I'm on the hunt for a 1440 G-Sync gaming monitor and just picked up a Dell 2716DGR yesterday from Best Buy and even after the tweaks listed online it still looks like crap to me. Black levels and contrast are horrid coming from a Philips 4k 40". The colors are also bland and have no pop at all. I have been playing Titanfall II lately and notice dark screens are grainy with the Dell where the Philips looks perfect. I do have the LG 38" setup right now and it looks good though not as good as the Philips to me and in order for 75hz to work I need to strobe the back lite which is BUNK especially at the price.
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Do all gaming monitors look like crap?
- Thread starter cmacclel
- Start date
Thanks for the Suggestion.
Why'd you buy the TN dell if you want the best colors & contrast?
IWhat looks like "crap" to you may look pretty decent to somebody else. Unfortunately, there's still no "perfect" LCD because we all want different features. If you want "pop" for colors, then you should never have considered a TN.
As for what is important in a "Gaming" monitor, it's generally recognized that low response times, low input lag & adaptive sync are the most important features. Color or contrast are the tradeoffs.
You should read up on the Acer Z35, it's a VA lcd with G-sync. I don't know if you'd like IPS, but if you do, the Acer XB271HU is highly regarded.
I'm very happy with my Dell S2716DG, coming from a Qnix QX2710. I disagree that it looks like "crap". I think it looks pretty good and I'm happy for the minor tradeoff (to me) in vibrancy for G-sync and low input lag.
IWhat looks like "crap" to you may look pretty decent to somebody else. Unfortunately, there's still no "perfect" LCD because we all want different features. If you want "pop" for colors, then you should never have considered a TN.
As for what is important in a "Gaming" monitor, it's generally recognized that low response times, low input lag & adaptive sync are the most important features. Color or contrast are the tradeoffs.
You should read up on the Acer Z35, it's a VA lcd with G-sync. I don't know if you'd like IPS, but if you do, the Acer XB271HU is highly regarded.
I'm very happy with my Dell S2716DG, coming from a Qnix QX2710. I disagree that it looks like "crap". I think it looks pretty good and I'm happy for the minor tradeoff (to me) in vibrancy for G-sync and low input lag.
I know there are trade offs I just didn't think they variance would be huge. I read all the reviews for the past few weeks probably have 20 hours worth of reading on gaming monitors. I'm typing this on an IPS panel now
Coming from a 4k panel for the last year and a half I doubt a 1080 panel is going to cut it for me. Since you have the Dell do you see pixelated blacks in games?I know there are trade offs I just didn't think they variance would be huge. I read all the reviews for the past few weeks probably have 20 hours worth of reading on gaming monitors. I'm typing this on an IPS panel now
I'll double check it when I get home, but I don't remember seeing anything weird about the blacks. In my mind, when you say "pixelated blacks" do you mean that the image looks almost like a highly compressed jpeg and you can see the edges of the shades where the tone of the black changes?
I have my setup in my basement, so I can control the ambient light very well. I didn't want to spend $1200 on an LCD since I just got a GTX 1070 as well. I've purchased and had many decent LCDs over the years including the famous NEC 20wmgx2, Dell 2001fp (ips), eyefinity Dell 2209wa (e-ips), Dell U2312HM, Qnix 2710 (PLS) and now the Dell S2716DG. I think the colors and blacks on my 2716DG are very good. I've also had some pretty shitty LCDs (mostly at work) and the 25.5" Asus TN that was supposed to be decent but sucked.
honestly I would have loved to get the Acer XB271HU but it went out of stock everywhere when I decided to buy in Aug. 2016. I'd love to see the Z35, but I don't know if I'm ready to spend $1200+ on my lcd.
I know there are trade offs I just didn't think they variance would be huge. I read all the reviews for the past few weeks probably have 20 hours worth of reading on gaming monitors. I'm typing this on an IPS panel now
My first LCD was over $1k and was a Dell 2000FP
I'll admit the only game I tried with the Dell was Titanfall II and in the opening seen where you jump from the Helicopter which I have seen hundreds of times the dark area looked as if you took a picture with a super high ISO setting with a camera pixelated looking / noisy.
Armenius
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Do you have a colorimeter? Because settings posted online are not universal to all instances of a particular model. Also, as mentioned, it is a TN, which has typical static contrast ratios in the range of 800-1200:1. It is going to be a shock where blacks are concerned if you're used to VA panels.
My first LCD was over $1k and was a Dell 2000FP
Did that scene show similar pixelation on your Philips 4k?
It's possible it's just how the developer rendered that scene and it looks like that on every lcd. Some just may look a little more drastic.
