Acer Nitro XV252Q Gaming Monitor Review

When it comes to competitive esports titles, the latest 360Hz monitors are the obvious choice for gamers who want to gain a physical advantage over their competition. The new high-speed panels raised the bar from the previous 240Hz flagships at the back end of last year, providing new levels of clarity and fluidity when playing fast-paced titles.

That being the case, Acer has already taken things one step further, now revealing a new addition to the Acer Nitro lineup that boasts a 390Hz (with overclock) refresh rate. The Acer Nitro XV252Q Fbmiiprx is one of Acer’s latest gaming monitors, boasting a never-before-seen 390Hz refresh rate. The speedy monitor not only provides a rapid refresh rate; it also offers a low 1ms (0.5 minimum) response time and 1080p screen resolution – making it the perfect choice for competitive gamers who prioritize speed over immersion.

Despite the XV252Q F being geared towards competitive gamers, it still offers great casual play too – equipped with 99% sRGB color coverage, VESA DisplayHDR 400 certification, and FreeSync Premium support.

In the following article, we’ll be putting the Acer Nitro XV252Q F through its paces to see how it stacks up against some of the market’s leading esports gaming monitors. We’ll be testing it for gaming performance and color accuracy, concluding with our thoughts on the value it brings to the table.

So, with plenty to get through, let’s waste no further time and dive straight into it!

Specifications

What's In The Box

As with many of the Nitro monitors, the XV252Q F comes in a very basic box that showcases some marketing material on the exterior. The panel and the stand are unassembled in the box and require no tools for construction.

The stand secures into the back of the panel with a clip-on mechanism that feels relatively robust. Like always, the XV252Q is securely packaged inside two styrofoam padding layers, ensuring no damage occurs during transit.

Below is the full list of accessories that come with the Acer Nitro XV252Q:

• Acer Nitro XV252Q Monitor
• DisplayPort Cable
• HDMI 2.0
• Kettle Plug
• Quick Start Guide
• Warranty

Design And Features

With specifications out the way, let’s take a closer look at the build quality, design, and mechanical features this monitor comes equipped with.

Design

The Acer Nitro XV252Q has an understated design that is far from ‘gamey’. The panel itself is fairly featureless, offering only an Acer logo on the bottom bezel alongside a grill-like styling. That being said, the bezels are quite slender, equipped with a dual-stage design that falls nicely into the sleek category.

The base of the stand is unlike many other gaming monitors we’ve tested. Instead of the V shape that is often used, Acer has opted for a circular base that offers less stability than the V-shaped alternatives. The base of the stand has a slim red ring that gives it some character, but other than that, there isn’t much to speak of. A small hook can be found at the rear of the stand that allows users to cable manage their inputs. That being said, it isn’t the best cable management solution I’ve ever seen.

A cylindrical stand holds the monitor in place, finished with a rough metallic finish. The rear of the monitor doesn’t really offer any additional design features, only an Acer logo on the rear and some nice brushed aluminum effects.

Overall, I feel the Acer Nitro XV252Q has been well designed. Whilst it’s not the most ‘gamey’ monitor out there, it’s also not the worst looking either.

Build Quality

The Nitro range is Acer’s budget-tailored lineup, catering more towards value over raw performance. For that reason, it’ll be interesting to see where this monitor sits from a build quality standpoint.

Unboxing this monitor and, I have to say, it felt pretty damn good. The panel itself is similar to other Acer Nitro’s we’ve tested in the past – feeling very robust and pretty solid. Unlike the XV270UP we tested a while back, the XV252Q feels much more solid and all fittings are well secured.

The stand is mainly constructed of plastic but does offer a metal infrastructure for added support. The mechanism that handles the stand adjustment feels pretty good on this monitor, offering a stiff finish that isn’t actually that wobbly.

All the buttons feel nicely finished, as do the inputs at the rear. Ultimately, I feel Acer has done a great job here of designing a well-made monitor that should stand the test of time.

Panel Coating

Like most modern panels, the Acer Nitro XV252Q comes with an anti-glare panel coating that has a matte finish (in 3H hardness). The coating does an excellent job of mitigating both natural and man-made light sources but can pick up plenty of fingerprints during usage.

Bezels

The Nitro comes with sleek bezels that are dual-stage and close to borderless. Both screen bezel and frame measure in at 7mm (top and sides) with the larger bottom bezel being 20mm. Whilst this isn’t the thinnest we’ve ever seen, it is definitely on the lower end of the spectrum.

Stand

Acer has equipped the Nitro XV252Q F with a very versatile stand, offering height, tilt, swivel, and pivot adjustments. Users can choose to use the monitor in both landscape and portrait mode, depending on their preference.

