ASUS ROG STRIX XG27UQ 4K Gaming Monitor Review | A great 4K gaming monitor!

ASUS Recently sent over their XG27UQ 4K Gaming monitor for me to review. Over the past few weeks I have been using it and boy is it impressive!

Big thanks to ASUS for sending this over for review!

What’s in the Box?

I’m currently redoing my photography setup so unfortunately wasn’t able to snap any photos of the box. But I can tell you what you get with the monitor.

You get the monitor itself, the stand, a Display Port Cable, HDMI Cable, AC Power Adapter and some documentation including a colour calibration certificate.

Everything is really well packaged in plastic and the whole thing is encapsulated in solid foam to protect it during shipping.

Design and Features

Design wise the ASUS XG27UQ is really premium looking, as you would expect for a $1500 AUD monitor. It has a full black exterior with half of the stand already pre installed. For the size and capability of this monitor, it really isn’t very thick. Coming in at around 10cm thick so you won’t need to worry about having a super deep desk to be able to fit this monitor.

Around the back of the monitor is where you will find the Big RGB ROG Logo that can be controlled via the ASUS Aura Software. Moving down is where you will find all the connectivity for the XG27UQ, Of which I will get into more detail later. And finally there is also the main control for the monitor with 4 buttons and a little joystick to control the on screen display as well as a kensington lock. The whole backside of the monitor has a cool gamery look to it with sharp lines to give it some nice detail. There is ventilation holes cut in the top of the monitor as well as around the stand connector to make sure there is ample airflow to cool the inside of the monitor. 

Round to the front of the monitor shows off the XG27UQ’s really chunky bezels with a chrome ROG logo on the bottom. They aren’t bad if you are just using a single monitor but if you want to use multiple monitors for a ‘surround’ gaming experience it might be a bit of a nuisance.

Stand

The stand on the ASUS XG27UQ is really well made, it is made out of aluminium to keep things light but sturdy. It’s quite a small footprint with only three legs which allows you to still place things underneath the monitor without it being blocked by a big bulky stand.

Something really cool with the stand on the XG27UQ is the customizable red accent light at the bottom, it does come with two ROG styled ‘chips’ but also a blank one to let you either etch or draw something onto it which will then be projected onto your desk via the red light built into the stand.

In terms of movement, the stand on the XG27UQ offers everything you would ever need, pan, tilt, height adjustment and swivel.

Features

GameVisual

The ASUS ROG Strix XG27UQ features ASUS’ GameVisual technology which slightly alters things like the colour, brightness and contrast of the screen depending on the type of game you are playing. For example, the MOBA mode enhances the color of opponent health/mana bars so you know when to strike.

GamePlus

This is another one of those subtle game enhancing features by giving you things like a crosshair, FPS counter and also helps you align your displays if you have multiple for a surround gaming experience.

IPS Panel

The ASUS ROG Strix XG27UQ uses what’s known as an In Plane Switching panel or better known as IPS. IPS is much better at displaying colour than its counterpart, TN or VA. Another benefit of IPS is that it gives much better viewing angles on the display and for someone with a multi monitor setup, which most of the time sees the monitors on a slight angle, is very important to give them the best experience possible.

DSC TECHNOLOGY

The ASUS XG27UQ Display features Display stream compression ,or DSC,  technology which enables 4K visuals and a 144Hz refresh rate via a single DisplayPort 1.4 connection by compressing and decompressing each frame on the fly with no visual loss of image quality.

144Hz Refresh Rate With 1ms Response Time

The ASUS XG27UQ offers an ultrafast 144Hz refresh rate and 1ms response time, ensuring that even the fastest-paced games played at the highest visual settings remain buttery-smooth and completely lag-free.

NVIDIA G-SYNC COMPATIBLE

By using Adaptive Sync, in this case NVIDIA G-Sync , the ASUS XG27UQ can deliver a seamless, tear-free gaming experience by taking use of something called Variable Refresh Rate. This is quite important in really fast paced games where any error or mishap can really diminish your overall performance in the game, especially in Esport competitions.

HDR Compatibility

The ASUS XG27UQ supports HDR technology across a range of luminance (up to 400cd/m2) to deliver a wider color range and higher contrast than traditional monitors. The brightest whites and the darkest blacks bring out details like never before. The ASUS XG27UQ also delivers DCI-P3 90% color gamut and contrast performance that passes DisplayHDR 400 certification.

Factory Colour Calibration

Every ASUS XG27UQ comes factor pre colour calibrated to ensure that the XG27UQ displays the most accurate colour while gaming and consuming content. Having the monitor factor calibrated is really good because it means that you don’t have to go to the hassle of acquiring a colour calibrator and self calibrating it. And, ASUS also includes the colour calibration report in the box of the monitor!

Connectivity

On the back of the monitor is where all the connectivity for the monitor is housed. Here is where you will find the DC Barrel Jack, 3.5 Audio Jack, two HDMI 2.0 ports, two DisplayPort- 1.4 ports a USB Hub and the USB connector to connect the monitor to your PC

OSD

The ASUS ROG Strix XG27UQ offers quite an intuitive and easy to use OSD, allowing you to tweak everything to your liking and also to turn on the GameVisual modes and GamePlus settings. The OSD is really easily controlled by the little joystick on the back of the monitor which is my personal favourite for OSD controls in a monitor.

Specs

Software

The ASUS ROG Strix XG27UQ has a few different suites of software for a few different uses. The first one I’m going to talk about is the ASUS Display Widget Software which basically gives you all the abilities of the OSD but in a windows compatible app. But unfortunately I couldn’t actually get it to work for me.

The next piece of software is much more known, ASUS AURA Sync which let’s you change the colours of the RGB lighting on the monitor and also gives you the ability to sync that across all your ASUS and compatible devices.

Gaming Experience

I played a few different genres of games on the XG27UQ and I am quite impressed with how it performs. I played the games on 4K high and got a really silky smooth experience. While playing, I saw basically no stuttering or tearing while playing and the colours were amazing looking. Playing really detailed games like Red Dead Redemption Two, it’s really important to be able to see even the smallest of details and the ASUS ROG Strix XG27UQ handled it like a pro! I am really impressed with the overall gameplay performance of the monitor.

Pricing

The ASUS ROG Strix XG27UQ can be found online for around $1500 AUD from places like PCCG or Mwave.

Conclusion

The ASUS ROG Strix XG27UQ is a beast of a monitor, giving you a great looking and silky smooth gaming experience. The integrated RGB is a great touch for any setup and the illuminated stand looks great on the desk.

Buy one from PCCG (Australia)

Read my Latest Review!

Disclosure: The ASUS ROG Strix XG27UQ review sample was supplied for reviewing but all opinions are of my own and not paid.