The Asus PA328Q is a 32-inch desktop monitor designed for graphics professionals who demand extreme performance and exquisite Ultra-High-Definition (UHD) image detail, and it delivers on both fronts. The display uses In-Plane Switching (IPS) panel technology to deliver very accurate colors and stellar gray-scale reproduction, and it is equipped with lots of I/O ports. The panel uses a 12-bit Look-Up Table (LUT) for precise color management, and can be calibrated to your exact specifications using advanced picture settings. At $1,299, it's not exactly cheap, but it's significantly less expensive than the NEC MultiSync PA322UHD ( at Amazon) , and it's our Editors' Choice for big-screen UHD monitors.

Design and Features

The PA328Q's 3,840-by-2,160-resolution panel is housed in a matte-black cabinet and is framed by extremely thin (0.25-inch) black bezels. The 24-pound cabinet has four VESA mounting holes and is supported by a square base and a mounting arm that has height, tilt, and swivel adjustments. It also lets you pivot the panel 90 degrees for Portrait-mode viewing. There aren't any buttons on the front of the monitor; instead, you can navigate the settings menus by pressing one of the five buttons or the tiny joystick controller on the right side of the back of the cabinet. Pressing any button launches an on-screen menu with icons that line up with each button.

There are five video connections located at the rear of the cabinet, including one full-size DisplayPort 1.2 input, one mini-DisplayPort 1.2 input, one HDMI 2.0 input with support for MHL connectivity, and two HDMI 1.4 inputs. They are joined by a headphone jack and a USB 3.0 upstream port. The left side of the cabinet holds four USB 3.0 downstream ports. The monitor's two 3-watt speakers are adequate for basic audio use, but are a bit tinny and lack volume.

The PA328Q offers plenty of basic and advanced image settings. There are seven picture presets (which Asus refers to as Splendid modes), including Standard, sRGB, Scenery, Reading, Darkroom, and two User modes. In addition to Brightness, Contrast, Color Temperature, and Gamma settings, there are advanced color settings for Six-Axis Hue and Six-Axis Saturation adjustments, as well as RGB Gain and RGB Offset adjustments. This monitor offers five Blue Light Filter levels to help ease eyestrain, and has a Uniformity Compensation setting that provides consistent brightness and color across the entire screen. There's also a QuickFit feature that offers several paper, photo, and grid-overlay patterns to help you organize document layouts and view photos in real size. You also get Picture-in-Picture (PiP) and Picture-by-Picture (PbB) settings that let you organize the way images from multiple sources are displayed on the screen.

The PA328Q is covered by a three-year warranty on parts, labor, and backlight. It comes with HDMI, MHL, and DisplayPort cables and a CD containing drivers and a User Guide.

Performance

In my testing, the PA328Q delivered a remarkable UHD picture, with rich, vibrant colors and sharp image detail. As shown on the chromaticity chart below, red, green, and blue colors (represented by the colored dots) are very closely aligned with their ideal CIE coordinates (represented by the boxes), indicating excellent color accuracy.

The IPS panel aced the DisplayMate 64-Step Gray-Scale test. Each shade of gray gradated evenly and cleanly from dark to light. The panel also delivered inky blacks, with no apparent backlight bleeding and showed crisp highlight and shadow detail in my test images. Viewing-angle performance is also outstanding, with no loss of luminance or color fidelity when viewed form top, bottom, and extreme side angles.

The PA328Q isn't designed for gaming, but that doesn't mean you can't enjoy some after-hours competition. The panel's 6-millisecond (gray-to-gray) pixel response produced motion blur while playing Call of Duty: Black Ops III on the Sony Playstation 4 console ($499.00 at Amazon) , but the artifacts were minor. Results were similar while playing the PC version of Crysis 3. A 10.3-millisecond input lag (the time it takes for the monitor to react to a controller command) as measured by the Leo Bodnar Lag Tester , means you can expect a relatively quick response when firing at opponents. That's faster than the NEC MultiSync EA275UHD($1,488.99 at Amazon) (26.7 milliseconds), but not as fast as our leader, the BenQ XL2430T ($399.99 at Amazon) (9.5 milliseconds).

With ECO mode set to Off, and the Standard picture preset enabled, the PA328Q consumed an average of 53 watts of power in my tests. That's right in line with the BenQ BL3201PH ($677.00 at Amazon) (56 watts) and much more energy efficient than the Asus PQ321 ( at Amazon) (72 watts). With ECO mode enabled, the PA328Q consumed 44 watts, which is slightly more than the BenQ BL3201PH (36 watts), but still quite efficient for a 32-inch monitor.

Conclusion

The Asus PA328Q represents a sizable investment, but if you're a graphics professional who depends on accurate colors and superior UHD image detail to ply your trade, it's a solid investment. The monitor's 32-inch IPS panel provides plenty of room for multitasking, and offers wide viewing angles and excellent gray-scale performance. Advanced color settings and a 12-bit LUT let you fine-tune the monitor, and a generous array of the latest digital video inputs, and a USB hub let you stay connected to multiple sources without having to swap cables. Granted, the PA328Q doesn't offer quite as many inputs as you get with the NEC MultiSync PA322UHD, but it's less than half the price. All this earns the PA328Q our Editors' Choice for big-screen UHD monitors.

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