Custom PC - UK (2020-01)

A

sus’ROGStrixXG438Qis a 43in

monsterwitha broadfeatureset.

It hasa 4KVApanelwitha 120Hz

refreshrateandAMDFreeSync2 support.It

deploysDisplayHDR600,andit claimssupport

for 90 percentoftheDCI-P3gamut.Thepanel

deliversa 102ppipixeldensity,whichis stillgreat

forgaming,despitenotmatchingsmaller4Kscreens.

Meanwhile,theresponsetimeis ratedata reasonable4ms,

whichis fineforanyoneexceptcompetitiveesportsplayers.

Itssizeis overwhelmingupclose,butit’scomfortably

immersiveif you’relayingbackona sofa.TheAsushas

threeHDMIinputsandoneDisplayPortconnection.The

latteris requiredtorunthe4Kpanelat120HzorwithHDR,

andinthesemodes,you’rerestrictedto8-bitcolour– if you

want10-bitcolour,you’llneedtodialbacktherefreshrate.

Unusually,theXG438QalsousesanunderlyingBGR

pixellayout,ratherthanRGB.Froma distanceyoudon’t

noticethedifference,butit makessmallon-screen

textonwhitebackgroundslookblurryupclose.You

cancorrecttheblurrinesstoa degreebyenabling

ClearType,butthisisn’ta monitorforwordprocessing.

TheAsusis morecomfortablebeingusedlikea TV

froma distance,andit looksthepartwithitswidefeetand

deepframe.Buildqualityis great,butit’snot

small– it weighs15.3kgandmeasures975mm

wide.Connectionoptionsarefine,withaudio

jacksandtwoUSBports,whilethestereo10W

speakershaveamplevolumeandpunch.

Adjustmentoptionsarelimitedthough

• there’stiltingandVESA 100 supportbut
  that’sit. Meanwhile,displaytweaksaremade
  usingAsus’usual,well-organisedOSD.The
  conventionaljoystickis trickytouseona display
  thissize,soAsusalsoallowsadjustmentwith
  a Windowsappanda neatremotecontrol.
  Asidefromtext,imagequalityis impressive.
  InitsdefaultRacingmode,theAsusservedupa
  stunningpeakbrightnessof412cd/m²anda black
  levelof0.11cd/m²,creatinga contrastratioof3,745:1.
  That’sslightlybelowAsus’quoted4,000:1,butit’s
  highenoughtodelivervastdepthandpunch.The
  1.96deltaE meansaccuratecolours,thecolour
  temperatureof6,208Kis solidandthepanel
  deliverednear-perfectGamma.What’smore,the

SUPPLIERoverclockers.co.uk

ASUS ROG STRIX

XG438Q/£1,112incVAT

43INGAMINGMONITOR

Asushandled99.9percentand 91 percentof the sRGB and

DCI-P3gamuts,soit hasexcellentcolourreproduction.

EnablingHDRrampeduptheAsus’brightness to around

650cd/m²,whichmeansmorehigh-endpunch, but the

blacklevelhoveredaround0.32cd/m².Assuch, while HDR

contentlooksreasonable,andbetterthanon most gaming

screens,it doesn’thaveasmuchcontrastand depth as a

properHDRTV.Notsurprisingly,thislargescreenalsohas

mediocreuniformity.Thepanellost

upto 20 percentofitsbacklight

strengthontheleftedge,andnearly

asmuchontherightedge.Still,that

won’thavea hugeimpactongaming,

especiallyif you’resittingfurtherback.

Conclusion

TheAsusROGStrixXG438Qcombines

greatimagequalitywitha 120Hz

refreshrateanda highresolution.

Itshugesizemakesforanimposing,

immersiveexperience,andit enables

youtositfurtherawayfromthe

screen.Textreproductionis poor,

though,anditsuniformityandHDR

implementationareonlymiddling.

Still,theXG438Qis oneofthefew

panelstodelivera big-screen4K

120Hzexperience.It’snotforeveryone,

butit’sa crackinggamingscreen.

MIKEJENNINGS

REVIEWS / MONITOR

VERDICT

Ahugegamingscreenwithgreat

featuresandimagequality,butthis

expensivedisplaywon’tsuiteveryone.

OVERALLSCORE

83 %

IMAGEQUALITY

48 / 55

FEATURES

14 / 15

VALUE

21 / 30

SPEC

Screen size

43in

Resolution

3,840 x 2,160

Panel technology

VA

Active sync

AMD FreeSync 2

Maximum refresh rate

120Hz

Response time

4ms

Contrast

4,000:1

Display inputs

1 x DisplayPort 1.4,

3 x HDMI 2

Audio

2 x 10W speakers

DYNAMIC

+Vast4Kpanel

+Great core^

imagequality

+120Hz refresh rate

DULL

• Extremely
  expensive


• Blurrytext


• Middling^
  HDR options