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For a new gaming monitor that ticks an awful lot of boxes, the Alienware AW3926QW has also arrived with an awful lot of controversy. Some early adopters of this epic 39-inch 5K2K OLED panel have reported numerous issues, including green tinting, so-called “vignette dimming” and adaptive refresh flicker.
We’ll get into the specifics of what Reddit is losing its hive mind over with the Alienware AW3926QW later. But first let’s consider the stellar on-paper proposition of this monitor. For starters, it’s OLED. Not just any old OLED, but LG’s fancy Tandem WOLED tech.
Oh, and it has pure RGB-stripe subpixels, it’s a 39-inch ultrawide with sensible 1500R curvature for epic immersion, packs a 5K2K native resolution and thus excellent pixel density, has a glossy screen coating, DisplayHDR True Black 500 certification, a high-refresh 330 Hz dual-mode and, well, plenty more besides. Heck, it’s even cheaper than you might expect, coming in at just $1,099 in the US and £999 in the UK, therefore undercutting LG’s own $1,799 5K2K 39-inch OLED model by miles. And that LG monitor doesn’t even get RGB-stripe tech. No question, this Alienware is absolutely stacked.
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|
Screen size |
39-inch |
|
Resolution |
5,120 x 2,160 |
|
Brightness |
300 nits full screen, 1,300 nits peak HDR |
|
Response time |
0.03 ms |
|
Refresh rate |
165 Hz @ 5K2K, 330 Hz @ 2,560 x 1,080 |
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HDR |
DisplayHDR True Black 500 |
|
Features |
LG Tandem OLED RGB-stripe panel, G-Sync, 2x HDMI 2.1, DisplayPort 2.1, USB-C with 90 W PD, USB hub |
|
Price |
$1,099 | £999 |
Buy if…
✅ You want an ultrawide OLED with everything: This Alienware has it all: Tandem OLED, RGB-stripe, good pixel density, the works.
Do not buy if…
❌ You can’t afford a decent GPU: The 5,120 by 2,160 native resolution means you’re going to want a decent graphics card to drive this monitor.
If that’s the broad brush strokes of the Alienware AW3926QW’s proposition, how about the finer details of its tech specs and configuration? The basic panel format is 21:9 aspect and 5K2K resolution, which means it’s essentially a 32-inch 4K 16:9 panel widened out to 21:9 and with exactly the same pixel density, just on an even more immersive ultrawide panel.
As I’ve covered on several previous occasions, Tandem WOLED is LG’s very latest panel tech. Confusingly, the “W” doesn’t refer to the white subpixel that all previous generations of LG’s monitor panels have included, but rather the white colour of the light produced by each subpixel, which in turn is passed through a colour filter.
Likewise, the “Tandem” bit as used here doesn’t mean two full OLED panels sandwiched together as per, say, a tandem OLED panel in a Apple iPad Pro. Instead, it’s a reference to the additional emissive layer LG has added, again within the sub pixels.
Anyway, this new Tandem WOLED generation is brighter than ever before. At least, it is in some cases. This is actually the fourth OLED we’ve reviewed this year with the new Tandem WOLED panel tech. The first two, the aforementioned LG UltraGear Evo GX9 39GX950B and then the Asus ROG Strix XG32UQWMS, use LG’s traditional RGWB subpixel structure, cranked out 1,500 nits of peak HDR brightness and good enough for DisplayHDR True Black 500 certification.
But the Asus ROG Swift PG32UCWM adds a twist by taking that Tandem WOLED panel tech and inserting LG’s new pure RGB-stripe subpixel structure that does away with the additional white subpixel in a quest for sharper, more precise rendering and broader colour coverage. In that Asus Swift, RGB-stripe comes at a pretty pointed cost when it comes to brightness.
