Asus ROG Swift PG27AQDP OLED 480 Hz gaming monitor review: Raising the bar

27-inch QHD OLED display with 480 Hz, Adaptive-Sync, ELMB, HDR and wide gamut color

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Asus ROG Swift PG27AQDP
Editor's Choice
(Image: © Tom's Hardware)

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I’ve rounded up the latest speedy screens, including two dual-mode displays, Asus’ PG32UCDP, which has an FHD 480 Hz mode. It runs UHD natively at 240 Hz. Also here is MSI’s MPG271QRX, ViewSonic’s XG272-2K and Alienware’s AW2725DF.

Pixel Response and Input Lag

Click here to read up on our pixel response and input lag testing procedures.

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Asus ROG Swift PG27AQDP
(Image credit: Tom's Hardware)

480 Hz means near-instant rendering of a full white field pattern. It takes just two milliseconds, and this is typical of any 480-540 Hz monitor. This guarantees the highest possible motion resolution. Moving objects retain the same level of detail as stationary ones.

The separator is then total input lag. The PG27AQDP has just 15ms of total lag, which isn’t quite at the record level of the PG32UCDP’s 11ms, but remember, the 27-inch display accomplishes this at QHD resolution while the 32-inch screen is running FHD. The dual-mode AW2725QF is just behind at 17ms. The others might be the bottom three, but they are also super-fast. Any gamer will be happy to play on any of these monitors.

Test Takeaway: The PG27AQDP doesn’t quite break the record but with 15ms of total control lag, it’s very close. Note that the PG32UCDP must reduce its resolution to take the win. In practice, I couldn’t hit the full 480fps when playing Doom Eternal on a GeForce RTX 4090. The average frame rate was around 340fps. But considering its OLED smoothness, QHD resolution and high pixel density, the PG27AQDP is simply amazing and must be seen to be believed.

Viewing Angles

Asus ROG Swift PG27AQDP

(Image credit: Tom's Hardware)

The PG27AQDP delivers typical viewing angles for the OLED category. There is almost no difference in color or brightness between the head-on and 45-degree views. The top view is also completely usable, with only a slight drop in gamma observed. This is excellent performance. OLED is by far the best screen tech for two users to share.

Screen Uniformity

To learn how we measure screen uniformity, click here.

(Image credit: Tom's Hardware)

My PG27AQDP sample showed visually perfect screen uniformity with a deviation of just 2.4%. That’s among the lowest I’ve ever recorded. I’d say it doesn’t get better, but the Alienware AW2725DF hits 2.39%. Talk about a photo finish!

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Christian Eberle
Christian Eberle
Contributing Editor

Christian Eberle is a Contributing Editor for Tom's Hardware US. He's a veteran reviewer of A/V equipment, specializing in monitors. Christian began his obsession with tech when he built his first PC in 1991, a 286 running DOS 3.0 at a blazing 12MHz. In 2006, he undertook training from the Imaging Science Foundation in video calibration and testing and thus started a passion for precise imaging that persists to this day. He is also a professional musician with a degree from the New England Conservatory as a classical bassoonist which he used to good effect as a performer with the West Point Army Band from 1987 to 2013. He enjoys watching movies and listening to high-end audio in his custom-built home theater and can be seen riding trails near his home on a race-ready ICE VTX recumbent trike. Christian enjoys the endless summer in Florida where he lives with his wife and Chihuahua and plays with orchestras around the state.

5 Comments Comment from the forums
  • dimar
    This is not the one with MediaTek's new scaler chip recently advertised?
    Reply
  • s997863
    Can TomsHardware please include this in all their monitor reviews:
    How good is the motion clarity compared to CRTs for running older games that only work at 60Hz?
    I'm asking because I've heard of only 1 monitor that covers this (ViewSonic XG2431) which got a lot of praise from BlurBusters but many reviewers reported that it causes headaches to use backlight strobing at 60Hz. Nowadays you don't find much variety in actual stores and much of the market is moving online, but I'm not going to risk buying something as expensive as a monitor when I can't even see/test it for myself, especially when stores like Amazon only have a 2-week return period in my country with no warranty at all.
    Reply
  • richardvday
    This almost sounds like a love affair 🤔
    It would be nice if you gave some kind of idea about how much it cost in the article also.
    If it said how much I would have just moved on as it's outside my price range. I could afford it but rather spend it on my kids.
    $999.99 is I think more than most people would consider paying for a monitor, some of you probably don't care how much it is though.
    Looks lovely but I will wait for the prices to come down quite a bit before I will consider it.
    Reply
  • UnforcedERROR
    s997863 said:
    Can TomsHardware please include this in all their monitor reviews:
    How good is the motion clarity compared to CRTs for running older games that only work at 60Hz?
    I'm asking because I've heard of only 1 monitor that covers this (ViewSonic XG2431) which got a lot of praise from BlurBusters but many reviewers reported that it causes headaches to use backlight strobing at 60Hz. Nowadays you don't find much variety in actual stores and much of the market is moving online, but I'm not going to risk buying something as expensive as a monitor when I can't even see/test it for myself, especially when stores like Amazon only have a 2-week return period in my country with no warranty at all.
    I'd wager an OLED would do just fine in this respect. Your reference point is an IPS instead of an OLED. OLED is like CRT in that pixel response is instant. The big thing about CRTs is they are what a lot of older games were designed for. They simply look better over CRT, and the signal doesn't have to be converted to match. Still, for retro gaming there are options that improve the experience on high-res displays. That's more the barrier to entry than the motion clarity, because you can't do anything to bypass the inherent limits of 60fps.
    Reply
  • Lamarr the Strelok
    First, all the monitor reviews I've read here have had links with prices listed. And second there are many reviews of remarkably affordable monitors here.This review is of a pricier one and that's fine.
    Reply