A 32-inch Ultra HD gaming monitor is a premium purchase. You will pay between $900 and $1,000 at the minimum, and you can easily pay three times that for something like the Asus PG32UQX Mini LED model. If your budget doesn’t accommodate a $3,000 monitor, do not despair. There are excellent choices out there that deliver the same gaming performance and nearly the same superb image quality for less money.
The Asus ROG Swift PG32UQ is one of the best gaming monitors I’ve encountered. Its edge backlight uses zone dimming effectively to increase contrast for both SDR and HDR content. And the huge color gamut, which is the main draw here, makes every picture drip with hues you won’t see on too many other screens. With HDR contrast over 9,000:1 there are a few screens that offer greater dynamic range, but they are mostly either OLED or FALD, and will certainly cost you more money.
The PG32UQ raises the bar for color saturation and accuracy. With one of the largest gamuts I’ve ever measured, it sets itself apart from most of its similarly priced competition. Only the MSI MPG321UR-QD also has this much color.
I expect top gaming performance from any Asus ROG monitor and the PG32UQ definitely delivers there. The ability to use a backlight strobe along with Adaptive-Sync is a rarely-seen feature. Though it won’t enhance every game, it makes a subtle improvement to motion resolution while keeping frame tears at bay.
Though it works as advertised, the 155 Hz refresh rate didn’t do anything for speed or response in my tests. 11 Hz isn’t much faster and on its own than 144 Hz, so it isn’t a reason to choose the PG32UQ over another similar display.
That minor criticism aside, the Asus ROG Swift PG32UQ is one of the best Ultra HD gaming monitors I’ve tested. It’s the ideal size and shape for gaming and work. It delivers a bright and sharp picture, and it has one of the largest color gamuts available. There’s a tight race between it, the ViewSonic XG320U and the MSI MPG321UR-QD. Pricing is close between all three too, so I’d say the PG32UQ wins based on its ELMB Sync feature and tremendous color. If you can budget around $1,000 for a 32-inch Ultra HD monitor, definitely check it out.