Alienware AW2524H 500 Hz Gaming Monitor Review

The Alienware AW2524H is a 25-inch FHD IPS gaming monitor with 500 Hz, G-Sync and HDR400.

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Alienware AW2524H
Editor's Choice
(Image: © Tom's Hardware)

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Our HDR benchmarking uses Portrait Displays’ Calman software. To learn about our HDR testing, see our breakdown of how we test PC monitors.

The AW2524H delivers the best HDR I’ve yet seen from any monitor of 360 Hz or faster. This is a major point in its favor because you aren’t sacrificing image quality for frame rate.

HDR Brightness and Contrast

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Alienware AW2524H
(Image credit: Tom's Hardware)

In HDR mode, the AW2524H retains access to all its picture modes and most settings. You can tweak the grayscale in the Custom Color mode and adjust the dark stabilizer. The only slider grayed out is brightness, which is locked to its maximum delivering over 462 nits peak. That’s comfortably over its 400-nit claim.

Dimming defaults to Mode 1, which is the one that offers the lowest black level. It’s quite a bit deeper than the others, resulting in a stunning 82,623.5:1 HDR contrast ratio. This is far better than any 360 Hz monitor, and it’s a difference easily seen. This is the best reason to consider buying one of these, even though it’s nearly double the price of its main competition.

Grayscale, EOTF and Color 

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Alienware AW2524H
(Image credit: Portrait Displays Calman)

The RGB settings I settled on in Custom Color mode carried over to HDR and gave me visually perfect grayscale and near-perfect EOTF tracking. There are no visible white point errors, and only the deepest blacks are slightly dark. You can increase the dark stabilizer in-game if you’re having trouble seeing in the dark. The tone-map transition is at 65%, and the AW2524H hits that closely.

In both DCI-P3 and Rec.2020 reference tests, the AW2524H excelled. Color is slightly over-saturated, which gives HDR more impact. Even Rec.2020 content benefits until the monitor runs out of red, just past 80%. This is the best HDR color performance I’ve seen from a monitor that doesn’t have an extended color gamut. Imagine one of these things with a quantum dot layer! HDR is clearly the star here.

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MORE: How to Choose the Best HDR Monitor

Christian Eberle
Christian Eberle
Contributing Editor

Christian Eberle is a Contributing Editor for Tom's Hardware US. He's a veteran reviewer of A/V equipment, specializing in monitors. Christian began his obsession with tech when he built his first PC in 1991, a 286 running DOS 3.0 at a blazing 12MHz. In 2006, he undertook training from the Imaging Science Foundation in video calibration and testing and thus started a passion for precise imaging that persists to this day. He is also a professional musician with a degree from the New England Conservatory as a classical bassoonist which he used to good effect as a performer with the West Point Army Band from 1987 to 2013. He enjoys watching movies and listening to high-end audio in his custom-built home theater and can be seen riding trails near his home on a race-ready ICE VTX recumbent trike. Christian enjoys the endless summer in Florida where he lives with his wife and Chihuahua and plays with orchestras around the state.

12 Comments Comment from the forums
  • cknobman
    Its cool and all but only 25 inches?
    Just too small for me, really wish there was at least a 27 inch or better yet a 32.
    Reply
  • Friesiansam
    500Hz is pointlessly fast and, it's clear from the test results, the panel is not fast enough to keep up.
    Reply
  • helper800
    Friesiansam said:
    500Hz is pointlessly fast and, it's clear from the test results, the panel is not fast enough to keep up.
    Soon panel technologies will push its flaws past what humans can perceive, that is a good day in my book. I long for the day that motion blur, IPS glow, text fringing, pixel density, and many more are all solved by one monitor. That will be the day I get a new monitor.
    Reply
  • cristovao
    In a 10 meter room, light fills 30.000.000 times per second, so i don't think 500 or more frames in a monitor is going to break past human perception anytime soon!
    Reply
  • helper800
    cristovao said:
    In a 10 meter room, light fills 30.000.000 times per second, so i don't think 500 or more frames in a monitor is going to break past human perception anytime soon!
    I dont know what you are talking about. What are you trying to say? Humans cannot perceive 30,000,000 "fills" of light. Please elaborate.
    Reply
  • usertests
    Required reading:
    https://blurbusters.com/blur-busters-law-amazing-journey-to-future-1000hz-displays-with-blurfree-sample-and-hold/
    Inputs include a single DisplayPort 1.4, two HDMI 2.1... The HDMI ports are limited to 240 Hz but include VRR for consoles.

    How exactly do you get 1080p 500 Hz? The DisplayPort using Display Stream Compression?
    Reply
  • s997863
    I’ve been reviewing monitors long enough that occasionally, I have a “remember when” moment. Remember when all monitors refreshed at a fixed 60 Hz?

    Remember when you opened a Geforce2 control panel on a CRT monitor and got refresh choices up to 120Hz?
    Reply
  • helper800
    usertests said:
    Required reading:
    https://blurbusters.com/blur-busters-law-amazing-journey-to-future-1000hz-displays-with-blurfree-sample-and-hold/


    How exactly do you get 1080p 500 Hz? The DisplayPort using Display Stream Compression?
    Settings to lower the bandwidth include; color subsampling, bit depth of those colors, and DSC are options to increase data throughput for a higher refresh rate. 4k is 4 times the resolution of 1080p and we have 4k monitors that are 144hz+. You can simply quadruple the hz on a 4k monitor and apply it to 1080p to see what is possible for peak hz throughput at 1080p. 4 times 144 is 576. So getting to 500hz or 480 without an OC on the monitor at 1080p is very doable even at 4:4:4 chroma, and 8 or 10 bit color, with or without DSC is my guess.
    Reply
  • blacknemesist
    helper800 said:
    Settings to lower the bandwidth include; color subsampling, bit depth of those colors, and DSC are options to increase data throughput for a higher refresh rate. 4k is 4 times the resolution of 1080p and we have 4k monitors that are 144hz+. You can simply quadruple the hz on a 4k monitor and apply it to 1080p to see what is possible for peak hz throughput at 1080p. 4 times 144 is 576. So getting to 500hz or 480 without an OC on the monitor at 1080p is very doable even at 4:4:4 chroma, and 8 or 10 bit color, with or without DSC is my guess.
    The neo G8 does 4k@240hz with only DSC so 480hz 1080p seems to not even need any type of compression for dp1.4
    Reply
  • Sleepy_Hollowed
    I would personally would like it to be ultra wide, but it is what it is, this is the ultimate 1080p standard monitor for gaming anyways.
    Reply