The market for high refresh rate gaming monitors is heating up, with new players entering the market on a seemingly monthly basis. Dell started with its Alienware AW2524H, which features a 500 Hz IPS panel. However, Asus is striking back with two new gaming monitors with a maximum refresh rate of 480Hz. But what sets these two monitors – the ROG Swift OLED PG27AQDP and PG32UCDP – is the inclusion of superior OLED panels.
The PG27AQDP is the smaller of the two, offering a 26.5-inch OLED panel with a native resolution of 2560 x 1440. Throw in the 480 Hz refresh rate, and the PG27AQDP could be a force to be reckoned with regarding professional eSports gaming. This could be a jack-of-all-trades proposition offering the high refresh rates enthusiasts crave (if you have graphics muscle to push those frame rates) and the vibrant colors and deep blacks inherent to OLED panels.
Asus says the PG27AQDP features a 0.03ms response time, offers HDMI 2.1 and DisplayPort 1.4 connectivity, and covers 99 percent of the DCI-P3 color space. Even more impressive is that the monitor can hit a peak brightness of 1,300 nits, often a sore point for OLED panels.
If you need more screen real estate at your disposal, there’s the ROG Swift OLED PG32UCDP. This is a 32-inch gaming monitor that appears to be using the same panel we saw in the LG 32GS95UE last month. The 32-inch monitor offers a 4K (3840 x2160) resolution with a 240Hz refresh rate in its standard operating mode. However, you can toggle on the fly to Full HD (1920 x 1080) resolution with a 480Hz refresh rate. Asus calls this Frame Rate Boost mode.
We should note that Full HD resolution isn’t prevalent with 32-inch monitors. At the bare minimum, we see QHD (2560 x 1440) panels, with 4K being more prevalent. However, switching between 4K at 240Hz and Full HD at 480 Hz could be a boon for those who want to have their cake and eat it when it comes to divvying up their time between productivity work and competitive gaming. Like the PG27AQDP, the PG32UCDP offers HDMI 2.1 and DisplayPort 1.4 ports and hits a peak brightness of 1,300 nits. Asus also outfitted the monitor with a KVM switch and a USB-C port capable of 90-watt Power Delivery.
Unfortunately, we don’t know the pricing for either the ROG Swift OLED PG27AQDP or PG32UCDP currently. However, we’d imagine that the price for the former will be far greater than the $900 street price of the 240Hz PG27AQDM. The other bit of bad news is that we’ll have to wait until the second half of 2024 for these monitors to reach the market.
