ASUS TUF VG27AQ Gaming Monitor Review

Best Features

• 2K HDR IPS Panel
• 165Hz Refresh Rate
• 1ms Response Time
• ELMB Technology
• Adaptive Sync

The ASUS TUF VG27AQ is great for productivity because its high resolution results in excellent text clarity and screen space.

It is a gaming monitor, so it checks all the boxes, and the budget pricing makes this monitor a true champion for gamers.

Further, the HDR certification, great reflection handling, and wide viewing angles make it suitable for entertainment and media creation.

Productivity

Gaming

Entertainment

Media Creation

Front

Monitor Type – Flat
Width – 62 cm
Height – 37.7 cm

The ASUS TUF VG27AQ looks like a proper gaming monitor from the front. It has an all-black display frame, and the stand is also finished in black. The bottom bezel has ASUS branding in the middle, and on the left side, you get HDMI branding.

There are markings for OSD menu buttons on the right bezel, and apart from that, the monitor looks plain from the front. The TUF VG27AQ looks bold, and it has that modern gaming monitor look, but it hardly suits office desks.

Back

Depth – 21.1 cm
VESA Mount – 100x100mm
Ports Position – Down-Facing

The back is finished in black, and it is mostly plain except for the top part, which has a textured finish and a bold ASUS logo in it. You will notice a lot of sharp cuts and edges on this monitor, which gives it an aggressive look.

There are vents on the back on either side for heat to dissipate to maintain the panel’s optimum performance. The monitor has 21.1 cm depth with the stand, so it sits a little farther from the wall, eating a little bit of room, but it is in the same range as other adjustable monitors, so no complaints.

Bezels 7/10

Thinness – 1 cm

The bezels on the ASUS TUF VG27AQ are a little bit thicker compared to most modern monitors.

However, it should create a problem if this is going to be the only monitor on your desk, but on a dual setup, the black bars will be 2 cm, so that might not give you the luxury of a continuous view.

Build Quality 8/10

Weight – 14.11 lbs

The build quality is excellent on the ASUS TUF VG27AQ. It is entirely plastic, but it is of outstanding quality, and it overall feels very sturdy. There are no gaps and spaces between the parts.

Stand 8/10

Removable Stand – Yes
Cable Management – Yes

The stand on the ASUS TUF VG27AQ has a squarish footprint, and it does not take much space on the desk despite holding a big monitor.

The stand is sturdy and has a minimum wobble, keeping the monitor stable at its highest height. It has decent cable management to route the cables from the inputs to down the desk.

Ergonomics 9/10

Tilt – 33° Backward, 5° Forward
Swivel – 60° Left, 60° Right
Height – 13 cm
Pivot – Both Ways

The ASUS TUF VG27AQ has excellent ergonomics, a very wide tilt, swivel, and height range. It swivels 60-degrees on both sides, so it is excellent for sharing the screen with a colleague or client.

It pivots 90-degrees from both sides, making it one of the best vertical gaming monitors. The portrait orientation helps in many ways, so if you are looking for a vertical monitor, do check out our guide.

Panel

Panel Type – IPS
Panel Size – 27″

The panel on the ASUS TUF VG27AQ is IPS. You can expect great colors and wide viewing angles from this IPS panel. It is a great panel, and the screen size is perfect. The 27″ suits most purposes because of its large form factor.

Screen Clarity 8/10

Resolution – QHD | 2560 x 1440 pixels
PPI – 109 PPI

The screen clarity is excellent on the ASUS TUF VG27AQ. It is far better than 1080p monitors, but not as good as 4K beasts. The screen offers a decent amount of space due to its tight arrangement of pixels, and the texts appear super crisp.

It is superb for gaming because the games look crystal clear, and the minor details look beautiful but make sure your computer is powerful enough to play games at 1440p 165Hz.

Brightness 7/10

Peak Brightness – 320-nits

The brightness levels on the ASUS TUF VG27AQ are decent. It can reach a max of 320-nits while displaying SDR content. It is not the highest in the segment, but the visibility in well-lit rooms is acceptable.

There is an anti-glare, matte coating on display, eliminating most glares and reflections, but there is still visible glare when you put this monitor in front of a light. The cheaper Alienware AW2521HF has a brighter panel than this at 400-nits if you are looking for a bright monitor.

Contrast 6/10

Contrast Ratio – 1200:1

IPS panels don’t have great contrasts, and they usually fail to deliver a good dark room performance. It is not the case with ASUS TUF VG27AQ because, surprisingly, it has a slightly better static contrast ratio than most IPS monitors.

The 1200:1 contrast ratio results in an acceptable dark room performance, but the black uniformity is still not as good as VA monitors. The gray uniformity is excellent, though, and there is no local dimming feature on this monitor.

