Anyone out there with too much money have experience with both the ASUS PG32UQX and the Dell AW3423DW(F)?

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Sycraft

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I have a AW3821DW and I love it for desktop work and it's good for SDR gaming as well, however it just doesn't do the trick for HDR gaming which I'm enthralled with these days. Normally not an issue, I game on me S95B which is a QD-OLED TV, the monitor is mostly used for desktop stuff. However, it'd be nice to game on the monitor too sometimes if the GF is using the TV or the like. So, I'm looking at these two as possible replacements. Just wanted to see on the off chance if anyone had hands-on with both and had opinions of how they compare. From my perspective the pros of each are:

AW3423DW:

--I love the way QD-OLED looks on my TV in terms of the high contrast, the color, and the viewing angles. It is just so prettyful in games.
--Flawless per-pixel lighting for HDR.
--Excellent response time, no issues with smearing from transitions, which the PG32UQX does have a bit of at higher frame rates.
--Ultrawide which I have come to really like.
--Less money.


PG32UQX:

--No burn in issues. This does worry me a touch since I do lots of static desktop work with it.
--Brighter HDR.
--More vertical realestate, even at 125% scale, which is nice for Nuendo.
--Same rez/aspect ratio as TV which makes going back and forth with games slightly more convenient.
--Less contrast ratio in SDR mode for desktop work. Believe it or not less CR is nice for desktop work, strains the eyes less.


If anyone has played with both and has comments, I'd love to hear them.
 
I own both. It's pretty easy: if the monitor is used mostly for fast-moving games, go with the AW3423DW; otherwise go with the PG32UQX. The only issue with the PG32UQX is the inferior motion clarity, but that's an issue only in fast games.

By the way, both these monitors have fans, so you need to be ok with that or go with alternatives that don't have fans.
 
Bigmonitorguy said:
I own both. It's pretty easy: if the monitor is used mostly for fast-moving games, go with the AW3423DW; otherwise go with the PG32UQX. The only issue with the PG32UQX is the inferior motion clarity, but that's an issue only in fast games.

By the way, both these monitors have fans, so you need to be ok with that or go with alternatives that don't have fans.
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This kind of sums up the entire gaming monitor situation currently I would say. With monitors like the GP27U kind of in the middle being good at a lot of things but not best at any.
 
LCD panels and by extension any technology that is an outgrowth of them force you to compromise somewhere. None of them have it all. The trick is to figure out which specs matter the most to you and find a monitor that can deliver on those things with as few drawbacks as possible.
 
Ya I'm just debating what, if anything, I want to do right now. I'm tempted to get the Alienware OLED the things that hold me back are resolution loss, worries of burn-in, and the fact that it can't quite hit the brightness levels my TV can.

I also may just decide to wait, as it sounds like this time next year there will be 4k OLED monitors which interest me a lot.
 
Dan_D said:
LCD panels and by extension any technology that is an outgrowth of them force you to compromise somewhere. None of them have it all. The trick is to figure out which specs matter the most to you and find a monitor that can deliver on those things with as few drawbacks as possible.
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Isn't that true for all panel types as well including OLED?
 
Dan_D said:
LCD panels and by extension any technology that is an outgrowth of them force you to compromise somewhere. None of them have it all. The trick is to figure out which specs matter the most to you and find a monitor that can deliver on those things with as few drawbacks as possible.
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For those who have the money and space, having more than one setup helps to avoid a compromised solution.
 
Dan_D said:
Having to have multiple setups is itself a compromised solution.
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For sure. I could get a second computer to hook to my TV instead of using my desktop, it would be easier even since I wouldn't need a 20m fiber optic cable to hook them up. However, cost aside, I just value having everything set up on one computer.
 
Bigmonitorguy said:
I own both. It's pretty easy: if the monitor is used mostly for fast-moving games, go with the AW3423DW; otherwise go with the PG32UQX. The only issue with the PG32UQX is the inferior motion clarity, but that's an issue only in fast games.

