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GAMING GEAR
AWARD
ASUS VG248QE 144Hz 3D Monitor
RRP: $289.99 | Website: www.asus.com
G
aming monitors are most often
the most overlooked part next
to audio in most gaming setups.
Usually the rendering power is maxed
out, but much like audio, the display
is neglected. One can’t really blame
most users for this because for the
longest time, we have been stuck at
1080p displays which have made very
little progress in visual fidelity over
the last five to six years.
Previously my gaming monitor of
choice was the ASUS VG278H, which
was my first introduction to 3D Vision
2. It simply blew my mind when I
played Crysis 2 with it in stereoscopic
3D. As more games showed up with
even better stereo imaging, the
monitor seemed to get better and I
was convinced there wouldn’t be a
better monitor at any reasonable price
for a very long time. After all, this
was as perfect as TN LCD monitors
were going to get as far as gaming is
concerned, at least that seemed to be
the case.
44 The OverClocker Issue 24 | 2013
Fortunately I was wrong and for all
intents and purposes the VG248QE is
a better mo nitor. It’s smaller at 24”,
it doesn’t have a built in emitter and
as such you can’t use it for your 3D
gaming with consoles as you could
with the VG278H. Having said that,
what you compromise on isn’t much
given how much more you get for
under $300. For this price you’re not
going to find a better gaming monitor
and I knew this the minute I turned
it on. What you get for your money
is better pixel density than the 27”,
144Hz gaming, a 1ms response time,
3D Lightboost support and obviously
3D Vision compatibility. You should
keep in mind however that this
monitor does not ship with the 3D
Vision kit so you’ll have to buy that
separately. However even with the
additional outlay for the kit if you don’t
have one already, the VG248QE proves
to be the better monitor over its bigger
brother. If only because gaming at
144Hz is nothing short of incredible,
offering the smoothest, tear free
picture even with V-Sync enabled. The
higher pixel density and increased
contrast ratio also help deliver a more
hat
vivid image resulting in a monitor that
grows on you with time.
After I used the VG248QE in both
und
traditional and stereoscopic 3D I found
k
myself hooked and unable to go back to
e
any other 60Hz monitor. The absence of
or
motion blur and reduced lag made for
ce
arguably the best gaming experience
I’ve had on any monitor to date.
te
The downside here is that, despite
t
the 144Hz refresh rate, one cannot
enable stereoscopic 3D at this
frequency. When you engage 3D
re
Vision, you’ll be dropped to the more
common 120Hz where each eye is
ot
refreshed 60 times a second. I’m not
e
sure what why this is or at least the
ce
technical reason behind it but suffice
to say in 3D Vision mode it is still a
little better than the VG278H. This
could have been due to the slightly
sity,
brighter image or better pixel density,