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Help! Asus ROG pg348q (IPS) vs Samsung CF791 (SVA)

18K views 45 replies 10 participants last post by  PopeBenedict 
#1 ·
Hello,

At the moment I have two monitors, the Asus pg348q and the Samsung CF791 at home and have to decide which of the two goes back. Please consider that I have a GTX 1080 and use it for gaming. Also, the Asus pg348q costs 1100 euro while the Samsung CF791 is at 1000 euro.
I will list some of the pros and cons but I think you all know them already so I'll make it short. Also, I will upload some pictures of both in-game and in dark screen.

Asus pg348q

Pros:
- IPS panel
-Gsync
-Overcloked to 100 Hz frequency no problem.
-No coil whine, flicker, etc.
Colors are quite accurate
-Excellent viewing angles
-VESA support well implemented
-Color calibration profile (ICC) from TFTCentral is available and works perfect.
-3 years guarantee

Cons:

-Backlight bleed and orange glow in the corners (took me to exchange 6 panels in the lottery to get a decent one)
-Native frequency is 60 hz
-The stand is huge and the barely flat curve (3200R) makes the panel feel huge.
-Panel from LG from 2013
-Rather low contrast
-Blacks are not totally black but dark grey sort of, almost black
-Gsync causes some games to drop 10-15 FPS as compared to monitors lacking it (Wildlands 55 FPS maxed out)

Samsung CF791

Pros:

-Native 100 Hz
-Color calibrated from factory
-Really elegant design with a step curve (1500R) makes the panel feel not as huge as the Asus and covers the peripheral view within a reasonable angle
-Amazing contrasts and displays velvet back.
-Very new panel made by Samsung (SVA) including Quantum dot technology.
-Lack of Gsync seems to be compensated by higher performance resulting in equally smooth gameplay (Wildlands 70 FPS maxed out)
-Excellent contrast and eye popping colors.
-No backlight bleed

Cons
-Color shifting from angles although really minor and only seen at very steep angles.
-Lack of Gync (has freesync instead but some people claim is badly implemented)
-1 year guarantee
-My eyes got pretty tired of long gaming sessions unlike the Asus pg348q
-Very noticeable VA glow in the upper and lower part of the panel

Pictures:

Backlight bleed/glow.

Asus pg348q


Samsung CF791


Colors

Asus pg348q


Samsung CF791


Asus pg348q


Samsung CF791


Asus pg348q


Samsung CF791


Asus pg348q


Samsung CF791


Thanks for the input!
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#2 ·
appreciate your post with reference to comparison between cf791 and the ASUS pg348q as im in the same dilemma myself. The yellow glow on the ASUS is really annoying me in the left corners , mine is very similar to yours. Can i ask did you notice a massive difference between 100hz and no gsync on the cf791 ?

Im debating returning mine and swapping for this monitor , I have to say the cf791 looks like it offers a better picture / more detail which I think is down to the black levels ... ive always felt due to lack of black that the asus makes the image look soft and lacks detail as seen in your pictures above.
 
#3 ·
Quote:
Originally Posted by tonnytech View Post

appreciate your post with reference to comparison between cf791 and the ASUS pg348q as im in the same dilemma myself. The yellow glow on the ASUS is really annoying me in the left corners , mine is very similar to yours. Can i ask did you notice a massive difference between 100hz and no gsync on the cf791 ?

Im debating returning mine and swapping for this monitor , I have to say the cf791 looks like it offers a better picture / more detail which I think is down to the black levels ... ive always felt due to lack of black that the asus makes the image look soft and lacks detail as seen in your pictures above.
Honestly, I didn't notice any big difference regarding the lack of Gsync because most of my games play at least over 50-60 FPS with the GTX1080. Actually, I didn't miss gsync playing in the Samsung and, at least in Wildlands I did noticed that I get 55 FPS average when using the Asus with gsync and 75 FPS on the Samsung so, in both cases the gameplay is butter smooth. What is curious though is the performance hit of gsync to match the GPU output to the monitor refresh rate. This made me wonder if gsync becomes a gimmick when using a 1080...

