It certainly is a great time to be a gaming enthusiast. Not that long ago the only way to get a monitor capable of hitting above 200Hz was go the TN route… and friends do not let friends use TN unless they have to. Since those ‘bad old days’ a veritable sea change has occurred and now TN is on life support. Thanks to some massive amounts of RnD magic, buyers can now get relatively inexpensive monitors that can refresh well in excess of 200 frames per second. Not satisfied with ‘just’ 200 or even 240Hz offerings ASUS has recently turned up the heat on the competition and released the TUF Gaming VG279QM which is rated for a whopping 280Hz… and is IPS not TN based.
Not that long ago that combination of features would have been more than enough to carry a model. Carry it right into the hearts, minds and wallets of Gaming Enthusiasts faster than Steam’s annual winter sale with the wrong prices listed. Thankfully, those days are also in the past. In the ongoing ‘refresh wars’ monitors have to be more than one or even two trick ponies.
This is why the ASUS TUF Gaming VG279QM comes with numerous other tricks up its sleeve. Tricks such as being both Adaptive Sync (though FreeSync compatible it is not FreeSync 2 certified) and G-Sync certified (albeit for NVIDIA it is certified as ‘compatible’ and not ‘G-Sync Ultimate’). DisplayHDR 400 and HDR-10 support for ultra-rich and deep color reproduction. For those who care more about reducing motion blur over screen-tearing ASUS has also managed to combine VRR with their Extreme Low Motion Blur technology (under the aptly named ‘ELMB-Sync’ banner).
Yes, the main selling feature of the TUF Gaming VG279QM is not anyone ‘got to have’ feature. It is a ‘everything but the kitchen sink’ approach to the included features. Features which promises to combine to offer buyers buttery smooth image clarity, variable refresh rate technology to minimize the need for 2K worth of video card horsepower, and not worry about being locked in to Team Red or Team Green.
That certainly is a lot to like, however as this is a 27-inch, 280Hz monitor with an asking price of about $400 USD it should not come as too big a shock to learn it is using only a 1080P and not 1440P AU Optronics panel. 27 inches of horizontal real-estate is a lot for 1920×1080’s worth of pixels to cover. For some, especially those using 1440 let alone 4K monitors, that is when they will stop and write off the TUF Gaming VG279QM. Let’s dig in and see if such knee-jerk reactions are a good idea or not.
