Dell S3220DGF Monitor Review in 2023

Finding a working and efficient gaming monitor can be exhausting and time-taking, considering the number of models made so far in the gaming market. People usually ignore value-added features and settle for something in between, which is not recommended. If your system has all the durable and high-end components like i7 and RTX graphics card, I suggest you buy a Dell S3220DGF monitor. You must be wondering why I’m writing the Dell S3220DGF review ahead. Don’t worry; it shouldn’t be sounding all sudden in the first place.

I have researched and come across this monitor, which stands high in terms of offering all the ergonomics, design, and specifications. The monitor is highly suitable for gaming at 1440P and provides you with all the extra features for enhancements and compatibility. Although it’s a Dell 32 curved gaming monitor, it doesn’t necessarily indicate that the monitor is expensive.

Dell S3220DGF Review (Specifications)

Why do you need to change your old school monitor?

Frankly speaking, most gamers are running their system on outdated monitors because there’s no one to make them aware of the importance of having a gaming monitor in the first place. To be honest, people have been so used to running the games on @60Hz, that they have forgotten there’s so much better waiting for them. When you shift to a higher refresh rate, then 60Hz looks like an eyesore. Believe me, when I say that 144Hz and 165Hz are way better than @60Hz. People have to stop assuming that 60Hz is better to curb your GPU temperature. Like there’s a whole debate for running games at a higher refresh rate than the current mentioned one. To solve this problem, people need to change to something better and functioning for years to come, and that’s why Dell S3220DGF is the best choice.

The monitor itself allows you to trigger different options for enhancements and tweaks. On top of that, running games @165Hz can reduce lags and stutters on games by two folds. It’s worth mentioning that the monitor’s lowest response time makes the video less look like a series of changing pictures. To our surprise, the monitor can run games at 4K, which means now your dreams are coming true. Well, even the possibility of changing to FreeSync and G-Sync as per your will speaks a lot about how withstanding and crucial this gaming monitor is.

Detailed analysis of the product on its arrival

The basic package contains three pieces that you would need to re-assemble yourself. There will be a bundle of wires that you can internally or externally connect, HDMI and DisplayPort, and a surfeit of other on-product features. I know it’s silly, but Dell products usually do not entail great looks and aesthetics. The overall build of the monitor is decent with sturdy components. Initially, you might think that it’s another office or standard monitor, but when you start setting it up, the story unravels on its own. With the monitor, there’s a dedicated stand that holds the LCD and is quite strong and competitive.

The value-added features, the monitor slips in height adjustable, 30 degrees swivel, and 21 degrees title. You can use these tilting and swivel properties to align the monitor in synchrony with your eyes. Although you will be required to constantly change the angles at first, it’s alright as long as you don’t break the bearing. It’s worth mentioning that the monitor’s movements are smooth and plain, which means you will not hear any “tick” sounds while setting up the correct angle.

For the buttons, you get 6 of them and a power button for turning on and off your LCD. With these buttons, you can set up different presets, tune in and out screen focus, reduce and increase brightness, and do a lot of tweaking stuff. To be honest, with these buttons, navigation is so easy that it’s just a click away. Simply use one of the buttons to set up your entire monitor without looking over the internet. Surprisingly, the first four buttons on the monitor can be programmed, which means they sort of act like Macros on the keyboard. I would recommend you to program them for easy and quick navigation; for instance, you can program one of the buttons for instant change in brightness levels by 5% or 2% increments.

The monitor’s backside includes a plain and smooth body, with a dedicated hole for cable plugging. There’s also Dell’s logo for looks. Not to mention, the monitor sort of bulges out from corners, since it’s a curved monitor. On top of that, the bezel hardly exceeds the 7mm thickness margin, which means the monitor is slim and candy to the eyes. Unfortunately, you don’t get hold of any USB ports at the sides, but luckily, there are 3.0 downstream jacks to save us from disappointment. Well, you also get to hold off two HDMI 2.0 ports and 1x DisplayPort 1.4 for enhanced connectivity. If your GPU is compatible with DisplayPort, I would recommend using that, rather than HDMI. Last but not least, there are no in-built speakers, which means that you would be in dire need to use either headphones or a dedicated set of speakers connected externally to your gaming system.

How to Calibrate Dell S3320DGF?

