Monitor Upgrade (1440P OLED) Help!

Gilbert89

Gilbert89

Gilbert89

Soldato
Joined
24 Jun 2011
Posts
5,594
Location
Sheffield
Hi all

I’m thinking about buying an OLED monitor, but I don’t want to spend a fortune.

I currently use an LG 1440p 185Hz IPS monitor.

My main usage is gaming, with the occasional day working from home, when I do work, I usually have windows snapped 50/50 on the screen.

If I use all the burn-in prevention features, should this be something to worry about? Im not really concerned about burn in as I know people abuse them with little issue, but what does concern me is that I know ASUS can be hard work when it comes to RMA acceptance, but struggling to overlook their slim bezels, coating etc.

I feel like I’ve done enough research to know roughly what I want and how much I’m willing to spend. However, I’d really appreciate any advice or reassurance that I’m not about to buy a lemon.

1)LG GX7 – 27GX700A-B
2)ASUS ROG Strix OLED XG27AQWMG

Both of these are Tandem OLED. Out of the two, I would probably choose the ASUS because of the new True Black glossy coating, but it’s more expensive than I’d ideally like to spend.

3) ASUS ROG Strix XG27ACDMS – 26.5" – 2560×1440 – 280Hz – QD-OLED

After deciding not to spend the extra for Tandum I looked at this 280Hz QD - But it has a Matte Coating and have read QD suffer more with text fringing, and don’t handle lighting as well as WOLED’s?

4)ASUS ROG Strix XG27AQDMGR – 26.5" – 2560×1440 – 240Hz – WOLED

This one is WOLED, has the ASUS True Black glossy coating, and is cheaper than the 280Hz QD-OLED model.Would it be significantly worse than the Tandem OLED version?

I just can’t seem to find many reviews on this model but since I can get this model for £343 with a discount code, because of this I can’t bring myself to justify spending £500+ on the Tandem version, coming from an IPS it should be game changing anyway I’d have thought!

With all that being said, I am open to any suggestions :)
 
Last edited:
Don't be worrying about burn in with these new OLED's honestly. You'd need to leave your screen on for thousands of hours with none of the protections turned on.

I've had mine for a year and I don't hide the taskbar or anything and I've got zero burnin.

Regarding which tech to go for, I went for WOLED and with a matte screen and I love mine. It's the LG 32 4k OLED with the 480hz mode.

QD-Oled has slightly better colours but less sharp text and a purple tint to it.

Totally subjective though maybe try and look at some in person if you can.
 
I have gone for the Asus XG27AQDMGR (1440P & 240HZ) WOLED with their True Black Glossy coating.. RRP was £529, then it was £429 and is now £399 - Managed an extra 10% discount so only paid £359!

It’s arriving tomorrow, I’ll update with some feedback :)
 
So in terms of OLED it was a sudden itch I wanted to scratch…

As for choosing WOLED over QD-OLED, my decision wasn’t very scientific. I prefer how WOLED handles light, as I usually have some ambient lighting in the room. I’m also not a fan of how QD-OLED panels can show a slight pink or red tint on dark backgrounds when exposed to light, with this in mind since XG27AQDMGR was significantly discounted and had ASUS’s fairly new (If I’m not mistaken) True Black Glossy Coating it was a done deal.

No doubt this is exaggerated but this re-affirmed WOLED & True Black Glossy Coating was the one for me.



But from the start I was leaning towards an Asus OLED mainly because of the design. I like the thin, edge to edge screen with no bezel as it looks cleaner than some other brands, like MSI in my opinion. I like the stand, it has such a small footprint and doesn’t interfere with my relatively low sensitivity and 500mm x 500mm mousepad, where as my previous monitor (LG Ultragear) needed VESA Mounting as I found myself clipping it with my mouse occasionally.

I followed TFT Central’s settings guide and the result looks fantastic. The colours really pop, and the blacks are incredible compared to IPS—especially in the evening, when I’d normally notice slight backlight bleed and blacks appearing more grey than truly black.

I took these on iPhone, looks pretty good to my eyes!





So far I’ve only managed a game of BF6 and an hour or two of The Last of Us Part 2, but both look fantastic on OLED. One thing I plan to do over time is experiment a bit more with HDR, as I’ve had mixed results with it in TLOU 2. From what I’ve read, HDR implementation can vary quite a bit between games and can be a bit of a rabbit hole to get dialled in properly but once it’s working as intended, it really transforms the level of immersion.

I’m a tight git at times, so knowing I got a good value Asus OLED helps with the lack of buyer’s remorse. :)

@Swinbag
 
Last edited:
Thanks for the update - can you turn that Asus logo off in the settings? + have you done a closeup to see if this panel does have the RWGB pixel layout as advertised by Asus, as there is quite a lot of debate on reddit that suggests that this panel actually uses the older RWBG instead and the Asus website is wrong
 
Last edited:
Spudgun said:
Have you done a closeup to see if this panel does have the RWGB pixel layout as advertised by Asus, as there is quite a lot of debate on reddit that suggests that this panel actually uses the older RWBG instead and the Asus website is wrong
Click to expand...

iPhone wasn’t dealing with this very well but does this help? It looks like RWBG to me.



Is it still on the website? Surely that’s a free upgrade to those who have been miss sold :p
 
Last edited:
From the threads on reddit, I think it was removed from the site, but I've not checked myself. I suspect someone did a cut/paste of the spec list and didn't check
 
It's the RWBG pixel layout on the XG27AQDMGR, it's the original first gen WOLED 240hz 1440p panel.

