New Alienware Q3 2020

Hi folks - just post here to say I ordered an AW2721d with work discount for £550 as well so was so pleased.

Monitor arrived yesterday and here are my initial thoughts:

Pros

- Build quality is insane - so impressed with it! Built like a tank - outstanding design and stand

- The g-sync ultimate module's fan is incredibly quiet - silent for all intents and purposes. I have a very quiet rig and super sensitive to noise changes - the fan can only be just heard by putting your ear right up to the back of the stand.

- Out-of-the-box calibration is amazing - very impressive. You don't get away from the fact that this is a wide gamut monitor and things can look a bit over-saturated, however, it is well controlled and miles better than, for example, the LG 27GL850's ' Gamer 1' mode

- Greyscale is excellent - no banding so far. Display looks excellent in all the Lagom tests.

- Input lag is insanely good. With a 960fps super slow-mo Galaxy S10, I calculated 3 frames of input lag at 240hz/native resolution:

https://linksharing.samsungcloud.com/kiEJ3UH3YOrS

My compassion, the LG 27GL850 has 7 frames of lag in Gamer 1 and 10 frames of lag in sRGB mode.

Doesn't sound like much but having proper g-sync makes a world of difference that is tangible to the discerning gamer

- Response times are really good - you have to use the default 'Fast' mode to avoid overshoot (it is noticeable, just, in 'Faster' mode). Definitely similar (if not better) than the default overdrive on LG 27GL850

- Constrast is massively better than the 700:1 on the LG27GL850. I haven't got any figures here but I can confirm they are a lot stronger than the nano IPS LG panel (the 1200:1 on some reviews seems to be correct here)

- White balance is excellent across the screen - much better than the LG27GL850 in this regard

- Awesome brightness - I love really bright monitors and this ticks the right boxes for me. Currently got mine set to 75

Cons

- HDR is disappointing - too dark to be useful (locks brightness out in OCD!!). Saw banding issues in games - turned of right away

- My monitor came with a bright pixel in the centre, 2/3'rds of the way down the screen

RB871Sg.jpg

- Backlight bleed wasn't great - definitely worse than the LG 27GL850 I had. Feels like the old 144hz original AU optronics panels (like PG279Q) in this regard. Here's a photo after fiddling with the exposure settings to get it as close to I could get to real life:

yQpHpdj.jpg

- 240hz is a bit of a marketing con. Yeah it looks smooth but really the difference over 144hz is minute. Buy this onnthe safe knowledge you know the panel can handle it is you need it but can display your usual 144 fps really fast compared to an older 4ms ips 144hz panel.


Too early to make a decision yet but my gut instinct is to keep it but initiate the premium panel guarantee from Dell to re-roll on the panel lottery.

No monitor is perfect but the screen's response time, colours and input lag are so good that it's hard to ignore this package.

Although I love the sRGB clamp on the LG 27HL850, once I had discovered that it was at the cost of increased input lag this was a non-starter for me. I assume the same penalty will apply to any freesync LG nano screen with a similar feature.

I'll post back with more updates as I spend more time with the screen.

Hope this helps!
 
Brief update / tip!

Try changing the Game -> Preset Modes setting to Game 1.

Now click on the option again to bring up the Response Time / R,G,B,C,M,Y / Dark Stablizer menu.

Alter the R,G,B,C,M,Y from their defaults down to 40% on each one.

This has really helped with the over saturation - it isn't perfect, you can see where the wide gamut is still pushing the colours a little too far but looks miles better / more controlled!
 
TerminatorUK said:
Brief update / tip!

Try changing the Game -> Preset Modes setting to Game 1.

Now click on the option again to bring up the Response Time / R,G,B,C,M,Y / Dark Stablizer menu.

Alter the R,G,B,C,M,Y from their defaults down to 40% on each one.

This has really helped with the over saturation - it isn't perfect, you can see where the wide gamut is still pushing the colours a little too far but looks miles better / more controlled!
Click to expand...
Interesting may give this a go. Been trying to find calibration settings online, but still not much available. Tempted to get some calibration hardware, suspect my TV could make use of it as well, but they aren't cheap and I don't plan on upgrading monitor or TV any time soon to use again.
 
ollies said:
Interesting may give this a go. Been trying to find calibration settings online, but still not much available. Tempted to get some calibration hardware, suspect my TV could make use of it as well, but they aren't cheap and I don't plan on upgrading monitor or TV any time soon to use again.
Click to expand...

