Samsung C24FG70 review – the holy grail of gaming monitors

The growing popularity of high-refresh rate monitors has pushed a number of manufacturers to iron out the drawbacks of conventional 144Hz displays in order to stand out with picture quality. However, Samsung set the bar too high for most of its competitors with what appears to be one of the best in class Full HD gaming monitors – the C24FG70.

Samsung’s CFG70 series come in two flavors – 24-inch and 27-inch. For our review, we picked the significantly more affordable and probably the more sought after 24″ variant. Spec-wise, both models are identical but will most definitely score differently in our tests. Anyway, the display offers all features a hardcore gamer would want minus almost all of the drawbacks you would expect from a high refresh rate panel. Samsung’s panel surprises with excellent image quality – 120% sRGB coverage, 3000:1 contrast ratio thanks to the Quantum Dot layer, high maximum brightness, very good viewing angles due to the VA panel (not as good as IPS but sensibly better than TN) and it’s factory calibrated for better color reproduction. The 1800R curve is a nice finishing touch that makes it ideal for multimedia content consumption and gaming. On top of all, the monitor offers AMD’s FreeSync technology for smooth gameplay and less tearing, low input lag and 1ms response time.

You can find the Samsung C24FG70 here: http://amzn.to/2sGHG2D

Contents


Retail package

The monitor comes with a huge box containing all the usual user manuals, AC adapter and two cables – one HDMI and one DisplayPort. There’s also a small mounting plate that can be used with standard 75 x 75 mm VESA stands.

Design and ergonomics

The design of the monitor isn’t anything out of the ordinary. It has thin black matte bezels – the side and top bezels measure at 17 mm while the bottom one is 20 mm. This means that multi-monitor setup will work just fine, although you have to take into consideration the slight 1800R curve.

The back of the monitor is again made of black matte plastic with a joystick in the lower right corner. The joystick serves for opening up the OSD menu and navigating around. There are also three small hardware buttons on the bottom that are used for quick access to presets. Towards the center, you will find a big light blue LED light that Samsung calls “Arena Lightning” and can be used as blinking light or can be synced with the sound coming out of the monitor (if you have headphones or speakers connected to the monitor). It can be turned off as well. At the back, towards the bottom, you will find the two HDMI connectors and the DisplayPort one. The HDMI ports support up to 120Hz refresh rate and if you want to make the most out of the panel, the DisplayPort should be used to max out the 144Hz refresh rate. No matter which I/O you choose, FreeSync is supported on both standards. There’s also a 3.5 mm audio jack

Let’s get to the stand now. It’s an unconventional stand featuring dual-hinged arm with cable loop for cable management. The stand itself provides excellent ergonomic flexibility – tilt (2 degrees forwards and 17 backwards), height adjustment (140 mm), swivel (15 degrees in both directions) and pivot for 90 degrees rotation into portrait mode. But all this flexibility and unusual design come at a price. The stand dish takes up some space while the stand is pretty deep and might not suit some workspaces. Depending on the height – as you lower the screen, the stand sticks out quite a lot. But as you go above this, it becomes more compact as we already mentioned.

But if you happen to have a better VESA stand or wall mount, you can use the included mounting plate converting the back screws to 75 x 75 mm standard.

OSD menu

The OSD menu gives you access to quite a lot of settings. Once you press the joystick once, you will be presented with four options – source, menu, Eye Saver mode and turning off the screen. By selecting the menu option, you will access five sub-menus – Game, Picture, OnScreen Display, System, Information. The first two let you adjust the refresh rate, response time, set up FreeSync, turn on and off the low input lag mode, switch on the Eye Saver mode. Moreover, sharpness, contrast, brightness, color mode, gamma and color tone are also adjustable.

The menu also provides quite a few modes each one optimizing the picture to better suit your needs. The Custom one can be altered the way you want. But if you prefer the stock presets, you can choose between High-Brightness, FPS, RTS, RPG, AOS, sRGB, Cinema and the Custom one. But more on that later.


