a few minutes of "Shadow of Mordor" at 144hz with g-sync on. It feels nice and smooth. However I had to turn a bunch of stuff down just to get 75fps+ while scouting around (according to fraps) since I'm still only on a single 780ti. I really feel the need to get an sli setup going now.

I did read about how to enable ulmb on desktop and have it switch to g-sync + 144hz in games via the nvidia panel. However, that doesn't automatically swap the brightness levels so it makes me wonder if people are manually adjusting the monitor brightness via monitor OSD controls every time they launch a game or if they are using a brightness hotkey shortcut in the nvidia driver panel.

I'd like to try out "Dishonored" and "Left4Dead2" in ulmb mode with their high fps at some point tonight. However I'll have to crank up the monitor's brightness setting if I enable that. Just experimenting on the desktop, when I maxed ulmb to 10% strobe width(duration) the desktop got extremely dim w/o me adjusting the brightness to compensate.

It would be nice if I could save nvidia color profiles to activate via a hotkey like I used to do with amd drivers a long time ago... one saved at "normal" and one super-bright for ulmb mode. Haven't looked into that yet. I could always just manually adjust brightness between desktop and gaming sessions if I have to. I don't have enough gpu power to run ulmb mode all the time or I'd consider leaving it on (if I prefer that mode after I test it out).

Overall first impressions are very good but I haven't had a chance to really put it through its paces much yet. Glad there were no obvious screw-ups with it. Back to gaming now.
 
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l88bastard said:
Elvn, I am looking forward to your impressions!

I am gonna order two more when they ever become available and do a triple debezel surround setup :eek:

The bezels look thin on these, hopefully they turn out similar to my old 5x1 samsung setup!
5x1club3.jpg
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Jebus!!! I been doing life all wrong!
 
As nice as that looks from that distance, I don't think I could ever stand multi monitor setups. No matter how small the bezel is, it's too much for me. I can't stand discontinuity on the edges, either, like you'll notice any line crossing over into another screen on that snapshothas an obvious area where it does not continue at the right height. To me these 27 inch 1440p monitors are pretty good size wise at the distance I have them at. Now, what would my dream setup be? A very curved display that extends the length of 3 27 inch monitors, and a bit higher. Maybe even a slightly spherical curvature. I looked at the curve on the 34 inch LG and it didn't impress me, nor did the size.

Anyway you guys are making me jelly with your panel luck. I wish mine was good enough to actually get a perfect panel. After 4 tries (not that I returned those due to pixel defects, save that last one), I'm just having to settle with this. Reminds me I need to go leave that bad rating on Newegg.
 
Well, got mine in today. Great screen for a TN. It's not that much different from my IPS monitors - QX2710, Dell 2412M. Viewing angels are nothing to complain about. The anti-glare is not too intrusive. It's much better than the VG248QE in all those metrics and I can see myself using it full time instead of the QX2710.

The one big disappointment - maybe my own misconception - is I thought Gsync would make my games running at 30-60hz feel like they were running at 80-120. But it still looks sluggish if i'm running that low. Can anyone else confirm? I mean the tearing is gone...but everyone kept saying it looks so smooth even at low fps. But i still like it to be up in the 70s+
 
vicbdn said:
The one big disappointment - maybe my own misconception - is I thought Gsync would make my games running at 30-60hz feel like they were running at 80-120. But it still looks sluggish if i'm running that low. Can anyone else confirm? I mean the tearing is gone...but everyone kept saying it looks so smooth even at low fps. But i still like it to be up in the 70s+
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What you should expect it to do is completely remove tearing and create a slight perceived reduction to input lag/stuttering at variable fps. It won't make 60hz feel like 120 and it definitely won't make 30hz comfortable. I suspect some of the false hype came from people who previously used a slow monitor — now they have a fast 120/144hz TN and they're attributing all the benefits that come with it to gsync.
 
Hey all, I am planning to get this monitor, and I have some questions about it.

If, for some bizzare reason, I want to run the res on 1080p, does this monitor allow unscaled display? (as in leave a black border around the edge of the image rather than blowing up the image to fit the entire pixel area)

And...

If yes, does G-Sync work when using that output?

If No, is there a way to at least lessen the blur introduced by the upscaling?
 
^ Nvidia has GPU scaling so you can use that if you need to. I think it introduces some input lag or some such, but it'll work.


Not sure how others can say it looks decent compared to a Qnix, though. I have this right beside my Qnix and it's mind blowingly different if I have any set of decent eyes. Especially the contrast. The Qnix is just ridiculously better in that department. Blacks actually look quite black on my Qnix. On this, not so much. Pretty bad. I mean I don't care that much because it's a gaming monitor, but using it day to day I notice how much worse its colors are more and more.

