ASUS TUF Gaming VG27AQA1A gaming monitor review

Monitors with a diagonal of 27″ and a resolution of 1440p are probably the most versatile models for games. Their screen size is large enough to create the effect of “immersion” in the game world, and the resolution of 2560×1440 points is almost perfect compromise between high pixel density and the requirements for the gaming performance of the video card. This model is ASUS TUF Gaming VG27AQA1A, which we will get to know today.

ASUS TUF Gaming VG27AQA1Aі specifications

Design

The ASUS VG27AQA1A has a design typical of the TUF Gaming line: unlike the older ROG (Republic of Games) series, it has a strict, almost office look without bright lighting or shiny body elements. Practical black matte plastic, minimal use of gloss on the back wall, and an almost imperceptible geometric pattern — if it weren’t for the TUF Gaming logo, this model could be mistaken for a typical universal monitor for work and multimedia.

Note that the other monitors from this line that came to us for review had almost the same appearance – VG247Q1A and VG30VQL1A.

Around the screen there is a thin “invisible” frame that hides under the protective glass – along with the thin line of the side face of the image, the frame surrounds the image with a width of 8 mm on the sides and top and 21 mm on the bottom. The stand is simple, with a V-shaped “base” and the only adjustment is the tilt of the screen (+20° ~ -5°).

All video connectors are located in a small niche under the stand mount — two HDMI 2.0 and one DisplayPort 1.2; in addition, there is a minijack for headphones next to them.

The power supply unit in ASUS TUF Gaming VG27AQA1A is external.

Menu

ASUS TUF Gaming VG27AQA1A is controlled using three hardware buttons and a 5-position joystick located in the lower right corner of the back panel. Two buttons can be assigned custom functions in the system menu (by default this is a call to the GamePlus game menu and the GameVisual video mode menu), tilting the joystick, as well as pressing it, calls the main menu.

The first item in the main menu is the game section – here you can adjust the degree of overdrive, activate AMD FreeSync Premium, choose the video mode in the GameVisual menu, and access the game parameters in GamePlus (for example, enable the display of frame rates).

Traditional image settings are contained in the following two items — Image and Color. Here you can find brightness, contrast, backlight blue filter, color temperature, and color saturation.

The Input Select menu allows you to manually switch to another video input, in MyFavorite you can change the functions of “hot keys”, and in System Setup there are system settings – the language and behavior of the OSD, the volume level of the built-in speakers, eco mode, backlighting of the power indicator, information about the monitor and the current operating mode, factory reset, etc.

We should also note that, traditionally for ASUS monitors, the on-screen menu in this model has full Ukrainian localization.

Functionality

The ASUS TUF Gaming VG27AQA1A uses an 8-bit 27-inch VA panel with a resolution of 2560×1440 pixels. The pixel density is almost 109 PPI, the point size is 0.2335 mm. As we mentioned at the beginning, this ratio of diagonal and resolution is almost ideal for a gaming monitor: the pixel density is sufficient so that from a typical distance from the screen, individual points are not visible on the image.

The maximum refresh rate is 170 Hz (via DisplayPort; if using an HDMI connection, the maximum available frequency is 144 Hz). Also, which is not often found in relatively budget models, ASUS TUF Gaming VG27AQA1A supports AMD FreeSync Premium adaptive frequency technology.

The brightness in this monitor is regulated by changing the current strength, PWM is not used over the entire brightness range, so it does not have screen flickering in normal mode.

As in some other gaming models, the ASUS TUF Gaming VG27AQA1A has the option of increasing the clarity in dynamic scenes by turning off the backlight “through the frame” (the ELMB item in the game settings has two levels of intensity — “standard” and “turbo”). This significantly reduces the maximum brightness and causes flickering of the screen, but completely eliminates image blurring in dynamics and trails behind fast-moving objects. Note that ELMB is not compatible with AMD FreeSync Premium, so the user will have to choose which function is more important to him.

You can manage the parameters of the monitor not only using the on-screen menu, but also the DisplayWidget Lite utility, which can be downloaded from the official site. It allows you to quickly choose video modes, change the main image settings, and activate gaming functions.

ASUS TUF Gaming VG27AQA1A image quality

The screen coating is “semi-matte”, which has almost imperceptible parasitic reflections on a dark background when viewed from a typical user position. When tilted to the side, the screen gradually becomes more “glossy”, but it does not interfere with work.

