The head of Nvidia G-Sync, Vijay Sharma, has confirmed that new 4K G-Sync HDR screens with an up to 144Hz refresh rate will start shipping at the end of this month.
These screens have been a long time coming, having first been shown off by partners at CES 2017. Even so, they will be the first monitors available to exceed the current 60Hz cap at a resolution of 3,840 x 2,160, popularly known as 4K or 4K UHD. It will also be a first outing for G-Sync HDR.
The two monitors in question are already known entities: the Asus ROG Swift PG27UQ and the Acer Predator X27, and both use the same underlying panel from OEM AU Optronics. Said panel is a 27” model with a 120Hz native refresh rate, though refresh rate overclocking is supported up to 144Hz. It’s based on quantum dot technology and has a 384-zone backlight, and it meets the DCI-P3 colour spectrum. It can also reach a peak of 1,000 nits brightness.
What’s still to be confirmed is the price, but given that this is the pinnacle of desktop monitor technology – a first pairing of a variable refresh rate technology with HDR, and the first time 4K is available at over 60Hz – you can expect a suitably eye-watering price, probably in the region of £2,000 or even more. Of course, that doesn’t take into consideration the graphics horsepower required to drive modern games at this resolution above 60fps; for that, you’re going to need dual GTX 1080 Tis realistically, and a suitably high-end system elsewhere.
We had a brief hands-on with one of the new models yesterday, and it was in a handy side-by-side comparison with a good quality 27” panel without HDR. The difference between the two was immediately obvious, with the HDR really adding a whole new level of depth. We’ll hopefully be getting samples in soon for a full review, so stay tuned!
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