Asus has just unveiled the first of its kind 500Hz monitor, and it is currently labeled as the “World’s Fastest Gaming Monitor.” By the looks of it, it is being targeted toward competitive and e-sports gamers. Other than that, they have included several key display features that will most likely give a competitive edge to gamers who often play tactical shooters such as CSGO and Valorant.

However, as awesome as it is, do we really need a monitor this fast? Can the majority of PC gamers even run their games at 500 frames per second? Or will a 144Hz monitor be enough? We will try to find the answer in this article.

What We Know About the ASUS ROG Swift 500Hz?

Although the monitor is not on sale yet, Asus has shared plenty of information regarding it. It is going to be a 24-inch screen with an E-TN Panel with a native resolution of 1920×1080. As mentioned earlier, the E-TN Panel will be capable of reaching up to 500Hz of display frequency in combination with NVIDIA G-Sync to balance the frame rates and motion clarity. Nvidia themselves have showcased the monitor side by side with a 240Hz and a 144Hz panel to show us how “smooth” it is. The tests included Easier Target Tracking, Image Ghosting, and Overall Latency, where the 144Hz and 240Hz panels appeared choppy in contrast to the 500Hz panel. Keep in mind that this was captured with a Phantom VEO camera at 1000 frames per second.

But are these panels as bad as they appear in the comparison? Well, Linus Tech Tips did a blind test where his team had a hard time differentiating between the panels as they appeared more or less the same. Gamers will definitely notice the significant shift in responsiveness when making the jump from a conventional 60Hz monitor to a 144Hz panel. But going beyond that gets a little difficult to differentiate. That being said, 144Hz monitors are currently the go-to for competitive gamers. Running games at 500fps or above is also quite challenging as you will need powerful components to do so. Even if some older competitive titles can hit that, they go bonkers after crossing a certain FPS mark.

And lastly, this 500Hz monitor uses a TN panel that has a bad reputation for color reproduction. Although we are not quite sure what the E stands for, Asus has included a Vibrance Mode on this monitor that might make a difference in terms of color visibility. 

Regardless, it is quite astonishing to see technology making advancements this fast. Although there is no confirmed release date yet, we are hoping to see it at the end of this year. Only then will we truly know if the ASUS ROG Swift 500Hz is worthy of the “World’s Fastest Gaming Monitor” title.