ASUS has announced the world’s first 500Hz monitor, marking the latest leap in high refresh rate panels. Unveiled during NVIDIA’s Computex 2022 keynote on Tuesday, the upcoming ROG Swift 500Hz monitor uniquely caters to esports gaming and looks to be the fastest consumer display on the market.
The latest addition to the ROG Swift range offers a 1080p resolution, leveraging an upgraded 24-inch TN panel. ASUS markets the technology as E-TN, or “Esports TN,” outpacing existing flagship monitors pushing 240Hz or 360Hz refresh rates. ASUS hasn’t announced a formal name for the monitor, with pricing and availability to be discussed.
The 500Hz refresh rate crosses a new milestone for responsive gaming, with ASUS angling the monitor to competitive settings. TN panels allow ASUS to ensure a high refresh rate and low latency, despite trade-offs versus other modern LCD technologies. The result prioritizes speed over image quality — a feature NVIDIA claims delivers tangible benefits across popular esports games.
NVIDIA demonstrated the new 500Hz panel in a brief video reel, highlighting benefits across Riot Games’ hit first-person shooter Valorant. The demo aims to illustrate reduced latency and ghosting, alongside smoother animations, when captured at 1000 FPS. NVIDIA also states the display has been “specifically tuned” for other popular esports titles, including Counter-Strike: Global Offensive, Overwatch, and Tom Clancy’s Rainbow Six Siege.
The partnership also sees NVIDIA add its G-Sync Esports Mode, improving vibrance in gaming, while Reflex Analyzer support allows players to measure system latency, and it plays nice with Reflex-compatible mice.
The new 500Hz panel marks the latest milestone for ASUS and NVIDIA, following a previous collaboration that birthed the world’s first 360Hz display in 2020. While real-world performance remains to be seen, the benefits exponentially reduce as refresh rates continue to climb.
While once the cutting edge, 360Hz displays have trickled down to various monitors and laptops over time. However, many still opt for low refresh rates without trade-off image quality or price, especially considering the PC needed to maintain such performance. While the same could be said for 500Hz, every millisecond counts in the world of esports.
