Alienware AW3423DW QD-OLED Gaming Monitor

[James]

Buy an Alienware AW3423DW: https://lmg.gg/czm5C
Buy an LG UltraGear 34GN850-B.AUS: https://geni.us/BeHGRxw
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Buy a Crucial P2 2TB: https://geni.us/zCPdl
Buy a G.Skill 2x16GB 3200MHz Trident Z RGB: https://geni.us/jkuB

 

I hope you didn’t just buy a new monitor, because Dell Alienware’s new QD-OLED AW3423DW is HERE and it’s giving everything else in this price range a serious run for its money. It's high refresh rate, GSYNC HDR, and OLED. Have we achieved a zero-compromises monitor?!

 

 

 

[10leej]

It's alienware, for that fact alone I'll give this a hard pass.

[MrSmiles]

1 minute ago, 10leej said:

It's alienware, for that fact alone I'll give this a hard pass.

They were so cool. When I were a lad, and was naive. Now I look at them, the price, THE INSIDES OF THE DESKTOPS!

Wow.

And I wonder.

Seems like they are recycling parts throughout their builds like some Borg collective growing over the years.

[Quackers101]

not sure, would need to see more comparisons. Also how it looked a bit dull from an "HDR" experience. Where the other oled stood out more, but might see more natural than over saturated colors to the oled? then again, very hard to capture and to show in a video. Also what setting you leave the monitor at could change a lot. Would want a brighter display though, maybe it wasn't shown as much in the video or that smaller areas can become quite bright, but when you have big explosions, I guess mini-LED or micro-LED is still superior.

 

have the doubts on the claims of "static UI over longer time, will not degrade your panel" and that its still just 3 years of warranty.

burning money, I guess.

 

Also why can't these videos lately decide if they want to be an review or a look at the tech?

[DANK_AS_gay]

28 minutes ago, Quackers101 said:

very hard to capture and to show in a video

Not to mention what display you are watching on.

[Deadpool2onBlu-Ray]

55 minutes ago, 10leej said:

It's alienware, for that fact alone I'll give this a hard pass.

Alienware monitors are quite good, as is Dell's warranty. 

[Deadpool2onBlu-Ray]

33 minutes ago, Quackers101 said:

not sure, would need to see more comparisons. Also how it looked a bit dull from an "HDR" experience. Where the other oled stood out more, but might see more natural than over saturated colors to the oled? then again, very hard to capture and to show in a video. Also what setting you leave the monitor at could change a lot. Would want a brighter display though, maybe it wasn't shown as much in the video or that smaller areas can become quite bright, but when you have big explosions, I guess mini-LED or micro-LED is still superior.

 

have the doubts on the claims of "static UI over longer time, will not degrade your panel" and that its still just 3 years of warranty.

burning money, I guess.

 

Also why can't these videos lately decide if they want to be an review or a look at the tech?

I am taking this with a grain of salt as well. There is a lot of features to try and avoid the burn in, but I don't think it is a complete non issue quite yet. 

[SolarNova]

1 hour ago, James said:

 

 

I hope you didn’t just buy a new monitor, because Dell Alienware’s new QD-OLED AW3423DW is HERE and it’s giving everything else in this price range a serious run for its money. It's high refresh rate, GSYNC HDR, and OLED. Have we achieved a zero-compromises monitor?!

 

 

 

I ask you .. Why ...Why was this filmed in such a bright room ?

 

I physical sighed at the start when i realized the whole vid was going to be based in that 'sun lounge' .

 

Its good Linus still enjoyed it, but bright rooms like that really dont do OLED justice.

 

Also from what i've seen from a few other 'reviewers' the default 'standard' profile is the most color accurate.

 

 

Will be interesting to see what other brands do with the panel, we already know why Samsung hasnt released their own version (price dispute between the consumer electronics Samsung and the Panel manufacturing branch)

[Guest]

I was about to expect cheaper QD-OLED options than that, really.

 

QD-OLED has potential; if the yields are better by 2 years I will expect cheap monitors with that technology coming.