By the way, both these monitors have fans, so you need to be ok with that or go with alternatives that don't have fans.
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I had owned both at one time (though I have XG321UG- same panel as PG). I echo Bigmonitor above.

One really big consideration is if you are going to be watching much media or console then PG all the way as the black bars on side and 1440p resolution was what ultimately had me return the OLED.
 
Only advantages the AW has is motion clarity/refresh rate. If you value HDR than the PG32UQX is really the only choice when you consider that it gets brighter full field than the Dell does on a 3% window. Biggest issue with the Asus are the black to white transitions (everywhere else its decently fast).

As an all arounder its superior IMO (4K, clean text, no IR/burn in, amazing HDR, etc). If all you do is play shooters in SDR, buy the Dell.
 
Would be no media (other than basic youtbue probably not fullscreen) just games.
 
SoCali said:
Only advantages the AW has is motion clarity/refresh rate. If you value HDR than the PG32UQX is really the only choice when you consider that it gets brighter full field than the Dell does on a 3% window. Biggest issue with the Asus are the black to white transitions (everywhere else its decently fast).

As an all arounder its superior IMO (4K, clean text, no IR/burn in, amazing HDR, etc). If all you do is play shooters in SDR, buy the Dell.
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For only playing shooters in SDR I would say the LG WOLED would be a better choice. 240Hz instead of 175Hz, and you would not have any benefit of the better color volume that QD OLED offers on the Dell if you are just sticking to SDR color space anyways.
 
I own the pg32uqx, you will not get a BETTER HDR experience, when I turn on HDR, all the whites look like neon signs on the monitor, if oled pop blacks, PG32UQX is popping whites and it looks beautiful, the blacks are very close to the alienware, almost no difference

the HDR.... is a sight to behold and contrary to what people say about how slow this panel is, I actually play this panel fine on shooters like CS:GO, the gameplay is smooth

the only con this monitor have is blooming around the mouse during loading screens

I plan to use this monitor until it craps out, its that good + oozes with Asus quality build, its a nice monitor, well built, packed with features and Nvidia's G-Sync Ultimate


i also went to my friends house to check out his Alienware 3423DW, the blacks are nice and inky black, I noticed colors like purple, red and green looked pretty good too

he did have a complaint though, when watching movies colors look too saturated, also one reason I didn't pick this up because 4k 32" qd-oled is around the corner


If you want that HDR experience, get the PG32UQX, don't even waste money on cheaper alternatives, this is the best one on the market for probably another 2-3 years too imo, the 4090 ti of monitors

alienware if you want that ultrawide, otherwise, wait for the 4k 32" or pick the alienware up for cheap on black friday
 
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Errok23 said:
I had owned both at one time (though I have XG321UG- same panel as PG). I echo Bigmonitor above.

One really big consideration is if you are going to be watching much media or console then PG all the way as the black bars on side and 1440p resolution was what ultimately had me return the OLED.
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Is there any reason to prefer the Viewsonic over the Asus? Both are about the same price, near enough as makes no odds when talking this kind of money.
 
The biggest thing is the XG321UG either has passive cooling or a silent fan as there is no fan noise. It also has a more professional and less gamey look if that’s important to you.

The PG32UQX had an audible fan, but some say the more recent models fans have quieted down a bit. Also the PG has an interesting OLED indicator on the bottom which can be used for displaying various info, such as FPS etc.

Otherwise they are fairly identical.
 
Sycraft said:
Is there any reason to prefer the Viewsonic over the Asus? Both are about the same price, near enough as makes no odds when talking this kind of money.
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both solid, im a bit more biased towards asus now since its more gamer focused and great build quality

my asus fan is inaudible
 
Hmmm... There was a time when the fan would have been a real consideration as I had a quiet studio for my computer (below 25dB, the limit of my meter) but now living with my GF my computer is in a pretty noisy room so unless the fan is egregiously loud I'm not going to notice it.