Regarding the yellow glow, gotta say that it is minimal and the picture greatly emphasizes it. It does not look so bad and is limited to the left corners (right ones I see only taking a picture or total dark room). It really doesn't interfere in movies and even less in gameplay, at least in my case. As for the backlight bleed, is strange but it has got a lot better with the time of use. Now, after 1 month is minimal compared to when I got the monitor. On the glow topic, the Samsung panel I got it had really strong glow not only in the corners but all along the upper and lower margins so the only real black you see is in the middle of the screen and varies as you move up and down. The glow was even noticeable in games, very minor, and quite accentuated in movies.

Now, in regards to the image quality, at least in the Asus panel I've got, the contrast isn't that bad and using the color profile found in TFT central the image quality is on par with high contrast panel like the Samsung but the colors are a way better and more realistic because in the Samsung they are way too saturated as you can see in the pictures for BF1 (dessert picture).

Both are great panels with excellent IQ but I feel that the Asus has an edge. If we add that the lack of color shifting, excellent viewing angles and gsync I think is a clear win for the Asus so I am more inclined to send back the Samsung. Still, a very difficult choice and have few days left to make up my mind.
 
#4 ·
Quote:
Originally Posted by PopeBenedict View Post

Honestly, I didn't notice any big difference regarding the lack of Gsync because most of my games play at least over 50-60 FPS with the GTX1080. Actually, I didn't miss gsync playing in the Samsung and, at least in Wildlands I did noticed that I get 55 FPS average when using the Asus with gsync and 75 FPS on the Samsung so, in both cases the gameplay is butter smooth. What is curious though is the performance hit of gsync to match the GPU output to the monitor refresh rate. This made me wonder if gsync becomes a gimmick when using a 1080...

Regarding the yellow glow, gotta say that it is minimal and the picture greatly emphasizes it. It does not look so bad and is limited to the left corners (right ones I see only taking a picture or total dark room). It really doesn't interfere in movies and even less in gameplay, at least in my case. As for the backlight bleed, is strange but it has got a lot better with the time of use. Now, after 1 month is minimal compared to when I got the monitor. On the glow topic, the Samsung panel I got it had really strong glow not only in the corners but all along the upper and lower margins so the only real black you see is in the middle of the screen and varies as you move up and down. The glow was even noticeable in games, very minor, and quite accentuated in movies.

Now, in regards to the image quality, at least in the Asus panel I've got, the contrast isn't that bad and using the color profile found in TFT central the image quality is on par with high contrast panel like the Samsung but the colors are a way better and more realistic because in the Samsung they are way too saturated as you can see in the pictures for BF1 (dessert picture).

Both are great panels with excellent IQ but I feel that the Asus has an edge. If we add that the lack of color shifting, excellent viewing angles and gsync I think is a clear win for the Asus so I am more inclined to send back the Samsung. Still, a very difficult choice and have few days left to make up my mind.
I zoomed in on a couple of your pics to highlight the image quality difference im seeing the samsung def offers greater depth of detail , but i would agree about colour accuracy comparing the bf1 pictures. For me due to lack of contrast the asus at times look soft almost blurred and lacking the detail of the samsung.

Asus

6zn80w.jpg


Sammy

2qvuw6h.jpg


thanks for the great feedback , i think im going to order this cf971 tomorrow to compare side by side myself ... i cant stand the yellow glow of ips its driving me nuts and the black levels of the cf971 are appealing to me
smile.gif


Have you encountered any smear ghost scanlines anything like that ?
 
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#5 ·
I haven't seen any smear ghosting or scan lines in the Samsung. Actually, maybe I was lucky and got an excellent panel because there are some complains on this from other people. The one I got just has worked flawless out of the box. I word of caution though, the silver VA glow is, to my surprise, more intrusive than the orange glow because it is distributed all along the upper and lower side of the panels and will make blacks look grayish. The orange glow is limited to the corners, at least in my Asus pg348q so is really less noticeable. However, in 1 week of use I did notice that the glow was slowing fading but not by much.