Asus had the original XG27AQDMG which was the first 'glossy' WOLED released - but it didn't have the 'true black' coating and was limited to HDMI 2.0.

The 'R' variant - this one mentioned in the thread - XG27AQDMGR is the same panel as the original but has the true black coating, Asus' new stand and HDMI 2.1 - but it still has that pretty terrible first gen pixel structure so text isn't great at all.

If you're only playing games on it then it's not an issue in the slightest - but any sort of work or even web browsing can be a bit of a pain.

From the original 4 that were spoken about on this thread I'd have honestly gone with the XG27AQWMG. Latest tandem WOLED panel tech, DisplayHDR 500 True Black, really good brightness in SDR, latest pixel structure (RGWB), glossy panel - and includes all of Asus' feature set. Whilst Asus certainly have their service and support issues, I think the monitors they're prioritising are top notch, their OSD is fantastic and they've got the best OLED care feature set available.
 
t2na said:
It's the RWBG pixel layout on the XG27AQDMGR, it's the original first gen WOLED 240hz 1440p panel.

Asus had the original XG27AQDMG which was the first 'glossy' WOLED released - but it didn't have the 'true black' coating and was limited to HDMI 2.0.
Click to expand...

Good to know - I did know that the MGR was a refresh over the DMG but it’s never as easy as it should be to find the actual difference's and improvement's listed.

t2na said:
The 'R' variant - this one mentioned in the thread - XG27AQDMGR is the same panel as the original but has the true black coating, Asus' new stand and HDMI 2.1 - but it still has that pretty terrible first gen pixel structure so text isn't great at all.
Click to expand...
t2na said:
If you're only playing games on it then it's not an issue in the slightest - but any sort of work or even web browsing can be a bit of a pain.
Click to expand...

I must admit coming from IPS I did notice the text clarity not being as good but since my eyes have adjusted to the new screen I don’t really notice it much now.

For my usage it isn’t an issue, I’m mainly using it for gaming, viewing gaming content and movies from streaming services with only a small amount of working from home.

t2na said:
From the original 4 that were spoken about on this thread I'd have honestly gone with the XG27AQWMG. Latest tandem WOLED panel tech, DisplayHDR 500 True Black, really good brightness in SDR, latest pixel structure (RGWB), glossy panel - and includes all of Asus' feature set. Whilst Asus certainly have their service and support issues, I think the monitors they're prioritising are top notch, their OSD is fantastic and they've got the best OLED care feature set available.
Click to expand...

Agreed with the Asus appeal in terms of their OLED Care and overall form factor, the monitor feels premium.

I was tempted by XG27AQWMG as it was definitely the one to have, but I have only ever been used to buying fairly basic cheaper monitors, so for me this was already splashing the cash on a monitor :p

The XG27AQDMGR still ticks all boxes for me and ultimately it came down to price difference which was £360 due to being on sale and a further discount code vs £520 for the Tandum WOLED version.

You are quite the OLED connoisseur :D
 
Last edited:
Gilbert89 said:
Good to know - I did know that the MGR was a refresh over the DMG but it’s never as easy as it should be to find the actual difference's and improvement's listed.

I must admit coming from IPS I did notice the text clarity not being as good but since my eyes have adjusted to the new screen I don’t really notice it much now.

For my usage it isn’t an issue, I’m mainly using it for gaming, viewing gaming content and movies from streaming services with only a small amount of working from home.

Agreed with the Asus appeal in terms of their OLED Care and overall form factor, the monitor feels premium.

I was tempted by XG27AQWMG as it was definitely the one to have, but I have only ever been used to buying fairly basic cheaper monitors, so for me this was already splashing the cash on a monitor :p

The XG27AQDMGR still ticks all boxes for me and ultimately it came down to price difference which was £360 due to being on sale and a further discount code vs £520 for the Tandum WOLED version.

You are quite the OLED connoisseur :D
Click to expand...
I've spent way too much money trying out varying OLED monitors (and other monitors...) so it's just experience of the varying panels at this point! Definitely think monitors are the part of PC gaming / tech that I enjoy the most too which helps!

I think you've got a good monitor for your case tbh - especially with that price you paid too. I'd have struggled to justify the extra £160 between that model and the tandem model - considering you're already getting a great OLED experience and it's just 'fine' details and an extra 40hz for that £160!
 
Gilbert89 said:
From what I’ve read, HDR implementation can vary quite a bit between games and can be a bit of a rabbit hole to get dialled in properly but once it’s working as intended, it really transforms the level of immersion.
Click to expand...
You're spot on there, some games aren't configured well and either take a lot of work, or just plain won't work well and look better in SDR, but when it works it's transformative.

Even then, with the extra contrast and great colours SDR looks phenomenal. In games like Darktide, when I played them on my OLED TV I was blown away, and it made my VA monitor (a decent one too, Samsung Odyssey G7) look poor by comparison, to the extent that I went and bought my current monitor.

t2na said:
I think you've got a good monitor for your case tbh - especially with that price you paid too. I'd have struggled to justify the extra £160 between that model and the tandem model - considering you're already getting a great OLED experience and it's just 'fine' details and an extra 40hz for that £160!
Click to expand...

Agreed, the difference wouldn't be enough to justify the extra outlay in my opinion. If you had an OLED already and wanted an upgrade then those small differences may be enough, but when coming from an IPS nearly any model would be fine. You got a great deal, too!
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top Bottom