Stemming from the ROG commitment to creating the best gaming experiences, ROG Strix XG32VQ features the ASUS-exclusive GamePlus hotkey with in-game enhancements that help you get the most out of your game. It was still nice to have FreeSync active, though, to get rid of tearing or stuttering. The flexible graphics options allowed us to assess a full range of frame rates with FreeSync active and therefore a full range of refresh rates for the monitor itself. For some users, ‘bigger is better’. As is always the case with VA models, responsiveness was a mixed bag. This allowed us to achieve a better balance to the image than the obviously skewed and cool-tinted factory defaults. However; we appreciate some users might like to use an ICC profile that could potentially correct the gamma tracking. The XG32VQ features various ‘GameVisual’ presets; ‘Scenery Mode’, ‘Racing Mode’, ‘Cinema Mode’, ‘RTS/RPG Mode’, ‘FPS Mode’, ‘sRGB Mode’, ‘MOBA Mode’ and ‘User Mode’. The OSD controls can be seen to the far left and a K-Slot towards the far right. Considering a broader range of pixel transitions, though, we found both models largely similar in terms of pixel responsiveness. This is a relatively steep curve, at least ‘on paper’ (lower ‘R’ values = steeper curves). Brand and product names mentioned are trademarks of their respective companies. It also minimises the viewing angle when viewing the peripheral sections of the screen, bringing some improvements to colour consistency from a normal viewing position. Bright elements such as car headlights and other lighting around the track contrasted nicely with darker surrounding shades.

Designers or those who require geometric perfection will likely want to avoid curved screens, but everybody else should remain open-minded until they’ve experienced such models for themselves.

Very low input lag and a good 144Hz performance overall. It includes integrated ASUS … Thankfully the overshoot, although increasingly obvious as refresh rate decreased, was never as bright and ‘in your face’ as we’ve seen on some FreeSync models. On both BF1 and Dirt Rally, there was occasional overshoot.

So simple, in fact, that it should be automatically enabled once the monitor is connected and ‘Adaptive-Sync/FreeSync’ is set to ‘ON’ in the ‘Image’ section of the OSD. Build the ultimate battle station, and enjoy total gaming immersion! There were some weaknesses, which were not as widespread or extensive as those found on some models (such as the AOC Q3279VWF and Philips BDM4037UW), but would still bother some users. Performance on the contrast gradients was very good, with all blocks except the darkest blue distinct from the background and one another. However; the top right of the OSD displays the current refresh rate of the display. The backlight is controlled as a single unit, as usual, and will dim or brighten depending on the level of ‘dark’ or ‘light’ displayed on the screen. OD= Level 3 This allows the monitor to output all shades within the sRGB colour space and do so with enhanced vibrancy.

The greyscale gradient appeared quite smooth without obvious banding or dithering.

This is due to the gamma now averaging ‘2.7’, which like the colour temperature is way off any common target. Many of the pixel transitions were fast enough to avoid significantly adding to perceived blur, adding at most a faint powdery trail if any visible trailing at all.
For the dark background you can see a purple and silver ‘VA glow’ which blooms out from more extreme angles, as noted earlier. It’s a uniformity issue with our unit that won’t necessarily apply to all units. It’s really not where you should be aiming to be with a 144Hz monitor. There was a further reduction in detail towards the bottom of the screen due to ‘VA glow’ and a bit of clouding on our sample, with darker shades becoming lighter and slightly ‘foggy’ in their appearance. There were also some ‘interlace pattern artifacts’ that were both static and dynamic in nature, with the dynamic ones becoming more noticeable at lower refresh rates. This is typical for a VA model, particularly with this sort of colour gamut (it makes the striping colour more apparent on this test).

Bright elements such as car headlights and other lighting around the track contrasted nicely with darker surrounding shades. The monitor did a good job and representing car liveries in a ‘loud and proud’ fashion, with some excellent neon pink and purple shades and some nice deep blues and reds. The red block appeared deep red throughout, with the exception of the bottom of the screen where it took on a less saturated and slightly pink appearance. We also made some observations on the Blu-ray of Star Wars: The Force Awakens. It was clear that a fairly effective sharpness filter was being applied and actually things looked slightly too sharp in places, but preferable we feel to the overly soft alternative that’s quite common. Sometimes this opinion is reinforced by looking at images where the curve and its effect on the image appears exaggerated or particularly easy to focus on in an unrealistic and artificially constrained way. A bit like smearing fountain pen ink with water. You can see a vertical band towards the right side that is slightly lighter than the surrounding grey.

You can either configure this globally under ‘Global Settings’ or for each game individually. The letters ‘PCM’ are typed out to help highlight any potential text rendering issues related to unusual subpixel structure, whilst the white space more clearly shows the actual subpixel layout alongside a rough indication of screen surface. We refer to these as ‘interlace pattern artifacts’ but they may also be called ‘inversion artifacts’ by some users. There was a good level of vibrancy to elements that called for it such as sparks, fires and explosions – some pleasingly vibrant yellow, orange and red shades were visible.

