Monitors – Review 2020 – PCMag Asia
In every new generation of technology, there’s a leader—the fastest processor, the brawniest GPU, and in the case of the $2,499 Asus ROG Swift PG35VQ, the most feature-rich gaming monitor you’ll find on store shelves or online in 2020. This 35-inch display with a 200Hz refresh rate is the most “ultra” that the ultrawide segment has to offer, and with strong color numbers to back up its fast performance, it’s just as good a pick for content creators as it is for gamers. Editors of 4K video with an even larger pile of cash to spend might want to consider options like the Apple Pro Display XDR for the increased screen real estate, but for anyone else who simply wants the best ultrawide-aspect gaming monitor on the planet, the PG35VQ earns an Editors’ Choice.
Haven’t We Seen You Before?
Those eyeing the spec sheet of the VA-based, 3,440-by-1,440 pixel Asus might feel as if it’s something they’ve already seen, and for the most part, they wouldn’t be wrong to confuse it at first glance with another monitor we loved, the Acer Predator X35. It’s an open secret in the monitor industry that many of the major players buy panels from other companies and repackage them, rather than develop the technologies themselves.
Since the panel itself doesn’t differ between the two monitors, the main features that can distinguish them are on the outside, literally. The build quality, the housing, the stand—these are all the touches that the Asus engineers put in to make the PG35VQ their own, as well as color calibration, tuning, RGB, and more.
The monitor sits on top of one of the more interesting stands I’ve seen in the past few years, one that sits at an off-angle and features unevenly aligned stand pieces. Where other stands might qualify as a triangle, the closest comparison I could make in the case of the Asus is a spiral, with each arm jutting off in a different direction in a design that works especially well for off-angle keyboard gamers like me.
The monitor is moderately ergonomic, with a tilt range of -6 to 21 degrees and 35-degree swivel to either side. Those hoping to use it as a second screen will be disappointed by the lack of pivot to portrait mode, but that’s understandable once you note the display’s weight: 22 pounds without the stand and a bicep-crunching 45 pounds with it. Be sure before you invest $2,499 in your next monitor that you’ve got a sturdy desk that won’t wobble under the ROG Swift’s major weight. Those who plan on using a VESA-compatible stand with this monitor will need to make sure theirs is rated for that kind of load.
One interesting feature I found on the Asus that I haven’t seen before (in the Acer X35 or elsewhere) is an ESS 9118 DAC (digital-to-analog) audio amplifier built into the monitor itself. If you pipe your audio in from a GPU or console through HDMI or DisplayPort, you can plug your headphones into the back of the unit for an enhanced audio experience. You could also choose to use the two onboard 4-watt speakers, though I’d recommend always going the headphone or external audio route if you can manage it. No reason to ruin a premier visual experience with subpar audio, right?
For ports, the PG35VQ is equipped with one HDMI 2.0 port and one DisplayPort 1.4b slot, two USB 3.0 upstream ports, and a single USB Type-B downstream port for connecting the monitor to your PC.
Color Numbers: Impressive, With a Little Mystery
To start our color accuracy evaluation of the ROG Swift PG35VQ, I checked out the sRGB gamut using Portrait Displays’ CalMAN calibration software, a Klein K10-A colorimeter, and an X-Rite Pro 3 Plus spectrometer.
Almost every gaming monitor does well in this test that measures how web-based content will appear (generally averaging in the range of 95 to 100 percent), and the Asus was no exception with a score of 97.3 percent.
In the Adobe RGB measurement, which generally tells you how a display will do when handling content creation tasks such as photo or video editing or 3D modeling, the PG35VQ proved more impressive with a score of 93.4 percent, one of the highest we’ve seen from a gaming monitor yet.
After that came the DCI-P3 test, which measures how accurately a monitor can display movie and TV content in creative editing apps. Here the monitor strangely tanked, scoring just 71.4 percent, the lowest we’ve tested yet. This is especially odd considering Asus’ rating of 90 percent on the company’s website. More on this in a minute.
At a reading of 1,027.8 peak nits in HDR mode and 464.8 nits in SDR, the brightness levels of the PG35VQ fell squarely within the expectations set by its HDR 1000 spec. However, things started to get surprising once we measured the black levels and saw a consistent result of just 0.0019.
Divided against the peak HDR brightness, the display exceeds its own contrast ratio rating of 500,000:1 and hits an all-time record of 540,947:1. I was having a hard time believing this, so to throw the test off I tried to keep a 10 percent window of pure white in the middle of the screen and measured the black levels at the left and right edges of the panel. Even in this case, the local array dimming stepped in like a Tempur-Pedic mattress to ensure that no elements displaying on one side of the screen influenced the color accuracy of the monitor in another zone.
