Asus ROG Swift OLED PG32UCDM review: A super-sized and razor sharp display

At a glance

Expert's Rating

Pros

• Excellent image quality
• Great motion clarity
• Includes USB-C with Power Delivery   
• Official support for both AMD FreeSync and Nvidia G-Sync

Cons

• Stand is too wide and deep
• Lacks USB-C downstream
• HDR brightness could be better

Our Verdict

The Asus ROG Swift OLED PG32UCDM is another excellent 32-inch 4K QD-OLED monitor. It excels in connectivity, but falls a tad behind in HDR.

Best Prices Today: Asus ROG Swift OLED PG32UCDM

2024 looks like an excellent time to buy a monitor — and even more so if you want a 32-inch display. The latest 4K 32-inch QD-OLED monitors, such as the Asus ROG Swift OLED PG32UCDM, offer top-tier image quality with few downsides. Asus’ entry doesn’t reach the HDR heights offered by Alienware but fights back with USB-C connectivity.

Further reading: See our roundup of the best gaming monitors to learn about competing products.

Asus ROG Swift OLED PG32UCDM specifications and features

The Asus ROG Swift OLED PG32UCDM’s specifications might not feel familiar yet, but they will soon. It uses a new 32-inch 4K QD-OLED panel produced by Samsung that will roll out widely to numerous brands through 2024. Alienware beat Asus to market with its AW3225QF, but the two monitors are identical in size, resolution, and refresh rate. They also share many features.

• Display size: 31.5-inch
• Native resolution: 3840×2160
• Panel type: OLED
• Refresh rate: 240Hz
• Adaptive sync: VESA Adaptive Sync 240, AMD FreeSync Premium Pro, Nvidia G-Sync Compatible
• HDR: HDR10, VESA DisplayHDR 400 True Black Certified
• Ports: 1x USB-C with DisplayPort Alternate Mode and USB 3.2 with 90 watts Power Delivery, 1x DisplayPort 1.4, 2x HDMI 2.1, 3x USB-A 3.2 Gen 2, 1x 3.5mm audio-out, 1x SPDIF optical out
• VESA mount: 100x100mm
• Speakers: None
• Price: $1,299 MSRP

Still, there are a few highlights to mention. Asus offers a USB-C input with DisplayPort and 90 watts of Power Delivery. USB-C is not uncommon in 2024, but also remains somewhat rare among gaming monitors. The Asus also has official AMD FreeSync and Nvidia G-Sync support, while many competitors stick to one or the other.

Asus ROG Swift OLED PG32UCDM design

The Asus ROG Swift OLED PG32UCDM is a serious monitor with a dark obsidian exterior and an angular, stealthy design. It’s clearly intended for gaming, yet its style ensures it wouldn’t be out of place in a more professional setting, such as a home office or a video production studio.

mentioned in this article

Alienware AW3225QF

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Best Prices Today: $1199.99 at Dell

The monitor exudes a premium feel thanks to high-quality plastics and an extremely thin OLED panel that is accentuated by the monitor’s thin mainboard and I/O panel. The result is a slim profile that looks modern. It’s not curved, either, which I prefer. I loved the Alienware AW3225QF’s image quality, but I don’t like curved displays, so the PG32UCDM gets my vote here. The monitor offers attractive, well-executed LED accent lighting if you’d prefer more flair, but the feature can be turned off, and leaving it off doesn’t make the monitor look dull or boring.

Unfortunately, I do have a few complaints about Asus’ stand. It opts for a wide stand that is nearly as broad as the monitor itself. It’s also rather deep, owing to a third shortened leg on the rear side of the stand. The result is a stand that takes up quite a bit of space on your desk. It doesn’t sit flush with the rear edge of your desk, either, but instead must be positioned a few inches forward, which is problematic if your desk is shallow.

Aside from those issues, the stand is sturdy and offers a wide range of ergonomic adjustments. I also found that adjusting the monitor did not require too much force, which is always a plus. A 100x100mm VESA mount is available for attaching a third-party stand or monitor arm.

Matt Smith / Foundry

Asus ROG Swift OLED PG32UCDM connectivity and menus

The ASUS ROG Swift OLED PG32UCM boasts an excellent selection of modern connectivity. This includes one USB-C port with DisplayPort Alternate Mode and up to 90 watts of Power Delivery. Additionally, it features a DisplayPort 1.4 port and HDMI 2.1.

That’s a total of four video inputs that cover a broad range of devices a gamer might want to connect. It’s possible to connect a laptop PC, a desktop PC, and two game consoles simultaneously, and for all of these connected devices to access the display’s maximum resolution and refresh rate.

The monitor also includes three USB-A downstream ports, a generous selection that allows gamers to easily connect wired peripherals. However, some competitors, like the Alienware AW3225QF, offer an additional USB-C downstream port, which is nice to have now that many wired peripherals are transitioning to USB-C.

You’ll control the monitor’s features and options with a joystick located in the middle of the monitor’s lower bezel. It’s intuitive and easy to use thanks to Asus’ well-labeled menu options. These options span a wide variety of image quality adjustments, including color space and color calibration, color temperature, and gamma. Asus also provides several HDR modes, including one that allows brightness control in HDR, a feature many monitors lack.

Matt Smith / Foundry

I also want to call out two specific features.

The first is Asus’ brightness limiter, which is turned off by default, but can be used to moderate fluctuations and brightness caused by the OLED panel. OLED panels are usually dimmer when they display large bright images than when displaying small, bright images, and this fluctuation can prove distracting. The brightness limiter does reduce the monitor’s maximum brightness slightly, but it can be preferable when working on the Windows desktop.

Asus also offers aspect ratio control, a feature that can limit the usable display space to 24.5 inches or 27 inches. That may seem strange, but it makes sense for competitive gamers who want to achieve the highest refresh rates and keep the entire visible image within the center of their view. Players who only enjoy competitive games would be better off with a 24.5-inch monitor with a higher refresh rate, but it’s a useful option for people who enjoy both Civilization VI and Counter-Strike, and want one monitor for both.

The PG32UCDM doesn’t have speakers but it does provide both 3.5mm audio and SPDIF output. The latter is an interesting rarity among monitors, though also found on the Alienware AW3225QF, which throws in eARC for good measure. SPDIF is a great way to connect an external soundbar or a receiver, which can be desirable if using the AW3225QF like a television in a smaller space.

Asus ROG Swift OLED PG32UCDM SDR image quality

The Asus ROG Swift OLED PG32UCDM is part of a new generation of 4K 240Hz QD-OLED display panels. It represents a boost in resolution over previous QD-OLED monitors while retaining the high refresh rates OLED monitors are known for. The result is a gorgeous display that excels in many metrics.

Matt Smith / Foundry

We start with brightness, an important metric for OLED monitors. The PG32UCDM reached close to 300 nits, which is higher than many competing OLED displays. This level of brightness isn’t necessary in most situations but can prove useful in very brightly lit rooms, especially since the monitor, like most OLED monitors, has a glossy display finish. Interestingly, this high level of brightness is not mirrored in the HDR performance, which we will discu