ASUS ROG Strix XG259CMS gaming monitor review: Fast IPS panel and 310 Hz refresh rate

Refresh rates in gaming monitors are steadily increasing, and IPS models are no exception: the days when you had to choose between image quality and high frequency are gone, as they were only inherent in TN models. Today we review ASUS ROG Strix XG259CMS: a 24.5-inch IPS monitor with a 310Hz refresh rate.

ASUS ROG Strix XG259CMS specifications

Design

The monitor has a typical design of a gaming model in the ASUS ROG Strix line: dark gray matte plastic case, branded pattern and embossed brand logo on the back, and a bright red circle on the stand around the leg.

In general, for a gaming model, the monitor has a very restrained look: it doesn’t even have the traditional RGB backlighting for such devices.

Around the screen, there is a thin “invisible” frame that hides under the protective glass – along with the thin line of the side edge of the body, the image is framed on top and on the sides by a 6.5 mm wide frame.

The stand has a practical compact shape. It has a recess under the screen for a smartphone, which can be convenient if it supports the horizontal Always-On Display mode.

The leg has all the necessary degrees of freedom: screen height adjustment (120 mm travel), left-right rotation (+45° ~ -45°), forward-backward tilt (+20° ~ -5°), and portrait mode. At the top of it, you can see a tripod socket, which is a solution that streamers will appreciate.

All video connectors are located in a small niche under the stand mount: DisplayPort 1.4, HDMI 2.0, and USB-C – the latter also supports charging the connected device (unfortunately, only 7.5W, so this is a solution for connecting a smartphone, not a laptop).

You can also find a wired headphone jack here, but the ASUS ROG Strix XG259CMS does not have a USB hub. The power supply of this model is external.

Menu

ASUS ROG Strix XG259CMS is controlled by three hardware buttons and a 5-way controller located in the lower right corner of the rear panel. Two buttons can be assigned to custom functions in the system menu (by default, this calls up the GamePlus game menu and the GameVisual video mode menu), pressing or deflecting the joystick calls up the main menu – this model does not have a “quick” menu with the main functions.

The first item here is the game section, where you can adjust the degree of overdrive, activate the variable refresh rate, select the video mode in the GameVisual menu, access game settings in GamePlus (for example, enable the display of frame rate and even a graph of its change over time), and configure ELMB (Extreme Low Motion Blur).

The Image menu contains traditional image settings such as brightness, contrast, backlight blue filter, dynamic contrast, and more. In the next menu, Color, you can change the color temperature, gamut, color saturation, and choose one of three color space options – sRGB, DCI-P3, or full color coverage of the panel. Such settings are usually seen in professional models for working with graphics, and it is somewhat unexpected to find them in a gaming monitor.

The Input Select menu allows you to manually switch to a different video input, MyFavorite allows you to change the functions of “hot keys”, and System Setup contains system settings – the language and behavior of the OSD menu (Ukrainian localization is available), headphone volume level (the monitor does not have its own speakers), reset all settings to factory settings, etc.

Functionality

Like ASUS ROG Strix XG27ACS, this model uses a panel made using Fast IPS technology. It is characterized by a significantly shorter response time than conventional IPS, and in this parameter it is already approaching gaming TN panels – the manufacturer indicates a response time of 1ms (GtG).

It’s worth noting that the name Fast IPS is more of a marketing term, and at least according to the official description, it does not differ from similar panels from other manufacturers called Rapid IPS.

The screen diagonal is 24.5 inches and the resolution is 1920×1080 pixels. The pixel density is almost 90 PPI, the dot size is 0.2825 mm: these are already quite large pixels that can be easily seen from a typical distance from the monitor.

However, this should not be considered a serious drawback for a purely gaming monitor: on the contrary, this resolution does not place excessive demands on the gaming system’s power and allows you to get a high number of frames per second, which is the main advantage of this model, namely, a high refresh rate.

Thus, its standard value in the ASUS ROG Strix XG259CMS is 300 Hz (when connected via DisplayPort; for HDMI connection, the maximum available frequency is 240 Hz), and in the on-screen menu, in the Gaming section, using the Overclocking item, it can be further increased to 310 Hz.

Until recently, it was hard to imagine such values for IPS monitors – for eSports disciplines, where the minimum acceptable frequencies start at 240 Hz, TN monitors with significantly worse image quality simply had no alternatives.

ASUS ROG Strix XG259CMS supports AMD FreeSync Premium adaptive frequency technology and is compatible with NVIDIA G-Sync. The brightness of this monitor is adjusted by changing the current, and PWM is not used throughout the entire brightness range, so there is no flickering in normal mode.

As in some other gaming models, it is possible to increase clarity in dynamic scenes by turning off the “through the frame” backlight (ELMB item in the game settings, has five intensity levels). This significantly reduces the maximum brightness and causes the screen to flicker, but completely eliminates image blurring in dynamics and plumes behind fast-moving objects.

At the same time, thanks to the high refresh rate, flicker is not as noticeable as on monitors with 144-180 Hz (although users with sensitive eyes will still notice it).

ELMB is not compatible with adaptive frequency technologies and can only be used at fixed refresh rates – but this monitor, like the XG249CM, also features another ASUS proprietary technology, ELMB SYNC, which can be activated in conjunction with AMD FreeSync Premium or NVIDIA G-Sync.

