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

Don't forget the OLED monitor still flickers.
The frequency is the same as the refresh rate, which is unacceptably low.
You use it in a dark room, you get eye strain. You use it in a bright room, the performance is cut in half with dim image. And you have lifted black without polarization filter.
There's nothing to forget because that isn't true at all. It's very misleading to call slight brightness dimming "flicker". LCD backlight PWM flicker is completely different. Slight brightness dimming with refresh rate is also common to all types of OLED and nobody is complaining about LG OLEDs "flickering".
 
Black level and blooming really isn't a significant issue with the latest Mini LED products unlike previous LED implementations. It's not 100% perfect but we're getting to the point that you need test patterns to detect it.

I look at blooming every time I use my PG32UQX. In game or not. It's pretty bad.
 
There's nothing to forget because that isn't true at all. It's very misleading to call slight brightness dimming "flicker". LCD backlight PWM flicker is completely different. Slight brightness dimming with refresh rate is also common to all types of OLED and nobody is complaining about LG OLEDs "flickering".
Funny, then what are these?



It's a monitor, not a TV 10 feet away. The flicker frequency is the same as the monitor refresh rate, which is unacceptably low.
Compared to traditional DC dimming or high frequency PWM dimming monitor, the flickering on AW3423DW causes eye strain easily . I cannot even game at AW3423DW for more than 2 hours, not mentioning the monitor's ABL makes the situation worse.

All the brightness dip test these reviewers used is just a static white SDR image, not complex, not even HDR.

You can use your phone to make a 960fps high speed video of the AW3423DW refresh cycles from www.testufo.com/scanout
 
I look at blooming every time I use my PG32UQX. In game or not. It's pretty bad.
That particular monitor has terrible blooming issues. The QN90B virtually has no detectable blooming and basically oled like black levels with double or triple the brightness lol For the sake of comparison they are worlds apart.
 
That particular monitor has terrible blooming issues. The QN90B virtually has no detectable blooming and basically oled like black levels with double or triple the brightness lol For the sake of comparison they are worlds apart.
You talk like you don't have PG32UQX. That blooming issue is already fixed.
Sometimes people don't actually own it OR are considering an OLED and need to justify their decision in their mind. Other times they're particularly sensitive to it or are just viewing starfield where it is readily noticeable. I can make much more noticeable starfield blooming than any other Youtube test or HDR benchmark based on the blooming pattern of each panel.
Overall this model is still one of the better Mini LED solutions out there for blooming. A '4K' OLED has >8 million dimming zones whereas this one has 1152 dimming zones with sustained brightness controlled by a G-sync enhanced algorithm that doesn't always do exactly what some people would want. But an OLED can be 5 times more dimmer than FALD LCD.
 
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While things like flicker sensitivity can be highly personal, I have literally worked 8+ hour days with my LG CX 48" as a desktop monitor without ever experiencing eye strain with it, despite reviews reporting that it also flickers slightly at its refresh rate. Can't say anything about the AW as I haven't used it.

For me brightness is only a concern for HDR use and that's where mini-LED does better at the expense of high contrast scenes with a lot of small bright elements, whether it's star fields or particle fx. For desktop use I would just set it to about 120-130 nits brightness regardless of the display tech.
 
I can see a little bit of flicker on my AW but I’m not sure if it is the brightness dip or the temporal dithering that I am noticing. I am pretty much able to tune it out as it’s nothing compared to the CRT days.
 
Is anybody coming from a 4K display to this? I'll be replacing my ASUS PG32UQX which is a 4K monitor. I am very sensitive to aliasing and I have a feeling I'll be needing to use DLDSR on most games.
 
Is anybody coming from a 4K display to this? I'll be replacing my ASUS PG32UQX which is a 4K monitor. I am very sensitive to aliasing and I have a feeling I'll be needing to use DLDSR on most games.
Cannot say I came from a 4K to this. I use multiple monitors of 32'' 4K, 34'' ultrawide, and 27''. I'm not sensitive to aliasing because once the image starts to move the aliasing is not there. But I much prefer the crisp image without TAA blur or DLSS blur.

I tried to replace the 34'' PG35VQ with AW3423DW.
PG35VQ is VA, the panel lacks color compared to IPS, has some blooming, is also not fast, good for single-player games at the highest difficulty at most.
But AW3423DW is a HDR 400 monitor with aggressive ABL maxed at a 3% window of 1,000 ntis highlight. Without brightness, when ABL kicks in, infinite contrast is worse than perceived contrast, color will shrink too.
So the HDR performance is not good. It cannot replace PG35VQ. Even SDR Adobe color space is better on PG35VQ. In some cases, the Adobe YCbCr 444 SDR on PG35VQ can outperform AW3423DW's HDR if ABL kicks hard.
And the flickers of this monitor give me eye strain.

I never thought of replacing the 4K 32" PG32UQX or PA32UCG with AW3423DW. The HDR 1400 impact is unreplaceable.
 