Specs sheet


Diagonal23.5″
ResolutionFull HD (1920×1080)
Additional
  • Aspect ratio: 16:9
  • Pixel pitch (mm): 0.271 mm
  • Brightness (typ.): 350 cd/㎡
  • Native contrast (typ.): 3000:1
  • Viewing angles (L/R;U/D) (CR>=10): 178°/178°
  • Response time (Tr+Tf) typ.: 1 ms MPRT
  • Backlight technology: Quantum Dot LED (Quantum Dots + blue LED)
  • Panel technology: SVA LCD panel
  • Panel coating: matte AG coating
  • Refresh rate: 144Hz
  • Color depth: 16.7 million (8-bits per subpixel)
  • Color Gamut: 120% sRGB

Stand

  • Swivel (left/right): –15°/+15°
  • Tilt (down/up): –2°/+17°
  • Height adjustment (mm): 140 mm
Ports2x HDMI 1.4a, 1x DisplayPort 1.2, 3.5 mm audio jack
PanelSamsung SVA (Super Vertical Alignment) LCD


Display tests

The Samsung C24FG70 monitor uses a Full HD (1920×1080) Samsung Super Vertical Alignment (SVA) LCD panel with 1800R curvature and a Quantum Dot (Quantum Dot layer + blue LED) type of backlight, which widens the color space coverage and increases the maximum contrast ratio. The panel also supports true 8-bit color and 1ms MPRT (moving picture response time). The panel’s maximum refresh rate is 144Hz and supports AMD’s adaptive sync standard FreeSync using the HDMI and DisplayPort connectors.

The diagonal of the panel is 23.5″ (59.8 cm) holding a resolution of 1920 x 1080 (Full HD) making the pixel density 94 ppi and the pixel pitch 0.271 x 0.271 mm. The screen can be considered as “Retina” when viewed from a distance equal or greater than 94 cm.

We are happy to report that the backlight bleeding is minimal and even surpasses the curved competition and the IPS alternatives on the market.

The VA panel provides comfortable viewing angles with minimal color shift to the sides and noticeable shift vertically. It’s still much better than TN panels but falls short compared to IPS displays.

The monitor comes with a color calibration report, which you can check out here.

The power consumption isn’t high – 33Wh with brightness turned up to maximum.

Since the monitor is gaming-oriented, there are plenty of modes to choose from.

However, we did our testing mainly in two of all modes – “Custom” and “sRGB”.

The maximum brightness we were able to record is 336 cd/m2 but we did our testing at 140 cd/m2 luminance. You can see the results from our testing at 140 cd/m2 (35% brightness) – 13% deviation and color temperature close to the optimal 6500K.

The maximum color deviation (dE2000) is 4.2 in the lower right corner which is a bit higher than the 4.0 mark. Usually, values above 4.0 are unwanted when color-sensitive work is involved. The contrast ratio is excellent 2700:1 but in sRGB mode and the rest of the presets, the display scored near to 3000:1 contrast. By playing around with the rest of the settings, we didn’t observe any significant change in the contrast ratio.

Color reproduction

To make sure we are on the same page, we would like to give you a little introduction of the sRGB color gamut and the Adobe RGB. To start, there’s the CIE 1976 Uniform Chromaticity Diagram that represents the visible specter of colors by the human eye, giving you a better perception of the color gamut coverage and the color accuracy.

Inside the black triangle, you will see the standard color gamut (sRGB) that is being used by millions of people in HDTV and on the web. As for the Adobe RGB, this is used in professional cameras, monitors etc for printing. Basically, colors inside the black triangle are used by everyone and this is the essential part of the color quality and color accuracy of a mainstream notebook.

Still, we’ve included other color spaces like the famous DCI-P3 standard used by movie studios, as well as the digital UHD Rec.2020 standard. Rec.2020, however, is still a thing of the future and it’s difficult for today’s displays to cover that well. We’ve also included the so-called Michael Pointer gamut, or Pointer’s gamut, which represents the colors that naturally occur around us every day.

