Dell 27" 144hz GSync, 1440p monitor - $349 @ Bestbuy

Actually got mine today..calibrated it best I could and played some PUBG, silky smooth. After careful calibration, banding is minimal. Great gaming monitor for the $.
 
Have one of these , it’s calibrated and I love it. Easily one of the best I’ve ever had, and seen.
 
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chizow said:
It is, its a 10-bit panel from AU optronics (same as the more expensive ROG Swift) that still has the best response times by far for any gaming panel. Glad you trusted your gut and decided to check it out for yourself instead of listening to the arm chair experts that immediately discount it bc "TN". TOTAL
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Thanks for the extra detail. Makes sense, as this monitor really seems to hit the sweet spot of cost and performance in all categories. I bought mine for $410 or so and don't regret it at all.

misterbobby said:
Even if you could put up with the typical TN issues, I can't believe you people are buying it when you know it's going to have banding problems.
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"Going to" is a bit strongly worded. I haven't noticed this issue, and it seems I'm not the only one.
 
So I think I'm gonna go pick one of these up for my daughter today to replace the catleap2b that I have had over clocked to 100 Hz for the last few years. It's starting to go and even though this is tn and that's ips I was hoping this would be a good replacement for her. I'm using the 34" Alienware ultrawide I just got.
 
Savoy said:
So I think I'm gonna go pick one of these up for my daughter today to replace the catleap2b that I have had over clocked to 100 Hz for the last few years. It's starting to go and even though this is tn and that's ips I was hoping this would be a good replacement for her. I'm using the 34" Alienware ultrawide I just got.
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Wow, she's very fortunate to have you around!
 
So i just got the monitor and need to know what to do to test for issues? I am a graphic designer so I did the win10 color calibration.
 
Is there a known good calibrated ICC profile available anywhere? Like I'm using the ICC profile from tftcentral for my 34"Alienware and then tweaked it a bit from there and I'm very happy with how it looks. Anything similar I can get for this panel?
 
I found the best calibration to be both the LCD and Nvidia Control Panel. There are tutorials on Youtube for this monitor.
 
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Savoy said:
Is there a known good calibrated ICC profile available anywhere? Like I'm using the ICC profile from tftcentral for my 34"Alienware and then tweaked it a bit from there and I'm very happy with how it looks. Anything similar I can get for this panel?
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That's really hard to say. Each revision of the monitor (currently 7) behaves a little differently and can look a little different. Not to mention no one panel is the exact same so thats another variable. For me, to get pretty vibrant colors on my A07 revision all I did was turn up the digital vibrancy in the nvidia control panel to 65%. I'm afraid to tweak anything else tbh because I think the colors are pretty good now. Everything kinda pops, but I can tell skin tone is a little too vibrant at time. I'm not too bothered by it though.
 
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ChedWick said:
That's really hard to say. Each revision of the monitor (currently 7) behaves a little differently and can look a little different. Not to mention no one panel is the exact same so thats another variable. For me, to get pretty vibrant colors on my A07 revision all I did was turn up the digital vibrancy in the nvidia control panel to 65%. I'm afraid to tweak anything else tbh because I think the colors are pretty good now. Everything kinda pops, but I can tell skin tone is a little too vibrant at time. I'm not too bothered by it though.
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Fair enough. I will mess with it when we get it. Ordered one today.
 
banedox said:
So i just got the monitor and need to know what to do to test for issues? I am a graphic designer so I did the win10 color calibration.
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No I didnt get this for twtich gaming, I got this to upgrade my gaming monitor from a 22" Asus 144hz 1080o to a nicer bigger 2k Sync display which has better color anyways.
I am waiting to get a big bad 34" Wide Screen 120hz+ 1ms IPS Gsync.
This was just way cheap enough...
 
banedox said:
No I didnt get this for twtich gaming, I got this to upgrade my gaming monitor from a 22" Asus 144hz 1080o to a nicer bigger 2k Sync display which has better color anyways.
I am waiting to get a big bad 34" Wide Screen 120hz+ 1ms IPS Gsync.
This was just way cheap enough...
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I did the same. Upgraded my gaming monitor from an older 22” viewsonic 120hz. Eventually will replace this and my U3014 with 30+ 4K IPS GSync with 144+ hz (if and when that perfect monitor comes out).
 
WildMonkey said:
if it were IPS it would be a bargain, it's a TN so it's actually expensive
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You missed 2 key features. 144hz and Gsync. This is a great deal for a gaming monitor.

Web4Life said:
Yea... TN panel. I can't go back to TN after I made the move to IPS.
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Or go dual screens. I have a dedicated gaming monitor paired with an calibrated Dell U3014 IPS for non-gaming. For more than double this price you could also get a 144hz gsync IPS panel. That would be a downgrade for me so I’ll stick with dual screens. Each with their own purpose.
 
I gotta say, I'm 99% sure I'm keeping mine. I do have till January to return it thanks to best buys generous holiday return policy, but I think I'm keeping it due to a comparison I did with another Dell monitor that was an IPS panel.

I snagged a Dell U2717D from amazon for a crazy low price because it was a factory refurbished unit. Partly to compare the two and partly because I wanted another 1440p second monitor. Color wise my particular TN unit is damn near close to the IPS U2717D set to SRGB. Colors are indeed bit more uniform on the IPS panel and darks are a little darker while brights are a little more vibrant but for the TN I moved my digital vibrancy back to 65% in the NCP and dropped my gamma from 1 to .80. The side by side difference was very similar, still not quite IPS quality but 100000 times better than my old monitor which is what I was going for all along.