I do like the way the Viewsonic looks a little better, but neither wows me or annoys me with their design, they are both fine. I think I might get the Asus just because Walmart of all people sell it and there's a Walmart right down the street which means returns are easy if I decide I don't like it.

It's competition, as noted in the first post, is an OLED TV. That's my reference for "good HDR" these days so we'll see how it does. I really thought about an OLED monitor but I just can't get over the worry of burn in, even though I know many people have no issues, the text clarity is a bit annoying, and the brightness isn't great. Like the TV can do 1000 nits at 10%, 600 at 25%. That's plenty for any real content out there. The OLED monitor only does 1000 for like 2% and drops fast. So we'll see how this compares in actual gameplay. I'm hoping that the zone transitions aren't too noticeable to me. I had an FALD TV before and it wasn't great, but it really didn't have many zones. I do wish I didn't have to make a choice of tradeoffs, but ya.

First world problems, I know :p.
 
Among the issues you mentored, text quality is the biggest issue in my view with current OLED displays (other than phones and the RGB panels from the bankrupt JOLED).
 
Bigmonitorguy said:
Among the issues you mentored, text quality is the biggest issue in my view with current OLED displays (other than phones and the RGB panels from the bankrupt JOLED).
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It doesn't bother me as much as it does some people, I've gotten up close to my S95B and done some pixel peeping, but it is noticeable and I would prefer to avoid it. Also it would have similar issues with some other things in software like Nuendo which uses subpixel anti-aliasing for some UI elements and you can't tune its settings, they are internal.

Like no single issue makes me say "no" to an OLED monitor but all together I'm just not feeling it right now. Realistically I'm sure I'd be happy with it, but there are just enough gotchas that I think I want to go this route.

I do worry a little if I'll be ok with the FALD zones and the blur (it is worse response than my current LCD) but it'll probably be fine and if I do get the Asus I can just dump it back at Walmart if I don't like it, they take returns on anything basically.
 
The motion blur is noticeable, and significantly worse than on OLEDs, obviously, but not a deal breaker in my view unless you play fast-moving games a lot.
 
Ya, we'll see how it goes. I'm not super sensitive to it, like I can go from me S95B to my AW3821DW and I'm fine. Of course the LCD has more noticeable blur, but it is very much acceptable. This one has more blur though on those bright-to-dark transitions so I'll have to see.

In general I don't do a lot of fast-moving games. Mostly RPGs these days. Fastest moving game I'm likely to play any time soon is Jedi Survivor and that'll probably be on the couch with the TV.

That's actually the other thing that is making me lean towards these is that I do have an OLED hooked to this computer that I can use, so it gives me another option. I do find that some things look overly dark on the TV, I think it under-tracks the EOTF, and if I go with the same thing on the desktop I have the same issue. But with a FALD LCD, I have a different tech to choose from if I want.
 
So got the PG32UQX and... ya, I think this'll do. I'll need more time testing to make a final decision, but I'm liking it a lot so far. Initial adaptation is just going to be getting used to the additional height, and lack of curve. I was so used to the subtle curve of the AW that this one looks bowed out. Screen quality seems good, at least as good as the AW. Colors are excellent, saturation looks very similar to my OLED in wide gamut/HDR mode. Big fan of the easy way you can choose sRGB or not for SDR (TV is always sRGB for SDR). Some games look great when you just crank up the color gamut. It does have some blur, but not really that big a deal. Even in Doom it didn't really bother me. Like it is noticeable if I'm peeping for it, but in the action you don't really notice much.