Like, if I'm looking at any Steam-based interface, the difference between dragging it from my Qnix to the ASUS is really big.
 
vicbdn said:
Well, got mine in today. Great screen for a TN. It's not that much different from my IPS monitors - QX2710, Dell 2412M. Viewing angels are nothing to complain about. The anti-glare is not too intrusive. It's much better than the VG248QE in all those metrics and I can see myself using it full time instead of the QX2710.

The one big disappointment - maybe my own misconception - is I thought Gsync would make my games running at 30-60hz feel like they were running at 80-120. But it still looks sluggish if i'm running that low. Can anyone else confirm? I mean the tearing is gone...but everyone kept saying it looks so smooth even at low fps. But i still like it to be up in the 70s+
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When people say "smooth" at lower fps fluctuations, they mean there is no judder or tearing with v-sync off. You aren't going to get the smoothness that higher motion definition of higher fps+hz gives, and it's higher motion articulation, when you are 60fps or lower. I tweaked my shadow of mordor down to around 70 - 75 fps average with g-sync on and it is really good. I'd like to get dual card going eventually though because I would prefer the motion def + articulation of 100fps ave at least, if not higher. What g-sync is really good for imo is having no fps ceiling that v-sync would cause, and of course better than running w/o v-sync at all and getting tearing/judder. If you can't maintain a certain framerate with v-sync, it will hit you with a fps ceiling much lower. G-sync allows a fps roller coaster, not only lower, but higher than your average fps (no v-sync fps cap). Also doesn't have the multi-frame buffer style v-sync input lag.

The other big advancement over other 2560x monitors is not only g-sync but 1ms response time at 120hz-144hz vs FoV motion blur (reducing FoV blur 50%@120, 60%@144, or near 'zero' in ulmb mode) vs their baseline (worst) level blur amounts.
 
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Once you tweak the vibrance up a bit, and contrast/brightness(via monitor osd) it's color output is very saturated. I'm very happy with the color.

Neither the swift nor my 60hz 2560x1440 glossy ips have the black levels and detail in blacks of my VA tv (let alone a plasma) which I use for movies.
Once the vibrance and brightness+contrast are tweaked it looks very good compared to an ips imo. It is capable of well saturated color.

The cons are:

TN shift/shadow "shade gradient" band at the top, most noticeable when sitting up/standing and sitting back down, not in gaming (like all TN).

ag coating on bright solids (crystal/frost/"screendoor sheen in place(s) depending how you are focusing on the screen). Glossy would make it a little more lush, and prob give the blacks an impression of being more "wet"/inky too.

ulmb mode needs more brightness while maintaining contrast and not crushing

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At the moment I'm experimenting with ulmb on the desktop so it is very dim. I doubt I will use that mode on desktop but I'll test it out a little more.
ULMB on L4D2 was great though, such motion clarity.
Once I get dual gpus I'll prob still be using 144hz g-sync mode on most modern games however. ULMB mode only for games where fps is crazily high.

Here is how the monitor's color, black levels and contrast line up from review tests, in reply to people's subjective comments on such.

pg278q_black-depth-comparison_tft-central.png


pg278q_color-gamut_toms-hardware.png


pg278q_contrast-comparison_tft-central.png


pg278q_compared-to-other-lcds_tftcentral.png


sources:
http://www.tftcentral.co.uk/reviews/asus_rog_swift_pg278q.htm
http://www.tomshardware.com/reviews/rog-swift-pg278q-g-sync-monitor,3897-8.html
 
I think those reviews are somewhat hogwash. 1440p is a panel lottery and they pretty much get sent golden panels. I can tell you right now that none of the 4 of these that I have tried have had anything close to a perfect backlight (literally perfect) like they did, which means theirs is already different. You can pretty much count their findings as "what would happen at the peak of the technology this device is using).

As for black levels and color, I don't think I can call my differences subjective at all. Like to not be able to see the huge difference that happens when I take my steam window and put it so that it spans both monitors (Qnix and this thing) would pretty much make you colorblind, in my eyes. It's a huge difference.

I'm starting to wonder if this Swift I have now is worse than the other ones I had in terms of black levels and such. Or maybe this one is just poorly calibrated.Things looked too bring and washed out on it, and I don't remember it being quite that bad on my other Swifts. Still works fine for gaming though. Just a nuisance to see some colors on steam look so different between the Qnix and Swift.
 
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