Asus ROG Strix XG438Q – almost my next monitor

Details

4K monitors are no longer unusual today. However, when labels like 120 Hz, HDR or FreeSync complement 4K, more than one player will start paying attention. I consider the ROG Strix XG438Q to be one of the most interesting gaming monitors on the market, as it has long been on my personal watchlist, too. Let’s take a look at this oversized breathtaking gaming display.

Basic specs

Packaging and equipment

In addition to the monitor, the package includes a power adapter, documentation, two HDMI cables, USB type B for connection to a PC, a remote control and an RGB light. Interestingly, one of the HDMI cables is up to 5 meters long, which is quite unconventional.

The massive stand is already automatically attached to the display, so you won’t have to deal with complicated manipulation with such a large and heavy monitor. In case you would like to mount the monitor on a wall, it also offers VESA 100 × 100 mounting holes.

As already mentioned, the stand is part of the monitor right out of the box.

The front view shows us even 1.5 cm frames on all sides of the display and an ROG logo on the lower chin.

The back offers another large ROG logo as well as the typical futuristic pattern you already know from ROG products.

If you take a closer look at the bottom left edge, you can see a removable connectivity cover, or at least its lower half. The cover also has a slight hole for cable entry.

The lower part of the ports offers a pair of HDMI 2.0, one DisplayPort 1.4, micro USB type B for connecting the RGB light and a power connector.

On the left side is another part of the ports, which is available with no cover. There is a third HDMI 2.0, a pair of USB with a speed of 5 Gb/s and one USB type B connector for connection to a PC. We will also find a pair of 3.5 mm audio jacks for microphone and headphones.

The dimensions of the monitor are difficult to present on the images, so a comparison will be most appropriate. You can see the difference between 27 and 43 inches in the picture. The ROG monitor is thus significantly larger than the LG for comparison.

The package mentioned an RGB light. It attaches to the monitor between the arms of the stand and connects with a USB cable to the bottom part of the connectivity.

The monitor can then project the ROG logo onto the table.

The backlight has various colors and there is also synchronization via Aura Sync with your computer.

As it is a large monitor and the legs are firmly attached to the back, the monitor does not offer any height or pivot positioning.

You can only adjust the tilt of the monitor from -5 to +10 degrees.

Backlight bleed is difficult to evaluate on the monitor because, unlike other tested displays, it offers FALD backlighting, i.e. several individually backlit zones. You can see the difference between turning the local backlight on and off in the picture on the left and right. The display offers a small number of individually backlit zones, as you can see; in the active mode, areas of the screen that should not be lit are also backlit. The reason is the number and size of individual zones. More expensive models offer a higher number of individually backlit zones thanks to the use of FALD. For full-featured HDR backlighting, either an OLED or a miniLED panel would be required. This is such an intermediate step between the classic single backlighting of the entire screen and individual illuminating pixels.

4K monitors are no longer unusual today. However, when labels like 120 Hz, HDR or FreeSync complement 4K, more than one player will start paying attention. I consider the ROG Strix XG438Q to be one of the most interesting gaming monitors on the market, as it has long been on my personal watchlist, too. Let’s take a look at this oversized breathtaking gaming display.

Settings and options

For controls, there are four buttons on the right edge of the display and a multi-directional joystick.

The package also includes a remote control, which strongly implies the use of the monitor as a TV. And this may not be a problem at all with these dimensions.

The OSD menu offers a wide range of settings from gaming modes, through functions such as timer, fps counter or crosshair, to brightness, gamma or contrast adjustments.

Next, there are settings of Overdrive, FreeSync, local backlight or PiP and PbP.

Of course, there is an input selection and in the settings you can also change the color of the RGB backlight, customize quick button actions or the backlight indicator.

For easier controls, the manufacturer also offers the DisplayWidget application, where you can control all aspects of the monitor without having to click through the OSD menu.

It is worth noting the MultiFrame function, which allows you to divide the screen into several parts for different applications. This functionality is built into Windows, but MultiFrame offers far more modes and customization options.

PiP with the displaying of secondary image in all four corners is also worth mentioning.

And three display sizes.

There is also a PbP mode, which allows the simultaneous display of 2,3 and even 4 sources at once with different window positions.

You can also control which input you want to use the audio output from.

4K monitors are no longer unusual today. However, when labels like 120 Hz, HDR or FreeSync complement 4K, more than one player will start paying attention. I consider the ROG Strix XG438Q to be one of the most interesting gaming monitors on the market, as it has long been on my personal watchlist, too. Let’s take a look at this oversized breathtaking gaming display.

