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A 24-inch PC monitor with the ability to refresh its image 500 times per second will be available soon, Asus and Nvidia announced on Tuesday. The monitor was intended to boost desktop monitors from the maximum 360Hz native refresh rate they see today, while also bringing a mysterious new twist to an old panel technology.
Aptly named the Asus ROG Swift 500Hz Gaming Monitor, it manages high refresh rates at a lower resolution. The 1920×1080 screen uses a new version of TN (Twisted Nematic) panels called E-TN, where the “E” stands for Esports. According to Asus, the E-TN panel offers “60 percent better response times than standard TN panels,” and in its own announcement, Nvidia claimed the E-TN panel brings “maximum movement and clarity.” But neither detail how the technology differs from regular TN.
Standard TN panels have become increasingly rare in PC monitor versions as IPS (in-plane switching) and VA (vertical orientation) panels continue to catch up in speed while catering for wider viewing angles, in the case of IPS, and larger Contrast ratios are known in the case of VA. Those who choose the TN are willing to sacrifice some image quality in the name of speed or often lower prices. It’s unclear how much sacrifice E-TN might make (besides a 1080p max resolution) or how much a premium it will cost compared to today’s standard TN monitors.
You can buy 360Hz monitors these days, including some that can overclock to 390Hz, but 500Hz is a new level. The panel maker behind the monitor was not named, but Nvidia’s announcement made a point of highlighting its work with partner AU Optronics, which we recently showed off in 480Hz monitors and laptops, with the former in the 24-inch -TN variant is available. BOE has also been paired with a 500Hz panel that uses an oxide TFT (Thin Film Transistor) active layer instead of the more common silicon TFT active layer.
So who needs the fastest PC monitor? According to Nvidia’s announcement, “this will benefit every game and player, not just competitive games and esports pros.” However, if you prefer sharper image over the highest speeds, don’t have a powerful system to hit 500 fps, or play graphically intensive games, where 500 fps isn’t feasible, don’t fit into this “all games and gamers” category.
Nvidia claimed that when coupled with a system capable of transmitting 500 frames per second – which is no short order, of course – you’ll be able to track movement more easily. In a video that Nvidia shared and claimed to demonstrate the benefits of 500Hz, it showed a virtual character moving across the screen on a 144Hz, 240Hz, and 500Hz display, and the Motion appeared more erratic at the lower refresh rates and frame rates.
Similarly, Nvidia claimed that pushing 500Hz and 500fps would result in less ghosting, as you can see in the shot below:
In Nvidia’s virtual keynote for this week’s Computex conference, Jeff Fisher, Nvidia’s senior vice president of GeForce business, said that Asus’ 500Hz monitor has the “lowest latency” of any monitor with Nvidia G-Sync. Nvidia also pointed out a system latency challenge it ran recently with Steam players of various skill levels playing at 25, 55, and 85ms latencies. The challenge led Nvidia to conclude that lower latency “improved your score regardless of aiming ability” and made “difficult aiming tasks possible”.
In addition to Nvidia G-Sync, which helps combat screen tearing when your Nvidia graphics card’s frame rate and monitor refresh rate don’t match, Asus’ 500Hz monitor features Nvidia’s Reflex latency analyzer. Nvidia claimed that playing a game on the monitor that also supports Reflex “can further reduce system latency,” which you could then measure using the monitor’s Reflex feature.
The upcoming display also supports Nvidia’s Vibrance Mode, which was designed for gaming and “allows more light to pass through the LCD crystals, giving colors a new level of vibrancy and allowing you to see details and highlights that determine the position of a could betray the enemy”. claims Asus.
Neither Asus nor Nvidia shared a release date for the Asus ROG Swift 500Hz Gaming Monitor. Asus demoed its first 360Hz monitor in person in January 2020, and these were available later that year; although at the time of writing there don’t seem to be any personal demos of the ROG Swift 500Hz yet.
You can check out Nvidia’s demo of 500Hz below:
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