Alienware AW3426DW Gaming Monitor Review

Gaming monitors person been getting much fashionable for each types of gaming, but ultrawide gaming monitors are inactive thing that’s unsocial to PC gaming. There’s conscionable thing astir the quality to agelong retired the games you’re playing to a wide 21:9 facet ratio that truly sucks you into the game.

Now, premium ultrawide monitors traditionally came astatine a precocious premium, costing much than a 1000 bucks. That’s wherever I expected the Alienware AW3426DW to fall, particularly considering its gorgeous QD-OLED show and Dolby Vision compatibility. But dissimilar the gaming PCs that powerfulness this benignant of display, gaming monitors are beauteous overmuch the lone happening successful PC gaming that isn’t going mode up successful price, with the AW3426DW coming successful astatine $799.

That’s inactive a batch to walk connected a display, but this is the benignant of show that you’ll support connected your table for years, apt done aggregate GPU upgrades.

Design and Features

Right retired the gate, the AW3426DW has the chiseled look of an Alienware gaming monitor. It’s got the aforesaid postulation purple colorway arsenic immoderate of the company’s caller laptops astir the back, and it does look stunning, albeit a small plasticky. There are ventilation holes drilled successful an oval signifier astir the halfway of the monitor, with an RGB alien caput punctuating it connected the right.

However, conscionable similar immoderate different gaming show with a fancy design, the backmost of the show volition beryllium facing the partition for astir radical astir of the time. The beforehand of the monitor, connected the different hand, is amazingly no-frills. There’s an Alienware logo emblazoned crossed the halfway of the bottommost bezel and a lit-up powerfulness fastener connected the bottommost close corner. But adjacent for a ample ultrawide show similar the AW3426DW, the bezels are amazingly narrow.

But nary substance however constrictive the bezels are, that doesn’t halt the AW3426DW from being an implicit behemoth of a display. This happening measures astir 32 inches wide and 14 inches gangly without the stand, and weighs successful astatine astir 17 lb. That’s not unspeakable by immoderate means, particularly for an ultrawide display, but you volition request to marque definite you person the abstraction for it. I, for one, don’t truly person the abstraction astatine location for the AW3426DW to marque consciousness arsenic a regular driver, adjacent if the representation is beauteous capable to marque maine miss it erstwhile I nonstop it back.

I already mentioned the lit-up powerfulness button, but there’s different fastener connected the bottommost of the AW3426DW, astatine the center, which volition bring up the OSD. There’s thing peculiarly peculiar present – you tin alteration representation settings, activate PIP (Picture-in-Picture), and swap betwixt inputs. There is simply a USB-B larboard astir the backmost that’ll fto you link the show via USB to your PC, and past you tin usage the Alienware Control Center to alteration settings similar RGB lighting.

And, conscionable similar a batch of modern gaming displays, the OSD volition fto you crook connected ‘Alienvision’. Rather than letting you spot retired into abstraction oregon anything, this conscionable turns connected 1 of respective aiming reticles that enactment astatine the halfway of your screen. This is particularly useful successful first-person shooters, arsenic it lets you halfway your aim, adjacent erstwhile your in-game reticle is expanded. Some mightiness telephone it cheating, but hey, it’s a diagnostic that’s determination – instrumentality it oregon permission it.

You tin besides alteration ‘Esports Mode,’ which volition fundamentally crook the AW3426DW from a 34-inch ultrawide into a 25-inch 16:9 display. The payment present is that it becomes overmuch easier to spot the full surface without having to determination your head. For pro gamers that’s simply much important than having a ton of ocular existent property that you can’t spot astatine each times.

However, support successful caput that Esports mode drops the solution to 2368x1332. Instead, I’d urge manually mounting the solution down to 1920x1080, truthful that you tin maximise your framework rate. Because, really, what’s the constituent of enabling an esports mode if you’re not going to instrumentality maximum vantage of the 280Hz refresh complaint portion you’re astatine it.

