The new generation of OLED gaming monitors is upon us. One of the most anticipated of the bunch is the Asus ROG Swift OLED PG32UCDM, a 32-inch flat panel gaming monitor with a 4K resolution and wickedly fast 240Hz refresh rate. It’s packed with features and offers one of the best pictures we’ve seen on a gaming monitor to date. It’s not exactly easy on the wallet, but whether you’re a gamer or creator, it offers a stellar experience.
Asus ROG Swift OLED PG32UCDM – Design and Features
The Asus ROG Swift OLED PG32UCDM exists at the cutting edge of gaming monitors today. It’s one of a handful of 32-inch 4K OLED displays making their way to market, with MSI and Gigabyte planned to follow quickly behind, and the Alienware AW3225QF already leading our list of the best OLED gaming monitors so far in 2024.
It’s big, it’s bold, and it’s intended to catch attention. It does that easily with such a large screen. Indeed, 32-inches can easily seem too large for many users. Nearly everyone I showed it to or discussed it with had a comment about how large it was. With only a day or two of use, and proper viewing distance at your desk, the intimidation of such a large screen disappears and it turns out to be a pretty great sweet spot for 4K. Just like 27-inches feels “right” for 1440p, 32-inches maintains tight pixel density so everything appears extra crisp. The extra few inches really do increase how immersive games feel, too.
It uses the latest generation of Samsung QD-OLED panel to drive its viewing experience and it’s a treat for the eyes. Unlike traditional LCD monitors with local dimming zones or universal backlights, the PG32UCDM is able to control the brightness of each of its 8.2 million pixels individually. Each can be driven to full brightness or dimmed to power-off giving you true blacks and incredible dynamic range. Asus has achieved VESA True Black 400 certification, which means it’s certified to dip to only 0.0005 lumens in blacks. True Black, indeed.
The QD in “QD-OLED” refers to a layer of quantum dots that have been applied to the panel. These dots increase its brightness and the vividness of colors. I’ve yet to see a quantum dot monitor that wasn’t made better by them and this is no exception. Brightness, in particular, is more consistent with less dimming on static content. Color rendition is also incredible while also being accurate thanks to factory calibration that saves needing your own colorimeter.
When it comes to colors, it’s a performer. It offers 10-bits of color depth to display more colors and smoother gradients, critical for HDR. It’s also rated at covering 99% of the DCI-P3 color space with less than 2% Delta E disparity. These claims were true in our testing, so not only does it look fantastic for gaming, you can take it out of the box and get right to work on creative content. The panel used in this display is impressive in its own right, and Asus’s calibration hits the mark.
These qualities, along with its glossy screen, make the UCDM a fantastic choice for HDR content. While OLED panels typically do not offer exceptional brightness (their per-pixel design requires more energy which generates heat), it’s able to achieve a peak brightness of 1000-nits for highlights. Its ability to dive into the inkiest of blacks and then rise to gleaming points of pure white provides it with dynamic range LCD monitors simply can’t compete with.
One of the big shortcomings of OLED monitors is their typical brightness with SDR content and this is no exception. Using our colorimeter, I found that the display only averaged around 230 nits in standard SDR content. That pales in comparison to competing LCD monitors which can reach 400 or higher, but for indoor use, it’s a comfortable brightness that doesn’t seem especially dim. OLED panels can also intelligently ramp brightness up and down depending on how much white is on the screen, though this is much less visible than older generation OLEDs, like the Gigabyte FO48U. Asus also included a Uniform Brightness setting that balances luminance across the whole panel, at the expense of less brightness overall.
Turning the monitor to HDR mode also unlocks higher brightness overall, though still in small elements. A full white screen will still only reach around 240 nits but shrinking that box to around 2% topped out at 1012 nits. Expanding that to persistent 10% of the screen dropped to 452 nits. It’s important to remember that OLED brightness is impacted by both the size and duration of bright elements, so a static 10% will naturally be dimmer than a scene with moving elements like a video game. Real world games have large bright white blocks, so even while these ratings are much less than similarly priced LCD screens, it still looks great when paired with its deep OLED contrast. It’s not as much of an improvement over 2022’s Alienware AW3423DWF or Gigabyte AORUS FO48U as I had hoped, but the picture in HDR content still looks stunning.
