Asus - Asus ROG Strix XG35VQ

Asus

Asus ROG Strix XG35VQ: a curved 35-inch FreeSync 100 Hz monitor

Aprox. 799€

See specifications

Following in the footsteps of the excellent Asus ROG Swift PG348Q monitor, the Asus ROG Strix XG35VQ is the second panoramic player monitor marketed by the Taiwanese manufacturer. It remains to be seen whether it is of the same caliber.

Positive points

Definition WQHD comfortable.

100 Hz FreeSync compatible.

Good size / definition ratio for the game.

Contrast.

Radius of curvature favoring immersion.

Bad points

Limited connectivity for a FreeSync model.

No backlight scanning (ULMB).

Foot depth.

Our review

Presentation

If the Asus ROG PG348Q is G-Sync compatible, the Asus ROG Strix XG35VQ chooses the FreeSync which allows (like the G-Sync) to dynamically adjust the screen refresh according to the number of frames per second sent by the graphics card. However, G-Sync works with Nvidia GeForce graphics cards, while FreeSync is only supported by AMD Radeon graphics cards. Asus has also made other technological choices. The 34 inch 100 Hz IPS panel is replaced by a 35 inch VA panel curved over a radius of 1.8 m (1800R). It displays a UWQHD definition of 3440 x 1440 px and the maximum refresh rate is 100 Hz.

The Asus ROG Strix XG35VQ is a little more affordable than the Asus PG348Q: it is sold for around € 850, compared to just over € 1,000 for the latter. It competes with the AOC Agon AG352UCG (35 inches VA, G-Sync, 100 Hz, around € 900), the Acer Predator Z35P (35 inches VA, G-Sync, 100 Hz, around € 1,000) and also with the Philips 349X7F (34 inch VA, FreeSync, 100 Hz, less than 800 €).


Presentation

Ergonomics

As on the PG348Q, the gaming design is affirmed by an imposing foot which stabilizes the curved slab of 35 inches. The screen edges are quite thin, and the covering of the screen is matt.

The imposing foot is adjustable in height by 11.5 cm. The inclination is adjustable between -5 ° and + 20 °. The panel does not switch to portrait mode - which is not really important on a panoramic monitor, which is more curved -, but the stand is rotatable by ± 50 °. As always with ROG monitors, the various adjustments are made smoothly, without any squeak.

The design of the back of the monitor is particularly worked. The connectors are hidden behind a removable hatch which hides the connectors and part of the cables. The base of the stand serves as a cable management system. In addition, there are two light systems: one at the base of the stand which projects the ROG logo on the desk, and the other in the form of a halo on the back of the monitor. The system allows you to configure the lighting and use the Asus Aura Sync system to synchronize the lights with other devices from the brand.

The connection is rather light for a FreeSync screen. There are simply two inputs (an HDMI 1.4 and an HDMI 2.0), a DisplayPort input, the only one capable of handling the UWQHD definition at 100 Hz, two USB 3.0 ports and a headphone output. The screen also ignores the built-in speakers.

The four buttons on the side are used to turn on the monitor and access the various shortcuts. The joystick allows you to navigate the OSD settings very intuitively; in our opinion it is the best system to access the different settings. And there are many: brightness, contrast, temperature, saturation, overdrive, blue light filter, source, position of the OSD, etc. The Light In Motion menu manages the lights.

The imposing foot, 31.7 cm deep, occupies more than half of our 60 cm office. It will therefore be necessary to provide a desk deep enough not to be too close to the screen.

In length, however, on our fairly standard 140 x 60 cm desk, the 35-inch Asus ROG is ultimately not that big - only the depth of the stand can be a problem.

By lowering the brightness to 22 to obtain a white at 150 cd / m², the Asus ROG Strix XG35VQ monitor consumes 35 W, ie a relative consumption of only 79 W / m², much lower than the average of monitors (100 W / m²) . At the minimum of the brightness (53 cd / m²), it consumes 27 W and rises to 60 W at the maximum (305 cd / m²).


