Once I reviewed the Asus ROG Swift PG32UCDM final yr, I used to be blown away. It rapidly took my high spot for the Finest 4K Gaming Monitor and has remained a stellar selection since. With the ROG Swift PG27UCDM, Asus goes again to the effectively, coming again with a extra accessible display dimension and even crisper picture. It’s going to nonetheless value you a mint, but when 32 inches was simply too large, this monitor presents the identical excellent efficiency and plentiful options.
Asus ROG Swift PG27UCDM – Design and Options
The Asus ROG Swift PG27UCDM is a high-end gaming monitor that each appears and feels the half. It comes well-packaged and consists of quite a few completely different equipment, together with further cables in their very own zippered bag, decals for the down-firing crimson illumination of the stand, and even a few clean discs to create your individual brand. It comes with the identical glorious tripod-style stand that comes with different ROG Swift OLEDs and features a heavy-duty adapter to mount to a third-party arm. The construct high quality of every piece is great, akin to the opposite ROG Swift screens we have reviewed to this point.
In comparison with its bigger sibling, the PG32UCDM, the design language is nearly equivalent. It comes with skinny bezels on three sides which might be fabricated from steel and add some reassuring rigidity to the in any other case skinny edges of the body. The again panel is plastic and consists of a big Asus ROG brand that may be personalized for shade, animation, or turned off totally. Like its predecessor, it appears skinny from the entrance however peeking across the rear reveals a reasonably thick compartment to accommodate its internals and airflow-based cooling resolution. It nonetheless feels thinner than your common IPS or VA gaming monitor due to the sides being separate and, certainly, tremendous skinny.
It comes with a high-quality tripod-styled stand, the identical as we have seen on different ROG Swift shows. It is acquainted, but it surely stays glorious with a heavy steel construct and utterly tool-less meeting. It additionally presents loads of choices for positioning and ergonomics, with levels of -15° to +5° levels of tilt, -30° to +30° of pivot, simply over 4 inches of top adjustment, and the flexibility to show it into portrait orientation to make use of as a second show. It additionally features a cable administration channel with sufficient area to accommodate every thing related to its USB hub and video ports, a ¼-20 thread on high to mount a digicam or different video accent, and a down-firing crimson projection LED to indicate the Asus brand in your desk (or considered one of your individual utilizing the clean disks included within the field).
The show makes use of what’s, as of this writing, the newest Samsung QD-OLED panel. It’s nonetheless comparatively spacious at 26.5-inches corner-to-corner, but it surely’s this smaller dimension that Asus hopes will make it extra interesting. With the identical 4K decision, it’s capable of supply a pixel density that is round 20% larger than its 32-inch predecessor, with 166 pixels per inch (PPI). At 4K, the rise is marginal sufficient that you just’d want the 2 variations aspect by aspect to see a distinction, however for the perfect readability, the PG27UCDM is measurably higher.
Its different specs and options are shut, for essentially the most half. It has the identical, esports-ready 240Hz refresh fee, the identical rated specs of 10-bit shade with protection for 99% of the DCI-P3 shade gamut, and a good Delta E < 2 rated calibration spec, which I take a look at within the Efficiency part. It additionally has matching deep shade choices, gaming image presets, and devoted gaming options, like Sniper Mode and ELMB (Excessive Low Movement Blur), which I’ll get into within the subsequent part.
And since it’s a QD-OLED – that’s, an OLED monitor with a Quantum Dot layer to boost its colours and luminance – it presents the identical excessive caliber image we’ve come to count on from Asus’s flagship gaming screens. OLED screens are naturally interesting for gaming resulting from their unimaginable distinction and dynamic vary (every pixel is individually managed, lending it thousands and thousands of full-range native dimming zones), and the QD enhancement solely makes it higher. That is very true in SDR the place brightness lags behind competing LCD screens. Due to its enhancements and nice tuning, the PG27UCDM appears nice irrespective of which dynamic vary mode you might be utilizing.
Its KVM function has additionally been carried by way of, making it a very good match when you plan to attach a recreation console or wish to work side-by-side with a laptop computer. On the underside, flanking its joystick, is a three-port USB 3.2 hub. Something related to this hub could be hot-swapped to a second system with a single button press assigned by way of its OSD.
Reverse are its video inputs, together with two HDMI 2.1 ports, a DisplayPort 2.1a, and USB Sort-C video that’s additionally able to 90W of PD charging. DisplayPort acquired a model bump this launch, providing a full 80 Gbps of bandwidth to assist 4K240 with out the necessity for DisplayStream compression.
