Dell Alienware AW3423DW 34″ QD-OLED 175Hz (3440 x 1440)

Sancus said:
Why does ABL matter in games/movies? LG OLED has more aggressive ABL and it's almost never a real issue. Assuming those are the primary types of content you would bother with HDR for. On the desktop I would just use whatever mode is least annoying with larger white windows, HDR accuracy doesn't matter there.
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ABL has never bothered me much on LG OLEDs. Maybe it has more to do with Doom Eternal but in 1000 mode I can see the HUD elements and screen brightness fluctuate often. In 400 mode this doesn't happen and the screen appears brighter overall but it could be that the whites are too bright and being clipped. Now I want to play around with both modes more in different games.
 
bigbluefe said:
No one can answer that question for you because there are tons of variables that would change the answer for each person.
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I don't think you understand the question.

"In your opinion, what is a good model of display to buy?"

Not my opinion, Your Opinion. If you think this display is not good, and you seem to express that anyone recommending it is a shill or unqualified: recommend a screen that you feel does a better job.

If you can't, than this means your opinion is not of high value.
 
x3sphere said:
I know what integer scaling is. Pixelated edges in these types of games still look sharp and clean to my eyes. Have you actually used the display, or are you just speculating how it might look?

Yes... you can see some slight color fringing very close up as shown in the second pic. But in normal use it's not noticeable. I guess if you're anal about it, it could be a dealbreaker. Doesn't bother me at all though.

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I don't trust the output of that game. You'd want to use something like MAME so you know what you're getting. The first screenshot doesn't even look like clean integer scaling to me. Looks a little soft, but that might just be the effect of the color fringing.
 
madpistol said:
LG C1/C2.

OLED
4K120RGB
GSYNC/FREESYNC
HDR
Very low input lag
Instant response time

Still one of the best choices out there.
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NO...as somebody who has C177 and C955....they are great for Console gaming.
However, 120hz is for consoles now.

PC minimum begins at 144hz and that's barely....really should be 175...240hz if I had my way.
 
x3sphere said:
I know what integer scaling is. Pixelated edges in these types of games still look sharp and clean to my eyes. Have you actually used the display, or are you just speculating how it might look?

Yes... you can see some slight color fringing very close up as shown in the second pic. But in normal use it's not noticeable. I guess if you're anal about it, it could be a dealbreaker. Doesn't bother me at all though.

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Wow, this is absolutely disgusting. This is the worst image quality I have ever seen. Dell and Samsung's executives should be tried for crimes against humanity. What the FUCK is wrong with the world today?

EDIT: My wife just left me after seeing me looking at these images. I tried to explain but she wouldn't listen. She took the kids and even the dog, my dog, my poor Rex. As she was walking out the door she mumbled something about Paul from across the street knowing what real subpixel layouts are, what the fuck? My life is ruined, all because of this fucking monitor. Bigbluefe PLEASE make the public aware of this travesty, you're our only hope, MY only hope for retribution.
 
SoCali said:
I dunno why people come here upset about how others spend their money.
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BigBlueFarts always unhinged like that. Every single new monitor release he does the exact same "display is either too small or too expensive " rant drivel. It's a miracle he has any monitor at all to post on.

Monitor size is a matter of personal preference and that preference changes. I use to like LARGE displays going all the way back to triple portrait surround display setups. Nowadays I have my moments where even the pg32uqx feels too large..

I'm fine with the aw34s size and I historically like bigger sizes (what she said)
 
Odellus said:
Wow, this is absolutely disgusting. This is the worst image quality I have ever seen. Dell and Samsung's executives should be tried for crimes against humanity. What the FUCK is wrong with the world today?

EDIT: My wife just left me after seeing me looking at these images. I tried to explain but she wouldn't listen. She took the kids and even the dog, my dog, my poor Rex. As she was walking out the door she mumbled something about Paul from across the street knowing what real subpixel layouts are, what the fuck? My life is ruined, all because of this fucking monitor. Bigbluefe PLEASE make the public aware of this travesty, you're our only hope, MY only hope for retribution.
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What's even funnier is that when you are talking about being a pixel art or emulation purist, you are usually talking about the CRT days since that is when it was king. CRTs, of course, didn't have precise sub pixels like LCDs and OLEDs since they were analogue devices. However their phosphors did provide minimum units of illumination. There were two popular technologies:

Aperture Grille used fine vertical wires to separate the colors and it produced color lines something akin to what you might see in a normal rectangular RGB subpixel monitor. They weren't all that common though, for awhile it was a patented Sony technology (they called it Trinitron) and only available in the most expensive displays. Later the patent ran out and other companies started to make them as well but it was still usually limited to the higher end monitors.