 

... but realistically I just wanted a QD-OLED monitor with reduced brightness in it, because I don't like very bright monitors and I don't want to spend too much on features I don't need, and also because low brightness means longer lifespan

[fractle]

would it make more sense to buy a graphics card that can drive 4k before getting a 4k panel or getting a 4k panel like this before having a graphics card that can drive that? 1660 Super is what I'm rocking right now.

[Quackers101]

20 minutes ago, fractle said:

would it make more sense to buy a graphics card that can drive 4k before getting a 4k panel or getting a 4k panel like this before having a graphics card that can drive that? 1660 Super is what I'm rocking right now.

better to have 1080p then upgrade later. as for GPU, 1660 super can be fine for now and wait for next generation of GPUs and lower price for GPUs in general. Also that intel is coming around summer or after summer with their cards.

 

Not a lot of 4K displays hitting all the spots that one want.

[madsauce]

Just signed up to say that there were a few important points I didn't hear about on this video and had to find another reviewer that covered them:
- 2 HDMI ports, only 2.0 (*would have been great to hear how limited modern consoles would be hooked up to this, considering a lot of people are considering this or the C2 42" OLED)

- Display Port 1.4 limits you to 144hz if you want 10bit color(right?) so to get 175hz you're sacrificing color in your HDR viewing. Would have been great to hear if that is a legit concern in games/desktop usage.

 

Thanks for the review, just wanted to pass along the feedback to LTT and share my findings with others who are curious.

 

[DANK_AS_gay]

This is where he says "I see no noticeable blur". 

 

Probably Refresh rate and Camera shutter speed stuff, it was just funny when I noticed VERY noticeable blur.

[AnonymousGuy]

I'm hoping this is finally a monitor to replace my 27" 1440p 144Hz.  I bought it in 2015 and I think it was the first one with all that feature set.   The last 7 years have been really shitty with new monitors not really being any better than just having 2x27" screens.  We wasted like 3 years of development with 1080 ultrawide garbage.

[DAOWAce]

3 hours ago, fractle said:

would it make more sense to buy a graphics card that can drive 4k before getting a 4k panel or getting a 4k panel like this before having a graphics card that can drive that?

As someone who upgraded to a 3440x1440 144Hz display from a 2560x1080 75Hz with a 1080 Ti, not having a GPU to drive it at its native refresh rate is a pretty miserable experience.

 

Used to go from maxing out every game at staying vsync capped, even running reshade in numerous titles, to suffering with framerate being well below the native and not being able to use reshade anymore.

 

Adaptive sync helps and is very much required to have the image looking smooth, but once you get used to HFR, you really don't want to go lower.  60FPS looks like how 30FPS did before I got used to 120Hz.  Games start to feel a bit jittery when I drop below gsynced 90Hz.. and a 1080 Ti can't run 3440x1440 at anywhere close to 144Hz in modern games, so it's always a battle between IQ and framerate.  For example, I refused to play Horizon Zero Dawn because the FPS was dropping below 60 at med-high, and with an enthusiast level card, you really don't want to deal with that.

 

Also as an aside, adaptive sync does not work in windowed mode on a gsync-compatible display despite what NVCP may say.  The game has to be in borderless and no other window can be rendering over it (eg. on-top overlays).  So if you wanted to run a game in a lower windowed resolution to get better framerate, it might even be a worse experience than fullscreen at a lower framerate, just because of how bad non-adaptive sync judder is. Not the case with this specific monitor though.

 

Until the GPU market stabilizes, I do not recommend jumping up your display... unless you somehow avoid becoming a framerate snob. (and if so, I envy you!)

[Guest]

4 hours ago, DANK_AS_gay said:

This is where he says "I see no noticeable blur". 

 

Probably Refresh rate and Camera shutter speed stuff, it was just funny when I noticed VERY noticeable blur.

It's more like OLED ghosting, which ended up becoming a limitation in OLED displays still, but that just mean it still has some motion blur. Not all OLED displays are created equal, obviously.

I gathered some Blur Busters links on that topic
https://blurbusters.com/faq/oled-motion-blur
https://forums.blurbusters.com/viewtopic.php?t=6780

[Tech Learner]

Alienware has been going down hill over the years. I’ll pass cause I had a dell computer along time ago and they wanted an arm and leg to repair it.

