Gaming monitors have experienced massive shifts over the past few years. IPS and TN panel monitors are still widely available, but if you’ve felt the need to upgrade, OLED monitors are the next logical step.

Like TVs, OLED offers high contrast and deep-black immersion, producing stunning images, but concerns about longevity and price-to-performance ratios often scare everyday gamers, who don’t want to throw away their investment after a few years.

Enter the ROG Strix OLED XG27AQWMG.

ASUS Republic of Gamers is a brand deeply invested in OLED technology, with a wide array of monitors in their portfolio for the past few years that many look to for premium offerings. Though not the cheapest OLED monitor around, the ROG Strix OLED XG27AQWMG offers Tandem OLED technology, which could alleviate OLED fears and make it a great entry point for those ready to commit to an OLED lifestyle without the typical growing pains.

ROG Strix OLED XG27AQWMG – What is Tandem OLED

Tandem OLED is the latest OLED technology and uses a four-layer structure to produce brighter, more colorful visuals with less effort, ensuring greater longevity and directly addressing complaints about previous OLED monitors.

What this means for gaming is that titles will look more vibrant, with highlights that really pop from the screen. There’s a recently released title that definitely takes advantage of this – Marathon. Marathon is the latest live-service extraction shooter that’s looking to steal your gaming hours, and if you love yourself a shooter that will challenge you, this is worth considering.

What makes Marathon a perfect game to test the ROG Strix OLED XG27AQWMG is its stunning art style, which can only be described as edgy, cyberpunk, and striking, with intense color combinations that take advantage of an OLED screen. The game looks sublime on the monitor, with deep blacks instantly recognizable from grays, and neon greens and pinks just popping out of the screen even when viewed from an angle.

The title screen alone is a great example, showing a neon-green user interface side by side with a cinematic sequence that perfectly showcases deep blacks. The contrast is crystal clear, and this directly affects the many environments inside the game as well

Console Gaming and Entertainment

There’s a definite wow factor compared to a regular monitor, and with its 280Hz refresh rate, the action remains fast and frenetic. The ROG Strix OLED XG27AQWMG also has a 0.03ms gray-to-gray (GtG) response time, making motion blur virtually non-existent for high-speed titles like VALORANT or Counter-Strike 2.

Console gamers who have a PS5 or Xbox Series can also connect their hardware to the ROG Strix OLED XG27AQWMG, which is equipped with HDMI 2.1 ports for 4K 120Hz gaming in supported titles. It is also equipped with TrueBlack Glossy coating that maintains a great look over dark scenes, making atmospheric titles like the recently released Resident Evil Requiem a nail-biter.

When you are not gaming and just watching your favorite series or the latest K-pop video, the colors still stay true to the artist’s intended result, resulting in picture-perfect immersion.

Additionally, ASUS has fully integrated the OLED Care Pro suite to address burn-in, including a Neo Proximity Sensor that dims the screen when you step away and smart processes like Pixel Cleaning and Screen Move. With a 3-year warranty, it’s clear that ASUS is confident in its technology and that these newer OLED panels will stand the test of time.

Overall Solid Build With Minimal Footprint

For all of its performance benefits, the ROG Strix OLED XG27AQWMG also looks the part. Similar to OLED TV’s, the panel itself is really thin, which makes unboxing the monitor quite scary in terms of how to handle it and laying it face down.

When viewed from the side, the monitor features a design that makes it seem as if it has a component that almost looks separate from the main panel, which is unique. This houses many of the monitor’s internals, including a custom heatsink paired with a Tandem OLED to keep it running cool and extend its lifespan by 60%, as claimed by ASUS.

If there’s anything about ASUS, it’s that they know how to design an aesthetically pleasing monitor, whether you agree on the usability of some aspects or not. The same applies to the ROG Strix OLED XG27AQWMG, which features a diagonal-cut design that displays the ROG logo and can be customized with other RGB effects, such as static, breathing, and more.

The ROG Strix OLED XG27AQWMG can also serve as your all-in-one gaming hub, offering a DisplayPort 1.4 (DSC) connection for high-frame-rate PC gaming and dual HDMI 2.1 ports, making it fully compatible with the PS5 and Xbox Series X, as mentioned earlier.

The connectors are facing downward as well, making it easy to slide the cables through the cable management slot on the adjustable stand without much effort. It can also tilt and swivel, just as you would expect from monitors of this price range.

At the front, there’s minimal branding with a luminous ROG logo, and directly behind it are a couple of buttons and toggles that access the menu, where multiple settings can be changed. The placement is great, since you don’t need to extend as far as when it is usually placed on the side.

The lit logo on the front isn’t just for show; it also enables a feature called the Neo Proximity Sensor, which can be configured to turn off the monitor when you move back a certain distance. This is another way the monitor takes care of itself to further prevent burn-in.

The ROG Strix OLED XG27AQWMG has enough technological advancements and visual expression to make it a solid choice for those looking to make the leap to OLED monitors. By combining revolutionary Tandem OLED tech with a stunning glossy finish and pro-grade speed, ASUS has addressed almost every major concern, resulting in a bright, durable, and incredibly fast offering at a relatively competitive price point.

The ROG Strix OLED XG27AQWMG is now available for PHP 40,995 at ROG stores and other ROG authorized retailers.