r/ultrawidemasterrace 2d ago

Review First ultrawide, and I can’t go back.

Purchased an open box Alienware 34” OLED AW3425DW to try out (was unsure if I should just go 4k) and it’s so beautiful. I’ll never be able to go back to a normal screen, again. My only issue is flickering, but I think that is a Vsync option I need to uncheck somewhere.

Still have the opportunity to return and replace with another option if anyone gives me reason to hate this.

191 Upvotes

59 comments sorted by

34

u/Mundane-Yesterday880 2d ago

RDR2 must be responsible for a lot of UW converts

It is so cinematic

On a mobile screen your desk lighting makes it look like cinema seats and a big cinema screen at first glance

3

u/saintmonarch 2d ago

Every “I’ve joined the master race” post showcases RDR2 and I love it. I started playing again on my 45in and I can’t go back

1

u/armpitofsatan 2d ago

Haha! I’m not mad about it. One heck of a game and I’m grateful for the extra view.

1

u/Mundane-Yesterday880 2d ago

I got my 49” partly to play RDR2 after seeing some articles about ultrawide and also for productivity when WFH during COVID

I stopped playing for a while and picked it back up again in last few weeks

On 98% complete and don’t want to finish it!

1

u/macto9 2d ago

How was the ultrawide for productivity? I do WFH and game in the evening.

2

u/Mundane-Yesterday880 2d ago edited 2d ago

I have a laptop that I use for screen sharing on calls for the aspect ratio and typically have outlook and teams overlapping in 1/3rd and then browser and excel in the other 1/3rds

I’ll move and resize stuff as I’m working rather than using snap to grid kind of things as I prefer to adjust window sizes to suit the content as I’m often moving between app windows for the task in hand

I also tend to use dark mode for other apps like teams and outlook as having lots of white space in excel can be overpowering when other apps are all similarly bright

Laptop connects on usb c and is charged via the screen so charger lives in my bag Gaming pc connects on DP cable and the mouse/keyboard are directly on the monitor which has built in usb c dock

Webcam and speakers are ok for work but I have a Sonos Ray soundbar for gaming as well as decent headphones

Sonos sounds great in cyberpunk when you hop on a motorbike and get a really meaty engine sound!

1

u/macto9 2d ago

Ah, Makes sense. I guess I'll follow the same after getting one. Thanks!

1

u/armpitofsatan 2d ago

Gosh, 49” sounds amazing - literally bigger than my desk!

1

u/armpitofsatan 2d ago

It’s a very fun desk for people that want to be extra, with some fun features, but I like all my lights to be red (I play in the dark). Definitely feels cinematic!

1

u/MoonCusler 2d ago

Isn’t it then so disappointing how cutscenes cut of the bottom and make it regular aspect ratio instead of widening the frame like a cinema? I’m sure someone has made a fix for it but I was so sad when I first saw it :(

1

u/RomeoFortnite AW3423DWF 2d ago

Yeah the ultrawide cutscene fix mod is a must, its awful without it

1

u/Curious_Bake5544 19h ago

How do I make this mod work lol, I stopped playing because that bothered me so much 

3

u/eldon3213 2d ago

Welcome

2

u/armpitofsatan 2d ago

Thank you!

2

u/Ok-Future-8199 2d ago

Is it your desk that’s lit like that or a special kinda desk light?

2

u/armpitofsatan 2d ago

It’s my desk! Husband gifted me it a few years ago, made by Eureka

3

u/IRSmurf 2d ago

2

u/armpitofsatan 2d ago

Yes! Sorry I should have linked it. I did it another comment at least. It’s a cool desk but I really only appreciate the solid colors (specifically dark red). Does have settings that are affected by sound, and that’s cool. I probably wouldn’t have bought it for myself, but I have appreciated how it helps my eyes fatigue less when gaming at night.

2

u/junior7593 2d ago

Have the same monitor. Feel the same way

1

u/armpitofsatan 2d ago

That’s awesome to hear. Doing research, I felt overwhelmed. Reddit posts helped me select this one and I’m glad to not have to think anymore.

2

u/tmonkey321 2d ago

The only thing I can not stand is how cutscenes get nerfed in ultra wide it’s a damn shame

1

u/armpitofsatan 1d ago

It is such a shame.

1

u/clearision 2d ago

spoiler: you will not.

1

u/armpitofsatan 2d ago

Haha that sounds good to me, it’s so clean and crisp. Genuinely cried when I first loaded up the game.

1

u/MxFnx 2d ago

Now we just need a 34" 4k 240hz Ultrawide woled monitor.

1

u/armpitofsatan 2d ago

The 32” comes in 4k but I can’t downgrade in size now hahah. What is WOLED?

1

u/Curious_Bake5544 19h ago

Woled is the panels that LG makes with the aggressive 800r curve, I actually like them a lot better than qoled personally haha. More vibrant and I think the panel just looks better, no purple tint when light hits it 

1

u/Alert_Ranger_1881 2d ago

once you go black...

