Display Profiles for ASUS TUF Gaming VG27AQA1A – Great at everything
Here we have a purebred gaming monitor, which turns out is also excellent for content creation. Thanks to our Display Profiles, the ASUS TUF Gaming VG27AQA1A can reach professional-level color accuracy, indistinguishable from the human eye. With that information, you can safely pick this display for both your gaming and creator needs.
The ASUS TUF Gaming VG27AQA1A brings some amazing specs to the table. To kick things off, we’ve got a superb 27-inch diagonal, which gives you a large canvas to play with and express yourself. It comes with a resolution of 2560 x 1440p, so you also get a decent chunk of screen real estate. The refresh rate is 144Hz, but you can overclock it through the settings so it goes as high as 170Hz. ASUS also advertises a 1ms MPRT (Moving Picture Response Time), so you get a capable screen for high-framerate gaming, especially competitive shooters like Valorant or CS2.
Lastly, to tackle screen tearing, the monitor has FreeSync Premium support, which is open-sourced, as it’s an offshoot of the Adaptive-Sync technology that VESA introduced as a single-standard to variable refresh rate. The fps range is at least from 48Hz to 120Hz, so it covers both heavier and lighter titles. You can have a tear-free experience both in single-player, story-driven, and adventure games, as well as with high FPS MOBAs and shooters.
You can check the current price of the ASUS TUF Gaming VG27AQA1A here: Buy from Amazon.com (#CommissionsEarned)
Contents
Specs sheet, Assembly, Drivers, Design, Connectivity
Screen size | 27 inch (68.58 cm) |
---|---|
Refresh rate | 144Hz (Overclockable to 170Hz) |
Response time | 1ms |
Panel type | VA |
Backlight type | LED |
Screen finish | Matte |
Resolution | 2560 x 1440 |
Technologies |
|
I/O |
|
What’s in the Box? Assembly
In the box, you’ll find all the necessities for using the monitor, including the power adapter, as well as a user manual. You also get either an HDMI cable or a DisplayPort cable, depending on your region.
As for the assembly, process, ASUS includes screws and a screwdriver in the package, so you can secure the stand and base to the panel.
Drivers and Software
You can download all available software from the ASUS Page for the ASUS TUF Gaming VG27AQA1A, in the Driver and Utility section. There’s the driver itself, as well as the DisplayWidget Lite, which gives you total control over the monitor using your mouse and keyboard and not all the pesky buttons on the back. You can learn more about the DisplayWidget Lite on ASUS’ FAQ Page.
OSD Menu
However, the OSD menu here looks very good and we dig the Black and Yellow color theme that TUF has going on. Here are all the settings and menus inside it.
Design and Connectivity
The monitor comes with an entirely black plastic chassis. On the front, we’ve got thin bezels and an ASUS badge on the chin. On the back, there’s a plastic panel that can be removed and reveal the VESA mounting points. The buttons on the back are pretty big, so they’re easily accessible and you won’t have to spend too much time finding whichever setting you need to change. The monitor also comes with stereo 2W speakers, which should work out of the box, considering that both the DisplayPort and HDMI standards can transfer audio, so no additional audio cable would be required. In terms of ports, the monitor has two HDMI ports, a single DisplayPort, a 3.5mm audio jack, and a power plug.
Display quality, Buy our profiles, Verdict
We’ve certainly got an above-average VA panel here. The 144Hz refresh rate can be increased up to 170Hz, however, be careful, as it can sometimes produce unwanted effects, like extra power consumption and added stress on the monitor’s electronics and internal components. The ASUS TUF Gaming VG27AQA1A supports AMD’s FreeSync Premium technology, with a wide FPS range between 48 and 144 fps, so you can get the benefits of tear-free gaming on a variety of different games, both heavier titles that run at around 60FPS, as well as esports games, like MOBAs, shooters, Battle Royales and more, where smoothness and speed are key. Now, let’s move to color reproduction and accuracy, which are pretty phenomenal on this ASUS TUF Monitor.
Color coverage
Here’s an illustration (Fig. 1). The whole “sail-shaped” map below consists of all the colors we can see, while the black crooked line shows all the colors from real-world scenes and nature around us.
Then, we’ve drawn some of the most important and interesting color spaces, compared to the colors the panel of ASUS TUF Gaming VG27AQA1A can show:
Standard/For Web: sRGB – widely used color space for most consumer devices, ideal for Web design and development
For Print: AdobeRGB – used in professional photo editing, graphic design, and print
For Photographers/Video Editors: DCI-P3 – used in high-end film production, post-production, and digital cinema
Premium HDR: Rec.2020 – the widest consumer ITU color standard, covering a massive 75.8% of the visible spectrum, a benchmark for premium HDR content
ASUS TUF Gaming VG27AQA1A: the yellow dashed triangle (– – – – – –) represents the range of colors this monitor can display. In our tests, we calculated the total color coverage of the monitor at 92% of the sRGB color gamut.
(Fig.1) ASUS TUF Gaming VG27AQA1A covers 92% of the Web colors (sRGB)
This means that if the ASUS TUF Gaming VG27AQA1A tries to show any color outside of its triangle, it will show the closest color to it that’s inside the triangle.
