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BenQ Zowie XL2566K 24.5 Fast TN in 360Hz Gaming Monitor, Motion Clarity DyAc⁺, 1080p, XL Setting to Share, Custom Quick Menu, S Switch, Shield, Smaller Base, Adjustable Height & Tilt, Black

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But when compared to the XL2566K, the limitations of the panel, and the largely inferior PureXP+ blur-reduction technology is obvious. During the BlurBuster test, the XL2566K + DyAc+ performs significantly better, with a much more clear image and little blurring compared to the ViewSonic monitor using its PureXP+ technology. Lots of QoL features such as the stand markings, the S switch, the included (and detachable) glare panels, …

Even in terms of response time, the ZOWIE XL2566K keeps the competition firmly behind. With the AMA set to ‘Premium’, the XL2566K measured a GTG response time of just 1.8ms, while the ViewSonic XG2431 (with AMA set to Ultra Fast) measured a GTG average of 3.7ms, completely busting the claim that an IPS panel is as fast as a TN panel. XL Setting to Share Makes Fine Tuning Settings for Games Easy It’s perhaps a very specific example, but I noticed that spraying in CS:GO just felt a lot smoother and clearer on the XL2566K when compared to IPS panels. In case you’re not familiar; spraying in CS:GO violently shakes your screen, and that can cause a blurry mess if your display isn’t up to par. I’m not saying that the two IPS panels I compared it to made spraying a blurry mess, but I did definitely notice a difference. TN Film panel technology used to be everywhere in the monitor market. It was used in all the main gaming displays, and in most of the general and office displays too. At one point it was the most affordable technology for display manufacturers to use, but it fell out of favour when IPS and VA panels became more widely known and appreciated in the market, when they were improved significantly in performance, and of course when they became more cost effective to adopt. The other driver for the change was the shift to larger screen sizes, with 27″ being about the limit where panel manufacturers felt TN Film was appropriate and viable for a display. Indeed, there are several 360Hz screens on the market but most use modern IPS technology. Some even claim to have super-speedy, grey-to-grey (GTG) pixel response times but, in this realm, it’s a claim that’s rendered to meaningless marketing speak. BenQ doesn’t even bother providing a GTG pixel response time. Don’t connect your XL2566K with a HDMI 2.0 port or a DP 1.2 cable. HDMI 2.0 and DP 1.2 cables do not offer enough sufficient capability to support a 360Hz refresh rate monitor.We will talk about the Corsair 240Hz OLED in a moment that’s included in the pursuit camera photos – park that for now! Should you still consider a TN Film panel in this day and age? Does it have anything left to offer for gaming? Read on to find out If you are an up and coming competitive player that is looking to break into the esports scene, there are a few things that you are looking at to get to your optimal performance. Besides honing your skills, one of the most important factors and a key to your success will be the kind of gear you are using. Most gamers will focus on the immediate basics - getting a TKL or 60% keyboard that fits their play style perfectly, seeking out the best mouse with the most accurate DPI sensor, and getting a mouse pad that suits their aiming style the most.

