The Dell Alienware AW2524H is one of the first gaming monitors to feature a 500Hz refresh rate. It has a 25-inch screen and 1080p resolution, which may not seem like much, but the low resolution also makes it easier for your graphics card to keep up with its high refresh rate. It features native G-SYNC variable refresh rate (VRR) support that lets you take full advantage of NVIDIA graphics cards. It has some extra perks only native G-SYNC monitors have, like NVIDIA Reflex Latency Analyzer, which measures the latency of your entire setup. Its VRR support also works with AMD graphics cards if that's what you have instead.
The Dell AW2524H is good for mixed usage. It's designed as a gaming monitor and is impressive for this. It has an incredibly high 500Hz refresh rate, native G-SYNC VRR support, a quick response time, and low input lag. It's good for general productivity or content creation as it has great peak brightness and very good reflection handling for use in well-lit rooms, but it has a small screen and low resolution. Unfortunately, it's only alright for watching content in dark rooms because it has a low native contrast ratio and a terrible local dimming feature.
The Dell AW2524H is good for office use. It gets bright enough to fight glare if you want to use it in a well-lit room, and it also has very good reflection handling. It also has impressive ergonomics that make it an ideal choice for sharing your screen with someone else. However, it has a small screen and a low 1080p resolution, so there isn't enough space to multitask, and text isn't sharp.
The Dell AW2524H is an impressive gaming monitor. It has an incredibly high 500Hz refresh rate that makes it future-proof and offers a smooth gaming experience. Motion looks clear thanks to its quick response time, and it has low input lag for a responsive feel. It also has native G-SYNC VRR support to take full advantage of NVIDIA graphics cards.
The Dell AW2524H is decent for media consumption. It has wide viewing angles if you want to share the screen with a friend, but with a 1080p resolution and 25-inch screen, you don't get an immersive viewing experience. Unfortunately, it has a low contrast ratio that makes blacks look gray in the dark, and its terrible local dimming feature doesn't do much to improve the picture quality.
The Dell AW2524H is good for media creation. It displays a wide range of colors, but you'll need to calibrate it for the most accurate image possible. It has wide viewing angles and impressive ergonomics if you need to share your screen with a coworker or client. Unfortunately, its small screen and 1080p resolution aren't ideal for productivity, as you won't see a lot of your work at once.
The Dell AW2524H is alright for HDR, but it has some limitations. While it displays a wide range of colors, it doesn't get bright enough to make them look vivid or for highlights to pop. It also has a low contrast ratio that makes blacks look gray, and while it has a local dimming feature, it performs terribly.
We tested the 25-inch Dell AW2524H, which is Dell's first 500Hz gaming monitor. There aren't any variants for this monitor, but there are similar 25-inch models available in the Alienware lineup, and you can see the differences between them below.
Model Code | Size | Resolution | Max Refresh Rate | Native VRR |
AW2524H | 25" | 1080p | 500Hz | G-SYNC |
AW2523HF | 25" | 1080p | 360Hz | FreeSync |
AW2521H | 25" | 1080p | 360Hz | G-SYNC |
Our unit was manufactured in December 2022; you can see the label here.
The Dell Alienware AW2524H is an impressive gaming monitor that's one of the first released with a 500Hz refresh rate. While most current computer technology and games won't keep up with the high refresh rate, it's at least future-proof for when a 500Hz refresh rate is more common. It offers low input lag and a fast response time, but there isn't anything particularly special about its performance. It's great if you're a competitive gamer and want the highest refresh rate possible, but you can also get 1440p G-SYNC monitors in the same price range, like the ASUS ROG Swift PG279QM, or you can save some money on 1080p monitors with a 360Hz refresh rate, like the Dell Alienware AW2523HF.
Also see our recommendations for the best 24-25 inch monitors, the best G-SYNC monitors, and the best 1080p monitors.
The Dell Alienware AW2521H and the Dell Alienware AW2524H are similar gaming monitors with native G-SYNC support. The main difference is that the AW2524H has a higher 500Hz refresh rate than the 360Hz on the AW2521H, and it's also compatible with FreeSync VRR, but their gaming performance is similar otherwise. Other than that, the AW2524H displays a wider range of colors in HDR, and it has a local dimming feature, which the AW2521H doesn't have, but it performs terribly.
The Dell Alienware AW2524H and the Dell Alienware AW2523HF are impressive gaming monitors with many similarities, but there are a few differences in features. The AW2524H has a higher 500Hz max refresh rate than the AW2523HF, and it's better to use with NVIDIA graphics cards thanks to its native G-SYNC support. Other than that, they both offer impressive gaming performance, but the AW2523HF is more versatile with consoles as it can downscale a 4k image.