[Stahlmann]

14 hours ago, SolarNova said:

I ask you .. Why ...Why was this filmed in such a bright room ?

 

I physical sighed at the start when i realized the whole vid was going to be based in that 'sun lounge' .

 

Its good Linus still enjoyed it, but bright rooms like that really dont do OLED justice.

 

Also from what i've seen from a few other 'reviewers' the default 'standard' profile is the most color accurate.

In fact the standard picture profile is the only one that is factory calibrated. Credible reviews confirmed it's calibrated to sub delta-e 2.

 

14 hours ago, SolarNova said:

Will be interesting to see what other brands do with the panel, we already know why Samsung hasnt released their own version (price dispute between the consumer electronics Samsung and the Panel manufacturing branch)

People somehow think Samsung Electronics and Samsung Display are the same company. They're not.

 

14 hours ago, Herrscher of Whatever said:

I was about to expect cheaper QD-OLED options than that, really.

Tbh that's just unrealistic. You're looking at a cutting edge technology. I fully expected this exact monitor was $3000+. I was pleasantly surprised that the MSRP is $1300. It's a good deal for what it offers imo.

 

14 hours ago, Herrscher of Whatever said:

... but realistically I just wanted a QD-OLED monitor with reduced brightness in it, because I don't like very bright monitors and I don't want to spend too much on features I don't need, and also because low brightness means longer lifespan

You are free to just lower the brightness yourself like with any other monitor.

 

13 hours ago, madsauce said:

- 2 HDMI ports, only 2.0 (*would have been great to hear how limited modern consoles would be hooked up to this, considering a lot of people are considering this or the C2 42" OLED)

HDMI 2.0 is not a limitation when it comes to console use. The XBSX will be able to do 2560x1440 120Hz, and the PS5 will do 1920x1080 120Hz. As consoles don't support 21:9 it doesn't make sense to include HDMI 2.1 for that. And for PC you should use DP either way.

 

13 hours ago, madsauce said:

- Display Port 1.4 limits you to 144hz if you want 10bit color(right?) so to get 175hz you're sacrificing color in your HDR viewing. Would have been great to hear if that is a legit concern in games/desktop usage.

From my past experience this isn't a big deal. My current PG35VQ has a similar problem. I can choose between 8bpc 200Hz or 10bpc 144Hz. Realistically i cannot see a difference between 8bpc and 10bpc, and i also don't see a big difference between 144Hz or 200Hz. You can really go one way or the other and be happy with the results. Still a bit sad that they included such an unneccesary compromise in a high-end display. In the end games RARELY run above 144 fps on that resolution, going 144Hz 10bpc is probably the go-to option.

 

13 hours ago, DANK_AS_gay said:

This is where he says "I see no noticeable blur". 

 

Probably Refresh rate and Camera shutter speed stuff, it was just funny when I noticed VERY noticeable blur.

Judging ghosting by looking at gameplay in a 30 fps video is useless. Look for other reviews and you'll see that motion clarity is as good as it gets for sample and hold displays.

 

9 hours ago, Herrscher of Whatever said:

It's more like OLED ghosting, which ended up becoming a limitation in OLED displays still, but that just mean it still has some motion blur. Not all OLED displays are created equal, obviously.

OLED is limited by being a "sample and hold" display. The only way to further improve motion clarity would be to introduce BFI, which wouldn't even be used all that much on an HDR and image quality focused product like this.

 

All in all motion clarity looks superb from what i've seen so far. As good or even better than typical 120Hz OLED TV's.

 

 

 

Some feedback about the review itself:

 

First off, why is the only person i know of at LTT that knows about displays completely missing on-set? @James

Isn't such a huge team of writers with different backgrounds supposed to warrant that you have the right person for the job?

After looking at the video credits it seems he wasn't even involved in the slightest.

 

Also, why are you filiming in such a sunbathed room? It's the best way to counteract all the advantages HDR brings. For a video that focuses on subjective opinion, going for a worst-case scenario is a bad approach imo. And if it was unintentional, it just further adds to the problem of assigning the wrong person to plan out this video.