Image properties

We tested the properties of the display using the Datacolor Spyder5Elite color analyzer. The display has a 43″ VA matrix type with a traditional 16:9 aspect ratio, a resolution of 3840 × 2160 px, anti-glare treatment and even frames on three sides. It’s a really big monitor that most users will have to get used to. I used 43″ a year ago after switching from a pair of 27″ monitors. If you have enough space on your desk, I can only recommend large displays. I’m currently using up to a 55″ screen. But back to XG438Q. In addition to the large size, the monitor is particularly interesting for its gaming features and thus the 120 Hz refresh rate and support for AMD FreeSync 2. I can also confirm the compatibility with G-Sync, which I have tested. The display also boasts of VESA DisplayHDR 600 certification, which is a higher version of the traditional 400 that we see on most monitors.

We compared the display quality in the basic mode, i.e. the one in which the monitor will be immediately after unpacking. In this case, it is Racing, i.e. racing mode. We measured over 100% sRGB, 85% AdobeRGB, 97% DCI-P3 and 84% NTSC. These are really good values for a gaming monitor. In particular, the DCI-P3 value is really good. In the dedicated sRGB mode, the values have hardly changed, which is a real surprise. The average color difference of Delta E has changed from 2.15 to 2.01, i.e. to a better value, and also gamma has slightly improved and exactly copies the value of 2.2 with 0 deviation. However, the tax for the sRGB mode is reduced brightness to about 179 nits.

The monitor offers three Gamma modes – 1.8, 2.2 and 2.5. The measured values are 1.9, 2.2, 2.5. The maximum measured brightness is 441 nits in the basic mode, which is only slightly less than the presented 450 nits. Uniformity measurement is difficult due to the zone backlighting, as we showed in the first chapter. The displayed values must therefore be taken with a grain of salt. Also, zones measured by the color analyzer are really big in this case. The reason is the fact that in such a measurement, the area of the display is divided into 9 parts – 3 vertical and 3 horizontal, and measurements are subsequently performed in these areas. However, the area of the display is relatively large, so one part on which it is measured is relatively large. Therefore, minor backlight imperfections during the measurement might not be captured well.

Input Lag and Response Time

We also measured input lag on the monitor in several Overdrive modes.

The default Level 3 setting has an input lag of 15.5 ms. Changing to the lowest Level 0 increases the value to 16.1 ms and, conversely, drops it to 14.9 ms at the highest Level 5. These are not world-class values, we’ve already had monitors with values below 10 ms, but at the same time the values are still in the norm.

On the manufacturer’s website you will find information about 4 ms response time GTG, i.e. pixel recovery speed. The default value of Level 3 is probably the most sensible choice to eliminate ghosting and at the same time to prevent even worse inverse ghosting, which is enormous at Level 5. Personally, I would recommend not to change the OD and leave it at Level 3.

4K monitors are no longer unusual today. However, when labels like 120 Hz, HDR or FreeSync complement 4K, more than one player will start paying attention. I consider the ROG Strix XG438Q to be one of the most interesting gaming monitors on the market, as it has long been on my personal watchlist, too. Let’s take a look at this oversized breathtaking gaming display.

Conclusion

Asus ROG Strix XG438Q is a gigantic gaming monitor that draws you into the action and provides a really good gaming experience. It’s done thanks to a high resolution, 120 Hz refresh rate in combination with FreeSync/G-Sync for smooth motion and also HDR support at a slightly higher level than conventional monitors. In addition to gaming, the monitor will also be good for work thanks to surprisingly good color reproduction and decent port selection or PbP, PiP and MultiFrame functions for advanced multitasking.

HDR content is a bit better than usual thanks to the backlit zones, but on the contrary, when displaying black, the effect of switching on the individual zones is strongly visible, which has a particularly disturbing effect on me. You will still need an OLED/miniLED panel for a full HDR experience.

The second negative is the relatively high price of the monitor, although we are still not at the very top of the monitor market. The price of around 1,100 euros really belongs to the highest range we’ve had for a test, and for this money the customer certainly expects the best. As I mentioned, I’ve also been dealing with this dilemma and the XG438Q was promising to become my next monitor.

I was especially attracted to its pro-computer orientation thanks to DisplayPort, USB hub and FreeSync/G-Sync, but in the end I reached for a 55″ OLED from LG, which primarily serves as a TV though, but thanks to HDMI 2.1 and support from Nvidia also offers an ideal connection to a PC thanks to G-Sync. The main factor for buying an OLED in addition to picture quality and HDR was the price, which a year ago was lower than the current price tag of the XG438Q, and that was something I could not overcome. Of course, these were my personal preferences, but the fact that the XG438Q managed to be one of the two real candidates for my upgrade I consider a success and definitely a compliment for this monitor.

You can buy the monitor at our partner’s website czc.cz for 27,609 Czk/1,050 Eur

• Contents
• Details
• Settings and options
• Image properties
• Conclusion