ASUS ROG Swift OLED PG27UCDM Gaming Monitor Review - 27-inch 4K 240Hz for $1099

TweakTown Rating: 91%

Our Verdict

ASUS's PG27UCDM offers incredible gaming performance and stunning visuals, but it's priced far above the competition, which offers the same gaming experience for $200 less. If you can catch it on sale, it's an obvious choice.

Pros

• Brighter than competition
• Incredible sharpness
• Awesome in-game performance
• 90W USB-C charging port

Cons

• Price vs. competition
• OLED Care can be annoying

Should you buy it?

AvoidConsiderShortlistBuy

Buy at Amazon for $1140.69 USD

Buy at Newegg for $1209.98 USD

Buy at Amazon for $1798 CAD

Buy at Newegg for $1798 CAD

Buy at PC Case Gear for $1999 AUD

Introduction & Specification Details and Close-up

ASUS is no stranger to the gaming monitor market. It has launched its version of the latest QD-OLED gaming monitor variant, a 27-inch 4K display capable of hitting 240Hz.

A quick look at the ASUS ROG PG27UCDM

The 27-inch 4K 240Hz QD-OLED panel is aimed directly at gamers that care about pixel density, or the sharpness of the image. While I would typically recommend increasing the panel size at this level of pixel density, 166PPI, these 27-inch panels are quickly winning me over with their impeccably crisp images. Throughout this review I will be comparing the ASUS PG27UCDM against the MSI 272URX and Alienware AW2725Q.

All three of these monitors use the exact same QD-OLED panel from Samsung, which means raw performance is the same. However, there are some differences, such as whether you are in the market to pick up one of these new beastly displays, which may or may not be deal breakers. Firstly, ASUS has launched the PG27UCDM at an MSRP of $1,099, while the Alienware AW2725Q is priced at $899, and the MSI 272URX is priced at $1,099.

Let's see if the PG27UCDM is worth that extra $200.

Specifications

Close-up

Best Deals: ASUS ROG Swift OLED PG27UCDM Gaming Monitor

	Today	7 days ago	30 days ago
	$1140.69 USD	$1059.18 USD	$1090.99 USD	Buy
	$1209.98 USD	$1209.98 USD	$1189 USD	Buy
	$1798 CAD	$1798 CAD	$1798 CAD	Buy
	$1798 CAD	$1798 CAD	$1798 CAD	Buy
	$1140.69 USD	$1059.18 USD	$1090.99 USD	Buy
	$1140.69 USD	$1059.18 USD	$1090.99 USD	Buy
	$1999 AUD	$2099 AUD	-	Buy
* Prices last scanned on 4/18/2025 at 7:12 pm CDT - prices may not be accurate, click links above for the latest price. We may earn an affiliate commission from any sales.

Design

ASUS has kept things very similar to its other monitor offerings with the physical design of the PG27UCDM, with the company keeping to the same tried and true gamery aesthetics with its black panel coating and slightly grey color on its components enclosure. As always, ASUS has slapped on the back of the display the company's iconic eye logo that alternates between various colors, which can be changed within the On-Screen-Display (OSD) options or within ASUS's respective software.

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Keeping to the back of the display, ASUS has gone with a somewhat minimalist design compared to some of its other gaming monitors, with the plastic back enclosure being visually split into two parts: one with the Republic of Gamers branding located in the bottom left-hand corner, and the second part with a reflective plastic coating that almost blurs the ROG eye logo. I'm not totally thrilled about this design, as it seems somewhat boring and doesn't match the rest of the jagged edging seen around the outskirts of the enclosure. Additionally, the reflective plastic coating blurs the LEDs displaying the ROG eye, diffusing the light in an unappealing way.

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We will get to the connectivity options in just a second, but before that, we should talk about the stand. Forked feet. Sigh. Forked feet are my least favorite stand option on a gaming monitor as they run the risk of being an unthought-of obstacle for gamers who play with really low mouse sensitivity and like to bring their monitor as close as possible to their eyes. Having forked feet for a stand runs the risk of a mouse colliding with the protruding legs, and while the stand on the PG27UCDM is quite reasonably sized, I would have still liked to have seen ASUS go with a circle-shaped stand, especially considering this a 27-inch display, which is more attractive to first-person-shooter (FPS) gamers that like to bring their monitor close.

