Alright so after looking around and using some other owners of this monitor's settings and mixing it with my own settings, I've finally found the perfect settings to get the most accurate colors on this monitor. I also am using a Samsung S32D850T which has 100% sRBG for games and movies! I also used this Samsung to help tune the Dell's colors to get as close as possible and I believe I've achieved that, so here's the settings.
Nvidia Control Panel
Use Nvidia Settings
> All channels
- Brightness + 45%
- Contrast + 55%
- Gamma + 0.96
- Digital vibrance + 45%
> Red channel
- Brightness + 40%
- Contrast + 70%
- Gamma + 1.00
> Green channel
- Brightness + 50%
- Contrast + 50%
- Gamma + 0.89
> Blue channel
- Brightness + 50%
- Contrast + 50%
- Gamma + 1.00
Monitor settings:
- Brightness 75%
- Contrast 77%
Color
> Custom Color
- R 97%
- G 99%
- B 96%
Those are my settings, you can use that as base and tune to your liking, but I'm very satisfied with the colors. Looks really close to my Samsung which I use to edit photos and videos. Let me know your experience with the settings and with the monitor itself!
When I first turned this monitor on, not gonna lie, it was very underwhelming. Colors were washed out and it was too bright. You HAVE to calibrate this in order to see its true potential. Here is what I finally landed on. Use this for yours or atleast a starting point. You should be able to play games without adjusting in game brightness. Here we go.
Nvidia Control Panel>Adjust desktop color settings:
Brightness-50%
Contrast-50%
Gamma-0.60%
Digital vibrance-70%
Hue-0
CLICK APPLY
DELL Monitor settings:
Brightness-30%
Contrast-75%
Color>Custom Color:
R-97%
G-99%
B-96%
Or for a more vibrant look just go with "standard."
*Also, download the latest driver for this monitor on Dell's website and disable deep sleep in monitor menu.
And you're welcome :)
I have very specific, arguably niche reasons for not giving this monitor 5 stars, but I will list all pros and cons to be helpful.
Pros:
-Indisputably excellent price for a monitor of the resolution and features (165 Hz OC, 1440p, G-Sync). As mentioned by other reviewers, the colors may appear washed out at first, but they can really pop with only a couple minutes of tinkering.
-Included cable was fully functional and supported 165 Hz with no issues.
Cons:
-Tangible issues with the response time and inverse ghosting. Skip to the end if the specific details aren't important to you.
The monitor has two settings for Response Time (under submenu "Display") accessible via the built-in menu through the bottom right buttons. The settings are Fast and Normal. The specs of the monitor boast 1 ms response time. I have, in no situation, been able to reproduce a 1 ms response time, regardless of game, program, or setting. The lowest response time I have been able to achieve, set at 165 Hz, Fast Response Time, and unlimited in-game rendering rate (which otherwise can render at 240+ Hz stable uncapped), was 3 ms.
Now, to be honest, a 2 ms discrepancy isn't bad. However, there are a multitude of other minor issues that cascade from this. First, the "Fast" Response Time setting introduces very noticeable "inverse ghosting", which is essentially color overcompensation on moving objects. Practically, any dark object moving across a light background will streak a very noticeable trail of whatever is the opposite of the object's color. This became very noticeable to me in games with high contrast. The monitor boasts "no ghosting", which is true, but this setting introduces the exact opposite issue: very noticeable "inverse ghosting".
To circumvent this issue, I changed the "Fast" Response Time setting to "Normal". This had two effects: it removed the inverse ghosting issue completely. However, it also increased the Response Time to 7 ms from 3 ms. So, I had to choose: either 2 ms slower response than advertised and visual issues, or 6 ms slower response than advertised with clean visuals.
To someone who doesn't require absolutely exceptional response times for a monitor, this means absolutely nothing. However, if you're looking for a monitor with a very high OC framerate cap and G-Sync for the purpose of quick-paced games such as FPS's or overkill rhythm games, a 7 ms increase in input lag is just enough to be felt by the hand to be minutely disorienting, even with a powerful system and G-Sync enabled.
In summary: the Response Time is slower than advertised, at either 3 ms with noticeable visual issues or 7 ms without. If those 7 ms matter to you (which, to a grand majority of people, rationally will not), I believe other cheaper, ~$300 144 Hz monitors with true 1 ms or less response times (e.g. ASUS VG278HV) would be better suited for your purposes, as the 7 ms response time (at least in my opinion) feels tangibly worse and less responsive than not having G-Sync in the first place, though G-Sync makes the visuals themselves more attractive.