The manufacturer specifies the response time of the panel at the level of 1 ms (MPRT), but this is only achieved if ELMB mode is used – without it, this parameter is much higher, and it can be slightly reduced with the help of overdrive. The latter has 5 levels of overclocking the panel, plus the possibility of its complete deactivation.

As we can see in the test shots, at screen refresh rates of 144 Hz and higher, the blurring of fast-moving objects is quite moderate even with overdrive turned off, its activation makes the dynamic picture even clearer. At the same time, even at maximum overclocking, overdrive artifacts in the form of dark “plumes” are practically absent – so it can be used as the main mode for dynamic games.

From left to right: Overdrive – Off, Level 1, Level 3, Level 4, Level 5:

Black uniformity is very good, in a dark room with maximum screen brightness, you can see a slightly lighter spot only in the lower left corner, the rest of the screen remains evenly dark – and thanks to VA technology, it is much darker than in IPS monitors.

The glow effect in the VA panel is also expectedly very weak: if you look at the screen from the side and from above, the black background has an almost imperceptible dark gray glow regardless of the viewing angle.

Regarding the viewing angles, they are also typical for VA technology: when viewed from the side, the screen noticeably “warms up”, loses color saturation, and the contrast is also noticeably reduced, mainly due to the illumination of dark areas of the image. However, in general, the decrease in brightness at a wide viewing angle is quite moderate for this type of screen – although, of course, it is noticeably stronger than in IPS.

Color coverage in ASUS TUF Gaming VG27AQA1A is standard: 98% sRGB, 77% Adobe RGB, 78% DCI-P3. This results in a natural image with moderate color saturation – but may not appeal to users who prefer a saturated picture.

In the GameVisual menu, you can choose one of eight video modes, which mostly differ in settings for brightness, color temperature, gamma, etc. Separately, it is worth noting the MOBA modes – the image becomes almost completely black and white, except red and green colors, which should help in the game in this genre, and “Night Vision” – it simulates a “green” picture from a night vision device.

You can visually compare GameVisual video modes in this gallery (from left to right: Landscape, Racing, Cinema, RTS/RPG, FPS, sRGB, MOBA, Night Vision):

By default, the “Racing” mode and the “Warm” color temperature are set in the settings. Its lowest brightness of 60 cd/m² is a typical result for a non-PWM monitor, at this brightness you can comfortably play games or work in a very dimly lit room, but in total darkness, the screen will probably appear a little bright. The maximum brightness is higher than declared by the manufacturer: 350 cd/m² against 300 in the official specifications. But the static contrast is significantly lower than the “passport” one: its maximum value was 2320:1 (against the declared 3000:1). However, this is still a very good indicator, which is about twice the typical contrast of IPS panels.

Color temperature can have three values — Cool (9900K), Normal (7800K), and Warm (6800K). There is also a custom mode in the settings with manual adjustments for the three main colors — the default temperature value in it is 7200K.

The uniformity of the color temperature is quite good for a gaming monitor: the maximum deviation in different areas of the screen ΔE mostly does not exceed three, and only in the lower right corner it rises to 4.7. The uniformity of the white field is very good: the brightest zone is the center of the screen, and the darkest are the upper and right parts; the difference between them is only 9%.

Factory calibration is not declared for the monitor, but the accuracy of color reproduction is very good: the average value of ΔE is slightly less than one, and the maximum is 1.6 (the only color, the result of which stands out from the overall picture, is the peculiarities of the test colorimeter). As a reminder, usually for factory calibration, a standard result is considered when the maximum value of ΔE does not exceed two.

As you can see, even in the “Warm” mode, the color temperature is still slightly higher than the standard one – 6500K. If the image seems cold, you can make it warmer with the Blue Light Filter option in the settings: it has 4 levels, the first three lower the color temperature to 6600, 6300 and 6000K, while the last one goes all the way to 4900K, while it also brightness and contrast are greatly reduced.

There are no gamma adjustments in the ASUS TUF Gaming VG27AQA1A, but in some modes — for example, “Racing” or sRGB — its value almost perfectly corresponds to the standard, 2.2. With the help of the Shadow Boost parameter, the gamma curve can be slightly changed by “raising” the part in the dark area – this will lighten the shadows in the image, which can help in games where it is too dark.