Even if you can’t afloat saturate that precocious refresh rate, the AW3426DW supports Freesync, and is G-Sync compatible, truthful you won’t person to interest astir surface tearing astatine little framework rates. Granted, VRR, successful whichever flavor, is expected successful a gaming show of this caliber. I’m conscionable gladsome that it supports some of the large solutions for PC gaming.

For everyone who isn’t an esports athlete, you’re going to privation to instrumentality afloat vantage of this beauteous display. This is simply a 34-inch 21:9 sheet with a 3440x1440 solution astatine 280Hz. And, due to the fact that it’s a QD-OLED display, it’s perfectly gorgeous, with heavy blacks and 1 of the champion HDR implementations I’ve ever seen successful a gaming monitor, particularly nether $1000.

Gaming and Performance

I’ve spent the past 3 days obsessively playing games connected the Alienware AW3426DW, and it is frankly stunning. Even dealing with the headache that is HDR connected Windows, I’ve been blown distant by however beauteous games look connected this display.

Alienware claims that the AW3426DW hits 99% of the DCI-P3 colour gamut, and successful my colorimeter tests, the show perfectly hits that level. It besides hits 100% sRGB and 97% Adobe. This isn’t precisely the benignant of show that photographers and video editors are going to spell successful for, but you tin perfectly bash that benignant of enactment with this level of colour accuracy. And for games, it’s much than enough. Just sailing done the precocious seas successful Assassin’s Creed Black Flag Resynced this week, the agleam bluish h2o conscionable pops disconnected of the screen.

Even successful Diablo 4, which isn’t precisely known for being a ocular showcase, the AW3426DW has unthinkable contrast, particularly successful dungeons with a batch of acheronian scenery punctuated by small airy sources. Pretty overmuch each crippled I’ve played connected this show has looked stunning, adjacent games similar World of Warcraft, which don’t enactment HDR for immoderate reason.

But it’s much than conscionable a beauteous picture. I paired the AW3426DW with a gaming PC moving an RTX 5080, and was capable to support the show afloat saturated, adjacent if I had to thin connected framework gen a mates times to get maine there. Games look creaseless and consciousness highly responsive moving connected this display, and it doesn’t wounded that Alienware rates the show with a 0.03ms effect time.

It’s worthy remembering that, portion $799 makes the Alienware AW3426DW look similar an costly portion of kit, it’s rather a spot cheaper than competing monitors similar the LG Ultragear UWQHD oregon the Asus ROG Swift PG34WCDN, some of which travel successful implicit $1000. But adjacent with Alienware’s little terms tag, it doesn’t falter successful the ways that much affordable gaming monitors typically do.

I enactment the AW3426DW done Blur Busters, and got nary a hint of ghosting oregon question blur erstwhile moving astatine the afloat 280Hz. I besides didn’t truly acquisition immoderate airy bleeding, adjacent successful games with a batch of contrast, oregon erstwhile I ran games astatine a 16:9 resolution. My lone existent disapproval of the show is the integrative backmost panel, and that’s truly not overmuch of an contented erstwhile it’s acceptable up connected the desk.

That second constituent really comes with the payment of being easier to move, due to the fact that it doesn’t measurement 50 pounds similar immoderate of the much premium displays do. All told, the Alienware AW3426DW reminded maine however overmuch I miss playing games connected an Ultrawide display, adjacent though I had to marque immoderate questionable organizational decisions to acceptable it into my apartment.

If you person the space, though, this is an perfectly stunning gaming monitor. The wide facet ratio truly helps support you immersed successful your games, and the OLED show keeps you locked with a beauteous image, particularly successful games that enactment HDR. Just marque definite you person a beefy gaming PC to powerfulness this thing.

Jackie Thomas is the Hardware and Buying Guides Editor astatine IGN and the PC components queen. You tin travel her @Jackiecobra