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

My replacement came. The monitor itself was completely naked inside the box aside from some styrofoam. No protective covering on the screen, no foam bag, nothing, and the VESA adapters were loose just banging around inside the box up against the bottom of the monitor. If this thing isn't broken or severely damaged in some way I'll be amazed.
 
My replacement came. The monitor itself was completely naked inside the box aside from some styrofoam. No protective covering on the screen, no foam bag, nothing, and the VESA adapters were loose just banging around inside the box up against the bottom of the monitor. If this thing isn't broken or severely damaged in some way I'll be amazed.
That is sickening. I'm sorry. Based off of stories like these I've been hearing, I would never RMA my monitor down the road just to get a new firmware. Seems way too risky.
 
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I'm thinking of getting more than one of these. Should I be worried about burn-in using it for a child's display over my personal display?
 
- If black light bleed or lack of contrast doesn't bother you with your current panel, I don't think SDR content will be a substantial improvement to you especially if you typically use in lighted environment. That being said, HDR performance, if supported by the game/content you are watching is great and a plus. Pertaining to gaming the clarity aspect of the panel in itself is great for me and in SDR content looks great too considering I use in a light controlled/dimmed environment.

- Can't advise on 16:9 panels at the moment, waiting for an OLED 27"-32" gaming variant =P lol

- I came from OGx34, first "gaming" UW back then to this and here are my impressions

Thx, the photos paint a very clear picture.
The black light bleed // grey black // lack of contrast etc does bother me, more so because I game in a dark or dimly lit room.
In brighter scenes like your COD Vanguard comparison to me it feels like there is barely any difference between the IPS & the OLED. Is that correct or do the pictures mislead me?
I think i'm gonna place my order and sell the AW3821. I've been looking forward to diablo 4 in 2023; i really hope that will support HDR & Ultrawide. Recently with Elden Ring and D2:R i was very bummed with the lack of UW aspect.
 
That is sickening. I'm sorry. Based off of stories like these I've been hearing, I would never RMA my monitor down the road just to get a new firmware. Seems way too risky.
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You know, you could always try to do like these guys on reddit and remove the scratched AR coating! You'll end up with a nice 1,300$ mirror.

Joking aside, this greatly undermines Dell's 3 years warranty.
 
I've always had a fairly high opinion of Dell; yes, their prebuilts are and always have been overpriced garbage, but they've made and continue to make some of the best monitors on the market and every interaction I've had with their customer support over the years has been excellent.

The way they shipped this thing is borderline malicious. Who the fuck thinks it's acceptable to ship a monitor like this? Who allowed this to happen? It's insane.
 
Dell has been outsourcing these RMAs to a third party and while my three refurb replacements were not as bad, they were not the best packaged either, one reason I decided to keep my original for now. It's appaling to see these $1k+ screens abused in such a way and am sure Dell is losing money big time this way. People who buy this screen are not the forgiving office types to let major defects slide, especially now when other viable options (42C2) are readily available.
 
I warned you guys that the 3 year burn in warranty is meaningless when they ship replacements to you like this. My friend got his replacement in the same shape and then demanded the 2nd replacement be "new" or in original packaging but they sent him another brown box with loose contents.

Other manufacturers sometimes do the brown box treatment too (Acer, etc) except it's actually packaged and protected correctly.
 
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I warned you guys that the 3 year burn in warranty is meaningless when they ship replacements to you like this. My friend got his replacement in the same shape and then demanded the 2nd replacement be "new" or in original packaging but they sent him another brown box with loose contents.

Other manufacturers sometimes do the brown box treatment too (Acer, etc) except it's actually packaged and protected correctly.
Having owner many many Dell monitors over the past decade, the RMA process for this seems to be the exception rather than the norm. I'm hoping they start sending proper replacements soon since the supply has caught up with demand. But this is still leagues over the repair only BS from Samsung and Acer.
 
That is disgusting, especially for a $1300 monitor. I haven't purchased a Dell product in years... and now I know not to in the future. Sorry you have to deal with such terrible service. Yikes!
 
That is disgusting, especially for a $1300 monitor. I haven't purchased a Dell product in years... and now I know not to in the future. Sorry you have to deal with such terrible service. Yikes!

Wouldn't be surprised if that new Asus PG42UQ also comes shipped this way for burn in replacements.
 
A good way to get Dell's attention would be to get one of the high profile reviewers such as Hardware Unboxed to raise a stink.
 
