The Xeneon 34WQHD240-C is the most recent 34-inch QD-OLED ultrawide from Corsair. Identical to we noticed with the Gigabyte MO34WQC2 just a few weeks in the past, these new QD-OLED ultrawide panels characteristic a 240Hz refresh fee, providing a major refresh fee improve over first-gen fashions. Whereas the newer panel does not change different elementary capabilities, it is nonetheless a extremely aggressive providing typically.
Corsair’s new 34″ gaming monitor is a dear one, debuting at $1,200, which is a bit larger than a few of its direct rivals. It is significantly costlier than the favored Dell Alienware AW3423DWF with its decrease 165Hz refresh fee, which usually retails for between $700 and $900. So, this Corsair monitor must ship excellent efficiency to justify its price ticket.
One space the place this monitor units itself aside is its white and silver design, providing one thing completely different from the standard all-black designs we see from different manufacturers. Apart from the panel space on the entrance, almost each a part of the monitor has been given a light-mode therapy, even the small rim across the panel’s edge, seen from the entrance. This offers the Corsair mannequin a two-tone look from the entrance, whereas the rear includes a placing white design.
Options and Design
Corsair’s tackle the ‘central field’ design we see throughout OLED panels is a bit larger and chunkier than normal, however the essence remains to be there, and the skinny OLED panel nonetheless extends out on the edges.
For a $1,200 monitor, although, we weren’t overly impressed with the construct high quality. The plastic used all through a lot of the design feels a bit low-cost, and there are many seen seams – not one thing we normally see on top-tier merchandise. The large stand legs are steel and look good, however we do not assume it is as well-made because the Alienware ultrawides, which normally are available at a less expensive worth level.
The 34WQHD240-C does have just a few issues going for it. The ports are very straightforward to entry on the again, slightly than being tucked away or hidden, however that would create a messier look behind your show relying on the way you set issues up. The ability wire goes into the underside proper nook, making it onerous to neaten that up. There’s additionally fairly a little bit of ergonomic adjustability, together with a good vary of top and loads of swivel.
For ports on the left, we now have one DisplayPort 1.4 with DSC and two HDMI 2.1 48 Gbps ports, each able to the total 240Hz refresh fee. There’s additionally a USB-C enter supporting DP-Alt mode and 65W of energy supply, plus a four-port USB 3.1 5 Gbps hub on the best, with an extra Sort-C upstream port. Corsair has included a KVM change right here as nicely.
The OSD is managed by a directional toggle alongside the underside fringe of the monitor, nevertheless it does not provide numerous options. There’s some colour management and some gaming choices like a crosshair and refresh overlay, however not a lot else.
There are solely a few OLED care options as nicely, simply an orbit characteristic and a brightness stabilizer, which is not as feature-rich as what we’re seeing from different OLED gaming displays in the meanwhile. We do not know whether or not that can affect OLED lifespan – Corsair gives an industry-standard 3-year burn-in guarantee – nevertheless it’s one space the place you get much less customization than its rivals.
Display screen Coating, Subpixel Format and Burn In
Whereas this 240Hz panel is newer than first-generation QD-OLED ultrawides, the subpixel construction and panel composition stay unchanged. The textual content readability right here is usually higher than related WOLED ultrawides just like the Asus PG34WCDM.
There’s some pink-green fringing alongside the higher and decrease edges of textual content, so the textual content readability is not nearly as good as an analogous decision LCD, nevertheless it’s usable, and we have heard from a lot of you who do not even discover this artifact.
The display composition nonetheless displays ambient mild in brighter environments, elevating obvious black ranges when mild sources are in entrance of the show. This reduces the richness of OLED blacks in sure eventualities, particularly in comparison with WOLED panels, that are sometimes able to deeper blacks in brilliant rooms.
In our opinion, this is among the greatest flaws with QD-OLED panels and impacts the expertise when utilizing the show with lights on or home windows open. Nevertheless, this subject could be mitigated by making certain mild sources are behind the show, and there is little to no affect in darkish rooms.
Other than ambient mild reflectivity, this Corsair mannequin has a shiny display like most different QD-OLEDs, so there are additionally some mirror-like reflections in brighter rooms. We discover this side of reflection dealing with to be fairly good for a shiny display, and the dearth of matte coating grain will please readability and vibrance purists.
OLED displays nonetheless carry the danger of everlasting burn-in when used to show static content material for lengthy durations. This makes OLED a less-than-ideal alternative for desktop app utilization and productiveness work, although occasional utilization in these methods is okay and unlikely to trigger burn-in. Our burn-in tests are nonetheless ongoing if you wish to verify them out.
