Impressions of Dell U3415W

[guskline]

I was originally going to buy an Acer 341CK Ultra wide but price and a great deal on the Dell U3415W changed my mind. I just received shipment this morning from Newegg via FedEx.

Huge box but well packed by Dell. All items were included and I decided to use the HDMI cable since I have a GTX980TI. Easy install except you need to activate the OSD and change input from DP to HDMI. Now that I'm getting familiar with it, it's not a problem. Sorry no DVI hookup or vga.

The screen is shorter than my BenQ (that sucker's huge) but very wide and the curve is there but not real noticeable. I already own a BenQ BL3200PT which is a big monitor so you do sacrifice some heighth compared to it but OH my is this a nice monitor. Dell has done a very nice job with the quality of this monitor.

I played a bit of COD BO III and it recognized the 3440 x 1440 resolution. I must say ultra wide screen gaming is fun.

Since I've ownly had this for @ 1 hr. I'll play with it and update with more impressions in a few days.

 

[moonbogg]

Nice! You're making me a little jealous. Keep the updates coming and maybe take a few pics? Congrats.

 

[thilanliyan]

After playing let us know whether you prefer the 3200PT or the 3415W. I'm in a similar boat to you. I want a VA panel but most of the larger VA panels seem to have some sort of issue from what I've read.

 

[EXCellR8]

Good stuff, I am jealous of you not needing to not order better/longer cables

As a side note, the box was massive for my monitor as well. I may use it to store all of my doodads in... or use it as a fort.

 

[guskline]

After playing let us know whether you prefer the 3200PT or the 3415W. I'm in a similar boat to you. I want a VA panel but most of the larger VA panels seem to have some sort of issue from what I've read.

You won't go wrong with the BenQ BL3200PT. It is a BIG screen, just not ultra wide screen. I'm replacing my 27" Achieva Shimian with the BenQ. The U3415W replaces the BenQ

 

[guskline]

I was able to Overclock the monitor to 75Mhz and play COD BO III. Pretty neat.

 

[thilanliyan]

You won't go wrong with the BenQ BL3200PT. It is a BIG screen, just not ultra wide screen. I'm replacing my 27" Achieva Shimian with the BenQ. The U3415W replaces the BenQ

Why did you decide to replace the BenQ? You wanted to go widescreen or some other reason?

 

[EXCellR8]

He wanted to experience the glory and supremacy of curved panel awesomeness... duh.

 

[guskline]

Why did you decide to replace the BenQ? You wanted to go widescreen or some other reason?

Good Question. I decided that the widescreen Dell made more sense with the single GTX 980TI which has the Horsepower to overclock and stay up with the monitor. The 4790K rig below with twin R9 290s in CF is hardly a slouch. Had I bought the Acer 341CK with freesync I might have used the R9 290s to utilize this feature.

BTW, I overclocked the Dell U3415W via a customized setting in the Nvida control panel and it ran COD BO III well at 75Mhz vs the standard 60Mhz so I'm impressed.

Likewise the BenQ BL3200PT runs great on the 4790K machine.

Now I have to decide what to do with the 27" Achieva Shimian 2560x1440 monitor.

 

[guskline]

He wanted to experience the glory and supremacy of curved panel awesomeness... duh.

It really is cool. I have Il-2 Sturmovik Battle of Stalingrad and soon, Battle of Moscow. A flight sim looks GREAT on a 21:9 34" ultrawide.

 

[moonbogg]

Sounds pretty nice guskline. I'm impressed with the 75hz overclocking of the panel. I didn't expect that development and that's a nice bonus.

 

[guskline]

moonbogg, the OC surprised me also.

 

[Termie]

Awesome overclock on that monitor - free performance boost! Not too surprising given that it uses the same panel as the Acer. So much for "free" Freesync - Acer tacked on about a $300 premium for it.

 

[venkman]

I was originally going to buy an Acer 341CK Ultra wide but price and a great deal on the Dell U3415W changed my mind. I just received shipment this morning from Newegg via FedEx.

