Holy Gaben, all of the other monitor vendors churning out new displays this year have just seen the biggest fish of them all – the ASUS MG279Q. This is a really unique offering in the display space – not only is this ASUS’ first 120Hz IPS monitor (which is a bit of a holy grail itself, as IPS panels have traditionally only been seen at 60Hz maximums) but it also supports the Displayport 1.2a Adaptive Sync standard. What’s the distinction here and why is it not advertising FreeSync compatibility? Hit the jump to find out.
Firstly, the MG279Q is almost a perfect mesh of different display techs coming together to create a super-monitor. It is a 120Hz 2560 x 1440 IPS display that might also come with a strobed backlight. There’s a highly adjustable stand allowing for tilt and pivot movement and it has some cable management at the rear. Ports-wise, it offers Displayport 1.2a, mini-Displayport 1.2 and two HDMI 2.0 ports.
ASUS’ press release mentions a separate MHL 2.0 port, but this is probably a typo and only applicable to one of the HDMI ports. The minimum refresh rate for the MG279Q is 40Hz, but ASUS has said they are working on getting that town to 30Hz if the panels they are using can hold the image at that rate without artifacting.
Along with the jaw-dropping price of $599 at launch, expected sometime in Q1 2015, the MG279Q is also the first display to not officially be labeled as FreeSync compatible. It will support Adaptive Refresh rates, however, as PC Perspective learned when asking AMD’s Robert Hallock about the situation.
“After talking with AMD’s Robert Hallock at the show, he confirmed that AMD will not have a whitelist/blacklist policy for FreeSync displays and that as long as a monitor adheres to the standards of DP 1.2a+ then they will operate in the variable refresh rate window as defined by the display’s EDID.”
Upcoming FreeSync-enabled monitors |
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| Manufacturer | Model | Size | Resolution | Max Refresh | Price |
| BenQ | XL2730Z | 27-inch | 2560 x 1440 | 144Hz | TBA |
| LG Electronics | 29UM67 | 29-inch | 2560 x 1080 | 75Hz | TBA |
| LG Electronics | 34UM67 | 34-inch | 3440 x 1440 | 75Hz | TBA |
| ASUS | MG279Q | 27-inch | 2560 x 1440 | 144Hz | $599 |
| Nixeus | NX-VUE24 | 24-inch | 1920 x 1080 | 144Hz | TBA |
| Samsung | UE590 | 23.6-inch | 3840 x 2160 | 60Hz | TBA |
| Samsung | UE590 | 28-inch | 3840 x 2160 | 60Hz | TBA |
| Samsung | UE850 | 23.6-inch | 3840 x 2160 | 60Hz | TBA |
| Samsung | UE850 | 28-inch | 3840 x 2160 | 60Hz | TBA |
| Samsung | UE850 | 31.5-inch | 3840 x 2160 | 60Hz | TBA |
| Viewsonic | VX2701MH | 27-inch | 1920 x 1080 | 144Hz | TBA |
That’s significant for anyone wondering what’s going to happen with Nvidia’s GSync. At some point, Nvidia is going to have to allow their graphics cards to work with monitors support variable refresh rates that don’t have GSync scalers in them. It’ll be a tricky thing for them to negotiate, as they would then have to figure out how to continue development on GSync and make it better than the open VESA standard that FreeSync is based on.
Its very likely that some time next year, Nvidia will push out updates that will allow Maxwell GPUs to work with this monitor’s variable refresh feature. Keep your eyes open for more news on the ASUS MG279Q, its going to be a very interesting monitor for gamers in the coming months.
Source: PC Perspective