0FPS gaming monitor? Yes please, Asus.- thanks for addicting me to 280FPS, though.
The Bottom Line
If you’re a speed freak like me, you’ll love the feel of 280Hz and its buttery smooth gaming. The Asus TUF Gaming VG279QM is the premium of 1080p 280Hz monitors, and probably the best monitor for Fortnite.
Introduction
I’m someone who has always lived life in the fast lane when it comes to displays, starting my gaming days off on the older CRT monitors.- enjoying the then-enthusiast Sony Trinitron G520 monitor that could run high resolutions like 1600 x 1200 at the time, at liquid smooth refresh rates of 100Hz.
Over the years technology shifted over to LCD and slowly but surely we’ve been getting closer and closer to the ceiling in terms of refresh rates. We quickly reached 120Hz but had a few years in between 120Hz and 240Hz, and now we’re pushing 240Hz without an issue at 1080p.- 280Hz is coming to knock on your door.
Enter the Asus TUF Gaming VG279QM gaming monitor: offering 1920 x 1080 native resolution (1080p) at a blistering 280Hz. It also packs HDR support as well as VESA’s own DisplayHDR 400 certification.
Asus is using a 1080p 240Hz IPS panel from AU Optronics, with factory overclocking driving it up to a huge 280Hz. Asus also uses its ELMB SYNC technology, which lets you run both VRR and MBR at the same time.
Monitor Lingo:
- ELMB = Extreme Low Motion Blur
- HDR = High Dynamic Range
- VRR = Variable Refresh Rate
- MBR = Motion Blur Reduction
Pricing Availability
Asus is selling its TUF Gaming VG279QM on Amazon for 470 or so, which isn’t too bad.- but it is a huge chunk of cash for a monitor limited to 1080p. You would want to really have that 280Hz really badly to shell out 470 for it, and then a graphics card capable of driving games at 280FPS as well. That ain’t easy, unless you’re playing Fortnite.
Detailed Specs
Asus is using a Fast IPS Display that provides a high quality picture versus TN-based panels, so even when you’re in Windows the VG279QM is going to look great. Normally the TN-based panels drive refresh rates up really high, but look like junk when you’re in Windows.- that isn’t the case here thanks to Asus tapping a Fast IPS display from AU Optronics.
We also have G-SYNC Compatible goodness here as well, music to the years of GeForce GTX and GeForce RTX graphics card owners. You’ll also need a beefy GeForce graphics card if you intend to reach 280FPS in games, too.
ELMB SYNC lets you have both ELMB and Adaptive-Sync turned on simultaneously, so you get to enjoy the best of both worlds.
I’m not yet fully convinced of HDR gaming, but Asus is ready for it with the TUF Gaming VG279QM monitor.
Asus includes a bunch of in-game enhancements, too. These include Dynamic Shadow Boost, GamePlus, and more.
Connectivity
Asus doesn’t skimp with display connectivity on the TUF Gaming VG279QM monitor, with 1 x DisplayPort 1.2 and 2 x HDMI 2.0 ports as well as a 3.5mm headphone jack.
Ergonomics
Other gaming monitors don’t have much in the way of ergonomics, but Asus goes over-the-top here with the TUF Gaming VG279QM display. We have height adjustment, 90-degree swivel, 90-degree pivot, and tilt adjustment.
Asus TUF Gaming VG279QM 27″ HDR Monitor
last scanned on 5/28/2023 at 1:07 pm CDT. may not be accurate, click links above for the latest price. We may earn an affiliate commission.
Detailed Look Test System Specs
Detailed Look
From the packaging to the monitor itself, the Asus TUF Gaming VG279QM is a premium deal.
From the front of the box, the packaging will grab your eyes.- not that you would actually see this packaging, as retail shelves wouldn’t have it sitting there. Buying it online and getting it at your door? You’ll love the look of the box, until you rip the monitor out and throw the box away.- or put it away for storage, that is.
From the front of the Asus TUF Gaming VG279QM you would think it’s a ROG Strix branded gaming monitor, but it’s not.- the red ring at its base elevates it in style and really adds to the premium feel of the monitor.
Funnily enough, I think the Asus TUF Gaming VG279QM actually looks better from the back.- with that styled backing, and alien-style buttons. I really love the back of the monitor more than the front.
See what I mean? Ugh, it looks great.
Once again, that style looks SLICK and I really love it.