The other technology was a Shadow Mask. This is what most of us had. Instead of fine wires it was holes in a metal plate. Easier to build, though you didn't get a much light through. The holes could be any shape you could machine but for computer monitors they were generally circles, since those could be made smaller and thus offer the possibilty of higher resolutions. Those holes? Usually laid out in a triad configuration:

Shadow_mask_closeup_cursor.jpg


So... Ya... This new OLED arrangement is actually closer to the CRTs most of us used to have.
 
I must say, I'm quite temped to grab this screen. However, I know that in the monitor industry, there are rarely unique products, and someone will use the the same panel in a different (and likely cheaper) product.

And if I do get it, I will exclusively look at text and play integer scaled MAME emulation, it looks amazing on this display.
 
Silentbob343 said:
I decided to check out your channel, https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCwPvdwZZ35dm6xozp-zpcpQ/videos

You seem to be very much into emulators, pixel graphics, and tirades. I'm sorry this display doesn't meet your needs, feel free to not purchase it. Also, I'm sorry you find HDTVTest to be lacking, perhaps you can take up the mantle and perform monitor reviews on your channel. Seeing as how you know better than all the others I would imagine you'll be incredibly successful at it.
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Oof.

Also the same tired tagline in the banner he used on both alt accounts for spamming in HDTVTest's comments, what a surprise.
 
KazeoHin said:
I must say, I'm quite temped to grab this screen. However, I know that in the monitor industry, there are rarely unique products, and someone will use the the same panel in a different (and likely cheaper) product.

And if I do get it, I will exclusively look at text and play integer scaled MAME emulation, it looks amazing on this display.
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It really is the best of the best out right now. Look how hard it is to even get.
 
Samsung's version which supposedly has no Gsync module could be around $999. Given how fast Dell monitors drop in price though I dunno if it will matter at that point. You could probably buy this for less than $999 end of year.
 
Some have already gotten it for under $1000 due to coupon stacking (not the Premier discount stuff). Someone I know in the UK managed it.
 
All I know is at 3440x1440p, this is the best available. Makes all the other "high end" ones $500 at this point
 
FYI HDTVTest is making a "why you should not buy this model" followup video to their review. I expect the pixel structure will be a big part of that. This sort of stuff is important so people can make an educated decision on buying the monitor.

The monitor market is largely garbage with overpriced, underperforming LCDs and lack of truly good options so I am not at all suprised people are jumping on this as it's not too expensive, has a lot of OLED benefits and is not a large TV. Nearly two years ago in the same situation I went with the LG CX 48" and made it work for me, despite it being very large. Had this been out I would have probably gotten it and seen if I can make it work. Now I'm willing to wait for more options.

Most people buy a monitor and want it to work for anything they are doing. Just because something is sold as a gaming monitor does not mean it's everything people will do on it. When there are issues, the question should be can it be fixed or can it be mitigated and not sweeping it under the rug. Don't fall into tribalistic bullshit over a freakin' monitor. In similar vein "it's complete crap because it does not work for my very specific usecase" is way too aggressive stance to take.
 
Well I upgraded from a really good IPS monitor that had virtually no obvious backlight bleed (IPS glow yes of course though as expected) and it was calibrated on a hardware LUT level so perfect colours/gamma etc. As far as I am concerned this Alienware looks superior in almost all areas compared to the LG. I'm at 144Hz but that feels instant thanks to Gsync and being OLED (instant latency response). With an LCD you need at bare minimum 120-144Hz, more for gaming really with VRR too but to also account for the LCD latency response that doesn't exist to any noticeable level on OLED. And the motion smoothing is so nice on OLED too when watching movies or playing games vs LCD.

The only thing my LG did better was silent operation (though no Gsync....) and having a hardware LUT but the latter is a niche thing really and only generally found on more pro orientated IPS monitors now from LG/Eizo etc.

I will never look back at LCD again after this. OLED or nothing.

Soulshot96 said:
Some have already gotten it for under $1000 due to coupon stacking (not the Premier discount stuff). Someone I know in the UK managed it.
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Yeah it was £847 here after coupon addition. With a further £100 cashback from credit card promotional Dell offers.
 
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x3sphere said:
I know what integer scaling is. Pixelated edges in these types of games still look sharp and clean to my eyes. Have you actually used the display, or are you just speculating how it might look?

Yes... you can see some slight color fringing very close up as shown in the second pic. But in normal use it's not noticeable. I guess if you're anal about it, it could be a dealbreaker. Doesn't bother me at all though.