Where the two RGWB Tandem WOLEDs I mention hit around 330 nits full screen, the RGB-Stripe Swift can only manage 250 nits. It also tops out at just 1,000 nits peak HDR and makes do with DisplayHDR True Black 400 certification. But here’s where it gets really confusing. This new 5K2K 39-inch Alienware is also RGB-stripe Tandem WOLED just like the Asus Swift, but achieves 300 nits full-screen brightness, 1,300 nits peak HDR and DisplayHDR True Black 500 certification.
(Image credit: Future)
Long story short, then, what this Alienware seems to offer is the benefits of RGB-stripe subpixels, including more precise rendering at subpixel level and so crisper text and fonts, plus wider colour coverage more akin to Samsung’s competing QD-OLED tech, while minimising the downsides in terms of compromised brightness.
Of course, all this also promises a monitor that might match QD-OLED’s vibrancy without that technology’s own downsides, which include purple tint and compromised contrast in bright ambient light, plus overly warm colour balance. Then there’s the usual upsides that come with all OLED monitors, like perfect per-pixel lighting and ridiculously quick 0.03 ms response times. It’s a lot to keep up with but a tantalising overall proposition.
For the record and just to cover off the broader feature set, the Alienware AW3926QW is very well specified beyond the core panel tech. You get DisplayPort 2.1, two HDMI ports and USB-C with 90 W of power delivery, plus a multi-port USB hub and a KVM switch. As for refresh rate, at the native 5K2K or 5,120 by 2,160 pixel resolution, the AW3926QW hits 165 Hz, while an alternative 2,560 by 1,080 resolution dual-mode ups that to 330 Hz.
There’s the usual upsides that come with all OLED monitors, like perfect per-pixel lighting and ridiculously quick 0.03 ms response times.
There are also additional alternative resolutions of 4K at 165 Hz, and a couple of further 25-inch and 27-inch 330 Hz modes which run at sub-1080p. As you would expect, further gaming-friendly features include AMD FreeSync and Nvidia G-Sync support. It’s all buttoned up by a full three-year warranty that includes the all-important cover for OLED burn-in.
Finally, the physical design is a dead ringer for other Alienware monitors. Gone is the Storm Trooper-style white plastic and retro lines, which is a bit of a pity. In is a more organic vibe and dark blue plastic throughout. Still, it’s well enough built and looks modern with slim bezels on all four sides of the WOLED panel.
Hopefully that covers off the context, now we can consider how this display actually performs. And that performance is mostly incredible. It’s immediately obvious that there are fewer compromises when it comes to brightness with this RGB-stripe Tandem WOLED versus the similarly equipped Asus Swift.
(Image credit: Future)
How Alienware has managed to make this huge 39-inch 5K2K model noticeably brighter than the 32-inch 4K Asus, I don’t know. But it clearly has. It’s punchier everywhere, whether you’re talking SDR or HDR content. What’s more, there’s very little noticeable dimming when, say, you expand a small white browser window across the display. It’s much less clunky than the Asus in that regard.
Subjectively, you lose very little compared with RGWB Tandem WOLEDs in terms of perceived brightness, too. But you gain loads when it comes to colours. This is not only a more vibrant display, it’s more accurate. Gone is the slightly green-tinged colour balance of an RGWB WOLED. Overall, it’s right up there with a QD-OLED panel for vibrancy, but with a more natural and accurate vibe. It’s really super.
It’s also bloody quick, like all OLEDs. The caveat to that is the 165 Hz refresh rate at native 5K2K. Some commentators have criticised this display for that supposed shortcoming. After all, most 32-inch 4K OLEDs run at 240 Hz.
(Image credit: Future)
Admittedly, the fact that you have to step down from the 240 Hz widely available from 32-inch 4K OLEDs doesn’t sit comfortably with is otherwise a bleeding-edge monitor. Personally, I think the idea that 165 Hz is a major limitation given the huge resolution isn’t terribly convincing.
Indeed, the immediate assumption is that you’d want at least an RTX 5080 to make the most of this display and even then you’re probably not going to run into that 165 Hz limitation with a lot of games. With graphics card prices escalating by the day, that’s a significant worry.
