G-sync-compatible monitors tend to be expensive -- the cheap ones are predominantly old or refurbished -- so it's nice to have some budget options like the Dell S2417DG. Dell's price is on the high side -- even on sale -- but you can find it for about $400 if you search a little (and under £400, AU$680) which is a pretty good deal for what it offers: Quad HD resolution, high refresh rates, fast response time and G-Sync/ULMB support.
If you're looking for a general-purpose monitor, this isn't the display to get. Like most inexpensive, fast gaming monitors, it uses a Twisted Nematic panel, a technology which enables fast response times and high refresh rates, but has poor color and visibility characteristics. It's not the worst TN display I've seen, but I wouldn't even suggest it for anything other than gaming. The viewing-angle issues are terrible as is typical of TN -- you can see, but the colors change significantly and text washes out. Streaming video looks washed out as well, thanks to its limited dynamic range.
But for gaming, at least for fast-paced games, you probably won't notice any of those issues, unless you've got it set up side-by-side with a better display. I prefer a 27-inch monitor in general, and the S2417DG does seem confining compared with one. The thin bezel lets you set them up for side-by-side operation (but, as with most monitor designs, this setup blocks the two USB ports on the left side). You can also rotate it vertically for side-by-side placement that way.
Specifications
| Dell 24 Gaming Monitor (S2417DG) | |
| Price (MSRP) | $430, £542, AU$859 |
| Size (inches, diagonal) | 23.8 |
| Panel type | TN |
| Backlight type | LED |
| PWM backlight dimming | No |
| Resolution |
QHD (2,560x1,440) |
| Aspect ratio | 16:9 |
| Pixel pitch (mm) | 0.2058 |
| Rotates vertically | Yes |
| Bit depth | 8 |
| Typical brightness (nits) | 350 |
| Selectable/custom picture modes | Yes/No (custom color only) |
| Sync standard | G-Sync |
| Maximum vertical refresh rate (at HD or higher resolution) | 150Hz (166Hz with overclocking) |
| Gray/gray response time (milliseconds) | 1 |
| Release date | July 2016 |
The display measures at only about 96 percent sRGB with a typical contrast of about 600:1 and a brightness of 356 nits, pretty normal for this type of monitor, though it's measurably darker towards the bottom of the display. Given the way what you see varies with the viewing angle, I don't think anyone will notice the nonuniformity. But the lack of dynamic range means more tweaking than I like to get the surreal pastels and bright flame highlights in Bioshock Infinite. It looks fine, but not terrific.
You can set the monitor's refresh rate as high as 144Hz -- up to 165Hz if you enable the overclocking, which you can tweak in 5Hz increments to fine-tune for any flickering you might perceive. (I didn't see any flicker, but I may not be sensitive enough to it to judge.) The high refresh and/or G-Sync should be able to compensate for any frame-rate-induced artifacts that you may have when connected to a lower-power graphics card, which usually can't drive it at a frame rate higher than the maximum refresh, at least with any decent quality.
Discuss Dell 24 S-series gaming monitor...