When Asus first showed off a 360Hz gaming monitor last year, it was an April Fools’ prank. At CES 2020, Asus is bringing the real thing: a 24.5-inch 1080p gaming monitor that runs at 360Hz with Nvidia’s G-Sync technology. Asus is claiming this is the world’s first 360Hz gaming monitor with G-Sync, and it’s designed with e-sports and competitive gaming in mind.
144Hz and 240Hz are typical refresh rates found in most gaming-focused monitors, but you might be wondering why you’d even need a 360Hz monitor. Naturally, you’ll need a powerful GPU to reach the types of frame rates where you’ll even notice a difference, and you’ll need to play competitive games like Overwatch or CS:GO to really take advantage of a 360Hz display.
The Asus ROG Swift 360Hz panel runs at 1080p resolution, which will certainly help with higher frame rates, and Nvidia is including an “advanced G-Sync processor” inside. Asus and Nvidia have worked side by side on the monitor to unlock higher frame rates. Nvidia claims these higher frame rates improve target tracking with smoother animations in games, reduce tearing and ghosting, and, obviously, let players see enemies earlier. Any reduction in latency, even just milliseconds, will make a big difference in competitive gaming. This 360Hz monitor displays game frames once every 2.8ms, which can be up to six times faster than a regular monitor or TV.
Nvidia is demonstrating this display at CES this week, and we’ll need to test it fully to spot the differences over 144Hz or 240Hz. Nvidia is claiming flick shot improvements of up to 37 percent over a regular 60Hz monitor, so the improvements should be noticeable.
The Asus ROG Swift 360Hz won’t be available until “later this year,” and Asus has not provided an exact release date or pricing yet.