There’s been a ton of interest in 4K gaming monitors that pair well with the PS5 and Xbox Series X. Some people like to have the same screen for their PC and their PS5/Xbox Series X, but a 55-inch TV is a bit too much to sit in front of. So it’s nice that the traditional gaming brands are finally stepping it up with some proper high-refresh rate panels and screens, and the first of those is coming to Australia very soon.
The first proper HDMI 2.1 gaming screen — proper in the sense that it actually supports both HDMI 2.1 and actual HDR — is coming courtesy of ASUS. It’s a sizeable 43-inch 4K screen with a 144Hz refresh rate, 1ms response time and support for HDR 1000, rather than the anemic HDR 400 that you see on almost every gaming monitor today.
Understandably, ASUS has styled their Strix XG43UQ one a lot more like an actual TV. It looks like the OSD controls are on the bottom right-hand side, and the chassis is sporting the same white stylings ASUS recently rolled out for the latest edition of the ROG gaming phone.
I actually like that ASUS has specifically gone for A Look here, as opposed to the fairly plaid exteriors of … well, basically every monitor on the market today.
The ASUS ROG Strix XG43UQ will be released in Australia and New Zealand this June, hopefully in time for E3 and any surprise releases that month. We don’t know specifically when yet, or what the exact Australian price would be, but I would anticipate a screen this size and quality to be at least a few grand. This is directly going up against LG’s OLED screens as an alternative for hybrid PC / console gaming, although there’s obvious tradeoffs you’ll have to weigh up. Not being OLED means the backlighting won’t be anywhere near as precise as what LG can manage, but the lower input latency and support for DisplayPort are much better suited for PC gaming.
Here’s the full spec dump, for those who like that sort of thing:
I know not everyone has been able to get their hands on a juicy RTX 3070/3080/3090 like we were promised. Then again, some people are lucky enough to have multiple cards and enough cash to build a separate room for their gaming PC. So there’s definitely a market for this size and quality of gaming monitor, and it’s nice that Australia is finally getting one after so long.
It also can’t come soon enough, especially with smaller-scale OLED screens on the way. JOLED, a global manufacturer of printed OLED screens, has 32-inch, 27-inch and 22-inch OLED 4K screens listed on their website. That’s basically the catalyst required for not only smaller-size OLED TVs, but actual OLED gaming monitors. LG is working on small-size OLED monitors too, although the only screen they’ve officially announced thus far is a 32-inch 60Hz screen for content creation.
It’s worth adding, though, that JOLED’s monitors are more targeted at automotive screens, medical clients and non-gaming use cases. So ASUS’s Strix XG43UQ is likely to be first cab off the rank as far as Australians are concerned. There’s more info on the ROG website if you’re interested, and I’ll come back and update this post when we’ve got official pricing and availability.
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