Burn-in is a continuing fear with OLED screens, however Asus is on the forefront in terms of preventative OLED Care options. The entire staples return, like Pixel Shifting and common Pixel Refresh cycles each 4 hours when the monitor goes to sleep. It might additionally detect logos, desktop icons, and the taskbar and modify the brightness round these areas to cut back the chance of burn-in.
This launch introduces a brand new proximity sensing function that may flip off the display as soon as it senses you’ve moved too far-off. You’ll be able to modify the gap of its sensor within the settings as much as 47 inches, at which level the display will resolve that you just’ve moved away and darken to guard its pixels.
The priority over burn-in is legitimate and isn’t prone to go anyplace till it’s not a threat, but it surely’s nowhere close to as worrisome because it was in yr’s previous. With correct precautions, like hiding the taskbar and desktop icons and never leaving static photographs on the display for prolonged intervals of time, most individuals will probably be simply nice even over many months of day by day use.
Asus ROG Swift PG27UCDM – OSD and Software program
The PG27UCDM could be configured utilizing a deep on-screen show or Asus’ DisplayWidget Heart. The structure and options are largely the identical as different ROG Swift OLEDs, so I received’t undergo every thing in-depth right here, however when you’re model new, I encourage you to learn my breakdown in my earlier assessment of the PG32UCDM.
With that in thoughts, I’m happy to see that Asus once more delivered one of many deepest units of configuration choices obtainable in gaming screens right this moment. The entire ordinary image controls are there, together with brightness, distinction, and saturation, in addition to a spread of image modes catering to completely different gaming genres. That’s the tip of the iceberg. The PG27UCDM presents a full vary of shade sliders to carry out customized image calibrations to completely tailor it to your wants with out necessitating an costly colorimeter. Although you may not want it as a result of it comes manufacturing unit calibrated with an entire calibration report viewable proper inside the OSD.
You are additionally given quick access to quite a few completely different gaming options, together with the same old customizable on-screen reticle and Shadow Booster mode, in addition to ELMB to cut back movement blur even additional, on the expense of brightness. It additionally brings again the controversial Sniper Mode, which magnifies the middle of the display, much like the scope on a sniper rifle, in addition to evening imaginative and prescient that may spotlight different gamers or enemies in darkish environments. Since each are operating on the {hardware} degree, there is no method for video games to dam this in aggressive settings, and it could actually completely present a aggressive benefit. Be a very good citizen and save these for single participant, please.
The monitor’s KVM function can be accessible by way of this menu. As soon as your peripherals are plugged into the USB ports on the underside of the monitor, you possibly can both enter the menu to toggle the KVM on or assign it to a shortcut key for even sooner switching.
Should you would favor to not fiddle with an precise OSD and its considerably cumbersome joystick navigation, Asus additionally makes its settings obtainable by way of its Show Widget Heart software program. I discover this to be extra handy to make use of on the fly. Nevertheless, maybe resulting from how typically I’ve used the on-screen show in Asus screens, the precise OSD feels intuitively laid out, if a bit dense.
Regardless, it isn’t tough to wrap your head round both choice, so that you’re secure to go along with whichever you favor. You will actually be spending time adjusting settings, particularly as you identify your most popular image and HDR modes or wish to use or change an OLED Care function. Even when you do not plan to maintain it, I counsel a minimum of making an attempt DisplayWidget Heart to see if its comfort wins you over.
Asus ROG Swift PG27UCDM – Efficiency
I have been fortunate sufficient to check the Asus ROG Swift PG27UCDM for the higher a part of two weeks. Throughout that point, I’ve put it by way of its paces with many various video games, in addition to utilizing it as a day by day driver to get work executed, watch films, and anything I’d want my laptop for. All through that point, it has been persistently glorious, providing a incredible image and pleasurable use expertise throughout the board.
One of many issues I’ve to commend Asus for is that even in SDR mode, its shows by no means look boring. Utilizing my Spyder Professional Colorimeter, I measured peak brightness at 498 nits, when 50% of the display was full white. With 100% of the display white, luminance dropped to 337 nits. For day-to-day use exterior of gaming, you’ll hardly ever be taking a look at a very white display, so brightness will fall someplace in between. It’s nice to be used away from direct daylight, which can be advisable to maintain the panel from overheating.