From the left, and the right of the monitor. It’s not too thick, so I can only dream of what 3 x 280Hz monitors would be like next to each other.
The base of the monitor, where it can swivel and tilt and do all sorts of adjustments to make it perfect for you.
Cable management is nice and easy to get your desk looking neater.
Asus uses some subtle TUF Gaming branding in the bottom right hand corner of the base.
An Asus badge in the middle bottom of the display.
Buttons to access the OSD are in the bottom right hand corner.
Display connectivity: left-to-right we have HDMI 2.0 ports, then a DisplayPort and 3.5mm headphone jack joined by a USB port.
Anthony’s Test System Specifications
- Motherboard: GIGABYTE Z370 AORUS Gaming 7(buy from Amazon)
- CPU: Intel Core i7-8700K @ 5GHz(buy from Amazon)
- Cooler: Corsair Hydro Series H115i PRO(buy from Amazon)
- Memory: 16GB (2x8GB) HyperX Predator DDR4-2933(buy from Amazon)
- SSD: 1TB Toshiba OCZ RD400 NVMe M.2(buy from Amazon)
- SSD: 512GB Toshiba OCZ RD400 NVMe M.2(buy from Amazon)
- Power Supply: InWin 1065W
- Case: InWin X-Frame
- OS: Microsoft Windows 10 Pro 64-bit(buy from Amazon)
Gaming In The Fast Lane @ 280FPS
Gaming Impressions @ 280FPS
I pumped in a considerable amount of hours into the Asus TUF Gaming VG279QM monitor, where I used 3 games as my main FOCUS: Apex Legends, Fortnite, and Overwatch.
These 3 games can get up to 280FPS at 1080p if you drop the detail level down as much as you can, so in something like Fortnite you are going to be running so liquid smooth at 280FPS it feels insane. It truly is something else gaming at 200FPS and above, but nearly 300FPS? It’s almost liquid smooth.
Because of the graphical style of Fortnite, you don’t feel weird at adjusting to 280FPS at all.- something I fell right into and accustomed to pretty much instantly. I was powering my rig with a GeForce RTX 2080 Ti graphics card, but I also did some testing with the GeForce RTX 2080 SUPER just in case.- both of them had no issues keeping up at 280FPS in Fortnite.
Apex Legends was a little trickier getting up to 280FPS, but if you reduce everything in the game and have a ridiculously powerful graphics card like the GeForce RTX 2080 SUPER or GeForce RTX 2080 Ti then you shouldn’t have an issue blasting people away and sliding down hills at ridiculous frame rates.
Overwatch? Man, oh man.- Overwatch is nothing short of sublime at 280FPS. I mean, Overwatch is my favorite competitive first-person shooter game, and it was even better at 280FPS on the Asus TUF Gaming VG279QM monitor. Rockets and other projectiles flying at me and over me in the game felt like they were almost moving in slow motion, that’s how smooth the monitor is.
But Anthony, slow motion on a Rapid-fast 280FPS display, that makes no sense? Yeah, I know.- but you’re seeing a ridiculous amount of information at once. 1920 x 1080 = 2 million pixels, all cranking along at 280FPS. That is 280 frames per second, at 2 million pixels. Insanity. It truly is amazing to play games at 280FPS.
Overall, the monitor just feels. SMOOTH. Like, buttery smooth. It is hard to put into words, and something you need to see.- and more so, feel for yourself.
Final Thoughts
The Asus TUF Gaming VG279QM monitor is a near 500 monitor offering a native 1080p resolution and buttery smooth 280Hz refresh rate, but is it worth of your money? Well, first.- you’ve got to have a gaming PC with a grunty enough graphics card to handle 1080p at 280FPS.
You’re not going to find your entire library of games will run at 280FPS, or hell, even be capable of driving up to 280FPS. Some games have frame rate limiters, and some games just can’t scale up past 150-200FPS. But for esports gaming like PUBG, Fortnite, Apex Legends and others.- you will be mostly fine at hitting 280FPS.
You’ll need a beefy graphics card, so I would recommend mixing in a GeForce RTX 2080 SUPER at a minimum, and if you wanted Team Red then I would suggest that you look at the Radeon RX 5700 XT. I would recommend the GeForce RTX 2080 Ti as it is just uncompromising performance, for a ridiculously high refresh rate gaming monitor like the Asus TUF Gaming VG279QM.
