The Asus TUF Gaming VG32VQ is an odd beast that straddles the line between an ungainly but feature-rich gaming monitor, and an HDTV for those without a lot of space. Hell, I still remember how excited I was when I got my first 32” HDTV and stuck it in my lounge for gaming on PC and console. However, I’ve always found 24” monitors the sweet spot for work and gaming using a typical sitting- or standing-desk configuration, while 27” is pushing the upper limit of practical if you’re going to spend as much time working as gaming. The Asus TUF Gaming VG32VQ, despite offering basic high-dynamic range (HDR) support and well-established monitor perks – millisecond response times, high refresh rates, and variable refresh rate (VRR) – is going to appeal to a specific niche.

Technical specifications:
- 32” 2560x1440 (16:9 WQHD) panel with 1800R curvature
- VA panel
- 1ms response time and support for up to 144 Hz (DisplayPort 1.2 and HDMI 2.0)
- Freesync for variable refresh rates (48-144 Hz) supported by both AMD and Nvidia GPUs
- 120% sRGB wide colour gamut and DisplayHDR™ 400 certification (10-bit 400 cd/m2 max brightness)
- 1x DisplayPort 1.2, 2x HDMI 2.0, 3.5 mm earphone jack, 2x 2 W speakers, and side control panel
- 180° swivel stand with -5° to 20° tilt, VESA wall mount (100x100 mm)

Just to get a sense of how large this monitor is, here’s the Asus TUF Gaming VG32VQ (32” with 1800R curvature) standing in front of my UHDTV (49” with 3000R curvature)

Packing away my modular standing desk, on which even a 27” display looks unnervingly big, the Asus TUF Gaming VG32VQ took up a huge portion of my desk area – my gaming laptop had to sit on an adjacent shelf, along with my small printer. Pushed back as far as I could, giving me a viewing distance of >100 cm, the 2560x1440 “WQHD” still looks sharp with a pixel-density of ~93 PPI. This is on par and exceeds many UHDTVs, but is low by monitor standards and you’ll not want to sit much closer to the display. The WQHD native resolution does make hitting the high refresh rates offered by this monitor more plausible of a wider range of PCs without upscaling, and there’s no doubt refresh rates that exceed the 60 Hz standard of HDTVs has a notable impactful on your gaming experience.

You may have already guessed from that prior paragraph that the Asus TUF Gaming VG32VQ is not an ideal monitor if you need it for work-related tasks. Sure, you’ve got plenty of screen space (~70x39 cm), sufficient pixel-density, and a high refresh rate that makes navigating the desktop and apps smooth, but I found no optimal position to offset the size of the display. Up close, the 1800R curvature can’t offset the fact you’ll be constantly turning your head to take in everything on the screen. Move it far enough back to avoid this – you can use the VESA the wall mount if you don’t have the desk space – and you end up with so much in your peripheral vision it’s difficult to focus on the screen. If it’s a secondary display, purely for gaming and media, this’ll be less of an issue - just make sure you’ve got the space.


The sturdy swivel stand connects with a solid metal rod and securing screw that, coupled with the ability to tilt the display between -5° to 20°, make it easy to get the screen into an optimal position. The VESA wall mount removes this flexibility but it’s an option if you need the space.

As the Asus TUF Gaming VG32VQ is a gaming monitor first and foremost, I can at least report the performance in exceptional, just so long as you’re not after the HDR experience. With the resolution and performance target for many recent games set 4K/60, something even Nvidia’s GTX20-series and AMDs RX5000-series can’t promise at ultra-settings, the WQHD resolution and adaptive-sync support makes it easier for those aiming for high refresh rate. Sitting over 100 cm away from the display, games still looked sharp at the native resolution, while the responsiveness and fluidity of gaming at 144 Hz remains underappreciated.

