The ASUS TUF VG27AQ is an impressive 27 inch, 1440p monitor with excellent gaming performance. Thanks to its IPS panel, the image remains accurate at an angle, but blacks look gray in a dark room. It delivers a very responsive gaming experience thanks to its remarkably low input lag, and it has a very fast refresh rate that improves the overall appearance of motion. It also supports FreeSync variable refresh rate technology to reduce screen tearing. Unfortunately, even though it supports HDR, it doesn't display a wide color gamut for HDR content and can't get bright enough to bring out highlights.
The ASUS TUF VG27AQ is a great monitor for most uses. This monitor has great resolution and size, a very low input lag, fantastic response time, wide viewing angles, and excellent ergonomics. It's a good choice if you often share your screen either for work or for a co-op gaming session. It's more suitable for an average-lit room as it can't get very bright and can't display deep blacks in a dark room.
The ASUS TUF VG27AQ is a great monitor for office use. It has a great resolution and size that favors multitasking. You can easily share your work with a colleague thanks to the excellent ergonomics and the wide viewing angles ensure everyone viewing enjoys the same accurate image. It can get fairly bright to combat glare in most rooms, and thanks to the decent reflection handling, it performs well in most office environments.
The ASUS TUF VG27AQ is an excellent monitor for gaming. The input lag is remarkably low and the high resolution and screen real estate allow you to see more details of your gaming arena. Fast-moving content has only minimal blur trail and the excellent refresh rate ensures smooth motion. Finally, the monitor's excellent ergonomics make it easy to position it comfortably on your desk.
The ASUS TUF VG27AQ is very good for consuming multimedia. The 1440p monitor can display most content at its native resolution, and thanks to the low input lag the monitor feels very responsive to your actions. It has decent reflection handling and wide viewing angles so you can enjoy a movie with a friend in a room that has a few lights without issue.
The ASUS TUF VG27AQ is a great monitor for creating media. The large size and great resolution allow you to see more of your work on the screen and the excellent ergonomics make it easy to place the monitor comfortably. The wide viewing angles allow you to collaborate with a colleague sitting next to you, while both enjoying the same accurate image. Finally, you can stay assured of a responsive editing experience due to the monitor's remarkably low input lag.
The ASUS TUF VG27AQ is a decent monitor for playing HDR games. Unfortunately, it has a mediocre contrast ratio, so blacks in a dark room look more like gray and there's no local dimming feature to improve this. It lacks a wide color gamut to properly display HDR content and it can't get bright enough to bring out highlights. On the upside, the input lag is outstanding and gaming experience feels very responsive.
The TUF VG27AQ has the same style as most other ASUS gaming monitors. It has a square-shaped base with some red on it. It's designed as a gaming monitor but doesn't stand out in an office environment.
Simple design on the back. There's cable management through the stand, but there's no quick release on it.
The monitor isn't very thick, but like many ASUS monitors, the stand has a backward inclination, so the total thickness varies slightly depending on the height of the screen. The measurements are taken with the monitor placed at the bottom.
Good build quality. It feels slightly cheaper than the ASUS TUF VG32VQ, but is still solid and sturdy without any noticeable issues.
The contrast ratio isn't bad. IPS panels don't usually have good native contrast, and this one is better than most. If you want a similar model with a VA panel for a better contrast ratio, check out the TUF VG27VQ.
This monitor doesn't have a local dimming feature. The above video is provided for reference only.
The VG27AQ has good SDR peak brightness. It's suitable for most rooms, but might not be able to fight glare in a very bright room. There's no noticeable variation with different content, which is great. If intense glare is an issue and you need a monitor that gets brighter, check out the Gigabyte M27Q.
Mediocre HDR peak brightness. There's no variation in brightness with different content, but it doesn't get bright enough to bring out highlights in HDR. If you prefer something that gets brighter in HDR, check out its successor, the ASUS TUF Gaming VG27AQL1A.
Great horizontal viewing angle, which is typical of an IPS panel. The image remains accurate when viewed from the side, so it's easy to share your screen with others.
Decent vertical viewing angle, but you lose some image accuracy if the monitor is mounted above or below eye level.
The TUF Gaming VG27AQ has decent out-of-the-box color accuracy. Some people will notice the inaccuracies in some colors. The gamma doesn't follow the target curve closely and as a result, most scenes are darker. Since the color temperature is warmer than the target, the image has a slight red-yellowish tint. If you want a monitor with better out-of-the-box accuracy, check out the Lenovo Legion Y27q-20.
Superb color accuracy post-calibration. Only a few of the remaining inaccuracies can be spotted by the trained eye without the aid of a colorimeter.
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 even for the same model due to manufacturing tolerances.
The TUF Gaming VG27AQ has an excellent SDR color gamut that covers most of the common sRGB color space, with okay coverage of the wider Adobe RGB color space, which might not be enough for professional photo editors.
There are no signs of temporary image retention on our TUF Gaming VG27AQ. However, this can vary between units, so let us know in the discussions below if yours has any such issue.
The TUF Gaming VG27AQ monitor has decent reflection handling. You shouldn't have any issues if your room has a few lights, but if you place it across a large window then the reflections can be distracting. This is similar to the Gigabyte Aorus AD27QD.
Overdrive Setting | Response Time Chart | Response Time Tables | Motion Blur Photo |
0 | Chart | Table | Photo |
20 | Chart | Table | Photo |
40 | Chart | Table | Photo |
60 | Chart | Table | Photo |
80 | Chart | Table | Photo |
100 | Chart | Table | Photo |
Fantastic response time at its max refresh rate. The best Overdrive setting, which is called 'Trace Free', is '80'. It has the clearest motion out of all the settings, but there's overshoot in some brighter transitions. If that bothers you, the '60' setting performs very similarly, with a bit less overshoot. If you want a 1440p monitor with a quicker response time, then look into the MSI Optix G273QF.
Overdrive Setting | Response Time Chart | Response Time Tables | Motion Blur Photo |
0 | Chart | Table | Photo |
20 | Chart | Table | Photo |
40 | Chart | Table | Photo |
60 | Chart | Table | Photo |
80 | Chart | Table | Photo |
100 | Chart | Table | Photo |
The VG27AQ has an okay response time at 60Hz. The best Overdrive setting is '0' as there's no overshoot and there's no visible ghosting with fast-moving objects like the other settings. Since this is different than the setting at its max refresh rate, you might have to change it when playing games at 60Hz. If response time at 60Hz is important to you, then check out the ViewSonic Elite XG270QG.
This monitor has an optional black frame insertion feature to improve the appearance of motion. Unlike most monitors, this feature is available at the same time as FreeSync. The setting is known as 'ELMB SYNC'.
The TUF Gaming VG27AQ has an excellent native refresh rate and can be easily overclocked to 165Hz. It supports AMD's FreeSync variable refresh rate technology and is also NVIDIA certified, for a nearly tear-free gaming experience.
Over HDMI, the VRR range at 1440p can go up to 144Hz.
Note:Â Some websites advertise the VG27AQ with a 155Hz overclock instead of 165Hz. ASUS originally announced this model with a 155Hz overclock, but it was released with 155Hz, 160Hz, and 165Hz options. Some websites are still reporting the original information.
The TUF Gaming VG27AQ's input lag is remarkable. It remains low even at 60Hz, which is important for console gamers.