ASUS ROG Swift 360Hz PG259QN Monitor Review

The ASUS ROG Swift 360Hz PG259QN's design is very similar to the ASUS ROG Strix XG279Q, but the stand's feet now sit flat on the table. It has thin borders on three sides and a thicker bottom bezel. The back has an etched design and a Republic of Gamers (ROG) logo that lights up.

The stand takes up a fair amount of desk space, but it supports the monitor well and doesn't wobble much.

The ASUS ROG Swift PG259QN has good ergonomics, making it easy to adjust the screen to your ideal viewing position or share content on your screen.

The back of the monitor has a fairly heavy gamer design. The ROG logo lights up, and you can control it through the on-screen menu or the Aura Sync software. There's a cutout at the bottom of the stand that allows cables to pass through for cable management. It can be VESA-mounted, but there's no quick-release feature to remove the stand.

The borders are thin and aren't distracting, great for multi-monitor setups.

Both the screen and stand are quite thick, so it requires a fairly deep desk to put it on.

The ASUS ROG Swift PG259QN's build quality is great. The display is made of plastic, but it feels sturdy, and there are no loose parts. The stand has a solid metal base and supports the monitor well. All the hinges feel well-made, and it feels stable when rotating the screen. It doesn't have the most premium materials, but you shouldn't have any issues with it.

As is expected of most IPS panels, the ASUS PG259QN has a mediocre contrast ratio, resulting in blacks that look grayish when viewed in a dark environment. It's slightly higher than the advertised 1000:1 contrast; however, this can vary between units.

Update 02/22/2021: Some users have asked whether the Variable Backlight feature is a local dimming feature. It is not. We verified it using the test on the Lagom website. It seems to act more like a dynamic contrast feature, because the 253 white pattern is visible when it's off, but not when it's on, which means that it's affecting the contrast.

The ASUS ROG Swift PG259QN doesn't have a local dimming feature. The video above is provided for reference only.

Great SDR peak brightness. It's very consistent across different content, and it's more than enough to overcome glare in bright environments.

We measured the SDR peak brightness after calibration in the 'Racing' Picture Mode, with Brightness set to max.

The ASUS PG259QN's HDR peak brightness is okay. It's again very consistent when displaying different scenes, but it isn't enough to make highlights stand out in HDR content.

We measured the HDR peak brightness in the 'HDR' Picture Mode. The screen's brightness isn't adjustable in this picture mode.

The ASUS ROG Swift PG259QN has good horizontal viewing angles. Images remain accurate when viewed from the side, great for sharing content on the screen or playing co-op games.

The vertical viewing angles are decent. This only affects image accuracy if you have the screen mounted far above or below eye level.

Gray uniformity is excellent; however, this can vary between units. The sides and top corners are noticeably darker, but dirty screen effect is minimal, and uniformity is much better in dark scenes.

Black uniformity is decent on our ASUS PG259QN; however, this can vary between units. There's backlight glow along the top and bottom edges, making some parts of the screen look more grayish.

Before calibration, the ASUS ROG Swift PG259QN has exceptional accuracy; however, this can vary between units. White balance is nearly perfect, and the minor color inaccuracies aren't noticeable without the aid of a colorimeter. Gamma follows the sRGB curve relatively well, but both dark and bright scenes are slightly over-brightened. The color temperature is just slightly warmer than our 6500K. There's a dedicated 'sRGB' Picture Mode, and its accuracy is also exceptional, but not quite as good as the 'Racing' Picture Mode.

After calibration, accuracy is only slightly better since it was already exceptional out-of-the-box. White balance is closer to our 6500K target. Gamma is a little better, but dark scenes are still slightly too bright and bright scenes are too dark.

You can download our ICC profile calibration here. This is provided for reference only and shouldn't be used, as the calibration values vary per individual unit due to manufacturing tolerances, even for the same model.

The ASUS PG259QN has an excellent SDR color gamut. It has near full coverage of the widely-used sRGB color space, but it only has decent coverage of the Adobe RGB color space used for photo editing.

Excellent color volume. It only has trouble displaying dark and saturated colors due to its low contrast ratio.

Unfortunately, although the ASUS ROG Swift PG259QN supports HDR, it can't display a wide color gamut. Its DCI P3 coverage is only decent, and it has poor coverage of the wider Rec. 2020 color space. If you'd like a gaming monitor with a wide HDR color gamut, check out the Dell Alienware AW2721D.

Due to the way we measure the DCI P3 coverage, our measurement is likely lower than most other reviewers. We measure it by sending a Rec. 2020 signal, but unlike most reviewers, we limit the colors to the DCI P3 primaries. This results in a lower but arguably more accurate measurement.

The HDR color volume is mediocre, mainly due to its limited color gamut. It has difficulty displaying very bright colors, as well as dark and saturated colors.

The ASUS ROG Swift PG259QN doesn't exhibit any signs of image retention; however, this can vary between individual units.

The ASUS PG259QN has exceptional gradient handling. The small amount of banding in the reds shouldn't be visible in most content.

There's a bit of vertical color bleed, but it shouldn't be noticeable in regular content.

The ASUS ROG Swift PG259QN has great reflection handling. The matte anti-reflective does a good job of reducing the intensity of reflected lights. Combined with the monitor's high peak brightness, you shouldn't have any visibility issues in bright settings.

Text clarity is decent. Enabling Windows ClearType (top photo) makes letters look more even and improves diagonal lines, such as on the R and N.

The ASUS ROG Swift PG259QN has outstanding response time at its maximum refresh rate, resulting in clear images in fast-moving scenes. The recommended overdrive setting is 'Normal', as it provides the best performance without adding an overwhelming amount of overshoot like the 'Extreme' option. The 'Off' option has virtually no overshoot, but it's slower. If you want a 360Hz monitor with less overshoot, then check out the Dell Alienware AW2521H.

The ASUS ROG PG259QN's response time at 60Hz is excellent, although noticeably blurrier than at its max refresh rate. The best overdrive setting is also 'Normal' because the 'Extreme' option adds a lot more overshoot. If you want a similar 360Hz monitor with an even better response time at 60Hz, check out the Acer Predator X25 bmiiprzx.

The backlight is flicker-free at all brightness levels, which helps reduce eye strain.

The ASUS ROG Swift PG259QN has an optional Black Frame Insertion feature to improve motion clarity. However, unlike other ASUS monitors, it's called Ultra Low Motion Blur (ULMB) and is advertised as NVIDIA's implementation of this technology. It only works at fixed refresh rates, 144Hz or 240Hz. It can't be used simultaneously with VRR and enabling it disables the overdrive settings menu. Also, it causes slight image duplication due to strobe crosstalk.