Overall, the colors and image quality are fantastic, the insanely quick response and low input lag are also a huge deal. Even in games where you’re not hitting 280FPS and let’s say 120/144FPS, the Asus TUF Gaming VG279QM monitor still feels incredibly smooth.
Asus includes both FreeSync and G-SYNC compatibility, meaning AMD Radeon and NVIDIA GeForce graphics card owners can buy the Asus TUF Gaming VG279QM monitor.
If you want to try out the dizzying heights of 280FPS then you should check out the Asus TUF Gaming VG279QM monitor. You’re getting a quality brand that looks after gamers, and Asus gets to show off yet another great offering in its expanding TUF Gaming family of products.
If you’re a speed freak, then you need to check out the Asus TUF Gaming VG279QM monitor.- but if you aren’t happy with 1080p for gaming (like me) then you are better off with a higher-end 1440p monitor at 144/165Hz. If you’re exclusively playing games like Fortnite, and really wanted 280FPS.- well, you know what to do.
Asus TUF Gaming VG279QM 280Hz Fast IPS Gaming Monitor Review!
Inside the box, you get an HDMI cable and a Display Port cable, The Power cable and power adapter, the base of the monitor stand, a manual with some other papers, and finally the monitor itself.
Installation of these Asus monitors is VERY easy, and you can almost do it with one hand as you just have to put the monitor stand on its base, and then tighten a single screw with hands as it has a D ring.
DESIGN
The monitor has a really great and balanced design, because it does have gamery elements that make it look distinct, but they haven’t gone very aggressive with the aesthetics, so this will blend easily in a variety of environments.
I like the simple design of the stand, as it doesn’t take a lot of space, and with this monitor, you really have all kinds of adjustments.
You can tilt it by 33 degrees, can adjust its height by 13 centimeters, can swivel it by 90 degrees on either side, and can also pivot it by 90 degrees in both directions to use it in portrait mode.
The stand also has a passthrough for cables, because the input ports are at the bottom.
and we have 2 HDMI 2.0 ports, a DisplayPort 1.2, a headphone out for audio, along with a kensington lock. The HDMI 2.0 port will limit the refresh rate to 240 Hz, but that will be plenty enough for hooking this up with a console as they don’t reach 240hz anyways.
The stand is also VESA compatible, so you can also use other stands if you want.
FEATURES
All functions and settings of the monitor can be accessed just by using a single joystick at back which works really well, but you also have extra buttons for quick access, along with the power button at bottom.
The On Screen menu is also logically laid out, and all of the settings can be accessed quickly.
In addition to some picture profiles that I don’t use, it also offers some gaming focused features like showing different kinds of crosshairs at center, a timer which you can reposition and can use to check if your eggs have finished getting boiled, a frame rate counter with a graph, a sniper function which zooms the central area of monitor without being considered as cheating, and you also have a shadow boost feature which boosts the dark areas of your games, and this actually looks quite natural so some of these features could be actually useful.
A Blue light filter to prevent eye fatigue is also present, and the monitor also has in-built speakers, which can be useful when your other audio devices aren’t working.
DISPLAY QUALITY PERFORMANCE
But before we move on to how awesome moving mouse on this monitor is, its IPS display actually has really good colors; we have 99% of sRGB coverage, and the colors on it look really good and well saturated, and even though there are TN panels with good color coverage percentages, the content on this monitor does look better, and we also have much better viewing angles at 178 degrees as it is an IPS panel.
This can also be used for some content creation if 1080p resolution is good enough for you, and the gripe I had with high refresh rate TN panels was that while they were great for gaming, we didn’t have good colors, so this monitor solves that issue, and if you feel like 1080p is too low of a resolution for a 27 inch panel you can also go with the 25 inch version of this monitor, which will also be really great for gaming.
Now TN panels do have better response time than IPS panels typically, but on this particular panel, we have really good response times that will almost let you get full benefits of its 280Hz refresh rate, which is quite impressive for an IPS panel.
You will have to tweak the overdrive settings on the monitor to get the best balance of response time performance and overshoot control, and I’ll link to a review by Hardware Unboxed who have done really exhaustive response time testing on this monitor and found it to be very impressive, but even by testing with your eyes, you can see that the overdrive 80 setting results in a very well controlled response time on the monitor at 280 Hz, but Overdrive 100 setting starts introducing artifacts, even if that achieves the advertised 1ms GtG response time.
