Dell S2716DG with G-Sync review – providing everything you may need for a superb gaming experience at a decent price

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A couple of months ago we shared our opinion on the best gaming monitors depending on your favorite genre. There’s a new model from Dell we’d like to add to the list since it can satisfy even the most demanding needs a gamer. We’re talking about Dell S2716DG which specs sheet include a 27-inch display with Quad HD resolution providing four times more details compared to HD displays. It uses a TN panel, but the refresh rate is 144 Hz and the response time is 1ms and as we all know this is crucial for flawless gaming experience. The display also supports G-Sync. All of this sounds promising to both gamers and regular users, looking for the best option currently available on the market. However, let’s dig in into our full review to learn more about the features of the monitor and the properties of its panel.

The high-end monitor comes with Dell’s Next Business Day guarantee, which goes for 3 years. The Next Business Day warranty works the following way: A technician will come over to diagnose your machine, in the first 24 hours after you’ve registered a problem with it and after that he’ll send it to a repair shop. Dell will fix your device and return it to you on the next business day. There’s no doubt that a manufacturer must be pretty confident with the quality of their machines in order to offer such warranty conditions. The warranty also serves as a big relief for the users, knowing there won’t be any unexpected failures.

If you’re interested in the price and availability of Dell S2716DG check the following link: Amazon.com.

Contents


Video

Before we jump in the actual review of S2716DG, check out Dell’s official promotional video.


In the box

Aside from the actual monitor, you’ll find a stand, charging cable, DP (DisplayPort) cable, USB 3.0 upstream cable, a DVD with drivers, a users manual and a short instructions manual on how to attach and use the stand.

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Design

Assembly

The assembly of the monitor is done fairly easy, but at the same time, it feels secure because all of the components connecting tightly. First you’ll have to attach the stand to the monitor by laying the device face down against a soft, but stable surface and connect the stand, starting from the top side. Removing it is even easier – there’s a release button, located at the center of the monitor (right below the stand slot). Anyway, after you’ve connected the stand you have to add the bottom piece, which has a special bolt at the back, providing the needed stability.

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The monitor can also be mounted to a wall. To do this, you have to remove the stand and all four screws found in the slot.

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Ergonomics

The monitor doesn’t sacrifice ergonomics for sturdiness in any way. The stand allows you to tilt the display 5.5 degrees forward and 22 degrees backward. You can also adjust the height (130 mm) as well as turn the display at 90 degrees (you may need to download the latest graphic drivers for this one). Although it is tightly connected to the stand you can still rotate the monitor at 45 degrees to the left and right. All of the adjustments are fairly easy to do.

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Buttons

At the bottom right corner, you’ll find a small round power button with an LED. It being lit indicated that the monitor is on and if it flashes it means that the power save mode is active. Left from the power button, you have four smaller physical buttons lined up. The first one allows you to choose between the preset modes, the second one grants instant access to the contrast and brightness menus, the third one opens the On-Screen Display (OSD) menu while the fourth serves as a back button.

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Ports

Taking a look at the sides of the monitor we see that the left one is different – there are a USB downstream port, a USB charging port and an audio jack located there. All of the other ports are located on the back. There you will find a charging port, Line-out port (which allows you to connect speakers, but not headphones), HDMI port, DisplayPort, two USB downstream ports and one USB upstream port. The latter is the one you connect to your PC if you want to use the other USB downstream ports for data transfer. There’s also a small gap used to lock the stand via a M3 x 6mm bolt, which isn’t included in the package.
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Specs sheet

Screen size27″
ResolutionQHD (2560 x 1440)
Response time1 ms
Refresh rate144 Hz
PortsHDMI 1.4, DisplayPort 1.2, 4 x USB 3.0 ports
PanelTN
Adaptive Sync technologyG-Sync


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OSD menu

Brightness/Contrast

From here you can adjust the brightness from 0 to 100.

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Input Source

From this menu you can choose what the type of connection – HDMI or DP.

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Color

The color menu includes two options – Preset Mode and Reset Color. The first one allows you to choose between a couple of presets color modes: “Standard” turns color options to stock, “Warm” makes colors warmer (under 6500K white point), “Cool”, as you’ve probably already guessed, makes them cooler or. “Reset Color” allows you to manually adjust the settings to your liking.

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Display

In this menu, you can manually adjust the response time to normal or fast. The ULMB (Ultra Low Motion Blur) option will decrease the picture tear to a minimum, using the G-Sync technology. With “Reset Display” you will return all the screen settings to stock.

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Audio

In the Audio menu you can adjust the volume from 0 to 100.

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Menu

OSD menu’s language menu is here as well as transparency, timer and reseting all of the previous menu settings to stock.

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Personalize

Personalize allows you to adjust various functions to the shortcut keys. You can select between brightness/contrast, input source and volume.

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Others

If you enable the “Monitor Deep Sleep” option your monitor will go to “sleep” when your PC does.

