Alienware AW2518H

Ask about motion blur reduction in gaming monitors. Includes ULMB (Ultra Low Motion Blur), NVIDIA LightBoost, ASUS ELMB, BenQ/Zowie DyAc, Turbo240, ToastyX Strobelight, etc.
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A Solid lad
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Re: Alienware AW2518H

Post by A Solid lad » 25 Feb 2018, 06:19

...So I have the freesync version of the AW2518H, that is, the AW2518Hf. (mind the f)
Got it for 300 eur here in Slovakia, which is awesome, a couple of shops were selling it for that amount, so I instantly ordered one.

Will shoot a comparison video soon, which will feature the xl2411z (my old monitor), this Alienware and finally, the Acer XF270HAbmidprzx which I also found at a great price. (350 eur)

The Acer hasn't arrived yet, but when it does I'll decide which new monitor I'll keep, and which one I'll send back.

So, on to the Alienware AW2518Hf:
First off, colors compared to my xl2411z.....NO CONTEST.
Blacks are deep, browns are brown, nothing is washed out, not even on the fps preset... one simply can't make the benq look nearly as good as this one, no matter how he/she sets it up.
There's a ton of small things I appreciate about this monitor, but I'm too tired to list all of them at the moment... I'll try to include all of them in that video, but here are couple things:

Cranking up the sharpness setting on this screen to a 100 (max) doesn't introduce a white outline around objects, like it does on the xl2411z (though sharpness at that level seems to be equal to "7" on the benq...which is the sweetspot anyway imo).
The monitor doesn't turn black when switching presets. (unlike the benq)
The stand is really sturdy...whenever I press the osd buttons, the panel doesn't move at all. (as opposed again, to the benq)
The bezel on top, and the ones on the side are really thin, which makes the monitor look more... A E S T H E T I C.

Now on to the thing you guys care the most about: Motion blur.
At 960 pixels per second, and overdrive set to "Fast" (there's also super fast, and off) blur looks exactly the same as it does on the ASUS pg258q on the picture attached to the post.
*EDIT: After looking more at the picture, I've realised it's slightly better than the ASUS, the white dots in the red area are more "separate", and the black dots are also more crisp.
Very, very slight blue trail moving after the ufo, just as on the ASUS, and the same clarity as on the ASUS.
The "Super fast" overdrive setting doesn't really make the ufo clearer, just adds more overshoot.
Also, the monitor feels more responsive compared to the xl2411z, even when both are running at 144hz.
Make of that what you will...maybe it's down to signal processing... idk, I'm not equipped with the tools required to test that.

Ask me anything.
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lexebidar
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Re: Alienware AW2518H

Post by lexebidar » 07 Mar 2018, 11:49

How is the coating and gamma compared to other 240hz screens?

I've not seen any mention of coating but I've seen one review mentioning weird 2.4 gamma and not 2.2 standard ?

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Re: Alienware AW2518H

Post by A Solid lad » 07 Mar 2018, 14:17

Yeah, they use a different gamma standard...not 2.4 or 2.2.
It's called bt.1886, it's the one games and movies are mastered in... I actually liked it. Makes stuff pop more.
Medium grain. On par with my xl2411z. More than the XF270HA.

Here's a more detailed rundown of the freesync version of this monitor:
phpBB [video]
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lexebidar
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Re: Alienware AW2518H

Post by lexebidar » 07 Mar 2018, 14:38

Very nice video. You are a good talker.
The ghosting is much much better than on AG251FG I had, so that's a plus.
And I had not idea stuff is mastered on bt.1886. Wonder if the monitor actually achieves this gamma correctly and how 2.2 traditional content, games and movies look. But I prefer a bit darker gamma than a bit brighter any day.

and dude! Fix creeky chair heh

Edit: Anyway - Your review kinda pushes me towards that AW if I can find the Gsync version. I want 1080p gsync monitor so I guess 240hz monitors are the best choice (even if I don't achieve half of that with gsync)... I hate washed out and blurry image so this might not be a bad idea.
Btw - How is build quality? I did had some dell ips U2417H here recently and it was terrible. The gaps were inconsistent and it looked terribly up close (bezel)

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Re: Alienware AW2518H

Post by A Solid lad » 07 Mar 2018, 15:40

Thanks for the compliments! :D
I didn't expect people to like the video... it's kind of messy.