Color banding was non-existent in Netflix via the MS store app on the IPS and still pretty apparent on the TN but after I dropped the gamma to .80 a lot of the really harsh banding went mostly away. Its even better when watching netflix in the browser (why the app is so much worse i have no idea). I'm not an artist or photographer so I think the trade offs to get a 27inch 1440p 144hz monitor with gysync at the 349 price is well worth it.
 
I ordered online and picked up in store. rev A07. no banding issues or backlight bleeding that I can see. Colors appear great out of the box. You probably shouldn't adjust gamma or any color settings unless you are using a professional calibration device.
 
I've had one of these for over a year now. And it's a great monitor for the price, for gaming! A TN panel is never a sign of good quality imho. But this thread inspired me to recalibrate mine, since I've noticed some really bad banding in certain situations. And I can confirm that mine got alot better after lowering the RGB values from the 90s range down to the 70s before doing a new calibration with my i1 Display Pro and DisplayCAL software. Now I can hardly notice any banding in the DeusEx picture linked above, while before I did this it was absolutely horrible.
 
Going to an IPS panel was like going from watching porn on VHS, to going to the strip club and having boobs in my face, the clarity was vastly better. I need a new monitor though, and I'm cheap, it looks like this for $349 was an ok deal, not $399 when I can get the 4k Predator for $599 for 4k 60Hz.
 
These monitors come on sale around $400 often, but the $349 was a steal. I've had this for a little over a year and love it. I haven't used a high end $1000, but without those comparisons, I can't imagine what more I need. Especially with the extra money in my pocket.
 
So I set this up for my daughter's gaming rig today and I have to say it's a very nice gaming panel. Honestly unless you really go out of your way to shift your body and head then you get the color shift. While using it normally it looks great and plays smooth. Great gaming monitor for 350. In fact at that price it's awesome.
 
I missed it by a few hours. The feedback has me ready for it to price drop again.
 
Love mine. It sits next to (2) Dell Ultrasharp 27" 1440P monitors. The dark colors are a bit washed compared to the IPS ultrasharps, but for gaming, its awesome.
 
ChedWick said:
Anyways. I went out and picked this monitor up today. If you look at overclock.net or reddit you'll see a METRIC FUCK TON of threads, comments and debates surrounding the monitor. I'll break it down without getting too long winded (i hope).

You wont find another 27inch 1440p 144hz Gsync monitor for anywhere close to this price. Dell make good quality monitors and the anti-glare coating on these and their Ultrashap lines is freaking awesome. Its not glossy but it not grainy like most other coatings. While it is a TN, it does have very good color reproduction with a little calibration. Each monitor is different and needs calibrated in different ways but ther are plenty of guides to use as a baseline for this monitor. The one I just picked up today actually looked 100% better than the previous one I tried. The only setting I changed so far was digital vibrancy in the NCP. I set it 65% and am quite happy with it.

The biggest flaw in this monitor and it can be a doozy, is color banding. You can dive pretty deep into the previously mentioned topics on other sites and even in the display section here on HARD but what it comes down to is for some reason the factory set gamma is out of wack and there isn't an OSD menu option for gamma. Also apparently nvidia drivers do something weird with dithering or lack of dithering making banding more pronounced. I returned my first attempt at this monitor because banding was indeed bad.

Dell has a number of revisions of this monitor that are noted by an A0x number. The most recent revision is A07 which is what I managed to get today. Banding is a lot less noticeable for my particular display; much less so than the one I tried a few weeks ago which was an A04 revision.

You can go IPS but they are usually 600+ have questionable build quality and you risk playing the IPS lottery. So long as you aren't into photo editing and either don't watch a lot of content with dark scenes or don't care about blocky blacks, this is a fantastic buy if you're looking for buttery smooth PC gaming.

A little wordier than I hoped, but I hope that helps.
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Thanks. Summed it up. I'll wait for IPS to drop a bit.
 
I talked my friend into trying/buying one, and he really likes his.... although he upgraded to a 1080 GTX. He was using a 280X before. I told him he could just use ULMB, but he just went off and rebuilt his whole damn rig...
 
Really kicking myself I didn't pull the trigger on this. Need a new monitor, just didn't have the expendable funds at the time.
 
I have to tell ya guys. I have this on the the desk right behind my desk which has the new Alienware 34"UW ips I just got a few weeks ago which I absolutely love and of course the Alienware looks better ips and all. That said this screen when sitting in front of it is no slouch tn and all. For the price I'm impressed. It's a dam fine gaming screen. Crisp clear sharp colors pop and fast. My daughter loves it and every time I walk in and see her playing overwatch or whatever I can't help but say to myself dam that looks nice. I'm serious.
 
Savoy said:
I have to tell ya guys. I have this on the the desk right behind my desk which has the new Alienware 34"UW ips I just got a few weeks ago which I absolutely love and of course the Alienware looks better ips and all. That said this screen when sitting in front of it is no slouch tn and all. For the price I'm impressed. It's a dam fine gaming screen. Crisp clear sharp colors pop and fast. My daughter loves it and every time I walk in and see her playing overwatch or whatever I can't help but say to myself dam that looks nice. I'm serious.
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GAH, can't believe I missed the deal.
 
I bought one of these for $650 or so right when they first came out a couple years ago, and seeing these monitors as low as $350 is nuts! I can't recommend this monitor enough, amazing bang for the buck and no "lottery" like with the IPS variants.
 
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