Next, although it’s not always a part of our testing regimen for gaming monitors, I decided to see just how ultimate this monitor was on all fronts and ran it through ColorChecker, a test designed to gauge how color-accurate a monitor is for professional creatives.
This is tested in Rec.709 BT.2020, the most current HDR spec available. Here the monitor scored a very respectable 0.91 dE (short for “deltaE”; anything below 2.0 is great out of the box). As I’ll discuss in the anecdotal testing section, this led to some incredibly vivid movies and TV shows in HDR. But what about that disappointing DCI-P3 score?
If I had to make an educated guess, I’d blame the local dimming system possibly throwing off our equipment. It’s a bleeding-edge technology for monitors, one that can shake up a normally more precise process that might result in oddities like our DCI-P3 results under control-level testing procedures.
Finally, using an HDFury 4K Diva, I recorded a low input lag figure of 2.2ms, which isn’t the fastest we’ve seen, but is just a fifth of a millisecond slower than the Predator X35. This difference in speed will only be perceptible to the most elite-rated CS:GO and DOTA players of the world, and even then, it’s doubtful it will make enough of a difference to matter in the long run.
Anecdotal Testing
As was the case with the Acer Predator X35, gaming on the PG35VQ proved unrivaled in its sheer awesomeness. Everything a gamer could possibly want is on full display here, if you’ll pardon the pun.
With 512 local dimming zones powering the FALD lighting system and black levels that nearly rivaled those of OLED TVs, it was obvious out of the gate that the Asus was going to stand as a new class of monitor—one that I was privileged to lay eyes on.
Whether it was gaming, movie watching (a preferred ultrawide activity of mine for any films that use the CinemaScope aspect ratio), or just getting daily work done, doing it on the ROG Swift felt one level beyond anything I’d experienced before (save for my time with the Acer X35).
Games in HDR were equally gorgeous, whether I was playing a shooter, a MOBA, an RTS, or otherwise. In our blacked-out testing space, the ultrawide format envelopes you in a world of shining, immersive color, and although I could use a whole lot more adjectives to describe it, it’s really something you have to experience for yourself.
Up until the release of these two monitors, gamers have had to choose between ultrawide displays that maxed out at 144Hz and narrower panels with refresh rates of 200Hz. Now that’s no longer the case, and you can have your cake and eat it too (and for this price, you should expect to).
With the PG35VQ, I can seamlessly hop from a fast-paced shooter like Overwatch to a deep, gorgeously crafted game such as Red Dead Redemption and not even feel the transition. Everything happens in beautiful color at high speed with no compromises in between. Gaming perfection, in my humble opinion.
The Most Ultra Ultrawide
Both in price and in the experience of using it, the Asus ROG Swift PG35VQ is the ultimate ultrawide gaming display available today. But because there’s so little actual difference in the panel technology that powers the Swift and the Acer Predator X35, Asus had to do everything it could to differentiate its model, and I think the company’s done a great job.
Small touches like the integrated headphone DAC are a nice addition, and I’m actually quite fond of the spiral-theme design Asus went for with the stand, but it’s in the tuning that the company really showed, again no pun intended, its true colors.
The street price for the PG35VQ is currently about $500 higher than that of the Predator X35, and to my eyes the difference really is made up in those black levels. While the Predator is undoubtedly capable of outputting gorgeous images, the Asus was just that much better, quantified only in the feeling you get when you’re playing a game in front of it or watching a documentary in HDR.
Still, even up in this lofty price zone, a $500 price difference is a lot to swallow. So the question that needs answering isn’t how much better the PG35VQ is than other ultrawide gaming monitors out there—it’s the undisputed new king of the hill. It’s about whether the features Asus included are worth the difference to you.
Personally, I’d say it’s close, even if the Predator X35 does most of what this model can do for 20 percent less. Then again, that’s just me, and I already own a separate headphone DAC that I trust just as well with my favorite music.
All that said, if you’re seeking a multiplayer-tuned ultrawide monitor that has even lower input-lag figures for a lot less money, the $799, 144Hz-refresh MSI Optix MPG341CQR remains our primary pick for most folks. It’s less than a third the cost of the PG35VQ and only one inch smaller measured diagonally.
No matter which model you choose, though, 2020 is a great time to be a gamer smitten with ultrawide resolutions and panels, because you have a wealth of super-screens to feast your eyes on. If you’ve got the bucks, the Asus ROG Swift PG35VQ is an awesome goal to aspire to.
The Bottom Line
If you have the money to spend on the ultimate ultrawide gaming monitor, the Asus ROG Swift PG35VQ has the features, the power, and the prowess to sit atop the segment for the foreseeable future.