ROG Swift Vs Acer Predator XB270HU

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Hi

So a couple of months ago I finally built my new PC. Went from a Pentium D 3.4GHz with 4GB of RAM and an HD6850 to an i74790k and a GTX 980 (jaw hasn't quite come off the floor yet!)...

However since getting my new PC I've become increasingly bothered by gaming on my fairly crappy TV. Sure it's 1080p but it's 24" and a fairly cheap panasonic model. Not sure how good the response time etc is on it.

Basically I'm in the market for a proper PC monitor. I kind of want 1440p as I feel that will "future proof" me, and I'm looking at the 27" size bracket. I'm not really interested in going much bigger as I have limited desk space. Every single person I know has told my that G-Sync is a transformative upgrade - I've had a lot of "once you go G-Sync you'll never go back" type advice. I also am quite sensitive to frame drops and judder - I love playing at a locked 60 FPS at the moment and so use Vsync (I loathe tearing) but the judder can be very off putting.

I will mainly be using the monitor for gaming, though there will also be a fair amount of internet browsing / youtube, and abit of Netflix too. At the moment I seem to have narrowed myself down to the ROG Swift or the Acer Predator XB270HU. This is where my dilema comes in. I hear they are both superb monitors, however the ROG swift is a TN panel and apparently they're not as good quality in terms of colours etc. How noticeable is this if you've never used an IPS screen before?

The XB270HU seems like the perfect monitor - 144Hz, G-Sync, 1440p, IPS panel, 4ms response time. However I've heard a lot of complaints about backlight bleed. I've also seen some pretty damn horrible looking photos people have taken which make it look like there're basically massive yellow areas of light bleeding out from the corners, almost into the middle of the screen. I don't wanna spend this kind of money on something which looks like some of those photos!

Is that just a trick of the camera light? Or are the backlight bleed issues really that bad? Was it a dodgy first batch? I know that abit of backlight bleed is pretty much inherent with IPS panels but is it as bad as people are saying?

Advice would be fabulous!
 
I have a ROG Swift side by side with a 60hz IPS and I can't say that the colours are any better on the IPS

The ROG does need a bit of gamma adjustment out of the box - about 0.8-0.9 in NVCP

The main downside of TN panels is viewing angles... If you set the ROG to a single bold colour like Red you can notice a slight change in shade from top to bottom, but my IPS does the same thing towards the 4 corners... In normal useage you cant notice this on either, but I mainly play games in the evening in a darkened room so the glow in the corners on the IPS has put me off buying another for gaming

If I were buying again now, I would still choose the ROG swift personally
 
I had the same decision to make. I bought Acer. I have not seen ROG Swift myself so I cannot say much about it. I have just read a lot of reviews and comparisons and Acer wins there most of the time.

My monitor has some small issues like some dirt behind the screen (size of a pixel) and some light bleed in lower right corner. Dirt is not bothering me at all as I cannot see it unless I look closer or have a really bright one-coloured background behind it. Light bleed can be seen easily on black background but I do not notice it at all during normal use. I could return the monitor to OcUK but I decided to keep it as it is a joy to use.

Acer is a bit of a lottery right now as you could get one with bad pixels. Personally if I were you, I would wait for the new Acer batch to arrive and then order it when it gets confirmed that they have fixed issues like bad pixels, dirt, light bleed.
 
I have a ROG Swift side by side with a 60hz IPS and I can't say that the colours are any better on the IPS

This. I have the ROG SWIFT now, and when I bought it I had a Dell2713HM as well as a Iiyama also IPS 27" cant remember the name now. The Iiyama was glossy so the colours where noticeably better (but the reflection issue was terrible and it had backlight bleed which was horrible). As for the highly praised Dell 2713HM vs ROG SWIFT, I really cant tell the difference in colour quality unless I put them side by side and then the difference is VERY SMALL. the ROG SWIFT is not your typical trash TN high refresh gamer panel, it is very very good quality.