Thx, the photos paint a very clear picture.
The black light bleed // grey black // lack of contrast etc does bother me, more so because I game in a dark or dimly lit room.
In brighter scenes like your COD Vanguard comparison to me it feels like there is barely any difference between the IPS & the OLED. Is that correct or do the pictures mislead me?
I think i'm gonna place my order and sell the AW3821. I've been looking forward to diablo 4 in 2023; i really hope that will support HDR & Ultrawide. Recently with Elden Ring and D2:R i was very bummed with the lack of UW aspect.
As you said, there is imperceptible difference in image quality pertaining to scenes like in COD. The x34(100hz max) is such an old panel though so when it comes to refresh and clarity, it's so lopsided on how clear the QD is.

Lack of UW support in PC gaming is so dumb especially nowadays. That being said, when using the QD with ps5 the sides absolutely melt away and often forget since it's basically the best 16:9 panel in small size lol
 
Looking at all this I'm pretty glad that Dell displays are basically impossible to buy in my country and their Finnish website is even a total mess. I wouldn't accept that kind of packaging blunders or the fact that the firmware updates require a RMA. Talk about hubris to think that your monitor has no issues so it needs no upgradeable firmware!

At this point I'd just wait for Samsung to release their own G8 version with this panel that they demonstrated at Gamescom. It will most likely have a lot of firmware bugs but at least it will get some fixes without shipping back.
 
I warned you guys that the 3 year burn in warranty is meaningless when they ship replacements to you like this. My friend got his replacement in the same shape and then demanded the 2nd replacement be "new" or in original packaging but they sent him another brown box with loose contents.

Other manufacturers sometimes do the brown box treatment too (Acer, etc) except it's actually packaged and protected correctly.

It's not meaningless. It means they are confident that it wont burn in for the vast majority within 3 years.

And I would bet that their RMA process gets a lot better and a lot smoother a couple years from now by the time anyone actually starts to maybe get any burn in.

https://www.thelec.net/news/articleView.html?idxno=4174
 
It's not meaningless. It means they are confident that it wont burn in for the vast majority within 3 years.

And I would bet that their RMA process gets a lot better and a lot smoother a couple years from now by the time anyone actually starts to maybe get any burn in.

https://www.thelec.net/news/articleView.html?idxno=4174
I don't have any confidence that their RMA process will get better. My phone camera died and I been hesitant to RMA it. Everytime I RMA a phone I got one back that was in worst shape.
 
Has anyone managed to get there steam deck to actually work with this monitor? I had it working flawless on the 65 inch OLED in den. But it seems to refuse work with this monitor.
 
I don't have any confidence that their RMA process will get better. My phone camera died and I been hesitant to RMA it. Everytime I RMA a phone I got one back that was in worst shape.
My RMA arrived this one seems to have ripped off pixels on the bezel.
 
It's not meaningless. It means they are confident that it wont burn in for the vast majority within 3 years.

And I would bet that their RMA process gets a lot better and a lot smoother a couple years from now by the time anyone actually starts to maybe get any burn in.

https://www.thelec.net/news/articleView.html?idxno=4174
Their RMA process has remained as it is for a decade now. Their saving grace is how willing they are to send you multiple poorly packed replacements.
 
Question for anyone that has had a recent LG OLED TV and used Gsync and then got this ultrawide, is the flickering exactly the same when framerate fluctuates? I recently got a C2 I had a CX for almost two years and swore off gsync and just used vsync and dealt with the extra lag, but really want perfectly synced frames that VRR can provide. I aim to always play at a locked FPS even if it means sacrificing settings but every game is different and frametimes are never perfect so the slightest hitch will have perceived flicker. Does the monitor behave exactly the same? I'm about ready to just jump on LCDs again like the upcoming pg27aqn as the VRR flicker is infuriating in certain titles. Heck I even get flickering on the desktop even though I have gsync set to fullscreen an app will still trigger the effect.
 
Question for anyone that has had a recent LG OLED TV and used Gsync and then got this ultrawide, is the flickering exactly the same when framerate fluctuates? I recently got a C2 I had a CX for almost two years and swore off gsync and just used vsync and dealt with the extra lag, but really want perfectly synced frames that VRR can provide. I aim to always play at a locked FPS even if it means sacrificing settings but every game is different and frametimes are never perfect so the slightest hitch will have perceived flicker. Does the monitor behave exactly the same? I'm about ready to just jump on LCDs again like the upcoming pg27aqn as the VRR flicker is infuriating in certain titles. Heck I even get flickering on the desktop even though I have gsync set to fullscreen an app will still trigger the effect.