I additionally verified that Asus’s claims of shade gamut protection had been correct. The show evaluation pegged it at 100% of sRGB and 99% of DCI-P3. Correctly calibrated, you could be assured that this show goes to have the ability to symbolize your work effectively when you work in a artistic subject the place wide-gamut accuracy is vital.
Shade accuracy was additionally superb in its sRGB mode, although didn’t rating a Delta E < 2, as claimed. It was shut with a mean of two.46 however cyan was a bit oversaturated and the greys had been additionally barely off. Nonetheless, this is excellent out-of-the-box accuracy. You may confidently use it for all however high-level skilled shade work, and few individuals exterior of skilled consultants will have the ability to understand its inaccuracies with the bare eye.
I did run into some hassle in mapping its tone response, nonetheless. It doesn’t matter what I attempted, I wasn’t capable of obtain correct grayscale ramping for the Gamma 2.2 commonplace. To get shut, I truly needed to flip all of it the best way to 2.6, so one thing is clearly off right here. With this setting, I used to be capable of obtain the ramp pictured above alongside the colour gamut report. That is shut sufficient for excellent outcomes, but it surely should not be crucial to make use of Gamma 2.6 when Gamma 2.2 has its personal setting.
Constructed into the OSD, you possibly can view Asus’s personal calibration report, which does validate its claims. The corporate is utilizing far more costly instruments for these scores, so some small discrepancies are to be anticipated. Taken as a complete, nonetheless, the monitor appears nice out of the field, and it is pretty straightforward to dial it in even additional. Should you do occur to have a colorimeter, it is doable to attain even higher outcomes, which is actually spectacular from a show meant for gaming above all else.
Transferring on to gaming, it is actually no shock that it presents excellent responsiveness and incredible picture high quality. OLED shows are naturally a lot sooner than LED, which permits Asus to fee this monitor at a ridiculously quick 0.03ms response time. Paired with its 240Hz refresh fee, it is capable of obtain next-level responsiveness and nice movement readability. The PG27UCDM would make an ideal selection for aggressive esports even on the skilled degree.
The BlurBusters Check-UFO Ghosting take a look at illustrates this completely. Capturing the above image with a high-speed digicam, there merely is not any ghosting, overshoot, or artifacts in any respect. It is a incredible end result, even for an OLED show. Merely put, it is best to by no means expertise ghosting. In case your abilities are as much as the duty, these 360° flip headshots must be simpler than ever.
To that degree, gaming on the monitor is nothing wanting glorious. The picture high quality, readability, and responsiveness are merely incredible. Once you add in assist for Nvidia G-Sync and AMD FreeSync, the constant smoothness is elevating. Whereas it actually lends itself to aggressive shooters, it is a deal with it doesn’t matter what style you is likely to be taking part in, however particularly in video games that emphasize vivid colours like Baldur’s Gate 3 or Diablo 4.
That is the case even when you resolve to not allow HDR on a regular basis, and there is good motive for that in sure video games. Battlefield 2042, for instance, tends to look extra bland in HDR than it does in SDR. It doesn’t matter what you select, nonetheless, you will nonetheless have the ability to take pleasure in extensive dynamic vary due to every pixel performing as its personal native dimming zone. Even SDR content material has extra dynamic vary, and appears higher than a standard LED monitor.
I do not preserve a recreation console with my PC, however I examined the KVM function with my laptop computer and was capable of switch my peripherals seamlessly. It is good when you plan to take a keyboard, mouse, controller, or headset between platforms, or if, like me, it’s essential commerce off between two completely different techniques rapidly.
Its OLED protections do are inclined to nag, however this goes with the territory for OLED screens right this moment. I might a lot moderately have reminders pop up on the display each from time to time than have such an costly buy have to be changed prior to crucial.
Simply do not count on miracles from its larger pixel density. It is not the one 27-inch 4K monitor, and it actually will not be the final. As I discussed beforehand, until you might have each variations of this show aspect by aspect, you most likely will not discover any distinction. As a substitute, it is extra vital to decide on the scale that works for you over any of the completely different options right here.
The introduction of this monitor introduces a quandary. The 32-inch model, the PG32UCDM, has been out lengthy sufficient which you could incessantly discover it on sale for round $1,000 whereas this mannequin is prone to stay at its $1,199 MSRP for an extended whereas but. Should you desire the smaller 27-inch dimension however like every thing else, do you bend and get the bigger model for $200 much less on sale? Or do you maintain out, or spend additional, for this extra compact choice? Solely you possibly can resolve.
