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Many 27-inch and 32-inch QHD screens run at 165 Hz, but 240 Hz is becoming more common very quickly. I’ve found that monitors running at that speed, no matter how many pixels they have, have a smoothness that goes beyond the number of pixels.
At 1440p, the new ROG Swift PG279QM from Asus can reach these speeds. It’s a lot faster than its predecessor, the 165 Hz PG279Q, which I reviewed in 2016. Even though Ultra HD monitors get all the attention these days, fast QHD panels are still the ones to beat for balanced performance.
Since they have less than half as many pixels, they can move at very high frame rates and have higher motion resolution as a result. On a UHD monitor, a still image will look sharper, but a moving image can look more real and detailed on a QHD monitor that runs at over 200 Hz.
Asus ROG Swift PG279QM review: Design
The monitor can be adjusted in height by up to 100mm, tilted by -5° to 20°, swiveled by +/- 25°, pivoted by 90°, and used with 100x100mm VESA mounts. DisplayPort 1.4, three HDMI 2.0 ports (limited to 144Hz), a headphone jack, dual 2W built-in speakers, and a dual-USB 3.0 hub are all ways to connect. Remember that the ASUS PG279QM’s DisplayPort 1.4 doesn’t support DSC (Display Stream Compression), so you can only use 144Hz, 10-bit color depth, and full 4:4:4 uncompressed color format.
You can get 240Hz at 1440p with 10-bit color + chroma subsampling or just 8-bit color depth. We suggest setting the monitor to 8-bit color because you can’t tell the difference in games unless you’re looking at gradients. The monitor has Input Auto Switch, which means that when a new source of input is found, it will automatically switch to that source. It also supports 1080p 120Hz on the PS5 and 1080p/1440p 120Hz on compatible Xbox consoles. You can buy this gaming monitor from its official website.
Asus ROG Swift PG279QM review: Display
But the color balance was slightly off, with a temperature of over 7,000K even in the sRGB mode. If you’re going to use this display for color-critical work, you’ll need to make a few adjustments. HDR is also not very impressive because it only has 32 edge-lit backlight zones, which aren’t enough to make a noticeable difference in most content.
The physical design, on the other hand, is a bit busy. It has a metallic grey finish, copper accents, and RGB lighting on the back. The ports and connections on the back are also hard to get to because the screen’s bottom edge is right next to them and pushes against the cables.
But the gaming performance is great. The 240Hz refresh rate and impressive average initial response time of 3.7ms at maximum overdrive and 4.4ms at medium overdrive make the screen feel very quick and responsive. Overshoot can happen when the overdrive is turned up high, but it’s easy to control when the overdrive is turned up medium, so we’d stick with that setting.
It’s a shame that Asus didn’t add a mode that strobes the backlight to reduce blur. The change from 1080p to 1440p, which is more common for 240Hz displays, is important for some games but not as important for others. In Counter-Strike: Global Offensive, Valorant, and even Apex Legends, the extra resolution isn’t that important. However, in Call of Duty: Warzone, the extra detail is needed to spot enemies hiding in the trees.
Asus ROG Swift PG279QM review: Performance
High dynamic range technology, an excellent color gamut, DCI-P3, and display HDR certification make it possible for monitors to show better colors and contrast than older models. The contrast between the blackest black and the whitest white makes every detail more clear and effective. In competitive games, how well you do depends on how quickly the screen updates after you click your mouse.
When you click your mouse, the NVIDIA Reflex Latency Analyzer helps your computer respond quickly. The flicker-free technology lets you play your game for long periods of time without hurting your eyes. You can play your game for a good long time.
Asus ROG Swift PG279QM review: Price
The full price of an ASUS PG279QM is $900, but you can find it on sale for $750. Both prices are too high, though. A 27-inch, 1440p, 240Hz monitor, like the Gigabyte M27Q-X, costs only $400. It doesn’t do overdrive as well or have as wide of a color range as the other one, but it’s a much better deal. If you want a model with an Adobe RGB color gamut, you can buy the ASUS XV272UX for $500 without the G-SYNC module.
The LG 32GQ850 is another great 1440p 240Hz (260Hz OC) model with a 32-inch IPS panel and an A-TW polarizer that helps with IPS glow. There are a lot of great gaming monitors in this price range. For more information, check out our complete and always up-to-date best gaming monitor buyer’s guide.
Asus ROG Swift PG279QM review: Conclusion
The ASUS ROG Swift PG279QM is a high-end gaming monitor and the true successor to the very popular, but old, ASUS ROG Swift PG279Q and the updated version, the ASUS ROG Swift PG279QZ. It’s mostly made for gaming, with a very fast refresh rate that makes motion look very clear and low input lag. It works with NVIDIA’s G-SYNC technology and is one of the only 240Hz monitors that works with NVIDIA’s Reflex Latency Analyzer technology.
It’s a very flexible monitor that has one of the widest color ranges we’ve ever seen on a screen. It also does a great job of handling gradients. It also has more inputs than most other displays of its kind, including three HDMI 2.0 ports. Unfortunately, these inputs can only work with HDMI 2.0 bandwidth, and the stand isn’t as flexible as most ASUS gaming monitors’ stands because it can’t change height as much.
Asus ROG Swift PG279QM Rating