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The stand, along with the entire display for that matter, feels extremely premium in the hand, and throughout testing, I had zero concerns about build quality. You are getting what you paid for here. A premium, well-built, strong monitor, and despite its plastic housing, it hardly creaks when lightly flexed. The stand has a gap for cable management, which is greatly appreciated, and is attached to the panel via a quick-release mechanism. These are fantastic and are becoming a staple of many gaming monitors, which is great to see. ASUS has thrown in a VESA mounting bracket for those gamers who want to remove the stand completely and attach the PG27UCDM to a desk or wall mount, which I highly recommend (you won't ever want to go back to a stand once you do this).

Moving to the connectivity options, ASUS has equipped the PG27UCDM with an array of connectivity, but I do have some gripes about their locations. The PG27UCDM has 1x DisplayPort 2.1, 2x HDMI 2.1, 3x USB 3.2 Gen 1 Type-A, 1x USB-C (DP Alt Mode) with 90W PD charging, 1x headphone jack, and 1x USB-B port for connectivity to a PC. These are some of the highest-end connectivity options available on the market, but what's unfortunate is the location of the USB-C port, which is right next to the DisplayPort. The Alienware variant of this same panel placed the USB-C port and a USB-A port on the underside of the display rather than on the back I/O.

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Why does this matter? Imagine if your power button for the monitor was on the back of the display. All you want to do is simply turn on the monitor, but for you to access it, you need to spin the display or blindly finger around for it. It would be greatly appreciated if ASUS, and all other gaming monitor companies for that matter, put their fast-charging capable USB-C ports on the underside of their monitor, preferably just across from the multi-directional joystick for ease of access. I firmly believe having them located next to the HDMI/DisplayPorts significantly reduces the likelihood of them ever being used.

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The USB-C port comes with 90W of PD charging and works like a treat. This level of charging is arguably overkill for a gaming monitor, but it provides appreciated headroom as it's more than enough for any typical portable device, such as smartphones, tablets, laptops, and portable chargers.

Panel Breakdown

QD-OLED panels are the cream of the crop when it comes to gaming monitors, and the PG27UCDM is no exception; in fact, it stands as an example of what the incredible pixel technology can achieve. The 27-inch panel is Samsung's third-generation QD-OLED panel and features a resolution of 3840 x 2160 (4K/UHD), which has been paired with a 240Hz refresh rate and a blisteringly fast 0.03ms response time. While these are specifications we have seen in previous gaming monitors, it's the first time they have been crammed into a 27-inch panel, and the real big difference here is the Pixels Per Inch (PPI).

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Any 27-inch panel featuring a 4K resolution will have 166 PPI, which, for context and a rule of thumb when purchasing any monitor, is to make sure the PPI is anywhere between 100 and 140. Any smaller than 100 PPI the image will begin to show a significant drop in sharpness and clarity. Any bigger than 140 PPI, the image will look tiny. However, the higher the PPI the better, as it means a sharper image overall as you simply are looking at more pixels. Samsung's third-generation QD-OLED panel is the first time this many pixels have been crammed into a 27-inch display, and ASUS's PG27UCDM stands as an example of why it's a joy to look at 166PPI.

The PG27UCDM's offers intense image clarity, which is paired beautifully with the infinite contrast ratio, once again thanks to the QD-OLED pixel technology, lighting quick response time, and buttery smooth refresh rate. This is truly a peak gaming monitor panel, and offers everything the average gamer would want out of a gaming monitor - colors that pop, smooth gameplay, fast response times, and a crisp image.

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To keep this incredible image quality going for years to come, ASUS has outfitted the PG27UCDM with some OLED Care features that are designed to reduce the likelihood of burn-in. ASUS has stepped out and attempted to solve one of the biggest problems with OLED gaming monitors, and that is how to implement the OLED Care features, such as Pixel Refresh, without impediments to the gamer.

Currently, many QD-OLED panels require users to initiate Pixel Refresh between 4 and 16 hours of use. Throughout all of my testing of QD-OLED panels, I haven't found a display that doesn't let the user completely turn Pixel Refresh off, and in most cases, the notification that the use time of the monitor has exceeded the recommended 4 - 16 hours is super annoying as it typically appears in the center of the screen and cannot be removed without the process being initiated, which when pressed means the screen turns off for several minutes.

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The PG27UCDM is the first display that has tried to solve this with what is called the Neo Proximity Sensor. This feature is an infrared (IR) sensor located within the ASUS logo on the front of the monitor. The IR sensor detects when there is no longer movement happening in front of it and after the selected time period is exceeded it will turn off the screen, prolonging the time until Pixel Refresh is necessary.

