Samsung C24FG70 – Image Quality

Out of the box, image quality is good, although I felt the need to bump up the Black Equaliser as, initially, blacks were a little light for my liking. With that turned up, everything looked great.

I spent a lot of my testing playing Battlefield 1, so I used the FPS preset. This is a mode that favours fast response times and low motion blur. It also bumps up the gamma to increase visibility in darkened areas, which can sometimes help to spot hidden enemies. Because Samsung’s (very effective) motion-blur-reduction technology relies on the monitor’s backlight being turned up high, it means this preset is very bright.

FPS mode is great for gaming, but I felt compelled to turn the brightness down for working on documents and spreadsheets.

Fortunately, there are three dedicated buttons on the bottom of the monitor, so you can easily switch to a mode that more suits your work. These are set up via the easy-to-use on-screen menus controlled by the rear-facing joystick.

For office work I switched to a warmer, dimmer mode and set it to activate when I hit the middle button on the bottom of the monitor. It’s hugely useful for people who don’t want eye-searing brightness for both work and play.

There are lots of other presets as well, including modes for RTS and RPG games, a mode that only covers the sRGB colour gamut, and a cinema mode that bumps up the brightness and tones down motion blur reduction for slightly smoother video playback.

I generally preferred to use the Custom mode, which unlocks all settings, to set up my own presets. You can save up to three of these using the shortcut buttons on the bottom of the screen.

The motion technology Samsung has applied here is seriously effective. Using the artificial Blur Buster tests, there’s a stark difference between having the mode switched off and on. Wherever possible, I had it turned up to maximum, as I couldn’t find a downside to it in any of my use cases.

I measured maximum brightness at an impressive 352 nits, while blacks were measured at 0.12 nits. This resulted in a contrast figure of a little over 2,800:1, which is deeply impressive. Mixed scenes with shadows and bright light look fantastic and are packed with detail.

It covers the whole sRGB colour gamut, 88.6% of the cinema-friendly DCI P3 gamut and an impressive 80% of the tough Adobe RGB gamut. These are results that wouldn’t be out of place on a top-end MacBook Pro, so to get this sort of performance on a £300 monitor is amazing.

Colour temperature was measured at 6,564K, which is very close to the 6,500K ideal, while a 2.17 gamma reading was also very close to the 2.2 ideal.

Backlight uniformity was good, with no portion of the screen more than 10% dimmer than the brightest patch at the centre.

The biggest elephant in the room for me is the curve. I don’t think a 24-inch panel benefits that much from a curve, since the main reason you’d choose to buy a curved screen is to immerse yourself. You simply can’t do that with a 24-inch monitor without sitting uncomfortably close.

The curve introduces its own unique problem as well: there was a slight darkness at the extreme edges of the panel when I was viewing it dead-centre. This was only noticeable on very bright visuals, but since most websites have white backgrounds, you’ll probably notice it when browsing. It appears to be caused by the bezel reflecting back onto the screen, but whatever the issue, it’s distracting.

Should I buy the Samsung C24FG70?

The C24FG70 is unique at this price point. Its curved, 144Hz panel provides incredibly punchy colours without compromising on gaming performance, which very few monitors manage.

The main problem is its size. It’ll be down to personal taste, but many buyers might be underwhelmed by the impact the curve has on such a small screen size. Unlike a 27-inch or bigger screen, the experience doesn’t surround you. It also has a very minor impact on image quality, with the black bezel reflected onto bright backgrounds.

With all of that said, the Samsung C24FG70 is technically very impressive and sets the stage for a new generation of gaming monitors that don’t break the bank while not compromising on image quality.

If you want something bigger with similarly excellent image quality, the flat Acer XF270HU is a great option. It costs around £80 more, but with its 144Hz IPS screen, 2,560 x 1,440-pixel resolution and 27-inch size, it represents better value for those who want a more immersive experience.

Related: Best gaming monitors

Verdict

It ticks all the technology boxes, but the curve has a slightly detrimental effect. I’d wait for the 27-inch model.

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