Asus ROG PG348Q 34-inch Curved G-Sync Monitor Review
Brightness And Contrast
To read about our monitor tests in depth, please check out Display Testing Explained: How We Test Monitors and TVs. Brightness and Contrast testing is covered on page two.
Uncalibrated – Maximum Backlight Level
Today’s group consists solely of curved monitors with either G-Sync or FreeSync adaptive refresh. Acer’s Z35 and AOC’s C3583FQ are AMVA panels with 2560x1080 resolution. Acer’s XR341CK and X34 share the same pixel count as our review subject, as does the LG34UC98 FreeSync screen.
There aren’t many situations where one would need more than 300cd/m2 output and all the screens deliver that. The PG348Q is at the lower end with 309.2163cd/m2, but that number exceeds Asus' spec of 300.
More importantly, its black levels are at the darker end of our IPS screens. The AMVA twins take this contest but give up resolution to do so. At some point, we’re likely to see higher pixel counts from this technology. Although gaming monitors have made improvements in motion processing and refresh rates, contrast is still an area in which they have room to grow.
Overall contrast from the PG348Q is strong at 1081:1 in the sequential test. It’s almost a dead heat between it and the two Acer IPS panels. But check out the AMVA screens at the top. Their performance more than doubles the next best. Is it worth accepting lower resolution? Perhaps so.
Uncalibrated – Minimum Backlight Level
- 04 minwhite
- 05 minblack
- 06 mincontrast
The PG348Q’s brightness slider brings the backlight down to a fairly useless 27.3569cd/m2. Even in the dark, the picture looks drab and dim, although it maintains the same contrast ratio. At least performance is consistent. To get our preferred minimum of 50cd/m2, set the brightness slider to 8.
After Calibration to 200cd/m2
- 07 calblack
- 08 calcontrast
Calibration required us to lower the contrast slider seven clicks to fix a gamma and color tracking issue. Luckily this did not reduce dynamic range at all. The difference here is negligible. In fact the PG348Q is now the best of the IPS panels in the group. You’ll see on the next page in the gamma and color results how important the contrast adjustment is. This is excellent performance and ranks as one of the better IPS monitors we’ve tested for its dynamic range. That guarantees good image depth and a more realistic picture.
ANSI Contrast Ratio
A few small uniformity issues hold our sample back in the ANSI contrast test. It’s not a big problem, but it does put the PG348Q in last place. Another example would likely measure differently. The cause is a bright zone along the bottom of the screen. It’s not quite in the category of IPS glow or backlight bleed though. 871.4:1 is still a decent ANSI result.
I would guess that the larger market is the people who grew up gaming that are now career professionals. I suppose that doesn't imply their taste in hardware styling has matured, but personally I'm over the whole PowerRangerMegaZord kitsch that started with Alienware in the 90s.
It looks like a beautifully specd monitor. Just wish it wasnt so painfully styled.
Given you have the rig to run 4K?
My concern is relative adoption of 3440x1440 vs 4k. I *feel* like 3440 is not as widely supported as 4k, and with 4k, there's no fisheye (right?).
for ref: Currently running 3x32" surround on a 1080 (for ref concerning frame rate). 3440x1440 = 4.9M pix, 5760x1080 = 6.2M pix, and 4k = 8.3M pix.
I've tried 4K, and this is far superior. There is no 4K with similar specs. Two of the three most important things this monitor provides are missing on 4K; 100Hz, and 21:9. Before this monitor, I had a 144Hz monitor, and dropping to 100Hz was a sacrifice I was willing to make, but I'll never go back to 60Hz, even with G-Sync/FreeSync. And 21:9 is the real difference maker. The extra horizontal screen real estate is amazingly useful, and it's what provides greater immersion than ever before; probably immersion that can only be beaten with VR (not even with triples because I hated the bezels).
I don't see any adoption issues. Firstly, this format is becoming more and more popular all the time. Secondly, whether it's adopted by the masses or not, I'v had zero support issues to date. The most I've had to do is edit a config file (World of Tanks), but all other games have been completely straight forwards.
There's zero fish eye in any games. I'm not quite sure what you're getting at.... I mean, your in-game FOV isn't distorted by having a wider monitor; you just see more left and right, in a completely natural manner; there's no stretching to fill it.
I've tried triples and 4K, and I firmly believe that the three most important factors in a gaming monitor, which I'll never go without again are:
21:9
G-Sync/FreeSync
100+Hz
Resolution would only be 4th on my list, and I'd even take a 2560x1080 21:9 before I went to 4K, just so I could have the 3 must haves above.
Cable management is actually good. If I recall correctly, the cables, where they plug into the monitor, are hidden behind the back cover, and then feed through the stand, coming out at the rectangular square you can see at the bottom/back of it.
I am assuming this is mostly identical to the Predator X-34? Gonna have to make a decision on which brand to go with.
I am hoping the new version, the X34P, which is supposed to have some performance improvements is released soon, to either drive this price down, or be affordable enough to upgrade.
I can't wait to fire up Forza Horizon's 3 on this badboy at max settings. Good time to be a gamer!
It uses the same panel as the Acer Predator X34, yes. The ASUS PG348Q seems to have had less issues/better QA, and the OSD and associated controls are far superior on the ASUS as well. Many also tend to prefer the PG348Q styling. Other than that, they're more or less identical.
