ASUS ROG PG279Q 27" Gaming Monitor WQHD 1440p IPS 165Hz DisplayPort Adjustable Ergonomic EyeCare G-SYNC

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Ive waited about 6 months to review this monitor. I wanted to be sure that I had plenty of seat time behind it before I pass judgment on it. I thought about buying this thing for a long time before I bit the bullet. To clarify (since Amazon lumps a ton of different models into the same page) this review is for the PG279Q 27" 1440P IPS 144/165Hz G-Sync version. I read about a ton of complaints regarding light bleed at the corners that scared me. The Amazon listing even states "Product Alert: IPS (In-Plane-Switching) is a technology for LCD displays that offers users wider viewing angles and bolder colors by allowing more light to pass through the panel. As a result, IPS panels can exhibit a slight glow around the edges and corners (also known as light bleed), which is entirely normal." I figured that even if my panel exhibited this condition I probably wouldnt care because Im not that picky about stuff like that. Truth is, even if my panel has that problem, I dont notice it or dont care. Its absolutely, perfectly fine. Maybe I got a great panel, maybe Im not picky, but no matter what Im happy and thats what matters. Ive recently transitioned most of my gaming from console to PC and in my upgrade I wanted a nicer monitor than my old cheapey 1080p display. I wanted G-Sync since I have an Nvidia card and I wanted to go as big as my desk would allow. I knew I wanted IPS since I wanted accurate color representation since I do some photo editing. Everything came back to the ASUS PG279Q. I love it. The size is perfect and the slim bezels are great. The stand is fantastic and has a lot of range of movement. Its all smooth and well supported; even if my desk shakes the monitor and stand seem perfectly still without any wobble. The stand has optional red LEDs that can be lit around the base and the 3-inch long ROG logo in the right front corner. Build quality is standard ASUS affair, which is to say very good. Im looking forward to buying an ASUS/Nvidia BFGD display in the summer. The OSD is phenomenal. Theres a joystick behind the panel that can be used to navigate the display settings which is AWESOME. every other monitor Ive ever used makes you navigate the display with buttons that are poorly labeled and have weak tactile feedback. The joystick moves in 4 directions and pushes in to confirm settings. I almost never use it but its awesome. Another great feature of the OSD is the fact that it can display its own frame count so you dont have to rely on 3rd party programs to show you FPS. The G-sync works exactly as advertised. Its totally tear-free no matter how many frames the GPU puts out. Playing super intense games like Witcher 3 at ultra Ill sometimes see frame count go down into the 40s on a GTX1070 but I almost never notice it with G-Sync. In terms of the panel and display itself, Im incredibly impressed. Im by no means an expert or a "pixel peeper" but I feel like my money was well spent with no complaints from me. No dead pixels, super-high adaptive refresh (with overclock!), low latency, and super accurate color representation. I know it sounds dumb, but even running the Windows desktop at 144hz is cool. Window and mouse movement is so SMOOOTH. Every game Ive played looks better on this display, at this resolution. I was afraid that I wouldnt notice a difference between 1080p and 1440p, but its noticeable. Its not as big a difference between 720p and 1080p, but its there. Games running at this resolution and at 60fps or beyond look INCREDIBLE. I can imagine 4K is better but Im not rich enough to afford that much GPU horsepower.