Image quality of ASUS ROG Strix XG259CMS

The screen coating is a traditional matte finish that retains its properties regardless of the angle of view, unlike the “semi-matte” finish, which becomes almost glossy when viewed from the side. The so-called crystalline effect is present, but almost invisible – it is best seen in a macro shot of the screen.

The manufacturer specifies the panel response time at 1 ms (GtG). This is a very good indicator and the main advantage of Fast IPS technology, which turns out to be much faster than traditional IPS panels (whose official response time is usually not lower than 4 ms).

In the settings, you can overclock the panel via OSD – the Variable OD item in the game menu. This option has 20 intensity levels and the ability to turn it off completely. It should be noted that even without overdrive, the image clarity in dynamics is very high – blurring of fast-moving objects is quite insignificant.

Overdrive has a minimal effect – its work becomes noticeable only after the tenth level of overclocking, but the difference even between maximum overclocking and its complete absence is insignificant. It should be noted that there are no overdrive artifacts even at maximum (usually they look like dark plumes behind fast-moving objects).

In general, the speed characteristics of ASUS ROG Strix XG259CMS are at a very high level: in dynamic games, such as first-person shooters, the image remains clear and smooth, without blurring and jitter at fast camera speeds. There’s no lag in the controls either, and the response time of what’s happening on the screen to the player’s actions is almost instantaneous.

The black uniformity is very good: in a dark room with a black background, even at high brightness, the screen does not have any noticeable lighter or darker “spots”.

The glow effect is traditionally quite strong for IPS: if you look at the screen from the side and from above, a warm glow (on the left) or a cold glow (on the right) appears near the black background.

As for the viewing angles, they are typical for an IPS panel and very decent: brightness decreases significantly, contrast and saturation decrease to a much lesser extent; there is almost no change in color temperature.

When you turn it on for the first time, the eco mode is set, and if you refuse it, the system turns on GameVisual – Racing mode. Let’s start with it.

Despite the officially declared extended color gamut (110% sRGB) and the presence of a color space selection in the settings, ASUS ROG Strix XG259CMS has standard coverage – the difference between Wide Gamut and DCI-P3 in the corresponding item is almost non-existent (for the first option, the coverage is 97% sRGB, 78% Adobe RGB, 80% DCI-P3, for the second – it differs by literally 1%). In the sRGB version, the coverage is further reduced slightly: to 95% sRGB, 73% Adobe RGB, 73% DCI-P3. It seems that the monitor inherited this item in the OSD menu from other models with extended color gamut.

Color gamut, Wide Gamut – DCI-P3 – sRGB:

The color accuracy, surprisingly, is best in Wide Gamut mode – here it is almost perfect, with a maximum value of ΔE = 1.26 and an average of only 0.3 (except for one color that is out of the picture due to the peculiarities of the test colorimeter). This is surprising, because usually the maximum panel coverage mode does not require any factory calibrations – but not in this case.

In sRGB mode, the result is also very good, but slightly worse – the average ΔE value is 0.56. But in DCI-P3 mode, which seems to be the mode that should be calibrated at the factory, the results are much worse: the maximum ΔE value is almost five, and the average is 2.26. It is believed that the average user can notice the difference between the reference color and the one displayed by the monitor if this parameter exceeds 3.

The lowest brightness is 35 cd/m², which is very good for a desktop monitor; with this brightness, you can play or work quite comfortably even in complete darkness. The maximum brightness is slightly higher than the declared one (440 cd/m²), and the static contrast exactly matches the official specifications – 1020:1.

The color temperature in ASUS ROG Strix XG259CMS is regulated as in a professional model – by selecting one of seven modes, the names of which show the value of this parameter. However, in each of them, the real temperature value is slightly higher than the declared one – for example, in the “6500K” mode, the color temperature is at 7300K.

It’s quite possible to get 6500K even without calibrating the monitor: by using the Blue Light Filter function in the Image section. It has 4 levels of intensity, and at the second level, the monitor demonstrates perfect compliance with the standard color temperature.

The monitor has a gamma setting, and, as with the temperature, there are many more options available than usual in gaming models. The user can choose among as many as 5 gamma templates, from 1.8 to 2.6, and in each of them the actual value of this parameter perfectly matches the declared one. Note that for use on Windows and in most games, the best option is 2.2 – with balanced saturation and well-developed details in both shadows and highlights.

The color temperature uniformity is acceptable: the maximum deviation ΔE in different areas of the screen is slightly more than 5. The white field uniformity is much better: the difference between the brightest area (center) and the darkest (lower right corner) is 13%, which is very good for a gaming model not intended for graphics.

In sRGB mode, most of the manual settings are disabled, but fortunately not the brightness – it is set to 25%, i.e. 120 cd/m². This is a typical value for working in office lighting conditions, but it’s good that the user can change it according to their own preferences.

The gamma value is slightly increased, up to 2.3, which makes the image a little richer, with deeper shadows. The maximum brightness can be 440 cd/m², the contrast is 1080:1, and the color temperature is set at 7300K. Color accuracy is also very good, but worse than in Racing mode: the maximum value of ΔE = 1.99.

The other GameVisual video modes are characterized by basic settings for brightness, contrast, color saturation, gamma, etc. The MOBA mode, in which only green and red colors remain from the entire color gamut, and the Night Vision mode, which simulates the image in a night vision device, stand out a bit.

You can visually compare the GameVisual modes in the following gallery.