Alienware AW3225DM Gaming Monitor Review - 32-inch QHD 180Hz for $319

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Introduction & Specification Details and Close-up

Alienware has released the AW3225DM, a 1440p (QHD) gaming monitor aimed at both PC and console gamers.

A quick look at the Alienware AW3225DM gaming monitor

Alienware has been knocking it out of the park recently with its revised line-up of gaming monitors, and the newest monitor to hit shelves is the AW3225DM. This time around, Alienware is looking to take over the budget-to-mid-range space with a QHD gaming monitor that caters to both PC and console gamers. The AW3225DM is currently priced at $319 on the Dell website and sports a slew of features that will be attractive to console and PC gamers.

Additionally, the revised physical design, which Alienware calls Interstellar Indigo, has added a splash of much-needed color to the consistently black mid-range gaming monitors. Throughout this review, I will be attempting to discover the AW3225DM's best features and shortcomings, along with identifying what type of gamer would be best suited for it.

Specifications

Close-up

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Design

Alienware recently debuted its new design language, and I couldn't be happier with it, as the interesting color choice paired with its ambitious yet minimalistic physical design has really separated Alienware from its competition. This physical design overhaul is across all of Alienware's latest and upcoming gaming monitors and is officially called Interstellar Indigo, which I believe is aptly named due to the color resembling the appearance of celestial space, combined with the aesthetics one would expect from a UFO piloted by extraterrestrial aliens.

Kicking things off, we have the back of the monitor, Alienware informs me all of the redesigned monitors will feature the company's new 360-degree ventilation system. This design works very well for me, and I believe it is pleasing to the eye as typically ventilation grills or holes aren't too aesthetically pleasing. The AW3225DM's ventilation holes are baked into the physical design of the monitor, with tiny holes dotted around the back of the display in a full 360-degree fashion.

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Keeping to the back of the monitor, the AW3225DM features smooth curved aesthetics and a small logo on the left-hand side of the monitor, which is straddled by the iconic Alienware logo, a small alien head. Notably, the alien head is also an LED that can be changed to various colors with the downloadable Alienware Command Center or On-Screen Display (OSD) options. Connectivity-wise, Alienware has equipped the AW3225DM with ports designed for both PC and console gaming, with the AW3225DM featuring 2x HDMI 2.1 ports capable of up to 2560 x 1440p at 144Hz, and 1x DisplayPort 1.4 for 2560 x 1440 at 180Hz support.

Unfortunately, I must take a few points off for the lack of a 3.5mm headphone jack with passthrough, as console gamers who have a nice sound system may have wanted to utilize this port for an audio output. Alongside the HDMIs and DisplayPort is a USB-B upstream port, which enables access to the 2x USB-A downstream ports, each with 5Gbps speeds.

These are a nice inclusion on the AW3225DM, especially if your console USB ports are already occupied, and you are in need of more. For PC gamers, especially those buying at this price point, I can't really see them being used too often as most motherboards these days are shipping with several USB ports to accommodate the four most-used items for a PC gamer - keyboard, headset, mouse, and microphone.

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Typically these extra ports on the monitor are used by content creators who need to move data from portable SSDs/HDDs to drives on a PC, which makes me question why they are included on a mid-range gaming monitor. Leading me to summarize they are more for console gamers than PC gamers.

A significant win for the AW3225DM is the stand, as it offers quite a lot of versatility with its height, swivel, and tilt adjustments. Major points for Alienware are here, as the versatility should accommodate the needs of most gamers. Moreover, the stand is supported by a small footprint base, which means it doesn't take up a lot of space on a desk, and PC gamers won't have to worry about slamming their mouse into it when playing FPS shooters that are often enjoyed at low mouse sensitivities.

Overall, Alienware has knocked it out of the park with the design of the AW3225DM, with the latest addition to the company's gaming monitor line-up eloquently balancing both style and performance.

Panel Breakdown

The AW3225DM features a VA panel, meaning Alienware is able to offer the monitor at a reduced price versus competing panel types such as IPS and QD-OLED. However, there are trade-offs. Viewing angles is a big one here as the monitor loses its richness of color when not directly looking at it from the perspective of being dead center. What does this mean? The AW3225DM won't be fantastic for split-screen co-op gaming as neither player will sit where they should be for the best viewing experience.

Additionally, multi-media watching could suffer as some users won't be able to position the monitor so that the media can be viewed in its best quality. Luckily, the stand's versatility should cover most situations, but I can imagine a few where this VA panel would cause some users a bit of a headache.

