When it comes to gaming monitor, evolution does not proceed hand in hand with hardware. It’s not just about performance, there are factors at stake that are often considered optional but which in reality can radically change the experience. Among these, resolution is perhaps the slowest feature to spread, so much so that i 2160p (or 4K, whatever you want) in the field of Home Entertainment have become the standard more or less for everyone, while as far as monitors are concerned it is still struggling to catch on.
This is due to three factors: the price, first and foremost, but also the limited refresh rate and the power of the hardware required to play peacefully at this resolution.
The new ROG Strix XG27UCS it is very interesting precisely because it tries to combine all the factors strictly dependent on the screen.
A few specifics
The ROG Strix XG27UCS is a gaming monitor with a medium-sized panel of 27 inches. The resolution, as you may have guessed, is 3840×2160 pixels (4K) with a refresh rate of up to 160 Hz.
The panel chosen by Asus is IPS typea fundamental feature to ensure good viewing quality and at the same time a fair compromise in terms of price.
Robust the right, it gives up the frills typical of gaming monitors to get straight to the point.
The result is a panel that with these specifications is placed in the price range between 500 and 600 euros, to be precise around 570 euros. It’s a far from contained budget for most budgets, but already on paper it was difficult to do better.
Unboxing and first impact
The monitor arrives well packaged in a classic Asus box, well enclosed in its polystyrene casing.
Assembly, as now happens more and more often, it does not require any type of instrumentation but it can be done hands-free and without help from other people, thanks to both the weight (just under 4 kg without the pedestal, which becomes approximately 6.5 kg once assembled) and the dimensions of the packaging.
To assemble everything, follow the classic reverse approach. We start from the pedestal, the two pieces of which must be put together using a butterfly screw, leaving the monitor face down in its protective polystyrene shell.
At this point, you can proceed by inserting the complete pedestal into the relevant slot on the back of the monitor. At the click, that’s it and you can extract and use the device.
It is worth noting that it is also perfectly compatible with the VESA standard 100×100 mm.
As for the pedestal, this allows for a fair amount of flexibility in terms of movement. The monitor can be tilted by +20°/-5°, turned to the right or left by +45/-45° and rotated on its axis by 90° in both directions to achieve a horizontal or vertical orientation as desired.
As for the height range, you can climb up to 12 centimeters from the lowest point.
An idea that we appreciate was to enrich the pedestal, usually a mere design exercise, with a front pocket where you can place, for example, a smartphone.
By virtue of the essential nature of the proposal, it is not surprising that the equipment is also reduced to the bare minimum. Inside the package we find the power cable and an ROG pouch with a DisplayPort cable inside, as well as the usual manuals.
The set of terminals available is equally minimalist: the Strix XG27UCS delivers only one HDMI 2.1 input and one DP 1.4 port, in addition to the 3.5 mm jack for wired headphones, speakers or soundbars and a USB-C port with DP video output and charging capability up to 15W. A proposal that borders on the minimum wage, especially for those looking for a single solution to connect a PC and multiple consoles at the same time.
Daily use and gaming
In everyday use the display proved to be particularly flexible and suitable for transversal use. The Fast IPS panel chosen by ASUS is very balanced in color management and also suitable for photo editing thanks to the 95% coverage of the DCI-P3 space and above 100% on sRGB.
Added to this is the DisplayHDR 400 certification, which ensures adequate colors even at high brightness. In this regard, during our tests we found the maximum brightness in line with what was declared, that is, just under 400 nits.
Since this is a solution without local dimming, the blacks do not particularly suffer from the presence of a direct LED backlighting system also due to their low brightness. However, we found the screen readable in virtually all indoor lighting conditions.
The blue light filter and flicker-free technology, both certified, also contribute to comfort of use TÜV.
As for gaming, in addition to the already excellent basic specifications, the response times of up to 1 ms (GTG) of the Fast IPS panel also proved to be very interesting, as did the technology ASUS Extreme Low Motion Blur Sync (ELMB Sync). Good too full G-Sync compatibilitynot always present in this price range.
In practice, both the response times and the response times are positively surprising reverse ghosting, really reduced to the bare bones and visible only in particularly extreme gaming circumstances. The ELMB Sync technology also contributes in this sense, of course, given that it combines ELMB and VRR and promises to contain both ghosting and tearing typical of the strong oscillations that are generated at high framerate, but there is no doubt that also the very goodness of the panel do your part.
The heat emission from the panel is positively surprising, also thanks to the efficiency of the electronics on board and the very low consumption of the display, which is anything but obvious for a 4K panel with such a high refresh rate.
The experience of use with the is completely typical OSD menuwhich allows you to have access to all configurable aspects of the screen with navigation that takes place via a joystick and a set of pressure buttons located on the back, in the lower right corner.
At the same time, the main settings can also be controlled via the appropriate software ASUS Display Widget Centeras long as you connect the monitor to the PC via a USB-C cable.