Response Time Efficiency
Response time efficiency is great on this QD-OLED monitor, as it’s for different OLED shows we have examined to date. OLED gives lightning-fast response instances, across the 0.3ms mark at its most 240Hz refresh fee, resulting in improbable movement readability.
OLEDs additionally preserve the identical efficiency in any respect refresh charges, so even when testing at 120Hz or 60Hz, we see related leads to the 0.3ms vary. It is a good profit for variable refresh fee players, leading to a single overdrive mode expertise. In distinction, many LCDs sometimes carry out worse at decrease refresh charges relative to their most refresh.
The main limiting issue to OLED movement efficiency proper now could be the refresh fee itself. As a sample-and-hold monitor, OLEDs nonetheless have some blur in fast-motion scenes, and the extent of blur will depend on the refresh fee.
At 240Hz, readability is superb, delivering a quick expertise for aggressive players. However when operating the show nearer to 60Hz, readability is diminished just because the refresh fee is decrease, regardless that response time efficiency is mainly an identical at 240Hz and 60Hz.
This additionally applies to comparisons between 240Hz and 175 or 165Hz ultrawides: 240Hz fashions are clearer when run at 240Hz as a result of the refresh fee is larger, regardless that response instances are related. But when each are run on the similar refresh fee, you may see related outcomes. Nevertheless, having such quick response instances provides OLED a noticeable benefit over a slower-response LCD operating on the similar refresh fee.
There’s successfully no distinction in response time efficiency between this QD-OLED and different OLED displays, together with WOLED variants. This implies movement readability is an identical when the refresh fee is identical.
Nevertheless, OLEDs are a lot sooner than even the quickest LCDs we have examined, and that is true whether or not we have a look at the perfect efficiency or common efficiency throughout the refresh fee vary. Not solely are OLEDs quick, however in addition they don’t have any overshoot artifacts, which could be a difficulty with some LCD fashions.
When viewing cumulative deviation outcomes, we are able to see that OLEDs get a lot nearer to excellent response time habits, and normally, provide efficiency an order of magnitude higher on this metric than LCDs.
In apply, this results in round a 1.5x benefit in readability at a given refresh fee, so 240Hz QD-OLEDs just like the 34WQHD240-C provide an analogous expertise to 360Hz LCDs. The one shows with clearly superior readability are LCDs that provide elite backlight strobing, a characteristic that comes with its personal set of limitations, like incompatibility with variable refresh charges – and normally, this isn’t obtainable in an ultrawide format.
Enter latency is great, providing a sub-0.5ms processing delay in each the SDR and HDR modes. Mixed with quick response instances and a excessive refresh fee, this OLED feels very snappy to make use of and is well-suited to all kinds of video games.
With that stated, most different QD-OLEDs even have low enter lag, so the principle distinction between the assorted fashions is the refresh fee, which does affect latency.
When it comes to energy consumption, there is not a lot of a distinction between the Corsair variant and different 34-inch QD-OLEDs. The Gigabyte equal makes use of barely extra energy, however typically, it is a negligible distinction.
WOLEDs do have an effectivity benefit when evaluating full white energy consumption as a consequence of their further white subpixel, so the PG34WCDM finally ends up consuming round 20 watts much less on this take a look at. Nevertheless, throughout a variety of content material, we sometimes see the QD-OLED and WOLED fashions commerce blows in energy consumption.
Colour Efficiency
Colour Area: Corsair Xeneon 34WQHD240-C – D65-P3
All QD-OLEDs we have examined to date provide a really related colour house. Within the case of the 34WQHD240-C, we’re taking a look at 99.5% DCI-P3 protection, in addition to 98% Adobe RGB protection – robust outcomes for viewing HDR content material or working in these colour areas. In complete, we noticed 82.8% protection of Rec. 2020, which, as you possibly can see from the chart, is mainly the identical as different QD-OLEDs we have examined and gives a better colour gamut than competing WOLEDs.
Default Colour Efficiency
For SDR colour accuracy out of the field, this Corsair monitor is common. Whereas white stability is usually nice, the gamma curve is a bit off, resulting in common deltaEs. There’s additionally the standard subject of oversaturation, because the gamut is left unclamped by default. So whenever you evaluate this to different displays throughout each greyscale and ColorChecker, the outcomes are common to unimpressive.
sRGB Mode Colour Efficiency
Now, Corsair does provide an sRGB mode, nevertheless it locks you out of some settings. Some of the irritating settings locks is sharpness, which for some motive is fastened at a price of 0, making the display look fairly blurry in comparison with a ‘regular’ worth of 5. We don’t know why this setting has been locked, as a result of it makes the sRGB mode unusable as a consequence of the way it reduces the readability of the picture.