Test Settings Onscreen timer that can be positioned on the left of the display to keep track of elapsed game time.

As expected, there were some noticeable shifts in saturation levels that wouldn’t occur on typical IPS-type panels. In terms of pixel density, this model is not outstanding by any measure, but it delivers a decent enough pixel density to satisfy many users. The screen’s finish wasn’t as smooth as we’ve seen from some light matte anti-glare surfaces, but thankfully kept the image free from obvious smeary graininess. We’ve included the ‘OD’ (Overdrive) setting and Windows refresh rate used as well, just for reference.

The final column shows reference shots, namely a Dell S2417DG set to 60Hz and 144Hz. Perceived blur (pursuit photography) As we almost always observe on FreeSync models, overshoot (inverse ghosting) became more noticeable at reduced frame rates as well.

More detail is revealed you view the monitor from a slight angle. FreeSync also boasts reduced latency compared to running with VSync enabled, in the variable frame rate environment in which it operates. On Dirt Rally the contrast performance was again pleasing overall. It’s also important that pixel responsiveness are sufficiently fast as to avoid increasing perceived blur via obvious trailing, too. As is usual, the vast majority of these presets are entirely lacklustre to users who wish for a natural and appropriate look to the image.

We can confirm that this worked with Microsoft Edge and Google Chrome, but not on Mozilla Firefox. It’s also important that pixel responsiveness are sufficiently fast as to avoid increasing perceived blur via obvious trailing, too.
Brightness= 62 (according to preferences and lighting)

If users wanted to, they could simply create their own LBL setting by setting the colour channels appropriately (with a relatively low value for the blue channel) and saving these to ‘MyFavorite’ instead. With a glorious 144Hz panel with a 1800R curvature, the 32” XG32VQ delivers fully immersive and smooth gameplay with Adaptive Sync/FreeSync. Please check with your supplier for exact offers. Some monitors suffer from visual artifacts which become most apparent when observing rapid motion of lighter shades on the screen. The patterned area is flanked by ventilation slats to aid cooling of the monitor. Sensitivity to this sort of thing varies, but it’s something we find rather jarring and noticeable even at these relatively high triple-digit frame rates.

Greater deviations are also shown using stronger (deeper) yellow shades. Lagom’s tests for viewing angle tests were used to more closely analyse colour consistency and viewing angle performance in. Note that this monitor does not provide any obvious ‘at a glance’ indication that FreeSync is active, such as a change of power LED colour.

Sometimes this opinion is reinforced by looking at images where the curve and its effect on the image appears exaggerated or particularly easy to focus on in an unrealistic and artificially constrained way. They are particularly common or perhaps more readily noticed on high refresh rate models. If users wanted to, they could simply create their own LBL setting by setting the colour channels appropriately (with a relatively low value for the blue channel) and saving these to ‘MyFavorite’ instead. It’s really not where you should be aiming to be with a 144Hz monitor. The following images are pursuit photographs taken using the UFO Motion Test for ghosting, with the test running at its default speed of 960 pixels per second. There were also some ‘interlace pattern artifacts’ that were both static and dynamic in nature, with the dynamic ones becoming more noticeable at lower refresh rates.

Many users find this comfortable for text viewing, without scaling, whilst the clarity and detail it brings is still pretty decent.

But there were plenty of lively-looking shades, with a fairly generous colour gamut helping to deliver strong saturation in places.

This kept tearing and stuttering at bay very effectively. That’s got nothing to do with the monitor itself – there is a little bit of softening to the image compared to viewing such content on a native Full HD monitor, but it’s not extreme and shouldn’t bother most users. The dark nights on some of the race courses on this game appeared quite dark and atmospheric overall, with a bit of detail lost due to ‘VA glow’ and ‘black crush’.

The image appears with an obvious cool tint, with the white point being extremely high and only marginally reduced from the factory defaults. The percentage deviation between each quadrant and the brightest point recorded is also provided. Sensitivity to this sort of thing varies, but it’s something we find rather jarring and noticeable even at these relatively high triple-digit frame rates. The upper end (lightest shades) appeared slightly misty due to the screen surface, without an obvious smeary grain to them. We tested this only briefly, as it’s more of a GPU feature than a monitor feature, but we found it worked well at frame rates close to or exceeding 200fps.

On Dirt Rally the environments showed similar richness and variety. The FPS counter lets you know how smoothly the game is running. It indicates a very low signal delay, which helped contribute to an excellent ‘connected feel’ at high frame rates, as we explore shortly. We also measured colour temperature (white point) uniformity for the same quadrants. Most users will probably wish to enable VSync when using FreeSync to ensure that they don’t get any tearing.

The colour gamut shown here is very similar to that of the AOC AG322QCX and, at least according to the measurements from our Spyder5ELITE, seems similar to Samsung’s Quantum Dot solutions seen on the likes of the C27HG70 and C32HG70. The default is ‘Off, unless application specifies’ which means that VSync will only be active if you enable it within the game itself, if there is such an option.