Yes it does have it and even LCD's can suffer from it as well:



This isn't just a purely OLED issue. Also, that PG27AQN is a an edge lit IPS panel and won't deliver anywhere near the same kind of HDR image quality as a FALD IPS or OLED.
 
Yes it does have it and even LCD's can suffer from it as well:



This isn't just a purely OLED issue. Also, that PG27AQN is a an edge lit IPS panel and won't deliver anywhere near the same kind of HDR image quality as a FALD IPS or OLED.

I know LCDs can suffer from it but typically only visible when FPS has large swings either due to GPU not keeping up or a loading screen that may take fps down into 20s-30s, I recall it very well from the original PG278Q that i had, but in most instances it was never a bother. On my C2 I can be in a game standing completely still with a locked framerate and small frametime spikes will cause the near black flicker its maddening and something that never shows itself on an LCD in the same circumstances. I well aware of the specs of the monitor, I don't use HDR hardly ever as its still a mess on PC, on consoles I'll more regularly use it but I really don't care too much for HDR. A 360hz OLED display would be great I wouldn't even need VRR at that point as Vsync adds very little delay at such high frame rates.

I've searched around and claims are that the AW3423DW does not exhibit VRR flicker to the same degree and the LG OLEDs which is good news but of course theres other problems with the monitor like pixel layout and the firmware issues. I may wait for the Samsung version which at least will be easily updatable BUT without a gsync module VRR might exhibit more flickering than the Alienware. Nvidia has a patent for vrr gamma control https://patents.google.com/patent/US10147370B2/en so they're a safer bet than a moduleless monitor.
 
I know LCDs can suffer from it but typically only visible when FPS has large swings either due to GPU not keeping up or a loading screen that may take fps down into 20s-30s, I recall it very well from the original PG278Q that i had, but in most instances it was never a bother. On my C2 I can be in a game standing completely still with a locked framerate and small frametime spikes will cause the near black flicker its maddening and something that never shows itself on an LCD in the same circumstances. I well aware of the specs of the monitor, I don't use HDR hardly ever as its still a mess on PC, on consoles I'll more regularly use it but I really don't care too much for HDR. A 360hz OLED display would be great I wouldn't even need VRR at that point as Vsync adds very little delay at such high frame rates.

I've searched around and claims are that the AW3423DW does not exhibit VRR flicker to the same degree and the LG OLEDs which is good news but of course theres other problems with the monitor like pixel layout and the firmware issues. I may wait for the Samsung version which at least will be easily updatable BUT without a gsync module VRR might exhibit more flickering than the Alienware. Nvidia has a patent for vrr gamma control https://patents.google.com/patent/US10147370B2/en so they're a safer bet than a moduleless monitor.

If you watch the video linked you'll see the guy was just displaying static content on screen and it was still flickering in that scenario. But yes you are correct the flickering on LCD's is definitely less noticeable, I've never noticed any VRR flickering on my Acer X27 during normal usage but it does show up during heavy stuttering and fps fluctuations like when rebuilding shaders in Warzone. I never owned the Alienware so I cannot comment on how much better the flickering is over an LG OLED so I'll let someone else who's owned both chime in on that.
 
I know LCDs can suffer from it but typically only visible when FPS has large swings either due to GPU not keeping up or a loading screen that may take fps down into 20s-30s, I recall it very well from the original PG278Q that i had, but in most instances it was never a bother. On my C2 I can be in a game standing completely still with a locked framerate and small frametime spikes will cause the near black flicker its maddening and something that never shows itself on an LCD in the same circumstances. I well aware of the specs of the monitor, I don't use HDR hardly ever as its still a mess on PC, on consoles I'll more regularly use it but I really don't care too much for HDR. A 360hz OLED display would be great I wouldn't even need VRR at that point as Vsync adds very little delay at such high frame rates.

I've searched around and claims are that the AW3423DW does not exhibit VRR flicker to the same degree and the LG OLEDs which is good news but of course theres other problems with the monitor like pixel layout and the firmware issues. I may wait for the Samsung version which at least will be easily updatable BUT without a gsync module VRR might exhibit more flickering than the Alienware. Nvidia has a patent for vrr gamma control https://patents.google.com/patent/US10147370B2/en so they're a safer bet than a moduleless monitor.
I think the flicker is less on the AW due to the LG having a higher res. The gpu struggles more and frametimes can be more erratic on the 4k vs uw1440.
 
