Sceptre E255B-1658A 25" FHD 1080p 165Hz 144Hz 1ms AMD FreeSync gaming LED Monitor 2x HDMI 2.0 1x DisplayPort RTS FPS Build-in Speakers, Machine Black, Metallic Black

Condition: Out of the box, I did light a candle and make a wish that this monitor did not have any dead pixels or screen bleed around the edges. I was lucky...none, the gods were listening. Nice thin panel with a very small edge. Did not use the stand, as I bought a monitor adjustable arm for 20 bucks on a lightening deal. Set. Display: First boot, using the ‘Standard’ picture settings, not bad, but it is bright, or should I say, full of contrast. Gaming looked awesome, but reading a web page, gray text was a little washed-out, my eyes hurt from the bright white pages, however color was good. That is what you are dealing with using the standard settings. Fire up the calibration, taking many attempts, I finally got the almost perfect color/contrast balance. Calibration: You will need to calibrate this monitor if you care about your eyes, other than gaming, either manually, or I used Displaycal software and a Spyder5 express calibrator. The software always wants you to get all the RGB colors and white point to a set point using your monitor’s color controls before calibration begins. I found on this monitor that getting the white point to where it wanted resulted in a very bright/washed out reading text, slightly better than out of the box settings. I adjusted and left the white point below standard start point, then calibrated, and got a near perfect reading calibration, with colors that are beautiful and accurate. It is still a bright monitor, and in my book that is a good thing. Most gaming monitors (AOC monitors) are washed out, dull. You won’t have that here. Graphic/Cad designers, I would say this monitor is not for you. I would stay with the 2k/144hz monitors where DPI really kicks in, coupled with the fact I had to wrestle with the calibration on this monitor, and it is still not perfect, as far as heavy graphic work standards. For gamers, the blacks are some of the most brilliant black I have seen yet on a monitor, like being lost in the void, and the colors pop...perfect gamer monitor. Gaming: I haven’t done a lot yet, but OMG. You can just tell the smoothness and colors are excellent. I have an i5-9600k cpu, nvidia 1660 super OC gpu, and to begin I turned on Free-sync on the monitor, along with turning on ‘Overdrive,” and G-Sync settings on the computer’s driver software, and all was good to go. 165 htz registered baby! If you are buying this, and you probably are, for nothing but gaming...don’t even hesitate, get it. I will test with more games, and update if I find any issues. A+ Minor ‘issues’: Things that bug, the power and monitor ports are situated right below the bottom of the monitor. That means if you are big into cable management, that is an issue. You will always see the cords sticking out from the bottom, or at least the top of the plugs. Conclusion: Gamers, get this monitor now. Graphic/CAD workers, hard call, will take a LOT of calibrating and not sure if you can get ‘the best’ end result with such a bright/contrast-filled monitor for excellent, detailed graphics and color work.

So I was a little apprehensive to buy this brand. I've been an Asus guy forever ... but, it was on sale and it had a $10.00 off coupon to go with it at checkout, bringing the price down to $149.95. So why not, right? I've been playing on a 60hz Asus for as long as I can remember. Now that I have a new computer build coming (i9 9900k with an RTX 2070), I figured I'd upgrade to a newer 144+hz monitor with G-Sync/Freesync. I'm not ready for 1440p yet, so this 1080p with 165hz at this price seemed to be a no-brainer. However, I am a 100% skeptic and to be honest, didn't have high hopes for this purchase. My current build is an i7 2700k with a GTX 1050 ti and is what will be used for this review until I get my new system built (which I know will use this monitor to its' full potential). Let me just start by saying, "WOW!" There's only one word to describe it ... just ... WOW! First, the packaging was stellar. No issues there. This thing could be thrown off of a building and the monitor would take it like a champ. It would simply brush it off and walk off like a boss. I then opened the box and learned that the base/stand is metal (that is built rather well) and also came with a Display Port Cable AND a pretty darn nice phillips-head screwdriver to put the stand/monitor together! Like ... whaaat? Putting it together was a breeze and I was rather impressed with the look. But I was still anxious about what this monitor would look like and how it would "feel" once turned on. I got everything hooked up, took a deep breathe and said, "well, at least it looks good," and turned the PC and monitor on. Two words ... "HOLY MOTHER OF ALL THINGS COLOR! THIS IS BEAUTIFUL!" Okay, that was more like 9 words, but that was my first reaction to seeing my PC Desktop Background for the first time on this badboy. My Asus was hooked up as my second monitor and it looked like complete TRASH next to the eye nectar I as receiving from this Sceptre monitor. I quickly ran out and got my wife and said, "honey, you have to see this!" As if she would care for this kind of eye-candy ... but I had to show SOMEBODY!!!! She came in and said, "oh wow, that's a huge difference." Let me just say, the blacks were black, the colors were vibrant (I honestly thought someone made a mistake and fabricated this monitor as an IPS panel instead of a TN panel) and no dead pixels anywhere. No backlighting showing through ... nothing. BUT ... the real test was yet to come ... and my anxiety was starting to peek. Could this monitor deliver in the gaming department? Or is it like the beautiful girl with no personality? I loaded the new Call of Duty: Modern Warfare and got a few of my crew together to put this bad-boy to the test. Before I did so, I made sure to have freesync on (which enables G-Sync ... YES, G-SYNC) in the monitor settings and checked to see if my video card settings were showing G-sync enables ... which it was. The match started loading and I was sitting there like a kid on Christmas day waiting to open that first present. Then it happened ... the match started. I noticed my FPS in the top left corner hitting 110-130 FPS (that's a first) and it was as smooth as Marvin Gaye and Barry White singing at a night club together MELTING the ladies. I couldn't believe what I was seeing. This monitor delivered in every way possible. I can't imagine how good this thing will work when I complete my new build. Pros: Everything. I cannot stress this enough ... this monitor WILL DO G-SYNC if you have a 10 or 20 series GPU. I understand that it isn't on the "NVIDIA LIST" of monitors, but I can assure you, G-SYNC is recognized and works with this monitor. Anyone that says otherwise doesn't know what they're talking about. Cons: The speakers are 100% complete trash. If you're looking for a monitor with quality speakers, this one isn't for you. I play with Sennheiser headset and an Astro mixamp ... so i could care less about the speakers. If you're hesitant to buy this monitor like I was, don't be. This bad boy will do everything it says it will and then some. It looks AMAZING for a TN monitor! So stop reading about it and buy it already! What are you waiting for, Christmas? PFFFT ... BUY IT! You'll thank me later. TL;DR ... This monitor is amazing ... from the build quality to the colors and performance ... it's amazing. Stop reading about it and just pull the trigger. You will not regret buying this monitor.