 

In my personal opinion you should focus on providing more data about the product you're reviewing to actually prove if it's good or bad, not talking about the technology itself and it's THEORETICAL advantages for half of the review.

[DANK_AS_gay]

5 hours ago, Stahlmann said:

Judging ghosting by looking at gameplay in a 30 fps video is useless. Look for other reviews and you'll see that motion clarity is as good as it gets for sample and hold displays

Probably Refresh rate and Camera shutter speed stuff, it was just funny when I noticed VERY noticeable blur. 

When I said that, I was acknowledging that the difference in video frame rate and monitor refresh rate might cause the blurring I was seeing. I literally said exactly what you said, yet you decided to get on your high horse and argue? Seriously?

[Deadpool2onBlu-Ray]

17 hours ago, madsauce said:

Just signed up to say that there were a few important points I didn't hear about on this video and had to find another reviewer that covered them:
- 2 HDMI ports, only 2.0 (*would have been great to hear how limited modern consoles would be hooked up to this, considering a lot of people are considering this or the C2 42" OLED)

- Display Port 1.4 limits you to 144hz if you want 10bit color(right?) so to get 175hz you're sacrificing color in your HDR viewing. Would have been great to hear if that is a legit concern in games/desktop usage.

 

Thanks for the review, just wanted to pass along the feedback to LTT and share my findings with others who are curious.

 

When is the next displayport standard coming out? I might wait to adopt a QD-OLED until then. I want 10 bit, 1440p, 240hz 

[Deadpool2onBlu-Ray]

17 hours ago, AnonymousGuy said:

I'm hoping this is finally a monitor to replace my 27" 1440p 144Hz.  I bought it in 2015 and I think it was the first one with all that feature set.   The last 7 years have been really shitty with new monitors not really being any better than just having 2x27" screens.  We wasted like 3 years of development with 1080 ultrawide garbage.

1080p ultrawide is SO bad.

[Stahlmann]

27 minutes ago, DANK_AS_gay said:

I literally said exactly what you said, yet you decided to get on your high horse and argue? Seriously?

I was just clarifying. If that is enough to offend you that's your problem.

15 minutes ago, Ryan829 said:

When is the next displayport standard coming out? I might wait to adopt a QD-OLED until then. I want 10 bit, 1440p, 240hz 

I don't expect it anytime soon. Current DisplayPort 1.4 can even do 4K 240Hz 10bpc HDR. It just needs DSC to be implemented, which this monitor doesn't because they decided to use an older G-Sync module that is not compatible with DSC. As long as displays can be fed through a DP 1.4 connection, 2.0 won't be implemented. Just as HDMI 2.1 was nowhere to be seen and only showed up once 4K 120Hz became a thing in TVs. They only started to implement it once they NEEDED it.

 

Intel's ARC Alchemist GPUs seem to have DP 2.0, but again there are no monitors on the horizon that use this connector.

[DANK_AS_gay]

3 minutes ago, Stahlmann said:

I was just clarifying.

Clarifying what exactly? What did you say that someone else didn't, or I didn't say?

[Hairless Monkey Boy]

24 minutes ago, DANK_AS_gay said:

Clarifying what exactly? What did you say that someone else didn't, or I didn't say?

For your reference, I have compiled a list of words in order of appearance that @Stahlmannsaid that you did not say.

Spoiler

1.       Judging

2.       ghosting

3.       by

4.       looking

5.       at

6.       gameplay

7.       in

8.       a

9.       30

10.   fps

11.   video

12.   useless

13.   Look

14.   for

15.   other

16.   reviews

17.   you'll

18.   that

19.   motion

20.   clarity

21.   as

22.   good

23.   gets

24.   sample

25.   hold

26.   displays

 

[emanresu2]

I considered buying one based on this video, but this German review essentially calls the panel technology garbage. Apparently edges with a strong contrast have colors. It's such a dealbreaker that they barely bother to talk about the monitor itself.

https://www.heise.de/hintergrund/Monitor-mit-QD-OLED-im-Test-Samsungs-neue-Display-Technik-ist-verkorkst-6582133.html