Ergonomics

Colors and contrast

Default: average gray temperature: 7,250 K.

Default: gamma curve at 2.3.

Default: Delta E average at 3.0.

By default, this Asus XG35VQ monitor is far from perfect. Although the temperature and gamma curves are fairly stable, they do not really follow the reference values. The average temperature is measured at 7,250 K, quite far from the expected standard (6,500 K), which results in a screen that is too cold. The average gamma is 2.3, a little above the reference 2.2. As for the average delta E - difference between the expected colors and the displayed colors - it reaches 3, the threshold below which the eye can no longer tell the difference. However, several shades exceed the famous Delta E by 3 (red, yellow, green, indigo).

Manual adjustment: average gray temperature: 6,570 K.

Manual adjustment: gamma curve at 2.3.

Manual adjustment: Delta E medium at 2.5.

The sRGB mode ensures the best rendering without manual calibration, but it does not allow you to adjust the brightness, which is frozen at 182 cd / m². The temperature sticks almost perfectly to the reference curve with an average of 6,570 K and the color fidelity increases again (average delta E at 2.5). Only the gamma retains a slightly too high value (2,3), which results in a slight under-exposure of the colors.

Calibrated: average gray temperature: 6,550 K.

Calibrated: gamma curve at 2.2.

Calibrated: average delta E at 1.3.

Calibrating the monitor with an ICC profile perfectly smoothes the gamma curve, further improves color fidelity (average delta E at 1.3) and allows perfectly stable gamma and temperature curves to be obtained. The rendering is simply perfect. You can download this color profile on this link. Small precision, we performed the calibration from the sRGB preset.

The contrast ratio measured at 2380: 1 is good for a monitor. It ensures good black depth, whether in movies or games, but it is far from that offered by the best VA monitors, such as the AOC Q3279VWF, Textorm TX32 and Philips BDM4037UW which exceed 4,000: 1.

The average difference in homogeneity is measured at only 10% over the entire 35-inch panel and we did not find any clouding. However, we can see some light leaks appear in the corners. Finally, VA technology offers lower viewing angles than those of IPS, but they are slightly offset by the curve of the screen.


Colors and contrast

Reactivity

The Asus ROG XG35VQ does not use Pulse Width Modulation (PWM) to adjust the power of the backlight, and therefore the brightness. This modulation usually varies the intensity of the LEDs cyclically, a phenomenon which is perceived as flickering by certain sensitive people. In some rare cases, this modulation can induce eyestrain and headaches. So there is no such problem with this monitor.

This monitor manages FreeSync between 40 and 100 Hz and therefore works optimally when the graphics card sends between 40 and 100 images per second - a fairly wide range which is suitable for the QHD definition of the screen. In the operating range, fluidity is at the rendezvous and the image does not suffer from tearing problems or jerks (micro-stuttering).

By default, the overdrive is set to Normal, but the setting to fast allows a remanence time of 10 ms, without ghosting effect. As often, switching to the Extreme setting results in the appearance of a reverse ghosting phenomenon (a negative trail appears behind a moving object) which is quite annoying. We therefore prefer the Quick setting, which already offers satisfactory performance. With a remanence time of 10 ms and a refresh rate of 100 Hz, this monitor can actually display 100 images per second, which is excellent, especially for a model of this size. On the other hand, compared to the other 35-inch VA monitors, the AOC AG352UCG and the Acer Predator Z35P measured at 9 and 8.5 ms respectively, the reactivity is a little less good.

Finally, we measured the delay in the display (input lag) at 12.5 ms. There is thus no offset between the source and the monitor. This monitor is therefore perfect for gaming, but it is also suitable for office automation thanks to its very comfortable definition.


Reactivity

Conclusion

The Asus ROG Strix XG35VQ is a very good panoramic monitor for gaming. Thanks to its good image quality, its good contrast and its more than adequate reactivity, it shouldn't be ashamed of the competition. The choice will be made above all on the design, since all the 34 or 35 inch models equipped with a VA panel offer almost the same benefits.


Conclusion

Specifications