CES hasn’t kicked off yet, but that didn’t stop Nvidia and Asus from making an announcement ahead of the rest of the industry, that of a new monitor. A 360 hertz monitor, which means it will support upto 360 frames per second, a big jump of 50% from the current generation which sits at 240Hz. Asus calls this monitor the ROG Swift 360 and it will hit the shelves later this year.
The ROG Swift 360 is a 24.5-inch screen with its panel made by AU Optronics and controller made by Nvidia. It supports Nvidia’s G-SYNC technology. Nvidia hasn’t disclosed the type of panel being used, but considering that most high refresh-rate monitors use TN panels, the odds on the ROG Swift 360 using a TN panel are high. AU Optronics has also supplied the panels for ASUS’s 240Hz ROG Swift monitor, so the question is whether AUO is using an overclocked version of the same panel or a new panel altogether.
The ROG Swift 360 will be a true G-Sync monitor. This means that the monitor will support full variable synchronised refresh rates and overdrive functionality between 0 to 360Hz; a wide range of refresh rates. We still don’t live in times where we have hardware powerful enough to ensure stable 360 frames per second, so having G-Sync compatibility is an absolute must for monitors with such high refresh rates, else it’d actually be pointless to get a 360Hz monitor, unless they’re releasing 360 fps content which seems less likely.
It will be interesting to see what the real world benefits of 360Hz gaming are. The rule of diminishing returns is pretty much a sure occurrence here. 240Hz monitors offer 4.16ms frame time and 60Hz monitors are only 1.4ms away. Therefore, for a 50% jump in refresh rates, the difference ought to be exponentially lower.
Asus is essentially marketing the ROG Swift 360 as a competitive gaming monitor, but it will also be interesting to see the visual differences versus a 240Hz monitor. The smoothness jump in 120Hz against 60Hz was fairly evident. The same from 120Hz to 240Hz is noticeable but not as evident as in the previous case. Nevertheless, the experience only got smoother and smoother with each generation jump, so it will be interesting to see how the 360Hz’s performance will translate in real life scenarios.
No other technical details were released by Nvidia and ASUS. We’re at the start of a new year so it will be several months before the ROG Swift 360 is launched, and we are already anticipating. Also, let’s see what other monitor manufacturers, particularly in gaming segment (like BenQ) do with the 360 hertz refresh rate technology.
