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