So the gaming experience on this monitor is of course really great. 280 Hz is not that big of a jump over the more common 240Hz, but you’re still getting an edge over the competition, and at its price, it can really be a great value when you consider how much the faster 360Hz IPS panel monitor costs.
ADAPTIVE SYNC WITH ELMB
The VG279QM is also G sync compatible, so even if you don’t have a GPU that can deliver a consistent 280 FPS, you won’t get frame tearing, which is very important to have on high refresh rate monitors.
We found the performance while playing esports games to be really great, and the extraordinarily high refresh rate really makes a significant difference while gaming, as you get more information sent to your brain during those quick movements in game, and it can really help you in spotting your opponents or aiming during those quick movements.
Asus has also included their ELMB Sync feature on the VG279QM, and what it basically does is that it strobes the backlight of the monitor to reduce motion blur, and this technology didn’t work along with adaptive sync earlier, even in Asus’s own monitors with ELMB, but now with ELMB Sync we can enable it with G-Sync which is really great.
A drawback to backlight strobing techniques in monitors is that it reduces the brightness significantly as now your backlight isn’t constantly on but since we have 400 nits maximum brightness on this monitor, even with ELMB enabled, it is quite bright, and you won’t have any issues, even in well lit rooms.
Now all backlight strobing implementations on monitors do cause some doubling of images because of strobe crosstalk, but we found that this problem is quite controlled for such a high refresh rate, and even though it is not perfect, I think a lot of gamers will prefer the sharper frames over the blurry frames even with some crosstalk which we didn’t find to be that noticeable.
HDR
We also have HDR on this monitor, but as this has a Display HDR 400 certification, we don’t have any kind of local dimming on this monitor, so you will not get a great HDR experience as the contrast won’t be great between the darkest and brightest parts of the scene, but that being said, the brightness and color gamut alone makes the HDR content look significantly better compared to my other monitor that doesn’t have HDR, so even though its HDR experience isn’t going to match the much more expensive FALD monitor like PG27UQ, it is better than having nothing.
One minor thing I didn’t like was how this panel doesn’t get very dim at its lowest settings, but it has been a similar case with other high refresh rate monitors I have tried.
CONCLUSION
So overall, the TUF VG279QM is really one of the best IPS gaming monitors with high refresh rates. In addition to the 280Hz refresh rate that has been implemented quite well on its IPS panel, you are getting great colors for general content consumption and gaming, it has G Sync and ELMB Sync is a really great feature to have if you like it. Display HDR 400 is not that special, but 400 nits of brightness does have nice benefits, and most features of this monitor are just really well executed which makes it a really great choice for a dedicated gaming monitor that can do more than just gaming, and the 400 US Dollar or Rs. price tag is pretty reasonable for everything that you’re getting.
You can also check out my review of the Asus VG278QR, which is a cheaper 165 Hz monitor with a TN panel.
The 25 inch version of this is also a really great alternative option.
Asus VG279QM Review | A High-performance Gaming Monitor
A lightning-quick gaming monitor that really does tick all the right boxes.
Charlie Noon
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We’ve reviewed a ton of Asus monitors over the years, with most being well-placed within a particular market or price bracket. Today we’ll be taking a look at one of the Asus’s latest gaming monitors, the VG279QM – a 280Hz, 1ms response powerhouse that will literally give you an edge over your competition.
If the following review, we’ll be taking a closer look at the more important aspects of this monitor and seeing how they compare to similarly priced alternatives – including previous iterations of the VG27 family.
So, with a ton of stuff to get through, let’s waste no further time and dive straight into it!
Design And Features
The TUF Gaming VG279QM comes in a box almost identical to the other VG27 models – fairly compact with the black and gray color theme we’ve come to expect from this lineup of products. Inside the box, we find the monitor inside two robust styrofoam protective pads and a variety of cables too. Like always, a setup manual is provided with this monitor to ensure a stress-free installation.
The following section will be a more in-depth look at the overall design, build quality, and features the VG279QM comes equipped with. Taking the newly improved refresh rate out of the equation, it’ll be interesting to see how the Asus VG279QM compares to the VG278Q/VG279Q – and whether those differences are worth the increase in price.
VG270UP we tested at the start of the year, but it’s not a million miles away either. Comparing this to the more expensive Asus PG278QR, however, you can clearly feel the difference. The latter just feels much sturdier and well-grounded. Apart from that though, you’d be hard-pressed to find any more build quality issues with the VG279QM.
