Asus has simply introduced its new Asus ROG Strix XG27UCS gaming monitor, which is a 27-inch, 160Hz, 4K display with some genuinely helpful options and compelling specs. The headline characteristic is a somewhat cheesy-sounding cell machine stand, however there’s much more happening right here.
With Asus having lengthy been a maker of a few of the finest gaming displays round, it has loads of pedigree in the case of the fundamentals, however this new display provides one thing a bit of totally different.
So this cell phone stand, then. It’s a slot within the entrance of the monitor’s stand/base. Yup, that’s it. Earlier than you dismiss it as a foolish thought, although, there are a few components to spotlight.
First, it’s simply fairly a helpful characteristic. The house beneath your monitor is so usually wasted, and we welcome any manner by which it may be made extra helpful, whether or not that’s by making the bottom fully flat as on the Samsung G95SC, or including a characteristic like this cell phone stand.
Furthermore, Asus’ top-tier ROG Swift gaming displays, such because the PG27AQN, have tended to have stand designs that look fairly sensible however are impractical with their lengthy V-shaped toes getting in the way in which of stuff in your desk. Right here, although, you get a easy rectangular foot that makes for a helpful place to stow and see your telephone or pill, though a big pill would block the underside of your display.
What’s extra, the display consists of USB-C enter so you’ll be able to in concept hook up your telephone (or pill or laptop computer) to the display. The monitor doesn’t fairly go so far as providing a KVM characteristic for this enter however it’s nonetheless a neat technique to make the stand much more helpful.
As for the remainder of the display, a 160Hz refresh fee is nothing too spectacular, even with a 4K decision (there are a number of 240Hz 4K shows lately), however it’s nonetheless a fantastic mixture for offering ultra-sharp-looking, easy gameplay. There are another delicate welcome extras too.
Together with G-Sync (and FreeSync / adaptive sync) compatibility, the display additionally has Asus’ ELMB-Sync know-how. This enables the display to supply backlight-strobing movement blur discount concurrently the variable refresh fee tech of G-Sync/FreeSync. Most screens nonetheless can solely provide backlight strobing when adaptive sync is turned off.
What’s extra, the panel helps variable overdrive too. This enables the display to regulate its overdrive setting in accordance with the variable refresh fee, making certain the perfect setting is used regardless of how a lot your body fee fluctuates. This reduces the looks of ghosting and inverse ghosting when in comparison with fastened overdrive shows utilizing adaptive sync.
And not using a zoned backlight, the display doesn’t provide dazzling high-contrast HDR copy, however it does assist 95% of the prolonged DCI-P3 shade vary required for HDR, that means you’ll get extremely saturated colours.
There are simply three causes of concern with this show. The primary is that its show inputs use older requirements, so in concept they don’t assist 4K at 160Hz with out some compression. Secondly, the value isn’t precisely low-cost at €669.90, which works out at roughly $700 US. Thirdly, and most significantly, this show is for now solely launching in Austria, Germany, and Switzerland.
As such, patrons elsewhere will simply should make do with the likes of the Asus PG32UCDM or Gigabyte FO32U2P in order for you some 240Hz, 4K gaming enjoyable.