Huge box but well packed by Dell. All items were included and I decided to use the HDMI cable since I have a GTX980TI. Easy install except you need to activate the OSD and change input from DP to HDMI. Now that I'm getting familiar with it, it's not a problem. Sorry no DVI hookup or vga.

The screen is shorter than my BenQ (that sucker's huge) but very wide and the curve is there but not real noticeable. I already own a BenQ BL3200PT which is a big monitor so you do sacrifice some heighth compared to it but OH my is this a nice monitor. Dell has done a very nice job with the quality of this monitor.

I played a bit of COD BO III and it recognized the 3440 x 1440 resolution. I must say ultra wide screen gaming is fun.

Since I've ownly had this for @ 1 hr. I'll play with it and update with more impressions in a few days.

Have it. Love it. Won't go back to a 16:9. Check your refresh, HDMI usually only supports 50hz at 3440x1440 (maybe the 980ti has hdmi 2.0?). Use the Included mDP to DP cable to get 60hz.

 

[guskline]

venkman, yes thank you GTX980TI does support HDMI 2.0 but I used the DP to mini dp cable instaed of the HDMI per your suggestion. Works great thank you. nI was also able to create a custom resolution 3440x1440 @75Mhz and it tested and ran well. Was a blast in COD BO III!:thumbsup:

 

[moonbogg]

I believe 75hz would be a significant benefit over 60hz. In my opinion, once you start to pass 60hz, the benefits become noticeable very quickly and begin to diminish after about 80-90hz. For instance, 60fps vs 85fps on my monitor is significantly noticeable, but anything after 100 becomes very hard to tell, and the difference between 120 and 144 is of course negligible at best. So I think a 75hz capability adds a significant value to this monitor.

 

[guskline]

moonbogg, thanks for the input. We are in the middle of a Blizzard so I'm "hiding" down in my computer room so I don't have to snow blow the driveway!

I think the manufacture date of my Dell monitor (43 week of 2015) might have something to do with the ability to OC the resolution of the monitor from 60Mhz native to 75 Mhz. As I understand it, the panel in this Dell U3415W is the same as the panel in the Acer 341CK which has Freesync capability and OC ability to 75Mhz. Obviously the internal controller board of the Acer is different and allows for Freesync 75Mhz refresh rate.

However, by doing a "software" OC from 60 Mhz native at 3440x1440 to 75Mhz custom at 3440x1440- via the Nvia control panel and now having tested it with @ 3 hrs of gaming I think I might have gotten lucky.

 

[Deders]

I'm thinking of getting a similar monitor, but would like to know how does the curve a affect the image from 1.5m and 3m away?

 

[guskline]

Deders, I hardly notice the curve truthfully. Very gentle. Nice in games.

 

[moonbogg]

I hear ya regarding the weather guskline. Its a little overcast right now but leaving the window open lets a nice cool breeze float through. I'm just glad I don't have to wear jeans tonight.

 

[venkman]

venkman, yes thank you GTX980TI does support HDMI 2.0 but I used the DP to mini dp cable instaed of the HDMI per your suggestion. Works great thank you. nI was also able to create a custom resolution 3440x1440 @75Mhz and it tested and ran well. Was a blast in COD BO III!:thumbsup:

I noticed mine frame skips when going over 60, so I just left it alone.

You can use http://www.testufo.com/#test=frameskipping to test or just ignore it it isn't bothering you.

 

[3DVagabond]

Awesome overclock on that monitor - free performance boost! Not too surprising given that it uses the same panel as the Acer. So much for "free" Freesync - Acer tacked on about a $300 premium for it.

You do know what "free" refers to with Freesync? No fees, licenses, etc...

 

[guskline]

I noticed mine frame skips when going over 60, so I just left it alone.

You can use http://www.testufo.com/#test=frameskipping to test or just ignore it it isn't bothering you.

Venkman, what GPU are you using?

 

[venkman]

Venkman, what GPU are you using?

SLI 670s

 

[guskline]

venkman, those twin 670s are still strong but I wonder if they run out of Vram at that high of a resolution? The GTX980TI has 6G so Vram is not really an issue.