Alienware 39 5K OLED Gaming Monitor Review: First Class, If You Can Justify It

We could obtain a fee on purchases produced from hyperlinks.

This is not true for each show or use case, however sometimes talking, screens designed for gaming typically fall into two distinct classes. There’s the competitive-focused avid gamers who need 1080p/1440p panels at most, the best refresh charge doable, together with the best response time. The largest compromise in that {hardware} sometimes comes from visible readability and related bells and whistles. On the opposite hand, there are the oldsters centered on making their PC video games look as stunning as doable. That means 4K+ decision, shade accuracy, and a definite deal with sharpness. Compromises like refresh charge or display dimension typically happen, although not all the time.

Most of the time, worth is the first differentiating issue between these two patrons. In reality, numerous higher-tier, higher-resolution panels nonetheless sport larger refresh charges for smoother movement as alongside better visible constancy. Same cope with a monitor as excessive as 5K decision, which brings us to this 5K2K show by Alienware. This 39-inch 5K OLED monitor (Alienware AW3926QW, “AW39” for brief) packs a really spectacular set of specs into its large, but skinny body.

The aforementioned large, 1500R curved panel with DisplayHDR True Black 500 certification, 165Hz refresh charge (or 330Hz at decrease resolutions, extra on that later), 0.03ms response time, 1300 nits brightness, and extra options; these all evidently are available at “$700 less” than the Alienware’s approximate competitors. However, do not mistake this as an reasonably priced possibility: This monitor nonetheless begs a $1,099 MSRP premium, which is not any small quantity for any PC show.

Diving into the nitty gritty, Alienware is billing this AW39 monitor because the “World’s First” 5K2K (5120×2160) OLED panel with RGB Stripe tandem expertise. As for what that’s precisely, it is billed as the subsequent innovation for OLED shows: The fundamental idea is particular person “stripes” or subpixels of purple, inexperienced, and blue are stacked on prime of one another to supply richer and extra correct colours on OLEDs. Alienware’s monitor specifically implements a 4-stack, 3-subpixel construction, with an additional blue layer to enhance shade readability. The finish end result holds as much as scrutiny, too.

Beyond the show tech itself, this panel has a great deal of different accomplishments for a premium OLED display. You get a superb 1500 nits HDR brightness at peak, DCI-P3 99% shade accuracy, the aforementioned VESA True Black 500 certification, and Dolby Vision help. The actual get together trick comes within the type of its default 5K decision sporting 165Hz refresh charge, however it might probably additionally swap to “esports” modes at 24.5-inch and 27-inch display sizes, every sporting 330Hz refresh charges. There’s additionally apparently non-esports “flexible” modes at 31.5-inch (16:9) display dimension at 165Hz, and a 39-inch WFHD (21:9) display dimension at 330Hz. The panel additionally has an extra polarizing layer, which reduces reflective glare to supply correct black shades, no matter room lighting.

Rob Dolen/BGR

As for connectivity: You get two HDMI 2.1 FRL ports (one helps ARC/eARC), a DP 2.1 port, a USB-C upstream port (10Gbps with PD as much as 90W and DP 2.1 Alt help), a USB-B upstream port (5Gbps), two USB-A downstream ports (5Gbps, one with charging help), a USB-C downstream port (with charging as much as 15W), and a 3.5mm aux port. You additionally get the related cables — DP, USB-C, HDMI, and Type A-to-B — included within the monitor field.

Alienware’s monitor aesthetic is pretty minimal, with clean matte strains and contours on the sides and rear, devoid of any main frills. Other than its sleekness, the AW39’s demure design would not even actually scream “Alienware” or communicate to any type of imposing look in any respect. The most spectacular design side of the AW39’s design is how skinny the 39-inch panel is. Clocking in at slightly below 2 inches (50mm), actually the one factor that takes up the most important quantity of room from this monitor is the beefy 6-pound stand that it comes with. However, you do get nice angle articulation and easy peak adjustment from the included stand.

You additionally get creature comforts like cable routing slots, a customizable Alienware emblem LED on the again, and shade coordination with Alienware Command Center help. The monitor itself clocks in at almost 15 kilos, so you may want a stable monitor arm if you happen to plan on mounting this show. Thankfully, the exterior PSU does imply no large brick plugged into your surge protector that you’re going to have to make room for.

The display does a fantastic job of overlaying a majority of the seen show space. While there’s nonetheless much more bezel than most individuals could like, it isn’t an entire lot chunkier than another comparable OLED gaming monitor at 4K+ decision. Also praiseworthy is the 1500R curve that Alienware precisely describes as “subtle,” offering simply sufficient angle for snug viewing and multitasking. Not an entire lot distracts you from how crisp and comfy utilizing this monitor is.

