Asus ROG Swift PG278Q 27-inch G-Sync Monitor Review

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We’ve been waiting to experience the wonders of G-Sync for months, and Asus is the first company to deliver a finished product. Its ROG Swift PG278Q is a 27-inch QHD TN-based display with G-Sync, 144 Hz operation, and ULMB, a new blur-reduction feature.

Results: Color Gamut and Performance

Color gamut is measured using a saturation sweep that samples the six main colors (red, green, blue, cyan, magenta, and yellow) at five saturation levels (20, 40, 60, 80, and 100%), yielding a more realistic view of color accuracy.

Out-of-box color is quite good. Only blue shows any significant deviation from its target. You can see the 80- and 100-percent saturations are too high. Fortunately, luminance has been reduced to compensate. And since the white point is pretty close before calibration, there aren’t any serious hue errors.

Calibrating grayscale brings the magenta secondary in line nicely. The saturation errors are still there, though. Only a CMS can fix those issues. We realize the difference between our before and after charts is small. The PG278Q has very good color whether you calibrate or not.

Now we return to the comparison group:

Our adjustments reduce the color error from 2.61 to 2.13 Delta E. It’s a small improvement that means Asus' Swift is pretty close in its stock form.

Gamut Volume: Adobe RGB 1998 And sRGB

There are basically two categories of displays in use today: those that conform to the sRGB/Rec. 709 standard like HDTVs, and wide-gamut panels that show as much as 100 percent of the Adobe RGB 1998 spec. We use Gamutvision to calculate the gamut volume, based on an ICC profile created from our actual measurements.

Because of slightly oversaturated blue and magenta results, the sRGB gamut volume is a little over 100 percent. It won’t matter for gaming, and we doubt many photographers are considering the ROG Swift as an addition to their editing suite. We had no problems using the monitor for general productivity on the Windows desktop.

Christian Eberle
Christian Eberle
Contributing Editor

Christian Eberle is a Contributing Editor for Tom's Hardware US. He's a veteran reviewer of A/V equipment, specializing in monitors. Christian began his obsession with tech when he built his first PC in 1991, a 286 running DOS 3.0 at a blazing 12MHz. In 2006, he undertook training from the Imaging Science Foundation in video calibration and testing and thus started a passion for precise imaging that persists to this day. He is also a professional musician with a degree from the New England Conservatory as a classical bassoonist which he used to good effect as a performer with the West Point Army Band from 1987 to 2013. He enjoys watching movies and listening to high-end audio in his custom-built home theater and can be seen riding trails near his home on a race-ready ICE VTX recumbent trike. Christian enjoys the endless summer in Florida where he lives with his wife and Chihuahua and plays with orchestras around the state.