To push the maximum supported framerate and test the VRR features offered by the Asus TUF Gaming VG32VQ, I once again picked several retro-styled shooters (Project Warlock, Ion Fury, Dusk, and Hedon) that wouldn’t challenge my GTX 1050Ti. They all ran all ran silky smooth, felt responsive, and the precision you gain when it comes to fine movements and aiming at 144 Hz must be experienced first-hand. Any drops below that figure were imperceptible thanks to VRR with the massive 48-144 Hz range. To test both the VRR support and HDR quality, I first dug into several campaign chapters of Gears of War 4 and Gears 5, before plugging in an Xbox One S and PlayStation 4 to see how HDR content looked on the display (and how well the VRR worked with the Xbox). In both cases, VRR performance between of 48-60 Hz meant any dips in performance were resolved while playing both Gears games that would stress my GPU when tweaking settings for 1440p/60.


The Asus TUF Gaming VG32VQ offers 1x DisplayPort, 2x HDMI 2.0, and 3.5 mm earphone jack. The speakers are passable at best, so you’ll want your own earphones or a sound bar if you plan to use it as a TV.

If you’re using an Xbox One S/X, the VRR support is recognised immediately over HDMI and the results are impressive. All too many console games that target 60fps use a combination of dynamic resolution and adaptive sync to achieve it, resulting in partial or full-screen tearing. The Asus TUF Gaming VG32VQ handles upscaling well enough, but the elimination of most screen tearing in the 48-60 Hz range is the real bonus to using the monitor instead of an HDTV. If you’re playing older games or media that only support standard dynamic range (SDR), the expanded 120% sRGB colour gamut paired with a 3000:1 contrast ratio ensures the image is vibrant and looks far better than my current UHDTV handles SDR content.

As with many monitors that claim HDR-support, you’ll likely be disappointed with the results on the Asus TUF Gaming VG32VQ. I spent time switching between the Asus TUF Gaming VG32VQ and my 4-year-old Samsung KU7500-series HDR UHDTV while gaming, and the 400 cd/m2 max brightness just doesn’t produce a significant improvement over the SDR image, falling behind the minimum requirement of many recent games. With Gears of War 4 and Gears 5 offering more granular HDR settings, I could barely produce an image that looked more vivid than using SDR settings. Two PlayStation 4 games with excellent HDR support, Horizon Zero Dawn and God of War (2018), produced visual artefacts even after iteratively tweaking available HDR settings on both the console and within the games themselves. With many games and video content using a baseline of 1,000 cd/m2, you’ll notice artefacts on pixels that are assigned a wide range brightness values, but which end up homogenized by the limited range of the display. These games looked much better when using the SDR setting and expanded 120% sRGB-range.


The easy-to-access side panel allows you to quickly access and adjust menu options, or jump between default or user-defined or configurations.

Overall, I feel the Asus TUF Gaming VG32VQ will be a niche product for those who happen to not be interested in HDR content (something that’s getting increasingly less likely), those that want a massive gaming monitor they won't use for work, and those who want a display that can double up as an HDTV for other devices. If you’re purely after performance, the WQHD resolution, 1 ms response time, and VRR support will help you hit the maximum 144 Hz refresh rate it offers. If you enjoy gaming with a gamepad, or if you have a lap-desk you can with a wireless mouse-and-keyboard setup, the Asus TUF Gaming VG32VQ would work as an excellent display if you prefer playing from the couch.

Unfortunately, if you have a typical desk setup that doesn’t allow you to mount the display at >100 cm, it just feels too big to be practical and is unsuited for work-related tasks. Likewise, if you’re looking for a way to experience HDR-supported games and media, the Asus TUF Gaming VG32VQ falls too far behind modern HDR UHDTVs and you’re better of sticking to SDR and taking advantage of the expanded 120% sRGB-range. With an RRP of over R10,000, this is also another specialised gaming monitor that falls in direct competition with mid-tier HDR UHDTVs, which offer a 4K resolution, improved HDR support, and greater versatility for non-gaming media.