Asus Rog Swift PG278Q

[Canbacon]

Damn, that is where all the stock of panels went.

How is it so far? How is the far edges for colour shift?

 

[Obsoleet]

I really don't like the AG coating on this monitor, but for gaming, it's just fantastic. G-Sync makes it feel like I've really upgraded some hardware in my computer. It's just so smooth. I thought tearing wasn't a big deal (because I was used to it), but "my eyes just feel so good now when G-Sync is running". That's the best I can describe it. I haven't even tried ULMB yet outside of UFO Test.

With that said, it's not going to make 30fps feel like 50fps. But so far, imo, anything above 50fps feels fantastic with G-Sync enabled.

My issue with Gsync is that it requires you to play in full-screen mode. Not being able to use borderless windowed mode broke the deal for me... which is more important to me than variable vsync. A 780TI or 290(X) should rarely if ever go below 60FPS regardless, making variable vsync less relevant. It's great for as the card ages though, like the point where my 5870 is at today.

If it weren't for that, it would be a must-have upgrade for me, and I haven't been excited for much for many years now. So I'm waiting for Freesync to see if it works without being in fullscreen mode.

The other, more minor concern is cabling support. Displayport can be pretty finicky, need to be careful to have the proper DP cabling for 144hz support at that 2K res. Though I'm sure they pack in a cable with that ROG to use which is DP 1.2 which has the bandwidth to handle that refreshrate / resolution fine.

 

[jackstar7]

The other, more minor concern is cabling support. Displayport can be pretty finicky, need to be careful to have the proper DP cabling for 144hz support at that 2K res. Though I'm sure they pack in a cable with that ROG to use which is DP 1.2 which has the bandwidth to handle that refreshrate / resolution fine.

While not all DP cables are created equally (that bastard extra pin that cheap manufacturers allow in), all of them are compatible with all revisions of Displayport.

There are not special or specific DP 1.2 cables.

 

[Nebor]

I keep hearing people talk about borderless windowed mode, and I can infer what that is, but not why they want it.

 

[Canbacon]

I keep hearing people talk about borderless windowed mode, and I can infer what that is, but not why they want it.

It is great for multi monitor users that are not going to play in surround mode. I personally like it because I can easily tab to the other monitor while still being able to have the game window up filling my primary monitor. Usually in full screen mode the game will completely minimize when losing focus, best case it that it will window the game display.

For me losing boarderless full screen is not too much of an issue.

 

[Kronvict]

If you have a FRY's near you they seem to be in stock at some stores today. Check the website for local availability.

http://www.frys.com/product/8237286?site=sr:SEARCH:MAIN_RSLT_PG

 

[ocre]

My issue with Gsync is that it requires you to play in full-screen mode. Not being able to use borderless windowed mode broke the deal for me... which is more important to me than variable vsync. A 780TI or 290(X) should rarely if ever go below 60FPS regardless, making variable vsync less relevant. It's great for as the card ages though, like the point where my 5870 is at today.

<snip>
.

It doesnt make Gsync less relevant. Not at all. I have no idea where you got that

 

[Pottuvoi]

It doesnt make Gsync less relevant. Not at all. I have no idea where you got that

Indeed, ability to lock framerate to something like 90hz should be nice.

 

[Obsoleet]

It doesnt make Gsync less relevant. Not at all. I have no idea where you got that

The key to Gsync is that you won't get tearing below your refresh rate (60hz - 144hz). If you're at a steady, rock-solid 60FPS @ 60hz, what is the benefit to having Gsync?
120FPS @ 120hz or 60FPS @ 60hz is vsync as intended.

 

[Continuity28]

The key to Gsync is that you won't get tearing below your refresh rate (60hz - 144hz). If you're at a steady, rock-solid 60FPS @ 60hz, what is the benefit to having Gsync?
120FPS @ 120hz or 60FPS @ 60hz is vsync as intended.

The benefit is having any game play smoothly while looking great regardless of the scene. I could be over here running a game during a 30 second scene 123@123, 122@122, 134@134, 98@98, 117@117, without even noticing the fluctuations. The game becomes more immersive and enjoyable because I'm not being distracted by stuttering, framerate fluctuations, or tearing. Having the monitor sync to the game yields lower game latency than traditional vsync, comparable to having vsync off.

60@60 is not as good as what I'm getting, and 120@120 is not going to happen in every game at every moment, whereas my experience feels just that good.

 

[Obsoleet]

60@60 is not as good as what I'm getting, and 120@120 is not going to happen in every game at every moment, whereas my experience feels just that good.