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The AW3225DM also comes equipped with a few different response time modes: Fast 4ms, Super Fast 2ms, and Extreme 1ms, with each being measured in gray-to-gray (GtG) response times. Throughout my testing, I found the AW3225DM performed best in the Extreme setting, especially for fast-paced competitive games, of which I tested several. Keeping to the panel, the AW3225DM offers 93 Pixels Per Inch (PPI), which is a big sticking point for me here and certainly knocks some points off the total for the AW3225DM, as the image clarity isn't the greatest.

I have found throughout my testing of dozens of gaming monitors that if you are going to 32 inches, you really want to have a resolution of 4K to maintain that high PPI count; with 1440p at 32 inches, the image clarity really suffers, and 1080p at 32 inches is just unusable. For those who don't know, PPI is the measurement of the sharpness of the image displayed on the screen, with the typical rule of thumb being the higher the PPI, the higher the image clarity.

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It's recommended your monitor have at least 100 PPI for a clear image, any lower and the image clarity drops significantly. This is why 1440p displays are typically within the 20-inch range, and hardly ever venture above 27-inch, as at 32-inches the pixels are stretched across a wider panel that the image begins to look blocky.

Other panel features worth mentioning are Alienware's great OSD software, which has a very nice menu that's easy to browse and use. All of the most-used features are front and center, which is really nice, along with suitable stock brightness, out of the box color settings that didn't need to be changed, and aggressively average HDR. Remember, this is $320 gaming monitor, so you cannot expect every bell and whistle, but what you do get here is of good value.

Performance

As with all of my gaming monitor reviews, I like to run the display I have under the spotlight through a variety of different games to see which type of gamer would best enjoy the display. That way, you can rule yourself out/in depending on what type of games you play. Here are the games I tested on the AW3225DM: DOOM: The Dark Ages, League of Legends, God of War: Ragnarok, Cyberpunk 2077, Valorant, Apex Legends, Age of Mythology: Retold, Black Myth: Wukong, and The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt.

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The AW3225DM was a bit of a mixed bag when it came to gaming performance. It did not excel in any particular genre but did not fail either. In RPG titles such as Cyberpunk 2077, The Witcher 3, and God of War, I found the AW3225DM's image clarity to be below par, which I can attribute to the PPI, not any of its color.

The first-person-shooter titles, Apex Legends and Valorant ran buttery smooth by taking advantage of that 180Hz refresh rate, but at the 32-inch panel size I couldn't help but to feel less immersed than I could have been at a 27-inch panel. However, the immersion was still at a suitable level to enable a recommendation, as I have gamed on plenty of 32-inch panels for first-person-shooter games and very much enjoyed my time.

Although, I do consider 32-inch panels to be a jack-of-all trades, master of none display size, as I believe they are aimed at gamers who flex between both RPG and FPS titles. If you are a gamer strictly playing FPS games, I would push more toward a 27-inch, but I don't think it would be impossible to enjoy your game/s with a 32-inch, either.

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As for the RPG titles, this is where the 32-inch size really kicked in and performed, with Cyberpunk 2077, God of War, and The Witcher 3 all looking fantastic spread across the big 32-inch frame. However, due to the PPI, these titles were somewhat lacking in the image clarity department, leaving me wanting a higher resolution.

Overall, the AW3225DM is a bit of an oddball when it comes to gaming. While it doesn't perform exceptionally well in any particular setting, it receives a passable grade.

Final Thoughts

So, should you buy the AW3225DM? If you are shopping for a budget 1440p gaming monitor to pair with your console of choice, and aren't particularly fussed that it doesn't have all the bell and whistles you may expect, the AW3225DM is a solid choice - especially considering the competition.

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I compared the AW3225DM up against the AOC CQ32G4E, and while the AOC variant, being the same 1440p at 180Hz / 1440p at 144Hz panel, is priced at $294 USD, you do get the extra HDMI port on the AW3225DM, along with some other benefits. Performance between the two is relatively negligible, as both are VA panels and suffer from the same PPI problem.

However, you do get a much nicer-looking monitor with the AW3225DM. Ultimately, for an extra $25, you get a USB hub, a much more aesthetically pleasing monitor, more adjustability via the stand, and an extra HDMI port. I would pay the extra $25 and go with the Alienware here simply for the aesthetics and the USB ports, as they could come in handy occasionally.