If this setting weren’t locked, the efficiency on provide can be very cheap, with deltaE ITP averages under 5.0 throughout the board. This is able to be a good and aggressive degree of efficiency, matching up fairly nicely with different displays, however we simply cannot suggest utilizing it with the sharpness setting locked.
Calibrated Colour Efficiency
Calibration, after all, could be improved by Calman with nice outcomes, as it is a large gamut monitor with glorious protection of DCI-P3 and Adobe RGB. That is one of the simplest ways to get a extra correct sRGB expertise, however ideally, this could be achievable in {hardware}.
Most brightness in SDR mode is virtually an identical to different QD-OLED displays we have examined. The Corsair mannequin produces 253 nits full-screen white, mainly the identical degree of brightness because the Gigabyte mannequin. That is under the extent of most LCDs, however adequate for typical indoor use.
Corsair disables any automated brightness limiter in SDR mode, so there isn’t any want for a uniform brightness setting as brightness is at all times capped at round 250 nits. This prevents annoying habits the place the monitor will get brighter as you resize apps, and we want it to work this manner.
A minimal brightness of simply 14 nits additionally gives a superb vary for individuals who wish to use it in a really dim room.
We had been very impressed with the viewing angles of this panel. They’re very large, making it straightforward to view the show even at fairly excessive angles, although, after all, the curve must be factored in right here because it does cut back the scale of the candy spot for viewing. Uniformity was additionally excellent with our unit – good and uniform when viewing full white and no soiled display impact when viewing darkish greys.
HDR Efficiency
The Corsair 34WQHD240-C is well-suited to HDR from a {hardware} perspective. OLED panels, together with QD-OLED, straight emit mild and have particular person pixel management, making them excellent for displaying HDR content material.
This characteristic permits every pixel to independently change off or show brilliant highlights, giving us deep, zero-level blacks and per-pixel native dimming. The extent of management OLEDs present minimizes blooming in high-contrast eventualities and permits for a clear distinction between brilliant and darkish areas which might be shut collectively.
In comparison with LCDs with a multi-zone backlight, OLEDs have far fewer ugly illumination artifacts, that are most noticeable when displaying tough eventualities like starfields or subtitles. There are not any zone transitions as brilliant objects transfer across the show.
With per-pixel management as its important benefit, OLEDs are finest at displaying high-contrast scenes with wealthy shadow element, which is essential to HDR presentation. Darker content material interspersed with dazzling brilliant highlights brings out the perfect in OLED shows, as does HDR content material with quick movement. For players particularly, enter latency on most OLEDs is low in HDR mode.
The weak spot of the HDR presentation on an OLED is total brightness. Whereas peak brightness could be excessive in the perfect instances, full-screen brightness is low, and this limits the punch in brilliant daytime scenes.
LCDs could not have per-pixel management, however zoned backlights can merely get considerably brighter in brilliant scenes. Relying on what you need out of an HDR monitor, your desire might swing extra towards LCDs or OLEDs – however sometimes, OLEDs are a terrific alternative that delivers a improbable HDR presentation.
This monitor has two HDR configurations: the default HDR mode, which is analogous to the ‘True Black 400’ mode seen on different QD-OLEDs, and an HDR Peak Brightness mode, which is the ‘Peak 1,000 nit’ configuration. This gives the identical efficiency traits as different displays utilizing QD-OLED panels.
The ‘HDR’ mode is the extra correct of the 2. It has nice EOTF monitoring in any respect window sizes, eliminating panel dimming and delivering robust colour accuracy. Nevertheless, peak brightness is proscribed to only 460 nits, which is not very brilliant and prevents you from accessing the total 1,000 nits the panel is able to.
The HDR Peak Brightness setting unlocks brightness, offering simply over 1,000 nits for the smallest parts. This mode can be usually correct for much less brilliant scenes, with good EOTF monitoring for smaller window sizes. Nevertheless, it suffers from panel dimming in brighter scenes, displaying up as poor EOTF monitoring for bigger window sizes.
Basically, the trade-off right here is brighter highlights in darker scenes, with successful to accuracy and brightness in brighter scenes. That is one other QD-OLED monitor the place you can’t get the perfect of each worlds, which is disappointing and a elementary flaw with this technology of QD-OLED displays.
In artificial checks, we get round 260 to 270 nits of brightness full display in HDR mode, whatever the setting you select. That is additionally true for a ten% window dimension, the place the monitor is able to about 460 nits.
