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Choosing a gaming monitor is an eternal dilemma and headache for players of all stripes. It would seem that there are a huge number of solutions on the market for every taste and color, but most of these monitors are fraught with surprises for which you could not pay or simply the specifications do not correspond to reality.
2020 is a pretty tough financial year, but the gaming industry is showing super profits. The “extra” free time of users is perfectly transformed into a gaming experience, and after a while the user is looking for a way to improve gaming comfort. And it’s not just about soft slippers and an upholstered stool, but also about devices that can affect the skill. One of such important “cyber-flying” devices is a high-quality monitor.
In order to meet all the demands of the public and new trends inspired by free time, ASUS has expanded its range of gaming monitors with the VG27AQL1A and VG279Q1A models. Both novelties are made on fast IPS-matrices with the ELMB function and have a rather attractive price tag. And since I’ve already talked about the price, today’s material will focus on the budget model – TUF Gaming VG279Q1A.
ASUS TUF Gaming VG279Q1A
The panel is made on a fairly bright 8-bit IPS matrix without FRC with a diagonal of 27 inches. The monitor claims 100% coverage of sRGB space, but the main “trick” is a refresh rate of 165 Hz and an mPRT response time of 1 ms. Of course, not without ELMB and FreeSync Premium. The frameless display has a resolution of Full HD (1920×1080).
Claimed brightness is 250 cd/m², contrast ratio is 1000:1, dynamic contrast ratio is 100,000,000:1. The panel response time (GTG) is 3ms, and the horizontal and vertical viewing angles are 178 degrees.
In the arsenal of new items – a set of tools ASUS GamePlus. It includes crosshairs, a timer, a frame counter, and a picture alignment tool in multi-display configurations. There’s nothing special here.
| Model | ASUS TUF Gaming VG279Q1A |
|---|---|
| Manufacturer’s site | TUF Gaming VG279Q1A |
| Diagonal | 27″ |
| Aspect Ratio | 16:9 |
| Screen resolution | 1920×1080 |
| Matrix type | IPS (8 bit без FRC) |
| Matrix coating | Matte |
| Color gamut | 72% NTSC |
| HDR support | Missing |
| Backlight type | W-LED |
| Response time, ms | 3 (GTG), 1 (MPRT) |
| Vertical refresh rate, Hz | 165 (FreeSync Premium, ELMB) |
| Maximum brightness, cd/m² | 250 |
| Static contrast | 1000:1 |
| Number of displayed colors, million | 16,7 |
| Maximum viewing angles | 178/178 |
| Video inputs | 1 DisplayPort 1.2 и 2 HDMI 1.4 |
| Additional interfaces | 3.5 audio output |
| Screen adjustment option | Slope: +23°~-5° Swivel Horizontal: +15°~-15° |
| VESA mount, mm | 100×100 |
| Dimensions (including stand), mm | 614.09 x 454.34 x 213.79 |
| Weight, kg | 7,4 |
| Price | 7999 hryvnias |
As for pricing and availability, at the time of writing, you could buy ASUS TUF Gaming VG279Q1A for 7999 UAH – a lot, but not very much compared to competitors (with similar specifications) in the face of Viewsonic XG series and MSI Optix.
Scope of delivery and power consumption
The ASUS TUF Gaming VG279Q1A comes with everything you need to quickly connect a monitor. In addition to the device, inside the package the owner will find:
- power cable;
- external power supply;
- HDMI and DisplayPort cable;
- quick guide.
Power consumption ranges from 11.3W (ELMB Turbo) to 20.9W using factory presets. The ELMB Standard intermediate mode consumes only 12.1 W in fairly active scenes.
Appearance and ergonomics
TUF Gaming looks more solid than ever with updated styling, as evidenced by the new stand design.
The width of the edging of the side and top faces of the screen is about 1 cm, the bottom – 1.5 cm. The edges of the matrix are covered with a thin plastic frame 4 mm thick. The controls are represented by four mechanical keys and one 5-way joystick on the back.
The stand is made in the form of a boomerang. The main material is steel, which is wrapped in a plastic rough casing.
The back side of ASUS TUF Gaming VG279Q1A is made of textured matte black plastic. The manufacturer’s logo is engraved at the top, and the TUF logo is in the center.
On the four sides of this square with the logo there are rubber plugs for VESA mounts (100×100 mm).
Don’t complain about the build quality. The case is made soundly, without gaps. No loopholes were found. The leg, like the stand, is steel, also lined with plastic. The leg has a small window to create a convenient cable management.
At the bottom of the leg is a swivel mechanism that allows horizontal rotation within 30 degrees.
On top of the leg is a hinge that allows you to adjust the tilt of the monitor within 23 degrees.
Both hinges are quite tight, spontaneous shifting of the screen will not happen. There is no height adjustment.
The monitor does not have ventilation holes, since an external power supply is used, and the power consumption is only 20 W – you definitely won’t have to worry about the possible overheating of the matrix during many hours of gaming sessions.
A set of connection interfaces is assembled on the right side of the case and consists of two HDMI 1.4 ports and one DisplayPort 1.2 port. There is also an audio input jack. There is no USB hub.
To expand multimedia capabilities, ASUS TUF Gaming VG279Q1A is equipped with a pair of stereo speakers, with a total power of 4 watts. Their sound quality is comparable to the acoustics used in mid-budget models of office laptops. In other words, the volume reserve will be enough to cope with basic household tasks, but no more.
Any backlight elements are responsive.
Menu and controls
The hero of today’s review is controlled using four mechanical buttons and one multifunctional joystick. It won’t take long to get used to the classic way of setting up a monitor, everything is extremely simple and, in principle, only a joystick is involved in setting up. The menu is not overloaded with unnecessary elements and contains only the necessary settings.
The first item – Gaming, as you might guess from the name, contains all the most commonly used settings.
OverDrive is responsible for overclocking the matrix. The factory value is set at 60. Looking ahead, I would like to say that it is useless to touch it, since the result must be sought under a microscope. Has a decorative character.
The AMD FreeSync Premium setup is an updated AMD FreeSync technology that was unveiled at CES 2020 as “the next level for true gamers.”
ELMB technology can only be enabled if FreeSync Premium is disabled. Three modes: Disabled, Standard and Turbo. I would also like to note that when ELMB is activated, the user can only adjust the contrast and color temperature.
GamePlus is a standard sub-menu that accompanies all ASUS monitors. Here is the fps counter, timer and sights.
GameVisual is a collection of presets, but in 99% of cases, the standard preset, called Racing Mode, will be enough for you. It is both bright and, oddly enough, suitable even for basic color work.
Closes the list of the Shadow Boost submenu, the essence of which is to compensate for shadows in games without interfering with the monitor’s brightness settings.
The Image menu contains adjustments for brightness, contrast and Blue Light Filter (the purpose of this technology is to compensate for the blue glow when reading books or working hard with a static image). Sub-items VividPixel (improving image sharpness and color saturation), ASCR (technology for increasing the dynamic contrast ratio of the display) and Aspect Control (fitting the image without distorting the aspect ratio) are not available by default for the Racing Mode preset, but are available in a number of other modes, with the exception of sRGB and MOBA.
The Color menu contains a color temperature setting (the same one used during calibration) and additional settings for juiciness and skin tone.
Input Select allows the user to select the interface for the incoming video signal.
The MyFavorite menu allows you to save four user presets. You can switch between them using mechanical buttons or software, referred to as ASUS DisplayWidgetLite.
Closes the list of System Setup menus. In it, you can set the interface language, enable power saving mode, adjust the volume, or reset all settings to factory defaults.
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