Also, color uniformity wasn't that great with the panel I got, it was dark towards the left and right ends as well as the upper and lower margins. Not noticeable in game but when browsing it is.

 
#7 ·
well ordered the cf791 which will be here tomorrow , looking forward to comparing both screens side by side myself
smile.gif
 
#8 ·
Quote:
Originally Posted by tonnytech View Post

well ordered the cf791 which will be here tomorrow , looking forward to comparing both screens side by side myself
smile.gif
Nice! That is the best way to make an opinion. Looking forward to your opinions.
In the meantime I've compared the Witcher:

Asus:


Samsung:


This second case you can see how the color accuracy is severely affected in the Samsung due to the rather string saturation. Specifically, look at Geralt's left side, just at the water-sand transition you can notice how in the Samsung is goes from brown to yellow while in the Asus you see the gradient of colors which makes it look way more realistic.

Asus:


Samsung:
 
#11 ·
Quote:
Originally Posted by khaine1711 View Post

Any chance you can have both monitors color calibrated?

The default profile of Samsung TVs and monitors are usually quite popped/saturated. Your eyes getting tired might results from the inaccurate/saturated color.
The Samsung ships color calibrated with a sheet report for the monitor you get. I don't have the tools to verify or correct it unfortunately.
 
#12 ·
Well after testing these screens for the past couple of days im still not sure although im leaning towards the ASUS at moment. The Samsung is a nice picture but it feels more like a TV , the black levels are nice I have to say when sitting bang on straight with screen.

Samsung cons :-

Smear on darker objects , very very noticeable and can make the image look a mess in places when panning

No Gsync , I did not think I would miss this but comparing the two the Gsync really helps keep framrates smoother when your dropping 10 20 fps @ 100

Black crush

Can only select 50 60 and 100hz where as the ASUS it goes up in 5hz i.e. 60 65 70 etc. (maybe custom profile would help here)

Slight silver glow corners.

If Samsung could sort the smear out and include gsync with some tweaks to the colour they could be onto a winner it would be a killer panel.

So my ASUS has IPS glow left corners as per the original post which is annoying also has scan-lines faintly , the Samsung no scan lines at 100hz. As I say I did not think I would miss Gsync but when your losing frames through using top settings etc. it really helps smooth things out.

One thing will say about the Samsung the screen coating reflects a lot less light then the ASUS which is handy.

Ill try getting some pics up later and post more information ….
smile.gif


What brightness are you looking at on both screens , on my asus im using 27 and the samsung i lowered it 47 ..pope ?

** update , smear video :-

 
#13 ·
Quote:
Originally Posted by tonnytech View Post

Well after testing these screens for the past couple of days im still not sure although im leaning towards the ASUS at moment. The Samsung is a nice picture but it feels more like a TV , the black levels are nice I have to say when sitting bang on straight with screen.

Samsung cons :-

Smear on darker objects , very very noticeable and can make the image look a mess in places when panning

No Gsync , I did not think I would miss this but comparing the two the Gsync really helps keep framrates smoother when your dropping 10 20 fps @ 100

Black crush

Can only select 50 60 and 100hz where as the ASUS it goes up in 5hz i.e. 60 65 70 etc. (maybe custom profile would help here)

Slight silver glow corners.

If Samsung could sort the smear out and include gsync with some tweaks to the colour they could be onto a winner it would be a killer panel.

So my ASUS has IPS glow left corners as per the original post which is annoying also has scan-lines faintly , the Samsung no scan lines at 100hz. As I say I did not think I would miss Gsync but when your losing frames through using top settings etc. it really helps smooth things out.

One thing will say about the Samsung the screen coating reflects a lot less light then the ASUS which is handy.

