If you’re looking for a new gaming monitor, you can go old-school 16:9 at a measly 27-inch or join the big leagues with a 38-inch curved ultrawide.
We prefer the latter.
Check out Dell’s Alienware AW3821DW, which is usually $1,350 but is now 26% off at a more reasonable $999. That’s still not cheap, but this is one hot-looking monitor. Let’s hit the specs since that is all that matters here:
| Resolution | 3840 x 1600 | Row 0 - Cell 2 |
| Refresh rate | 144Hz | Row 1 - Cell 2 |
| Diagonal size | 37.52" | Row 2 - Cell 2 |
| Adaptive sync | NVIDIA G-Sync Ultimate | Row 3 - Cell 2 |
| Response | 1 to 4ms | Row 4 - Cell 2 |
| DisplayHDR 600 | Y | Row 5 - Cell 2 |
| Display Type | LED-backlit LCD monitor / TFT active matrix | Row 6 - Cell 2 |
| Curved Screen | Yes (2300R) | Row 7 - Cell 2 |
| Aspect Ratio | 21:9 | Row 8 - Cell 2 |
| Screen Coating | Anti-glare 3H hardness | Row 9 - Cell 2 |
| Features | Ambient light sensor, LED edgelight system, Flicker Free technology, Dell ComfortView | Row 10 - Cell 2 |
| Row 11 - Cell 0 | Row 11 - Cell 1 | Row 11 - Cell 2 |
Playing at 3840 x 1600 with DisplayHDR 600 on a 21:9 aspect on a 38-inch display will absolutely change how you play video games. With that wider design and 144Hz refresh (NVIDIA G-Sync Ultimate) with 1 to 4ms response, you’ll be able to grow into this monitor as your gaming rig increases in performance from those GPU upgrades.
It’s also anti-glare, which I consider crucial when gaming for hours. Trust me, your eyes will thank you as anti-glare reduces eye fatigue from reflections.
Let’s also not kid ourselves: That’s a hella cool-looking monitor. It’s all white with the soft blue AlienFX lighting system, has a broad base, and looks the business. If you have a matching white tower (like our Corsair iCUE 4000 or 5000T RGB PC case), this display will look killer.
Ports are no slouch here, either. You get DisplayPort 1.4, 2 x HDMI, USB 3.2 Gen 1 upstream, 3 x USB 3.2 Gen 1 downstream, USB 3.2 Gen 1 downstream with Battery Charging 1.2, and headphones/audio line-out.
Just as impressive is going to be the color gamut as Dell claims 130.6% sRGB and 95% DCI-P3, which puts this monitor up into the premium leagues. Not only will your games be color accurate, but if you render video or work on photos, your media will also be graded correctly.
A weird thing that’s neat: This display has an ambient light sensor, so your brightness can auto-adjust based on your current lighting conditions (you can turn it off if you don’t like it, of course).
Overall, this is one excellent-looking monitor at one of the lowest prices we’ve seen recently. And if you're looking for something a bit different, see our other best gaming monitors for even more ideas.
