Dell is hopping into the spring with a quartet of new gaming monitors, including a speedy IPS option and a smattering of curved screens with some speed of their own that also prove that there’s still room for VA panels in the gaming space.
The monitor maker is targeting its new monitors at gamers playing everything from “framerate-demanding multiplayer combat to expansive open-world RPGs and high-octane racing games,” it said in a blog post announcing its upcoming gaming products, which also includes new gaming laptops from Dell and its Alienware brand.
Dell is looking to compete with the best gaming monitors with the 25-inch Dell S2522HG. Arriving May 27, this IPS panel features impressive specs that a few years ago were only available via TN panels with lesser colors and viewing angles.
With 1080p resolution, the S2522HG reaches a maximum refresh rate of 240Hz and a 1ms gray-to-gray (GTG) response time. For times when your graphics card can’t hit 240 fps, the monitor offers Nvidia G-Sync Compatibility to fight screen tears. AMD graphics card users can use the monitor’s AMD FreeSync Premium feature, which compared to standard FreeSync adds low framerate compensation (LFC).
Dell's S2522HG should also offer ample color for surfing the web and SDR games and media -- assuming color is accurate -- thanks to 99% sRGB coverage.
The S2522HG will be available in the U.S. on May 27, but Dell isn’t sharing the price until “closer to product availability.”
New Curved VA Monitors
In addition to the S2522HG, Dell announced three upcoming curved monitors with VA panels. VA is a favorite around these parts because they typically offer as much as three times the contrast as a good IPS panel.
IPS has been getting a lot of attention over the last year. In fact, the vast majority of gaming monitor announcements we’ve seen during that period have been IPS. But with contrast being the most important factor for good image quality, it’s hard to turn down a quality VA monitor with enough speed to keep up with your GPU.
The “hero” of this lineup, as Dell crowned it in its announcement, is the 34-inch S3422DWG with a more attainable 144 Hz refresh rate and 1ms GTG response time. A curved ultrawide monitor, it sports 3440 x 1440 resolution and 1800R curve, which isn't as steep as the 1000R curves we've seen as late but still seems noticeable.
Dell's upcoming ultrawide claims to cover 90% of the DCI-P3 color space. That should aid in HDR support, but with VESA’s lowest term of certification, DisplayHDR 400, we’re not expecting the S3422DWG to be the best HDR monitor. Although, the potentially high contrast of its VA panel could help the overall experience. We’ll have to test in our lab to know for sure.
Also coming in with 1500R curved VA panels are the 27-inch Dell S2722DGM and 32-inch Dell S3222DGM. Both have 1440p resolution, a 165 Hz refresh rate and 2ms response time, potentially striking a good balance for serious gamers who don’t need the ultimate framerates.
All three VA monitors offer either FreeSync Premium or FreeSync Premium Pro, but Dell didn't detail which monitor offers which Adaptive-Sync flavor. We suspect, however, that the ultrawide S3422DWG is the one with FreeSync Premium Pro, since that FreeSync tier adds confirmed HDR support.
Like the S2522HG, Dell isn’t offering up prices for these monitors yet. We do know that the ultrawide S3422DWG will be available on May 27, while the S2722DGM and S3222DGM will be available on June 22.
