ASRock is a relatively new entrant to the display world. Still, the company is ambitious enough to demonstrate something that can easily be called the King of Speed: a Phantom Gaming monitor with a 520 Hz refresh rate. The LCD joins several other Phantom Gaming displays the company plans to showcase at the upcoming CES next week.
The Phantom Gaming monitor in question is called the PG27FFX2A, and we are likely talking about a TN-based 27-inch LCD with a whopping 520 Hz refresh rate featuring a 1920x1080 (1080p) resolution, a set of characteristics that can place it into the list of the best gaming monitors for professional e-sport gamers. ASRock has yet to disclose other monitor specifications. Still, we should expect the monitor to support VESA's Adaptive Sync-compliant variable refresh rate technology. However, we do not know whether it will carry AMD's FreeSync or Nvidia's G-Sync badge on top. We will refrain from discussing how this display is made (but you can read about a 600 Hz display in another story).
When it comes to connectivity, ASRock remains mum for now. Meanwhile, it is an interesting point to consider as even a 1080p video stream at up to 520 Hz refresh rate requires a lot of bandwidth if uncompressed. When it comes to a color depth of eight bits per channel (8 bpc), one would need a DisplayPort with a UHBR 10 support (38.68 Gbit/s) or an HDMI 2.1 with a 48G cable (using the FRL5 40G transmission mode). Regarding ten bpc, we are looking at graphics processors that support DisplayPort with UHBR 13.5, as the HDMI 2.1 specification only supports up to 505 Hz using a 48G cable and the FRL6 transmission mode.
AMD's high-end Radeon RX 7000-series graphics cards support DisplayPort 2.1 with UHBR 13.5 (and offering 54 Gbit/s of raw bandwidth); they also support HDMI 2.1 with up to 48 Gbps throughput so that they can handle such displays without problems at eight bpc. By contrast, Nvidia's GeForce RTX 30 and RTX 40-series only support DisplayPort 1.4 (which rules out compatibility) and HDMI 2.1 48G with DSC 1.2a, which should technically be sufficient both for eight bpc and ten bpc. Still, we recommend consulting with ASRock's compatibility table before making a purchase decision. Furthermore, since most GeForce RTX 40-series graphics boards have only one HDMI output, using two of ASRock's Phantom Gaming PG27FFX2A displays on a single PC with these cards will be impossible.
The Phantom Gaming PG27FFX2A monitor is just one of the displays that ASRock plans to demonstrate at CES. The lineup also includes OLED models, curved monitors, and moderate-sized gaming IPS displays with a 180 Hz resolution and probably a reasonable price.