On the other hand, if you just want to watch a beautiful monitor run something visually pleasing at 165 Hz stable with no screen tearing, or if you want to play non-millisecond sensitive games with beautiful visuals, I can think of no better alternative at anywhere near this price range.
Awesome monitor! I've got nothing but compliments on it, and I have no complaints. Just make sure to deactivate the deep sleep feature as others have mentioned.
I found a calibration guide on the internet to improve the colors from the factory.
I'll give it 5 stars for now because I'm loving it, but I have only used it for couple of days so far.
The monitor came in really quick in a day so kudo to Amazon. Items in a box would be a typical Dell's inventory: Monitor, stand, base, CD, and cables. The base and stand are easy to assemble; it has a thumb screw which would require no tool to assemble. Vesa mount for those who want to mount them on with their Vesa mount set up. Upon running few different games, I have noticed in FPS performance improvement. The most improvement that quite noticeable is Rainbow Six Siege. Everything run much smoother with no tears or stuttering. I turned on G-Sync and overclock the monitor to 165Hz which make the game performance much better. The color doesn't pop as much as IPS but that is to be expect, however, I think it's easier on the eyes then gaming on IPS monitor. The color isn't too bright or too crisp where it feels like the screen is stabbing your eyes. This monitor feels mellow and soft.
PROS:
- Easy to assemble; require no tools.
- High refresh rate and response time; FPS improvement with very much noticeable difference for fast pace game like first person shooter.
- User friendly OSD menu. It was easy to overclock to 165Hz.
- Useful USB hub (4 USB ports); This is really great because I'm about to run out of USB port and I didn't really want to use front USB port for aesthetic. I use it to extend my gaming keypad which locate the furthest away from the tower create more slack and better looking cable management. I also use it to charge my wireless headset; if the monitor is on power saving mode, the monitor will turn off the screen but still provide power to USB hub.
- Good cable management stand; I can hide the cable through pass-through hole and down under my desk. It looks nice and neat.
- Subjective pros: I think TN panel is much easier on the eye for long gaming session due to the screen is not as bright or crisp as IPS. For gaming, I can deal with the color accuracy, it's not a big deal for gaming.
CON:
- The color is not as bright or sharp compare to IPS panel (this is to be expect of TN panel, I put it down as a con since some people does see it as a negative of TN vs IPS)
- Viewing angle is smaller compare to IPS so you'll have to be in front of the monitor to see best of it. (This is a nature of TN panel so it's to be expected.)
- Lack of manual. This is really just a nit-picking point. It's not really that big of a deal because you can always download user manual from the internet at anytime, but it can be useful to have printed copy manual to look up some initial settings (there's a quick setup guide but that just shows you how to hooks up everything.) Then again, not many people read manuals anyway. It would just waste of resource and money to produce printed user manual.
Conclusion:
This is a great monitor with the quality and price range. It's hard to find 24" monitor with 2560x1440 resolution and 144Hz under 400 dollars. The quality is great so far, I'll update later if there's any deterioration in quality. I would recommend this monitor for gamers rather than content creator. It would benefit most with fast pace games, I don't think you'll see that much improvement playing Leagues of Legend or simulation games.
(In the picture, the monitor is the one on the left and on the right, it's Acer IPS monitor. Both 2560x1440 resolution)
Feature Product
- Get stunning clarity with QHD resolution - that's close to 2 times more screen details than Full HD
- Enhance your visual experience with optimal preset modes tailored to suit your gaming genre
- Optimize eye comfort with a flicker-free screen.Response Time:1ms. Contrast ratio: 1000: 1 (typical)
- Get a replacement monitor shipped to you the next business day with Dell's 3 years Advanced Exchange Service.Input connectors-HDMI, Displayport
- Refer user manual below. Compatibility- All Operating System. Dimensions (WxDxH) - with stand Height Compressed - 363.9 mm (14.33 inches) / 493.9 mm (19.44 inches). Width- 540.4 mm (21.28 inches). Depth- 180.0 mm (7.09 inches)
Description
Dell S2417DG - 23.8" Gaming Monitor with QHD 2560X1440 resolution. Brightness: 350 cd/m².
This monitor is pretty much exactly as advertised, a good 1440p 144hz GSYNC monitor at a very reasonable price. It is a TN panel, so the color reproduction is not flawless, but unless you work as a real paid professional artist, the colors are good enough that no one will notice a difference. Another concern with the TN panel type is the viewing angles, but it doesn't seem to actually suffer from severe color shift at extreme viewing angles, unless viewed from the bottom up. The actual screen performance is great, I also have a 1440p 144hz IPS monitor from Acer that costs several hundred more dollars, but this monitor is equivalent to it in almost every regard. This is good screen compared to it's competitors, and it has a very good price.