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What the hell, did someone get stuck in a 30 year gaming time freeze?
 
Vega said:
What the hell, did someone get stuck in a 30 year gaming time freeze?
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There's tons of great old games out there. I prefer playing them on an actual CRT though as they are usually designed to work with the behavior of CRT displays and tend to look better like that to me compared to the pin-sharp behavior of LCDs.

But even if you ignore old games, there's plenty of new ones with a retro aesthetic that would similarly benefit from OLED's faster pixel response times and so on.
 
l88bastard said:
NO...as somebody who has C177 and C955....they are great for Console gaming.
However, 120hz is for consoles now.

PC minimum begins at 144hz and that's barely....really should be 175...240hz if I had my way.
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Anything above 120Hz is a waste of processing power for my eyes. I notice a stark difference between 60Hz and 90-100Hz. I barely notice a difference in smoothness and input lag between 100Hz and 120Hz. And anything over 120Hz I cannot differentiate.

But to each their own.
 
exlink said:
Anything above 120Hz is a waste of processing power for my eyes. I notice a stark difference between 60Hz and 90-100Hz. I barely notice a difference in smoothness and input lag between 100Hz and 120Hz. And anything over 120Hz I cannot differentiate.

But to each their own.
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I can tell a difference between 175fps and 144fps on this monitor in artificial scenarios like the UFO blur test, but I doubt if I'd reliably be able to tell the difference in an actual game. I think the sweet spot is 100 to 140 and anything above that is not super necessary, but I don't mind the option
 
exlink said:
Anything above 120Hz is a waste of processing power for my eyes. I notice a stark difference between 60Hz and 90-100Hz. I barely notice a difference in smoothness and input lag between 100Hz and 120Hz. And anything over 120Hz I cannot differentiate.

But to each their own.
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Agree I call bull shit on anyone that can tell a difference between 120 and 144.
 
vegeta535 said:
Agree I call bull shit on anyone that can tell a difference between 120 and 144.
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I can tell side by side pretty easily. I don't know if I could tell in a blind test. More is always better but I wouldn't consider 120 to 144 a worthy upgrade alone. I would say 120Hz is the minimum I would buy a display at, but that minimum also includes 4k resolution which is why I'm not buying this display. Although I would probably give 4k up if this thing did 500hz or something crazy like that. I'm definitely looking forward to future of this tech.
 
My go to upgrade path has been 60 -> 120 -> 240 so eventually 480 =P

That being said, jealous of people who can only tell 60hz, it so much cheaper that way lol
 
There's a difference between being able to consciously discern refresh rates, and having it affect your performance in games.

The former is not a requirement for the latter. Not that everyone *cares* about performance in games or anything, but there's definitely a difference for refresh rates above 120hz as long as the increase is big enough. Obviously 120-144 won't do much, but 120-240 or 120-360 is definitely going to be significant in some types of games.
 
exlink said:
Anything above 120Hz is a waste of processing power for my eyes. I notice a stark difference between 60Hz and 90-100Hz. I barely notice a difference in smoothness and input lag between 100Hz and 120Hz. And anything over 120Hz I cannot differentiate.

But to each their own.
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120hz is not adequate enough for oled speed.
 
120hz to 144hz is hugely apparent on an OLED. Those of you who can't tell these differences on a LCD can attribute some of that to the pixel response blur disguising the increase.

My C1 120hz to this AW 144hz was obvious. 120hz to 175hz is a significant jump in perceivable smoothness and clarity.
 
vegeta535 said:
Agree I call bull shit on anyone that can tell a difference between 120 and 144.
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After about 8 years of playing at 144, dropping down to 120 is noticeable for me in games like DOOM. Got very used to the input lag feel and all that at 144 though, so that no doubt plays a part.
 
SoCali said:
120hz to 144hz is hugely apparent on an OLED. Those of you who can't tell these differences on a LCD can attribute some of that to the pixel response blur disguising the increase.

My C1 120hz to this AW 144hz was obvious. 120hz to 175hz is a significant jump in perceivable smoothness and clarity.
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I can’t argue against this because I’ve only experienced OLED up to 120Hz, but that still has been more than sufficient for me. I will need to try 120Hz+ OLED myself to see if what is being claimed by some is true or hyperbole.

Once there are 38” Ultrawide QD-OLED displays then I’ll give it a shot. But I can’t justify downgrading in size back to 34”. Guessing it’ll be another year or two which will be nice to have the tech a bit more mature as well.
 
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