The Official *Dell Alienware AW2521H 360Hz* Owners Thread
Posted: 09 Dec 2020, 01:37
Although there's two other posts made regarding the AW2521H, they did not seem like the typical threads made for specific attention-worthy monitors.
I have had the AW2521H for a few days now and I must say, it is truly one of my best purchases to this day. I upgraded from a Omen X25F (which btw, in my opinion really was such a great "Esports" monitor for raw latency purposes) HP did a surprisingly good job on the X25, X25F.
The AW2521H has a bit of an awkward usage for me compared to most; it's to play a 60fps locked game with a full-range VRR G-Sync monitor @ highest refresh rates possible with low input lag and response times. I am a competitive top player, but my needs are often different than other competitors of other genres. These demands are more than fulfilled with this monitor. But what has shocked me so far the most is probably the colors and other games than my main one that I play (Brawlhalla)
Playing League of Legends (which btw, only has a 240fps cap, can edit it in the config text files/NVCP outside of game though) with g-sync enabled has been fantastic. I feel like I'm almost cheating versus other players in lane as I am able to consistently react and time certain interactions effortlessly. I was always able to auto attack space so that I get an attack on them, but they do not get one on me and vice-versa depending on my movement and range. But that always required some sort of planning and was not always seamless or able to execute on the possibility. Now I don't even feel like I have to plan it half the time, whenever it presents itself and the timing seems nice, it's almost always guaranteed and I can just go for it without worries that it might have been off-timing. Outside of that, panning and smoothness of the game is pretty incredible when paired with g-sync as I'm not able to push much past 400fps regardless and average around 300-320, so I have it capped @ 355. It's hard to say, but overall even though League has a lot of weirdness with its engine and high frames (such as movement prediction needs to be disabled past 200fps usually or else you're going to teleport all over the place.) It's actually just so enjoyable to play league and other games with a monitor like this. Ping matters a lot in League, but lucky with a sub 20ms connection - so that does not affect much here either, mostly my system, monitor and mice.
I don't really think this is the end however, these are still the first-gen 360hz monitors. I think there's a lot of work to be done still motion blur related and more. I'm also sad about the BFI and ULMB only working @ 240hz and not higher. I think for a premium monitor, it did satisfy the overall requirements for purchasing a monitor like this. If comparing this to 240hz first-gen monitors at launch, I'd say this specific model was a successful next-gen jump. I think the jump I did from 144 to 240, although very significant, did not feel as significant as the 240 to 360 jump. There's just something very different about this "high" of a refresh rate coupled with low inputlag. It's a combination of everything really. Trying to quantify 2ms or 3ms raw input lag / scanout differences between a 360 and a 240 does not feel justified here. The feel and effect it has on gameplay is beyond just a few milliseconds. I guess it's a violent ramp-up effect causing such "minimal" gains to be as changing.
Still! Not perfect, not even close, but happy it didn't turn out like a first gen 240hz and I'm way more content with a 360 than I was with a 240. Next jump is either a very improved 360Hz or else I think 480/720 and more is the next upgrade for me.
9/10 satisfied with the monitor, heard in the US it's on sale for $669 currently on dell's own website.
Quick edit;
I do not think this monitor is worth it if you are not utilizing it at 360Hz - that is an important distinction. I do not think this monitor is worth for superficial reasons either. I do not think this monitor is worth it for most people who need a different hardware upgrade (Ram/GPU/CPU) or Peripherals (Mice/Keyboard) There's also no way of knowing if the MSI or Acer edition will be a lot better or not. I do actually think the MSI 360Hz might turn out really good, just a hunch. I doubt the Acer is much better if better at all however.
I have had the AW2521H for a few days now and I must say, it is truly one of my best purchases to this day. I upgraded from a Omen X25F (which btw, in my opinion really was such a great "Esports" monitor for raw latency purposes) HP did a surprisingly good job on the X25, X25F.
The AW2521H has a bit of an awkward usage for me compared to most; it's to play a 60fps locked game with a full-range VRR G-Sync monitor @ highest refresh rates possible with low input lag and response times. I am a competitive top player, but my needs are often different than other competitors of other genres. These demands are more than fulfilled with this monitor. But what has shocked me so far the most is probably the colors and other games than my main one that I play (Brawlhalla)
Playing League of Legends (which btw, only has a 240fps cap, can edit it in the config text files/NVCP outside of game though) with g-sync enabled has been fantastic. I feel like I'm almost cheating versus other players in lane as I am able to consistently react and time certain interactions effortlessly. I was always able to auto attack space so that I get an attack on them, but they do not get one on me and vice-versa depending on my movement and range. But that always required some sort of planning and was not always seamless or able to execute on the possibility. Now I don't even feel like I have to plan it half the time, whenever it presents itself and the timing seems nice, it's almost always guaranteed and I can just go for it without worries that it might have been off-timing. Outside of that, panning and smoothness of the game is pretty incredible when paired with g-sync as I'm not able to push much past 400fps regardless and average around 300-320, so I have it capped @ 355. It's hard to say, but overall even though League has a lot of weirdness with its engine and high frames (such as movement prediction needs to be disabled past 200fps usually or else you're going to teleport all over the place.) It's actually just so enjoyable to play league and other games with a monitor like this. Ping matters a lot in League, but lucky with a sub 20ms connection - so that does not affect much here either, mostly my system, monitor and mice.
I don't really think this is the end however, these are still the first-gen 360hz monitors. I think there's a lot of work to be done still motion blur related and more. I'm also sad about the BFI and ULMB only working @ 240hz and not higher. I think for a premium monitor, it did satisfy the overall requirements for purchasing a monitor like this. If comparing this to 240hz first-gen monitors at launch, I'd say this specific model was a successful next-gen jump. I think the jump I did from 144 to 240, although very significant, did not feel as significant as the 240 to 360 jump. There's just something very different about this "high" of a refresh rate coupled with low inputlag. It's a combination of everything really. Trying to quantify 2ms or 3ms raw input lag / scanout differences between a 360 and a 240 does not feel justified here. The feel and effect it has on gameplay is beyond just a few milliseconds. I guess it's a violent ramp-up effect causing such "minimal" gains to be as changing.
Still! Not perfect, not even close, but happy it didn't turn out like a first gen 240hz and I'm way more content with a 360 than I was with a 240. Next jump is either a very improved 360Hz or else I think 480/720 and more is the next upgrade for me.
9/10 satisfied with the monitor, heard in the US it's on sale for $669 currently on dell's own website.
Quick edit;
I do not think this monitor is worth it if you are not utilizing it at 360Hz - that is an important distinction. I do not think this monitor is worth for superficial reasons either. I do not think this monitor is worth it for most people who need a different hardware upgrade (Ram/GPU/CPU) or Peripherals (Mice/Keyboard) There's also no way of knowing if the MSI or Acer edition will be a lot better or not. I do actually think the MSI 360Hz might turn out really good, just a hunch. I doubt the Acer is much better if better at all however.