For those who haven't used a 1440p screen, a 144hz screen, or a GSYNC screen before, each of these features completely justifies their added cost. After using 1440p screens for a while, going back to 1080p feels awful. The added screen space is wonderful, and games look much more crisp. These screens are immensely difficult to drive for games, the jump from 1080p to 1440p cuts your frame rate in half, and getting up to 144FPS is hard for both the CPU and GPU. I use mine with a i5 8600k @4.8GHz, and a GTX 1080Ti, and hover between 120 and 144 FPS in most new games. It is crucial to turn off or turn down anti aliasing as larger resolutions diminish the value of anti-aliasing, but larger resolutions also make anti-aliasing much much more expensive for the GPU. The good news is that even without the pricey hardware needed to run stuff at max settings, the screen will still do well. GSYNC makes it so that even if your frame rate bounces around between 40 and 90FPS, it still looks smooth as the monitor doesn't jitter as some frames are delivered late and some are delivered early. GSYNC only works with NVIDIA cards, look for FreeSync if you have an AMD graphics card.
The monitor itself is well built and doesn't have obnoxious red highlights everywhere so that is nice. It uses steel in the base and sintered aluminum in the arm, both of which are extremely strong. There is zero wobble in the stand, and I never worry about it falling over. Assembly took 30 seconds, and the monitor can be turned every which way, as advertised.
To turn on 144hz in Windows with an NVIDIA card, right click the desktop, click "Nvidia Control Panel," go to "Change resolution," and select the Dell Monitor and set the refresh rate to 144hz. The monitor comes with a good quality DisplayPort cable, which is the preferred way to connect it as some cards do not support the newer revisions of HDMI that are needed to run it at high resolutions and refresh rates.
When mine arrived, the box was practically destroyed, there was giant hole in the side with the screen, and even the dust cover over the screen was torn, but the monitor itself was totally fine. The box itself is single layer corrugated cardboard with a huge void between the edge of the box and the screen, so not totally ideal, but good enough.
Overall I'd recommend this screen to anyone who plays games even somewhat competitively, it is wonderful for Rainbow Six and League of Legends.
Will probably write a better review after more time and analysis. For now I can say that coming from a 23" 1080p 60Hz IPS Dell U2312HM with no adaptive sync, the cumulative effect of switching to this display is incredible. I am also amazed that my GTX 970 is running the same games at similar graphical settings in 1440p with similar performance.
Great monitor with G-sync features. One star off that you can't put this monitor to sleep, and that it sucks down energy even in deep sleep mode. Kinda strange that dell can't figure out how to get it right. Maybe newer ones don't have this issue, but I found a work around, you'll have to make a batch file, pretty easy to do (google it) and place it on your desktop, and when you want to go to bed or go for a walk or whatever and instead of turning the monitor off, just double click the batch file. Anyway, here is the code I have for windows 10.
echo off
C:\Windows\System32\powercfg.exe -Change -monitor-timeout-dc 1
C:\Windows\System32\powercfg.exe -Change -monitor-timeout-ac 1
START /MIN /WAIT C:\Windows\System32\scrnsave.scr -s
C:\Windows\System32\powercfg.exe -Change -monitor-timeout-dc 15
C:\Windows\System32\powercfg.exe -Change -monitor-timeout-ac 15
Basically what it does, is it puts it to sleep instantly, and when you move the mouse to take it back out of sleep it, I normally want my monitor to go to sleep in 15 mins, it reverts the change, but you can change this to whenever you want your monitor to sleep... So change 15 in the last two lines to whatever 30 mins, 45, 60 etc...etc... This pretty much solves this monitor's sleep issues for me.
Note to make a batch file,
1 Open a text editor like notepad (NOT word or wordpad)
2 Type or copy the code (6 lines above) paste into notepad
3 Save this as sleep.bat, make sure there is no .txt extension after the .bat.
4 Double-click the file icon.
Congrats you just made your first batch file!
EDIT 9/21/2018 It's been a few months. Monitor is doing great despite it was probably very old stock. It requires a lot of setting up, trial and error, but once you get it going, it is a fantastic gaming monitor. I suggest going to the Nvidia forum as well, to properly set Gsync. It's not as easy as just turning it on.
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Okay... It was a very difficult choice whether or not to get this monitor. At the price point, you will NEVER find a gaming monitor with G-Sync with a 1440p resolution and a 165hz capability. I mainly bought this monitor to experience a resolution higher than 1080p, and finally get a taste of G-Sync. those two things have definitely exceeded my expectations. 1440p isn't really that different from 1080p, but you will notice it. It is crystal-clear and some details stand out when compared to 1080p. As for G-Sync... That is the absolute way to play a game! Breathtaking... ZERO tearing, ZERO stutter and ZERO input lag. You will not game any other way once you experience it.
