At Computex 2022, Asus and Nvidia have announced the world's first 500Hz monitor, designed for Esports.

The first 144Hz gaming monitor arrived in 2012, 240Hz followed in 2017, and 360Hz in 2020. The next step is 500Hz which allows the display to refresh 500 times per second.

- "The ROG Swift 500Hz draws frames more than eight times faster than typical 60Hz displays in a single second, which means you have that much more time to get a leg up on your opponent in esports titles like Counter-Strike: Global Offensive, Valorant, Overwatch, and Rainbow Six Siege. With super low response times and unprecedented improvements in input lag, the ROG Swift 500Hz is the new benchmark in Esports," said Asus.

The monitor also supports Nvidia G-Sync for VRR as well as Nvidia's Reflex Analyzer that can help reduce system latency.

How much faster? Nvidia has made this slow-motion video to demonstrate the benefits.



TN LCD panel
The Asus ROG Swift monitor is based on a 24-inch LCD panel from AU Optronics, which Asus refers to as E-TN (eSports TN). It has 1920x1080 resolution.

TN panels are the fastest type of LCD panels but picture quality and viewing angles suffer compared to IPS LCD and VA LCD.

LCD panels are inherently too slow to allow for 500Hz refresh – or 120Hz for that matter – so overdrive has to be employed. By applying an over-voltage, the liquid crystals can move into orientation faster. This can result in 'overdrive trailing' or halos around moving objects. Asus said that its overdrive values are "perfectly tuned for every portion of the variable refresh rate range". 

Earlier this year, BOE unveiled the first 27-inch 500Hz LCD panel.

 Also read: Vizio's new M-Series LCD TV features 240Hz gaming support

OLED, microLED or another self-emitting display technology is required for improved 120-500Hz performance in monitors and TVs.

Asus will announce availability and pricing details along with full specifications later.