Asus MG28UQ 28-inch Ultra HD FreeSync Gaming Monitor Review

OSD Setup & Calibration

Pressing the joystick brings up a large and flexible OSD.

OSD Tour

There are seven picture modes with varying degrees of adjustment available. Only User unlocks all the calibration controls. sRGB is a reasonably-accurate out-of-box mode, but it doesn’t allow any changes and is locked at 170cd/m² brightness. Racing is the default preset and it measures well, though calibration will maximize the MG28UQ’s performance.

Blue light filters are appearing on nearly every new monitor we test. The effect is a warming of the color temp, although it’s not quite as simple as just reducing the blue primary. If you want accurate color, leave it set to Level 0.

Each image control is accompanied by a slider that offers 100-step resolution. Brightness adjusts the backlight over a range of 33-275cd/m². We couldn’t reach Asus’ claimed 330 level. The Contrast slider should be reduced slightly to maintain neutral whites at the brightest point. More on that below.

Color Temp offers three fixed presets plus a User mode with 100-step sliders that start at their maximums. We made small adjustments that reduced contrast a little but ultimately improved image quality.

Here are the remaining image options. Sharpness should be left on 50 to avoid either softness or edge enhancement (ringing). TraceFree is Asus’ term for overdrive. It can be set at five levels (20-100) or turned off completely. We found 60 provided the best balance between blur reduction and ghosting. VividPixel adds a bit of clarity to the image but also adds subtle ringing in areas of high contrast. ASCR is a dynamic contrast option which we think should be left off. Adaptive Sync is available for DisplayPort signals only. When the MG28UQ detects a FreeSync-compatible video board, it’s turned on automatically.

The input selector reminds you that HDMI 1 is compatible with 60Hz Ultra HD signals. You’ll have to use DisplayPort for FreeSync though.

All the monitor’s ergonomic options are in the System Setup menu. Volume controls the output of the headphone jack, which gets signals from either the HDMI or DisplayPort streams. ECO mode is a great way to save energy, but it lowers the backlight level in the process. USB Charging can leave the ports turned on when the MG28UQ is powered down.

The OSD is available in 21 languages. The control keys can be locked out to prevent tampering with your settings. If the power LED is a distraction, you can turn it off here. And All Reset returns the monitor to its factory settings.

The info screen provides resolution and refresh numbers but does not indicate when FreeSync is active. The 133KHz value refers to the horizontal refresh rate. Like all other Ultra HD panels, the MG28UQ is limited to a 60Hz max vertical refresh.

Once you’ve set up your monitor, the settings can be saved to one of four memory slots for later recall.

Calibration

The MG28UQ ships in Racing picture mode which offers pretty much the same color gamut performance as all the picture presets. We found it a little cool for our taste, but it’s not that far off the D65 standard. sRGB has better grayscale tracking but it locks out all adjustments including brightness. For calibration, we turned to the User mode. After a few tweaks of the RGB sliders we measured good accuracy. To keep the brightest whites neutral we had to lower the contrast slider a bit. Gamma is also a little darker than 2.2 and there is no way to change that parameter. Please try our suggested settings below to calibrate your MG28UQ.