Asus is selling a monitor with 280Hz support in Taiwan, store page reveals

[Polycount]

In brief: Some companies within the PC gaming industry -- we're looking at you, Nvidia -- would have you believe that 240Hz monitors are the best way to obtain a competitive edge over other players in eSports titles like Overwatch or CS: GO. However, it seems even that isn't quite good enough for Asus. A product listing reveals that the company is now selling a monitor with "up to" an astounding 280Hz refresh rate.

The monitor in question is the TUF Gaming VG279QM, which seems to have been nicknamed "The Flash." The product only appears to be available on Taiwanese retail website Taobao for now.

The VG279QM is 27" with a 1920x1080p resolution. This is not an ideal combination, as the pixel density is going to be a bit worse than it would be on, say, a 24" monitor. However, the panel is also IPS, so perhaps Asus believes it's a worthwhile trade-off for superior image quality and colors.

There's also HDR400 tech built-in to the VG279QM, with a maximum brightness of 400 nits. In terms of input methods, you can opt for HDMI or DisplayPort, which is pretty standard fare for most modern monitors.

Circling around back to the Asus' 280Hz claims, there are a few details to discuss here. First, a Google-Translated version of the VG279QM's store page seems to imply that 280Hz is "native" to the monitor, but the device's description lists 240Hz as the base refresh rate. Whether or not this is a mistake on Asus' part, or simply the result of a poor translation, we cannot say for sure.

Regardless, even if it takes some extra tweaking -- say, enabling a specific monitor setting or overclock -- for the VG279QM to reach 280Hz, it would still be quite the achievement. Very few, if any, competing monitors have been able to reach that level yet. Of course, one could argue that it's never proved necessary.

Speaking from experience, even a top-end rig with a 2080 Ti and an 8700K is not likely to reach 144FPS in modern AAA games (with reasonable quality settings, that is), much less 240 or 280FPS.

However, in games like Fortnite or League of Legends, it might be achievable, and videos from Linus Tech Tips seem to suggest it could even be beneficial -- if only slightly.

At any rate, if the VG279QM seems like the monitor for you, you may have to wait a while. As we said before, it's only available in Taiwan at the moment, and Asus has not announced any plans to bring it to other regions yet. However, we will be reaching out to the company for more details about availability and pricing.

Permalink to story.

https://www.techspot.com/news/83242-asus-selling-280hz-monitor-taiwan-store-page-reveals.html

 

[dualkelly]

I own a 4k 32inch 'ProArt' Series mostly for 4k and Pro Photography editing but really not sure who games in 1080p anymore this monitor seems like a gimmick and a kids toy. Spend the extra money get a 4k monitor with True Color accuracy and 10bit color and everything else will pale in comparison.

 

[KingAlistair]

Those videos from Linus were sponsored by nVidia. Nobody gets any advantage from going over 120hz, the issue is blur, not refresh rate. If the panel is low blur, 120hz will do everything you need. You'll see once OLED is widespread hopefully in monitors. LCD panels blur horribly in motion.

 

[yRaz]

Those videos from Linus were sponsored by nVidia. Nobody gets any advantage from going over 120hz, the issue is blur, not refresh rate. If the panel is low blur, 120hz will do everything you need. You'll see once OLED is widespread hopefully in monitors. LCD panels blur horribly in motion.

You can either have image quality or speed depending on panel type. You don't want to game on a VA or do photo editing on a TN. IMO, IPS is the perfect middle ground and you can get low blur IPS panels. LCD tech has come a long way since the early days of motion blur and burn in

 

[Evernessince]

I own a 4k 32inch 'ProArt' Series mostly for 4k and Pro Photography editing but really not sure who games in 1080p anymore this monitor seems like a gimmick and a kids toy. Spend the extra money get a 4k monitor with True Color accuracy and 10bit color and everything else will pale in comparison.

I used to have a dell ultrasharp 27" (forget the exact model number but the resolution was 4K). Got rid of it for my current XF270HU. The colors are pretty dang close (which surprised me) after I calibrated the display with my color meter. Even just using the desktop, a high refresh rate monitor is just much more enjoyable.

 

[KickassAMD]

I own a 4k 32inch 'ProArt' Series mostly for 4k and Pro Photography editing but really not sure who games in 1080p anymore this monitor seems like a gimmick and a kids toy. Spend the extra money get a 4k monitor with True Color accuracy and 10bit color and everything else will pale in comparison.

https://store.steampowered.com/hwsurvey

According to Steam - 64% of their user base plays on 1080p.

 

[dualkelly]

https://store.steampowered.com/hwsurvey

According to Steam - 64% of their user base plays on 1080p.

Interesting. I jumped onto the 4k bandwagon early I guess and won't ever look back. The difference is as amazing as the difference from 480p to 1080p. Play Witcher 4 at high res 4k and its jaw-dropping. Ofcourse that comes with a price but some of us have no kids and money to spend.

 

[Danny101]

Can't really see how much better 280 is going to be versus 240.