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I think this monitor falls victim to misconceptions surrounding the differences between "Backlight Bleed" and "IPS Glow". They are two completely different things, although they can look somewhat similar to the untrained eye. IPS glow is an effect where off-angle images can appear brighter or slightly washed out. This is a characteristic of all IPS and IPS-like panels. When you first look at the monitor, you may feel like the corners or edges are washed out and think "thats backlight bleed!", but if you actually move your head and closely inspect the edges, youll see that effect disappear entirely. This is "IPS glow", and you can reduce or eliminate it by viewing your monitor as close to straight-on as possible, and increasing your viewing distance slightly. No amount of returning this monitor will make that effect go away, nor will buying a different IPS monitor. Theyre all going to do this. With that said, backlight bleed can still happen. You can confirm the difference between IPS glow and backlight bleed by viewing the brighter spot as close to straight on as you can manage. If that area of the screen looks fine when viewed straight on, its IPS glow. If it still appears brighter, washed out, or even has a slight hue to it regardless of angle, THAT is backlight bleed, and that is what youre going to want to look for when determining whether or not your monitor is defective or was part of a batch of legitimately defective units. Which, by the way, ASUS knows an exact range of serial numbers that did not go through an enhanced QA process, and will cross-ship a replacement monitor to you, only requiring that you prove you own the monitor and the serial number is within a certain range. This protects you even if you bought somewhere other than Amazon. As of the time of this review, the monitor will be well on its way to 3 years old. Dont fret about its age; while newer monitors exist, IPS panels havent gotten any faster. Newer models may have access to higher resolutions or different panel sizes (such as 4k or 1080p/1440p ultra wide), and the electronics surrounding the panel itself may include new features like black equalization, the panel in this particular model is fast and high quality, and not easily surpassed. The color performance is exceptionally well tuned out of the box, and the pixel overdrive function is as close to perfect as you can get. TFT centrals review of the unit shows less than 5% overshoot artifacting on only a handful of transitions, which will barely be perceptible to the naked eye. They measured a true 5ms response time, which was nearly flat across the board. You wont run into issues where some colors are easier for the pixels to transition to and from than others, the performance you see out of the box in one game is going to match the performance of another. No hidden surprises where a darker or brighter game you havent played yet has the potential to turn the whole screen into a smeary mess or even shift the hue of the screen entirely with subtle overdrive artifacting or pixel overshoot. If ASUS actually bothered to recall all of the defective units, and if the price was less than $600, I wouldnt hesitate recommending this monitor to anyone. The monitor is still a bit on the expensive side, and you are expected to take a small risk that could leave you with a monitor that may not be very fun to look at until Amazon or ASUS cross-ships a replacement to you. One or both of them will eventually make it right. Personally, I believe there are two tiers of gaming monitor worth buying. A super fast TN panel, for the esports gamer that finds anything higher than 2ms response time to be unacceptable, with some nice side effect bonuses like zero potential for "IPS Glow". For everyone else that is willing to trade 1-3ms of response time for vastly superior image quality, this monitor is available. Hopefully it continues to be, similar monitors dont tune the pixel overdrive response as nicely as ASUS has and that can reduce the pixel response time or result in more overshoot artifacts.

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Picked this up to go with another monitor to complete my dual monitor setup for gaming. This thing looks amazing! It came in nice sturdy packaging and was delivered lightning fast thanks to Amazon Prime. Things I would like to note: 1. 144Hz/165Hz are only available with Displayport. Make sure that you get one that is DisplayPort 1.2 with HBR (High Bit Rate) 2 support. There is one included in the box, but I opted to get a better quality one here: UGREEN DP to DP Cable, 4K DisplayPort to DisplayPort Cable Gold Plated 1.2 Version 2. Calibrate your monitor. It looks good, but not perfect out of the box. Calibration takes this thing from good to great! A lot of people complain about Back Light Bleed, but this can be minimized my properly calibrating your monitor and turning brightness down. There are a lot of guides out there, but I used one on Toms Hardware as a starting point. That said, the 165Hz refresh rate with G Sync make games buttery smooth, and the 2K resolution is a nice upgrade from my other monitor. Other nice to have features include a built in FPS counter and blue light filter.

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0:00 0:00 This video is not intended for all audiences. What date were you born? January February March April May June July August September October November December 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 30 31 2019 2018 2017 2016 2015 2014 2013 2012 2011 2010 2009 2008 2007 2006 2005 2004 2003 2002 2001 2000 1999 1998 1997 1996 1995 1994 1993 1992 1991 1990 1989 1988 1987 1986 1985 1984 1983 1982 1981 1980 1979 1978 1977 1976 1975 1974 1973 1972 1971 1970 1969 1968 1967 1966 1965 1964 1963 1962 1961 1960 1959 1958 1957 1956 1955 1954 1953 1952 1951 1950 1949 1948 1947 1946 1945 1944 1943 1942 1941 1940 1939 1938 1937 1936 1935 1934 1933 1932 1931 1930 1929 1928 1927 1926 1925 1924 1923 1922 1921 1920 1919 1918 1917 1916 1915 1914 1913 1912 1911 1910 1909 1908 1907 1906 1905 1904 1903 1902 1901 1900 Submit Adobe Flash Player is required to watch this video. Install Flash Player Has severe orange glow and backlight bleed. I understand IPS panels have some blacklight bleed, but this orange glow is just ridiculous. The photos show it worse than it really is, but its still pretty bad and distracting enough to not want it. I will be requesting a replacement and hope the next one is better. EDIT: I received my replacement and it still has the orange ips glow, although a tiny bit better. The bad thing is that now this one has backlight bleed in the tip right corner which can be seen in the video I posted.