The monitor is also part of the first generation of 4K OLEDs to feature ultra-high 240Hz refresh rates. OLEDs are particularly suited to ultra-high refresh rates due to the natural responsiveness. One of their biggest selling points is their sub-1ms response time, all but eliminating motion blur. High refresh rates also enhance a display’s responsiveness. These two culminate in a rated 0.03ms response time so your clicks and key presses will reflect on the screen as soon as you send them. It also supports ELMB black frame insertion, though you’ll be limited to 120Hz and reduced brightness, so isn’t a compelling option.
The monitor also comes with an array of other performance-enhancing features. Its stand is incredibly sturdy with an all-metal design and includes four inches of height adjustment, as well as tilt and pivot adjustments, and has a down-firing red LED to project a logo onto your desk. There’s a ¼-20 thread built into the back of the monitor to quickly attach camera accessories, as well as a bright, customizable RGB logo, and there’s a veritable wealth of connectivity.
On the underside of the monitor, there are two HDMI 2.1 ports and a single DisplayPort 1.4 with Display Stream Compression support. There’s a USB Type-C port that can act as a fourth video input, or as a high-speed USB port, and supports 90W PD fast charging that’s perfect for a laptop. It also features a full USB hub, including three USB 3.2 Gen 2 ports and a Type-B port to connect to your computer. There’s also a headphone jack and optical audio out port.
If you’re using more than one system with the UCDM, the USB hub is perfect for peripherals as it also sports KVM functionality. With a single toggle, anything connected here can be swapped to your second system. As it also supports HDMI 2.1, it’s a great fit for consoles and the KVM will allow you to take your mouse and keyboard to that system for much more seamless swapping.
One of the persistent worries about OLED panels is burn-in. It’s a real concern, but the UCDM comes with a number of built-in protections and a 3-year warranty against image retention. Pixel shifting and pixel cleaning routines are present, as well automatic dimming when the monitor has been static. Uniform Brightness also helps with screen maintenance, helping each pixel age at a consistent rate. None of these trump proper care, like hiding the taskbar and desktop icons, but they’re good protections that are proven effective, and the warranty is a welcome layer of reassurance.
Asus ROG Swift OLED PG32UCDM – OSD and Software
Configuring the PG32UCDM can be done through its on-screen display or through the Asus DisplayWidgetCenter software. Both offer similar features, but the OSD does offer a few more options, so you can’t just rely on the software to customize everything. The OSD is fairly easy to navigate using the joystick but in time, I hope everything migrates to the DisplayWidgetCenter so you can just use the mouse to navigate.
Each system is broken into sections for gaming features, picture presets and quality settings, picture-in-picture/picture-by-picture, and more. Asus has packed quite a bit in here, so let’s break down exactly what it has to offer, starting with gaming features.
The gaming menu is deceptively simple, but toggle around and you’ll find lots of different options. There are picture presets for different game genres (racing, FPS, RTS/RPG, etc.), as well as Night Vision and MOBA modes which cast the screen in a green hue or grayscale with red highlights respectively. The GamePlus menu hides the on-screen reticle and a sniper mode, which magnifies the center of your screen. There are also options to set a timer and stopwatch, as well as a separate Shadow Boost mode that raises blacks so you can peek into the shadows.
Is this cheating? Some players would argue so, especially after you’ve scored your tenth magnified headshot. Others would say that it’s not really showing you anything the game doesn’t already. You can be the judge as to whether or not these features give an unfair advantage.
Picture settings are broken between the Image and Color tabs. You can adjust brightness, contrast, and sharpening (VividPixel), as well as select your color space, temperature, gamma, and saturation. For creative work, DCI-P3 and sRGB are your go-tos while Wide Gamut provides the richest color experience. It also offers a six-axis RGBCMY mixer to customize and manually calibrate colors.
There are a number of other settings for things like USB charging speed and to configure the KVM but it’s all pretty standard fare for a high-end gaming monitor. The biggest downside to all of this is that it’s not all available within DisplayWidgetCenter. This software does take a big swing and a miss at hotkey support too. To date, Gigabyte’s OSD Sidekick has offered the best functionality here, allowing you to tie gaming features to keystrokes. Without this, the UCDM forces you futz about with a joystick to engage with features like Shadow Boost or Sniper Mode. It’s not practical in the middle of an intense match, so here’s hoping they open up that functionality with a future software update.