Panel Coating
The panel coating used for the Asus VG279QM is anti-glare with a 3H hardness in matte. This is fairly standard for most monitors these days, mitigating natural light to an extremely high level. Whilst you can still pick up some reflections, this particular panel coating also does a good job of keeping your eye focused on the game.
Bezels
The bezels on the VG279QM are as you’d expect, noticeable but not ugly or garish. The sides and top bezel all measure approximately 10mm. The bottom bezel is more in the region of 14mm but, again, doesn’t really take anything away from the user’s viewing pleasure.
Whilst the picture quality and color accuracy probably aren’t the most important aspects of a gaming monitor, they still sit highly in most people’s priority list when it comes to purchasing a new gaming monitor. With that in mind, it’s time to take a closer look at the picture quality and color accuracy of the Asus VG279QM.
The following results have been collated using a number of different tests and specialized equipment.
F0r the purposes of this test we decided to use three of the monitor’s gaming presets; Racing mode, Cinema Mode, and sRGB. As you’ll soon see, each has its own pros and cons.
For the most part, the VG279QM displayed pretty accurate colors right out of the box. The official preset for default settings were; Racing mode in warm, with both brightness and contrast set to 80. Now, in Racing mode, you could tell straight away that the image felt quite warm and was far too bright for everyday viewing. We recommend cranking the brightness down to around 10 for a more natural, easier viewing experience during daytime usage.
The first thing we did before testing the monitor’s presets was to adjust the brightness accordingly. In Racing mode, we set the brightness to 4 – or 120 cd/m². We try to use this for a more standardized measure of all the monitors we test. However, as you’ll soon find out, that isn’t always possible.
Anyway, we tested Racing mode in warm first, and to no-one’s surprise, the white levels were off by quite a way (7083K). That said, blacks were decent as was the native contrast ratio which measured at 1114:5:1. An average delta of 2.25 was recorded on our first run, alongside a 2.19 gamma which was extremely good. Something you’d expect from an IPS panel, mind.
sRGB mode was next up and we saw a similar average delta and gamma reading. However, the contrast was much worse, as were the black levels. This was due to the fact that you can’t adjust the brightness levels when using the sRGB profile – annoyingly. On the plus side, the white level was much closer to our ideal at 6199K.
Cinema Mode was last and by far the worst of the bunch. Whites were miles away from where they needed to be, measured at 10310K. The black point wasn’t the worst, neither was the contrast ratio, however, that’s pretty much where the positives end. The average delta came back at 4.96, over double the other two presets tested.
As far as peak brightness was concerned, the Asus VG279QM exceeded the advertised figure of 400 cd/m², coming in at an eye-watering 417 cd/m² – even higher when used in certain profiles. Unfortunately, this probably isn’t the greatest monitor for individuals that do a lot of night viewing. We could only manage a low of 106 cd/m²
For calibrated results, we set the RGB to 100/97/97 and reduced the brightness down to 4 ( 120 cd/m²). After doing so, we let the DisplayCal calibrate the monitor and saved the profile – which can be downloaded below. After calibration was complete, we ran a more extensive test for a broader range of results. As you can see, the figures were much more in line with our ‘ideal’ figures.
The white point was perfect and the black depth was pretty good too, measuring in at 0.1105 cd/m². The contrast ratio was pretty much bang on with the advertised 1000:1 rating. I was very impressed with the average delta of 1.04, meaning this monitor displays close to perfect colors on average. That being said, we did find some pretty concerning discrepancies along the way. There were large deltas between certain shades of blue – up to a maximum of 27.8 (the highest we’ve recorded so far). We decided to run the test several times expecting to get different results, but it wasn’t to be.
Panel Uniformity
Panel uniformity is a test we run to check how uniform the luminance and color is across the entirety of the screen. During this test, the center square is used as the reference space. Every other square is then tested to see how far it differentiates from the reference. In an ideal world, we want every square to be green, meaning it hasn’t broken the differential threshold – something we can set at the start of the test.
Note: results will differ from panel to panel.
Despite not being the best we’ve seen when it comes to IPS panels, the Asus VG279QM still showed a good account of itself in the color gamut department. It offered up 116% sRGB volume with a 97.5% coverage – falling short in the blues. On a more positive note, however, better volume and coverage of the Adobe RGB (79.8%) and DCI P3 (82.1%) color gamuts were recorded.