They used to be one on the forums which got shared round people one week at a time. Good idea as unless you are doing colour critical work, most people just use them once and thats it,.

I have in the past bought one second hand on ebay, calibrated everything I owned and sold it again on ebay and got my money back. Thats the best way of doing it.
 
Still waiting for a full review of the AW3821DW.

By which I mean a proper in-depth one from the likes of TFTCentral or HUB with comprehensive tests and measurements, not the crap you get from most of the YT "hobbyists" who just waffle on about how great it is for half an hour.
 
You could also try to look for someone who will calibrate it for you for a small fee. For example, in my country's version of eBay, a professional calibration costs about $13.
 
in the UK your looking at at least couple hundred $$ for someone to come calibrate a display
for that price you can buy a calibrator and learn to do it yourself forever
 
Sem said:
in the UK your looking at at least couple hundred $$ for someone to come calibrate a display
for that price you can buy a calibrator and learn to do it yourself forever
Click to expand...

It is well worth buying your own and recalibrate a few times per year and esp if you have swapped gfx cards.
 
I've manage to get the AW3821DW and I have been happy with the size, looks, quietness and gaming performance, especially with G-SYNC. But one big problem I'm having with this monitor is eye-strain. I've calibrated the brightness down to 50cd/m2, switched eco mode off, use 125% scaling, variable backlight off and use one of the gamer presets, but to no avail. I use this monitor for work too, so using it all day, but my previous monitor, a DELL U2412M (and the various cheap HP monitors I have at work), I have absolutely no problems with using all day and zero eye strain.

I can't work out if I can't get on with the backlight technology LG are using with their nano-ips displays, if my eyes are just sensitive to the extra blue light these new monitors pump out, there is a fault with the monitor itself or something else.

Has anyone else experienced these issues before? As a last resort I'm thinking about buying some Gunnar Optiks.
 
uwait20 said:
By the way, for anyone that might be wondering, can confirm that AMD FreeSync is working with RX 5700 XT + AW3821DW
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Which AMD GPU do you have and have you played any games on the monitor since you got it and am I assuming correctly that you bought the AW3821DW monitor ?? I'm considering this monitor but there is not much confirmation that it is a proper Freesync compatible monitor. Just as pp111 mentioned about this monitor in another thread.

pp111 said:
I have seen confirmation that the screen does work with AMD, HOWEVER I have not seen any confirmation that it works in Adaptive Sync with an AMD. In other words I have not seen anywhere that it supports both Freesync and G-Sync. Alas I don't have an AMD card to test it.
Click to expand...
 
TheSwede said:
Which AMD GPU do you have and have you played any games on the monitor since you got it and am I assuming correctly that you bought the AW3821DW monitor ??
Click to expand...

The answer to 2/3 of your questions is literally in the post you quoted.

"AMD FreeSync is working with RX 5700 XT + AW3821DW"

1. AMD GPU = RX 5700 XT
2. AW3821DW = Yes, this is the monitor I tested FreeSync with
3. No, I haven't played any games with this monitor yet. As mentioned though, FreeSync works/can be enabled using the Adrenaline software.

;)
 
Ordered a AW3821DW yesterday after giving up on my 3rd 27GN950 (too many QC issues for me). When I ordered it said expected delivery 23rd Dec - but now updated to say 30th Dec. I know it’s a busy time of year and the ports are pretty much closed at the moment, but does anyone know if the 30th is a true date or have people had experience of Syncreon?? delivering earlier?

can’t wait to give the monitor a whirl - hopefully Cyberpunk looks awesome on it !
 
uwait20 said:
The answer to 2/3 of your questions is literally in the post you quoted.

"AMD FreeSync is working with RX 5700 XT + AW3821DW"

1. AMD GPU = RX 5700 XT
2. AW3821DW = Yes, this is the monitor I tested FreeSync with
3. No, I haven't played any games with this monitor yet. As mentioned though, FreeSync works/can be enabled using the Adrenaline software.

;)
Click to expand...
Yeah, sorry about that (actually missed that you had written the monitor version there at the end ! :o ). I owe the same card you do, just wanted to be 100% sure it does work before spending the money on buying said monitor. There is no official information that freesync is supported, hence wanted to make sure, especially with games, as in no tearing etc when playing. Thanks for your reply, much appreciated ! :)
 
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