Predator X25 monitor review: record frequency and Reflex support
Contents:
Today we have a review of a novelty from Acer for gamers – the Predator X25 monitor. This is the brand's fastest monitor with a 24.5-inch diagonal and near-record 360 Hz, a G-Sync processor and support for NVIDIA Reflex technology. Of course, for the latter, you'll need a dedicated mouse and a 30-line RTX graphics card. We will not delve into Reflex today, let's talk about the monitor itself, its capabilities and characteristics.
Specifications Predator X25
| Diagonal | 24,5 |
| Aspect ratio | 16:9 |
| Matrix coating | Semi-matte (Haze) |
| Standard resolution, pix. | 1920 × 1080 |
| Pixels per inch | 90 |
| Matrix type | AHVA (Fast IPS type) |
| Backlight type | W-LED |
| Max. brightness, cd/m2 | 400 |
| Contrast static | 1000:1 |
| Number of displayed colors | 16,7 million (8 bits) |
| Vertical refresh rate, Hz | 1-360 |
| GtG response time, ms | 1 / 0,3 (min.) |
| Maximum horizontal/vertical viewing angles, ° | 178/178 |
| Color gamut | 99% sRGB |
| Adaptive frame sync | NVIDIA G-Sync (Native, V2), AMD FreeSync |
| HDR support | VESA Display HDR 400 |
| Video inputs | 2 x HDMI 2.0; |
| 1 x DisplayPort 1.4 | |
| Additional ports | 1 × 3,5 mm (headphone output); |
| 1 x USB 3.0 Type-B; | |
| 4 x USB 3.0 Type-A | |
| Built-in speakers: number × power, W | 2 × 2 |
| RGB lighting, NVIDIA Reflex support, automatic brightness and color temperature sensors | |
| Screen Position Adjustment | Tilt (-5 to 25°), side swivel (20° each), height adjustment (115 mm), screen rotation (90° both sides) |
| VESA mount: dimensions (mm) | Yes (100 × 100) |
| Mount for Kensington lock | Yes |
| Power supply unit | External |
| Power Consumption Maximum/Typical/Standby (W) | 95 / 37 / 0,5 |
| Overall dimensions (with stand), mm | 557 × × 411 236 |
| Weight (with stand), kg | 5.88 |
| Average price, rubles | 70 990 |
Equipment
The monitor arrived at the editorial office in a cardboard box, the package did not present any surprises: the monitor itself and spare parts for assembly, an instruction manual, a cable and a power supply, a calibration report, plus three data cables: USB, HDMI, DisplayPort. The monitor is supplied, of course, unassembled, assembly is easy and does not require tools.
Appearance and interfaces
• We collect, put on the table, look: on the central part of the lower frame of the monitor, there is a block with sensors that are responsible for the operation of technologies like ProxiSense and LightSense. The stand is stable, visually made in the aggressively angular style of Predator.
• It's nice that there is no bust with the design: many gaming devices are embarrassing to buy simply because of the way they look. X25 looks concise, but not without branded design chips. The monitor stand has a hole for cables, and on the back of it there is a retractable hook for headphones. It is difficult to say whether this is good or bad: the very presence of a hook, of course, pleases, but how convenient the place in which it is located is a rhetorical question. When you look at the back panel, the eye draws attention to the white tape with diodes. This is a customizable RGB lighting that can play with colors and effects. Well, the specificity of the audience requires.
• On the side of the monitor, there are two USB-A connectors for connecting peripherals (by the way, a mouse for Reflex technology can only be connected through ports in the monitor). Standard adjustments: tilt (25 degrees between extremes), height (12 cm between extremes), as well as the ability to rotate the monitor 90 degrees.
• Of the other interfaces, there are two HDMI 2.0b and DisplayPort 1.4, a headphone jack, USB 3.0 Type-B and another Type-A. On the rear panel there are control buttons and a small joystick for switching settings menu items. All adjustments are divided into seven sections: image settings, colors, sound settings with volume control, G-Sync module (Reflex is also configured there), options for gamers with an additional sight over the screen, menu options and system settings.
Predator X25 Color Reproduction
Let's talk about visual impressions. The Predator X25 conveys details extremely realistically, maybe even hyper-realistically: if the game is at night, then it will not be easy to make out something on the monitor. DarkBoost technology helps: the image becomes brighter, it becomes easier to hit the opponent. The rest of the impressions are unequivocally positive: there are no problems with either saturation, or clarity, or color reproduction.
• Smoothness deserves special praise: with a sufficiently powerful graphics card, you can count on near-perfect frame changes. Still, not everyone can boast of a value of 360 Hz. Of course, the layman's eyes are unlikely to distinguish 240 from 360 Hz, but the trick here is different: even if the eyes do not perceive a quick frame change, the brain perceives it very well – with a high frequency, it reacts faster to what is happening, which in games can be the main factor in winning .
• Visual perception is different for everyone, so let's take a more objective path and test the monitor with special equipment. Shooting with a long exposure shows that the backlight is quite uniform, no serious flaws were noticed. We fixed the maximum brightness deviation at 10% – an excellent result. Since the monitor uses an IPS matrix, it was not possible to get away from the glow effect – but it is quite far from unpleasant content that interferes with comfortable viewing.
• The color uniformity also did not cause complaints: the tests showed a deviation in the peak at a value of 1.8. Anything below 3 is considered a decent score. We did not adjust the monitor settings and ran all tests under standard conditions: the gamma value was 2.2, the sRGB compliance was slightly less than 96%. At the same time, AdobeRGB compliance is 66.5% here, DCI P3 – 68.3%.
• Regarding factory calibration, the manufacturer claims that each monitor is calibrated separately and that the color deviation will not exceed 1. In our tests, the average deviation was less than 0.5, which is great (any value below 3 is considered acceptable).
Conclusions
As a result, Acer turned out to be a good successor to the Predator line. This is a full-fledged gaming device, the main advantage of which is, of course, a high frequency of 360 Hz. Of course, you can fully experience this only with a good video card, but if you get a monitor that is close to the top, then you will most likely be fine with the rest of the hardware.
• The design of the X25 can also be commended: we've already begun to wean ourselves from the fact that a gaming monitor can look decent and restrained. Interestingly, despite the rise in price of everything in general, Acer somehow manages to reduce the prices of its monitors: when the X25 first came out, it cost about 80. Now, at the time of writing (August 2021), the official Predator X25 store is 55. To date, this is one of the best offers in terms of price and functionality.
