The 3 Best Ultrawide Gaming Monitors - Spring 2024 Reviews

The best ultrawide gaming monitor we've tested is the Dell Alienware AW3423DWF. It's an excellent gaming monitor with high-end performance and fantastic picture quality. It's available directly through Dell's website. It has a 34-inch screen with an 1800R curve that helps bring the edges closer to your field of vision, especially if you sit close to the monitor. The main advantage of this monitor is that it has a near-instantaneous response time for incredible motion handling, so there isn't any visible blur behind fast-moving objects. It also has a 165Hz refresh rate for a smooth and responsive feel.

This monitor uses a QD-OLED panel, providing exceptional picture quality. Deep blacks are visible next to bright highlights in dark rooms, and colors are vivid and life-like. This makes it an ideal choice for playing HDR games as highlights also pop. If a smooth and responsive feel is more important to you than image quality, consider the LG 34GS95QE-B. It has a higher 240Hz refresh rate, so it responds more quickly during gaming. However, its colors aren't as vivid, the highlights don't get as bright as on the Dell, and it costs more.

If you don't need the best performance possible, there are other low-cost options without a QD-OLED panel. If that's what you're interested in, check out the LG 34GP83A-B. It's different from the Dell Alienware AW3423DWF because it has an LED-backlit LCD panel, meaning the picture quality is worse. It can't display perfect blacks and the same vivid colors, but that's the trade-off you need to make for getting a cheaper display.

However, it has the same 34-inch screen size and 3440x1440 resolution, and it's good for gaming. This monitor has a maximum refresh rate of 160Hz for a smooth and responsive feel, and fast-moving objects look fairly crisp, though not nearly as crisp as on the Dell. If you're looking for a slightly larger alternative, consider the LG 38WN95C-W. It has a higher 3840x1600 resolution, but it also costs more, and the 34GP83A-B has slightly better motion handling.

While budget ultrawide monitors often cost quite a bit, especially compared to other budget displays, there are some models you can find for less than others. The Dell S3422DWG is a great gaming monitor with a 144Hz refresh rate and a 34-inch screen, similar to the LG 34GP83A-B, but you do lose a bit on performance. For example, it has more smearing with fast-moving objects, but its overall response time is still good, and it has a backlight strobing feature to reduce persistence blur.

One advantage of the Dell over the LG is that it delivers better picture quality, particularly for HDR gaming. It has a higher native contrast ratio that makes blacks look deeper in dark rooms, and it also has good HDR brightness so that highlights pop against the rest of the image. And while it has worse viewing angles than the LG, it also has an 1800R curve, so the edges are brought closer to you, and they don't look too washed out.