Out of the box, the monitor is set to FPS1 mode, which BenQ states is optimal for CS:GO gaming. As one might expect, a mode designed to maximize visibility of enemies in CS:GO won't necessarily be color accurate, so this mode does not look very good in standard desktop applications. However, switching to the Standard mode results in reasonable performance. It has decent grayscale performance, and saturation looks quite good, all things considered. This mode may not impress with its accuracy, but it's perfectly usable for desktop applications outside of gaming sessions. Calibrated Color Performance We measured asuper low input lagon the XL2566K. There was a total display lag of only 2.25ms and with ~0.53ms of that accounted for by pixel response times, that leaves a signal processing lag of only ~1.73ms which is excellent. As a result the screen is perfectly fine for fast paced competitive games if you need from that point of view. Conclusion This is what settings like Overdrive adjust – BenQ calls it Advanced Motion Acceleration (AMA). But, if you apply too-little or too-much charge you can get ghosting (smeary ghost images trailing on-screen objects) or inverse ghosting and overshoot (blur that leads on-screen objects and edges that continue to move after an object has stopped), or both. In the Blur Busters UFO Test, with DyAc+ disabled and compared to other monitors at 360Hz, there isn't much difference between the XL2566K and PG27AQN. They both look very similar, which isn't surprising given their similar response testing data. The LG 27GR95QE, with its 240Hz OLED, is also competitive, albeit not quite as good. The faster response times somewhat compensate for the lower refresh rate, but without strobing enabled, it's difficult to declare a winner, particularly between the 360Hz LCDs.There is also a ‘customizable’ AMA setting with a slider from 0 – 20, allowing you to tweak the overdrive to your liking if you want. We have included some measurements at a setting of 12 which we felt was about as high as you could push it within overshoot becoming noticeable. This basically eliminated the small amount of dark overshoot visible in high mode. The ‘High’ mode is perfectly usable though and will be fine for most people we felt. There’s some pursuit camera photos capturing real-world motion clarity in High vs customizable 12 in a moment. While most high-end IPS panels now have faster refresh rate and various blur-reduction solutions, they do pale in comparison to the ZOWIE XL2566K’s TN panel and DyAc+ blur-reduction technology. Let’s take the ViewSonic XG2431 as an example, which is the company’s flagship model and is appreciated for its motion clarity. All of that comes at a cost, though. Reaching 360+ frames per secondin any game is no easy feat, and there are some games that won’t reliably reach those frames no matter how powerful your PC is. And your PC better be powerful. ZOWIE recommends at least an RTX 30 series (or RX6000 series) graphics card if you’re planning on buying this monitor. I wouldn’t go thatfar personally (in games like CS:GO you can get a whole lot frames even with slightly lower tier GPUs, as it’s mostly CPU-bound) but let it be clear: you need a beefy PC if you want to make full use of this panel. This is certainly a compromise to achieve the speed and functionality desired by competitive gamers.

Calibration and profiling can produce very good results if you have a suitable calibration device and software. This was profiled to 2.2 gamma, 6500k colour temp and to the sRGB colour space. You can see the recommended OSD settings above and our calibrated ICC profilefor this display is available now for our Patreon supportersand will be added to our main database in the coming months. General and Office The XL2566K builds on what has made its predecessors great, and that can be taken quite literally in some cases. The exterior and design is the exact same as that of the XL2546K, but I think that that’s a plus. ‘Never change a winning team,’ they say, and if you ask me the modern XL line of monitors have a design that’s pretty hard to beat. I’ll speak more about the build quality and design in the next section, but I love the fact that they haven’t made any unnecessary changes here. Today we're testing a product that we've wanted to get our hands on for some time now: the BenQ Zowie XL2566K. We've spent a considerable amount of time over the past six months evaluating some of the fastest monitors on the market, be it the latest 240Hz OLEDs or the 1440p 360Hz IPS LCD that debuted last year. The ‘High’ AMA mode delivered a significant improvement in response times, now down to 2.1ms G2G average. There were moderate levels of overshoot detected with our oscilloscope measurements, particularly on a few changes from light to dark shades shown in the bottom left region of the overshoot table. In practice this was quite minimal with a few darker trails evident in a few places, but only small in size as the frame rate is very high. Moving up to the ‘Premium’ AMA setting made a very small improvement to the G2G response time, but at the cost of some increased overshoot which became a bit more noticeable visually. It’s by no means terrible in practice, and some people may find the ‘Premium’ mode usable, but there’s not much point we don’t think when the ‘High’ mode is just as fast really. 0 > 255 transition in ‘High’ mode showing slightly slower response times changing from x > white BenQ has optimized this product primarily for speed. We're examining a 24.5-inch 1080p 360Hz gaming monitor utilizing TN LCD technology. Yes, we're talking about TN tech, not IPS or VA. Some critics have labeled TN a defunct technology, but panel manufacturers and display OEMs like BenQ maintain it's still the fastest available and optimal for hardcore competitive multiplayer gaming. The amalgamation of 360Hz and TN is expected to deliver unparalleled motion clarity.

Before delving into what makes ZOWIE’s DyAc+ Technology so special, we must first understand what exactly motion blur is and how it is produced on a traditional LCD panel. Some settings can be adjusted to suit individual preferences and this includes the AMA (pixel overdrive) setting. Indeed, the XL2566K comes with presets labelled Premium, High and Off, along with a 30-step customizable slider. Premium achieves a fast response time but inverse ghosting is noticeable. High offers a better blend and will be used by many players. However, it’s so easy to adjust the overdrive settings and see instant results (there’s no change-related lag) that tweaking everything is recommended. We found settings between 11-18 represented a sweet spot where response time and inverse ghosting coexisted well, before causing issues.

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