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OSD Setup, GamePlus, & Calibration
To reveal the OSD, press the joystick. The other buttons offer direct access to picture modes and Game Plus features and are not programmable. Navigation is super-easy with Asus’ well-designed joystick. No matter which screen you’re in, the upper-right corner displays resolution, refresh, adaptive-sync, and picture mode information.
The OSD begins with its overclock feature. If you leave it off, the PG27V tops out at 144Hz. We had no trouble running at 165Hz throughout the testing and use phase of our review. Turning it on prompts a reboot, then you can select the new rate in the Nvidia Control Panel.
The only way to access the GameVisual picture modes is through a control button. There are six presets, of which Racing is the default. None provide stellar accuracy without a few tweaks. sRGB locks out all adjustments and sets output to 205nits. Unfortunately, its gamma and color temp are too far off the mark for our taste. You’ll need to make a few changes for the best picture quality. Check out the Calibration section below for our recommended settings.
Asus offers a four-level blue light filter ,which helps reduce eye fatigue when working on documents. It has no benefit for gaming or video material, but if you spend hours in front of a spreadsheet or word processor, it may help ward off tired eyes and headaches.
The Color menu is well-stocked with calibration options, if you use the Racing mode. Saturation is grayed-out here but that slider is unnecessary for a good result. Brightness works in a relatively narrow range from approximately 120-400nits. Color Temp offers three fixed settings and a User mode with single-point precision. Gamma presets number three, and we found 1.8 to be a better choice than the default 2.2.
The Image menu has three levels of overdrive: adjustable Adaptive Contrast, Dark Boost for low-end gamma, and ULMB. To enable the latter, turn off G-Sync and dial the refresh rate down to 120Hz or below. Then you can adjust the amount of blur reduction with a Pulse Width slider. Lower numbers increase smoothness and decrease brightness. Even at the max 100 setting, using ULMB reduces light output by about half.
The final two menus allow for input switching (there is no automatic signal detection) and a host of other options like OSD language & timeout, Light In Motion, Aura Sync, OSD position & transparency, signal info, headphone volume, and factory reset. To save power, you can engage deep sleep modes for both inputs.
GamePlus
GamePlus is back in the same implementation we saw in our recent review of the Asus ROG STRIX G32V.
The PG27V’s GamePlus menu includes four different crosshairs which can be positioned anywhere on the screen. Five preset countdown timers overlay content to tell you when it’s time to get back to work--or whatever else you need to be reminded to do after gaming. A nice frame counter appears as either a large number or a progress graph here. It can be moved around the screen with the joystick once engaged. Our only nit-pick is that the graph covers too short a period. It would be neat to have an adjustable time frame for this feature. Finally, there is a screen alignment graphic which makes multi-panel installations easier.
Calibration
Asus’ Racing mode usually provides decent out-of-box accuracy, but not in the PG27V’s case. We found significant clipping of highlights from a too-high contrast control, along with dark gamma and a white point that was decidedly lacking in blue. For a quick fix, set gamma to 1.8 and color temp to warm. That comes fairly close to 2.2 power and D65. For optimal results, drop the contrast slider to 43 and tweak the RGB sliders as we did. That not only cleans up grayscale, it noticeably improves color saturation and luminance. If you don’t have a more sophisticated means to calibrate, try our settings below.
| Asus ROG Swift PG27V Calibration Settings | |
| GameVisual | Racing |
| Brightness 200cd/m2 | 46 |
| Brightness 120cd/m2 | 11 |
| Brightness 100cd/m2 | 2 |
| Contrast | 43 |
| Gamma | 1.8 |
| Color Temp User | Red 88, Green 89, Blue 100 |
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