I have been using firmware v040 for a couple of days now. I believe it greatly resolves all the issues I have encountered up to this point. Blackouts do not seem to occur at a regular interval, and it seems that the monitor now has the capability to automatically wake itself from pixel cleaning and quickly return to working order. I understand that HDR performance has also improved. There is a very occasional, fainlty visible flickering horizontal line of a single pixel when the overclocking is enabled, but by comparison to the problems of the screen blackout, this scarcely registers.
Thanks to the engineers at Asus for actually listening and addressing the problems users were having. Thanks to @Jiaszzz_ROG for working with us to relay our concerns to them. I would encourage the company to reflect on the dangers of rushing a premium product to market, since among hardware enthusiast communities on websites such as Reddit and Overclockers UK, I can say with confidence that it has sustained reputational damage as a result of the problems with the PG42UQ. However, I am now satisfied with my purchase. Indeed, it is such a pleasure to use that I am glad I stuck with it.
