The Dell S2716DG is a quick reaction monitor with a G-Sync refreshing rate of 144-MHz. Many people have stated that the Dell S2716DG’s colour quality is bad right out of the box. If the colours are more realistic, the games look much better. You can improve colours by modifying the brightness and other display settings and specific parameters in the NVIDIA Control Panel.
Requirements of Dell S2716DG Calibration
- Dell S2716DG or S2716DGR 27-inch 2k 144Hz G-Sync Monitor
- Nvidia’s latest GPU
- Nvidia drivers with pre-installed Nvidia Control in it
- A Dell Monitor Driver. If you don’t have it, you can download it from Dell Support. When downloading the driver, make sure the correct operating system and Binary Digit are selected.
- A Display Port because the monitor’s G-Sync and 144Hz refresh rate are only available via DisplayPort and not HDMI
1. Installing Software
Nvidia Driver:
- Firstly, install the Nvidia GeForce Driver. According to some users, you don’t need to run the installer as an administrator, mainly while using your personal computer. However, if you face issues while installing it, you may try running it as an administrator.
- After that, select the “Custom” option instead of “Express”. Choose all the boxes except the “Perform Clean Install” box. Use the clean install option only if you use the driver from GPU OEM or any other issue.
- Restart the computer after the installation process is done.
Dell S2716DG Driver:
- The Dell S2716DG Driver does not have a significant influence on picture quality. However, it appears to install a colour profile which does make the image look better than before.
- Start the.exe file and follow the screen prompts. After the installation, the computer should recognise the monitor as a “Dell S2716DG” rather than a “generic display”.
- Again restart your computer to check if it’s working fine.
Related: What is Monitor Ghosting
On-Screen Display (OSD) Calibration:
The settings have automatically been applied on the monitor. However, the physical buttons on the bottom-right-front of the display can still be used to adjust this setting.
You can set them as follows:
Monitor Settings
- Brightness: 75%
- Contrast: 77%
Colour: Custom Color
- Red (R): 97%
- Green (G): 99%
- Blue (B): 96%
Nvidia Control Panel Settings:
By right-clicking on the desktop, you can access the Nvidia Control Panel. If you are using windows 10, then you may search the Nvidia Control Panel in the search bar of the taskbar.
When the window opens, go to the left side of the screen and select “Adjust desktop colour settings.” On the right, select the “Use Nvidia settings” option.
A “Color Channel” drop-down amongst the various options will display. The “All channels” option would be selected as a default option.
You can set them as follows:
All Channels:
- Brightness (level): +45%
- Contrast (level): +55%
- Gamma: +0.96
- Digital Vibrance (level): +45%
Red Channel:
- Brightness (level): +40%
- Contrast (level): +70%
- Gamma: +100
Green Channel:
- Brightness (level): +50%
- Contrast (level): +50%
- Gamma: +0.89
Blue Channel:
- Brightness (level): +50%
- Contrast (level): +50%
- Gamma: +1.00
After changing the colour settings, click on Apply changes. Close the Nvidia Control Panel, and once again, restart your computer to see if the desired changes are applied.
The calibration setting for Dell S2716DG is not complicated, and you should be able to set up everything in a way that will significantly enhance colour quality by following the above instructions. To get the most realistic colours out of your S2716DG, you may need to adjust the calibration settings slightly. Even if the numbers fluctuate somewhat, the colours you get will be far superior to what you got when you first opened the S2716DG. On the Dell S2716DG, these settings have been proven to deliver the optimum colour and picture quality for gaming.