[Degrader]

I saw on the main page of this site that the ASUS ROG Swift PG32UQXR is finally announced. As mentioned in the article this monitor will feature the same panel as that of the X32 FP. It would be nice if PCMonitors can receive a unit for review. Do you think that will be the case, PCM2? It would be very nice to do a comparison between the Asus and the Acer, especially when it comes to EOTF, local dimming algorithm tuning and of course OSD menu.

[PCM2]

I can’t promise I can review this one, it depends on ASUS really and whether they’re able to provide a sample at the right time. But it would be nice to take a look at. I’m particularly interested in whether the local dimming is tuned towards less dark biasing and of course just seeing how it performs in all the usual areas. And yes, how it handles local dimming activation for HDR and whether that’s a separate setting vs. SDR. 🙂

A few things I noted when writing the PG32UQXR article and comparing to the X32 FP:

– They’ve added and proudly market DP 2.1 capability. For current Nvidia GPUs this doesn’t matter as they don’t support this, but I’d expect future GPUs from them to do so. Some of the new generation AMD GPUs can leverage this. The only ‘advantage’ I’m aware of would be that the monitor can deliver the full capabilities of the monitor without DSC. Now DSC is visually lossless, so for most people this is really a ‘non-advantage’ – it’s more useful for future monitors which push the refresh rate and resolution combinations even further. Though DSC can introduce some delayed alt+tabbing behaviour for some applications and it seems it can sometimes lock off the creation of custom resolutions. Nice to see DP 2.1 included on the ASUS, either way.

– The Acer includes USB-C with 90W PD and KVM functionality, the ASUS lacks this.

– The Acer has 4 HDMI 2.1 ports, the ASUS has 2.

– The Acer has 4 USB 3.0 ports (or ‘USB 3.2 Gen 1’) whereas the ASUS has 3 of them. Two of the Acer’s ports are at the side for easy access, the ASUS has one of its ports at the top and it’s designed for use with cameras screwed into the tripod mount at the top. A niche feature for most people compared to usable ports more easily accessible at the side of the monitor really, but a different approach. I’m personally more of a fan of the third approach which neither model has, bottom-mounted USB ports found on some models from the likes of Dell.

– The ASUS supports PiP/PbP, the Acer doesn’t.

– The Acer has integrated 2 x 7W speakers. Obviously very basic sound output as explored in the review, but it can be useful to at least have some integrated speakers. I like this myself for sharing audio content briefly with others in the room or if my ears want a rest from headphones (tends to happen a lot in the summer).

– The height adjustment of the ASUS is limited to a rather restrictive 70mm (2.76 inches) compared to 130mm (5.12 inches) on the Acer.

– The Aura RGB lighting element of the ASUS is pretty, the Acer doesn’t have any lovely RGB LEDs… But for most people the rear of the monitor faces the wall and you can’t appreciate that lighting feature at all. There are obviously aesthetic differences beyond that, individual preferences come into play.

[PCM2]

I’ve just received some feedback on the PG32UQXR from a YouTube user (Weissrolf) and they aren’t exactly having a great time with it:

I am testing the Acer X32, Asus PG32UQXR and Corsair 32UHD144 (for a cheaper non mini LED alternative that meets 4K, 32″, high refresh-rate, wide gamut). It’s hard to accept the white IPS glow of the Corsair after seeing the subdued blueish glow of the mini LED panels. A bit higher native contrast and that lack of bright glow are good improvements on their own regardless of local dimming.

Here is a summary why I will return the Asus PG32UQXR as advice for potential buyers:

– Permanent fan noise at approx. 400 Hz (whine on top of quieter wind noise)! It’s like letting the dial tone of a landline phone play out of the handset all the time. The fans keeps turning even at lowest brightness and less than 40 W power usage at the wall.

– Various high-frequency coil whine noises in HDR mode with activated local dimming. From across the room, with my eyes closed, I can determine if the monitor is on and if HDR content is currently being displayed. (Disclaimer: I am using a low/no noise PC setup. The Acer X32 is dead silent in all situations!)

– Permanent maximum 65-100% brightness level with activated local dimming with no brightness control in SDR or HDR. This can be worked around in SDR via “Contrast” setting.

– Color shifts on gray areas (white point) with activated local dimming (seems to be a problem of mini LED LD algorithms).

– Firmware errors when LD is enabled where dark tones turn to random colors or brighter grays depending on what happens around a zone. You can literally see the LD algorithm at work by dark pixels (not LEDs) being shifted to brighter gradations around brighter content (like the mouse). Turning LD off + on again fixes it temporarily.

Minor nuisances:

– Restricted functionality of the Asus display software to control the monitor parameters.

– Uncomfortable OSD control via rotary knob on the device.

– Ghosting in all overdrive settings 1-5, except off. But having levels 1-2 is a real plus over other monitors, I likely prefer 1 for most content.

They also found it funny that with all of its mighty ‘DP 2.1’ marketing, they only bundled it with a UHBR 10 (40Gbps / DP40) cable. This isn’t sufficient to drive 3840 x 2160 @160Hz 10-bit without DSC – that requires ~48Gbps. They noted that the ASUS bright biases more than the Acer, so it can give an uplift in brightness which also means you’re more likely to see ‘halos’ or have dark atmosphere adversely impacted as described in the Acer review (where the inverse is true due to dark biasing).

[sblantipodi]

interesting post, thanks for it.
in Europe, Asus customer service is very very bad,
this is why Asus is a no go for me.

why this monitor has a fan?
no GSYNC module, so why having a fan?

[Weissrolf]

The chassis fits very tight and mostly only offers ventilation holes around the Vesa mounting point and exhaust vents at the very top of the panel. This gives a quality feel to it and pressing buttons doesn’t sound anywhere near as “hollow” as on the Acer X32. But the disadvantage is that there is literally no air gap in there, so I assume the fan(s?) are needed to move air through the tight fitting chassis.

[PCM2]

Another user with experience of both the Acer and ASUS preferred the Acer.

[PCM2]

Post from Weissrolf from another thread:

The PG32uqxR has both worse hardware and firmware than the Acer X32 FP. It’s local dimming algorithm is a step more aggressive than the X32’s “Fast” (most aggressive) level. It not being dark biased can be an advantage and personally I would accept more halo over the dark biasing. But on the other hand it aggressively turns off the backlight in zones where very dark grays are still present, so it effectively does more black crush than the X32. And at the same time it increase black levels in areas that are fully black just because dark grays get (not so) close to them.

Here is a video demonstrating both:

https://imgur.com/ge509eb

[Weissrolf]

My answer in the X32 thread, but more appropriate here:

The panel is the same, the rest is not:

The Asus emits a *constant* hum around 400 Hz from its permanently running fan, on top of the fan’s air noise. The lack of enough ventilation holes may or may not be the reason for the fan, but there is no NVidia hardware Gsync module present to justify it.

When HDR mode is enabled in combination with local dimming it emits high frequency coil whine noises. Both of the fan and the whine can be heard from across the room in a quiet environment. I could blindly tell whether the monitor was turned on and if it was in SDR or HDR mode.

The OSD control wheel + 2 buttons are more accessible on the center front, which is an advantage especially when you put two monitors side-by-side. But the wheel control itself is an abomination. Here is what changing the brightness looks like in a video:

https://imgur.com/Nlk4mmc

The firmware is worse, with one dealbreaker being that you cannot change brightness while local dimming is enabled, neither in SDR nor HDR mode (enabling brightness changes in HDR mode disables local dimming, in SDR the brightness is just blocked when LD is enabled).

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