Of course, the sRGB coverage is excellent and exceeds the sRGB color space – close to the specified 120% sRGB coverage. In fact, it almost covers the DCI-P3 standard in the green area.

And here’s the sRGB mode making sure the panel reproduces real colors without oversaturation.

Below you will see practically the same image but with the color circles representing the reference colors and the white circles being the result. You can see main and additional colors with 25%, 50%, 75% and 100% saturation inside the sRGB gamut pre and post calibration.

The results are with stock settings and applied “Design and Gaming” profile.

The “Design and Gaming” profile is created at 140 cd/m2 brightness, D65 (6500K) white point and optimal gamma in sRGB mode.

The next figure shows how well the display is able to reproduce really dark parts of an image, which is essential when watching movies or playing games in low ambient light.

The left side of the image represents the display with stock settings, while the right one is with the “Gaming and Web Design” profile activated. On the horizontal axis, you will find the grayscale and on the vertical axis – the luminance of the display. On the two graphs below you can easily check for yourself how your display handles the darkest nuances but keep in mind that this also depends on the settings of your current display, the calibration, the viewing angle and the surrounding light conditions.

Gaming capabilities (Response time)

We test the reaction time of the pixels with the usual “black-to-white” and “white-to-black” method from 10% to 90% and reverse.

We recorded Fall Time + Rise Time = 13 ms using the “Standard mode”.

But as we switch to “Faster” and “Fastest” mode under the “Response Time” section, we observe significantly better response times. However, we can see screen flickering occurring as the graphs suggest, but more on that later. In addition, the “Faster” and “Fastest” mode limit the brightness level and cannot be adjusted.


PWM (Screen flickering)

Pulse-width modulation (PWM) is an easy way to control monitor brightness. When you lower the brightness, the light intensity of the backlight is not lowered, but instead turned off and on by the electronics with a frequency indistinguishable to the human eye. In these light impulses the light/no-light time ratio varies, while brightness remains unchanged, which is harmful to your eyes. You can read more about that in our dedicated article on PWM.

We are happy to report that the panel doesn’t use PWM across all brightness levels making it comfortable to use for long hours of work and gaming. Still, the “Faster” and “Fastest” modes in the Response Time section will produce PWM so use those with caution.

Blue light emissions

Installing of our Health-Guard profile not only eliminates PWM but also reduces the harmful Blue Light emissions while keeping the colors of the screen perceptually accurate. If you’re not familiar with the Blue light, the TL;DR version is – emissions that negatively affect your eyes, skin, and your whole body. You can find more information about that in our dedicated article on Blue Light.

You can see the levels of emitted blue light on the spectral power distribution (SDP) graph.

Although the panel provides the “Eye Saver” mode, which does almost the same thing as our Health-Guard profile, the latter preserves color accuracy and contrast as much as possible.

Curvature

As far as the 1800R curve goes, it’s one of those things that you need to try in person by yourself to notice the difference. Obviously, this curve has been precisely measured by the design team because it really gets you close to an immersive gaming experience. It has been poorly described by the marketing team but well implemented by the engineers over at Samsung.


Buy our display profiles

Since our profiles are tailored for each individual display model, this article and its respective profile package is meant for Samsung C24FG70 with 23.5″ (24-inch model) Samsung SVA panel (FHD, 1920 × 1080) VA screen and the monitor can be found at Amazon: http://amzn.to/2r5HBrU

*Should you have problems with downloading the purchased file, try using a different browser to open the link you’ll receive via e-mail. If the download target is a .php file instead of an archive, change the file extension to .zip or contact us at [email protected].

Read more about the profiles HERE.

