The ASUS ROG Swift PG279QZ is a very good monitor that's designed to satisfy even the most demanding gamers. It delivers great picture quality with its 1440p resolution and it has a high 144Hz refresh rate that can be easily overclocked to 165Hz. Its IPS panel provides excellent viewing angles, but it isn't the best for dark room gaming, as it has a mediocre contrast ratio coupled with significant black uniformity issues. Motion handling is superb, improved by its black frame insertion feature, and its native G-SYNC support delivers a nearly tear-free gaming experience. Unfortunately, it doesn't support HDR, but it does have several extra gaming features as well as integrated speakers. Best of all, these great features come with an impressive build quality that should last for years.
This monitor is a newer version of the ASUS ROG PG279Q.
The ASUS PG279QZ is a very good monitor for most uses. Its 27 inch screen and 1440p resolution let you work comfortably, with plenty of space for multiple windows opened at the same time. Gamers should be happy with its high refresh rate, low input lag, and G-SYNC support. Dark room performance is rather disappointing, but it performs well in bright rooms and it has wide viewing angles, so you can share your work or for some co-op gaming. Color accuracy is good; however, its coverage of Adobe RGB may not be sufficient for professional photo or video editing.
The ASUS PG279QZ is a great office monitor. It has a very good resolution and size that make multitasking easy. The viewing angles are excellent, allowing you to share your work, and you can position the monitor however you like thanks to its impressive ergonomics. It has a decent peak brightness and reflection handling, which is best for an averagely-lit room.
The ASUS PG279QZ is an excellent monitor for gaming. Apart from its large 27 inch screen size and sharp resolution, this monitor has excellent low input lag and it supports G-SYNC. Additionally, its high refresh rate and fast response time make it a great choice for gamers. It's not the best for dark room gaming due to its low contrast ratio and poor black uniformity, but it handles bright rooms very well.
The ASUS PG279QZ is a decent monitor for media consumption. It has a very low input lag and is very responsive to your actions. Its QHD resolution allows you to display much of the content in its native resolution and the monitor can handle well any annoying reflections from the light sources in your room.
The PG279QZ is a very good monitor for media creation. Its large size and high resolution allow you to multitask comfortably and its great ergonomics lets you switch from landscape to portrait mode easily. Its IPS panel provides wide viewing angles and it has excellent gray uniformity, with almost no sign of dirty screen effect. Sadly, it's an 8-bit panel, but its gradient performance is superb.
The ASUS PG279QZ doesn't support HDR.
The stand is square and doesn't take up a significant amount of space. It supports the monitor well, but it does wobble a bit when nudged. There are two red LED lighting zones; however, the metal contact that allows the light to turn on only works when the monitor is in a fully landscape or a fully portrait mode.
The back of the monitor is plain and made out of plastic. There are two vents to dissipate heat and there's basic cable management built into the stand.
The PG279QZ doesn't have a local dimming feature. The video is for reference only.
SDR peak brightness is decent. It's very consistent and there's virtually no difference in brightness when displaying different content. The real scene measurement is slightly lower than the measurements on our preset size windows, but this is normal due to the uniformity of the screen.
Our measurements were done using the 'FPS' (calibrated) Picture Mode.
This monitor doesn't support HDR.
The PG279QZ has excellent horizontal viewing angles. This is great for co-op gaming and for sharing content with others.
Decent vertical viewing angles. The image should remain accurate for the most part, but the top and bottom of the screen can look a bit washed out if you sit very close.
Out of the box, the color accuracy of the PG279QZ is good. We used the 'FPS' picture mode for our measurements, as it's the most accurate one. There are inaccuracies with several colors, but white balance is pretty good. The color temperature is a bit warmer than our target of 6500k and the gamma doesn't follow the target curve much, causing most scenes to appear brighter than they should.
Color accuracy is excellent after calibration, which was also done using the 'FPS' Picture Mode. White balance and gamma are nearly perfect, and the color temperature is much closer to our target, although still on the warm side. There are still some inaccuracies with a few colors, but they're difficult to notice.
You can download our ICC profile calibration here. This is provided for reference only and should not be used, as the calibration values vary per individual unit even for the same model due to manufacturing tolerances.
The PG279QZ has an excellent SDR color gamut, with an outstanding coverage of the sRGB color space. It has good coverage of the Adobe RGB color space, but it may not be good enough for professional-level photo or video editing.
This monitor doesn't support HDR.
This monitor doesn't support HDR.
The PG279QZ has decent reflection handling. The matte coating reduces the intensity of direct reflections and diffuses them across the screen. You shouldn't have any issues using the monitor in most well-lit rooms, but it's best to avoid placing the monitor opposite a bright source of light.
Overdrive Setting | Response Time Chart | Motion Blur Photo | Response Time Table |
Off | Chart | Photo | Table |
Normal | Chart | Photo | Table |
Extreme | Chart | Photo | Table |
The response time of the PG279QZ is excellent, resulting in clear images with very short blur trails in fast-moving scenes. The recommended overdrive setting is Normal, which provides the best performance with minimal overshoot. The Extreme option is faster, but it causes quite a bit of artifacts.
This monitor has a black frame insertion feature called ULMB, which introduces flickering to produce a clearer image with less motion blur. Do note that because it's a native G-SYNC monitor, this feature only works with NVIDIA graphics cards.
Update 08/10/2020: We previously indicated that the monitor is G-SYNC compatible, which is wrong. It has native G-SYNC support.
The PG279QZ has a 144Hz native refresh rate that can be overclocked up to 165Hz. It supports NVIDIA's G-SYNC to reduce screen tearing and it only works through a DisplayPort connection. When using an HDMI connection, the refresh rate is limited to 60Hz.
BFI frequency tested: 120Hz
The PG279QZ has an amazingly low input lag, even when G-SYNC is enabled. It's slightly higher when ULMB is enabled, as well as when playing at 60Hz, but it's still good enough for most gamers.