HDR is gorgeous. While the contrast, unsurprisingly, doesn't look quite as good as the OLED TV, overall presentation is fantastic. Blooming with the dimming zones really isn't a big deal. Only cases of like "bright lines against dark background" does it actually really show up. Part of it is just my vision, I naturally see some blooming from bright lights, so even my OLED has some perceptual blooming when there's a bright area next to a dark one. It is mostly noticeable with a mouse cursor on a grey background like on [H] but even then isn't bad. I'll probably turn it on for SDR gaming. Colors look good, haven't grabbed my calibrator yet, may not even bother.

No idea how loud the fan is, I haven't had a chance to have the room quiet but it isn't noticeably loud.

I wish ASUS wasn't so... ASUS with some of their crap, their little OLED display would be great except that it insists on displaying their logo in a distracting fashion. Still nice if I need an FPS counter, but I can't leave it on all the time too annoying.

So far the thing that I'd most like an OLED for vis viewing angles. The gamma shift isn't bad, not the best IPS I've seen but not the worst, but it is noticeable because of how large the display is and how close I am. OLED would be nice for this kind of thing. That was one of the things I noticed when I got my TV was, particularly compared to the VA TV it replaced, just how damn good it looked off axis when sitting in the easy chair.

All in all, I am happy so far and think this'll be a keeper. I might try the 4k 32" OLEDs when they launch... but I might not. This really does the trick pretty well.
 
I was able to quiet the room down for a bit and get my GF to turn off her overly noisy computers, and the fan is ever so faintly audible, but it is really faint. I'd be able to notice it if I had my old place with its quiet studio, but not here. As a practical matter is gets drown out by system fans when gaming, despite my system having a pretty silent setup (Noctua fans and cooler) so even if it spins up some in an HDR game there's no qay I'd notice.

Only case I can imagine it really being an issue is if you have something like I used to where the room is very quiet, and you physically have the computer in a separate room. Then you could notice it. If I ever redo a home studio, which I'd like to, then maybe I'll want something without a fan, but for a normal room I doubt most people find this an issue.
 
The fan noise on the PG32UQX was an issue for me, but my PC is silent when not gaming. I started using the XG321UG instead because it's quiet. I now use neither. I use a 40" 5K2K for work, and the 49" G9 240Hz QD-OLED for gaming. I have some other monitors that I use for gaming as well, but I stopped using the Asus and Viewsonic because of the motion blur - I mostly play fast-moving games.
 
My PC is totally silent when not gaming, sadly my room isn't. My GF has two PCs in here and they are pretty noisy, well one of them is at least. One is pretty quiet at idle, the other is real old and not only has old fans, but poor fan control so it is just noisy. Also because of the location of the office in the house, and all the computers in it, the main AC isn't enough to keep it cool in the summer and I have to fire up a room AC which makes noise. It sucks, but it does mean that a monitor fan is the least of my issues :/

I tried doing a different monitor for work and gaming back in the day when 120Hz LCDs were new, but crap, and I just can't deal with the PITA of swapping them out so I need one that does well for both. So far, this is fitting the bill. I haven't had time to do extensive gaming on it, just testing, but I'm happy with what I see so far. Should give me the ability to enjoy HDR games when the GF is using the OLED TV.
 
Yeah, swapping monitors is a pain. You currently need two setups to get the best solutions for work and gaming. The new 57" 8K2K 240Hz Samsung may do well on both, but not sure yet.
 
Bigmonitorguy said:
Yeah, swapping monitors is a pain. You currently need two setups to get the best solutions for work and gaming. The new 57" 8K2K 240Hz Samsung may do well on both, but not sure yet.
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Ya.. I've though of that but just too many issues:

1) The biggest is just space. I have nowhere that I could put a second setup without asking my GF to get rid of some of her stuff. We just don't have anywhere good for another nice desktop setup.

2) The added complexity of having actually 3 different setups on one computer. I really value the convenience of having everything on a single system (never mind the cost of having two high end systems). It has already been more than a few issues getting it to work (mostly) smoothly for switching back and forth between couch gaming and desktop work/gaming. Another setup just adds to that issue. I'm sure I could work it out but it is more configuration issues, more fiber optic cables to run, etc.

