Alienware’s 560Hz OLED gives esports players what TN monitors can’t
Competitive esports players care only about one thing: pure, unadulterated speed and the incredible responsiveness it provides. When every millisecond counts, every frame matters. Devoted esports enthusiasts are known to dial down graphics settings and stick to monitors with washed-out yet fast-churning twisted nematic (TN) panels, all to satisfy their insatiable thirst for peak responsiveness.
But what if you could have your cake and eat it too? Enter the Alienware 25 560Hz QD-OLED Gaming Monitor – AW2527HX. At first blush, it looks like any other 24.5-inch 1080p esports monitor, but Dell partnered with the esports pros at Team Liquid to ensure that this display leaps ahead of the crowd.
Let’s start with the speed: At 560Hz, Dell says the AW2527HX provides Alienware’s fastest refresh rate ever. Check!
Dell
But the real star here is the panel itself. Rather than a standard TN display, the AW2527HX features a QD-OLED Penta Tandem screen. That means not only is this monitor fast, but also enjoys OLED’s blistering 0.03ms gray-to-gray response times, meaning every frame being pumped out flips over lickity-split with virtually no ghosting or blurring. Yes, please!
Moving to OLED offers other visual benefits. The Alienware AW2527HX offers DCI-P3 99% color coverage, Delta E<2 accuracy, VESA DisplayHDR True Black 600, infinite contrast, and new RGB Stripe technology that provides much better text clarity than yesteryear’s OLEDs.
This screen should be one hell of a looker, in other words — so much so that even the sweatiest competitors may be tempted to upgrade their graphics cards to keep this monstrous display fed without dialing-down graphics settings. Alienware uses AI algorithms to protect against OLED burn-in and will offer a 3-year burn-in warranty, if you’re worried about that.
Alienware slapped a matte coating on the AW2527HX to cut down on annoying reflections, while Nvidia G-Sync compatibility and DisplayPort 2.1 (UHBR 13.5) will keep frames flowing fast and free of tearing.
Dell
Team Liquid helped with the physical design of the monitor. The telescopic stand with height markers (so you can replicate your setup on the go) offers 155mm of adjustment range, a 41 percent increase over the usual 110mm spec, with a small rotatable base designed for a minimal desk footprint. The Alienware AW2527HX also tilts up to 45 degrees, and you’ll find both a backside headset hangar as well as a dedicated esports button to switch between 4:3 and 3:2 aspect ratios.
It sounds like a very well thought-out monitor for esports enthusiasts, with virtually nothing left out. Other 500Hz OLED gaming monitors go for $700 to $900, but usually come in larger, yet less desirable 27-inch sizes, move up to 1440p or 4K resolutions, and don’t always include modern OLED features like RGB Stripe and True Black 600, so it’s hard to find a direct parallel.
Alienware has spent the last several years delivering groundbreaking OLED monitors at surprisingly fantastic prices — most recently with its genre-shattering $350 OLED monitor and its 39-inch “5K2K” monster, which goes for $700 less than its rival — so I’m hoping the AW2527HX delivers a price point as delightful as its spec sheet. We’ll learn more info about the final cost closer to its launch in the first quarter of 2027.