The ASUS ROG Swift 360Hz PG27AQN and Dell Alienware AW2524H are both high-end G-SYNC gaming monitors with a few differences. The Dell has a higher 500Hz refresh rate, while the ASUS delivers sharper details thanks to its 1440p resolution. The overall motion handling is better on the ASUS, and while the Dell has a backlight-strobing feature, it's limited in how you can use it.
The ASUS ROG Swift PG279QM and the Dell Alienware AW2524H are both G-SYNC gaming monitors, and choosing one over the other depends on the type of games you play. The ASUS delivers sharper detail thanks to its 1440p resolution, while the Dell is better for gaming at a high frame rate due to its 500Hz refresh rate. The Dell has better motion handling with high-frame-rate signals, but the ASUS is better with low-frame-rate signals.
The Dell AW2524H looks like other Alienware monitors with a gamer-oriented design and an all-black plastic body. It has some RGB lighting on the back, and it has a headphone rack that you can pull out from the left side of the monitor.
This monitor isn’t part of our accelerated longevity test.
The Dell AW2524H has impressive ergonomics, as you can easily adjust it in different ways. The back is fairly plain, but the inputs can be hard to reach because they're down-facing and set into the back. The stand features a cut-out for cable management to keep your setup clean.
The housing width measurement includes the headphone rack that sticks out even when closed. When opened, the rack measures 3.7" (9.3 cm).
There's a joystick underneath the center of the display to control the on-screen menu, and there's a power button on the right side.
The edge-lit local dimming feature is terrible. You can adjust the Variable Backlight setting to 'Mode 0', 'Mode 1', and 'Mode 2', and while 'Mode 2' is the best option, it isn't anything special. It has an array of 32 large edge-lit zones, and any small bright object causes an entire zone to light up. This results in distracting blooming, like when there are subtitles. However, the blooming isn't as bad with content that causes all the zones to turn on, which is the majority of content.
Sadly, it's visible when each zone turns on and off, especially when you have black bars on the top and bottom. The zones are also quick to turn on when a bright object appears on the screen but slow to turn off when it disappears, which can get distracting. When using 'Mode 2', there's black crush that causes a loss of details in dark scenes; however, the details are easier to see if you disable the local dimming feature entirely.
You can see the local dimming video with Variable Backlight set to '0' here and with it off here.
The SDR peak brightness is great. It gets bright enough to fight glare in most well-lit rooms and maintains its brightness consistently across different scenes. These results are from after calibration in the 'Custom Color' Preset Mode with the Brightness at its max and Variable Backlight set to 'Mode 2'.
The Dell Alienware AW2524H has decent peak brightness in HDR. The Brightness is locked to its max, and while it gets bright enough to make some highlights bright, small objects don't stand out against the rest of the image. The EOTF is okay at following the target PQ curve, but some dark scenes are crushed. Also, there's a sharp cut-off at its peak brightness, resulting in a loss of fine details in bright scenes. These results are in the 'Custom Color' Preset Mode and Variable Backlight on 'Mode 2'.
The Dell AW2524H has a decent horizontal viewing angle. Although it has an IPS panel, the image doesn't remain entirely consistent from the sides as it looks darker at wide viewing angles, but it's still fine if you want to share the screen for co-op gaming.
The vertical viewing angle is okay. Colors look washed out if you mount it high above eye level or are standing up and looking down on it, but you won't have issues when sitting directly in front of it.
The black uniformity is disappointing. Without local dimming, the screen looks blue due to the low contrast, and there's backlight bleed along the edges. Unfortunately, the uniformity is worse with local dimming because there's a ton of blooming around bright objects.
The accuracy before calibration is decent. It doesn't have a dedicated sRGB mode, so colors look oversaturated, but most colors and the white balance are both still accurate. Gamma also follows the target sRGB curve well, but most scenes are slightly over-brightened. The color temperature is a bit on the cool side, resulting in a slightly blue tint, but it isn't very noticeable either.
The accuracy after calibration is remarkable, and you won't notice any issues with colors, the white balance, color temperature, or gamma.
The SDR color gamut is fantastic. It has perfect coverage of the commonly-used sRGB color space and okay coverage of the Adobe RGB color space, but it isn't wide enough if you need to use it for content creation.