Ill try getting some pics up later and post more information ….
smile.gif


What brightness are you looking at on both screens , on my asus im using 27 and the samsung i lowered it 47 ..pope?
Actually I forgot to mention the black smear and black crush on the Samsung. It can be quite distracting in black images. Like you, I've had hard time deciding between these two but since the deadline to decide is up I ended up keeping the Asus...It took me exchanging 6 panels to get this one that has almost no issues and the glow and minimal backlight bleed are simply not noticeable in games/movies and the color accuracy and gsync simply make it really pleasant to use.
My settings are 30 brightness, 50 contrast using the ICC profile you can download in TFTCentral and 40 brightness, 70 contrast in the Samsung using the factory calibrated settings.
 
#14 ·
interesting same boat here and im about to order a x34 as some have mentioned to test that as well and no one is recommending the asus which online has better reviews. just unboxed and played with omen x yesterday bringing home the samsung cf tonight and want to order the x34 or asus and keep the best out of the 3.
 
#15 ·
Quote:
Originally Posted by Jbravo33 View Post

interesting same boat here and im about to order a x34 as some have mentioned to test that as well and no one is recommending the asus which online has better reviews. just unboxed and played with omen x yesterday bringing home the samsung cf tonight and want to order the x34 or asus and keep the best out of the 3.
I will be following your posts, i'm also in the same boat but I don't have enough cash to try out multiple monitors at once. Leaning towards Samsung as the picture quality seems the most appealing to me, i'm not sure i'd be satisfied with how dark games and movies look on IPS when I know what the Samsung looks like and I honestly don't feel like rma-ing tons of times but i'm still not 100% sure. Sigh. If the Sammy had a G-Sync option then this wouldn't even be a question for me.
mad.gif
 
#16 ·
Quote:
Originally Posted by Zerospace89 View Post

I will be following your posts, i'm also in the same boat but I don't have enough cash to try out multiple monitors at once. Leaning towards Samsung as the picture quality seems the most appealing to me, i'm not sure i'd be satisfied with how dark games and movies look on IPS when I know what the Samsung looks like and I honestly don't feel like rma-ing tons of times but i'm still not 100% sure. Sigh. If the Sammy had a G-Sync option then this wouldn't even be a question for me.
mad.gif
Exactly just need that g sync! Which I can be honest coming from a Samsung s34 and not having g sync I'm not gonna let that make or break my decision. Haven't had it this long if u kno what I mean. I'm gonna do another comparison tonight with the 3. Samsung s34, omen x, and Samsung cf. i think I've come to conclusion that I like the picture of my old Samsung better than the omen stinks cuz omen is a thing of beauty. Suppose to box up and send out Samsung tomorrow (sold on eBay) at this point I'm like why did I do that lol. But for tonight it's between the omen and Samsung. Sending what I perceive to be the weaker one back and I will probably order either the asus or x34 tonight and then let the last two heavyweights battle it out, haha. My credit score gonna drop this month. ***
 
#17 ·
Quote:
Originally Posted by Jbravo33 View Post

interesting same boat here and im about to order a x34 as some have mentioned to test that as well and no one is recommending the asus which online has better reviews. just unboxed and played with omen x yesterday bringing home the samsung cf tonight and want to order the x34 or asus and keep the best out of the 3.
Actually, I would recommend the Asus. If you get a good panel is awesome. Asus and the X34/34A use the same panel and suffer the same problems so putting one over the other is not realistic.
Now, comparing the Samsung CF791 and the Asus, the Asus comes on top in image quality and smoooth gameplay. To me it's not worth to sacrifice the great color accuracy and gsync of the Asus for the higher contrast but lower color reproduction/viewing angles of the Samsung so I kept the IPS and am sending back the Samsung.
 
#18 ·
Re : I boxed the samsung cf791 back up and returned it. Initially your wowed by the picture , I mean I really wanted to like this screen the blacks are quite good but the crush and the smear let it down.

Most of all though the Samsung did not have gsync and after using it on the ASUS im converted and cant go back , so despite the ASUS having scan lines and blb in left corners I decided to keep.

