The Dell 3008WFP Thread

[MR.B]

I take it, only games like Crysis won't run with playable frame rates on 2560x1600, but most other new games like Call Of Duty 4 and Medal of Honor Airborne, are able to reach playable frame rates at that resolution with everything turned up? and I was also wondering if the windows icons and stuff on the desktop look very small when on 2560x1600?

I've not got COD4 so cant say, but the graphics look pretty good on it so it may be able to run at 2560x1600 on single card setup (new GTS, GTX, Ultra...) but if you have to drop res to 1920x1200 it will still look really good, nearly as sharp as 2560x1600. I used to have a problem with running anything lower than the native res on my 24" Dells, but with the 3008 it's really not a problem and dont bother me because it still looks great. Especially anything from 1920x1080 to 2048x1536.

Have you used a 23" 1920x1200 LCD before? because thats about how small the icons and that are on the 3008 when at native res. Because each pixel is a little smaller than on a 24" monitor so icons are a bit smaller when they're both on there native res, so it's about the same as with a 23" monitor with 1920x1200. It's a nice size.

 

[MR.B]

Mr.B - completely stupid question relating to 1080p HD Content but..
running 1080p HD Movies in window mode via WMP is perfectly plausable also right? you'll still see the movie in a 1920x1080 window with no scaling/aspect issues?

Well if the movie window is set to exactly 1920x1200 then each pixel of the movie will line up with 1920x1200 pixels on the screen and it will be perfect. If the window is any smaller than that size for 1080p then obviously you will lose out on pixels and you wont be viewing it in 1080p, but scaled down. But theres no issues i've seen with this, and this largely depends on what software player is used. Some will scale better than others.

I've just updated my review with viewing angles, and a small issue i have with the screens anti-reflective coating (near the bottom of the review).

 

[MR.B]

Mr.B - when do we get to see some pictures of your screen in action? ;p - i wanna drool at the mighty XBox and PS3 running off that lovely screen of yours, and ofcourse let's not forget Crysis!.

- ooh, random question.. what letter does the monitor go up to when you open a full screen excel sheet?

It goes to 'AM' which is 13 letters past Z (this is with Excel 2007 BTW)

I'll try and take some pics tonight...

 

[MR.B]

Mr.B - when do we get to see some pictures of your screen in action? ;p - i wanna drool at the mighty XBox and PS3 running off that lovely screen of yours, and ofcourse let's not forget Crysis!.

Theres already 360 pics up under the console part no point taking PS3 pictures, it's exactly the same as running PC over DVI @ 1920x1080.

Just added a Crysis pic under 'Resolution Scaling', and added a pic of my monitors at the bottom of the review.

 

[MR.B]

Can anyone tell me what the Xbox 360 looks like with a VGA cable @ 1080p on this beast of a monitor? Very interested....!

I cant get 1080p (1920x1080) to work well over VGA, the picture will not fill the screen properly, no matter if i even adjust it manually.
So i use 1360x768 which looks fine. But as i said before, being as no 360 games are rendered at 1920x1080 it's no problem. They are nearly all rendered at 1280x720 or sometimes lower res (Halo 3, PGR3) so when 1920x1080 is selected the image is just upscaled, so does not look any better than when using 1280x720 or above.
Component and VGA are very equal in picture quality, and there both Analog connections, but you get more pre-set monitor options when using VGA.

i've had a test about with the dynamic contrast feature, and it doesn't appear to be exactly as you say.

if i set the brightness on my screen to 100% and show a black screen. when i turn dynamic contrast on, the brightness gets knocked down a little bit.
similarly, if i show an all white screen and turn dynamic contrast on, the screen does NOT appear to dim in brightness.

so it would appear that dynamic contrast does work - however it's simply just an automatic change of brightness levels depending on the overall brightness of the picture. (lower brightness in darker scenes.)

Yeah i see what you mean, it's exactly what my LCD TV's do with DC turned on aswell, it's a very common feature on newer TV's. I didnt notice it before though. I can see it adjusting the brightness too... dont like this feature turned on with a monitor, but for TV's (or maybe watching films on the 3008) it's not bad.

also Mr.B - i dunno why but i seem to like having the brightness level set to 100% , it makes whites on the monitor look even whiter, and maybe it's my eyes playing tricks on me; but i seem to find it easier to read text etc. when the brightness is set to 100%, instead of the default 75%.