Now, for the monitor. I mean, it is a nice monitor and it feel well-build. The appearance may not be for many, as it does look like an office monitor. Compared to my ASUS vg248qe, which looks absolutely beautiful. But that, at the end, is superfluous...
Image wise. This monitor is not the best when it comes to colors. It didn't really take me more than two minutes to set it up, compared to other users that report up to two days of tinkering and changing options. Colors feel dull... there is no saturation, and the gamma is a bit weird. ghosting and invert pixels are horribly noticeable when response time is set to "Fast." I had to turn it to "Normal."
Another thing that bothered me as soon as I got the package was how old and worn the box looked. This unit was sold as new, but it was definitely used before. There was dust at the back of the panel, and some scratches where the mount goes. this monitor was at least used as display at some point.
However, I am willing to ignore that, as at least it did have protective plastic still on, which tells me it wasn't really used for too long. But mainly because of the price. All in all, I'm just impressed on the G-Sync feature and the 1440p resolution.
This is a phenomenal monitor and after extensive research I am very happy that this is the one I purchased.
I am not a tech expert, but a fairly knowledgeable amateur (as most of us looking at this monitor probably are). At the end of the day I simply want a monitor that I don't have to think about, a monitor that does its job so well that I'm not ever required to worry about it. This monitor absolutely does that. First, the actual physical presence of the monitor; the screen extends almost all the way to the edges, leaving only a narrow black frame around the edges. This is a very appealing minimalist look and helps you focus on whatever is on the screen, not what's around it. The size of this thing is just right--27 inches really is the ideal monitor size for most people; it dominates your field of vision but not so much that your eyes have to search all over the place. The buttons on the underside of the monitor are small but simple to use, and the options easy to click through. The monitor also has all of the ports you'd want in a modern monitor (several USB 3.0, an HDMI, and a DisplayPort [DP]). The final physical feature I like about this monitor is that it is one of those rare monitors that is fully adjustable--it can tilt, swivel, pivot, and adjust its height. I don't know why more monitors don't have this, because the ability to perfectly position your monitor the way you want it is awesome.
While all of those are outstanding features and definitely contribute to the monitor, ultimately a monitor is all about the screen and its picture quality. This monitor delivers. For serious computer people (like you, because your looking at a $500 monitor), one of the biggest questions is what type of panel to buy, an IPS or a TN (or possibly a VA). Without wanting to get into that whole debate, let me just say that this TN panel look vibrant, has rich colors, seamless response times, and good viewing angles (though everyone just looks at a monitor from straight on anyways). With a native resolution of 2560x1440 (WQHD), the image is as big and sharp as you could want (it's not 4K, but most of our eyes cannot even perceive the difference because science). With a potential refresh rate at 144 Hz, this monitor is at the cutting edge (quite frankly, a lot of graphics cards, and almost all games, aren't yet able to fully utilize such ability, I actually set my monitor down to 120 Hz for most things). The built-in Nvidia G-Sync only makes this all work even better.
Out of the box this monitor was already calibrated pretty well--I was blown away by how good images looked. But as with any high-end monitor or TV, you really need to sit down and calibrate the display settings at least once. A previous reviewer did a very nice job offering people a list of settings, my slightly different version is below. I don't think mine is inherently superior, rather I think each monitor is slightly different and each person has slightly different preferences. The following, especially compared to his, will give you a range to play around with. I hope it helps.
On the monitor itself (using the buttons on the underside of the screen):
Brightness - 35%
Contrast - 75%
Custom Color (R) - 98%
Custom Color (G) - 98%
Custom Color (B) - 95%
Response Time - Normal
Monitor Deep Sleep - Disable
On the computer (likely through the Nvidia Control Panel if you have an Nvidia graphics card)
All Channels (so you don't need to individually adjust the Red, Green, and Blue channels)
Brightness - 55%
Contrast - 40%
Gamma - 0.66
Vibrance - 55%
Hue - 0
This calibration worked well on most visual tests for seeing all whites and blacks in various pictures, and seems to deliver highly accurate colors and that 'wow' factor that just makes a screen grab your attention.
If you are considering a high-end (i.e. expensive!) monitor, this is the one to get. There are others out there with more features (you won't need), different panel types (like IPS, which I don't miss with this monitor), and with a higher price tag (who wants that?), but this monitor really does hit all the right notes and for two years I have been supremely pleased with it. Go ahead and get this monitor.
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