Dell U3415W mini review

[Owls]

Got the monitor today and I'm still seeing pretty bad backlight bleed. It's not horrific like the LG but damnit, it's there and obvious. For a monitor that costs about $1k this is unacceptable. I'm not sure if I ought to keep the samsung even though it's an 8bit panel but there is no backlight bleed there.

Thoughts?

before uniformity adjustment:

after adjustment

update:

Did some First Person Shooter testing with BF4 and I have to say I'm impressed. As far as response time is concerned it's better than my Samsung 34" curved monitor and just about the same if not a bit better than my HP ZR30W. I have no way of testing input lag but I hope it's as good as my ZR30W.

Samsung is going to be packed up and shipped back to Amazon. For a $1300 monitor it needs to excel in ALL areas.

 

[postmortemIA]

not sure how any adjustment can help there

and that's wide

 

[Owls]

It seemed to make a difference however I plan on swapping the Dell out for another panel. Turns out I like IPS more than VA

 

[Mondozei]

Paying 1.3 K for any monitor is unacceptable in my view. As "premium monitors" - defined as having more than the typical 24" 16:9 1080p featureset - become more ubiquitous, prices must come down and indeed they have but clearly not enough as of yet.

 

[alcoholbob]

Don't you have to go full-array LED to avoid backlight bleed? I assume at 30" you are looking at $3000+.

 

[postmortemIA]

Paying 1.3 K for any monitor is unacceptable in my view. As "premium monitors" - defined as having more than the typical 24" 16:9 1080p featureset - become more ubiquitous, prices must come down and indeed they have but clearly not enough as of yet.

It seems that big monitors are still niche market. HiDpi devices are becoming prevalent in mobile world, yet they don't cost nearly as much. For example, retina displays and LG and Samsung smartphones each now feature 1440p and beyond

 

[Owls]

Don't you have to go full-array LED to avoid backlight bleed? I assume at 30" you are looking at $3000+.

My HP ZR30W monitor a circa 2010/2011 model has zero backlight bleed. It uses CCFL and pumps out a ton of heat which prompted me to re-evaluate my dual monitor situation.

I'd hate to think that in 2015 there isn't a quality panel like the HP...

 

[Owls]

quick update: this monitor OC's easily to 75Hz. Not sure if I should go higher but it has smoothed out the experience in windows and games considerably.

 

[therealnickdanger]

Unless most of the games/content you display is dark, backlight bleed probably won't be a problem in the long run. Time to upgrade the CRT...

Sony FW900 = 2560x1600@75Hz = 4,096,000 pixels
Dell U3415W = 3440x1440@75Hz = 4,953,600 pixels (18% increase)

 

[5150Joker]

Wow that's some disgusting BL bleed, I'd send that thing back right away. Personally I have no tolerance for BL bleed or dead pixels - if a costly display I purchase has it and it's noticeable, I send it right back to the vendor.

Don't you have to go full-array LED to avoid backlight bleed? I assume at 30" you are looking at $3000+.

Even with WLED you can get displays that have little to none. My LG has none at all and the ROG Swift is so minimal that you'd have to look hard for it and I'm talking 100% brightness.

 

[jackstar7]

Wow that's some disgusting BL bleed, I'd send that thing back right away. Personally I have no tolerance for BL bleed or dead pixels - if a costly display I purchase has it and it's noticeable, I send it right back to the vendor.

Even with WLED you can get displays that have little to none. My LG has none at all and the ROG Swift is so minimal that you'd have to look hard for it and I'm talking 100% brightness.

Cameras will magnify the BLB beyond what you actually see in real life.

Check one out in person.

 

[5150Joker]

Cameras will magnify the BLB beyond what you actually see in real life.

Check one out in person.

Yes they can depending on the exposure.

 

[dennishodge]

quick update: this monitor OC's easily to 75Hz.

Thank you so much for this information! The LG non-curved 34UM95-P doesn't seem to OC. I wish the backlight bleed was gone but this looks like the best bet among the three (LG 34UC97, Samsung SE790C, or Dell U3415W).

One question: do the USB ports switch like a hub with display selection properly? There have been some weird issues with sleep and switching hosts with the LG in forums.

 

[Owls]

Thank you so much for this information! The LG non-curved 34UM95-P doesn't seem to OC. I wish the backlight bleed was gone but this looks like the best bet among the three (LG 34UC97, Samsung SE790C, or Dell U3415W).

One question: do the USB ports switch like a hub with display selection properly? There have been some weird issues with sleep and switching hosts with the LG in forums.

I was able to get the monitor to 80Hz but I don't want to push my luck. I haven't hooked up the USB to the PC so I couldn't say for sure but I will mention that both the Samsung and LG had wake issues with their software, I'd get "monitor not found" and their software would be useless until I restarted it. This isn't the case with the Dell.

Edit: the usb act like a hub and not a switch. Had no problems using them

 

[dennishodge]

Thanks to your input, I purchased the Dell and it arrived today! Just getting used to it. I have a question about 75 Hz operation. When I go to 75 Hz, my graphics card kicks things down to 16 bit color. Is that a limitation of my (aging) card? (GTX 660 Ti)

(It definitely looks like my card is underpowered in some ways. Movies stutter at full-screen [that could be PowerDVD] and my flight simulator in down from >75 fps (monitor limited before) to 30 fps :-D)

 

[therealnickdanger]

When I go to 75 Hz, my graphics card kicks things down to 16 bit color. Is that a limitation of my (aging) card? (GTX 660 Ti)

Probably. There are usually tradeoffs when dealing with display bandwidth. Going beyond the limits of pre-defined standards will expose those tradeoffs. One thing you could try is instead of using the NVIDIA control panel to change the settings:

Right-click desktop > Screen resolution > Advanced settings > Adapter tab "List All Modes" > select the resolution/refresh/bit depth from the list.

 

[dennishodge]

Thanks! List all modes shows the monitor default modes plus any created in NVIDIA control panel. If I add the 75 or 80 Hz mode there it then shows up in List all modes.

The trouble seems to be the NVIDIA control panel was flipping to 16 bit color when I went above some resolution / refresh rate option (max dot clock? Funny because testing the combo works, it's only if you try to change and Apply). If I instead switch the refresh rate from Windows Screen Resolution Advanced Options, the color depth is preserved.

The Dell seems to know 80 Hz is the max supported, it tells me to lower it if I choose something higher.

Thanks all for the help! I am enjoying the monitor. My corners are lighter too but I use it in a well-lit room so I cannot tell. I did have to increase Windows text to 120% to get comfortable with UI text.

Now the only problem I have is that windows move around when my computer is asleep for a long time. DP disconnect handling in Windows 7 apparently :-Z

 

[BababooeyHTJ]

quick update: this monitor OC's easily to 75Hz. Not sure if I should go higher but it has smoothed out the experience in windows and games considerably.

Odd, mine definitely skips frames at over 60hz with display port......

Are you using hdmi?

 

[BababooeyHTJ]

Thanks to your input, I purchased the Dell and it arrived today! Just getting used to it. I have a question about 75 Hz operation. When I go to 75 Hz, my graphics card kicks things down to 16 bit color. Is that a limitation of my (aging) card? (GTX 660 Ti)

(It definitely looks like my card is underpowered in some ways. Movies stutter at full-screen [that could be PowerDVD] and my flight simulator in down from >75 fps (monitor limited before) to 30 fps :-D)

No, thats just the display skipping frames. If you choose custom aspect resolution instead of native in the nvidia control panel you should be able to use 32bit. It'll still skip frames....

 

[BababooeyHTJ]

Wow that's some disgusting BL bleed, I'd send that thing back right away. Personally I have no tolerance for BL bleed or dead pixels - if a costly display I purchase has it and it's noticeable, I send it right back to the vendor.

These displays have quite a bit of backlight bleed.

I've had two since I had to exchange one for a stuck pixel and a couple of dead pixels. That said his cell phone pic isn't representative of what it looks like in person. Its way overexposed. Still, the two that I have have more corner blb than I would like. My catleap had next to none.

 

[BababooeyHTJ]

My HP ZR30W monitor a circa 2010/2011 model has zero backlight bleed. It uses CCFL and pumps out a ton of heat which prompted me to re-evaluate my dual monitor situation.

I'd hate to think that in 2015 there isn't a quality panel like the HP...

Yeah, the blb is my only gripe about this display. Its noticeable at night in games. And its a yellow tint which makes it more annoying.

Still, I like the aspect ratio so much that I couldn't return it over it.

 

[dennishodge]

No, thats just the display skipping frames. If you choose custom aspect resolution instead of native in the nvidia control panel you should be able to use 32bit. It'll still skip frames....

Well after the funny bit with selecting the color depth it seems OK in games. I am running games at 75Hz with VSYNC on with no visible artifacts or stuttering. How do I know is it skipping frames? At this point only PowerDVD is sucking.

Using the faster pixel GTG override in the menu just causes overshoots and smearing so I have that on default. Happy with the monitor, but need a graphics card upgrade to drive to resolution with higher quality settings!

 

[BababooeyHTJ]

There is a program that you can take a picture of to prove that it works for sure. Well thats if if you have a really good camera.


You should be able to just move the mouse cursor around or a window to see if its as smooth. It should be obvious. The two that I have used skip frames....

 

[dennishodge]

There is a program that you can take a picture of to prove that it works for sure. Well thats if if you have a really good camera.


You should be able to just move the mouse cursor around or a window to see if its as smooth. It should be obvious. The two that I have used skip frames....

I have been fiddling with 60 vs. 75 to compare watching a full-screen rotate-pan animation. I think you're right. It is syncing with the signal ok at 75 Hz, but it is actually smoother at 60 than 75. A dropped frame (when the GPU can't keep up) is actually more noticeable at 60, because the display isn't regularly dropping 1 out of every 5 frames

That's too bad, I was hoping to hang with 75 Hz. Oh well Thanks again for your input!

 

[exar333]

Non curved LG here. Limited to 60hz, so it's cool to see the 80hz OC on this!!