Asus ROG Swift OLED PG32UCDM – Performance
The PG32UCDM is a fantastic gaming monitor. I’ve been using it for a week as my main desktop PC including everything from gaming to photo and video editing to word processing and plenty of video. It’s genuinely hard to find an area where it doesn’t excel. It is genuinely that good and a case where you really do get what you pay for.
The picture is absolutely gorgeous. If you’ve never gamed on an OLED gaming monitor, you owe it to yourself to see just how much more vibrant and engrossing the picture is. There is a richness to colors, a “pop” that LCD monitors can’t produce, even when equally enhanced with quantum dots, and deep blacks that teach you what “true black” really means. In comparison, blacks on IPS and VA panels appear dark gray.
It’s just not the same on a Switch or Steam Deck OLED, or even a larger OLED TV because of how close you sit. Every gaming session has moments of “wow” where I actively pause to recognize how great it looks. That even occurs outside of games, where video content, pictures, or even my Wallpaper Engine backgrounds catch my attention in a new way. But gaming is where it shines and they’re more immersive and fun to play when the picture looks this good.
The other high point is the refresh rate. Playing at 240Hz offers a noticeable improvement beyond what I’ve experienced on any LCD monitor in the past. The combination of high frame rates, high refresh rate, and OLED responsiveness make gameplay feel smoother than even 144Hz, a common refresh rate on earlier models. Making quick turns is visually clearer – and you don’t have to be a pro to notice it. This is one of the first ultra-high refresh rate monitors that I believe you don’t need to be a high level player to see and appreciate its benefits.
These are enhancements you feel with every click of the mouse, though to a lesser degree than what you see with your eyes. Gaming monitors really haven’t had an issue with keeping up with fast-paced shooters in years, but there’s a responsiveness here that does feel snappier. It is reminiscent of playing with Nvidia Reflex for the first time, so if you’re an esports fan, you’ll likely pick up on it right away.
It almost means ghosting just isn’t a concern. In BlurBuster’s Ghosting Test, there are no trails, even when captured with a high shutter speed camera. This is par for the course with OLEDs but dramatically better than any LCD you can buy today.
Playing games on the UCDM is silky smooth. It’s compatible with Nvidia G-Sync and worked flawlessly with a single toggle, so gameplay was completely tear free. Its butter-like gameplay made even single-player games like Baldur’s Gate 3 (okay, not technically single-player), feel more fluid, especially when quickly changing angle for bigger battles.
Without a hotkey, many of the monitor’s add-on gaming functions, like Sniper Mode and Shadow Boost fell by the wayside. It’s not practical to play around in an OSD menu in the middle of a competitive FPS and leaving them on all the time is in turns distracting and picture-wrecking. Both, as well as the on-screen reticle, could be useful if a hotkey were added. So, Asus, if you’re listening…
The PG32UCDM also offers a number of other quality of life improvements that make it a great fit for daily productivity use. Even sitting at my PC for 6+ hours, I never noticed an automatic backlight limiter dimming the screen – a common issue with older OLEDs. The monitor also didn’t radically change brightness between using a small window or full-screen in SDR. Even Word docs would cause noticeable brightness shifts on the FO48U, but the UCDM’s changes are virtually imperceptible.
The biggest productivity benefit comes with text clarity. Older OLEDs would often create halos around text, which, while usable, was very distracting. The PG32UCDM uses a new sub-pixel layout that enhances clarity. Combined with its relatively high 138 pixels per inch (PPI), I didn’t find text clarity to be an issue at all.
The OLED care features are unobtrusive… for the most part. Pixel shifting, where the pixels on the screen shift a single dot to the side, occurs so quickly that it’s easy to ignore when it happens. Pixel cleaning, on the other hand, came up every day for me and takes a six minute cycle to complete. You can’t use the monitor while it’s running, so it can pose an inconvenient interruption. Thankfully, you can dismiss the message and run the cycle manually from the DisplayWidgetCenter later.