Anyway, I was really satisfied with the build of this monitor...
an acquaintance of mine has a dell 1440p monitor, and it's nothing spectacular...but this one is, imo.

The different gamma standard actually barely makes any perceivable difference... if I wouldn't have known about it beforehand... I couldn't even tell there's any.
If anything, it makes stuff seem less washed out.

Again, if you're fine with 24 and a half inches, I have nothing against this monitor.... so responsive, and so good looking for a TN.
The only reason I don't claim it to be the best 24.5 inch 240hz monitor, is because I haven't tried the ASUS one, which is the only true contender, imo.
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Re: Alienware AW2518H

Post by hux0 » 19 Mar 2018, 14:07

Hey guys. I got this Alienware screen today. Unboxed and plugged it in. But there is a huge problem which I can't seem to solve yet. I Google for it and found a guy on YouTube that has the same issue, but no solution. Is that a hardware fault, or what could cause this issue?

Link to the video: https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=3oci3XJcMU8

Would appreciate to receive some help. Hopefully there is a fix so I don't have to rma this one.

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Re: Alienware AW2518H

Post by A Solid lad » 19 Mar 2018, 15:53

hux0 wrote:Hey guys. I got this Alienware screen today. Unboxed and plugged it in. But there is a huge problem which I can't seem to solve yet. I Google for it and found a guy on YouTube that has the same issue, but no solution. Is that a hardware fault, or what could cause this issue?

Link to the video: https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=3oci3XJcMU8

Would appreciate to receive some help. Hopefully there is a fix so I don't have to rma this one.
To tell you the truth, I had the same problem...
kind of.
It wasn't constant, as in the video... it was pretty rare, but it did happen a few times.
Sometimes in Battlefield 1 in the menu, other times, when switching programs for example... sometimes even ingame, but it only ever lasted for a few seconds. The issue might have gotten worse over time though... idk, as I've sent back the monitor.

Didn't want to stress this so much, as I thought it was just my unit, and as such, I didn't want to deter people from buying this otherwise great monitor.
Now that I've seen that I wasn't the only one having this issue, I know that neither of the two 240hz monitors I bought were without major flaws xD
(The acer xf270ha had frameskipping...and this Alienware has this problem. I can only hope that the LG 27gk750f-b I've ordered will be completely OK lol)
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Re: Alienware AW2518H

Post by hux0 » 19 Mar 2018, 16:23

That's good and bad news, kind of. At first, these large checkered areas looked to me like faulty gpu ram. I remember defective cards showing issues like this. But I tested another card and have the same problem with that. It's not only ingame, it is even on my windows desktop. All the time. Argh!

I am wondering why I can't find others with this issue. Can't be only you, the YouTube guy and me.

I will be with Dell tomorrow. Unless someone with a fix shows up here.

Thanks for the quick response!

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A Solid lad
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Re: Alienware AW2518H

Post by A Solid lad » 19 Mar 2018, 16:58

hux0 wrote:That's good and bad news, kind of. At first, these large checkered areas looked to me like faulty gpu ram. I remember defective cards showing issues like this. But I tested another card and have the same problem with that. It's not only ingame, it is even on my windows desktop. All the time. Argh!

I am wondering why I can't find others with this issue. Can't be only you, the YouTube guy and me.

I will be with Dell tomorrow. Unless someone with a fix shows up here.

Thanks for the quick response!
np

The low amount of people complaining about it, leaves a chance for this problem to be rare... I'd just rma the monitor and hope for a better sample to arrive.
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Re: Alienware AW2518H

Post by k2viper » 20 Mar 2018, 05:47

Wow.
I MAYBE seen like-this flicker once. Maybe, because it was one time (one flash-flick) during almost 2 months of usage, ingame and a flash was like 1/10 size in the video. I'm not even sure I really saw it, and it were not my weary eyes.
Lol, what could this be?

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