On 100% it's wayyy too bright, dont it hurt your eyes? While the whites are whiter/brighter, the blacks are not as dark on 100%, so for me around 75% is a nice balance.
I do sit in a pretty dark room though, and at night i dont have the main light on, so 100% is just too much for me.

Anyway are you happy with the monitor?

MR.B and Drazek,

Was wondering, how good does the windows display look like when using
a screen resolution of 1920x1080 or 1920x1200 for the desktop?

1920x1200 is pretty good, better than running smaller monitors with less pixels at a non-native res for the desktop. Text is surprisingly good too, although it is a tiny bit deformed, but not as much as usual for a non-native res. It dont really compare to 2560x1600 though. Why would you use a lower res for the desktop?

 

[MR.B]

Could be a dup in this thread, review here

http://www.behardware.com/articles/703-1/dell-3008wfp-hc.html

Overall disappointing for the money these things cost.

Thats a retarded unprofessional review, they dont even configure it. Think it might have been linked already... not sure... but i have deja vu after seeing it.

As i mentioned in my review you need to configure this display first, as everything is a bit screwed on default. Once setup properly nothing compares.

 

[MR.B]

Damn , I have had the monitor 2 days now but I have a problem with back light bleed.

Do any other users of this panel have any back light issues are I am just unlucky as usual ?

Bottom right corner , top right are the worst but there is also some coming through at top midddle of the screen.
I have tried adjusting brightness / contrast ( man o man this a a bright panel - using about 30bright 40 contrast at moment)
but problem is still very visible when watching movies that have top / bottom borders.

Any others users thoughts on this? Should I rma it for a new unit ( after all was over 1000 of your earthling pounds)

Can you get a pic of it? I have a very tiny amount of backlight bleed, but every LCD i've ever had has had atleast some. It's nothing at all bad on my 3008, infact i cant notice it unless on a all black screen, and even then it's hard to see.

 

[MR.B]

A bit green? hmmm thats interesting, i dont get that at all. If it varys even slightly with each individual display then those setting of mine will be pretty useless... but i'm hoping to get another 3008 sometime, and i'll try the same settings on that.

The US Dell website recently removed the 3008 from sale, i haven't checked the UK site yet but other stores still have it. I think that they are having trouble getting the larger glass for the display.

 

[MR.B]

nice review been looking at one of these myself, a bit off topic but what speakers are in your last pic ?

They are Acoustic Energy - Aelite's

 

[MR.B]

@anyone who has 3008

i was wondering what is the reported lag like when playing games and blurring like? How accurate are the whites? do they have pinkish/red tone or a bluish one?

i have a 3007-HC and was considering selling up and buying the 3008, worth it or not?

reason is that, the HC i have has slighting pinkish whites, no matter what colour profile i set up and starting to get tired of it. I have been through 4 of these monitors and its the same every time.

thanks

Lol i address all this is my longgg review on the first page, the very first post! Even have pics of it.

Seems to be a risk buying one at the moment, could have the problems wombraider has had.

I've not had any of these problems though (well, some very tiny backlight bleed at the top, but it's nothing), and i've very happy with my 3008, so just comes down to luck... but after buying many LCD's over the years i've found a bit of luck is always involved when it comes to backlight bleed. Although the 3008 currently suffers from this more than most it seems. But the 3007 also had this at first, but that improved later on, so i expect the same to happen with the 3008.

 

[MR.B]

Anyway later that day i get a call from a manager to say and i quote "bad news, I'm afraid but we aren't making any new ones at all" When pressed he said Dell were EOL the 30" range due to a supply problem with panel glass

Thats crazy, they have not been out long at all. I noticed Dell US site took them off there site a while ago. Thought it was just down to panel glass supply, and they'd have them back up again. Cant believe they have actually ended the 3008...