 

[AMDIA]

I own a 4k 32inch 'ProArt' Series mostly for 4k and Pro Photography editing but really not sure who games in 1080p anymore this monitor seems like a gimmick and a kids toy. Spend the extra money get a 4k monitor with True Color accuracy and 10bit color and everything else will pale in comparison.

The monitors response time, and high refresh has a very real benefit. No blur in motion. and lower input lag to name a couple of reasons you want a high refresh panel. If you are serious about gaming as in First Person Shooters. You will definitely opt for a monitor that can deliver this. Also 1080 res is fine for most people still especially on smaller screen sizes and also the fact of getting games running at a frame rate that can match the refresh rate is still an issue for many games out there.

 

[Endarial]

Just a little aside, Taobao is not a Taiwanese site. It's a Mainland Chinese site.

Taobao is a Chinese online shopping website, headquartered in Hangzhou, and owned by Alibaba. It is the world's biggest e-commerce website and the eighth most visited website according to Alexa. The website was founded by Alibaba Group in 2003.

 

[godrilla]

Who doesn't want a future proof 1080p monitor!

 

[godrilla]

Can't really see how much better 280 is going to be versus 240.

Seems more marketing than anything although we can extrapolate how far the ips monitors really came.
Hopefully foreshadowing things to come.

 

[bandit8623]

Those videos from Linus were sponsored by nVidia. Nobody gets any advantage from going over 120hz, the issue is blur, not refresh rate. If the panel is low blur, 120hz will do everything you need. You'll see once OLED is widespread hopefully in monitors. LCD panels blur horribly in motion.

You are incorrect. The higher the better. For competitive gaming. Does anyone need it? No. Does it improve response time? Yes. Competitive gamers don't really need quality images. They need fast responses.

 

[Ravalo]

You can either have image quality or speed depending on panel type. You don't want to game on a VA or do photo editing on a TN. IMO, IPS is the perfect middle ground and you can get low blur IPS panels. LCD tech has come a long way since the early days of motion blur and burn in

I game on a VA panel and I have to say that ghosting and reverse ghosting can be a bit distracting when playing csgo, but its not that annoying tbh
I do video editing too so that extra contrast ratio and better color reproduction helps a lot

 

[KingAlistair]

You are incorrect. The higher the better. For competitive gaming. Does anyone need it? No. Does it improve response time? Yes. Competitive gamers don't really need quality images. They need fast responses.

No you are incorrect. The main issue is visibility when moving the camera which is mainly a problem with LCDs because of two reasons: resolution goes down and blurring from pixel response times. Solve those two problems and you'll not have any competitive difference 120hz vs 240hz. My comment was precisely about the visual response times, not the "quality". You get marginal benefits turning up refresh rate if you don't solve blur and motion resolution issues. Go ahead and run your current monitor at 600hz, it won't make any difference with the same panel. Unless this 280hz uses some totally new kind of panel (which I doubt) it will perform very similarly to the existing LG 144hz monitor. Marketing over substance.

 

[bandit8623]

Again you are wrong. Blurbusters proves you wrong. Same panel you can easily see improvements moving from 120 to 165.

TCL WQ Tablet with 240 Hz Refresh Rate — And 240 Hz Is Beneficial On Smartphones Even Outside Games - Blur Busters

We have found 240 Hz is still worth it on smartphones, even outside of games.

www.blurbusters.com

Blur Busters TestUFO Motion Tests. Benchmark for monitors & displays.

Blur Busters UFO Motion Tests with ghosting test, 30fps vs 60fps vs 120hz vs 144hz vs 240hz, PWM test, motion blur test, judder test, benchmarks, and more.

www.testufo.com

Even smartphones can benefit.

 

[yRaz]

No you are incorrect. The main issue is visibility when moving the camera which is mainly a problem with LCDs because of two reasons: resolution goes down and blurring from pixel response times. Solve those two problems and you'll not have any competitive difference 120hz vs 240hz. My comment was precisely about the visual response times, not the "quality". You get marginal benefits turning up refresh rate if you don't solve blur and motion resolution issues. Go ahead and run your current monitor at 600hz, it won't make any difference with the same panel. Unless this 280hz uses some totally new kind of panel (which I doubt) it will perform very similarly to the existing LG 144hz monitor. Marketing over substance.

I don't think you understand how this stuff works. Not all IPS panels are created equal. There are TN panels that no longer use dithering. There are 144hz+ IPS panels. Samsung makes 120hz VA panels. There are VA panels that run at 120hz that don't have blurring issues. There are TN panels with motion blur. The type of panel is more a general category rather than an absolute standard. It's the same thing as Intel's 10nm is not the same as AMDs 10nm.

 

[KingAlistair]

I don't think you understand how this stuff works. Not all IPS panels are created equal. There are TN panels that no longer use dithering. There are 144hz+ IPS panels. Samsung makes 120hz VA panels. There are VA panels that run at 120hz that don't have blurring issues. There are TN panels with motion blur. The type of panel is more a general category rather than an absolute standard. It's the same thing as Intel's 10nm is not the same as AMDs 10nm.

