Straight from the box the image on the G2460PF was excessively bright and looked quite bleached really. Surprisingly, this isn’t the worst default setup we’ve seen from 24” models using the same panel – but it certainly wasn’t the best either. This could be alleviated somewhat by switching to ‘Gamma3’ and lowering the brightness significantly – right down to ‘0’, in fact. As we’ve seen with some other models using this same panel, though, the gamma curve is dependent on the refresh rate and the gamma value is raised significantly to produce a richer image at 60Hz. Due to the viewing angle dependency of the gamma curve, perceived gamma was significantly lower towards the bottom of the screen than the central regions and higher towards the top as well. Note that with ‘FreeSync’ enabled, the gamma behaviour remains as at 144Hz regardless of the dynamic refresh rate of the monitor.

At 144Hz the low gamma sapped the image of depth and richness, so we found the overall representation to be favourable after applying a custom ICC profile on top of the ‘Optimal OSD settings’. The top graph below shows the gamma tracking using these optimal settings, which although being as good as you can get in the OSD at 144Hz certainly leaves a lot to be desired. The bottom graph shows the tracking using our ICC profile, purposefully designed to track the 2.2 curve centrally on our unit.



Gamma optimal OSD settings Gamma ICC profile



As noted above, the white point was very nicely balanced straight from the box. No manual adjustments were actually required to the colour channels of our unit, we simply had to change to the ‘User’ setting for ‘Color Temp.’ However; be aware of inter-unit variation and the fact that some units may require slight tweaks to the colour channels. ‘Gamma3’ was used as the highest gamma was obtained by using this setting, although there was still a lot of room for improvement as noted earlier. Brightness was hugely reduced compared to the default settings, too. Any setting not mentioned below was left at default. We’ve included the ‘Overdrive’ setting and refresh rate used here as well, just for reference.



Brightness= 0 (according to preferences and lighting) Gamma= Gamma3 Color Temp.= User R= 50 G= 50 B= 50 Refresh rate= 144Hz Overdrive= Light





Some monitors have dedicated ‘Low Blue Light’ modes or a similar setting such as a ‘Reading’ or ‘Paper’ mode. This model does not have such a mode, therefore manual adjustments are required to significantly reduce blue light output and create a warmer, more relaxing and less stimulating image. The following settings are just an example of the sorts of adjustment you could make to achieve this.

We used these settings for our own viewing pleasure later in the evening but not for any of our testing. The ICC profile can be applied on top of this if preferred.





Brightness= 0 (according to preferences and lighting) Brightness= 0 (according to preferences and lighting) Gamma= Gamma3 Color Temp.= User R= 50 G= 32 B= 25 Refresh rate= 144Hz Overdrive= Light





As noted earlier it was not possible to get a particularly pleasing image using OSD adjustments alone on this monitor. The low gamma was a key thing hampering this, at 144Hz. The ICC profile below is specific to our unit and may not be optimal for all units. What it should do, however, is raise the gamma and create a richer look if you feel that is required. Because our unit was very well balanced in terms of white point, the colorimeter didn’t have to make significant adjustments to meet its 6500K target. You can therefore adjust colour channels if it is required on your unit without worrying that the ICC profile is counteracting your changes.

Although applications such as games don’t fully use ICC data, many games do respect the gamma table data from the ICC profile and therefore it can often improve the image significantly on monitors such as this. Given this fact, the ICC profile was applied for our testing. This is a bit off-piste for us, but we have engaged with numerous users who have tested this profile for us on their G2460PFs over a range of game titles prior to the publication of this review. There was a very positive response to the welcome difference made when using the ICC profile, so we felt it was appropriate to use it for our testing rather than persistently commenting on how ‘washed out’ the image looked. To make use of our profile do the following:



1) Download the ICC profile.



2) Set the monitor up according to the ‘Optimal OSD settings’, but feel free to adjust the brightness and colour channels if desired. Using a brightness of ‘0’ provided 162 cd/m² on our unit with the ICC profile applied.



3) This article provides instructions on how to activate the profile and also highlights some limitations to be aware of when gaming in particular. As noted, though, the vast majority of modern game titles will at least perform gamma correction based on the profile which is key for this monitor. Some titles deactivate the profile upon exiting back to Windows, in which case the ‘DisplayProfile’ utility mentioned there will come in handy for quick re-activation.





A highly accurate light meter (KM CS-200) was used to measure the luminance of white and black on the screen using a range of settings. From these readings, static contrast ratios were calculated. This data is shown in the following table. Unless otherwise stated assume settings were left at default, with the exception of the ‘Test Settings’, ‘Relaxing evening viewing’ and ‘Calibrated Settings’. Blue highlights on the table indicate the results of these, whilst black highlights on the table indicate the highest white luminance, lowest black luminance and highest static contrast ratio recorded.

With brightness only adjusted, the average contrast ratio was a pretty decent 1029:1. The peak contrast ratio was recorded with ‘Color Temp.’ set to ‘User’ and all channels in their neutral ‘50’ position and gamma mode at the default ‘Gamma1’; 1083:1. The optimal OSD settings provided a slightly lower value (1013:1), possibly due to unlucky rounding and a little drop off due to changing the gamma mode. Following the application of our ICC profile on top of this the static contrast ratio remained unchanged at 1013:1. The fairly hefty changes made for the ‘Relaxing evening settings’ caused a significant drop in static contrast, to 687:1. The maximum luminance recorded was 379 cd/m², whilst the minimum white luminance was recorded as 154 cd/m² which is a fair bit higher than some users would want to use. This provides a fairly weak luminance adjustment range of 225 cd/m², with the fairly high minimum luminance being the main bone of contention for some users.

The monitor has a Dynamic Contrast mode called ‘DCR’ (Dynamic Contrast Ratio). You can’t access certain settings with this activated, such as brightness, contrast or gamma settings. This setting allows the backlight to adjust its intensity (the brightness control of the monitor) based on the relative level of ‘light’ or ‘dark’ on the screen. The dimming was effective where predominantly dark content was displayed, although mixed content tended to be uncomfortably bright. We personally prefer manual brightness adjustment, but this mode is there if you wish to try it out.





PWM (Pulse Width Modulation)

The G2460PF does not use PWM (Pulse Width Modulation) to regulate backlight brightness and instead uses DC (Direct Current) modulation. You can therefore consider the backlight to be ‘flicker-free’, which will come as welcome news to those who are sensitive to flickering or want to try to minimise eye fatigue. It also means that the monitor is free from ‘PWM artifacts’ during motion.





Luminance uniformity

Observing a black screen fill in a dark room revealed slight backlight bleed towards the bottom of the monitor. This was quite minor really and not something we feel was actually noticeable during normal use. It is worth bearing in mind that individual units can vary when it comes to all uniformity issues (including backlight bleed). Unlike on models with IPS-type panels, there is no ‘glow’ evident from a normal viewing position. If you view dark content from an angle on the monitor there is a slight silver or golden sheen, but this does not bloom out as obviously as on your typical IPS-type panel. The image below shows how black appeared in a dark room on the monitor.