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This review is for the Asus PG279Q My initial experience: I upgraded from a 27 inch curved 1080p 144hz Asus monitor to this one and I will say the difference is amazing. Games are much more crisp and with G-sync on much smoother. My GTX 1080 is able to pump out good frame rates to keep this beast happy. But I do have an RTX 2080 Ti on the way to really make use of this monitor. Im not into 4K gaming so this monitor was perfect for me as I prioritize high refresh rates. Shipping and product quality: My first monitor came faulty I am guessing probably from being shipped as the left side of the monitor had red lines going down it when displaying blacks. Amazon shipped me a new one right away and its perfect. Zero stuck or dead pixels and everything looks great once you dial in a profile you like. What I dont like: The speakers of course are not good at all like with most built in speakers but they work and it only comes with a passthrough 3.5mm jack that disables the speakers. I use an external DAC and Amp and would have liked to have it passthrough to the monitor speakers. I only wish it was less expensive so others could experience this level of quality going up from a 1080p setup.

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0:00 0:00 This video is not intended for all audiences. What date were you born? January February March April May June July August September October November December 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 30 31 2019 2018 2017 2016 2015 2014 2013 2012 2011 2010 2009 2008 2007 2006 2005 2004 2003 2002 2001 2000 1999 1998 1997 1996 1995 1994 1993 1992 1991 1990 1989 1988 1987 1986 1985 1984 1983 1982 1981 1980 1979 1978 1977 1976 1975 1974 1973 1972 1971 1970 1969 1968 1967 1966 1965 1964 1963 1962 1961 1960 1959 1958 1957 1956 1955 1954 1953 1952 1951 1950 1949 1948 1947 1946 1945 1944 1943 1942 1941 1940 1939 1938 1937 1936 1935 1934 1933 1932 1931 1930 1929 1928 1927 1926 1925 1924 1923 1922 1921 1920 1919 1918 1917 1916 1915 1914 1913 1912 1911 1910 1909 1908 1907 1906 1905 1904 1903 1902 1901 1900 Submit Adobe Flash Player is required to watch this video. Install Flash Player Just received today and now Ill be doing an RMA. Total FAIL by Asus QC Department if they even have one. I figured since were in 2018 that theyve improved their QC. This is not an old model. Sticker says Manufacturer Date was March 2018. First horrible experience in all the monitors Ive purchased in the past. Stay Away from this one folks! Update: Received new replacement only to receive another defect. This time it continuously flickers during reboot. Tried changing cables to a more expensive display port cable with no effect and still flickers. Switched back to my old Asus vg248qe that is also 144Hz and works fine and no flickering. After googling today, the PG279q is known to have serious issues. Why they continue to sell this without the fix is mind boggling. Will be returning this monitor for good.

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I read all of the reviews and warnings from people on various sites stating the problems with QC these monitors have but I decided to go for it anyways. First monitor I received indeed had a major issue. I cant say for sure its what people are talking about when they refer to these monitors having a lot of dead pixels right out of the box, but its possible. It had a large cluster of dead and stuck pixels on one side of the monitor. It actually looked like someone dropped it on that side, but its hard to say for sure. I put in an exchange with Amazon and they were amazing. Within 24 hours of putting in the request I had a second monitor and this thing is working perfectly. Its a great monitor. No dead or stuck pixels at all that I have noticed. People talk about backlight bleed or IPS glow on these monitors and I honestly have no idea if my monitor suffers from either of those because I am unsure what to look for. I have not noticed any problems at all with this monitor so if it does suffer from those issues it cant be a serious issue. This monitor is fantastic though. The on screen display for adjusting the settings is great. The colors and graphics on the monitor are great, its easy to overclock it to 165 Hz. Update: After doing more research into what exactly backlight bleed and IPS glow is I have determined that my monitor does not suffer from backlight bleed but does suffer from IPS glow. Heres the thing; its only really noticeable if Im looking at a completely black screen and my room is dark. If my room is lit its almost impossible to notice the glow even while looking at a black screen and if Im specifically looking for it, if the screen isnt completely dark its very hard to notice the glow as well. Seeing as I dont expect to be looking at completely black screens very much I dont see this as much of a problem.

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From a distance, yes, this monitor is beautiful. Videos, picture editing. But hear my warning, no one talks about the unremovable, IPS repercussion of motion blur during high-end gaming movement and camera turning. The 4ms response time feels good if youre not used to anything better. After playing games like: Star Wars Battlefront II, Battlefield V, The Division, Elder Scrolls Online, Planetside 2... The motion blur is unchangeable. You will notice it immediately when you first this monitor, but youll assume its your PC, micro stuttering, or a NVIDIA setting you just need to adjust. Wrong. Even setting this monitor to ULMB will make zero difference from G-Sync on the motion blur. This is just an effect of this IPS monitor, maybe others like it. I had to do extensive user reviews to find out that a LOT of hardcore gamers were experiencing my exact problem, explained that IPS monitors are just at a stage right now where you cant have both high-end, popping image quality and color combined with low motion blur. The SOLUTION? PG278QR. The sister model. The TN panel. Youll say the color banding kept you from purchasing it, IPS looks better, etcetera... well, listen up. The 278QR version has 1ms response time. From my two months with the 279, going to the 278QR? The response time difference is MASSIVE. I mean, +2.0 KD differences were talking about here. Although its a darker monitor style in general, and the colors dont look like you can reach out and touch them, the motion blur? Completely gone. No more headaches. No more running around in a Call of Duty style game and having to squint every time you turn the camera. If you want a intensely positive gaming experience, if youre a hardcore gamer and want both insane graphics combined with impeccable response time, you NEED to get the PG278QR and trust me on it. If you dont do high-end, fast reaction gaming... stick with the IPS. Its good for things that are standing still and not moving.