除了获得高效和健康友好的配置文件,购买LaptopMedia的产品,您还可以支持我们实验室的发展,我们在实验室测试设备,以产生最客观的评论。

办公室工作

Office Work应该主要由那些花大部分时间看文本、表格或仅仅是浏览的用户使用。该配置文件旨在通过保持平坦的伽玛曲线(2.20)、本机色温和精确的色彩来提供更好的清晰度。

设计与游戏

本资料针对专业处理色彩的设计师,以及游戏和电影。设计与游戏》将显示面板发挥到了极致,使其在白点D65的网页和高清电视的sRGB IEC61966-2-1标准中尽可能准确。

卫生保健

Health-Guard消除了有害的脉宽调制(PWM),并减少了影响我们的眼睛和身体的负蓝光。 由于它是针对每个面板量身定制的,因此可以保持色彩在视觉上的准确性。 Health-Guard模拟纸张,因此大大减轻了眼睛的压力。

以33%的折扣获得所有3份资料


Verdict

The Samsung C24FG70 is one of the best in class gaming monitor your hard-earned money can buy. It carries all the pros of a typical gaming monitor minus almost all of the disadvantages. Some may say that the VA panel still isn’t IPS but, to be honest, our tests show that this particular model from Samsung puts to shame all of the TN displays out there and most of the IPS alternatives as well. It has higher than usual maximum brightness, more than 100% sRGB coverage, good viewing angles, outstanding contrast ratio and less than expected backlight leakage. Again, in some of our tests, the panel performs better than IPS displays.

But what about its gaming capabilities you might ask. Well, since it’s a gaming-oriented monitor, the C24FG70 boasts all the features you’d want from a display in this class – 144Hz maximum refresh rate, FeeSync (AMD’s adaptive sync technology) for less tearing and generally smooth gameplay, 1ms response time and virtually no input lag. The added 1800R comes as a bonus at this point.

In any case, be aware of some of the drawbacks. If you are getting it for gaming, then the unevenly distributed color temperature and color accuracy won’t pose any issues at all. But if you plan to do some professional photo and video editing, hence color sensitive work, we suggest looking elsewhere. Also, if you ramp up the response time, get ready for backlight flickering (PWM), which we don’t recommend for long hours of work/gaming.

To sum things up, the Samsung C24FG70 might just be one of the best gaming monitors out there with just a few drawbacks to consider – all the gaming benefits without sacrificing image quality. This means that the display can be used not only for gaming but for multimedia consumption and sometimes editing. However, the price of the monitor can be considered a bit hefty because there are a handful of other 24-inch 144Hz alternatives on the market that cost less but offer inferior panels. And if pixel density is your thing, WQHD (2560×1440) monitors are also found at this price point but be ready to settle for 60 or 75Hz refresh rate.

Again, if you still want the best possible experience, we suggest purchasing our profiles as they further improve color accuracy and visibility in dark parts of an image. Also, the Health-Guard profile reduces the blue light emissions while preserving color accuracy as much as possible.

You can find the Samsung C24FG70 here: http://amzn.to/2sGHG2D

Pros

  • Sturdy construction and unusual, but functional, stand
  • Plenty of presets and options to choose from in the OSD menu
  • Excellent gaming capabilities – 144Hz refresh rate, 1ms response time, low input lag, FreeSync-enabled
  • Impeccable image quality – more than 100% sRGB coverage, near 3000:1 contrast ratio, high maximum brightness, factory calibrated, negligible backlight bleeding
  • No PWM across all brightness levels (with response time mode set to “Normal”
  • Cool 1800R curvature for better gaming and multimedia experience


Cons

  • Pricey
  • PWM at “Faster” and “Fastest” response time modes
  • The stand might come a bit deep for some desks/workspaces

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Tjeerd ten Hoopen
6 年 之前

Hello, I have this monitor. I have bought the design and gaming profile and I’m wondering what the settings of the monitor itself should be? Should I set everything to default? or use the sRBG preset?

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Yuham
Yuham
3 年 之前

What do I do after buying?