Asus ROG Swift PG27UCDM Review

When I reviewed the Asus ROG Swift PG32UCDM past year, I was blown away. It rapidly took my apical spot for the Best 4K Gaming Monitor and has remained a stellar prime since. With the ROG Swift PG27UCDM, Asus is going backmost to the well, coming backmost with a much accessible surface size and adjacent crisper image. It volition inactive outgo you a mint, but if 32 inches was conscionable excessively big, this show offers the aforesaid outstanding show and plentiful features.

Asus ROG Swift PG27UCDM – Design and Features

The Asus ROG Swift PG27UCDM is simply a high-end gaming show that some looks and feels the part. It comes well-packaged and includes a fig of antithetic accessories, including further cables successful their ain zippered bag, decals for the down-firing reddish illumination of the stand, and adjacent a mates of blank discs to make your ain logo. It comes with the aforesaid fantabulous tripod-style basal that comes with different ROG Swift OLEDs and includes a heavy-duty adapter to equine to a third-party arm. The physique prime of each portion is excellent, akin to the different ROG Swift monitors we've reviewed truthful far.

Compared to its larger sibling, the PG32UCDM, the plan connection is astir identical. It comes with bladed bezels connected 3 sides that are made of metallic and adhd immoderate reassuring rigidity to the different bladed edges of the frame. The backmost sheet is integrative and includes a ample Asus ROG logo that tin beryllium customized for color, animation, oregon turned disconnected entirely. Like its predecessor, it looks bladed from the beforehand but peeking astir the rear reveals a reasonably heavy compartment to accommodate its internals and airflow-based cooling solution. It inactive feels thinner than your mean IPS oregon VA gaming show acknowledgment to the edges being abstracted and, indeed, ace thin.

It comes with a high-quality tripod-styled stand, the aforesaid arsenic we've seen connected different ROG Swift displays. It's familiar, but it remains fantabulous with a dense metallic physique and wholly tool-less assembly. It besides offers plentifulness of options for positioning and ergonomics, with degrees of -15° to +5° degrees of tilt, -30° to +30° of pivot, conscionable implicit 4 inches of tallness adjustment, and the quality to crook it into representation predisposition to usage arsenic a 2nd display. It besides includes a cablegram absorption transmission with capable abstraction to accommodate everything connected to its USB hub and video ports, a ¼-20 thread connected apical to equine a camera oregon different video accessory, and a down-firing reddish projection LED to amusement the Asus logo connected your table (or 1 of your ain utilizing the blank disks included successful the box).

The show uses what is, arsenic of this writing, the latest Samsung QD-OLED panel. It’s inactive comparatively spacious astatine 26.5-inches corner-to-corner, but it’s this smaller size that Asus hopes volition marque it much appealing. With the aforesaid 4K resolution, it’s capable to connection a pixel density that's astir 20% higher than its 32-inch predecessor, with 166 pixels per inch (PPI). At 4K, the summation is marginal capable that you’d request the 2 versions broadside by broadside to spot a difference, but for the champion clarity, the PG27UCDM is measurably better.

Its different specs and features are close, for the astir part. It has the same, esports-ready 240Hz refresh rate, the aforesaid rated specs of 10-bit colour with sum for 99% of the DCI-P3 colour gamut, and a choky Delta E < 2 rated calibration spec, which I trial successful the Performance section. It besides has matching heavy colour options, gaming representation presets, and dedicated gaming features, similar Sniper Mode and ELMB (Extreme Low Motion Blur), which I’ll get into successful the adjacent section.

And due to the fact that it’s a QD-OLED – that is, an OLED show with a Quantum Dot furniture to heighten its colors and luminance – it offers the aforesaid precocious caliber representation we’ve travel to expect from Asus’s flagship gaming monitors. OLED monitors are people appealing for gaming owed to their unthinkable opposition and dynamic scope (each pixel is individually controlled, lending it millions of full-range section dimming zones), and the QD enhancement lone makes it better. This is particularly existent successful SDR wherever brightness lags down competing LCD monitors. Because of its enhancements and large tuning, the PG27UCDM looks large nary substance which dynamic scope mode you whitethorn beryllium using.

Its KVM diagnostic has besides been carried through, making it a bully acceptable if you program to link a crippled console oregon similar to enactment side-by-side with a laptop. On the underside, flanking its joystick, is simply a three-port USB 3.2 hub. Anything connected to this hub tin beryllium hot-swapped to a 2nd strategy with a azygous fastener property assigned done its OSD.

Opposite are its video inputs, including 2 HDMI 2.1 ports, a DisplayPort 2.1a, and USB Type-C video that’s besides susceptible of 90W of PD charging. DisplayPort received a mentation bump this release, offering a afloat 80 Gbps of bandwidth to enactment 4K240 without the request for DisplayStream compression.

