Asus ROG Strix XG32VQ Review

As we have grown to expect from products in the Republic of Gamers occupation from Asus, the ROG Strix XG32VQ ( $ 699 ) bet on admonisher is all about providing a ace experience for hard-core gamers. This 31.5-inch panel is nicely curved, has a 144Hz refresh rate, and uses a random variable of AMD FreeSync to ensure that it matches your trailer truck ‘s ensnare rate. The XG32VQ ( $ 499.00 at Amazon UK ) has modes and features galore, and even a miniature stick to make the undertaking of navigating the onscreen display ‘s menu a set easier than on most monitors. It proved smooth in our gambling quiz, showing both bright colors and ink-black blacks. For its wealth of gambling, ergonomic, and aesthetic features, adenine well as its brilliant double quality, FreeSync capability, and blazing refresh rate at a reasonable price, the XG32VQ is our new Editors ‘ Choice for large-screen bet on monitors .

Built for Performance—and Fun

On its point of view, the ROG Strix XG32VQ measures 19.3 by 28.1 by 11.8 inches ( HWD ). When the stand is in full raised, the height increases to 23.2 inches. The monitor does well with ergonomic adjustment, with the assistant of that very versatile stall ; in addition to its closely 4-inch range of acme allowance, you can tilt it through 25 degrees, and a pivot serve runs a wax 50 degrees in either focus. The base is built like a tripod, and I found it sturdier than most big-monitor bases I ‘ve used, which tend to be V-shaped .
Our Experts Have Tested

Products in the Monitors Category This Year

Reading: Asus ROG Strix XG32VQ Review

Since 1982, PCMag has tested and rated thousands of products to help you make better buy decisions. ( See how we test. ) The dialog box measures 31.5 inches and supports a WQHD native resolution ( 2,560 by 1,440 pixels ), which works out to a 16:9 widescreen aspect ratio. Asus sees WQHD resolution as a sweet spot for nowadays ‘s gambling monitors. Full HD ( 1,920 by 1,080 pixels, or 1080p ) can support high refresh rates at the cost of low pixel density on bombastic screens, while UHD or 4K ( 3,840 by 2,160 pixels ) requires a herculean graphics card to keep freshen rates at playable levels. ( See our scout to the best graphics cards for 4K gambling. )
That said, Asus has dabbled in other resolutions and expression ratios for its gambling monitors. The Asus Designo Curved MX34VQ is an ultra-wide 3,440 by 1,440 pixels, for a 21:9 aspect proportion, while the Asus ROG Swift PG258Q ‘s ( $ 499.00 at Amazon UK ) solution is a more basics-minded 1080p .
The ROG Strix XG32VQ ‘s panel uses vertical alignment ( VA ) engineering, which is known for its deep blacks, relatively high line proportion, bang-up view angles, and dear semblance reproduction. A common drawback of VA panels, though, is that they tend to have slow-pixel response rates. The XG32VQ has a 4ms gray-to-gray pixel reaction, which is good for a VA control panel but lags in comparison with, for model, the Dell 24 Gaming Monitor S2417DG ( $ 499.00 at Amazon UK ) ; it and some like TN panels boast a reply rate of 1ms. The XG32VQ showed a reasonable 11-second stimulation imprison in testing with a Leo Bodnar Video Signal Lag Tester .
The ROG Strix XG32VQ is rated for 1800R curvature, meaning that if the panel ‘s curve were to continue around to form a entire circle, or if you were to place monitors side by side, the lap they would form would have a radius of 1,800mm, or 1.8 meters. It ‘s among the tightest curvatures we ‘ve seen ; one noteworthy exception, the Samsung 34-Inch CF791 Curved Widescreen Monitor, boasts a 1500R curvature evaluation .

Although the interface survival on the ROG Strix XG32VQ may not be comprehensive ( I would have liked to see one or more USB Type-C ports, which are becoming commonplace on monitors ), it does cover the essentials. It ‘s equipped with two USB 3.0 ports ( these for your peripherals ; the panel besides has an upriver port to feed them ) and three expose inputs : HDMI 2.0, DisplayPort, and miniskirt DisplayPort. You besides get an audio laborer, which may prove useful for connecting a non-USB headset or headphones, as the jury has no built-in speakers. That may not be a badly thing, considering the middling-at-best quality of speakers in lower-priced bet on monitors. If you truly care about the bet on experience ( and if you ‘re looking at a dialog box like this, you do ), you ‘ll want to take more caution with the audio than most monitor makers do with their built-in sound .

Running the Formal Tests

I performed our luminosity, color-accuracy, and contrast-ratio examination using a Klein K10-A colorimeter and SpectraCal CalMAN 5 software. The hue chart below for the ROG Strix XG32VQ, recorded in sRGB mode, confirms the monitor ‘s very across-the-board discolor gamut ( 125 percentage of sRGB ). As shown on the graph, when tested in sRGB modality, the loss, scandalmongering, and green color measurements ( represented by the biased dots ), though fairly evenly spaced, are all outside—well outside, in the case of crimson and blue—of the triangle depicting the normal bounds of the CIE RGB color outer space ( represented by the boxes ). The area bounded by the triangle represents all the colors that can be made by mixing the three primary coil colors, so any points outside of the triangle represent an expansion of the normal RGB color gamut .

