ASUS ROG Swift 32” 4K OLED Gaming Monitor PG32UCDM

The 3rd gen Samsung QD-OLED panel used in this Asus PG32UCDM monitor looks absolutely stunning and performs well for nearly any task, yet it is quite expensive and not without issues.

Having upgraded from a 1440p 144hz IPS LCD (the LG 27GL850 in particular), the improvements were immediately apparent as soon as I turned on the new monitor: No more IPS glow or backlight bleed, amazing contrast-ratio, perfect viewing angles, clear glossy panel coating, resolution and refresh rate upgrades etc.
I can turn of all lighting in my room and the display looks perfect while the LCD was near unusable due to IPS glow and poor contrast-ratio.

Some notes on my experience regarding potential issues you may have read about:

1) Text fringing: it is barely noticeable when staring closely at the screen. At normal viewing distances it’s a non-issue I would say. Text looks sharp and clear on the default 150% scaling set by Windows.

2) Raised blacks on bright room lighting: this one can be noticed if you look for it (especially compared to the black side-bezels), but it is very subtle and nowhere near as bad as shown on pictures / camera footage. The blacks are still very deep that I don’t consider this a deal-breaker. I will say however, that the only way I could get perfect pitch blacks is by completely turning off all room lighting, as even dim lighting can raise blacks a tiny, barely noticeable amount.

3) VRR flicker: varies on a game by game basis and also on your hardware (especially CPU performance). If the game is well-optimized and giving consistent frametimes without sudden abrupt dips/variations, there won’t be any flicker, and vise versa. This is all depending on frametime consistency and not average frame rates. It can be mitigated by better hardware, adjusting in-game graphic settings, and capping the frame rate at a level where it stays consistent without major dips. The flicker is commonly noticed during loading screens as frame rates tend to heavily fluctuate there.
For normal gradual frame rate variations, the VRR function works as intended and there isn’t any flicker. It only occurs in sudden fluctuations (the ones that also result in hitching/stutter).

Other notes:

– Factory calibration is on point. You can pick you desired color space, gamma, and color temperature. By default they’re set to wide gamut, 2.2, and 6500K respectively.

– SDR max brightness measured 245 nits out of the box. Increases to 260 nits when setting the color temperature to user mode, which exposes the RGB controls. you can further increase SDR brightness when viewing anything less than 100% pure white window by using the ABL function (you have to turn off the “uniform brightness” setting in the OSD). Personally I found the brightness to be more than enough for my use and I don’t even keep it on max.

– I can’t comment on HDR performance as I don’t have much experience with it at the moment. This is my first true HDR display (aside from OLED smartphones).

– Pixel response times are better than a fast LCD, but are not a night and day difference subjectively when compared at the same refresh rates. Another difference is that LCD pixels tend to suffer from overshoot due to overdrive (especially at low refresh rates), while OLED does not have this issue.

– The glossy coating reflection-handling is excellent. Reflections appear suppressed/darkened (if that makes sense), without getting diffused all over the screen like what matte coatings do.

I almost didn’t buy this monitor because I don’t trust Asus. Not because of recent issues coming to light with them, but my personal experience over the past 10 years with them has been bad, specifically with GPU’s and motherboards and their lack of warranty support.
But, I wanted this monitor, and with Amazon’s return policy, was worth trying out.
I fell in love with it. I went from a 42″ LG C2 which for picture, is just as good if not better. Actually yes, the LG is a little better. But, the screen was just too big for my small desk. Plus, I wanted a monitor and the compatibility that comes with it for my desktop. The quality on this thing seems legit. The image of the OLED is amazing as expected, and the refresh rate is wonderful.
I do get a black screen flicker sporadically when browsing web or working, but never in games. Plus, I can’t promise this isn’t a driver issue.
The price is too much though, I would have been happy to spend $900 for it. But, I wanted it, and I wanted it now.
Hopefully it lasts the long haul because I can’t guarantee Asus has my back.