by Do you need to dazzle your retinas with 500 nits of full-screen SDR brightness on a daily basis? That question goes to the heart of the new Asus ROG Swift OLED PG32UCDM. Because it is very close to the perfection of a gaming monitor except for one obvious limitation. Yup, full screen brightness.
To be clear, this new Asus OLED panel has no particular issues with full-screen brightness compared to other OLED monitors. It doesn’t move the game forward by that metric. On the other hand, it certainly delivers where earlier OLED monitors don’t in terms of pixel density and resolution. This is the real 4K deal, all 240Hz of it. And it’s pretty bloody glorious.
Enjoy that thought as we go through the different speeds and feeds. So, this is a 32-inch 4K monitor that features Samsung’s latest QD-OLED panel technology. The 4K bit means a much higher pixel density than before, which required a new inkjet printing method to manufacture the panel.
That new process doesn’t seem to have affected the panel’s wider capabilities beyond pixel density. It’s rated at the same 0.03ms response as previous QD-OLEDs, for example, and delivers the same 250 nits full-screen brightness, 1,000 nits peak for HDR brightness in very small windows, and 99% coverage of the DCI -P3 color space.
Connectivity wise, you get DisplayPort 1.4, a pair of HDMI 2.1 ports, and USB-C with 90W of power delivery, not to mention a KVM switch. Basically all your connectivity bases are covered. It’s worth noting that the full 240Hz at 4K is only possible through DSC or Display Stream Compression which theoretically increases latency, but at such a small amount that it doesn’t really matter (0.5 microseconds, if you’re wondering).
Swift OLED PG32UCDM specifications
Screen size: 32-inch
Resolution: 3,840 x 2,160
Brightness: 250 nits full screen, 1,000 nits max HDR
Color cover: 99% DCI-P3
Response time: 0.03ms
Refresh rate: 240 Hz
HDR: DisplayHDR 400 True Black
Aspects: Samsung QD-OLED 3rd Gen panel, adaptive sync, 1x DisplayPort 1.4, 2x HDMI 2.1, 1x USB-C with 90W PD, KVM switch
Price: $1,299 | £1,349
As for other features, there is HDR400 certification, custom heatsink, uniform brightness mode and various burn mitigation measures including pixel refresh and pixel shift. Incidentally, as always with the latter, that means an oversupply of pixels that slightly increases the apparent size of the screen bezels.
So you hardly settle, but if you’re expecting that edge-to-edge OLED thing you get with TVs, you’re going to be disappointed here. You’re not getting a super grown-up design either.
Aesthetically, Asus’ ROG line of gaming peripherals seems a bit stuck up from about 10 years ago. This is a nicely built screen. But the sharp lines, the RGB lighting, and all the logos are a bit juvenile and dated.
That’s no doubt fine for some more affordable parts of the gaming market. But we’re talking about a high-end monitor worth $1,299 here. A few less cheesy things probably wouldn’t hurt.
With all that covered, how is this thing actually going to be used? The answer is mostly great. Finally having an OLED desktop monitor, compared to a laptop or phone panel, with a decent pixel density is a revelation. It pretty much solves all those null font rendering issues lower resolution OLED panels have had due to their weird sub-pixel layout.
Finally having an OLED desktop monitor, compared to a laptop or phone panel, with a decent pixel density is a revelation.
That non-standard sub-pixel arrangement remains. But the density overcomes it in that the sharpness of the text is almost equal to an RGB LCD with the same resolution and density.
That’s really important, because it means this is the first OLED panel you can use like a CD without compromising on print quality. Yes, you can just see some edge if you look Seriously hard. But you must look very closely.
In other terms, this monitor looks much the same as previous QD-OLED panels. And that is a good thing. The colors are amazing, the HDR performance is absolutely amazing. The answer involves no LCD monitor.
And then there’s the full screen brightness. That’s where things get a little more complicated. At 250 nits it’s reasonable, in fact the same as almost all of the latest OLED panels, including Asus’ own 34 incher, the Asus ROG Swift OLED PG34WCDM. For most indoor users, that’s enough. But it could be argued that only one. If you’re using this monitor in an environment with really bright ambient lighting, you’ll sometimes feel like you want a little more pop.
But if there’s a more pressing problem with brightness, it has more to do with HDR gaming. Anytime the scene is mostly dark up to about a 50:50 mix of dark and light elements, this monitor is absolutely sizzle. It renders neon lighting against a dark background in Cyberpunk 2077, for example, as well or better than any monitor we’ve seen.
This is aided by a well-considered glossy coating, which emphasizes the OLED panel’s inherent contrast without adding too much reflectivity. It’s a real visual treat.
No LCD panel can come close to the 0.03ms pixel response.
Where the Asus ROG Swift OLED PG32UCDM is less convincing – and once again, this is a problem it shares with all previous OLED monitors so far – in really bright outdoor gaming scenes. In that case, the limited full-screen brightness is quite obvious. This panel and every other OLED panel beats even a 400 nit IPS monitor when it comes to rendering that kind of image.
But do you want to slap your retinas with more than 400 nits of full-screen sizzle every time you play a game with a bright outdoor scene? Is that really comfortable and sustainable?
That’s a trivial call. Arguably, it would be better if this monitor at least had the option to do that. It’s not that this isn’t the perfect gaming monitor.
For the record, this OLED panel handles SDR content admirably in HDR mode. So, you can simply run it in HDR mode all the time with the SDR brightness turned up in the Windows Display Settings tool. There’s no need to jump back and forth between SDR and HDR mode in Windows all the time depending on what you’re watching or playing.
As for response and patience, well, few will be disappointed. Yes, there are monitors that have higher refresh rates. But no LCD panel can come close to the 0.03ms pixel response. Besides, if you want to play at 500Hz, you won’t be in the market for a 4K panel of any kind.
This thing is easy enough slick and fast enough for 99% of gamers. The only problem with that is you’ll need a megbucks Nvidia RTX 4090 GPU to get the most out of that 4K at 240Hz combo.
Incidentally, if you were wondering if this new class of QD-OLED panels has the same internal reflection issues as other QD-OLED panels, it does. So yes, it can look a little gray when there’s lots and lots of ambient light. But most of the time, it hardly matters and if you are in a dark room. For me, it’s a complete non-issue.
Buy if…
✅ You want a high pixel density OLED experience: This is our first 4K OLED and it certainly does not disappoint.
Do not buy if…
❌ You require really high full screen brightness: Like all other OLED monitors, full-screen brightness is still a slight weakness.
All in all, then, this is a very desirable gaming monitor. Once you’ve tried it, it puts you in touch with LCD panels. The perfect lighting per pixel and amazing HDR performance, the incredible response, the essentially infinite viewing angles – in comparison, all LCD monitors are just a little clunky.
In fact, little things like actual black bars above and below film and a sense of image quality that is completely even across the entire panel make this monitor feel as modern as LCD monitors feel. date compared to them.
So the Asus ROG Swift OLED PG32UCDM isn’t perfect but, as an overall offering, it probably comes closer than any previous monitor. Only the big price and the knowledge that even better OLED panel technology will almost certainly appear in the coming years prevent this from being a complete no brainer and a complete must buy. But, if you’re in the market for a top-notch 4K gaming monitor right now, this is it.