Sim racing on these monitors, in cockpit view, is one of my favorite things. Try out iRacing if you can, and use the built in FOV calculator.
If you take a 4k monitor and chop of the top and bottom 1/6 of the screen, you get 1440p with an even wider screen. How is having additional vertical real estate bad? Assuming the 4k monitor has 100+ Hz that is variable, for the same price, I don't see how it's not better.
I love the 21:9 form factor too, and I use one at home, but at these prices, I don't see how a 1440 21:9 can beat a 4k with the same specs.
If the price was more in line with the comparative resolutions, aka it didn't cost virtually the same with <1/3 of the pixels, I would say that 1440p IPS in 21:9 with a 34" diagonal is my sweet spot too, but it just costs too much. This is pretty much the highest-end of these types of displays, especially with 100 Hz, so it's understandable, but with a comparable 4k? Why go with this?
Thanks for the input. 60hz is fine for me, especially when I gain G-sync. The extra side view with 21:9 vs 16:9 is up for debate if it is worth the extra hassle as follows. Obviously, if the game natively supports it, it is a bonus.
Everyone should do their own research on this, but what I have found from wide screen GF site is this...Fallout 4 : 4k native, 21:9 with ini hacks and/or 3rd party progs.
Witcher 3: 4k native, 21:9 doesn’t work with latest game patch 1.31.
Elite Dangerous: 4k native, 21:9 ok but UI for gal/sys map doesn’t work right.
DCS:A10C: 4K no, 21:9 hard to tell, but I think it works from what I’ve read.
These are just a few examples, but this is the kind of hassle/problems I don’t want anymore. I put up with them with my 3 screen surround set up as it is.
Going forward, I would HOPE games support both res native with no hassle/hack/bugs.
As I said, there is no 4K with the same specs (100Hz). Chopping the top and bottom off a 4k monitor? What are you doing, running a 21:9 resolution inside your 4k Monitor? No.... it's not the same thing.
And you need a bigger 4K monitor to match the horizontal width of a 21:9, but when you do match it, you're not seeing more of the game; you're just seeing a smaller amount of the game with more graphical fidelity, but also enlarged.
Out of those games, I play Elite Dangerous regularly, and everything works fine, including the maps - I'll pay attention when I next play it, but I certainly haven't noticed any issues.
It does have VESA. However, depending on the mount you use, you might need spacers to hook up the monitor to your mounting plate. I used Sanus SMF115-B1, had everything I needed to mount it up.
Only thing I don't like about the Sanus, it doesn't have height adjustment. I played with my monitor for about a week and got the height dialed in with the stand. Then I mounted the Sanus so it replicated the same height.
As for the cable management, I'd say it's meh. With the thickness of most video cables, it kinda of hard to angle the cables out of the monitor the way they want you do with the back cover on. Combine that with the USB cables and it's a tight fit. I'm not using the back cover, everything is working fine.
Wanted to add, I love my PG348Q monitor. I play mostly BF and CoD which don't seem to have any issue with 3440x1440 resolution. Game play is so darn smooth. Already forgot about the cost. This is one of my primary hobbies, so I figured why not. Zero buyers remorse.
The width is 31.5 without the bezels, but I'm guessing it's 18.5 high without the bezels. Is that right?
Width is spot on. On mine, viewable(top to bottom) part of the screen is 13-1/4.
This is coming down to “do you want 1.75 inches more on each side but 1.6 inches less on top and bottom at 80% the pix density (PG348 1440), or not (XB32 4K)?”. I believe what happens in a game is, for a given scene, you see a bit more on each side, but the same on top/bottom.
The 60 hz vs 100 hz is a can of worms, but from what I’ve seen on the web, a gamer with experience in a particular game can tell the difference between 60 and 120, so I doubt 60 vs 100 is much different. Different people seem to be more sensitive to hz and fps. So if that is Moog’s main thing, then I’m not going to dispute him, and I could understand why it would be a deal breaker for him.
Everything else about the monitors is the same.
To be clear, if I have the panel dimensions right:
PG348 ($1230) 100 hz is 31.5 W x 13.25 H for area of 417 sq in @ 3440 x 1440 for 4.9M pix and 109 ppi.
XB32 ($1220) 60 hz is 28 W x 16 H for area of 448 sq in @ 3840 x 2160 for 8.3M pix and 137 ppi.
So with the 4k, you lose 1.75” on each side, but gain 1.6” at top and bottom, and get 1.25x the pixel density.
Not an easy decision for me.
I have this monitor it's have really amazing picture quality
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<a href="http://www.shubhgems.in/yellow-sapphire/"> Pukhraj Stone</a>
Depends on the games you play. FPS like CoD and BF4, 60Hz feels sluggish to me. I had a 120Hz monitor, I could feel a difference until about 85Hz. After that it felt the same, couldn't really notice a difference between 85 and 120Hz. 1080GTX with this monitor is the sweet spot right now imho. 1080 has enough power to push this monitor for the next few years. Gaming is so fluid with Gsync.
When the hardware/monitor exist (single card gpu) to push 4k over 100Hz, I'll consider upgrading.