Burn-in is simply a changeless interest with OLED monitors, but Asus is astatine the forefront erstwhile it comes to preventative OLED Care features. All of the staples return, similar Pixel Shifting and regular Pixel Refresh cycles each 4 hours erstwhile the show goes to sleep. It tin besides observe logos, desktop icons, and the taskbar and set the brightness astir these areas to trim the hazard of burn-in.

This merchandise introduces a caller proximity sensing diagnostic that tin crook disconnected the surface erstwhile it senses you’ve moved excessively acold away. You tin set the region of its sensor successful the settings up to 47 inches, astatine which constituent the surface volition determine that you’ve moved distant and darken to support its pixels.

The interest implicit burn-in is valid and isn’t apt to spell anyplace until it’s nary longer a risk, but it’s obscurity adjacent arsenic worrisome arsenic it was successful year’s past. With due precautions, similar hiding the taskbar and desktop icons and not leaving static images connected the surface for extended periods of time, astir radical volition beryllium conscionable good adjacent implicit galore months of regular use.

Asus ROG Swift PG27UCDM – OSD and Software

The PG27UCDM tin beryllium configured utilizing a heavy on-screen show oregon Asus’ DisplayWidget Center. The layout and features are mostly the aforesaid arsenic different ROG Swift OLEDs, truthful I won’t spell done everything in-depth here, but if you’re marque new, I promote you to work my breakdown successful my earlier reappraisal of the PG32UCDM.

With that successful mind, I’m pleased to spot that Asus again delivered 1 of the deepest sets of configuration options disposable successful gaming monitors today. All of the accustomed representation controls are there, including brightness, contrast, and saturation, arsenic good arsenic a scope of representation modes catering to antithetic gaming genres. That’s the extremity of the iceberg. The PG27UCDM offers a afloat scope of colour sliders to execute customized representation calibrations to perfectly tailor it to your needs without necessitating an costly colorimeter. Though you mightiness not request it due to the fact that it comes mill calibrated with a implicit calibration study viewable close wrong the OSD.

You're besides fixed casual entree to a fig of antithetic gaming features, including the accustomed customizable on-screen reticle and Shadow Booster mode, arsenic good arsenic ELMB to trim question blur adjacent further, astatine the disbursal of brightness. It besides brings backmost the arguable Sniper Mode, which magnifies the halfway of the screen, akin to the scope connected a sniper rifle, arsenic good arsenic nighttime imaginativeness that tin item different players oregon enemies successful acheronian environments. Since some are moving astatine the hardware level, there's nary mode for games to artifact this successful competitory settings, and it tin perfectly supply a competitory advantage. Be a bully national and prevention these for azygous player, please.

The monitor's KVM diagnostic is besides accessible done this menu. Once your peripherals are plugged into the USB ports connected the underside of the monitor, you tin either participate the paper to toggle the KVM connected oregon delegate it to a shortcut cardinal for adjacent faster switching.

If you would similar not to fiddle with an existent OSD and its somewhat cumbersome joystick navigation, Asus besides makes its settings disposable done its Display Widget Center software. I find this to beryllium much convenient to usage connected the fly. However, possibly owed to however often I person utilized the on-screen show successful Asus monitors, the existent OSD feels intuitively laid out, if a spot dense.

Regardless, it's not hard to wrapper your caput astir either option, truthful you're harmless to spell with whichever you prefer. You'll surely beryllium spending clip adjusting settings, particularly arsenic you find your preferred representation and HDR modes oregon privation to usage oregon alteration an OLED Care feature. Even if you don't program to support it, I suggest astatine slightest trying DisplayWidget Center to spot if its convenience wins you over.

Asus ROG Swift PG27UCDM – Performance

I've been fortunate capable to trial the Asus ROG Swift PG27UCDM for the amended portion of 2 weeks. During that time, I've enactment it done its paces with galore antithetic games, arsenic good arsenic utilizing it arsenic a regular operator to get enactment done, ticker movies, and thing other I mightiness request my machine for. Throughout that time, it has been consistently excellent, offering a fantastic representation and enjoyable usage acquisition crossed the board.

One of the things I person to commend Asus for is that adjacent successful SDR mode, its displays ne'er look dull. Using my Spyder Pro Colorimeter, I measured highest brightness astatine 498 nits, erstwhile 50% of the surface was afloat white. With 100% of the surface white, luminance dropped to 337 nits. For day-to-day usage extracurricular of gaming, you’ll seldom beryllium looking astatine a wholly achromatic screen, truthful brightness volition autumn determination successful between. It’s large for usage distant from nonstop sunlight, which is besides advisable to support the sheet from overheating.

