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The PG32UQX is one of the first ever 32-inch 4K 144Hz monitors -- bringing decent gaming specs to a larger screen size -- and is one of the very few gaming monitors on the market with a mini-LED full array local dimming backlight, giving it proper HDR credentials.
This is one of those displays that is a true flagship, with Asus going all out in basically every area they could. It’s a G-Sync Ultimate display that uses Nvidia’s G-Sync processor, bringing with it features like variable overdrive, although as it’s the latest generation of module it also works perfectly with AMD GPUs even with adaptive sync enabled.
It uses a Quantum Dot enhanced LCD panel with 98% DCI-P3 gamut coverage. It’s DisplayHDR 1400 certified, meaning peak brightness up to a whopping 1400 nits in the HDR mode, and features 1152 backlighting zones. And it uses an IPS panel with a nice flat screen.
The design Asus is using here is basically a rehash of prior ROG Swift designs, slightly modified to accompany the 32-inch 4K panel and mini-LED backlight. It’s using the old style ROG stand that’s elevated in the middle and includes their light projection feature, along with copper highlights. The build quality for the legs is nice, entirely metal, though the rest of the display is mostly plastic for the outer surfaces.
The rear continues to use what I would describe as Asus aggressive "gamer" design, which I’ve mentioned before that I’m not a huge fan of, though this is of course a matter of personal preference. There’s a large ROG logo that’s illuminated with RGB LED lighting, along with some patterns and different textures. This is not a subtle design and overall the monitor’s housing is quite large.
On the top of the monitor, Asus also includes a USB port, which is a little odd to see at first. But the reasoning is that combined with the mounting hole, game streamers can neatly mount a camera on the top of the display. In addition to the top USB port, there’s two more USB ports alongside the inputs.
Speaking of display inputs, there’s good and bad news. The good is the DisplayPort connection supports Display Stream Compression (or DSC), meaning we get full 4K 144Hz RGB support without chroma subsampling. This was a big issue with the first wave of 4K 144Hz monitors but has since been resolved. The PG32UQX can do 8-bit+FRC at 4K 144Hz or native 10-bit at up to 4K 120Hz.
The bad news comes in the form of the HDMI ports. We do get three HDMI ports, however they are only HDMI 2.0, meaning they are capped to 60Hz using a 4K RGB output. This is a major disappointment on such a high-end display, if I’m paying $3,000 I really do expect the ports to be HDMI 2.1, or for at least one port to support HDMI 2.1, so it can utilize the full resolution at 144 Hz. We’re not even talking about a brand new connector here, HDMI 2.1 has been utilized in TVs for several generations now, and of course is part of the new Xbox and PlayStation consoles as well as the latest GPUs.
The on-screen display is controllable through an interesting dial arrangement on the bottom edge of the display, instead of the traditional directional toggle that we’re used to on Asus displays. I don’t mind the dial to be honest, I found it quite easy to navigate the menus and it’s great for adjusting the sliders like brightness and color balance. You’ll find most of the usual Asus features here: frame rate displays, crosshairs, low blue light modes, and lots of individual color controls. No backlight strobing though.