Rated luminosity and contrast ratio for the XG32VQ are 300cd/m2 ( nits ) and 3,000:1, respectively. I measured the panel at 283.8 nits and 3,260:1 in its default Racing mode, which is designed to boost colors in high-speed games. ( Unsurprisingly, it was n’t arsenic bright in sRGB, with a mere 194.2-nit top out luminosity. ) Power pulmonary tuberculosis is 44 watt, distinctive of a gaming monitor of its screen size .
See How We Test Monitors
The admonisher ‘s see angles, both from the sides and above, were across-the-board, distinctive of a VA panel. I noted no discernible blur or color shift, even at extreme off-center angles .
I besides took the ROG Strix XG32VQ through its paces in several AAA PC games—Hitman, Far Cry Primal, Rise of the Tomb Raider—and observed the playback in their associated benchmark routines. The scenes looked graphic, with brilliant colors, and dear contingent in blue areas. I saw no trace of artifacts .

Gaming-Centric Modes and Features

The exponent button and controls for the onscreen expose ( OSD ) are on the back of the monitor, merely behind its lower right-hand edge. I normally find such hidden placement ( though very common ) an annoyance, but the ROG Strix XG32VQ has a secret weapon : The top command is n’t a release but a bantam stick, which you can use to navigate the OSD ‘s menu organization more well. Kudos to Asus for that .

Most of today ‘s hard-core bet on monitors offer a way to synchronize a monitor ‘s freshen rate with the frame-rate end product of the bet on organization, either through AMD ‘s FreeSync or Nvidia ‘s G-Sync. For the XG32VQ, Asus went with Adaptive Sync, derived from AMD FreeSync, over the couple of 48Hz to 144Hz—ensuring a wide operational window for fluent gameplay .
Racing and sRGB are just two of the preset display modes that the ROG Strix XG32VQ offers as GameVisual profiles. Racing optimize color for fast-moving games, while sRGB mood optimizes colors for visualize edit and vane function. other gaming modes include FPS, which delivers gamey contrast to ( in theory ) let you spot enemies more easily ; RTS/RPG, which perks up distinctness and color clarity ; and MOBA, which enhances the colors of in-game health bars and early notifications. You besides get a Cinema mood, which ups contrast and color saturation for video recording playback that looks more graphic, and a Scenery manner, which brings out detail in landscapes. A last choice, User mood, enables you to customize your own profile .
besides accessible through the OSD are four GamePlus modes. The beginning three are Crosshair ( which offers four styles of crosshair as an overlie in your games ), Timer ( which adds a countdown-timer sheathing ), and FPS Counter ( the lapp idea, but showing stream and historic frame rates when Adaptive Sync is enabled ). The last, Display Alignment, is useful only if you have two or more of these panels ; it lets you trace up your multi-monitor setup with preciseness, by displaying alliance lines along the edges of the XG32VQ. indeed, you could use it to set up that wraparound r-2 of arch panels you ‘ve dreamed of ( or more likely, three of them for enveloping your peripheral imagination in racing games ) .

Blue Light and Bling

The panel functionality goes beyond these more or less distinctive enhancement modes to factor in blue-light filtration. The XG32VQ comes with Asus Ultra-low Blue Light filters ( TÜV Rheinland-certified ) to protect your eyes from sleep-cycle disruptive aristocratic light. You can select from four different filter settings via the onscreen menu .

Beyond the actual display functionality, the ROG Strix XG32VQ delivers a host on on-body bling. Asus incorporates its Aura Sync lighting effects—which lease you synchronize the lighting on the actual monitor ‘s torso with that of other Asus peripherals ( equally well as gearing from other makers that support Aura Sync ). This light bodily process is all executed using an included Asus utility. so, you could go so far as to sync the lighting incorporated into an Asus motherboard, an Aura Sync-compatible keyboard/mouse set, and other gear to get your whole background under the instruction by one RGB-lighting maestro .

You can choose among a twelve different lighting schemes, among them electrostatic, breathe, strobing, comet, “ Glowing yo-yo, ” and a sync-to-music effect. The monitor can even project an ROG logo on the airfoil beneath the stand …

Asus includes a “ lens ” that masks the light reservoir to project the ROG logo, a well as a blank one that you can customize with your own logo or personal bat-signal.

Setting the Standard for Gaming Panels

The Asus ROG Strix XG32VQ ‘s wickedly curved 31.5-inch gore, bouncing refresh rate, and FreeSync support, taken together, make this mega-display deserving consideration as a dangerous gambling monitor. Throwing in a raft of gaming-centric features plus bright tinge performance, estimable contrast, and smooth gambling in our testing, all at a reasonable price, may be enough to seal the deal. At least, it worked for us—it ‘s our new Editors ‘ Choice large-screen bet on monitor .
That said, more new gambling panels are coming, such as the Acer Predator X27 and the Samsung CHG90 —the latter with a sock 49-inch ultrawide screen—so the ROG Strix may not hold its crown long. But that ‘s an indication of the accelerate at which this relatively new class of displays is evolving. For now, though, this is the big, killer FreeSync screen we ‘d choose, given the desk quad and the bucks .