 

[MR.B]

Unfortunately, the monitor needs a monster graphics card to run at native res. Even an 8800gtx can't run BF2 and WoW at 2560 x 1600 with maximum AA, smoothly. Am I going to see a massive improvement with a new ATI 4870 or Nvidia GTX 280?

Do you mean 16x AA when you say max AA? as thats the most cards support at the moment... and you cant run most new games with maximum AA (16x) at 1920x1200 or even 1650x1080.

No one in there right mind should use 16x AA unless on old games.... 'cause pretty much any new game will run bad with that high level of AA.

But my GTX 280 will run every game i've tried so far, apart from Crysis, at 2560x1600 on max settings with atleast 16x AF, and 2x AA.
Dont get anything with 512MB on it for this res though, it's not enough! see my thread here.

 

[MR.B]

im saving up atm on 2k atmgot save up 5k then, i can buy my Mac Pro

Dont waste money on that rubbish you can buy a better looking, faster PC for less, and get higher quality components.

Just a shout out to ask if anyone has received a 3008wfp with any dead pixels?

I have no dead pixels, and as far as i know everyone in this thread who's had this monitor has had no dead pixels either.

 

[MR.B]

My 3008 gets very hot along the top as well. Think it's a A01 but i've not got any backlight problems with it or anything. Had it many months now and i'm still well happy with it, such superior image quality.

 

[MR.B]

What do you guys think of the presets given in the menu...have you found if they have made any difference to yourself? I found that it didn't make any visible differences at all

There's nothing bad going to happen running everything form the default desktop preset right?

You're using DVI and this is on a computer? There should be a big immediately obvious difference between presets...

I have mine on Custom, settings are in my original post near the end, but they could be a little different on each individual display.

 

[MR.B]

@ delirious and Matty_Boy : I've got a similar problem now, but it's not quite what you two have. If i have the brightness level above 79, then the monitors screen will go off after a while, but the power button will still stay blue implying thats its still on... at first i thought maybe the extra heat produced by the backlight at the higher level was making the monitor overheat. But even in a freezing cold room it will still do it.
So i'm going to phone Dell for a replacement.

By the way i see a lot of people are using this screen with Nvidia 9xxx cards and lower. If you really want to make the most out of this screen get a 2xx series card, or an ATI 4xxx series. I've had them all. They have better colours than older NV cards (even on the desktop) gradients are smoother, and whites are more pure and brighter.

Is xbox360 possible via Component? I have a 360 but not the elite edition. I will purchase a speaker bar for this also, sound from 360 is also transferred via component right?

Eugh another question thats answered in my review on first page, pfft... anyway - yes you can, but sound is not transferred through Component, your'll have to use the SPDIF output, or the separate stereo jacks also on the Component cable, connect them to an AV Receiver or something.

 

[MR.B]

Cant see how the graphics card would do that. I also have another different monitor hooked up to my GTX280 and that ones never done anything like it. My 3008 also done it connected to a GTX260, and ATI 4870.

Got a replacement coming tomorrow, so i'll post when that arrives...

 

[MR.B]

My replacement just come too and everything seems fine so far, no dead pixels, and no backlight bleeding....
I have mine configured on the custom setting (settings in first thread post), but i had to turn the green down a tiny bit more this time to get it looking how my other screen did.
It's A02 revision BTW, my first was A00 (got that one on release).

@ Matty, i did not send mine back with the stand. When the bloke dropped the new one off i put my old 3008 in the box the new one came in and off he went with that. Just did a monitor swap!

 

[MR.B]

Have any other 3008 owners noticed though that the top part of the screen doesn't seem to be fixed in at all and wobbles a bit in the frame? OK at the bottom, but just seems to sit unfixed at the top! I really worry about the build quality of these things......

Do you mean along the top where the front dark silver bezel joins onto the black? I've had a very tiny gap there with both my monitors, but it's so small, and does not wobble at all...

 

[MR.B]

Don't own a 3008, but can attest that this is by design as IPS panels get pretty hot and need room for heat expansion/contraction.

Well that makes sense, these screens do get very hot! I can hear them expending after powering on as they start to warm up.
@ Matty mine does this too, just checked.