Scored on 61 verified owner verdicts, from 2,020 comments read across 4 communities
TL;DR
A strong-value 1440p 165Hz curved VA gaming monitor with high contrast and great picture for the money. Common complaints: dark-scene black smearing and ghosting, plus backlight bleed and occasional dead-pixel QC issues.
80% of 61 verified owners recommend the Dell S2722DGM 27-inch QHD, based on real owner verdicts aggregated from Reddit, enthusiast forums, and YouTube.
2,020 comments reviewed · scored on the 61 clearest verdicts
80%
Recommend
49 owners
2%
Neutral
1 owners
18%
Don't recommend
11 owners
Source
Breakdown
Score
N
Counted in the score
Reddit
82%
60
Other forums
0%
1
Reviewed, but not counted — and why
YouTubeiOrdinary owner comments (not the reviewer), but here they sit too far from the owner consensus on Reddit and forums — channel comment sections can skew heavily positive or negative by trend — so they're shown for perspective and kept out of the score.owner comments
92%
12
Affiliate blogsiThese blogs earn a commission when you buy. Across our data they rate products ~35 points more positively than actual owners — shown for transparency, never counted in the score.paid commission
100%
3
Affiliate blogs here say 100% recommend, while the owner-based score is 80%. They earn a commission on every sale — so we show them for transparency but never let them move the score.
The headline score reflects owners (Reddit, enthusiast forums), independent lab tests, blogs with no affiliate links, and YouTube owner-comments when they line up with owners. YouTube and Affiliate blogs are shown for perspective but kept out here — hover the i for why.
What owners like
Excellent value for an affordable 1440p monitor · 30 · 49%
Great contrast with deep, true blacks · 14 · 23%
Smearing eliminated with response-time setting · 13 · 21%
Vibrant colors and good picture quality · 12 · 20%
Great for gaming at 165Hz · 10 · 16%
What owners flag
VA black smearing and ghosting in dark scenes · 8 · 13%
Dead pixels and inconsistent QC · 6 · 10%
Who it's for
A great fit if
Budget-minded 1440p PC gamers
Console players on Series S, Series X or PS5
Fans of dark, atmospheric games who value deep blacks
Single-player and story-game enthusiasts
Look elsewhere if
Competitive fast-paced shooter players sensitive to smearing
Buyers who need HDR support
Anyone bothered by black smearing or motion blur
Synthesized from what Dell S2722DGM 27-inch QHD owners say — not a spec sheet.
Retailers' own star averages, for comparison — separate from our vetted owner-verdict score above.
Top quotes, sourced
2,020 reviewed · 76 shown
Sentiment
Community
Sort
Reddit▼ don’t recommend
“As far as affordable 1440p 165 hz VA. I'm using a Dell S2722DGM. SDR only. Only issue I have is that backlight bleed.”
YouTube— neutral
“On mine this removed virtually all smear”
YouTube▲ recommend
“All I can say it’s amazing.”
YouTube▲ recommend
“i love this monitor 4days now”
Reddit▼ don’t recommend
“I had to return it because the colors are so washed compared to DGFA and curved+flat give a weird angle.”
r/Monitors— neutral
“It looks great on my pc but terrible with my. I scoured the internet and monitor/xbox settings for hours and never found any fix.”
YouTube▲ recommend
“one of the best monitor I've ever used considering the price. Loving it”
Reddit▼ don’t recommend
“currently using a VA (dell s2722dgm) , used to have an IPS (dell p2319h). I don't really like VA, the picture is more smeary and ghosty. If I had my time back I would have went IPS.”
Reddit▲ recommend
“i have this one, only issue is a bit of motion smearing in dark scenes. i got used to it and i think it's a great monitor.”
Reddit▼ don’t recommend
“I recently built a new computer and went with that Dell S2722DGM monitor, because I had read good reviews about it, but it was garbage. I hated the blur.”
YouTube▲ recommend
“I just got this monitor for the xbox series x and I can’t be happier”
Reddit▼ don’t recommend
“Ironically, I had to return 3 Dell S2722DGM because of dead pixels until I gave up. Maybe it's because it is their "low end" line and QC is worse, but it was terrible. The first one I returned had like 10 dead pixels.”
YouTube▲ recommend
“Super sweet buy for a great deal.”
Reddit▼ don’t recommend
“man I cannot read text while moving on the VA and any camera movement kinda lowers brightness because it ghosts the whole screen.”
Reddit▼ don’t recommend
“Got similar thing on my Dell S2722DGM.
Most noticeable in Stalker 2.
I tried every setting but it won't get that much better..”
YouTube▲ recommend
“i got this monitor for my series x and its pretty good for gaming”
YouTube▲ recommend
“it's very good, especially its FPS mode is golden in gaming.”
Reddit▼ don’t recommend
“I can assure you the problem I have had with the S2722DGM that I'm sending back is due to this VA specific problem.”
YouTube▲ recommend
“I just picked this up. Absolutely love it”
Reddit▼ don’t recommend
“I had a 1660 super and got a 3060ti, both those GPUs I had very noticeable flicker on my S2722DGM.”
Reddit▼ don’t recommend
“I tend to notice black smearing quite a bit on my Dell S2722DGM”
Reddit▲ recommend
“VA panels have become pretty good lately, I've used my Dell S2722DGM, it's 300$ ofc but it was miles better than my older AOC one”
Overclockers.com Forums▼ don’t recommend
“they appear dimmer and simply not as vivid as the previous monitors I had”
