Viewing Angles, Uniformity, Response & Lag
Viewing Angles
Like any TN panel, the XG2530 doesn’t excel at off-axis image quality. The red color shift to the sides is easy to see, but there is an upside when comparing it to other TN panels. It manages to retain decent shadow detail. You can clearly see the difference between 0 and 10% steps in the photo. At the 25” size, it shouldn’t be an issue for users to find a comfortable position and avoid any problems. Just don’t sit above the screen; detail is nearly wiped out from vertical angles over 25°.
Screen Uniformity
To learn how we measure screen uniformity, please click here.
Monitors from just a few years ago had far less consistent uniformity than today’s panels. The XG2530 and its brethren show excellent quality except for our Alienware AW2518H sample, which had a few visible hotspots. And our XG2703-GS also showed a few issues. It’s still best not to assume a particular panel type will be better or worse in this test. TN can perform as well or better than VA and IPS.
Our color uniformity test was particularly impressive. .41dE is one of the lowest variations we’ve ever measured. It should also be noted that all recorded values were under .73dE in our 80% field pattern.
Pixel Response & Input Lag
Please click here to read up on our pixel response and input lag testing procedures.
For those of you who jumped straight to this section, there is nothing earth-shattering to report here. All our 240Hz review monitors have roughly the same response and input lag performance. The 165Hz XG2703-GS is only a tiny bit behind the rest, which is a good thing. Just remember, that monitor runs at 2560x1440 resolution and will therefore require more processing power to achieve the same framerates as the 25” screens. We can’t imagine there is any human that can differentiate between these displays' smoothness or input response.
Gaming With FreeSync
Our FreeSync system isn’t quite up to the task of providing 200 FPS rates in games like Tomb Raider or Far Cry 4, but its Radeon R9 285 card has no problem with 75 FPS at maximum detail settings. Lara Croft and her simpler textures make for super responsive gameplay with motion that almost anticipates hand movements. And once you’re playing at these speeds, FreeSync versus G-Sync is a non-issue. Both technologies deliver exactly the same experience. FHD resolution means you won’t be exploring the XG2530’s 24Hz lower limit either. We couldn’t bring the value below 60 FPS in fact.
After a bit of experimenting with the overdrive, we settled on Faster (level 3 of 5). The top two options created obvious black ghosting in Far Cry 4’s finely detailed tree and plant renderings. Less intricate games will show the issue to a lesser degree, but Faster still provides excellent blur reduction with no penalties. There is no advantage to the higher settings. And we never missed the backlight strobe common to G-Sync monitors. Even at a lowly 60 FPS, there is very little blur. And our experiences with other screens running over 200 FPS show that ULMB and its variations are simply not necessary, and are never better than adaptive-sync for improving motion processing.
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