3) The cost. While I'm, clearly, someone who is willing to spend too much money on this shit, I still wouldn't really want to buy all the things I'd want for another setup. Even if I didn't get a second high end system, there's still all the peripherals I want. My taste in headphones and DACs is even pricier than the monitors. Then there's an adjustable desk, nice chair, etc, etc. I suppose there's a few things I could keep just on one side, I really don't use my speakers for gaming, just headphones, but you get the idea. While I could, of course, compromise then it feels like what's the point? I'd probably just use the nicer setup all the time.


So for now at least, I'd rather just stick with a monitor that is more generalist. This one is fitting the bill nicely, I very much appreciate the time you and the others in this thread spent giving advice.
 
Not exactly the same but I have the Alienware and the x27.

I stopped using the x27 for gaming. The HDR is superior in daytime scenes, but pretty bad in darker scenes due to the bad FALD haloing. Also, the fan on the x27 is horrendous compared to the Alienware.

That being said, the IPS x27 is just better for normal desktop usage, etc. So I use both for each purpose.
 
Mchart said:
Not exactly the same but I have the Alienware and the x27.

I stopped using the x27 for gaming. The HDR is superior in daytime scenes, but pretty bad in darker scenes due to the bad FALD haloing. Also, the fan on the x27 is horrendous compared to the Alienware.

That being said, the IPS x27 is just better for normal desktop usage, etc. So I use both for each purpose.
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I've found with the PG32UQX that the haloing is not bad at all. I think it comes down to having enough zones that they can be small enough for what you normally see in a game. I'm not saying it is zero, but it really is hard to notice and occasionally what I though was backlight halo was actually just the game implementing bloom on a light itself. I coudl see how something with like 1/4th the zones might have issues though. It seems like you need a pretty substantial number of zones to do it well.

Heck I'd take more, if someone sold them. Show me the 2000+ zone MiniLED monitor and I'm interested. Sadly though, it seems like the current gen coming out are all targeting less zones, for less money.
 
Sycraft said:
I've found with the PG32UQX that the haloing is not bad at all. I think it comes down to having enough zones that they can be small enough for what you normally see in a game. I'm not saying it is zero, but it really is hard to notice and occasionally what I though was backlight halo was actually just the game implementing bloom on a light itself. I coudl see how something with like 1/4th the zones might have issues though. It seems like you need a pretty substantial number of zones to do it well.

Heck I'd take more, if someone sold them. Show me the 2000+ zone MiniLED monitor and I'm interested. Sadly though, it seems like the current gen coming out are all targeting less zones, for less money.
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I haven't used the 32 in real life, but I doubt it's hugely better than the 27. Games like AC Valhalla, or other games with a lot of dark stuff in it just really didn't look good. The OLED is a game changer. I just can't go back for gaming/movies.

For desktop production work though, the IPS can't be beat.
 
Mchart said:
I haven't used the 32 in real life, but I doubt it's hugely better than the 27. Games like AC Valhalla, or other games with a lot of dark stuff in it just really didn't look good. The OLED is a game changer. I just can't go back for gaming/movies.

For desktop production work though, the IPS can't be beat.
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I am pleased with how well it ended up working compared to my OLED (I have an S95B TV I also game on). Like don't get me wrong: OLED still is king and has no haloing (or blurring) issues at all, but the high zone count really does seem to do the trick for most material. All things being equal I'd take an OLED if I could have one that did everything I wanted, but I do find these high zone count MiniLEDs to be an acceptable alternative that does well for everything. I will be watching future OLEDs with interest because I think eventually they'll solve the brightness issues, and as part of that burn-in will become something that is pretty much a non-issue.

For now though, this works for me. I also like that it is 4k, as it makes going back and forth between the TV easier. switching not only rez but aspect ratio made things more of a pain.
 