However, since you have the choice (when I bought my ROG SWIFT it was the only gamer 1440p screen) you could wait for the Asus ROG IPS version of the swift coming soon, if the stories for bad QA of the Acer (yeah, Acer, trash quality as always) bother you.
 
TN will never match IPS for "overall" image quality, colour accuracy nor viewing angles, there is a reason graphic designers, photographers etc. use IPS and not TN :p Personally the only time I would consider a TN is if it was 24" or less, contrast shift annoys me far too much. TN is certainly a lot better these days though.

The majority of people who have the acer and swift have said there is no comparison as to which one to choose when side by side, check the existing threads on here and over at overclock.net

afaic there is no reason to pick the swift or any TN panel when you have 144hz IPS screens now, just need to read TFTcentral and other highly regarded monitor review sites to see this..... however, I wouldn't touch the acer screen due to the issues but then the swift isn't exactly free of problems either, unfortunately picking any monitor seems to be a lottery these days.

I would hold out for another month or 2 for more 144HZ IPS screens to come out.

edit:

and yes, 90% of the photos are stupidly over exposed, which makes bleed and glow look far worse than what it really is.

Backlight bleed is not down to the IPS, it is down to the assembly of the chassis, TN can and has suffered bleed issues as well.
 
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I've had both. Got the Acer first and it was great, the backlight bleed on mine wasn't bad....but.... After a few days I had 5 dead pixels appear. Also I came from a 144Hz TN panel and in my opinion the Acer IPS 144Hz was more "blurry" in fast paced games, not really bad but I noticed it. This is something that is really important to me. Also the Acer build quality is well below par for a £700 premium monitor, very cheap looking plastics, basic OSD, reminded me of a "Fleabay" Korean monitor style.

So now I have just picked up a ROG Swift and I'm very happy with it, no dead or stuck pixels (touch wood). The colours do "pop" more on the Acer IPS but to be honest the ROG swift colours are great for TN and I think it looks really good, I have it next to another 24" TN panel and the difference between the two is night and day with the ROG Swift being much better. I don't noticed the gamma shift but I do sit straight in front of it. Playing games on the ROG Swift is a joy, looks so beautiful and so buttery smooth with gsync and motion blurr is just less on the Swift than the Acer in my opinion. As for build quality, style, OSD menu, premium feel, the ASUS ROG is miles ahead of the Acer.

I'm not a colour reproduction expert, or super super picky (although quite picky lol). All the above is based on my opinion of owning both and for me it's got to be the ROG Swift. It's just a better polished product, beautiful gaming/desktop experience, so smooth and snappy feeling.

Also as others have mentioned ASUS are bringing out a 144hz IPS model, so if you was going to wait that would be interesting to see.
 
I found the gamma awful on the Swift and it made the picture look faded (mine was about 1.8 which is way off, it should be 2.2), theres no way to adjust it on the OSD either. The only way is though the Nvidia control panel, but then you get colour banding and some games will over-ride it.
 
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I've got the ROG picked it up with a great saving. For a TN panel the colours are awesome next to a cheaper Asus TN I run.
 
I found the gamma awful on the Swift and it made the picture look faded (mine was about 1.8 which is way off, it should be 2.2), theres no way to adjust it on the OSD either. The only way is though the Nvidia control panel, but then you get colour banding and some games will over-ride it.

That's what mine is on the way back for. Was about 1.6 in center.
 
With the Computex 2015 pictures of the Asus IPS PG279Q making it look like it has got the exact same bottom right corner backlight bleeding issues as the Acer, I'm increasingly tempted by the good ol' ROG swift to be honest. That yellow puddle looks horrid. :/
 
Interesting thread I have a Samsung S27A750D 120hz and was looking for something better I have looked at the new Acer and the Asus but cannot make my mind up anyone else? I think I would prefer less blur but it seems such a tough choice. Is it worth waiting a little longer for the new Asus IPS? anyone know when that's due? Hate waiting though.:D
 
One thing people forget to mention is the Swift has a terrible AR film. The Acer's is much better.
 
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