Tom is a UK-based word spewer with a taste for everything weird and wonderful about games kick-started by a transformative play-through of Metal Gear Solid many moons ago. Adores Hollow Knight, probably a bit too much.
WePC is reader-supported. When you buy through links on our site, we may earn an affiliate commission. Prices subject to change. Learn more
Last Updated:
Although we’ve known about the Asus ROG Swift PG259QN and its whooping 360 Hz refresh rate since CES 2020 back in January, Asus has announced that the gaming monitor will hit store shelves this September.
Dubbed the ‘World’s Fastest eSports Gaming Monitor,’ the ROG Swift 360Hz PG259QN main selling point is the dizzyingly high refresh rate. It comes at the cost of other features, though, with these taking a significant hit compared to other monitors on the market. Asus clearly sacrificed high-resolution fidelity for the sake of the super speedy panel. Still, it should please those looking for ‘silky-smooth gameplay and ultra-realistic visuals’ bolstered by NVIDIA’s blessing in the shape of G-Sync support.
The NVIDIA angle is important given the imminent arrival of the Ampere GeForce RTX 30-series Ampere GPUs – indeed hitting 360 Hz will require one beastly GPU. Here’s what Asus has to say about the refresh rate:
“ROG Swift 360 Hz PG259QN is ideal for fast-paced esports titles like Counter-Strike: Global Offensive, Rainbow Six: Siege, Overwatch, and Fortnite. In a world where milliseconds count, the blazing-fast 360 Hz refresh rate is the difference between victory and defeat.
In the world of competitive sports, a 4% difference is a game-changer. To put this into context, in the 2016 Summer Olympics, 1% determined the difference between silver and gold in both men’s and women’s 100m and 200m dashes.”
As for the other specifications, the Asus ROG Swift PG259QN features the following:
- AU Optronics 24.5-inch Fast IPS panel with liquid crystal elements
- FHD 1920 x 1080 resolution
- 16:9 ratio
- 1 ms gray-to-gray (GTG) response time
- 1000:1 contrast ratio
- 16.7M display colors
- 400 cd/㎡ maximum brightness
- HDR10 compatible compatibility
- NVIDIA Ultra Low Motion Blur
- Flicker-Free technology
- ASUS Ultra-Low Blue Light technology
- Integrated GamePlus hotkey customization
- ASUS GameVisual Technology
To handle the 360 Hz refresh rate, Asus has pieced together what it calls an ‘intelligent cooling system’ centered on a large custom heat sink to offer more surface area coverage to dissipate heat.
Looking at the design of the monitor, it incorporates an anti-glare Bezel via a special non-reflective coating on the bottom bezel that helps reduce onscreen reflections. The indicator light has been re-positioned to the underside of the bezel to limit distractions while gaming. The stand also lands some love with an ergonomically-focused redesign – 0-120 mm height adjustment, +25°~-25° swivel, 0°~90° clockwise pivot, +20° ~ -5° tilt, less front obstruction so you won’t be battling to shoehorn your keyboard between the stand’s legs, and a hollowed-out gap for smart cable management.
The ROG Swift PG259QN also includes Asus’ Aura Sync Lightin for ambient lighting synchronization with other Aura-enabled components and peripherals. As for connectivity, the ROG Swift PG259QN offers a 3.5 mm headphone jack, HDMI 2.0, Display Port 1.4, and a duo of USB 3.0 ports.
Asus stopped short of sharing an exact availability date. However, we do know the ROG Swift PG259QN will retail for the princely sum of $699/£629.
