Asus VP28UQG Review

The Asus VP28UQG is a 28-inch gaming monitor that uses AMD’s FreeSync anti-tearing technology and a 1ms response rate to provide smooth gaming action. It uses a Twisted Nematic (TN) panel to deliver clear visuals, and while its viewing angles are not as wide as what you’d find on competing IPS panels like the 27-inch LG 27UK850-W, it still does a good job displaying detail when viewed directly.

In addition to the adaptive sync support and 60Hz refresh rate, it is equipped with three digital video inputs, VESA mount support, and 300 cd/m2 peak brightness. Its 4K (3840 by 2160) resolution offers a very sharp hi-res picture, but its colors aren’t as accurate as those of our Editors’ Choice for big-screen gaming monitors, the same price BenQ EL2870U that’s ideal as an all-round entertainment monitor with a gaming bent.

Asus VP28UQG Specs

Panel Type / Backlight	TN / W-LED
Screen Size / Aspect Ratio	28 inches / 16:9
Max Resolution & Refresh Rate	3840 x 2160 @ 60 Hz
Native Color Gamut	sRGB
Response Time (GTG)	1ms
Max Brightness	300 nits
Contrast	1,000:1
Speakers	None
Connectivity	2x HDMI 2.0
Row 9 – Cell 0	DisplayPort 1.2
Row 10 – Cell 0	3.5mm headphone jack

Design

The Asus VP28UQG lacks the sleek aesthetics of the Asus ROG Strix (XG27VQ) and Acer Predator X34 models but is a great-looking monitor nevertheless. It sports a black, 2.5-inch-thick cabinet with thick (0.5-inch) bezels and a matte, anti-glare coating. On the back of the cabinet are four VESA mounting holes and is supported by a circular base and mounting arm that provides 25 degrees of tilt.

All of the VP28UQG’s I/O ports are located at the rear of the cabinet. Here you find two HDMI inputs, a DisplayPort input, and a headphone jack. While it’s nice having three digital inputs, a couple of legacy ports like VGA and DVI ports included on the BenQ monitor, and even a single USB port would be nice. Again, it lacks built-in speakers, but for the price, it’s an acceptable omission.

The right side of the cabinet is home to a five-way jog dial that makes it easy to navigate the settings menus.

AMD FreeSync technology

FreeSync technology is AMD’s answer to Nvidia’s G-Sync anti-tearing and smoothing technology. Except for the brand names, both adaptive sync technologies take control of the monitor’s refresh rates to eliminate screen tearing, an artifact that occurs when a monitor with a fixed refresh rate attempts to match that of the graphics card. As a result, tearing causes a split screen effect as the monitor displays portions of two frames concurrently.

Both of the adaptive sync technologies also reduce motion chop and input lag (time it takes for a monitor to react to a controller command). The only difference is that while G-Sync monitors contain a proprietary module that allows the GPU to handle refresh rates, FreeSync monitors utilize DisplayPort Adaptive-Sync, an existing industry standard method for controlling a monitor’s refresh rate via the DisplayPort 1.2 input.

As such, for you to take advantage of FreeSync, you’ll need a monitor that supports DisplayPort Adaptive-Sync, an AMD Radeon graphics card in your PC that supports FreeSync, and AMD’s Catalyst Control Center software and drivers.

Gaming presets and adjustments

The game visual settings include the GamePlus feature that consists of customizable crosshair overlays, an on-screen timer, and an FPS counter. Another additional feature is HDCP 2.2 support that lets you stream content from Netflix, and Amazon Video among others, all in 4K UHD resolutions.

You’ll also find eight pre-calibrated picture presets for most viewing scenarios including Scenery, Theater, Game, Night View, Reading, Darkroom, sRGB, and Standard mode which you can customize.

Performance

When it comes to gaming, the VP28UQG is an excellent performer. It scores well on PC gaming on Crysis tests, thanks to its 60Hz refresh rate and 1 millisecond (gray-to-gray) pixel response rate. The monitor manages to deliver very smooth motion handling with no noticeable ghosting or blurring. It offers the same clarity on Grand Theft Auto V on Sony PlayStation 4. The colors appear rich and the image detail is outstanding.

The rich colors notwithstanding, the VP28UQG’s color accuracy is slightly off on chromaticity tests, with red and green colors missing their ideal targets, and blue is fairly on the fringe. Fortunately, the monitor doesn’t suffer from tinting or oversaturated colors as a result. The IPS panel doesn’t struggle when displaying every shade of gray, with no loss of luminance or color shifting when viewed from extreme angles.

Even with impressive test scores, it still benefits from AMD’s Freesync technology. Even with adaptive sync disabled, screen tearing wasn’t an issue on Crysis 3 and Call of Duty: Black OP, but fast action scenes look much smoother and sharper with G-Sync enabled.

The Asus VP28UQG monitor has an input lag of 27.4 milliseconds, which is decent and won’t likely affect your gameplay. Still, it doesn’t match the BenQ ZOWIE XL2540’s short lag of 9.7 milliseconds. The monitor draws 36 watts of power in testing when set to sRGB mode. That’s in line with most competitors who stay in the 38 watts range, but with ECO mode activated it can drop to around 29 watts.

Asus VP28UQG Review: Verdict

The Asus VP28UQG is a solid choice for gamers and professional creatives who prefer Freesync technology and the short response rate that you get with this panel. The 3840-by-2160 resolution panel delivers sharp image detail and a very smooth gaming experience, and the connectivity options are optimal. Color accuracy is a bit off, but not to a point where the picture appears oversaturated.

If color accuracy and viewing angles are a deal breaker, check out our Editors’ Choice BenQ EL2870U. It does offer the 4K resolution you get with the Asus VP28UQG but is maxed with true colors and wider viewing angles, and it, too, uses FreeSync technology.