Overall, color gamut recordings were extremely positive for the Asus VG279QM. Whilst this monitor has clearly been tailored towards gaming, you could most certainly make a case for people using the VG279QM for editing – especially in the sRGB color spectrum.
Final Thoughts
The next stage of testing will FOCUS more on response time, refresh rate, and general responsiveness of the Asus VG279QM. We’ll be putting the Asus VG279Q through a series of gaming scenarios to see how it stacks up.
Like always, I loaded the first game in out the box settings to get a taste of what the monitor could do, pre-calibrated. First impressions were solid, gameplay felt smooth and I noticed no initial ghosting or color shifting. I was extremely impressed with the smoothness of the monitor, but that’s to be expected from a monitor that has a 240Hz out the box refresh rate.
So, there you have it, our comprehensive review of the hugely impressive Asus VG279QM gaming monitor. Comparing this monitor to the VG279Q is like night and day, literally. It has better color accuracy, better picture clarity, and much better input lag and gaming performance. And for all that, you’d expect to have to fork out a sizeable amount more, but you don’t!
The best thing about this monitor is that it’s still affordable. Currently retailing for just under 400, the Asus VG279QM showcases extremely good value for money. It not only provides you with lightning-quick response, but it also offers a full range of colors that are pretty damn accurate right out the box. That makes this monitor ideal for individuals that are not only looking to take their gaming to the next level, but also like to dabble in content creation using the sRGB color gamut. Quite frankly, one of the best gaming monitors on the market.
Asus VG279QM Review – The Best 240-280Hz Gaming Monitor
Gaming has become a pretty serious business for many, considering how big eSports competitions have grown. Even outside of tournaments though, many gamers are quite competitive and want the biggest possible advantages over the people they are facing.
This is one of the biggest reasons why budget monitors don’t just cut it anymore for a lot of gamers, as they want to see as many frames as possible for increased accuracy and response time.
With this in mind, we should technically be talking about the new 360Hz monitors, but unfortunately, they are so expensive that it would simply make more sense to talk about the 240Hz monitors which are slowly going mainstream as we speak.
That being said, one of the best 240Hz gaming monitors is the Asus VG279QM, which we will review today!
Base Specs
The Asus VG279QM is a 27 inch IPS panel that operates at 240Hz with a resolution of 1920×1080. It has 1x DisplayPort 1.2 and 2x HDMI 2.0 hubs which allow the monitor to be used with most setups, but to take full advantage we would encourage you to use the DP 1.2 cable included in the package.
The monitor also has 2 basic 2W speakers (and a headphone output) which could be fine for a YouTube video or some other simple task, but for gaming, we would recommend using your headphones.
The monitor also has OSD controls: a joystick and 4 buttons located at the bottom right side of the panel.
Build Quality
Although the Asus VG279QM gaming monitor is made entirely out of plastic, it by no means feels cheap. On the contrary, the build of the monitor feels solid and stable.
The stand of the monitor is capable of height, tilt, swivel, and any other type of adjustment possible, making this monitor fit well on your table no matter in what position you will use it.
The screen is also Light Anti-glare coated providing clear images with no reflections even in a very well-lit room.
Overall you would be hard-pressed to find an aspect in which this monitor is lacking in terms of build quality.
Screen Capabilities
The most important aspect of a monitor is majorly related to its capability to reproduce images and colors accurately. The Asus VG279QM does well in this department, as it is equipped with a well-tuned IPS panel that not only is fast but also color accurate.
The viewing angles on the monitor are once again excellent due to the IPS technology used, making it easy to discern what is being displayed on the monitor from a variety of angles.
There is no major backlight bleed but this could vary from panel to panel. From what most reviews have said about the Asus VG279QM though you should not worry about it much since most copies have had no issues.
With a little bit of calibration, the contrast rate of the panel can surpass 1000:1 which is a very good ratio. This type of performance can only be surpassed by VA panels in terms of contrast, but VA panels come with their own disadvantages.
The brightness range of the Asus monitor is also impressive with a fairly high peak brightness and a good overall range: 92-378 cd/m2. While talking about brightness and screen capabilities we should also mention that the screen has HDR support, but it should probably just be ignored.
The main reason for ignoring this somewhat interesting feature is the fact that the Asus VG279QM only supports HDR 400 which does not require local dimming, therefore, lacking the capability of increasing contrast or dynamic range.
