Published , by Chris Jarrard
Published , by Chris Jarrard
There’s nothing quite like gaming on a large screen. The increase in immersion helps draw you into the game and the folks at ASUS think that PC gamers are ready to move to large-format displays. During CES 2019 in Las Vegas, the company took the wraps off its newest gaming monitors. The ASUS ROG Strix XG HDR monitor line brings high resolutions, high refresh rates, and high dynamic range to gaming desktops in larger sizes. Three models will be available soon, each of them supporting the FreeSync 2 HDR specification.
The ROG Strix XG32VQR is a curved 31.5-inch panel with a 2560x1440p resolution. It operates at a native refresh rate of 144Hz and ASUS claims it will be capable of displaying 94% of the DCI-P# color gamut with its 10-bit panel. It is HDR400 certified, meaning it has a peak HDR brightness of around 400 nits and is fully certified for FreeSync 2 HDR. It packs a pair of HDMI 2.0 ports and a single DisplayPort 1.4 connector, along with a USB 3.0 port.
The ROG Strix XG49VQ is a curved 49-inch 1080p ultrawide monitor for those that need to feel surrounded by their display. Its 3840x1080p resolution and support for the HDR400 spec make it incredibly attractive for work and play alike. It offers the same viewing area as two 27-inch monitors pushed together, without the bezels in the way. Like the other monitors in the XG line, it supports AMD’s Freesync 2 HDR and has 3 HDMI 2.0 ports, along with DisplayPort and USB connections.
Finally, the ROG Strix XG438Q offers a flat 43-inch display that runs at a native 3840x2160 (4K) resolution at 120Hz. Unlike the other two models, the XG438Q is HDR600 certified, meaning it can reach peak HDR brightness of around 600 nits, thanks to its use of local dimming. This will offer a better HDR experience that is comparable to that of the nicer mid-range 4K HDR televisions. The FreeSync-certified monitor will offer adaptive sync, which will be very helpful for maintaining smoothness on its 4K display.
Pricing for these new monitors is still unknown, but ASUS expects both the XG32QVR and XG49VQ will be on sale by the end of January. The XG438Q will go on sale sometime this spring. With the news breaking last night that NVIDIA will allow its GPUs to make use of adaptive sync on FreeSync monitors, these new ASUS models should be on the shortlist of anyone looking to step up their display game in 2019.