At a 2% window dimension, we see the variations between the principle configurations, with the default HDR mode locked to only 463 nits. All different displays on this chart are utilizing their most correct configuration that ensures most brightness.
For actual scene brightness, the 34WQHD240-C gives an analogous expertise to different QD-OLEDs, particularly when wanting on the Peak Brightness mode outcomes. There’s panel dimming, as we are able to see from the numbers on the best facet of the chart, whereas real-world outcomes are according to different QD-OLEDs.
The Gigabyte competitor solely gives a bizarre ‘brightness boosted’ configuration, which helps with panel dimming and might enhance brightness in some scenes, however this comes on the expense of accuracy, significantly in dimmer scenes.
HDR accuracy is typical, coming in towards the center of the charts, particularly once we have a look at the Peak Brightness mode. HDR colour quantity is great, just like different QD-OLEDs, and superior to WOLEDs, because of larger colour brightness values.
HUB Necessities Guidelines
Within the Necessities Guidelines, Corsair does job of promoting this monitor. It is a true HDR product with efficiency that matches the listed specs for essentially the most half, exterior of the standard points with response time numbers.
Within the characteristic help matrix, it is a very typical displaying for a QD-OLED. Usually, nice numbers are put up throughout the distinction and movement sections, plus fairly just a few characteristic inclusions, comparable to a KVM change, sleek SDR/HDR switching, and a USB-C port with 65W of energy supply. Nevertheless, there are additionally just a few downsides, such because the locked sRGB mode and the danger of everlasting burn-in.
We additionally gave Corsair a cross for the “no different firmware points” part as a result of, twice when utilizing this monitor, it appeared to show off out of the blue. Now, this could possibly be associated to the panel safety options activating and not using a warning or another subject, nevertheless it was fairly weird habits.
We imagine it was doing a panel compensation cycle, and if that is the case, it is a a lot worse solution to provoke that characteristic than different displays that both warn you or solely run it when the monitor is in standby mode.
A Stable QD-OLED, however Too Costly at Launch
On the finish of the day, we do not assume the Corsair Xeneon 34WQHD240-C is a foul monitor, nevertheless it does not do sufficient to justify its excessive price ticket. At $1,200, you’d need this to be the perfect 34-inch ultrawide in the marketplace, and whereas some features of it are good – such because the 240Hz refresh fee – it simply is not the most suitable choice for most individuals.
The refresh fee enhance over earlier technology QD-OLED displays is the spotlight right here, going from 165 or 175Hz as much as 240Hz. Mixed with glorious response instances, this Corsair monitor gives nice movement readability and loads of refresh fee headroom for years of gaming.
Nevertheless, these advantages solely come into play when operating the monitor above 175Hz, so should you’re principally enjoying video games within the 60 to 120 FPS vary, there’s not going to be any movement readability distinction in comparison with OLED displays with a decrease most refresh fee.
Most different features of this show are an identical to what we have seen from different QD-OLEDs over the previous couple of years. Similar textual content readability and display coating, similar brightness traits, similar HDR expertise. Corsair is not doing something distinctive with this product, which is not essentially a foul factor provided that QD-OLED panels are glorious. It simply signifies that in a sea of competitors, the 34WQHD240-C does not stand out in any vital means.
If something, we expect this show lacks the polish wanted to justify the excessive price ticket. The construct high quality isn’t superb and never on the premium degree we might normally affiliate with this class of monitor. The sRGB mode is well-calibrated however locks the sharpness setting to a blurry degree. The panel safety options appear to activate with out warning, and there is solely a restricted array of OLED care choices. It is one of many extra primary OLED choices that we have examined, nevertheless it’s additionally on the costlier facet.
Now, we would not essentially suggest the Gigabyte 240Hz QD-OLED different over this Corsair mannequin, as a result of the Gigabyte model additionally has its share of points. Like this Corsair unit, we felt the MO34WQC2 was too costly. As an alternative, for most individuals desirous to sport on a QD-OLED ultrawide, we might suggest the Dell Alienware AW3423DWF.
It has higher efficiency and options, and it is sometimes round $400 to $500 cheaper than the Corsair. The one factor you might be sacrificing is the refresh fee, which drops to 165Hz, however actually, for many players, that refresh fee is enough, and upgrading to 240Hz isn’t value a 50% worth premium.
Provided that the panel expertise used between the first-gen and this second-gen models may be very related, we do not assume the 240Hz variants can justify an enormous premium. In our opinion, these fashions, together with the Corsair, needs to be priced no larger than $900, and a price ticket of $800 can be even higher. At $1,200, we simply cannot suggest it.
Procuring Shortcuts:
Source link
