ASUS ROG Swift 38 4K HDMI 2 1 HDR DSC Gaming Monitor PG38UQ - UHD 3840 x 2160

I was in the market for a large 16:9 inch monitor, of which there aren't very many. I originally discovered the XG43UQ, also from Asus. At 43", it was quite the behemoth to have on a desk and being a VA panel, colors looked quite nice on it and the HDR performance was good for an LCD display. However, I found the size to be almost overwhelming sitting so close to it. That combined with the slow pixel response time made me eventually return it. I still didn't want to give up though, so a few months passed and after much research I discovered this unit of a monitor. It checked all the boxes for me. Big, but not too big. High quality IPS display. And it was Asus so it matched the rest of my setup to boot! I was weary at first because at the time there were almost no reviews on the thing and very little information on real world performance. However, when I took it out of the box, all my worries went away. The color accuracy was much better than my old budget VA panel, the response times were good so there is virtually no smearing, and the size was perfect! Not too big to where you can't see the edges of the screen, but still large enough to be immersive and useful for couch co-op. If you're in the market for a large monitor that's not OLED, the PG38UQ is a great performer and worthy of your consideration. After owning mine for almost a year, I still get excited to sit down and use it! Read more

Big, bright screen with excellent color rendering and great features for gaming, such as supporting both GSync and FreeSync, HDR, 144Hz, and anti-ghosting pixel overdrive settings. It seems well built and has a sturdy metal stand. It is an IPS panel not an OLED panel. This means it cannot produce the inky blacks that OLED does, but it will never have image burn-in the way OLEDs can. If you're ok with that and you're in the market for a big monitor that's not so big that it overwhelms your desk then this is an excellent option. Read more

This monitor is pretty excellent all around. In practice, it's like using a 34" 1440p ultrawide display but taller. Similar pixel density, similar width, and the same (RGB) subpixel layout so the text quality is excellent. Basically it's the limit for me from a field-of-view perspective. Any larger than this and it would have to be curved. My desk is 70 cm deep (27.5 in) and that is working well. I certainly wouldn't use this on a desk smaller than 24" deep unless you had clearance behind it to let a monitor arm protrude past the back edge. If you intend to use the included stand, you should have a 30" or greater desk depth. Good thought went into the design of the chassis (except the power plug, which is in a bit of an awkward spot) with upward and downward facing USB ports, and a 1/4" mount on top for a camera, microphone or shelf. I have the Vivo 16 inch shelf (https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0B7VT4167) secured only to the top (not using the VESA adapter) with a single 1/4" screw and a little VHB tape underneath to prevent rotation and that is working well. The included stand has no height adjustment and it's a little invasive on my desktop, so I mounted the monitor to the BenQ Ergo Arm (https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0DTC9KFKL), which supports the weight and size of this monitor very well. The BenQ VESA adapter plate natively accepts the M6 diameter screws needed to mount this monitor using the included standoffs. I chose M6 1.0 x 13mm (Grade 12.9 black oxide) screws from ACE Hardware (16mm was too long, possibly 14mm is the max. It's hard to tell because the internal thread length tolerance of Asus' standoffs varied by at least +/- 1.0 mm) and they are working well with the BenQ mounting plate. Image quality is typical IPS. Good color uniformity, good text quality, acceptable backlight bleed. No dead or stuck pixels. Running on Windows 11, I can't decide if 100% scaling is best or if 125% scaling is best. I will say that running it in 100% scaling is just slightly more dense (smaller text size) than a 27" 1440p monitor. For productivity, this geometry seems to favor either a 2-up (side-by-side) or 4-up (one in each quadrant) window arrangement. Fullscreen games and movies are phenomenal. I am running this at full resolution, 120 Hz on a DisplayPort cable with DSC on from an RTX 5000 series card and I'm not experiencing any of the blackouts or slow-to-wake conditions that others are reporting. Everything considered, I found this to be an easy adjustment from my 27" 1440p and 34" 1440p ultrawide monitors. It's similar to both, just more. As what will probably be my last LCD IPS monitor, I'm finding the advantages to be many and the disadvantages few. Read more

UPDATE: I'm really happy with this monitor! Initially, I experienced intermittent black screens that lasted 2-3 seconds during normal use. After researching, I found this is a common issue with ASUS monitors and DSC (Display Stream Compression). The simple fix was to disable DSC in the monitor's settings menu - no need to drop the refresh rate to 60Hz as I initially thought. Since disabling DSC about an hour ago, I haven't experienced a single blackout. The monitor works perfectly at its full 144Hz refresh rate, and I'm able to enjoy all the features this premium display has to offer. For anyone considering this monitor: if you encounter intermittent black screens with DSC enabled, just disable DSC in the settings. This solved the issue completely for me while maintaining full functionality. Overall, this is a great monitor for the price. Excellent image quality, smooth refresh rate, and good build quality. Just be aware of the DSC quirk and you'll be very satisfied with your purchase! Read more