Viewing Angles 10/10

Viewing Angles (H/V) – 178°/178°

The viewing angles are excellent on the ASUS VG27AQ, as you would expect from an IPS monitor. The images do not shift their colors, making it great for multi-player gaming sessions.

Color Coverage 7/10

NTSC – 72%
sRGB – 99%
Adobe RGB – 71%

This color coverage is basic with IPS panels. The 99% sRGB delivers rich colors for most content, and the overall panel seems color-rich.

However, it lacks wide color coverage as the 71% AdobeRGB is not enough for professional photo-editing and printing purposes. Due to the lack of wide color gamut coverage, the HDR performance is mediocre on this one.

Response Time 10/10

Minimum Response Time – 1ms
Average Response Time – 4ms

The ASUS TUF VG27AQ has excellent response time at its max refresh rate. There are six overdrive settings in the OSD, which make a noticeable difference. At the max refresh rate, the motion appears a little bit blurry, but there is no pixel overshoot at response time set to medium, resulting in a ghosting-free gaming experience.

Response time at the fastest setting has some strange white artifact, so we recommend setting the response time at medium at max refresh rate. Dark transitions have noticeable blur, and you might need to play with the overdrive settings for the best results.

Refresh Rate 9/10

Max Refresh Rate – 165Hz

The ASUS TUF VG27AQ can reach max 165Hz, but we recommend you to set it at 144Hz because it performs the best at 144Hz and has less overshoot. The slowest response time overdrive works best at 60Hz, so if you have a gaming console that does not support high refresh rate gaming, make sure you set it at the slowest setting.

Overall, the motions appear super smooth, and if you are coming from a 60Hz monitor, this will feel a lot smoother and will take your gaming experience to the next level.

BFI 10/10

Black Frame Insertion – Yes

The ASUS TUF VG27AQ has backlight strobing technology, and ASUS calls it Extreme Low Motion Blur (ELMB). It has ELMB sync that works together with Adaptive Sync to deliver a clear and ghosting-free gaming experience.

When you enable ELMB sync, the screen becomes a little dark because of the black frame insertion. The BFI works at the entire monitor’s refresh rate range, which is excellent.

HDR 6/10

HDR 10 – Yes
HDR Peak Brightness – 350-nits

The ASUS TUF VG27AQ is HDR 10 certified. It supports HDR gaming, but your CPU should be powerful enough to run HDR games at optimum frame rates.

It has noticeable HDR performance, but it is minor because the HDR peak brightness is not that high, and it does not cover a wide color gamut which is crucial for HDR performance.

ELMB Sync

The ELMB Sync is Extreme Low Motion Blur Sync that makes work backlight strobing with Adaptive Sync so that motions look clear while playing fast-paced games.

Adaptive Sync

AMD FreeSync – Yes
Nvidia G-Sync – Compatible

The ASUS TUF VG27AQ has adaptive sync, so it has full VRR support, meaning it is compatible with AMD FreeSync and Nvidia G-Sync at its whole refresh rate range.

Multi-HDR Modes

The ASUS TUF VG27AQ lets you choose between various HDR modes, and you can set one of them based on the current viewing scenario. It boosts the brightness and colors to deliver the best possible HDR viewing experience.

Shadow Boost

It is a feature that boosts the visibility of visuals in the dark scenes by increasing the contrast so that the enemies hidden in the dark are exposed. It is great for playing games or watching movies that have dark scenes

GamePlus

The ASUS TUF VG27AQ has GamePlus functions, and it has a dedicated hotkey on the monitor to access the features. It boasts a sniper function, crosshair, timer, fps counter, and display alignment.

Game Visual

The Game Visual function also has a dedicated hotkey on the monitor with seven modes: Racing, MOBA, Cinema, RTS/RPG, FPS, sRGB, and Scenery. It optimizes the visuals and delivers the best possible viewing experience to the users.

Flicker-Free Tech

The Flicker-Free Tech reduces flicker, so your eyes do not strain. It works at all brightness levels and ensures that you get a consistent and clear gaming experience.

Low Blue Light Mode

The low blue light mode reduces harmful blue light and makes the screen color temperature warm so your eyes do not strain and you can stare at the screen for a long time.

Video Inputs 8/10

2x HDMI 2.0
1x DisplayPort 1.2

The ASUS TUF VG27AQ has dual HDMI ports and a single DisplayPort. The HDMI follows the latest standard, so you will be able to achieve the monitor’s max refresh rate via HDMI.

The DisplayPort is an excellent added option if you have a gaming console or another device that you would like your monitor to be connected to all the time.

USB, Other Ports 4/10

1x 3.5mm Audio Out

It has a single 3.5mm audio out port for connecting headphones or speakers, but it does not have USB ports, which is disappointing. The cheaper Alienware AW2521HF has multiple USB ports.