ASUS ROG Swift OLED PG32UCDM Monitor Review

The ASUS PG32UCDM has a sleek design with a gamer-oriented look. It's mainly gray and silver, with some black accents throughout. It has various RGB lighting zones, including on the back and below the stand. The stand has pins that attach to the monitor to transfer power for the lighting, and you can detach the cover at the bottom of the stand. You can also see the bottom of the stand without the cover here.

The build quality is fantastic. It's well-made, and there aren't any significant construction issues. The stand features a metal base and a plastic pillar, and it supports the monitor well with minimal wobble. There isn't any noticeable fan noise or coil whine either, even after long periods of use.

The ergonomics are alright. While it offers most common ergonomic adjustments, the range for each is limited. It's fine if you need to adjust it for yourself, but can be more difficult to share your screen with someone sitting next to you. The stand also has a cutout for cable management.

The tripod stand has a wide footprint, so you need a big desk to place it on, and it holds the screen well.

This monitor has a joystick and two buttons to control the on-screen display and power the display on and off, and they feel good to use. If you're looking for a monitor that you can control with a remote and can be used like a TV with integrated apps, check out the Samsung Odyssey OLED G8/G80SD S32DG80.

• DisplayPort cable
• HDMI cable
• USB-B to USB-A cable
• USB-C cable
• Power brick and cable
• VESA mounting bracket
• Accessories for RGB lighting on stand
• Accessories bag
• User guides
• ROG stickers

The ASUS PG32UCDM has a near-infinite contrast ratio, as its QD-OLED panel can turn individual pixels on and off. This means it displays deep blacks next to bright highlights in dark rooms. That said, like any QD-OLED, ambient light causes blacks to look purple, so it doesn't display the same deep blacks in bright rooms.

The ASUS PG32UCDM doesn't have a backlight, so it doesn't require a local dimming feature. However, with a near-infinite contrast ratio, there isn't any blooming around bright objects, and it's the equivalent of a perfect local dimming feature. We still film these videos on the monitor so you can see how the screen performs and compare it with a monitor that has local dimming.

The SDR brightness is good. It gets bright enough to fight glare in most well-lit rooms as long as you have Uniform Brightness disabled, which is what these results represent and are from after calibration in the 'User Mode' GameVisual mode. That said, its brightness isn't the most consistent across different content with it off, so if that bothers you and you don't mind a dimmer image, it's better to enable Uniform Brightness. You can see the results with it on below:

• Real Scene 233 cd/m²
• Peak 2% Window 248 cd/m²
• Peak 10% Window 248 cd/m²
• Peak 25% Window 249 cd/m²
• Peak 50% Window 249 cd/m²
• Peak 100% Window 244 cd/m²
• Sustained 2% Window 244 cd/m²
• Sustained 10% Window 244 cd/m²
• Sustained 25% Window 244 cd/m²
• Sustained 50% Window 247 cd/m²
• Sustained 100% Window 242 cd/m²
• Minimum Brightness 13 cd/m²

The HDR brightness is okay. It gets bright enough to make really small highlights pop, but it can't sustain this brightness with larger highlights, so they don't stand out as much. It follows the PQ EOTF curve well until there's a gradual roll-off before a sharp cut-off at the peak brightness, so it lets highlights get the brightest they can.

These results are with the following settings:

• HDR Setting: Console HDR
• Brightness Adjustable: On
• Auto Logo Brightness: Off
• Brightness: Max

The Uniform Brightness is locked in HDR and you can't change it. 'Console HDR' is the setting with the most accurate PQ EOTF tracking while also reaching over 1,000 cd/m² of brightness. You can also see the results in the 'Gaming HDR' and 'DisplayHDR 400 True Black' modes below:

The ASUS PG32UCDM has an outstanding horizontal viewing angle. Although it technically isn't perfect, you won't see any inconsistencies when viewing from the sides or if you sit close to the screen.

The vertical viewing angle is remarkable. The screen looks the same, even if you're standing up and looking down on it.

This monitor has fantastic gray uniformity. There aren't any areas of dirty screen effect or noticeable issues. However, like any OLED, there are thin gray vertical lines in dark scenes, but you won't notice them unless you look for them.

Thanks to its OLED panel, there isn't any blooming around bright objects.

The accuracy before calibration in the 'sRGB Cal Mode' picture mode is good. It clamps colors to the sRGB color space well, and although it undersaturates most colors, it isn't noticeable. The color temperature is also almost spot-on with the 6500K target. However, the white balance is off as there's too much red and blue in all shades, and gamma is brighter than the target. Using the sRGB mode locks you out of a few settings, including Uniform Brightness, and you need to use another mode with more oversaturated colors if you want access to those settings.

The accuracy after calibration is fantastic, and you won't notice any issues.

The SDR color gamut is remarkable. It displays all colors in the common sRGB color space, and it also displays a wide range of colors in the Adobe RGB color space that's common in photo editing. That said, some colors are off in Adobe RGB, and it oversaturates red.

The HDR color gamut is fantastic. It displays nearly all colors in the common DCI-P3 color space and a wide range in the Rec. 2020 color space, but not all colors are perfectly accurate.

The ASUS ROG Swift PG32UCDM has an amazing HDR color volume. Thanks to its QD-OLED panel it displays bright and vivid colors without any issues, and dark colors look fantastic too.

The ASUS ROG Swift PG32UCDM has excellent text clarity. Thanks to its high pixel density, text looks very sharp, and enabling Windows ClearType (top photo) improves the boldness of letters. While programs don't render text well with its triangular subpixel layout and it isn't as good as other 4k monitors, it's still good enough to use. These photos are in Windows 10, and you can also see them in Windows 11 with ClearType on and with ClearType off.