Look up pixel response times. Or motion resolution. Then come back and we can have a conversation. Why don't you watch the latest Hardware Unboxed review of the cheapest 144hz VA monitor and it might enlighten you (the pixel response times are so bad it shouldn't have been sold above 75hz).

I have an OLED and 120hz on it is much better than ANY IPS VA or TN panel. Same with the old CRT monitors.

 

[KingAlistair]

Again you are wrong. Blurbusters proves you wrong. Same panel you can easily see improvements moving from 120 to 165.

TCL WQ Tablet with 240 Hz Refresh Rate — And 240 Hz Is Beneficial On Smartphones Even Outside Games - Blur Busters

We have found 240 Hz is still worth it on smartphones, even outside of games.

www.blurbusters.com

Blur Busters TestUFO Motion Tests. Benchmark for monitors & displays.

Blur Busters UFO Motion Tests with ghosting test, 30fps vs 60fps vs 120hz vs 144hz vs 240hz, PWM test, motion blur test, judder test, benchmarks, and more.

www.testufo.com

Even smartphones can benefit.

Check the link you sent me: "This assumes that GtG is not a bottleneck." read it in the fine print, that was the point of my comment

Until we move away from LCD entirely GtG will be a bottleneck. The article you linked was precisely about how OLED would allow meaningful 240hz screens. Still you won't get a competitive advantage above 120hz as you generally are not shooting while wildly moving the camera.

 

[bandit8623]

"This assumes that GtG is not a bottleneck." read it in the fine print, that was the point of my comment

Until we move away from LCD entirely GtG will be a bottleneck. The article you linked was precisely about how OLED would allow meaningful 240hz screens. Still you won't get a competitive advantage above 120hz as you generally are not shooting while wildly moving the camera.

man I get that, but even on a crappy lcd panel 240 is still better than 120 on the same panel. and yeah oled is way better

 

[Yppah]

I own a 4k 32inch 'ProArt' Series mostly for 4k and Pro Photography editing but really not sure who games in 1080p anymore this monitor seems like a gimmick and a kids toy. Spend the extra money get a 4k monitor with True Color accuracy and 10bit color and everything else will pale in comparison.

Probably there is a greater majority of people gaming in 1080P res than any other. Market saturation / dominance because its been around a very long time. Prices have fallen. Most people cant afford the latest as often as others or to upgrade. Especially when no need to do so. 1080P @ 144Hz / 120Hz on 24" or 27" is for many a gaming sweet spot. Anything bigger is not good for viewing when you need to take in the whole view and react in quick time. Couldn't care less about accurate colours. What a ridiculous notion. Really bemuses me when people have to inject into an area they are self admittedly not involved, or at the least fail to mention to show their view has some merit.

As for others about refresh making a difference. Either you're in the know cos you own and game or you aint. Stupid argument factually backed hence monitors with increased refresh exist and will continue...

 

[yRaz]

Look up pixel response times. Or motion resolution. Then come back and we can have a conversation. Why don't you watch the latest Hardware Unboxed review of the cheapest 144hz VA monitor and it might enlighten you (the pixel response times are so bad it shouldn't have been sold above 75hz).

I have an OLED and 120hz on it is much better than ANY IPS VA or TN panel. Same with the old CRT monitors.

So you want to point to the cheapest 144hz monitor and use that as an example as to how all VA panels are flawed? There are sub categories to panel types. The cheapest 144hz VA panel obviously isn't going to perform as well as the most expensive 144hz VA panel.

I don't understand why this needs to be explained

 

[KingAlistair]

So you want to point to the cheapest 144hz monitor and use that as an example as to how all VA panels are flawed? There are sub categories to panel types. The cheapest 144hz VA panel obviously isn't going to perform as well as the most expensive 144hz VA panel.

I don't understand why this needs to be explained

I started with a simple statement that pixel response times are much more important than hitting higher refresh rates than 120hz. The majority of VA panels can't support the refresh rate they want to hit (it is empty marketing and they are not good gaming monitors, IPS does much better). I gave you an example of a typical problem where a VA monitor is boosted much higher than it should be (like most of them, they have horrible response times with dark content). Any CRT at 120hz will beat a 300hz LCD. OLED too even. That's it. Good day.

 

[KingAlistair]

I've personally bought 240hz TN monitors and they were garbage (Dell one specifically was full of ghosting errors). So far I like the Asus IPS and the LG IPS and the rest for the most part I don't really even consider to be high speed.

 

[bandit8623]

I've personally bought 240hz TN monitors and they were garbage (Dell one specifically was full of ghosting errors). So far I like the Asus IPS and the LG IPS and the rest for the most part I don't really even consider to be high speed.

U probably left on pixel overdrive.. My dell if I leave overdrive on its very ghosty. It's very good @165 hz with overdrive off.