Sycraft said:
I am pleased with how well it ended up working compared to my OLED (I have an S95B TV I also game on). Like don't get me wrong: OLED still is king and has no haloing (or blurring) issues at all, but the high zone count really does seem to do the trick for most material. All things being equal I'd take an OLED if I could have one that did everything I wanted, but I do find these high zone count MiniLEDs to be an acceptable alternative that does well for everything. I will be watching future OLEDs with interest because I think eventually they'll solve the brightness issues, and as part of that burn-in will become something that is pretty much a non-issue.

For now though, this works for me. I also like that it is 4k, as it makes going back and forth between the TV easier. switching not only rez but aspect ratio made things more of a pain.
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I actually like the Alienware for gaming, besides the OLED, but honestly because it's 1440. I was getting tired of having to buy the best card given the insane prices just to get decent frames at 4K. With the Alienware I just don't need as good of a GPU, and honestly the pixel density of 4K doesn't mean much for gaming IMO. It matters more though for my actual work though, which is why I kept the X27. OLED is pretty awful to use for office work, something about IPS is just better for that.
 
Mchart said:
OLED is pretty awful to use for office work, something about IPS is just better for that.
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The three issues I could potentially see for office work that would make it bad:

1) Subpixel layout. This annoys different people to different amounts, but it is noticeable that the font hinting doesn't work right, meaning things look more fringy and blurry.

2) Brightness, potentially. Depends on how bright your office is. The Alienware gets decently bright full screen, brighter than I've ever set a monitor in an office, but if your office is really bright, like has a big window or something, I could see wanting more brightness than the OLEDs can but out.

3) Too much contrast. Seriously, I've noticed that high contrast can be more fatiguing on the eyes, and indeed some monitors offer "eyestrain" modes that not only reduce blue light, but also cut contrast down to somewhere in the 200-300:1 range which is more around paper. Not something you'd want for movies or games, but for office work it can be nice. I use the "paper" preset on my Dell monitor at work for that reason.
 
Mchart said:
I actually like the Alienware for gaming, besides the OLED, but honestly because it's 1440. I was getting tired of having to buy the best card given the insane prices just to get decent frames at 4K. With the Alienware I just don't need as good of a GPU, and honestly the pixel density of 4K doesn't mean much for gaming IMO. It matters more though for my actual work though, which is why I kept the X27. OLED is pretty awful to use for office work, something about IPS is just better for that.
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That would be due to the subpixel layout and the risk on Burn in. LCD is king for productivity.
 
Mchart said:
I actually like the Alienware for gaming, besides the OLED, but honestly because it's 1440. I was getting tired of having to buy the best card given the insane prices just to get decent frames at 4K. With the Alienware I just don't need as good of a GPU, and honestly the pixel density of 4K doesn't mean much for gaming IMO. It matters more though for my actual work though, which is why I kept the X27. OLED is pretty awful to use for office work, something about IPS is just better for that.
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Absolutely. Even if I do get that 32" Asus QD OLED later, I'm still gonna hang onto to my 32M2V for all desktop use.
 
Mchart said:
Not exactly the same but I have the Alienware and the x27.

I stopped using the x27 for gaming. The HDR is superior in daytime scenes, but pretty bad in darker scenes due to the bad FALD haloing. Also, the fan on the x27 is horrendous compared to the Alienware.

That being said, the IPS x27 is just better for normal desktop usage, etc. So I use both for each purpose.
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You know there is a secret menu on the X27 (like many other Acer monitors) where you can modify the fan curve? The X27 continue to be shockingly good even compared with todays best minileds.
 
improwise said:
You know there is a secret menu on the X27 (like many other Acer monitors) where you can modify the fan curve? The X27 continue to be shockingly good even compared with todays best minileds.
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I guess, but mine runs pretty hot. Ran cooler when I lived at sea level. 8000ft altitude the cooling just isn’t sufficient on that thing.
 
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