The circular base doesn’t offer the best stability I’ve ever seen, but it’s far from the worst either. With its metal construction, the stand on this monitor is very acceptable.

Below are the exact specifications of the stand:

• Forward Tilt – 5 degrees
• Backward Tilt – 25 degrees
• Left Swivel – 180 degrees
• Right Swivel – 180 degrees
• Pivot – 90 degrees
• Height – 120mm

As we mentioned earlier, the stand offers a small cable management system at the base. Whilst it isn’t the best we’ve ever seen, it still does an OK job.

Inputs

Inputs can be found at the rear of the monitor and are inserted in a vertical fashion, as you’d expect. All display inputs, including the audio-out input, can be found at the rear of the monitor.

This monitor does offer three display inputs, giving users more than enough versatility. The input bay does not come with an input guard, but that isn’t really a big issue with this monitor.

OSD

The OSD (on-screen display) for the Acer Nitro XV252Q F is extremely easy to use and self intuitive. To navigate the various menus, Acer has equipped the XV252Q with a 5-way joystick and 4 additional buttons on the rear of the panel.

Inside the OSD, users can adjust all the usual suspects, including color, picture, and gaming settings. We’ll be going over the best OSD settings later on in the article.

The design of the OSD feels a little old school but in no way ugly. Once you’ve found the settings that best suit your needs, simply save them to one of the profiles available.

Color Accuracy & Picture Quality

Great colors and excellent picture quality are two of the main factors that help create immersion while your gaming. Whilst this is the case, monitor manufacturers don’t always calibrate the color to what is deemed accurate within certain color spectrums – sRGB/Rec.709 for example.

We like to test each monitor for color reproduction to see how they would perform in color-accurate 0scenarios.

Here are the results for the Acer Nitro XV252Q F.

Like always, we started off by testing the monitor in its native ‘out the box’ settings – which in this scenario were; 161 candelas of luminance, Standard color mode, and ‘Warm’ color temp.

Out the box settings were pretty average, but not the worst I’ve ever seen. White point was solid at 6953K, as was black depth (0.12). Contrast ratio was slightly below 1000:1 (964:1) and average deltaE measured in at 2.3 – not terrible. Gamma read 2.33.

We tested the dedicated sRGB preset next, expecting much better color accuracy performance. The white point was fairly similar to standard, as was black depth and contrast ratio. However, average deltaE dropped dramatically, now offering a 0.94 average. Gamma wasn’t as powerful as out the box settings, reading 2.15.

I tested the Action preset last, just to see what kind of experience it provided. Granted, it wasn’t as accurate as sRGB, but it didn’t look that bad. It offered a greyish hue that, despite not looking accurate, did help in some gaming scenarios. Average deltaE measured 2.26, making this preset another poor choice for color-accurate work.

We wasted no time and decided to calibrate the panel, recording color gamut, panel uniformity, and overall color accuracy.

We chose the ‘User’ color setting and altered the RGB to 48/47/50.

Here are the results:

After calibrating the monitor using a colorimeter, the Acer Nitro XV252Q F offered extremely good accuracy in the sRGB spectrum. With the 99% sRGB coverage, you can easily achieve a 0.2 average deltaE with calibration. This is more than enough accuracy for professional editing.

Panel Uniformity

Panel uniformity is a test we run to check how uniform the luminance and color is across the entirety of the screen. During this test, the center square is used as the reference space. Every other square is then tested to see how far it differentiates from the reference.

In an ideal world, we want every square to be green, meaning it hasn’t broken the differential threshold – something we can set at the start of the test.

Note: results will differ from panel to panel.

Looking at the panel uniformity of the Acer Nitro XV252Q F was a little disappointing. As you can see from the graph above, large portions of the panel were far from uniform – displaying amber and red scores (poor uniformity for both brightness and luminance).

It isn’t uncommon to see poor uniformity on the edges of your panel – and that’s clear to see in this particular screen. Whilst it doesn’t look great on the graph, it won’t affect your viewing experience too badly.

Viewing Angles

Like other monitors making use of IPS panels, the Acer Nitro XV252Q F offered up very good viewing angles. Viewing the monitor from obscure angles didn’t really affect color or luminance – allowing a number of people the ability to view this monitor at the same time.

Having said that, with only 24.5 inches to play with, this probably isn’t the best monitor for multiperson usage.

Color Gamut

As part of the calibration process, the DisplayCal will give an accurate measurement of the color gamut the monitor can provide. Below are the results of the color gamut test:

As you can see from the results above, the Acer Nitro XV252Q doesn’t offer the widest color gamut we’ve ever seen. After calibration, we recorded an acceptable 98.6% sRGB coverage, alongside a less impressive (but still acceptable) 72.8% Adobe RGB and 79.6% DCI P3 coverage.

