BenQ XL2420Z review

The BenQ XL2420Z is a Full HD 24in monitor packed with features aimed to appeal to gamers. These include Nvidia 3D Vision support, a 144Hz refresh rate and “Blur Reduction” technology intended to make fast-moving objects in games easier to spot. The monitor is aimed at players of first-person shooters, but gamers who don’t just play shoot ’em ups may also be interested.

The XL2420Z is also the most expensive 24-inch monitor with a TN panel we’ve tested, so it really needs to be something special to justify the very high price.

The monitor is attractively designed and well made, with red highlights on the stand and a carrying handle for lugging it to and from LAN parties. The monitor has 130mm of height adjustment, and goes as low as a couple of centimetres from the base, so you’re bound to be able to find a height that suits you.

The screen has a wide array of ports, including three USB, two HDMI, VGA, DVI, and DisplayPort connectors and a 3.5mm audio output. The BenQ XL2420Z also comes with its own controller, called the S.Switch. This is a small plastic wedge with a scroll wheel and buttons which make adjusting the monitor’s settings much easier than prodding the touch buttons built into the screen’s bezel.

Colour performance out of the box was fairly impressive, with the 1,920×1080-pixel panel displaying 95.1 per cent of the sRGB colour gamut in our initial tests. After tweaking the brightness settings, turning off Blur Reduction and calibrating the screen with a USB colour calibrator, the panel was able to display 99 per cent of the colour gamut, so colour accuracy won’t be a problem.

Black levels were in line with other TN panels, with blacks appearing fairly deep. A measured contrast level of 807:1 didn’t quite live up to BenQ’s claim of 1000:1 but, in our subjective tests, we saw a great deal of detail in our high-contrast test images. Solid reds, blues and greens were all slightly less vibrant than those seen on high-end IPS panels, but were still more than acceptable. The contrast ratio also helped in games, leading to lovely lighting and shadow effects.

The main point of a 144Hz panel is so gamers can play titles at very high frame rates with vertical sync (Vsync) turned on, to avoid the shearing that can occur in the image when the graphics card is outputting more frames per second than the monitor can display.

With a normal 60Hz panel, you’re limited to 60fps with Vsync turned on, but with a 144Hz screen you get a maximum 144fps. This is visibly smoother, and we loved having such huge frame rates when playing older first-person shooters such as Half-life 2, which can run at these kinds of speeds. It even makes a difference in Windows, with cursor and window movements being that much more slick.

The monitor also has support for Nvidia’s 3D Vision technology, which gives you active shutter 3D in games. This is an extra which many people will appreciate, although you will need Nvidia’s own 3D Vision hardware and a compatible Nvidia graphics card in order to take advantage of the technology.

The BenQ XL2420Z is an impressive gaming monitor, and we loved being able to play games at 144fps with Vsync turned on. However, unless you really want Nvidia 3D Vision support, we don’t think this screen is worth the extra £77 over the Iiyama ProLite GB2488HSU, which has 144Hz support and also makes games look fantastic.