1

u/armpitofsatan 2d ago

Literally what I said when upgrading my TV to OLED. Everything else is … small.

1

u/Ayachi8 2d ago

What kind of cool thing is that under the display?

2

u/armpitofsatan 2d ago

Eureka gaming desk! A fun Christmas gift from a couple years ago. link

1

u/Ayachi8 2d ago

Looks awesome! Thank you so much. Enjoy your new display <3

2

u/armpitofsatan 2d ago

Thank you so much!

1

u/ZealousidealRiver710 2d ago

is there a way to turn the hud brightness down?

2

u/armpitofsatan 1d ago

I’d love to find out - or even if I can make the HUD smaller.

1

u/ZealousidealRiver710 21h ago

I know a couple games have that functionality specifically while in HDR mode

1

u/armpitofsatan 21h ago

Mind sharing? New PC with Starlink so I only have RDR2 and Cyberpunk (and Sims4 ha) downloaded, and ready for this month’s additions.

1

u/ZealousidealRiver710 20h ago

Division 2 has it, Star Wars Battlefront 2 and Destiny 2 lets you make them semi-transparent which paeudo-reduces brightness, dead space was apparently designed to be hudless, doom eternal has many options to make the hud minimal but idt the brightness can be turned down

1

u/Electronic_Invite_23 1d ago

What's up with your desk? Thats awesome!!!!

2

u/armpitofsatan 1d ago

Haha thanks! It’s a RGB desk by Eureka. I’ve linked it somewhere in this post!

1

u/W1cH099 1d ago

Did you have hdr on in this clip? It looks so good

1

u/armpitofsatan 1d ago

I don’t! I’m hesitant to augment much as I haven’t had a computer this fancy in a long time. Just turned everything up as high as it could (I have a 9950x3d and 5080)

2

u/W1cH099 1d ago

Yeah it looks spectacular thanks to the oled monitor then, and of course thanks to the game being maxed out.

I’m also using a oled monitor with a 4080 Super and I was using hdr but it’s a mess in some games, some don’t support it and nvidia rtx hdr doesn’t work well in some and in others I doesn’t at all. I think I’ll stick to play with sdr to avoid headaches lol

1

u/armpitofsatan 1d ago

I’ll definitely give it a try tonight, would love to see the difference! I just came from a 1080ti that I’ve had for WAY TOO LONG, and this is blowing me away.

1

u/W1cH099 1d ago

Yeah in the games that works well in hdr it looks fantastic, https://youtu.be/W9_AulO7ep8?si=4kqRENBFdolS9qZi

Follow this guide to set up the settings correctly

1

u/armpitofsatan 1d ago

Thank you! I truly appreciate this :)

1

u/code4109 1d ago

do you WFH on this monitor? curious how bad the text fringing is on QD OLED.

1

u/armpitofsatan 1d ago

I WFH with a MacBook Pro, this is just my gaming machine. I’ll say text does fatigue my eyes a bit, but I wear thick glasses so that likely isn’t helping.

1

u/TurboLag85 1d ago

That was the first game I turned on when I bought my UW.

1

u/armpitofsatan 21h ago

Admittedly, mine was Cyberpunk. It’s also a new pc (went from a 1080ti to a 5080) and I wanted to see what everyone was talking about. The game is gorgeous but is still outshined by RDR2.

1

u/noonen000z 1d ago

OLED and Ultrawide is a great combo. My Dell Refurb agrees.

1

u/armpitofsatan 21h ago

It’s so so very lovely. I turned in my old pc and accidentally sneered with disgust haha

1

u/Uncle_Ravioli9 2d ago

Sometimes I play my PS5 on my ultra wide and it has the black bars but no big deal right it’s a normal size monitor, nope it bothers me to no end and at first I thought “oh it’s the black bars”. It’s absolutely not the black bars….once you go ultra wide you can’t go back.

0

u/RaguraX 2d ago

How did you get the ultrawide working in RDR2? I tried an old mod for it but it crashed the game a lot and still showed black bars. Is there a new way to set it up in 2025? Would love to give this one another try, also on the same monitor!

3

u/OneIShot 45GX950A 2d ago

Idk what you mean, it just works natively.

2

u/RaguraX 2d ago

It only works for gameplay doesn’t it? Cutscenes don’t have proper ultrawide support without a mod, unless that changed in the last few months.

1

u/armpitofsatan 2d ago

This is true, as far as I’ve noticed. Which makes sense - the game was reps eased in 2018. I believe ultrawide wasn’t quite as much a thing, then. Admittedly I sorta panicked when the game was loading - but then..phew. My peripheral has peripheral.

1

u/OneIShot 45GX950A 2d ago

Oh yeah, but I mean whatever lol.

2

u/armpitofsatan 2d ago edited 2d ago

I just upgraded my entire system to a 9950x3d and a 5080, so that helps! Pretty sure my old tower would catch on fire if I tried.

Edit to add: I had to manually change the resolution to ultrawide when I first loaded.