Dell/Alienware Optx AW2310

xDezor said:
Found this nifty little program today... It's called "mControl". It lets you control DDC/CI settings from within windows.

Meaning... You can change the brightness of the monitor, see power usage, select preset color modes (standard, game, multimedia, etc) , custom RGB settings, and walk your dog... all from within windows. One of the biggest problems with this monitor is that there are (apparently) issues with 3D games causing the monitor to be locked at 100% brightness after you exit a game. I wonder if this program would fix that.

Regardless, it's a hell of a lot more convenient than messing around with Alienware's cryptic menu options... It's got a 21 day trial, works on almost every monitor, and made by the same people who made powerstrip. Can download it form the developers website: http://www.entechtaiwan.com/
Click to expand...

My solution to the monitor being locked to full brightness - which happens when you enter a 3D game - was to just pull the DVI cable and plug it back in (power monitor, pull cable, plug in, power monitor) - voila, normal settings. That vision doesn't return brightness to normal on exiting is ANOTHER reason in a list of MANY to say nVidia's 3D solution is complete bullshit....that said, I'm curious to test this app to see what it can do with 3D - can it override 3D's nonsense?

Thanks for the info, and I'll try to test far cry tonight.
 
Supposedly nvidia has figured out how to fix the brightness problem. It wasn't packaged in this latest driver release but going in the next one, or at least that's what nvidia's rep Andrew said.

I still think the program is cool, but it can't change anything other than what you can already access from the menu. However, you can load and save profiles with it which is pretty neat IMO. So if I wanted, I could send you the color/brightness settings that I'm using and you could load it on your monitor or vice versa.

Something else I found while crawling the web today... Another one of their programs, called "Monitor Asset Manager" which displays all sorts of neat info about your monitor. For example, this is what it says about mine:

Code: 
Monitor
  Model name............... Alienware2310
  Manufacturer............. Dell
  Plug and Play ID......... DEL405C
  Serial number............ [Omitted] *(wasn't sure if this was unique to my monitor or not)*
  Manufacture date......... 2010, ISO week 21
  -------------------------
  EDID revision............ 1.3
  Input signal type........ Digital
  Color bit depth.......... Undefined
  Display type............. RGB color
  Screen size.............. 510 x 290 mm (23.1 in)
  Power management......... Standby, Suspend, Active off/sleep
  Extension blocs.......... 1 (CEA-EXT)
  -------------------------
  DDC/CI................... Supported
  MCCS revison............. 2.1
  Display technology....... TFT
  Controller............... Mstar 0x6588
  Firmware revision........ 1.1
  Active power on time..... 2002 hours
  Power consumption........ Not supported
  Current frequency........ 136.40kHz, 119.20Hz

Color characteristics
  Default color space...... sRGB
  Display gamma............ 2.20
  Red chromaticity......... Rx 0.640 - Ry 0.330
  Green chromaticity....... Gx 0.300 - Gy 0.608
  Blue chromaticity........ Bx 0.150 - By 0.060
  White point (default).... Wx 0.313 - Wy 0.329
  Additional descriptors... None

Timing characteristics
  Horizontal scan range.... 30-140kHz
  Vertical scan range...... 56-120Hz
  Video bandwidth.......... 290MHz
  CVT standard............. Not supported
  GTF standard............. Not supported
  Additional descriptors... None
  Preferred timing......... Yes
  Native/preferred timing.. 1920x1080p at 60Hz (16:9)
    Modeline............... "1920x1080" 148.500 1920 2008 2052 2200 1080 1084 1089 1125 +hsync +vsync

Standard timings supported
     720 x  400p at  70Hz - IBM VGA
     640 x  480p at  60Hz - IBM VGA
     640 x  480p at  75Hz - VESA
     800 x  600p at  60Hz - VESA
     800 x  600p at  75Hz - VESA
    1024 x  768p at  60Hz - VESA
    1024 x  768p at  75Hz - VESA
    1280 x 1024p at  75Hz - VESA
    1152 x  864p at  75Hz - VESA STD
    1280 x 1024p at  60Hz - VESA STD
    1600 x 1200p at  60Hz - VESA STD
    1680 x 1050p at  60Hz - VESA STD

EIA/CEA-861 Information
  Revision number.......... 1
  IT underscan............. Not supported
  Basic audio.............. Not supported
  YCbCr 4:4:4.............. Not supported
  YCbCr 4:2:2.............. Not supported
  Native formats........... 0
  Detailed timing #1....... 1920x1080p at 100Hz (16:9)
    Modeline............... "1920x1080" 235.500 1920 1968 2000 2080 1080 1083 1088 1133 +hsync -vsync
  Detailed timing #2....... 1920x1080p at 110Hz (16:9)
    Modeline............... "1920x1080" 260.250 1920 1968 2000 2080 1080 1083 1088 1138 +hsync -vsync
  Detailed timing #3....... 1920x1080p at 120Hz (16:9)
    Modeline............... "1920x1080" 285.500 1920 1968 2000 2080 1080 1083 1088 1144 +hsync -vsync

Reserved general related data

Report information
  Date generated........... 3/31/2011
  Software revision........ 2.59.0.934
  Data source.............. Real-time 0x0031
  Operating system......... 6.1.7601.2.Service Pack 1
 
Anyone know if this ever goes on sale. Was looking to pick up another one of these, waiting for a sale though.

EDIT: I know there are often dell coupons floating around as well, although google searches never seem to find them.
 
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The image quality of your alienware aw2310 is too bad compred to an IPS or VA monitors ?
i'm interested in particular mode to the banding issues, it's too visible ? And how is it compared to other TN quality ?
 
maxxx88 said:
The image quality of your alienware aw2310 is too bad compred to an IPS or VA monitors ?
i'm interested in particular mode to the banding issues, it's too visible ? And how is it compared to other TN quality ?
Click to expand...

I responded to your PM, but so others can respond to my thoughts:

Hey. The banding really isn't that evident to me; I just opened an image of a gradient to see how bad it looked - in the area between black and the middle of the image I can see some banding. I can snap a photo and upload it later.

I've not used any other 3D monitors, so I really don't know; they're obviously using dithering, and all monitors will be doing that - they're all TN panels for now.

My previous monitor was a VA panel, and I use 4 VA panels at work as well...I briefly owned a IPS panel from Dell, though it was defective. The transition was OK - the really jarring change is the vertical viewing angle. I've gotten used to it, but there are days where I miss having a panel with no angle issues.

Would I recommend it? Depends. Do you just want 3D gaming? Movies? Non-3D gaming?

For 3D gaming...it works ok, but has the ghosting issue all monitors seem to have. My honest opinion of 3D gaming is just this: stay away. It's a waste of time, effort and money. I got nothing but headaches from the trouble it caused, and quite simply, how bad it looks. Game support is also spotty at best.

For movies...no. Don't. The backlight bleed is ENOUGH that it annoys me - it's not uniform. The bottom edge is the worst. It's not a deal breaker, but in dark movies (say, Pitch Black) it's not good...my 50" plasma is FAR better suited (but I don't watch movies on my PC at home.)

For browsing: works fine.

For regular gaming: the 120hz refresh rate doesn't make things seem "better" - though I have no 60hz LCD to compare to anymore. Maybe it'd be too hard to go back. The higher refresh rate afforded while using VSync IS nice.

Overall...it's a 7/10 monitor for me. It has its issues, it has its benefits. If I could redo the decision, I'd save my money and buy a regular non-TN panel, or splurge on a good IPS panel.

Lemme know if you have other questions.
Click to expand...

What's the going price in a 2310 these days? If it's still $500, it's a ripoff.

Have you considered this?
 
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