ASUS ROG and AMD reveals the world’s first Display Stream Compression Monitor

4K resolutions at over 120Hz is a difficult task. Simply put, the bandwidth isn’t there on DisplayPort 1.4 to deliver that kind of refresh rate at 4K. To reach 4K at 120Hz or 144Hz compromises need to be made, resulting in sub-par image quality thorough chroma subsampling. 

At E3 2019, AMD and ASUS ROG have showcased the “world’s first display with support for “Display Stream Compression” (DSC), a compression technique for DisplayPort which is considered practically lossless. This technology enabled 4K resolutions at 144Hz without chroma subsampling, which means that gamers need not choose between their display’s high resolution, refresh rate or chroma quality again. With DSR, pristine 4K 144Hz is achievable. 

DSC will be available on AMD’s Radeon Navi RX 5700 series of graphics cards, with ASUS’ unnamed ROG monitor featuring a 43-inch 4K panel which supports 144Hz, FreeSync 2 HDR and ships with a Display HDR 1000 certification. The monitor itself looks like an upgraded version of the ROG Strix XG438Q monitor which was revealed at CES 2019, but at this time it is unknown whether or not the XG438Q has been upgraded, or it this is a wholly new monitor.