Gaming Capabilities
The biggest selling point of the Asus VG279QM is of course it’s gaming capabilities and the fact that it can run at 240Hz and provide a smooth gaming experience when paired with capable hardware.
Besides the 240Hz, the Asus VG279QM also supports Adaptive-Sync, which means it supports both FreeSync and G-Sync, depending on the GPU you have in your PC.
This special type of sync is important for gamers that do not want to use (God forbid) V-Sync which causes massive input lag, but at the same time want no tearing while gaming. For a proper G-Sync setup guide, we would advise you to look here!
Besides Adaptive-Sync, the Asus VG279QM has ELMB sync which provides motion clarity and no ghosting, but at the same time, it significantly reduces the brightness of the monitor. On the other hand, the good news is that you can use both Adaptive-Sync and ELMB-sync together on the Asus VG279QM gaming monitor!
The bad news is that in reality as with many other monitors that include motion clarity tech the VG279QM has issues with strobe crosstalk and double images therefore the mode kind of fails at what it sets out to do. over, most competitive gamers do not use Adaptive-Sync since it adds a certain level of input lag.
The biggest advantage this monitor offers for gaming is of course the response times which are very good and offer a very snappy and responsive experience with minimal input lag. To achieve the most optimal performance on the VG279QM you must make good use of the Overdrive setting in the OSD which lowers the response times of the monitor.
After consulting with different sources we have found that if you will run the monitor at 240/280Hz the optimal overdrive level is 80. This will allow you to achieve a 3.6-3.8ms response time which is extremely good for gaming.
For lower refresh rates, however (144-200Hz) we would recommend using Overdrive 60 for better image quality.
Unfortunately, to achieve the advertised 1ms response time as with all other monitors you would have to set the Overdrive level to 100. This will indeed produce a 0.92ms but at the same time, there will be severe overshoot making the mode unusable.
Overall for maximum gaming performance with the lowest possible input lag/response times, we would recommend: Adaptive-Sync off, ELMB off, overclocked display to 280Hz, Overdrive mode set to 80 (60 if you are playing games where you cannot reach 200FPS).
Overclocking to 280Hz!
The biggest advantage of the Asus VG279QM gaming monitor and one of its major selling points is the fact that the screen is capable of overclocking to 280Hz straight from the OSD panel.
This is not as big of a jump as with going for 360Hz, but it is still 40Hz over normal 240Hz monitors, which does improve motion clarity and smoothness to a certain degree.
As mentioned previously to make full use of the 280Hz you should set the Overdrive level to 80 for the lowest possible input lag without overshoot.
Overall if you are sensitive to motion on your screen you will notice a slightly better image with better image quality at 280Hz. The biggest concern here is the fact that you will need capable hardware to run the game at 280FPS or above so you could take advantage of the super high Hz.
When enabling the overclock in the OSD, the menu will give you a warning about possible flashing because of the OC, but overall during gaming and even in the frame skipping test there were absolutely no issues with the panel running at 280Hz.
Extra Features
The Asus monitor also comes with a couple of extra neat features like GamePlus, GameVisual, and Shadow Boost. The GamePlus menu in the OSD allows you to enable all sorts of neat features like a crosshair, a timer, or even an FPS counter.
GameVisual comes with a couple of preset color modes for different types of games. From our testing, the FPS mode seems to offer the most vibrant colors which are desirable in gaming.
Shadow Boost is as the name suggests a way to increase brightness in darker games. Unfortunately, the side effect of this setting is washed-out colors so we would not really recommend using it.
Overall the most useful settings here are probably the ability to have a crosshair in games that do not offer one, and the ability to have an FPS counter if once again the game you are playing does not support one.
Asus did well in this department and it really does feel like you are getting some nice little add-ons for the money you are paying.
Pricing Conclusions
The only issue we could find with the Asus VG279QM gaming monitor is the pricing. The monitor will cost around 380/€ which is a significant amount of money. At the same time, we do feel that you are indeed paying for what you are getting and although expensive the VG279QM delivers superb performance.
So what are our conclusions regarding the monitor? The Asus VG279QM is a monitor well suited for competitive gamers that want great features, low response times, and great screen quality (color accuracy, viewing angles, backlight bleed, etc).
If you are in the market for a 240Hz monitor and have the budget, we would highly recommend you look at the Asus VG279QM for its great overall package!