Locked FPS@hz is the ideal. It's hard to maintain that, that's why GSync/Freesync were invented.

Given the choice between guaranteed 60FPS@60hz, and GSync, having the 60@60 would be better than what you have. For two reasons:
1. GSync does not work under 30hz. So if you dip below 30FPS, you're worse off than the guy with steady 60FPS@60hz.
2. Gsync does not allow borderless windowed mode. So you aren't able to use both.

 

[BrightCandle]

In order to get 60fps @ 60hz you have to guarantee 60 as a minimum, which means you have to turn the settings down quite a bit to ensure that minimum. However with gsync if the game is dropping in the 40's that wont cause stutter, so you target a better visual quality accounting for the fact that games can often vary 2-3x performance from one part to the next.

 

[Continuity28]

Locked FPS@hz is the ideal. It's hard to maintain that, that's why GSync/Freesync were invented.

Given the choice between guaranteed 60FPS@60hz, and GSync, having the 60@60 would be better than what you have. For two reasons:
1. GSync does not work under 30hz. So if you dip below 30FPS, you're worse off than the guy with steady 60FPS@60hz.
2. Gsync does not allow borderless windowed mode. So you aren't able to use both.

1. I'm not speaking hypothetically here. My experience is better than 60@60, since I'm always running higher than that. The situation where I'm less than 30 when someone else is 60@60 doesn't exist because of my PC specs. The point is, with Gsync, I don't need to pay any mind to anything but the game. I set the settings as high as I want, and play. That's pretty great. There's no other monitor that will allow me to play games with the kind of consistent motion quality I'm currently experiencing.

2. That's true, Gsync monitors won't be for everyone. If you want to use multiple monitors and multitask while playing a game simultaneously, then the limitation may be too great. Personally, I don't mind that limitation, because I don't want to have the game up at the same time I'm doing something else. I don't use multiple monitors either. When I play a game on the PC, I always want it fullscreen for my enjoyment.

To be sure, this is a gaming focused monitor. It's expensive, yes, but it has it's niche. I will never recommend this monitor to anyone as a general purpose or multitasking setup.

 

[AdamK47]

In order to get 60fps @ 60hz you have to guarantee 60 as a minimum, which means you have to turn the settings down quite a bit to ensure that minimum. However with gsync if the game is dropping in the 40's that wont cause stutter, so you target a better visual quality accounting for the fact that games can often vary 2-3x performance from one part to the next.

There are other way to maximize all settings while guaranteeing 60 as a minimum.

 

[Eymar]

There are other way to maximize all settings while guaranteeing 60 as a minimum.

While that is true, whatever measure to do so still probably wouldn't affect stutter if there is any frametime variance. As Continuty28 has been saying, one of the major benefits is when framerates stay high, but go from 120fps to 90fps there isn't noticeable stuttering(compared to triple buffering vsync) or no tearing (vs. VSYNC off).

 

[bystander36]

The key to Gsync is that you won't get tearing below your refresh rate (60hz - 144hz). If you're at a steady, rock-solid 60FPS @ 60hz, what is the benefit to having Gsync?
120FPS @ 120hz or 60FPS @ 60hz is vsync as intended.

As mentioned by others, you can have higher settings, because you can allow for the occasional drop below 60 FPS without stuttering. And let's face it, some games are CPU bound enough that no setting allows for 60+ FPS.

And as a developer, you should be aware that 60+ FPS with V-sync on a 60hz monitor, results in an additional 17ms of latency due to DirectX's requirement to display every frame rendered (assuming 3 buffers are used, which is always with SLI or CF, and much of the time, even without).

 

[Whitestar127]

@BrightCandle or any of you others with the ROG, I would love to hear more impressions of different games. Of particular interest are Skyrim and Assetto Corsa, but also others such as Crysis and Far Cry 3 for example.

 

[BrightCandle]

Skyrim is a disaster because of its physics, you need to limit it to 60hz anyway. Its one of those games that has been broken for me for over a year, I am just not willing to cap at 60hz and the physics in that game don't work at anything else. So yeah Skyrim = busted on >60hz generally.

Farcry 3 for me at least is now playable. I really disliked the amount of stutter there was in FC3. For whatver reason the game is really inconsistent with its frame delivery and I thoroughly disliked it. This is basically fixed with gsync running and the game runs as smooth as any other FPS, that is to say this game shows a vast improvement. Crysis 3 is fine, looks good runs well and I can run the settings a little higher.