I don't have that particular game so I can't test it. I've been playing a LOT of Elite Dangerous and I haven't seen anything like you're describing. It has a lot of black in that game (outer space and all).
InaDaise
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So a high end monitor with built in automatic color calibration can't ever equal the IQ of high end monitors using 3rd party screen calibration devices? Like the devices your place up against the screen and you perform the calibration yourself as opposed to the factory installed auto calibration re-calibrating the monitor on start up.
This is probably your issue. You are used to oversaturated colors of a higher gamut display. If the Dell has a 8-bit TN panel then it should do sRGB color space as used by pretty much all games just fine.
Almost everyday I use
Surface Pro
Work Computer with a $100 AOC 23"
Shop Computer with a $100 AOC 23"
Office Computer with a 40" 4k Philips
I have 2 Dell e2216H's here that I was going to add to the Phillips for 2 Portrait mode monitors and they all came out of the box 100% better than the Dell 27" G-Sync monitor
Granted after the settings recommended the Dell looked much better but I was shocked how it looked out of the box. I had plans on buying 3 of them.The Omen 32 I had a week ago I thought looked good just couldn't get over the color shift. And the LG 38 looks awesome out of the box as well.silent-circuit
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jeremyshaw
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I am(/was?) in a similar situation as the OP. A couple of years ago, I bought a Benq XL2420Z to complement my Dell U2711 for the purposes of gaming. The first thing I noted was the flat, washed out color of the XL2420Z. No amount of settings and calibration changed that to any significant degree (relative to my calibrated U2711). Then I noted my desktop's background image had all sorts of gradient lines and other image quality issues on the XL2420Z, that were never present with the U2711. The old Dell made the image look great, with a richness of color, focus, and subtle lightplay; the Benq made it look like a poorly taken photo of a toy (which is not wholly untrue).
So I am also stuck at an impasse for replacing the two of these. I like the fast speed of the Benq (especially since the Dell takes ~8 seconds to start, ~10min to really warm up; but that is unrelated to the Benq's wonderfully smooth 144Hz. I got spoiled real fast with that), and its many, modern ports. I like the well done soundbar of the Dell (and its convenient volume control knob), which has the benefit of playing back audio from the two inputs which support audio (HDMI and DP). Then the image quality of the Dell just walks all over the Benq. Even something as simple as playing Halo 2 coop was nearly unbearable with the Benq, since it had noticeable black crush, even after correctly selecting the least intuitive color range settings in the xbox (which are reversed, as confirmed by me by using lagcom.nl). On the Dell, no problem.
TL,DR: I've been stuck in the same situation as the OP for 1 year now (it took almost a year before I got fed up with the Benq... still have it as a secondary monitor for another build).
Nothing has really come up, yet. Though I ask for a bit more (having been spoiled by a good VA monitor), I look for VA, 4k, G-Sync, with a plethora of inputs (I know the G-sync controller currently only supports two, but this hasn't held back other monitors with many inputs and g-sync), with a built in audio-out jack and (maybe) a SD card reader. Having done quite a bit of photo work for my old job, I've grown used to having it there. But even without this last request, I have not found anything yet.
So I am also stuck at an impasse for replacing the two of these. I like the fast speed of the Benq (especially since the Dell takes ~8 seconds to start, ~10min to really warm up; but that is unrelated to the Benq's wonderfully smooth 144Hz. I got spoiled real fast with that), and its many, modern ports. I like the well done soundbar of the Dell (and its convenient volume control knob), which has the benefit of playing back audio from the two inputs which support audio (HDMI and DP). Then the image quality of the Dell just walks all over the Benq. Even something as simple as playing Halo 2 coop was nearly unbearable with the Benq, since it had noticeable black crush, even after correctly selecting the least intuitive color range settings in the xbox (which are reversed, as confirmed by me by using lagcom.nl). On the Dell, no problem.
TL,DR: I've been stuck in the same situation as the OP for 1 year now (it took almost a year before I got fed up with the Benq... still have it as a secondary monitor for another build).
Nothing has really come up, yet. Though I ask for a bit more (having been spoiled by a good VA monitor), I look for VA, 4k, G-Sync, with a plethora of inputs (I know the G-sync controller currently only supports two, but this hasn't held back other monitors with many inputs and g-sync), with a built in audio-out jack and (maybe) a SD card reader. Having done quite a bit of photo work for my old job, I've grown used to having it there. But even without this last request, I have not found anything yet.
Comixbooks
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BenQ are bad is all I know
According to eizo, yes. Unless you are willing to spend ~20.000 US Dollars on a calibrator