I besides verified that Asus’s claims of colour gamut sum were accurate. The show investigation pegged it astatine 100% of sRGB and 99% of DCI-P3. Properly calibrated, you tin beryllium assured that this show is going to beryllium capable to correspond your enactment good if you enactment successful a originative tract wherever wide-gamut accuracy is important.

Color accuracy was besides precise bully successful its sRGB mode, though didn’t people a Delta E < 2, arsenic claimed. It was adjacent with an mean of 2.46 but cyan was a spot oversaturated and the greys were besides somewhat off. Still, this is precise bully out-of-the-box accuracy. You could confidently usage it for each but high-level nonrecreational colour work, and fewer radical extracurricular of trained experts volition beryllium capable to comprehend its inaccuracies with the bare eye.

I did tally into immoderate occupation successful mapping its code response, however. No substance what I tried, I wasn't capable to execute close grayscale ramping for the Gamma 2.2 standard. To get close, I really had to crook it each the mode to 2.6, truthful thing is intelligibly disconnected here. With this setting, I was capable to execute the ramp pictured supra alongside the colour gamut report. This is adjacent capable for large results, but it shouldn't beryllium indispensable to usage Gamma 2.6 erstwhile Gamma 2.2 has its ain setting.

Built into the OSD, you tin presumption Asus's ain calibration report, which does validate its claims. The institution is utilizing overmuch much costly tools for these ratings, truthful immoderate tiny discrepancies are to beryllium expected. Taken arsenic a whole, however, the show looks large retired of the box, and it's reasonably casual to dial it successful adjacent further. If you bash hap to person a colorimeter, it's imaginable to execute adjacent amended results, which is genuinely awesome from a show intended for gaming supra each else.

Moving connected to gaming, it's truly nary astonishment that it offers outstanding responsiveness and fantastic representation quality. OLED displays are people overmuch faster than LED, which allows Asus to complaint this show astatine a ridiculously accelerated 0.03ms effect time. Paired with its 240Hz refresh rate, it's capable to execute next-level responsiveness and large question clarity. The PG27UCDM would marque a large prime for competitory esports adjacent astatine the nonrecreational level.

The BlurBusters Test-UFO Ghosting trial illustrates this perfectly. Capturing the supra representation with a high-speed camera, determination simply isn't immoderate ghosting, overshoot, oregon artifacts astatine all. This is simply a fantastic result, adjacent for an OLED display. Simply put, you should ne'er acquisition ghosting. If your skills are up to the task, those 360° flip headshots should beryllium easier than ever.

To that level, gaming connected the show is thing abbreviated of excellent. The representation quality, clarity, and responsiveness are simply fantastic. When you adhd successful enactment for Nvidia G-Sync and AMD FreeSync, the accordant smoothness is elevating. While it surely lends itself to competitory shooters, it's a dainty nary substance what genre you mightiness beryllium playing, but particularly successful games that stress agleam colors similar Baldur's Gate 3 oregon Diablo 4.

This is the lawsuit adjacent if you determine not to alteration HDR each the time, and there's bully crushed for that successful definite games. Battlefield 2042, for example, tends to look much bland successful HDR than it does successful SDR. No substance what you choose, however, you'll inactive beryllium capable to bask wide dynamic scope due to the fact that of each pixel acting arsenic its ain section dimming zone. Even SDR contented has much dynamic range, and looks amended than a accepted LED monitor.

I don't support a crippled console with my PC, but I tested the KVM diagnostic with my laptop and was capable to transportation my peripherals seamlessly. It's cleanable if you program to instrumentality a keyboard, mouse, controller, oregon headset betwixt platforms, oregon if, similar me, you request to commercialized disconnected betwixt 2 antithetic systems quickly.

Its OLED protections bash thin to nag, but this goes with the territory for OLED monitors today. I would overmuch alternatively person reminders popular up connected the surface each present and again than person specified an costly acquisition request to beryllium replaced sooner than necessary.

Just don't expect miracles from its higher pixel density. It's not the lone 27-inch 4K monitor, and it surely won't beryllium the last. As I mentioned previously, unless you person some versions of this show broadside by side, you astir apt won't announcement immoderate difference. Instead, it's much important to take the size that works for you implicit immoderate of the antithetic features here.

The instauration of this show introduces a quandary. The 32-inch version, the PG32UCDM, has been retired agelong capable that you tin often find it connected merchantability for astir $1,000 portion this exemplary is apt to stay astatine its $1,199 MSRP for a agelong portion yet. If you similar the smaller 27-inch size but similar everything else, bash you crook and get the larger mentation for $200 little connected sale? Or bash you clasp out, oregon walk extra, for this much compact option? Only you tin decide.