The flickering on OLED is the worst. Unlike 200kHz backlight LCD, It's bonded to the refresh rate whether you can see it or not. But it is always there.
Once the brightness gets a little bit higher with a QD layer, the fluctuation in brightness makes the eye strain increase dramatically. I have never seen a monitor that causes so much eye strain.
 
try this early in the morning at 5 am in a completely dark room man that spongebob meme of eyes burning has never been more accurate ><. needless to say after that i make sure to flick on a light or least the desk lamp before i power the rig on.
 
The flickering on OLED is the worst. Unlike 200kHz backlight LCD, It's bonded to the refresh rate whether you can see it or not. But it is always there.
Once the brightness gets a little bit higher with a QD layer, the fluctuation in brightness makes the eye strain increase dramatically. I have never seen a monitor that causes so much eye strain.

Doesn't this only affect a small portion of people?

I've never had even a hint of eye strain from any OLED (iPhone, TV) including this new QD monitor and I sit in front of it programming for hours a day and gaming in the dark.
 
Doesn't this only affect a small portion of people?

I've never had even a hint of eye strain from any OLED (iPhone, TV) including this new QD monitor and I sit in front of it programming for hours a day and gaming in the dark.
Things like that do seem to vary person to person. Back in ye olden times I had a BenQ gaming monitor that flickered the backlight at 180Hz. I could notice it, if I tried, but it didn't bother me. Likewise, some people got bothered by the "rainbow effect" on DLP TVs/ protectors because they displayed the different colors quickly in sequence rather than all at once. It was something I could catch in the corner of my eye if I moved my eyes around, but didn't bother me in actual use. So difference people seem to have different sensitivities.

Though I also think for some people, it is all mental, they think something is bad and bothering them, therefore it does even if they can't really notice it. Saw that with a coworker's wife. She was supposedly sensitive to the flicker of fluorescent lights. Old magnetic ballasts flickered at 120 times per second (since a 60Hz power wave passes the null 120 times per second) and that is within the range of human perception. However, she complained at our office, which used new electronic ballasts which cycle at about 30kHz, way outside the range of visual perception, and indeed outside the range of the gas having time to fade.
 
Doesn't this only affect a small portion of people?

I've never had even a hint of eye strain from any OLED (iPhone, TV) including this new QD monitor and I sit in front of it programming for hours a day and gaming in the dark.
You can sit for hours because it is in a bright room.
Even the max SDR brightness in QD-OLED is only 250nits, I doubt anyone can stare at its 250nits for over 1 hour in a dark room. And people complain SDR at 250nits is too bright. It's because of the flickering.
There are good flickering and bad flickering. My eyes don't get strained with Zowie DyAC strobe. The other monitors are 2-5 times brighter than QD-OLED. They don't even cause eye strain.
When an actual DC dimming monitor is put next to the QD-OLED, I don't want to look at QD-OLED because how uncomfortable the light comes from it even the light is dim.
 
Funny it is same here like the degenerated Discord monitor slums calls truth as troll. QD-OLED flickers hard. OLED shills like Sancus are blind.
It is funny to me how very mad some people like you get at someone else liking something you don't. That you don't like OLED is fine, you shouldn't use it in that case. But getting so angry at people who do is very silly. People like different things, and care about different things. While you've decided this flicker is a deal breaker, others may not care, or may not even notice.
 
It is funny to me how very mad some people like you get at someone else liking something you don't. That you don't like OLED is fine, you shouldn't use it in that case. But getting so angry at people who do is very silly. People like different things, and care about different things. While you've decided this flicker is a deal breaker, others may not care, or may not even notice.
Ya, I see no flicker. I did see some flicker in a dark area in a game once, but haven't seen or notice it happen again.
 
QD-OLED looks great to me. Best gaming display I've used. Maybe there's flicker in some scenario I haven't seen yet. But the PQ is unmatched.
 
It is funny to me how very mad some people like you get at someone else liking something you don't. That you don't like OLED is fine, you shouldn't use it in that case. But getting so angry at people who do is very silly. People like different things, and care about different things. While you've decided this flicker is a deal breaker, others may not care, or may not even notice.
How is this mad? I don't give a crap about how people feel about this monitor, how much people like this monitor. If the monitor has a serious issue, I point it out with solid proof.
Acceptance does not mean liking. The monitor flickers regardless how much you like it, weather you care it or not.
As mentioned before, anyone can try staring at its 250nits for over 1 hour in a dark room.
It is laughable people are denying the truth right in front their own eyes.
 