And particularly at this monitor’s native 5120×2160 decision, “crisp” is an apt description. While the default shade profile (at the very least on this evaluate unit) was a tad too dim, cranking up the HDR brightness reveals the spectacular vibrancy you get from the AW39’s RGB stripe tandem tech. While my growing older and gasping-for-air RTX 2070 Super could not hack it with any newer AAA titles, lower-demand video games nonetheless emphasised how stunning and clean this panel is in motion. Still reaching 165Hz at 5K meant some extremely fluid visuals in high-motion scenes.

Jumping round varied video games (even when some solely supported as much as 4K decision), this panel performs greater than admirably. Testing in “Resident Evil 2” for example; the sport appeared unimaginable at 5K, even when that necessitated dropping all the way down to medium settings and averaging round 45 fps. The excessive GtG response time actually smoothed out the shortage of 60 fps, which is (maybe subjectively) completely serviceable for singleplayer gaming. Games like “Counter-Strike 2” additionally carried out flawlessly on the devoted “esports” modes, in addition to the opposite versatile modes that also supplied as much as 330Hz. Each spherical felt as responsive as my 240Hz, 1080p every day driver LG monitor.

On higher-spec programs, you may possible get an entire lot extra mileage out of this monitor at native decision when your rig is sporting GPUs like an RTX 5090. That being stated, it is simple to inform that this panel is completely versatile for quite a lot of use circumstances in gaming. Even within the devoted esports modes, this monitor outputs actually clean and tear-free readability for aggressive video games.

The solely draw back to this versatility is needing to manually swap the monitor’s modes through the panel’s firmware, as a substitute of straight in Windows. The aforementioned “esports” modes have their very own separate sub-menu the place you may choose the 24 or 27-inch configurations, however the 31.5 or 39-inch WFHD modes are relegated to the bigger image settings menu. It’s a tad clunky, so it isn’t fairly the fast swap that Alienware appears to suggest, however it is a small nitpick for rigs this monitor is not actually meant for, or for in any other case extra area of interest gaming moments.

Obviously it is not possible to definitively touch upon an OLED panel’s resilience or reliability in a brief evaluate interval, however it’s value noting Alienware’s confidence within the AW39’s construct high quality. Alienware particularly factors to the four-stack stripe structure as having the extra benefit of emitting much less luminosity than earlier OLED tech. With “less electrical stress per emissive layer,” the chance of burn-in with the AW39 is predicted to be low.

Something value declaring within the evaluate materials is Alienware’s “Personalized Algorithm” expertise constructed into this show, which is much too nebulous to correctly consider throughout the evaluate interval. However, Alienware appears assured that this “machine-learning technology integrated into the panel” will assist preserve the monitor’s lifespan over time. The outcomes of which can possible come out over the subsequent a number of years, however are not possible to judge in just some quick weeks.

Beyond anticipated reliability, Alienware does plan to supply a 3-year guarantee that particularly encompasses burn-in protection. So there’s some extent of “peace of mind,” but it surely stays to be seen if these safeguards will lead to adequate panel lifespan.

On purely show high quality alone, there actually is not an entire lot to knock on this Alienware AW39 5K gaming monitor. The panel high quality is great, shade accuracy is true-to-form for its aforementioned scores and certifications, and its design is surprisingly muted for the sheer performance it gives. Gaming is clean and vibrant, and can assuredly present a correct high-fidelity expertise at native decision, 4K, and even within the different HD and 21:9 resolutions.

Minor frustrations with the AW39 stem purely from the less-than-intuitive firmware current on the show itself. If you are enjoying video games at larger constancy, particularly in singleplayer situations, this possible will not even immediate a difficulty for you. However, if you happen to’re swapping backwards and forwards between high-stakes and low-key gaming situations, swapping show modes will probably be a clunky affair. You can also want to regulate some HDR settings out of the field, although your mileage could range. I’d even be keen to guess most patrons of this monitor have been most likely going to try this already, so not an enormous subject.

All in all, Alienware has a superb worth proposition right here, contemplating there’s not an entire lot of one-to-one competitors. At an equal $1,000-$1,300 finances, you are probably sacrificing display dimension, refresh charge, and/or response time; the latter two being the commonest compromises. The solely instantly comparable unit comes from LG’s Ultragear line, which has an MSRP of $1,999 (although is discounted on Amazon for $1,299.99 at time of writing).

At 39 inches, 5K2K decision, and 165Hz refresh charge and above; you are getting a feature-packed premium monitor for considerably lower than comparable rivals. Really the one stipulations listed below are having a more-than-$1,000 gap burning in your pockets — and already having an even-more-expensive rig to justify that monitor buy. If you match that standards, the Alienware AW39 is a surprisingly good worth contemplating all of the bells and whistles you get.