In practice, you might be surprised how usable this monitor is with an RTX 5070-level card, such is the effectiveness of the likes of DLSS upscaling these days. Okay, it’s not a super slick high-refresh experience with an RTX 5070-level card, but you can get playable results and fantastic image quality with only minor settings tweaks. Of course, you have those higher refresh dual-modes to fall back on when frame rates really matter, too, though as ever with dual-mode features, image quality and sharpness take quite a hit.
I cannot tell you how lush it looks fully lit up running the latest titles with HDR enabled.
Anyway, the general picture, no pun intended, with this monitor is very positive. I cannot tell you how lush it looks fully lit up running the latest titles with HDR enabled. The scale of the thing, the clarity and detail, the incredible contrast, the pixel speed, it’s just fantastic.
It is, however, not perfect. Apart from the arguable refresh rate limitations, let’s cover off those Reddit concerts. First, the claimed green tint. That’s essentially a viewing angle thing. Yes, it is visible at the edges of the display, but it’s really only clearly apparent if you shove your nose a few inches from the panel then crane your neck to view the edges.
Personally, I couldn’t detect any VRR flicker, either. It’s possible there are settings and frame rates I didn’t try where it’s more obvious, but I don’t think that’s a major limitation. The one Reddit-raised issue that I do think is more problematic, however, is the so-called “vignette” or corner dimming.
(Image credit: Future)
This is a tricky issue to isolate. But to summarise, during gaming the edges of the panel gradually dim ever so slightly. The best way to see this is to have an app displaying full-screen white on the Windows desktop that you can alt-tab out to. At which point you’ll see the “vignette” effect of dimming around the edges with a brighter central area of the display.
If you remain on the desktop, the dimming gradually fades and normal full-screen brightness returns after about 30 seconds. Equally, the dimming takes about 30 seconds of bright-scene gaming to fully kick in. It doesn’t seem to happen when gaming in darker scenes.
In terms of why this happens at all, the most likely candidate is a feature called CPC, or Convex Power Control. It’s an LG Display WOLED panel protection feature and dims all four edges of the display to help prevent burn-in. As far as I am aware, it can’t be toggled on or off on this Alienware, but if CPC is causing the vignette issue, it should be easy to address in a firmware update. Broadly, I don’t think this is a hardware limitation, but a configuration issue.
Exactly how much of an actual problem it is, on the other hand, is subjective. It’s worth noting it seems to happen in all modes, SDR, HDR, the works. I’d say it’s one of those issues you won’t immediately spot, but once you are aware—either because you notice or because you’ve read about it—well, it does then niggle a little.
(Image credit: Future)
That said, the reported issues with this panel are generally pretty subtle in reality and fall into the category of minor flaws from which pretty much any monitor will suffer at least a few. The somewhat frenzied community discussion around this Alienware, then, probably comes down to the fact that it’s an expensive panel with fantastic specs that has generated a lot of anticipation and scrutiny.
It’s probably inevitable, therefore, that any minor glitch was going to be immediately jumped on by the tech community. But I’ve seen far worse flaws on displays that have generally reviewed very well, the obvious example being backlight oddities on just about every mini-LED monitor.
(Image credit: Future)
This Alienware is, as things stand, still the monitor that I personally would buy right now.
In the end, it’s a very tough and subjective call to make. I’d say the vignette dimming is an issue that needs to be factored in to a purchase decision. It’s by no means catastrophic, but it is a tiny bit bothersome. It’s just enough, I think, to prevent a full, caveat-free recommendation and pull our score below the critical 90% mark.
This is still an incredible monitor. I personally prefer it to the other 39-inch 5K2K OLED option out there, the LG UltraGear Evo GX9 39GX950B, which also didn’t achieve 90-plus percent for its own reasons. This Alienware is, as things stand, still the monitor that I personally would buy right now, money no object. But to attach an unreserved buy recommendation for everyone else, that vignette dimming issue, relatively subtle as it is, needs to be sorted.
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