Dell S2716DGR/S2716DG Monitor Review

The Dell S2716DGR has a simple design and looks very similar to most Dell monitors, including the more recent Dell S2719DGF. Like most Dell monitors, it has excellent ergonomics, and there's a small hole in the stand for cable management.

The stand is simple, with a flat rectangular base similar to the U2719D. It doesn't take up a lot of desk area but still provides stable support, which is good.

Like most Dell monitors, the S2716DGR has excellent ergonomics, making it easy to place it in the ideal viewing position.

The rear of the monitor is very simple, similar to most Dell monitors. The inputs are relatively easy to access from the rear and the stand allows for cables to be routed through the back.

The borders are thin, great for a multi-monitor setup, but there's a small gap between the side bezel and the first pixels.

The monitor has an average thickness when viewed from the side. The small footprint of the stand means that it can sit quite close to a wall, and when VESA mounted the monitor doesn't stick out much.

The build quality is good. Like other Dell monitors, it's entirely made of plastic but still feels well-constructed.

The Dell S2716DGR has a poor contrast ratio, even for a TN monitor. Unfortunately, dark room performance is disappointing, as it can't display deep blacks. For this reason, the monitor is better suited for a well-lit environment, as the ambient light will make the low contrast ratio effect less apparent.

The Dell S2716DG doesn't have a local dimming feature. This video is for reference only.

The SDR peak brightness is decent. While the Dell S2716DGR will get bright enough to suit most environments, direct light sources such as windows might cause reflections too strong for the monitor to remain usable.

HDR isn't supported on this monitor.

Mediocre horizontal viewing angle. Most noticeable are its raised black levels which shift with fairly small lateral movements. The brightness fares a bit better, but users shouldn't expect the Dell S2716DGR to remain accurate off-axis.

Bad vertical viewing angle. As is typical of TN-type LCD monitors. the picture deteriorates very rapidly when viewing the monitor from below. Colors shift to an inverted state and the screen dims significantly. Picture quality is retained decently when viewed from above.

The S2716DGR has decent gray uniformity, but there's more dirty screen effect (DSE) than most monitors we've tested, and the sides of the screen are noticeably darker. In near-dark scenes, the uniformity is much better, and there's very little DSE.

Unfortunately, this monitor has terrible black uniformity. There's noticeable clouding throughout the entire screen, as well as backlight bleed from the bottom corners.

Out of the box, the Dell S2716DGR has okay accuracy. There are some noticeable inaccuracies in most colors and brighter shades of gray. Gamma doesn't follow the sRGB target curve, and the image is brighter than it should be.

After calibration, this monitor has excellent accuracy. Any remaining inaccuracies aren't noticeable, and gamma is much closer to the sRGB target curve.

You can download our ICC profile calibration here.This is provided for reference only and should not be used, as the calibration values vary per individual unit even for the same model due to manufacturing tolerances.

Very good SDR color gamut. This monitor displays most of the sRGB color space used by most desktop and internet content. Unfortunately, coverage of the wider Adobe RGB color space is too limited for professional use.

Great SDR color volume, but due to the low contrast ratio, it can't produce dark saturated colors.

This monitor doesn't support HDR.

This monitor doesn't support HDR.

There are no signs of temporary image retention on the Dell S2716DGR.

The Dell S2716DGR has great gradient handling. There's some noticeable 8-bit banding, but otherwise, there are no serious issues.

There's a tiny amount of vertical color bleed, but it's not noticeable.

The reflection handing is decent. The light-matte finish diffuses reflections across the screen, which reduces their intensity but also produces a slight haze. This should be fine for a dark or average room, but in a bright room, reflections may be distracting.

Decent text clarity, but it's recommended to enable ClearType, otherwise some artifacts might be noticeable in some text, especially in diagonal lines.

Outstanding pixel response time, good enough for even the fastest motion. Barely any ghosting trail can be seen following the moving logo at all, which is excellent. The 'Response Time Normal' overdrive setting was the best; the 'Fast' setting had very bad overshoot and isn't recommended. Overall, this response time is very fast, even better than most gaming monitors.

Even when gaming at 60Hz, this monitor delivers extremely clear motion. With our recommended 'Normal' setting, there's almost no overshoot, and most response times are extremely short.

The Dell S2716 has a flicker-free backlight, which is great.

The Dell S2716DGR can add optional flicker that matches the input frame rate, using NVIDIA's ULMB feature. This improves the look of motion by making moving objects sharper, as seen in the photo above. There's also a 'Pulse Width' option that can change the pulse width of the flicker, which can make motion even clearer by sacrificing brightness. Unfortunately, activating ULMB adds some overshoot to pixel transitions, which can be seen as inverted ghosts following the pattern in the photo as well as in this response time plot; however, this shouldn't be too noticeable in normal usage.

The Dell 2716DG has a high native refresh rate of 144Hz, which will benefit almost any usage but especially gaming. The monitor also has G-SYNC variable refresh rate technology, supporting a very wide range of frequencies; this is great when gaming on this monitor using an NVIDIA graphics card. Although the monitor does have an HDMI port, it's unfortunately limited to 2560x1440 @ 60Hz and doesn't support G-SYNC.

Excellent low input lag, good enough for even competitive gamers. The G-SYNC input lag is roughly equal to the native 144Hz input lag, which is great; using the ULMB backlight flicker feature adds a little bit more input lag, but it's still fairly low.

The Dell 2716DGR has a sharp 1440p resolution and a large 27" size, which are great for almost any usage.