To read about our monitor tests in-depth, check out Display Testing Explained: How We Test Monitors and TVs. Brightness and Contrast testing is covered on page two.
Uncalibrated – Maximum Backlight Level
We’ve rounded up a group of 1,000-nit monitors for comparison to the ROG Swift PG43UQ. We have the Acer Predator CG437K, Acer Predator X35, Acer Predator X27, Acer ConceptD CP7271K and Asus ROG Swift PG27UQ. Panels are a mix of VA and IPS with both full-array local dimming (FALD) and edge backlights. Every monitor has extended color, Adaptive-Sync and a fast refresh rate.
Asus rates the ROG Swift PG43UQ at 750 nits for SDR, but our sample clocked in at just over 878. That is some serious light output; enough so that you can’t look at a full white field directly. Dynamic Dimming reduces that a bit to 830 nits.
The real benefit to the PG43UQ dynamic contrast feature is its effect on black levels. Turning it on reduced the black value from 0.1939 to just 0.0745 nit. That’s almost OLED black and resulted in an SDR contrast ratio of 11,142.2:1. Without Dynamic Dimming, the PG43UQ turned in a superb 4,528.1:1 native contrast ratio. That’s better than almost every monitor we’ve ever reviewed.
After Calibration to 200 nits
Setting the ROG Swift PG43UQ to 200 nits meant dialing down the brightness slider to level 5 of 100. Minimum brightness is 165 nits, so users in completely dark rooms will be playing on a very bright screen. That comes down to personal preference, but we find such a high minimum fatiguing after a while. Contrast remained impressive after our calibration at 4,314.1:1.
The PG43UQ also demonstrated excellent intra-image contrast with a score of 4,310.6:1 in the ANSI test. Our checkerboard pattern showed no change with Dynamic Dimming, but it certainly improved image quality for all real-world content.
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