Asus Preps Huge 4K HDMI 2.1 Monitor in Time for PS5, Xbox Series X

By Niels Broekhuijsen
published

Asus announced three HDMI 2.1 gaming monitors for the holiday season.

(Image credit: VideoCardz)

Even the best graphics cards from Nvidia and AMD today don't support HDMI 2.1, but no worries: Ampere's release date is around the corner. It would come as a huge surprise if they Nvidia's next-gen GPUs, (which some assume will use the RTX 3080 moniker) don't include the new display connectivity standard. In the meantime, we already know the PS5 and Xbox Series X will include HDMI 2.1. In light of that, Asus just announced a trio of HDMI 2.1 enabled monitors, as shared by VideoCardz.

However, Asus isn't being very specific about the announcement. In the press release, it mentioned that it is building 27-inch, 32-inch and 43-inch models, but didn't name them yet or reveal much besides the HDMI 2.1 spec. 

However, Asus did specify that the 43-incher will compete with the best 4K gaming monitors. With HDMI 2.1, however, it will have the advantage of 48 Gbps bandwidth. Asus also noted that monitor will use variable refresh rates (it didn't name Nvidia G-Sync or AMD FreeSync specifically) of up to 120 Hz. 

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(Image credit: VideoCardz)

"ROG is the first partner to provide a HDMI 2.1 gaming monitor for certification. As a leading test lab in the world, it's our mission to assure products or services before they are launched. We are thrilled to be part of the success of ROG and this groundbreaking gaming monitor," Brian Shih, Vice President of Logo & HW Validation Consulting at Allion Labs, said in a statement.

Asus expects its HDMI 2.1 monitors to be available for "the holiday season" but didn't share a specific release date. The two Eve Spectrum monitors with HDMI 2.1, which are crowdfunded, are supposed to start coming out in Q4. 

Why Does HDMI 2.1 Matter? 

The reason we want HDMI 2.1 is simple. It offers hugely increased bandwidth over HDMI 2.0 (18 Gbps), making it possible to run 4K games at a refresh rate of up to 144 Hz, instead of being limited to 60 Hz or having to resort to compression techniques, such as the Asus ROG Swift PG43UQ does with HDMI 2.0. 

Of course, you'll need a serious amount of GPU horsepower to get 4K running at 144 Hz or even 120 Hz. So if that's what you want, you better start filling up the piggy bank.

The upcoming Xbox Series X and PlayStation 5 will also support HDMI 2.1 displays and 4K gaming. That means that on the off chance that Ampere somehow doesn't deliver on HDMI 2.1, there will be other options for Asus' new monitors. 

Niels Broekhuijsen
Niels Broekhuijsen

Niels Broekhuijsen is a Contributing Writer for Tom's Hardware US. He reviews cases, water cooling and pc builds.

6 Comments Comment from the forums
  • saunupe1911
    I expect these monitors to start at $700 for the 27 inch....not thanks
    Reply
  • Kridian
    Yeah, you put the 'Gamer' label on it and they'll price these absurdly high.
    You also see this when they use the 'Enterprise' description as well.
    Wallet says, "nope".
    Reply
  • tresnugget
    PG43UQ uses DSC over display port. It doesn't use any compression over HDMI 2.0. Over HDMI it's still capped at 4k 60 hz
    Reply
  • watzupken
    Coming from Asus, I am expecting pricey products. HDMI 2.1 will make sense for PC, but not for consoles. While the new consoles are fast, but I have doubts that they can run most games at native 4K with high framerates to match the 144hz.
    Reply
  • sizzling
    watzupken said:
    Coming from Asus, I am expecting pricey products. HDMI 2.1 will make sense for PC, but not for consoles. While the new consoles are fast, but I have doubts that they can run most games at native 4K with high framerates to match the 144hz.
    It will be interesting to see, the other part of 2.1 is VRR support. If we look at games like Gears 5 on the One X they run 4K 60fps. Now we all know it’s not true 4K and having played the same game on PC I know the PC does look noticeably better. However the One X is still very impressive given the hardware. I have no doubt the Series X will be capable of much higher FPS. Maybe they won’t aim for 120/144, could be they aim for 100 with VRR. I’m definitely not expecting all games to run like this but I believe it’s possible for some who invest the time and money.
    Reply
  • grimfox
    watzupken said:
    Coming from Asus, I am expecting pricey products. HDMI 2.1 will make sense for PC, but not for consoles. While the new consoles are fast, but I have doubts that they can run most games at native 4K with high framerates to match the 144hz.

    I think they will surprise you. The next gen consoles have similar horse power to a current (june 2020) 1000 dollar PC. Based on analysis by Jayz2Cents. Because they are locked platforms they are also more optimized compared to PC games. I think there will also be a push for developers to really strive to hit a minimum of 4k60 for scenic games like tomb raider and really push framerates for FPS games. I fully expect the next COD or Battlefield to promote 4k120 on the new consoles. It's not like they weren't already working in that direction with PC ports. 4K120 is then a incremental improvement.
    Reply