Farm simulator 2013 doesn't gsync at all, runs vsync on and gsync never enables (likely turned off in profile). Only occasionally see vsync stutters in that game however its usually a solid 60 (its maximum by the looks of things).

Mostly playing BF4 and minecraft so haven't really been hitting it hard the past couple of weeks. BF4 is lovely as I said before, I really appreciate it. One of my friends got the acer 27" and he came from a basic 60hz TN screen and he said "Wow I can finally see when moving". Its a strange effect, once the stutter is gone and the blur is reduced you can finally see what you are doing when you are moving, you don't realise you couldn't see before but when you see one after the other its really obvious.

Its a really good monitor and it appears the Acer is pretty good also. It definitely has the TN colour shift, can see it in the Lagom's test just sat straight on the top is off angle and colour shifted but the price you pay for everything else.

 

[kasakka]

@BrightCandle or any of you others with the ROG, I would love to hear more impressions of different games. Of particular interest are Skyrim and Assetto Corsa, but also others such as Crysis and Far Cry 3 for example.

Far Cry 3 runs like a charm. I get high enough fps in it to use ULMB with it and I really like it that way. The only time I've encountered the stuttering BrightCandle mentioned is when I was using quite high AA settings. Then it would randomly start stuttering. With just FXAA no issues. Looking forward to playing FC4.

Crysis 3 runs nicely. G-Sync is nicer here as it's hard to get high fps in it but I've been enjoying it with ULMB as well.

The biggest difference I noticed was in Strike Vector, which can be really fast paced at times. The lack of input etc lag plus the clarity of ULMB made a clear difference in my success in the game compared to the ~30ms lag (plus panel response time) I had with my previous Dell 3008WFP display.

I'm not particularly sensitive to flicker, but several times I've forgot ULMB on when using on the desktop and not realised it until later. Never had any issues with it physically (old 60 Hz CRTs used to give me a headache). With the brightness I have set on the display (brightness 20, contrast 50) and the settings on ULMB (brightness 100, pulse width 90) I barely notice a difference between 120 Hz w/ ULMB and 144 Hz without it.

 

[Black Octagon]

Skyrim is a disaster because of its physics, you need to limit it to 60hz anyway. Its one of those games that has been broken for me for over a year, I am just not willing to cap at 60hz and the physics in that game don't work at anything else. So yeah Skyrim = busted on >60hz generally. .

Work fine for me so long as I cap the frame rate manually at 2fps below the refresh rate. 118fps@120hz is very nice in Skyrim (on my 7970 anyway)

 

[bystander36]

Work fine for me so long as I cap the frame rate manually at 2fps below the refresh rate. 118fps@120hz is very nice in Skyrim (on my 7970 anyway)

The problems I've had with Skyrim is with their physics engine, which does not like higher than 60 FPS. It is not a matter of smoothness. That is fine, but odd behaviors kick in, such as objects randomly flying through the air, or swimming when walking over a bridge and other odd behavior. The higher the FPS, the more it happens.

 

[Black Octagon]

^I used to have that too, but it went away nearly completely when I capped the frame rate and force enabled vSync in the ini file

 

[bystander36]

^I used to have that too, but it went away nearly completely when I capped the frame rate and force enabled vSync in the ini file

?

Skyrim forces vSync in the ini file by default. You have to force it off, if you don't want it. Are you saying that having a cap, 2 below your refresh rate makes that stop, even if you don't reach that FPS?

 

[Black Octagon]

Sorry, I meant disable. I.e., change iPresentInterval from 1 to 0. Limit frame rate to 118fps in RadeonPro (and set flip queue size to 1, and force enable triple buffering).

The audio goes out of whack sometimes but physics are almost always ok. Without the cap, enemies frequently fly way up into the air. Not sure if the other settings are having an effect but the frame rate cap has always worked for me

...it's a one of a kind game. Would not be so surprised to hear that it runs differently from one system to another

 

[bystander36]

Sorry, I meant disable. I.e., change iPresentInterval from 1 to 0. Limit frame rate to 118fps in RadeonPro (and set flip queue size to 1, and force enable triple buffering).

The audio goes out of whack sometimes but physics are almost always ok. Without the cap, enemies frequently fly way up into the air. Not sure if the other settings are having an effect but the frame rate cap has always worked for me

...it's a one of a kind game. Would not be so surprised to hear that it runs differently from one system to another

If you disable V-sync from within Skyrim, the problem doesn't happen, as long as the FPS doesn't sore past your refresh rate? Does the problem come back if you force it on within the control panel?