Looking at the physical color gamut graph, you can see where the Acer Nitro exceeds the sRGB spectrum – showcased by the dotted line.

This monitor easily surpasses the sRGB spectrum in greens and yellows. That said, it falls ever so slightly short in the dark blue and orange sectors.

Maximum And Minimum Brightness

We ended the color accuracy and picture quality testing by checking the maximum brightness, minimum brightness, and 120 candelas points on this panel. The results are below:

Brightness	Candelas
100% Brightness	250cd/m²
0% Brightness	95cd/m²
27 Brightness	120 cd/m²

Calibrated Profile

For those who want to use our calibrated color profile, you will find a link below where you can download the zip file.

Acer Nitro XV252Q F: Gaming Performance

With color accuracy out of the way, it’s time to put the Acer Nitro XV252Q F through a number of different gaming scenarios to see how it stacks up in pixel response, input lag, and HDR content. Let’s dive straight into it!

As this is strictly a competitive gaming monitor, I wasted no time and threw it through my favourite esports title – CS:GO. Counter-Strike is an incredibly competitive game that requires the highest levels of reflexes and reactions – making refresh rate and general panel speed a hugely important factor. Fortunately, the Acer Nitro XV252Q F performed extremely well in this specific sector. I played a couple of hours of deathmatch then jumped into a few competitive games to get a better taste of what this monitor provided. I was seriously impressed with the overall speed and clarity it provided. The XV252Q has a max resolution of 1080p, allowing me to comfortably reach the 390 frames per second required for the best visual experience. General gameplay felt incredibly smooth and moving round maps gave me a connected feel that simply can’t be replicated by slower alternatives. The biggest benefit of gaming on a monitor with high refresh rates is the clarity you experience when things are moving quickly around you. When playing on a 144Hz monitor, enemies rushing can become a little blurry – especially if you’re moving the mouse quite aggressively. However, that wasn’t the case with the XV252Q F. I had total clarity during gameplay, regardless of situation or object speed.

I had a play around with some of the OSD game settings to see if we could boost the visual experience any further. When in-game mode, Over Drive for this monitor is set to ‘Normal’. Like always, we tested the various Over Drive settings to see which offers the best balance between pixel response and image clarity. To my surprise, pushing the Over Drive settings to ‘Extreme’ didn’t result in ugly overshoot or inverse ghosting. We tested the VRB (visual response boost) feature shortly after to see whether or not any visual artifacts could be found. Using this feature would strobe the backlight in order to reduce motion blur in moving objects. Whilst it does increase image clarity further, it also effectively adds flicker to the screen and can be detrimental to eye strain.

Of course, during all tests we had FreeSync Premium enabled and the refresh rate overclocked to a maximum of 390Hz. Remember, if you want to get the marketed 390Hz refresh rate out of this panel, you will have to overclock your monitor. Fortunately, this process is fairly simple and doesn’t require that much effort.
After concluding that this monitor is indeed very efficient when it comes to competitive games, I decided to load a few immersive single-player titles to see what it offered. Shadow Of The Tomb and Battlefield V both allowed me to see how immersive the panel was and get a taste of how effective the VESA Certified displayHDR 400 was. Unfortunately, both fell short of the mark. As you will likely know, VESA HDR400 is the lowest form of high dynamic range available. The HDR performance I received was far from impressive, with only slight improvements in general brightness and detail. Overall immersion was also a little disappointing, but that’s mainly due to the small 24.5″ screen size and 1080p screen resolution. Whilst this does allow you to reach the higher frame rates required for competitive gameplay, it reduces graphical quality exponentially.

Final Thoughts

So, there you have it, our comprehensive review of the Acer Nitro XV252Q Fbmiiprx – one of the market’s fastest esports gaming monitors. The only thing left to answer is, do we feel the XV252Q is good value for money – and that comes down to your specific requirements.

The XV252Q is a fantastic gaming monitor that provides a lightning-quick 390Hz (OC) refresh rate alongside an equally impressive 0.5 (min) response time. The 24.5″ monitor is equipped with an IPS panel at its heart that provides great viewing angles, solid colors, and a decent viewing experience. Whilst the 1080p screen resolution isn’t the best for general image clarity, it does tick all the right boxes for individuals that prioritize high frame rates over picture clarity. Equipped with FreeSync Premium support, a versatile (and robust) stand, and an extensive OSD, it’s really hard to knock this monitor from a competitive gaming standpoint.

And that’s pretty much what it comes down to, your need for a competitive gaming monitor. If you’re the kind of person that likes to play CS:GO and Valorant, but also likes to do video editing and multi-tasking on the side, chances are, the XV252Q won’t suit your needs. However, if you’re looking to get any advantage over your competition, this is one of the best esports monitors to do it.