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G-Sync

You’ll find a small G-Sync label at one of the corners of the stand. It indicates that the chip in the monitor can be used for synchronization between the monitor’s frequencies and those of the GPU (which in this case has to be an NVIDIA model). This way the G-Sync technology manages to greatly reduce the screen tearing. This nasty problem occurs because your monitor and GPU draw frames at different rates. In more intensive gaming scenes, the FPS of the GPU will sometimes drop and won’t match those of the monitor, creating jagged-looking images. The G-Sync technology controls and syncs those frequencies to reduce the screen tearing effect. If you’re interested in reading more about G-Sync you can check our in-depth article about the technology here: http://laptopmedia.com/news/what-is-nvidias-g-sync-and-does-it-really-make-a-difference/

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Energy consumption

When it’s not in use, the monitor can greatly reduce its energy consumption by switching to the so-called “Power Save” mode. However, when the monitor detects a mouse, keyboard or other type of input device it will automatically switch to its normal mode. In the graph below you can check the energy consumption of the monitor in both modes.

ModeEnergy consumption
Normal mode90 W (max) 47 W (mid)
Power Save modeless than 0.5 W

Display tests

Dell S2716DG has WQHD (2560×1440) TN panel with matte anti-glare coating. Its diagonal measures at 27 inches (68.58 cm) while the resolution. The monitor supports 144 Hz refresh rate and adaptive sync technology (NVIDIA G-Sync). The aspect ratio is 16:9 and the pixel density – 109 ppi with pixel pitch – 0.233 х 0.233 mm. The screen turns “Retina” when viewed from distance equal or greater than 81 cm (from this distnace your eyes can’t recognize pixels).

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The viewing angles in landscape mode are very good for a TN panel. However they remain uncomfortable in vertical mode. Take a look at the 45-degree angle image below.
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The maximum luminance is high – 334 cd/m2 (measured at the center of the screen in “Custom” mode, 100% RGB. The contrast ratio is 840:1. In the graph below you can view the luminance and color temperature in various preset modes at default brightness – 75%.

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The maximum brightness deviation across the surface of the screen is only 4%. In “Warm” mode the color temperature is 6540K in the center and an average of 6465K across the whole surface.

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We offer two images with the same exposition – one taken at dark and one with turned on ambient light.

Move the slider to view both images.

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All of the tests below were done in “Warm” mode.

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. Starting with 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 has been used by millions of people in HDTV and the Web. As for the Adobe RGB, this is used by professional cameras, monitors and etc. used 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.

The yellow triangle on the image below represents the color space of Dell S2716DG. 94% coverage of the sRGB color gamut or, in other words, rich and vibrant colors.

GAMUT-DELL-S2716DG

The image below is practically the same but with the recorded results before calibration in the “Warm” preset mode. Color circles represent the reference colors and white circles being the result. You can see main and additional colors with 100% and 50% saturation inside the sRGB gamut.

Colors-DELL-S2716DG

We tuned the display at 30% brightness and 6500K color temperature.
X-Rite i1Display Pro was used for a hardware calibrator.

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With the help of 24 commonly used colors, we checked the color accuracy of the panel. Colors that we used represent skin tone, grass, blue sky, orange and etc. The average DeltaE 2000 is 0.90 after calibration. Lower score is desirable and deviations under 1.0 can be detected only with a lab equipment.

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REPORT

PWM

Dell S2716DG doesn’t use PWM across all brightness levels. You can use the monitor for long periods of time without any prominent eye strain.

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Conclusion

Dell S2716DG is a fast 27-inch gaming monitor. It offers high resolution, 144 Hz refresh rate and supports NVIDIA’s G-Sync technology. Additionally, it has high maximum brightness, lacks PWM and fairly accurate colors in sRGB mode.

Verdict

Now that we’ve tested the capabilities of Dell S2716DG, we can say that it will definitely satisfy both gamers and regular users, who want a high-quality monitor. The 27-inch device has QHD resolution and performed great in our in-depth tests. We indicated that the panel has high maximum brightness, 94% sRGB color gamut coverage and perhaps, most importantly, lack of PWM (pulse-width modulation) across all brightness levels.

There’s no way to end this review, without mentioning the G-Sync technology again, which reduces the annoying screen tearing. Speaking of refresh rates, we should mention that the monitor has runs at 144 Hz boasts 1 ms response time. We’re also satisfied with the construction of Dell S2716DG. Aside from being easy to assemble, it provides a lot of ways to be adjusted to fit most working environments.

If you’re interested in the price and availability of Dell S2716DG check the following link: Amazon.com.

Pros

  • Supports NVIDIA® G-Sync
  • High resolution – 2560 x 1440 pixels
  • 144 Hz refresh rate and 1 ms response time
  • Lack of PWM across all brightness levels
  • Adjustable height, tilt and angles
  • 94% coverage of the sRGB color gamut
  • Decent price


Cons

  • Poor viewing angles in vertical mode

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