Dell S2716DGR/S2716DG Monitor Review

The design of the Dell S2716DGR is very similar to other Dell monitors, such as the U2415H. It has a flat rectangular base which supports the monitor well, and the stand also allows for easy ergonomic adjustment to find the most comfortable gaming position. Like other Dell monitors, the build quality is good.

The stand is simple, with a flat rectangular base similar to the U2715H. It doesn't take up a lot of desk area but still provides a stable support which is good.

The Dell S2716DGR provides a great range of ergonomic adjustments, which makes it easy to find a comfortable arrangement for any setup.

The rear of the monitor is very simple, with a two-tone gray and black plastic finish. The inputs are relatively easy to access from the rear and the stand allows for cables to be routed through the back.

The borders of this Dell monitor have an average thickness and look good. There is a small gap between the border of the display and the start of the 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 is entirely made of plastic but still feels well constructed.

The Dell S2716DGR has a poor contrast ratio. In comparison, the S2716DGR is the Dell monitor with one of the lower contrast ratio that we measured in 2017. Unfortunately, dark room performance is really disappointing, as it can't display deep black and this results in washed out dark scenes. 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 does not have a local dimming feature. The 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 is not supported on this monitor.

Poor 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 S2716DG to remain accurate off-axis.

Mediocre 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 S2716DG has a better than average gray uniformity, as seen in our test pictures. Looking at the 50% gray uniformity picture, we can see that the top part and the edges are a bit darker than the center of the screen but overall, it is not too bad and a dirty screen effect is not noticeable, making this monitor suitable for content with even colors like sports or generated graphics.

The monitor fares a bit better in our 5% gray uniformity test picture, as no major issues show themselves at this intensity, matching the low result in our standard deviation and DSE calculation.

The Dell S2716DGR black uniformity is awful and is one of the worse we have measured. The edges of the monitor are all a bit brighter than the rest of the screen, and they even have a blue tint. There is also a strange rectangular zone near the center of the screen, where clouding is more prominent. All this results in a poor dark room performance, as those come up when displaying very dark content, and this is particularly striking when the monitor is used in a dark room.

Out of the box, this Dell monitor accuracy could be better. The most accurate picture mode was the 'Standard', but with a white balance dE of almost 4 and a color dE of over 3, most enthusiast out there could notice there is something wrong with the accuracy. The color temperature is not far from our target of 6500k, but when it comes to the gamma, if we look at the target curve, we see that the S2716DG undershoot it considerably.

After the 'Standard' picture mode, the 'Warm' picture mode is the second most accurate one, followed by the 'custom Color' and finally the 'Cool' picture mode.

After the calibration, which was done on the 'Custom Color' picture mode, the Dell S2716DGR accuracy is excellent. Both the white balance dE and color dE are both under 1, which is very good since, at this level, inaccuracies are almost not perceivable at all. The color temperature is now almost on target (6500k) and the gamma, which was too low before calibration, is now also almost on target for both the value and the curve.

You can download our ICC profile calibration here.

Good reproduction of standard color gamuts. s.RGB is well represented by the Dell S2716DG, giving no issue displaying most content. Unfortunately, its coverage of the Adobe RGB gamut is a bit lackluster.

Good SDR color volume. The Dell S2716DGR can reproduce the great majority of the ubiquitous s.RGB volume. Like most monitors, it doesn't properly support the larger Adobe RGB colorspace leading to unsatisfactory coverage. In either cases though, a big limitation is the screen's low contrast ratio which renders it unable to display very dark tones.

HDR gamuts are not supported.

HDR volumes are not supported.

Perfect score on our image retention test for the Dell S2716DG, as no retention could be picked up by our image analysis.

The Dell S2716DG can display our gradient test image very well, and besides the 8-bit banding due to the panel limitation, not much comes up while looking at the test picture. Some really small issues can be seen in the darker color, but they are really minimal and overall, this is a good result.

The Dell S2716DG produces an insignificant amount of color bleed. You're unlikely to notice its presence when displaying large vertically oriented elements of uniform color or fine grid pattern.

The reflection handing is good. 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.

Response Time Normal
Response Time Fast

Outstanding pixel response time, good enough for even the fastest motion. Most of the blur in the photo is due to 144 Hz persistence; 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 is not recommended. Overall, this response time is very fast, even better than most gaming monitors.

The Dell S2716 has a flicker-free backlight, which is great. However, it can also 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 is 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.

Update 07/03/2018: There was an error in the BFI Maximum Frequency (it is actually 120Hz). The review has been updated.

The Dell 2716DG has a high native refresh rate of 144 Hz, 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 is unfortunately limited to 2560x1440 @ 60 Hz and does not support G-Sync.

BFI frequency tested: 120 Hz

Excellent low input lag, good enough for even competitive gamers. The G-Sync input lag is roughly equal to the native 144 Hz input lag, which is great; using the ULMB backlight flicker feature adds a little bit more input lag, but it's still fairly low. Unfortunately, during testing we couldn't get any non-native resolutions to work over DisplayPort, although the monitor's manual says that it can support 1024x768, 800x600 and 640x480 at 60 Hz. This isn't a concern for most people though as most graphics cards will handle the upscaling themselves and send a 2560x1440 signal anyway.

The Dell 2716DG has a sharp 1440p resolution and a large 27" size, which are great for almost any usage (see our recommendations for the best 1440p 144hz monitors).

One of the 3.5mm analog audio out ports is a headphone port with adjustable volume, while the other is a fixed volume line out port.

The Dell Gaming S2716DGR has a 'Monitor Deep Sleep' option to let it save even more power when it is in sleep mode.

The monitor's buttons are on the underside of the screen. They're unfortunately quite shallow, making them hard to press at times.

• Manual and drivers
• Power cable
• USB cable
• Displayport cable