The Neo Proximity Sensor comes with several built-in distances designed for various sitting distances away from the display while also having a "Tailored Mode," which will measure the distance between you and the monitor. Once that measurement is complete the monitor will remember the distance and only operate within it. Stepping outside of this distance will initiate the Screen Off countdown, which can be changed from 1, 5, and 10 minutes. If no movement is detected within the set time, the screen will switch off.

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In theory, this feature works fantastically, and I really do appreciate ASUS taking a swing at solving the Pixel Refresh problem. However, many times throughout my time testing the PG27UCDM, the screen seemingly randomly turned off mid-game. This shocked me at first, and I initially thought I had received a faulty review unit.

However, after changing the Screen Off time to 10 minutes, I realized that I was simply not moving enough for the IR sensor to detect any movement. Having the feature on the 5 minute interval and me seemingly not moving for that amount of time resulted in the screen going completely black and in many instances killing me in-game.

Unfortunately, this problem wasn't totally solved at 10 minutes, either. I'm not sure if I just sit extremely still when gaming or if the IR sensor needs to be more sensitive to movements, but this was a real issue and resulted in me turning the feature off completely. A suggestion would perhaps be giving users the option of tailoring the Screen Off timeout. Despite this problem, I believe this is the best implementation of OLED Care I have seen in a gaming monitor, and I think it should be a staple feature of every QD-OLED panel going forward, but with the aforementioned improvements.

Performance

As with all of my gaming monitor reviews, I like to test the panel I have under the spotlight in a variety of different games in an attempt to identify which genre of game performs best on the gaming monitor. For the PG27UCDM, I tested the following titles, playing for several hours within each game: Apex Legends, League of Legends, Overwatch 2, Black Myth: Wukong, DOOM Eternal, Cyberpunk 2077, Age of Mythology: Retold, The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt, and Valorant.

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A short and sweet answer is the PG27UCDM is an absolute beast and makes every single one of those aforementioned titles a joy to play. It's simply a feast for the eyes and is a level of gaming performance I can confidently recommend to any type of gamer. As with my other 27-inch QD-OLED gaming monitor reviews, I challenge anyone to find me a game that doesn't look stunning on these panels. The incredible colors, thanks to the OLED pixel technology, make for worlds to be vibrant and poppy.

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The infinite contrast ratio further exacerbates this and creates rich, milky colors that look juicy next to true black. The 166 PPI really shines here as well, as the increase in pixel density improves graphical clarity in all of the aforementioned titles. These impressive graphics were powered beautifully with the 240Hz refresh rate and 0.03ms response time, which particularly shone in titles such as Valorant, League of Legends, and DOOM Eternal, which can all take advantage of that refresh rate and response time.

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I typically recommend 27-inch monitors to gamers that lean more toward competitive titles, particularly first person shooters, and 32-inch panels to gamers that want a more cinematic experience in RPG-esc titles. However, these 27-inch 4K panels are making me rethink my recommendation as the improvement in pixel density, which translates to a crisper image may be the worth the sacrifice in screen size.

It's extremely difficult to find a fault or even provide a small critique with the gaming performance of the PG27UCDM, as this gaming monitor simply makes every game thrown at look and feel stunning.

Final Thoughts

Should you buy the PG27UCDM for $1,099? There aren't many reasons why I can recommend the PG27UCDM over the cheaper Alienware AW2725Q.

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As I stated at the beginning of the review, each of these three panels is identical in terms of performance, so what you are really choosing from here is aesthetics, connectivity options, OLED care features, and some panel technologies such as Dolby Vision. If you are after just a 27-inch 4K 240Hz QD-OLED gaming monitor, I recommend the AW2725Q, as it's $200 cheaper at $899. However, if you are in need of that 90W USB-C charging port, a slightly brighter panel, are concerned about burn-in, and want the best OLED care feature currently available, the PG27UCDM is your best bet.

Personally, I would save that $200 and go with the Alienware. It's a cleaner design, and you'll get the same performance as the PG27UCDM, minus some bells and whistle features that aren't totally necessary to your gaming experience nor improve it. ASUS has made a gorgeous gaming monitor here, but it's priced higher than the competition, which makes it a hard recommendation. I'd like to see this monitor priced at a minimum of $999 before I recommend it over the AW2725Q, with also a revision on the USB-C port location, additional options for the Neo Proximity Sensor, and a more interesting design.