Is anybody coming from a 4K display to this? I'll be replacing my ASUS PG32UQX which is a 4K monitor. I am very sensitive to aliasing and I have a feeling I'll be needing to use DLDSR on most games.
I went from a pg32uqx to this and the resolution difference with the weird sub pixel layout was noticeable at first. It's definitely a softer picture overall but after using it for a couple weeks I don't really notice it anymore and it doesn't bother me.

If I had to pick between the two I would take this monitor over the uqx.
 
I couldn't handle the PPI or in game image quality downgrade coming from 4K. 1440p looks comparatively terrible next to 4K in games especially foliage and stuff.
 
Really like the monitor itself. Bu
I couldn't handle the PPI or in game image quality downgrade coming from 4K. 1440p looks comparatively terrible next to 4K in games especially foliage and stuff.

The fan noise did me in, returning it asap way too loud for my liking. There are several reddit posts saying it is silent, these people must be wearing headphones or have other ambient noises going on. My room is 100% silent, I guess this rules out any displays with a fan for me lol.

Hmm...not sure which monitor to try next lol.
 
Really like the monitor itself. Bu


The fan noise did me in, returning it asap way too loud for my liking. There are several reddit posts saying it is silent, these people must be wearing headphones or have other ambient noises going on. My room is 100% silent, I guess this rules out any displays with a fan for me lol.

Hmm...not sure which monitor to try next lol.
One thing I've noticed is everyone has their computer on their desk. Well duh... your run of the mill AIO pump 2 feet from your head is going to drown it out.
 
While I haven't read this entire thread yet I went pretty far back and haven't seen any specific details on using MacType to mitigate the color fringing on text. I stumbled upon this wonderful post on reddit from UnadvisedApollo that outlines the process with results and it looks pretty promising!

link: https://www.reddit.com/r/Monitors/comments/w9qm0y/actual_fix_for_the_aw3423dw_subpixel_layouttext/

I just hope it works in chromium based browsers (i'm using vivaldi). I don't have my monitor yet so I'm unable to test myself just yet. Also not sure how i'm going to replicate his results on linux, thats a whole additional can of worms!
 
Really like the monitor itself. Bu


The fan noise did me in, returning it asap way too loud for my liking. There are several reddit posts saying it is silent, these people must be wearing headphones or have other ambient noises going on. My room is 100% silent, I guess this rules out any displays with a fan for me lol.

Hmm...not sure which monitor to try next lol.
How did you get 100% silence?
 
One thing I've noticed is everyone has their computer on their desk. Well duh... your run of the mill AIO pump 2 feet from your head is going to drown it out.
I was thinking the sound of the air pushing would have been louder than the pumps when ran at a reasonable speed.
 
Really like the monitor itself. Bu


The fan noise did me in, returning it asap way too loud for my liking. There are several reddit posts saying it is silent, these people must be wearing headphones or have other ambient noises going on. My room is 100% silent, I guess this rules out any displays with a fan for me lol.

Hmm...not sure which monitor to try next lol.

My room is very quiet though. There is no ambient noises and my computer is tucked way under my desk with a custom loop cooling and quiet Noctua fans that are set limited to 1000 rpm max.

I had the monitor since June and I have never heard the fan inside it from my seating position about 2ft away.

I can tell there is a fan inside, but I literally have to put my ear up to the top vent on the monitor and then I can faintly make out that there is indeed a fan spinning inside it.


I feel there has to be some huge variation on the fans or something as I can't think of any other explanation how it could be heard from a couple feet away for some people let alone so noisy that it is annoying them.
 
There is variation in the noise volume and noise quality between monitors (bearings, etc). I think the noise is acceptable although mine was easily audible from my seating position and not the put my ear to the back panel to hear it type like the PG32UQX I had.

A lot of people make a big fuss about those demanding silence but its not like I sit in a cemetery 24/7. I just can't concentrate or get work done with noise whether that's music or a dumb monitor fan ramping up and down. Once the work day ends though I blast media/games/etc.
 
There is variation in the noise volume and noise quality between monitors (bearings, etc). I think the noise is acceptable although mine was easily audible from my seating position and not the put my ear to the back panel to hear it type like the PG32UQX I had.

A lot of people make a big fuss about those demanding silence but its not like I sit in a cemetery 24/7. I just can't concentrate or get work done with noise whether that's music or a dumb monitor fan ramping up and down. Once the work day ends though I blast media/games/etc.
I have never understood the whole "must keep quiet to concentrate", if its quiet then ANY noise however quiet or loud is a distraction, however if I have music playing or a fan making noise, I can ignore it, and it covers up most other sounds that would be distracting. Also I tend to do better with music going, makes the time pass by quicker.
 