Due to the triangular subpixel layout, there's still some color fringing around letters and at the edge of windows. It's hard to see unless you look closely at the monitor. Although we didn't experience any eye strain during testing, even with long periods of use, this is something that changes from person to person, and it depends on how sensitive you are to this subpixel layout.

The reflection handling is fantastic. It does an amazing job at reducing glare even from bright light sources, but the biggest downside is that ambient light causes the black levels to raise, so blacks look purple. You can see an example of that here. This is typical of QD-OLEDs, and it's nothing out of the ordinary.

The gradient handling is remarkable, and you won't notice any banding.

While you can reach the max refresh rate with a 4k resolution over DisplayPort and HDMI, your graphics card needs to support Display Stream Compression (DSC) to reach it, which most modern graphics cards support anyway. It also has a DSC Support setting to disable DSC altogether.

If you're looking for a monitor that doesn't require DSC to reach 4k @ 240Hz, check out the Gigabyte AORUS FO32U2P, which has DisplayPort 2.1 bandwidth with compatible graphics cards.

On top of FreeSync and G-SYNC compatibility, this monitor also supports HDMI Forum VRR.

The ASUS ROG Swift PG32UCDM has outstanding motion handling across its entire refresh rate range with VRR enabled. CAD remains low throughout, and there's minimal blur with fast-moving objects.

The refresh rate compliance is outstanding. As it has a near-instantaneous response time, it makes full color transitions before drawing the next frame.

The CAD at the maximum refresh rate is outstanding. It displays fast-moving objects as intended, and motion is extremely sharp.

The CAD at 120Hz is outstanding. Pixels transition to their target RGB level almost instantly, so there isn't any blur trail or noticeable inverse ghosting.

The CAD at 60Hz is outstanding. Pixels transition colors almost perfectly, and any noticeable blur is persistence.

This monitor has an optional black frame insertion feature to reduce persistence blur, but it only works with fixed 120Hz signals. You can adjust the brightness with it on, but up to a setting of '70'.

The ASUS PG32UCDM has noticeable VRR flicker with changing frame rates. Although it isn't as bad as other OLEDs, it's still there and can be distracting if the frame rate changes a lot, especially in dark scenes. That said, this doesn't happen if your PC can maintain consistent frame rates.

The backlight isn't technically flicker-free because it has a slight dip in brightness that corresponds to the 240Hz refresh rate. However, it isn't considered pulse-width modulation like on LED-backlit monitors because it isn't a full-screen on-and-off flicker, and you won't notice it.

The ASUS PG32UCDM has low input lag, especially at its max refresh rate. While its input lag is a bit higher than other monitors with 120Hz and 60Hz sources, it's still low enough for a responsive feel.

This monitor has no issues with the Xbox Series X|S and PS5, but you need to enable the console's HDMI override setting for 1440p @ 60Hz to work, which disables VRR. The Xbox doesn't support HDR with 1440p or 1080p signals, so this isn't a limitation of the monitor. There aren't any issues with the Dolby Vision support once you update the monitor to firmware MCM105 either.

The ASUS ROG Swift PG32UCDM has an optical audio output. This means you can connect a compatible audio source and send digital audio signals to it, producing higher quality audio than if you were to use the 3.5mm analog audio output.

On top of supporting HDR10, it also supports Dolby Vision with firmware update MCM105 (released Jun. 2024) and newer. It doesn't support it on older firmware.

The DisplayPort Alt Mode on the USB-C port allows you to connect a compatible laptop to display an image from it and charge it at the same time. There's a USB-C Charging setting where you can choose the power delivery between 65W and 90W, but you can only change it to 90W if the brightness setting on the monitor is at 65 or below.

The ASUS ROG Swift PG32UCDM doesn't have any compatibility issues with macOS. With HDMI 2.1 MacBooks, or over USB-C, windows move to the monitor's screen when you close the lid, and they return to their original position when you reopen it again. However, you can't continue working on the screen with the lid closed on HDMI 2.0 MacBooks, and windows don't return to their original position when reopening the lid.

The ASUS PG32UCDM has a bunch of features, including a KVM switch. This allows you to use the same keyboard and mouse with two different sources, and it works well as it automatically switches when you change inputs. It has other extra perks, some of which you can read about below:

• Aspect Ratio Control: You can use this setting to change the aspect ratio, including decreasing the image size to simulate a 24.5 or 27-inch screen size.
• Dolby Vision: Once you update the monitor to firmware MCM105 and newer, it supports Dolby Vision. That said, it doesn't support it on older firmware.
• Dynamic Shadow Boost: Adjusts gamma so that you can see opponents better in dark scenes.
• GamePlus: Includes different gaming features like an FPS counter, crosshairs, sniper mode, stopwatch, and timer.
• Lighting Effect: Controls the RGB lighting on the back of the monitor and on the stand. You can also download Armoury Crate to control this.
• Low Blue Light Filter: Removes blue light to help reduce eye strain.
• Proximity Sensor: Turns the display off if it detects you are away from the monitor over the preset time and resumes normal brightness if it detects activity again.

Like most OLED displays, there are also a few settings to help reduce the risk of burn-in, which you can find in the Screen Protection section of the OSD. ASUS also offers a three-year warranty, including against burn-in, although that may vary between regions.

• Adjust Logo Brightness: Dims static logos that are on the screen, like if you're watching TV.
• Pixel Cleaning: This feature fixes any burn-in issues that may occur. It happens after you turn off the screen and takes about six minutes to finish. There's also a setting to remind you to turn off the monitor so it can perform the cycle.
• Screen Move: Moves the image by a few pixels to one side to help reduce the risk of burn-in.
• Screen Saver: Automatically dims the screen when there's inactivity.