The calibration preferences vary from person to person, and there’s no concrete way of prescribing a series of configurations, which has no credibility. But, to save you from setting up everything from scratch, dell has implemented default settings that can be tweaked from the given buttons. The standard model has everything turned on and is set to default settings. Unfortunately, you will be using the DCI-P3 color gamut since there’s no sRGB mode to channel colors. That’s the only disadvantage of buying the monitor. But do not worry, the color sharpness is still the same, but yeah, you might feel contrast and color depth a bit off.

For adjustments, all you have to do is use gain and offset controls, and preferably custom color panels. The panel will help you tune in and out all the colors like you know, sort of polishing out the dull ones. You can also change the ratio of hue and saturation through the given slider. Well, to make things easy for people, there’s a universal tweaking setting you can put to use for your Dell S3320DGF. For example, change the picture mode to custom color, set the brightness 200 nits to 57, 120 nits to 31, and 100 nits to 25. Other than that, you can change the 80 nits to 19, and set the contrast ratio to 73 for fulfilling colors.

What are the On-Screen Display features for Dell S3320DGF?

Since it’s a gaming monitor, expect it to offer you a set of gaming features. That’s where the real role of the monitor kicks in. To make the gaming menu pop up, all you have to do is use one of the buttons on your monitor, and bingo, it’s done. Well, the first-time menu includes picture mode, black stabilizer info, and the overdrive settings. You may neglect them because it’s recommended not to meddle with anything which you are well-versed at. From there, simply navigate to the “game” menu option. From there on, you can set up discrete profiles for gaming; for instance, let’s say on Tomb Raider, you want to use profile 4 with brightness levels a bit high and aspect ratio a little low. Like, these are just the arbitrary settings, but you got the essence, right?

Other than that, the OSD includes 12 picture modes for compatibility. Surprisingly, these preset modes are also designed for gaming. Well, the eight modes are fixed, which means you can tweak, whereas the other four can be calibrated to your liking. As I mentioned before, there’s no sRGB mode, which makes the color a bit off. Consequently, the SDR material will have little to no effect on green and red lights. Not to mention, the DCI-P3 native display does not even bother using the color combination for distorted signals. I know it’s not much of a big deal, but enthusiasts need exceptionality at the end of the day.

In addition to that, the Game Enhance mode can be easily found in the gaming menu with extra options of the timer, Frame rate, and Display Alignment. The best part about the mode is that you get two FreeSync options, an embedded module for smoothing out your monitor’s refresh rate to your card’s refresh rate. It’s a majestic option available at your disposal, so kindly make use of it. Not to mention, the same monitor offers compatibility with G-sync as well, which means that you can use your Nvidia card on this FreeSync monitor.

Is Dell S3320DGF really for gaming?

Perhaps, yes, it is? The monitor offers ideal size, color depth, resolution, and refresh rate, which is more than enough to run games at 4k. I know that the VA panels are usually not preferred among gamers, but this time, it’s different. The panel has been given luxurious options that make the gaming worth a while. Not to mention, the scrolling and changing viewing angles make the monitor more accessible and tweakable. Do you know what’s surprising? The number of preset modes and the ability to program your custom settings. This way, not only aged people will benefit from the monitor, but also youngsters and gamers who want to get the best out of the product.

On top of that, you can sit a couple of feet away and still behold all the images on the screen. It’s crucial for people who have eye problems and can’t see properly from proximity, which brings us to the product’s competitive nature for people with visual impairments. The response delay is indeed kept as low as possible, and all the gaming features are implemented, still, there’s something amiss. To tackle the monitor’s downsides, the developers incorporated extra refurbished options like blur reduction and anti-ghosting in the monitor. These options sort of help in smoothing out the gaming performance for enthusiasts.

User’s Reviews

From the recently recorded data, we came across that people were quite happy with the monitor’s performance. For example, games like Shadow of the Tomb Raider and Call of Duty were able to make use of FreeSync for smoothing out cut edges and unsynced refresh rate. This helped in eliciting a seamless gaming experience. To our surprise, the two titles yielded 60-90 FPS on AMD R9 GPU. Not to mention, the use of FreeSync 2 HD is a hybrid version of its predecessor and gives a more refined gaming performance ratio. It’s worth mentioning that the games like a little nightmare, and Resident evil, which are quite covered in night mode, felt incredibly realistic. The shadows and night light were given extra texture and tint for making the gameplay more breathtaking and amazing.

Users might ask

Muhammad Bilal

Hey, I’m Muhammad Bilal. I’m a tech fanatic (also read: Gamer), who loves scrutinizing fine details. I aim to strive hard in my respective fields (as a writer and software programmer). Before pursuing my majors in a university (right now in A-levels), I want to spend time exploring and reviewing the latest technology.