Skip to main content

Asus’ 480Hz OLED gaming monitor is cheaper than expected

The Asus 480Hz OLED set up at CES 2024.
Jacob Roach / Digital Trends

Asus is finally sharing more details about its upcoming ROG Swift PG27AQDP, which looks to earn a slot among the best gaming monitors. We first saw this monitor at the beginning of the year, where it stood out as the first OLED monitor ever to reach at 480Hz refresh rate at 1440p. Since originally showing it off, Asus has been quiet about the display — until now.

The PG27AQDP officially launched at Gamescom, and it’s arriving at a shockingly low price of $1,000. That’s not cheap for a gaming monitor, or even an OLED monitor, but it’s much lower than the competition. The Acer Predator X27U F3, which matches Asus’ display in terms of specs and is due out any week now, could cost as much as $1,600, Acer says. It’s possible Acer will make a last-minute pricing adjustment in the face of the PG27AQDP.

Recommended Videos

Regardless, it’s shocking to see Asus leading on price. We’ve seen monitors like the MSI MPG 321URX that undercut the competition, but Asus normally focuses on a premium class of gaming monitors. The PG27AQDP isn’t cut down to hit a more affordable price in any way — it’s the same premium ROG design we’ve seen on monitors like the ROG PG32UCDM.

Get your weekly teardown of the tech behind PC gaming
Check your inbox!

Asus is using a WOLED panel from LG Display, and it claims the monitor can hit 1,300 nits of peak brightness. Asus has already achieved the brightest OLED we’ve ever tested with the ROG Swift PG34WCDM, so 1,300 nits isn’t out of the question. Given that this is an OLED panel, the display also has theoretically infinite contrast and a response time of 0.03ms.

The PG27AQDP also debuts Asus’ new OLED Care+, which is a suite of burn-in prevention features that is coming to all of Asus’ OLEDs. The features include pixel cleaning, a screen saver, pixel shifting, logo brightness adjustment, taskbar detection, border detection, and global dimming detection, and it’ll be available inside of Asus’ Display Widget Center. If you’re unfamiliar, Display Widget Center allows you to control your monitor’s on-screen display with your keyboard and mouse.

Asus hasn’t put a firm release date on the PG27AQDP yet, but the company tells me the monitor is launching soon. It should arrive in the next few months, possibly at the end of September or beginning of October.

Jacob Roach
Former Digital Trends Contributor
Jacob Roach is the lead reporter for PC hardware at Digital Trends. In addition to covering the latest PC components, from…
OLED gaming monitors are about to get a lot brighter
Path of Exile 2 running on an Asus gaming monitor.

One of the biggest criticisms leveled against OLED monitors, despite being some of the best gaming monitors you can buy, is how dim they are. Although brightness is steadily increasing, it looks like the next crop of OLED gaming monitors will make quite the leap when it comes to HDR performance. Ahead of CES 2025, VESA has revealed a new tier of its DisplayHDR standard that's focused squarely on the brightness of OLED monitors.

The certification is DisplayHDR True Black 1,000. Most OLED gaming monitors, such as the MSI MPG 321URX or Alienware 27 QD-OLED, are certified with DisplayHDR True Black 400. This certification level is reserved for OLED -- or extremely high-end mini-LED -- displays that achieve nearly perfect black levels. According to VESA's specifications, the display has to reach 0.0005 nits with a checkboard pattern. Now, VESA is focusing on the other end of the spectrum, adding a more demanding tier that maintains those low black levels while pushing brightness higher.

Read more
LG unveils a monster 5K ‘bendable’ OLED gaming monitor
An UltraGear curved monitor on a desk in front of a window.

Ahead of CES 2025, LG has announced new extra-large additions to its line of UltraGear GX9 OLED gaming monitors: one being a massive, 45-inch display with a bendable panel, and the other, a 39-inch "smart" gaming monitor with webOS built-in.

Let's start with the big boy, though, because it has an impressive "world's first" designation behind it. It's the first 5K OLED monitor on the market, featuring a resolution of 5120 x 2160 -- also known as 5K2K. Not only is it the first OLED monitor in general to have a 5K resolution but it's also the first gaming monitor to launch with this higher resolution, normally reserved for high-end creator monitors like the Apple Studio Display.

Read more
Asus’ latest monitor is a treat for both esports and AAA games
Asus ProArt monitors.

Asus has just announced several new monitors, some of which might end up on our list of the best gaming monitors next year. One of the more interesting picks is the ROG Strix XG32UCG, which lets you choose between 4K and 1080p depending on the game you want to play. There's also a new ProArt display with an impressive 6K panel that packs pixel density to the max at just 32 inches.

The ROG Strix piqued my interest. It's not Asus' first dual-mode monitor. We've already had the chance to review the ROG Swift PG32UCDP, which is also a dual-mode display, but it has brought some changes. For starters, the previous venture into adjustable refresh rate and resolution was an OLED monitor, and this one sports a Fast IPS panel.

Read more