Ive owned the acer x34 , the bezel along top of screen just does not sit straight its all wobbly and not what you would expect for the price and I found the Acer`s in general were a lot worse for blb in left corners.
 
#19 ·
Quote:
Originally Posted by Jbravo33 View Post

...and want to order the x34 or asus and keep the best out of the 3.
Lol. The **** old 60 hz overclocked lg panel, is the biggest crap 34 inch monitor.

1. Blb and glow (all corners and parts of the sides are affected). This golden shine is so annoying. You will hate it like cancer. I'm using this monitor with a very low brightness of 35 %. But it's still unuseable for darker contents.

2. 60 hz overclocking causes scanlines and loud buzzing noise above 80 - 85 hz on bright screens

3. The panel is not very fast. A little bit faster than VA. But no as fast as ahva.

4. low static contrast compared to VA panels

I had the X34 8 times, X34A 1 time and the PG348Q 2 times
wink.gif
. I came from the C34F791, major problem freesync flickering. Now iam on the X34A, because an user told me, that they have fixed the problems with the X34A
rolleyes.gif
. The C34F791 is godlike in terms of blb/glow compared with the X34A.
 
#20 ·
I've decided to wait. Returned the omen and the Samsung. Found a good article comparing the asus and the x34 and during testing they happened to have the Samsung s34 and I guess my eyes weren't lying. It had the brightest whites and blackest blacks. So use to it tough to leave at the moment. I got it overclocked to 85hz. It's valid on the ghosting site are there other ways to tell it's stable at that overclock? I agree buying a monitor that's over a year old kind of makes no sense. If they were native 100 I might be more inclined. X34p something like that. But I'm gonna sit this one out for now and see what happens next few months. I actually did pick up a Samsung ue590 from Best Buy just to see what 4K looks like. Looks amazing not bad for $399 but I'll will be returning. Gonna be a lot of happy customers getting these open box ones I tested. Haha here link
https://us.hardware.info/reviews/6594/asus-pg348q-and-acer-x34-review-g-sync-giants
 
#23 ·
Quote:
Originally Posted by asus1889 View Post

I think the test is paid. There is no word about loud coil whine on bright screens, massive glow, massive blb and scan lines.
They don't all have coil whine I had one of each of the monitors tested neither of mine had any coil whine. My x34 did have what I considered horrible BLB but the PG348Q wasn't bad at all but it started developing dead pixels over a two week period so back it went.
 
#24 ·
Maybe your ears cant hear high frequencies
wink.gif
. I met a lot people who had this problem with their ears. That doesn't mean that the monitor has no coil whine. Every single monitor with this overclocked LG panel starts coil whining above 80 - 85 hz. And I had 11. So I don't think its a single case
wink.gif
.
 
#25 ·
Quote:
Originally Posted by asus1889 View Post

Maybe your ears cant hear high frequencies
wink.gif
. I met a lot people who had this problem with their ears. That doesn't mean that the monitor has no coil whine. Every single monitor with this overclocked LG panel starts coil whining above 80 - 85 hz. And I had 11. So I don't think its a single case
wink.gif
.
I can assure you I can hear coil whine just fine, mine did not have it neither does my friends. If you had 11 monitors that coil whined maybe you should look into cleaning up the power source, before you go and say that doesn't matter read up on the people who change out PSU and stops GPU coil whine.
 
#26 ·
Changing PSU from the computer
rolleyes.gif
? Lol what a noob advice
biggrin.gif
. On graphic cards the coil whine is the result of low quality spools which are not glued
wink.gif
.

The power supply is not the reason. It's the old 60 hz panel, which is not made for 100 hz
wink.gif
.

The noise comes from the panel. The coil whine of a gpu has a much lower frequency not comparable with the coil whine of the X34(A) or PG348Q
wink.gif
.

I think thats the reason why you dont hear the coil whine of your monitor
wink.gif
.
 
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