I have never understood the whole "must keep quiet to concentrate", if its quiet then ANY noise however quiet or loud is a distraction, however if I have music playing or a fan making noise, I can ignore it, and it covers up most other sounds that would be distracting. Also I tend to do better with music going, makes the time pass by quicker.
This news is probably earth shattering to you but everyone is different.
 
Well that monitor would have to be very noisy in my room to be heard or to make a difference lol. Yes people are different, some just forgets that people actually do hear and see things differently, motion, color, sounds etc.
 
I feel there has to be some huge variation on the fans or something as I can't think of any other explanation how it could be heard from a couple feet away for some people let alone so noisy that it is annoying them.
Having had 3 of these I will say this is true, but I have yet to have one that I can't hear from where I am sitting. I'm not saying yours isn't effectively silent either. The one I have now is pretty quiet but I can still hear it when I am using my laptop.

If folks really want to gauge how loud their fan is I would say get your room as quiet as possible, including shutting down anything else that makes noise, waiting for the HVAC to stop, close the window etc... then turn your computer off. At that point your fan will run for another 10 - 15 minutes with Eco on and 24/7 with Eco off. If your fan makes an audible noise you will hear it at that point or your environment's noise floor is louder than the fan.
 
One thing I've noticed is everyone has their computer on their desk. Well duh... your run of the mill AIO pump 2 feet from your head is going to drown it out.

I have never understood the whole "must keep quiet to concentrate", if its quiet then ANY noise however quiet or loud is a distraction, however if I have music playing or a fan making noise, I can ignore it, and it covers up most other sounds that would be distracting. Also I tend to do better with music going, makes the time pass by quicker.
I usually have something playing on my desktop or on the TV.
I also have that portable LG AC (bottom left) going in the summer and that thing is quite loud.
IMG_2008.JPEG
 
I think to most people is the fact that there is a fan at all works them. It is the same with the x570 board fans. 99% of the time it is not even spinning and people can't get over the fact that there is a fan in there and it will cause unbearable noise to them.
 
My room is very quiet though. There is no ambient noises and my computer is tucked way under my desk with a custom loop cooling and quiet Noctua fans that are set limited to 1000 rpm max.

I had the monitor since June and I have never heard the fan inside it from my seating position about 2ft away.

I can tell there is a fan inside, but I literally have to put my ear up to the top vent on the monitor and then I can faintly make out that there is indeed a fan spinning inside it.


I feel there has to be some huge variation on the fans or something as I can't think of any other explanation how it could be heard from a couple feet away for some people let alone so noisy that it is annoying them.

What brightness setting do you use? Could it be because I had 90% made the fan run more? I also used a lot of white apps.
 
I've been using one of these daily since March, probably averaging 5 hours a day between WFH and personal use.

Still not able to hear the fan unless I put my ear 10" away with all other noise generating devices in the room turned off.
 
Does anyone find this monitor too bright? Can you use it at lower settings or is too dark?
 
People usually complain that it's not bright enough. You can use it at lower settings if that's how you like it. When I had it, I used the darkest level of gamma for example and a brightness of 60-70 or so. Depending on how much light comes into your room, you should be fine.
 
One thing I'll add to the
Does anyone find this monitor too bright? Can you use it at lower settings or is too dark?
Brightness of 40-45 seems pretty good for me in SDR anyway. I do need to adjust my brain a little every time I play an HDR game.
 
What brightness setting do you use? Could it be because I had 90% made the fan run more? I also used a lot of white apps.

60% for SDR mode. In Eco mode.

Maybe because my room is not hotter than 70F?

Like another other guy said I can't hear the fan once my ear is about 12 inches away from the monitor. and i normally sit about 24 inches away, so not even close to being able to hear it.

And this is with everything else shut off in the room and my PC radiator fans slowed all the way down to like 400rpm to test.
 
BTW, latest rumour is that there might be a AW3423DWF in the work. The F at the end may stand for flat or more likely Freesync. If that's the case, then the G-Sync fan won't be an issue anymore, along a whole other bunch of issues caused by that module. One can only hope :)
 
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BTW, latest rumour is that there might be a AW3423DWF in the work. The F at the end may stand for flat or more likely Freesync. If that's the case, then the G-Sync fan won't be an issue anymore, along a whole other bunch of issues caused by that module. One can only hope :)

I'm not sure why the G-Sync module was ever needed for this. AFAIK the main benefit to having the module is for the most finely controlled variable OD, but OLED panels do not need overdrive at all. LFC is another feature and is supported just fine without the module.
 
I just want a smaller version of this monitor playing a top down rpg on 34 inches would an eye stretcher.
 
Ok wait, now I'm thinking getting this monitor, from my AW3420DW.

This quote and pics from the rtings review;

Below are photos of the AW3423DW (left) and the XG2431 (right) displaying black images in bright and dark rooms:
 

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Reading Google reviews on this monitor are either LOVE it best gaming monitor ever, or people saying it has issues with flickering and poor HDR black performance and saying it's more of a beta test display.

What does the [H] say?
 
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