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Conclusion

I haven’t been disappointed by an OLED monitor yet. There are so many good ones that it literally comes down to a few dollars in price or a few points in a benchmark test. In every way, they are consistently high performing and stunning to look at. While they remain relatively expensive, it is now possible to get a top-shelf 34-inch ultra-wide 240 Hz gaming screen with professional-grade color accuracy and solid build quality for $800 from Alienware.

Alienware AW3425DW — (Image credit: Dell)

The AW3425DW has everything needed for top-flight gaming. It delivers perfect motion processing, carries G-Sync and FreeSync Premium Pro certifications, sports the lowest input lag I’ve measured in the category, and looks good doing it. With spot-on color and a wide Quantum Dot-fueled gamut, it’s ready to play right out of the box, no tweaking required. But if you need some options, sRGB and two-point grayscale sliders are there. My only wish would be for gamma presets in Custom Color mode and color temp presets in Creator mode. And though it works fine for SDR without variable brightness, that’s a choice I’d like to have as well. I also missed a headphone jack and internal speakers.

The Alienware AW3425DW is a superb gaming monitor and a great all-around display. It isn’t perfect but it comes incredibly close, and it aced all my color tests. Gaming is addictive, and it’s also great for work. If you have $800 to budget for an ultra-wide display, you’ll be hard pressed to find better.

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Christian Eberle is a Contributing Editor for Tom's Hardware US. He's a veteran reviewer of A/V equipment, specializing in monitors. Christian began his obsession with tech when he built his first PC in 1991, a 286 running DOS 3.0 at a blazing 12MHz. In 2006, he undertook training from the Imaging Science Foundation in video calibration and testing and thus started a passion for precise imaging that persists to this day. He is also a professional musician with a degree from the New England Conservatory as a classical bassoonist which he used to good effect as a performer with the West Point Army Band from 1987 to 2013. He enjoys watching movies and listening to high-end audio in his custom-built home theater and can be seen riding trails near his home on a race-ready ICE VTX recumbent trike. Christian enjoys the endless summer in Florida where he lives with his wife and Chihuahua and plays with orchestras around the state.

17 Comments Comment from the forums

Morgan xXx

Admin said:
Alienware delivers on all counts with its AW3425DW. It’s a 34-inch curved ultra-wide QD-OLED panel with WQHD resolution, 240 Hz, Adaptive-Sync, HDR10 and wide gamut color. It couples near-perfect color accuracy with premium gaming performance.

Alienware AW3425DW WQHD QD-OLED review: Near-perfect color and premium performance : Read more

Are there any issues with Auto Dimming? I'm still with an LG C2 OLED (may go to C4) because it is thus far, the only OLED that allows you to turn off Auto Dimming, or ASBL, using the service menu in SDR. When gaming in HDR ASBL is on, but PC work is in SDR and it's great to have it off.

I'd like to go with an OLED monitor for Display Port and usually a KVM, but inability to turn off ASBL is a deal breaker for me.
Reply
Elrabin

Morgan xXx said:
Are there any issues with Auto Dimming? I'm still with an LG C2 OLED (may go to C4) because it is thus far, the only OLED that allows you to turn off Auto Dimming, or ASBL, using the service menu in SDR. When gaming in HDR ASBL is on, but PC work is in SDR and it's great to have it off.

I'd like to go with an OLED monitor for Display Port and usually a KVM, but inability to turn off ASBL is a deal breaker for me.
I have its predecessor, the AW3423DWF and if you set it to the TrueBlack400 setting, there is no auto dimming enabled.

I'd be really surprised if this one isn't set up similarly.
Reply
thestryker

Morgan xXx said:
Are there any issues with Auto Dimming?
I have it and haven't used it outside of TrueBlack, but can confirm I've noticed no such thing there. I've only noticed panel refresh when the display turns off (either via PC or manually) and this process can be interrupted if you're resuming usage.

Morgan xXx said:
I'd like to go with an OLED monitor for Display Port and usually a KVM, but inability to turn off ASBL is a deal breaker for me.
Keep in mind using DP with 240Hz refresh requires DSC which has its own set of downsides which may or may not be important for your use case.
Reply
Makaveli

Great for gaming no doubt but how is this monitor for rendering text?

Can this be used 8 hours a day for work also?
Reply
Elrabin

Makaveli said:
Great for gaming no doubt but how is this monitor for rendering text?

Can this be used 8 hours a day for work also?
I've had the Alienware 3423DWF(this monitor's predecessor) for over 2 years so far and it's on 8 hours a day for work and at least a couple hours a night for gaming/watching streaming.

I do the pixel refresh every 4 or so hours of use when it reminds me to do so. I just finish what i'm doing when i get the popup, lock my PC and go take a walk or change out laundry or some other 5 minute chore and by the time I get back, it's done

Text looks no different than my high end IPS monitors
Reply
thestryker

Makaveli said:
Great for gaming no doubt but how is this monitor for rendering text?
I think it depends on what you're doing and how sensitive you are. The subpixel layout is the same as the Gen 1 QD-OLED panels despite being a Gen 2 panel. My secondary display is slightly better text wise, but not to the degree that I'm bothered by the AW display.
Reply
JMarvelous

I have the 32in 4k version and it was expensive as heck but the most beautiful picture ive ever laid eyes on. Gaming is amazing.

I've never had any issues with it. I run the refresher (6 mins long) every 4 to 5 hours if Im on for long periods. I mainly do design so color was important to me.

Text looks absolutely amazing, no fringing. The 1440p monitor may have text issues idk.
Reply
Mr Majestyk

Hard to fathom how the low pixel density isn't con. If this review is prioritising colour accuracy, it's surely implying it's
also productivity focused monitor, not just a one trick gaming monitor. Colour gamut and accuracy mean almost nothing to gamers.
Reply
Makaveli

Mr Majestyk said:
Hard to fathom how the low pixel density isn't con. If this review is prioritising colour accuracy, it's surely implying it's
also productivity focused monitor, not just a one trick gaming monitor. Colour gamut and accuracy mean almost nothing to gamers.
Valid points.
Reply
thestryker

Mr Majestyk said:
Hard to fathom how the low pixel density isn't con.
It might be more of a con if there was anything viable in the same format with better pixel density (assuming 120Hz or higher refresh).

LG is going to have some "5k2k" 34" UW displays coming, but those are 800R. You have to move up to 40/45" to increase pixel density without high curve in UW format (former is IPS, latter is OLED but the adjustable one is $2500, non is 800R).

Mr Majestyk said:
If this review is prioritising colour accuracy, it's surely implying it's
also productivity focused monitor, not just a one trick gaming monitor. Colour gamut and accuracy mean almost nothing to gamers.
This is their standard review format so I'm not exactly sure what your problem is. Should the reviewer ignore the color gamut and accuracy because it's a gaming focused display?
Reply

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