How is this mad? I don't give a crap about how people feel about this monitor, how much people like this monitor. If the monitor has a serious issue, I point it out with solid proof.
Acceptance does not mean liking. The monitor flickers regardless how much you like it, weather you care it or not.
As mentioned before, anyone can try staring at its 250nits for over 1 hour in a dark room.
It is laughable people are denying the truth right in front their own eyes.

Mad is ranting about it and saying "people are denying the truth!" as though what you feel is the One True Way(tm) and nobody can have a different opinion. It sounds like plenty of people either don't notice, or don't care, about the flicker. So for them, no big deal. I've never seen this monitor, but I imagine I'd be one of them based on my BenQ experience where the backlight completely shut off, not dimmed, 180 times a second and I could notice it, but it didn't bother me.

Also you keep going off on this "250 nits in a dark room" thing like that is something people would have to, or want to, do. I imagine if people use it in a dark room, they turn it down. I would. My current monitor is set at 115 nits.

Basically, it is fine to say "I'm not a fan of this monitor, I notice the flickering and it is bothersome to me, if youa re sensitive to flicker you might want to consider something else," it is pretty silly to scream about this being "the worst" and telling people they are "denying the truth".
 
Mad is ranting about it and saying "people are denying the truth!" as though what you feel is the One True Way(tm) and nobody can have a different opinion. It sounds like plenty of people either don't notice, or don't care, about the flicker. So for them, no big deal. I've never seen this monitor, but I imagine I'd be one of them based on my BenQ experience where the backlight completely shut off, not dimmed, 180 times a second and I could notice it, but it didn't bother me.

Also you keep going off on this "250 nits in a dark room" thing like that is something people would have to, or want to, do. I imagine if people use it in a dark room, they turn it down. I would. My current monitor is set at 115 nits.

Basically, it is fine to say "I'm not a fan of this monitor, I notice the flickering and it is bothersome to me, if youa re sensitive to flicker you might want to consider something else," it is pretty silly to scream about this being "the worst" and telling people they are "denying the truth".
Looks like you belong to that Discord monitor slum. It's the same people who don't own the monitor or anything above talk like they have them all. All you have is the monitor review.

Anyone who has great resistance to eye strain is welcome to stare at its 250nits for over 1 hour in a dark room. Lower the ambient light to the point the bezel merges with the screen in a black image. Let's see how many can do so.

The image quality of the QD-OLED is rather pathetic with merely 250nits while other monitors look almost identical to HDR in SDR.

I wish you can see better images instead of imagining facts as feelings.
 
Looks like you belong to that Discord monitor slum. It's the same people who don't own the monitor or anything above talk like they have them all. All you have is the monitor review.

See that's what I mean by being mad. You make up strawmen just to tear them down for anyone who doesn't validate your opinion. No, I'm not a member of any discord. I watch this thread because I'm interested in this monitor. Actually bought one, and UPS destroyed it in transit. I haven't rebought it yet since there are still shipping delays and I'm considering if I really want it or want to stick with what I've got and see what comes out soon.

Anyone who has great resistance to eye strain is welcome to stare at its 250nits for over 1 hour in a dark room. Lower the ambient light to the point the bezel merges with the screen in a black image. Let's see how many can do so.

Your obsession with this is weird, and has nothing to do with the flickering. I don't run my current monitor at 250 nits, I didn't run my flickery BenQ at 250 nits, I wouldn't be running this OLED at 250 nits if I got it. Not sure why you are acting like this is something people do, it has no relevance to if flicker is bothersome to a person or not.

The image quality of the QD-OLED is rather pathetic with merely 250nits while other monitors look almost identical to HDR in SDR.

Says you. Others say otherwise. Some people seem to think it is the best they've ever seen. Neither of you is wrong, as your opinion is your own, but getting all mad and acting like other people's opinions are invalid is silly. It is just trying to be smugly superior. Like I can say, without even knowing what you have, that to me your sound system on your computer is crap. I wouldn't like it, it wouldn't be up to my standards. The reason I can say that is because basically nobody buys the stupidly expensive studio stuff I do (Genelec) to play videogames on... But guess what? I'm NOT going to tell you that you are wrong for liking what you have. What I find good and what you find good might well differ. You might well hear my setup and think it to be a colossal waste of money, that the increase in quality is way too minor to justify the price. You might even not like it at all, you might be accustomed to something with more bass, less treble, more harmonic distortion and find my system too "sterile" or other such things. That's fine. We are both entitled to our opinions and neither are wrong for liking what we like.
 
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