Asus Courts Esports Gamers With ROG Monitor Featuring 540Hz Refresh Rate

It may be overkill, but Asus has developed a PC gaming monitor that can display up to 540 frames per second. At CES, the company touted it as “the ultimate esports gaming monitor.”

The ROG Swift Pro PG248QP is a follow-up to Asus’s effort last year to create a 500Hz gaming monitor. Asus says(Opens in a new window) it worked with Nvidia and Taiwanese display maker AUO to improve that monitor and push its refresh rate to 540Hz.

The ROG Swift Pro has a modest size at 24 inches, and screen resolution at only 1,920-by-1,080 pixels. But it can offer perhaps the highest refresh rate in a monitor ever, giving esports gamers a potential edge in competitive matches when fractions of a second can matter. 

ROG Swift PRO PG248QP
(Credit: Asus)

The product uses an upgraded TN panel called Esport TN or E-TN to enable the 540 refresh rate. Asus further improved on the product by fitting it over an adjustable stand, which features “pop-out claws” at the base to reduce the stand’s overall footprint. 

The ROG Swift Pro PG248QP has been certified as an Nvidia G-Sync-compatible monitor, and features the built-in Nvidia Reflex Analyzer, which can measure system latency. In addition, the monitor comes with built-in speakers.

There’s no word on pricing, but Asus says the monitor will arrive later in Q2. Whether customers can tell the difference between a 540Hz refresh rate and 360Hz monitor already on the marekt is less clear. But prospective buyers will need to invest in a graphics card powerful enough to render the high frame rates.

ROG Swift OLED PG27AQDM

For customers looking for higher-quality visuals, Asus also produced a 27-inch gaming monitor built with an OLED panel. The ROG Swift OLED PG27AQDM has a better pixel resolution at 1440 while still maintaining a high refresh rate at 240Hz. 

ROG Swift OLED PG27AQDM
(Credit: Asus)

The OLED panel means the monitor can display true blacks and wide color contrasts. To reduce burn-in on the OLED display, Asus created a special heatsink in the product’s rear, which can dissipate the heat through a vent. The cooling system can lower the monitor’s temperatures about 5% compared to other OLED monitors, according to Asus. 

(Credit: Asus)

Other perks to the product include support for HDR colors, a 0.03-millisecond response time while gaming, and up to 1,000 nits in brightness. Expect the product to arrive later this quarter. So far no pricing has been announced.

(Credit: Asus)