The ASUS ROG Strix XG27AQ is an excellent gaming monitor from ASUS's Republic of Gamers lineup. It's a refreshed version of the ASUS ROG Strix XG279Q, so the panel is largely the same but with a few minor differences. It's a 27 inch IPS monitor with a 1440p resolution, and its refresh rate can be overclocked to 170Hz. It has an incredibly fast response time, and its low input lag makes gaming feel responsive. It also supports Adaptive Sync variable refresh rate (VRR) to reduce screen tearing. While it has HDR10 support and a wide color gamut, it doesn't get bright enough to make highlights really pop in HDR content. It's best suited to moderately-lit rooms since it has good reflection handling, even though it doesn't get as bright as advertised. It's less suited to dark rooms because of its mediocre contrast. On the upside, it has wide viewing angles, which are great for sharing content or co-op gaming.
Our Verdict
The ASUS ROG Strix XG27AQ is a great all-around monitor. Its high refresh rate, fast response time, low input lag, and VRR support make it an excellent choice for gaming. Its size and resolution are also well-suited to productivity and content creation. It doesn't perform as well in dark rooms, though, because of its low contrast ratio. HDR content also looks a bit disappointing, since the monitor can't get bright enough to make highlights pop.
- Low input lag.
- Large screen with high resolution.
- Wide viewing angles.
- Mediocre contrast ratio.
- May struggle with glare in really bright rooms.
The ASUS XG27AQ is a great office monitor. While it's intended for gaming, its size and resolution are great for multitasking and opening multiple windows side-by-side. It has good text clarity, and its wide viewing angles are ideal for sharing content. While it doesn't get very bright, it has good reflection handling to fight glare. It also has good ergonomics, so you can adjust it to your ideal viewing position.
- Large screen with high resolution.
- Wide viewing angles.
- Good text clarity.
- May struggle with glare in really bright rooms.
The ASUS ROG Strix XG27AQ is an excellent gaming monitor with a ton of gaming features. It has an overclocked max refresh rate of 170Hz and a fast response time that results in smooth motion. It has a low input lag, and it supports VRR to reduce screen tearing. It also comes with extra features that gamers should appreciate, including on-screen gaming overlays and a Shadow Boost feature that improves visibility in dark scenes.
- Incredibly fast response time.
- Low input lag.
- 170Hz refresh rate.
- Mediocre contrast ratio.
- Terrible local dimming feature.
The ASUS XG27AQ is great for multimedia. The 27 inch size and 1440p resolution result in crisp images, and it has wide viewing angles that are well-suited to watching content with a friend. Unfortunately, the contrast ratio is mediocre, so blacks look more like gray in the dark. On the upside, it has good reflection handling so it diffuses light well in bright rooms.
- Large screen with high resolution.
- Exceptional color gamut.
- Wide viewing angles.
- Mediocre contrast ratio.
- Black uniformity is only okay.
- Terrible local dimming feature.
The ASUS XG27AQ is great for media creation. The 1440p resolution delivers crisp images, and its 27 inch size offers plenty of space to have windows open side-by-side. The wide horizontal viewing angles mean you don't lose image accuracy from the side. It also has an exceptionally wide SDR color gamut, including great coverage of the Adobe RGB color space used in photo editing. That said, its contrast ratio is mediocre, so blacks look more like gray in the dark.
- Large screen with high resolution.
- Exceptional color gamut.
- Wide viewing angles.
- Black uniformity is only okay.
- May struggle with glare in really bright rooms.
The ASUS XG27AQ is alright for HDR, but it has limitations. While it displays a wide range of colors in HDR, it doesn't get bright enough to make those colors look vivid or for highlights to pop. It also has a low contrast ratio that makes blacks look gray in the dark, and it has a terrible local dimming feature that fails to further improve the black levels.
- Exceptional color gamut.
- Mediocre contrast ratio.
- Not bright enough to make HDR highlights pop.
- Black uniformity is only okay.