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I debated on buying the ASUS PG279Q (IPS version) monitor for the longest time due to the poor reviews. I finally made the plunge purchasing and I am glad I did. Let me start off by saying I am a very picky person. The BLB on this monitor was so minor (pretty much non-existent.) There is some minor IPS glow in the corners, but it is only visible in a pitch black room with brightness blasted at 100 percent and viewing the monitor at an angle. Why on earth would you ever game in a pitch black room at max brightness anyway? Every IPS monitor I have ever owned has IPS glow, including my TV. This one is no different. It actually has less IPS glow than my other monitors. I play my games in a dark room, but usually have the brightness pretty low to not hurt my eyes. I am currently running this monitor at 25% brightness and it is beautiful. The colors pop very well and the build quality is amazing. Everything about it is perfect. The specifications speak for themselves and it is by far the smoothest monitor I have ever owned. I have ran the UDPix application and tested every color with no stuck or dead pixels. The stand is very sturdy and easy to adjust. The build quality just seems superb. The speakers are kind of meh, but I didnt buy this thing for the speakers as I always use a headset anyway. If you were like me and are debating on buying this monitor, just go ahead and go for it. The photos of BLB in other reviews exaggerate the situation and are a worst case scenario. Cameras cannot pickup how the human eye sees it and often times make it look worst that what it really is. My monitor has no backlight bleed visible to my eyes (yes I have 20/20 vision lol), but if I hold my iPhone camera up to see it, it is visible. But, obviously I am not using this monitor through my camera haha. By the way, my manufacture date was April 2016.

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Pros: High framerate (obviously), colors, easy to use OSD, thin bezel, small footprint Cons: Expensive, tacky color scheme, can get hot Update: Found a dead pixel near the top-center of the display. While it is barely noticeable during gameplay, I dont think a $700+ monitor should come with a dead pixel. Fortunately, Amazon is willing to take it back. The PG279Q is probably the best 16:9 1440p G-Sync monitor you can buy right now. It is extremely smooth and the colors look great. There are multiple preset color profiles or you can set your own. I think cinema mode looks the most natural to me. When paired with a graphics card that can drive this thing, youll be able to enjoy games on a totally different level. I was using a Qnix QX2710 overclocked to about 80 Hz before this. Its a good monitor, but it pales in comparison. With a maximum refresh rate of 165 Hz, youll be able to enjoy the most demanding games with no problem, provided you have a good enough graphics card. I didnt see any apparent backlight bleed, but some might be worse than others. Im currently using an EVGA GTX 980 Ti Classified (with a slight overclock to core clock and memory) to run this monitor. At max settings, Im able to get pretty good framerates for most games I play. For Hitman, I get about 70-90 FPS depending on whats being rendered. For Overwatch, I get well over 150 FPS on max settings; that game is extremely well-optimized. Those are only two games I have tried so far. I will update this list once I get around to it. The OSD menu is also very easy to navigate. Theres a small joystick and several hardware buttons. The options are laid out in a way youd expect. Nothing new here. Personally, Im not a fan of the red and black color scheme thats on pretty much every gaming-related peripheral. I think its overplayed and tacky. Im a fan of simple design and colors. I can see why it might appeal to the regular gamer, since its bold and screams "performance". Even though the logo on the base lights up red when the monitor is turned on, theres an option to turn it off in the OSD menu, which is a very welcomed option. With that off, you dont really see any of the red accents unless you look at the back of the monitor. The monitor can get hot after hours of use, but I dont think its anything unusual for high-end hardware. It can definitely increase the ambient temperature, so if youre sensitive to that, its something to note. While this monitor is expensive, you do get what you pay for. It is a beautiful panel with an extremely high refresh rate. If you can afford this and have the graphics card to drive it, I definitely would recommend it. It looks great and doesnt have any glaring problems. If youre not ready to drop four digits on an ultrawide G-Sync monitor, then this is the one to get.

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