Color accuracy
Now let’s see how big is the difference between the real colors and the one you’ll see on the ASUS TUF Gaming VG27AQA1A. We measure that distance in DeltaE – the bigger the number, the more different they look.
For the next illustration, we’ve chosen 24 common colors like dark and light skin, blue sky, green grass, etc.
Values below 2.0 are considered suitable for color-sensitive work. Before our calibration of the ASUS TUF Gaming VG27AQA1A, the Average color accuracy was 1.1 dE (Fig. 2), and with our Web Design and Office Work profile, it lowered to 0.9 dE (Fig. 3). The monitor turns out is great even straight out of the box, but with our profile, the dE value goes below 1, which makes the difference to the real colors indistinguishable to the human eye. This makes it ready for professional color work, be it design, color grading, or anything else.
Comparison in the sRGB color space (primaries and D65 white point specified in ITU-R BT.709, sRGB encoding curve).
Health-Guard eliminates the harmful Pulse-Width Modulation (PWM) and reduces the negative Blue Light which affects our eyes and body. Since it’s custom-tailored for every panel, it manages to keep the colors perceptually accurate (they may seem strange at first but after a few minutes our brain will start recognizing them as accurate ones – that’s how Health-Guard differs from alternatives like f.lux).
Pro Tip: As the Health-Guard profile simulates paper and has as accurate as possible colors, it could be a great tool for prepress designers!
Left: No Profile | Drag the slider to see the difference | Right: Health-Guard Profile
Gaming and Movies
We also have a third Gaming and Movies profile, which regulates the black colors, making dark areas in games and movies appear more visible, thus giving you a better viewing experience. Shooting at your opponent first can be a make-or-break moment, so make sure you’re best prepared with our profile.
Left: No Profile | Drag the slider to see the difference | Right: Gaming and Movies Profile
BUY OUR DISPLAY PROFILES
Since our profiles are tailored for each individual display model, this article and its respective profile package are meant for the ASUS TUF Gaming VG27AQA1A.
*Should you have problems with downloading the purchased file, try using a different browser to open the link you’ll receive via e-mail. If the download target is a .php file instead of an archive, change the file extension to .zip or contact us at [email protected].
Read more about the profiles HERE.
In addition to receiving efficient and health-friendly profiles, by buying LaptopMedia's products you also support the development of our labs, where we test devices in order to produce the most objective reviews possible.
Office Work
Office Work should be used mostly by users who spend most of the time looking at pieces of text, tables or just surfing. This profile aims to deliver better distinctness and clarity by keeping a flat gamma curve (2.20), native color temperature and perceptually accurate colors.
Design and Gaming
This profile is aimed at designers who work with colors professionally, and for games and movies as well. Design and Gaming takes display panels to their limits, making them as accurate as possible in the sRGB IEC61966-2-1 standard for Web and HDTV, at white point D65.
Health-Guard
Health-Guard eliminates the harmful Pulse-Width Modulation (PWM) and reduces the negative Blue Light which affects our eyes and body. Since it’s custom tailored for every panel, it manages to keep the colors perceptually accurate. Health-Guard simulates paper so the pressure on the eyes is greatly reduced.
Get all 3 profiles with 33% discount
Verdict
The ASUS TUF Gaming VG27AQA1A is one of the best bang-for-the-buck gaming monitors that we’ve seen so far, with a fast refresh rate and wide-range FreeSync Premium support. The QHD resolution also means that you get a more detailed image as well as more screen space, as by adjusting the resolution scaling, you can fit more apps at once, improving your workflow and multitasking.
Moving onto our tests, with a 92% sRGB coverage, you get a punchy and vibrant image that looks good. It also makes the monitor usable for Web and Graphic Design. This is also helped by the great color accuracy of this monitor: Our Web Design and Office Work profile makes its color accuracy (dE) 0.9! Values below 1.00 show that the difference between the real colors and the ones represented on the screen is indistinguishable from the human eye!
However, don’t forget to get the Gaming and Movies profile as well – it makes everything a bit brighter by regulating the black color, thus making darker scenes more visible, regardless of whether it’s a video game or a movie. Lastly, but certainly not least in importance, the Health-Guard profile is designed to protect your eyes during evenings and nights, while maintaining perceptually accurate colors, akin to looking at paper. Activate it, watch the screen for a few minutes, then turn it off to notice the difference!
All in all, we’re really happy with the price point and the performance of the ASUS TUF Gaming VG27AQA1A and we’re putting it high up for recommendation to anybody who needs an affordable to mid-range gaming monitor, with the capability to handle professional color-sensitive work.
You can check the current price of the ASUS TUF Gaming VG27AQA1A: Buy from Amazon.com (#CommissionsEarned)
Pros
- Excellent professional-level color accuracy with a dE of 0.9 using our profile
- Built-in speakers
- Overclockable refresh rate (from 144Hz to 170Hz)
- FreeSync Premium Support for tear-free gaming
Cons
- The color coverage could have been slightly higher, however, you still can’t beat it for that price