- Terrible local dimming feature.
Changelog
- Updated Sep 08, 2023: Updated text for accuracy with Test Bench 1.2, including in the Response Time and Console Compatibility tests.
- Updated Jun 14, 2023: Added that the ASUS ROG Strix XG27UQR is a 4k monitor with higher pixel density in Resolution and Size.
- Updated Apr 18, 2023: Confirmed that 1440p works on this monitor with the PS5.
- Updated Jun 06, 2022: We retested the input lag after updating the Hardware Abstraction Layer through the ASUS Armoury Crate software. The input lag at the max refresh rate hasn't changed, but the 60Hz input lag is significantly lower and similar to most other high-end gaming monitors.
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Differences Between Sizes And Variants
We tested the 27 inch ASUS ROG Strix XG27AQ, which is the only size available. It's a refresh of the ASUS ROG Strix XG279Q and has very similar features and performance overall. The XG27AQ has a different stand and uses a local dimming feature with more dimming zones. It's part of the ROG Strix lineup, which also includes the ASUS ROG Strix XG27UQ, among others.
If you come across a different type of panel or your XG27AQ doesn't correspond to our review, let us know in the discussions and we'll update the review. Note that some tests, like gray uniformity, may vary between individual units.
Our unit was manufactured in December 2020. You can see the label here.
Popular Monitor Comparisons
The ASUS ROG Strix is an excellent gaming monitor with a high 170Hz refresh rate and 1440p resolution. It's NVIDIA-certified as G-SYNC compatible and supports FreeSync. It has an exceptionally fast response time at 60Hz, faster than most other monitors we've tested, and it remains exceptionally fast at its max refresh rate. It also has some of the widest viewing angles on any gaming monitor we've tested. For other options, see our recommendations for the best gaming monitors, the best 1440p 144Hz monitors, and the best 27 inch monitors.
The ASUS ROG Strix XG279Q and the ASUS ROG Strix XG27AQ are very similar monitors with similar specs. The biggest difference is that the XG27AQ has a simplified stand, and its local dimming is a little less aggressive. The XG27AQ shows less backlight bleed, resulting in better black uniformity, but this is something that can vary. The XG27AW also has slightly wider viewing angles. The XG279Q, on the other hand, gets brighter overall in SDR and HDR, so it can fight glare a little more easily and can bring out more highlights in HDR content. Otherwise, they perform very similarly and both are among the better gaming monitors we've tested, so you can't really go wrong with either.
The ASUS ROG Strix XG27AQ is better than the LG 27GP850-B/27GP83B-B for most uses, but the difference is very minor. The ASUS has better ergonomics, as the stand can swivel, and it has a slightly better height and tilt range. The ASUS seems to be better built and has RGB bias-lighting on the back. On the other hand, the LG is brighter, and it has a slightly faster response time.
The ASUS ROG Strix XG27AQ and the ASUS ROG Swift PG279QM offer very similar performance. The XG27AQ is a bit more versatile for gaming, as it has an optional backlight strobing feature, commonly known as black frame insertion, which can improve the appearance of motion. On the other hand, the PG279QM has a higher refresh rate and is better for competitive gaming.
The ASUS ROG Strix XG27UQR and the ASUS ROG Strix XG27AQ are different gaming monitors. The XG27UQR has a higher 4k resolution that delivers more detail with sharper images, while the XG27AQ has a slightly higher 170Hz refresh rate. However, the XG27AQ also has better motion handling thanks to its quicker response time, meaning it's the better choice for fast-paced games.
We buy and test more than 30 monitors each year, all of which we purchase ourselves, without cherry-picked units or samples. We put a lot into each unbiased, straight-to-the-point review, and there's a whole process from purchasing to publishing, involving multiple teams and people. We do more than just use the monitor for a week; we use specialized, custom tools to measure various aspects and deliver objective, data-driven results. We also consider multiple factors before making any recommendations, including the monitor's cost, its performance compared to the competition, and whether it's easy to find.
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