The Dell AW2524H has a good HDR color gamut. It has very good coverage of the DCI-P3 color space used in most web content, and colors look accurate thanks to its fantastic tone mapping. Unfortunately, it has limited coverage of the wider Rec. 2020 color space, and the tone mapping is worse.
The text clarity is decent. Due to its low resolution and limited pixel density, letters aren't the sharpest, but at least enabling Windows ClearType (top photo) helps improve text clarity. The photos above are in Windows 10, and you can also see what it looks like in Windows 11 with ClearType on and ClearType off. Compared to other monitors like the Dell Alienware AW2523HF, the matte screen coating is a bit more aggressive, leading to slightly more haziness on the pixels. However, it isn't noticeable unless you place it next to another monitor.
You can reach this monitor's 500Hz refresh rate only with a DisplayPort connection and by using the monitor's overclock feature. Due to bandwidth limitations, the refresh rate is limited over HDMI.
The native G-SYNC VRR support lets you take full advantage of your NVIDIA graphics card, and FreeSync works on it. Both VRR formats work on DisplayPort and HDMI connections without issue.
Overdrive Setting | Response Time Chart | Response Time Tables | Motion Blur Photo |
Fast | Chart | Table | Photo |
Super Fast | Chart | Table | Photo |
Extreme | Chart | Table | Photo |
The Dell AW2524H has a remarkable response time at its max refresh rate of 500Hz. The recommended overdrive setting is 'Fast', as even though it has a slower response time than 'Super Fast', there's a bit less overshoot. 'Extreme' has the same total response time, but it has more overshoot.
You can also see the results with a 240Hz refresh rate below. The response time is equally as fast, and the recommended overdrive setting is, once again, 'Fast'.
Overdrive Setting (240Hz) | Response Time Chart | Response Time Tables | Motion Blur Photo |
Fast | Chart | Table | Photo |
Super Fast | Chart | Table | Photo |
Extreme | Chart | Table | Photo |
Overdrive Setting | Response Time Chart | Response Time Tables | Motion Blur Photo |
Fast | Chart | Table | Photo |
Super Fast | Chart | Table | Photo |
Extreme | Chart | Table | Photo |
The response time at 120Hz is excellent. Motion looks smooth with minimal blur trail behind fast-moving objects. Like at the max refresh rate, the recommended overdrive setting is 'Fast' because it has the fastest total response time and least amount of overshoot for all three settings.
Overdrive Setting | Response Time Chart | Response Time Tables | Motion Blur Photo |
Fast | Chart | Table | Photo |
Super Fast | Chart | Table | Photo |
Extreme | Chart | Table | Photo |
The Dell Alienware AW2524H has a great response time at 60Hz. While it's slower than at higher refresh rates, you still won't have many problems with blur trail. The recommended overdrive setting of 'Fast' still has the quickest total response time and minimal overshoot. It's great, as you won't have to change the overdrive setting if you switch games or the frame rate drops.
BFI Setting | 360Hz | 240Hz | 120Hz |
100 | ![]() | ![]() | ![]() |
50 | ![]() | ![]() | ![]() |
10 | ![]() | ![]() | ![]() |
The Dell Alienware AW2524H has an optional backlight strobing feature to reduce persistence blur. It's a bit limited as you can't use it with VRR, and it only works with fixed 120Hz, 240Hz, or 360Hz signals, so you can't even use it at its max refresh rate. However, you can control its intensity with the NVIDIA ULMB Pulse Width slider from 10 to 100, and you can see examples in the photos above. It creates a bit of image duplication, but it isn't the worst case of it.
The Dell Alienware AW2524H has remarkably low input lag, especially at its max refresh rate. While it's higher than expected with 60Hz signals, you still won't notice any delay. The Backlight Strobing (BFI) input lag was measured with a 360Hz signal; it was 8.3 ms with a 240Hz signal and 15.2 ms at 120Hz.
There are two additional USB ports underneath the left side, and the one on the right is used for the NVIDIA Reflex Latency Analyzer feature.
This monitor has two audio ports. The one in the back is for speakers with their own volume control, while the one underneath the bottom bezel is for your headphones.
You need to connect the USB-B to USB-A cable to your computer for the USB ports to work.
The Dell Alienware AW2524H works well with macOS, and there aren't any issues like flickering. You can either send a fixed 500Hz refresh rate or use VRR up to 240Hz. HDR works well with either option, but it looks a bit washed out, which is a limitation of the monitor. If you're using a MacBook, windows stay in their place when waking it up from sleep or opening the lid.
This monitor comes with a few extra features, including: