I Tried a 240Hz 4K OLED Gaming Monitor and Now I'm Spoiled

For the last few months, I have been using the Alienware AW2725Q — a 27-inch gaming monitor with 4K resolution and a QD-OLED panel that supports a 240 Hz refresh rate. This is one of the models from the series featuring a Samsung Display panel that was released this year. They have minor differences in features, ports, and design.

In March, I replaced my old 32-inch BenQ monitor with the AW2725Q. Previously, I hadn't considered buying a 4K OLED monitor with a high refresh rate due to its high price — $900 — and limited gaming time. My previous 60 Hz IPS monitor was perfectly fine for me. However, I suspected that after trying OLED, I wouldn't be able to go back to regular models, and that turned out to be true.

The Alienware OLED has deeper blacks and brighter colors, and its compactness is particularly noticeable next to my 32-inch IPS monitor, which seems bulky and dull. Initially, I wasn't too impressed since most of my work involves documents, Slack, and browsing, where the 240 Hz OLED doesn't provide a significant advantage. My M1 MacBook Air supports a maximum of 60 Hz, so the main benefit is the higher pixel density due to the smaller screen size. But for gaming, this monitor has been a real breakthrough.

My gaming PC was quite old — with a 2018 Core i5 processor and a GTX 1070 graphics card. However, the adaptive refresh rate technology helped avoid screen tearing, which I previously tolerated or tried to minimize through V-Sync. Even with an upgrade to an RTX 4070 Super graphics card, the frame rate increase was minimal while the processor remained slow. After replacing the CPU with a Ryzen 7 9800X3D, I was able to play Cyberpunk 2077 at 4K with around 95 frames per second, high texture quality, and medium ray tracing, using 2x DLSS and performance super resolution. Thanks to the adaptive refresh rate, the game looks incredibly smooth.

Turning off the frame generation technology drops the FPS to 20, making the game less comfortable. These are so-called "fake" frames, but the eyes hardly notice them; instead, the difference between 56 and 95 FPS is felt. Returning to the old monitor showed that colors become less saturated, blacks less deep, and screen tearing more noticeable, which reduces immersion in the game.

For work, the old BenQ was convenient due to the KVM switch and USB-C connection, which the Alienware lacks. What I liked about the AW2725Q — excellent picture quality, adaptive refresh rate, pleasant design, RGB backlighting on the power button, and convenient USB ports. What I would like to improve — more USB ports, the presence of a KVM switch, better support for Windows HDR, and fixing the sleep recovery bug.

Overall, this is a luxurious monitor for gamers that is worth its price. Once you get used to it, going back to regular models becomes difficult. Personally, I can revert to my 60 Hz BenQ for work, but if I ever buy an OLED with KVM, it will be this model — with 240 Hz — as it perfectly fits my gaming system and the time spent gaming.