Samsung Odyssey OLED G9 review: A powerful widescreen for gaming

Price When Reviewed

1799.99

Best Prices Today: Samsung Odyssey Oled G9

1799.99

After seeing the Odyssey OLED G9 at CES final winter, I’ve been itching to get my fingers on one to check. Who wouldn’t be intrigued by a 49-inch curved widescreen monitor with a full 32:9 facet ratio, or two common 16:9 screens facet by facet. Its colourful and barely curved OLED panel, excessive decision, excessive body fee, and well-below-millisecond response time prompt {that a} sensible gaming expertise was inside attain.

Further studying: Best utlrawide monitors

Odyssey OLED G9 specs

Yes, this show is decadent. But the specs make it clear you’re getting one thing particular for the value.

• Display measurement: 49 inches, 32:9
• Curved: 1800R
• Native decision: 5120×1440 pixels
• Panel kind: QD-OLED, shiny floor
• Brightness: 250 cd/m2 regular, 1,000 cd/m2 peak
• Contrast: 1,000,000:1
• HDR: HDR 10, HDR10+, Vesa DisplayHDR True Black 400
• Color depth: 10 bits
• Colour gamut (said): 100% sRGB, 99.5% DCI-P3
• Refresh fee: 240Hz
• Response time (GtG): 0.03 ms
• Image inputs: HDMI 2.1, micro-HDMI 2.1, DisplayPort 1.4
• Stand adjustment: Height, tilt
• Other: Speakers 2x 5W, FreeSync Premium Pro, hub with 3x USB 3 Gen 1 Type C, Smart Screen with Tizen OS, Wi-Fi 5, Bluetooth 5.2, and distant management
• Price: $1,799.99

Odyssey OLED G9 design

After making room on a big desk (my traditional desk was far too small), screwing the bottom collectively, which could be completed with out instruments, and thoroughly lifting it onto the desk, I used to be greeted by its arched, pitch-black rectangular expanse with a reflection-minimizing floor.

The display stands firmly on a large central foot, and includes a discrete millimeter-thick matte-gray steel bezel. The curved floor on the again of the show is very nice too, and when the ability is switched on, an RGB ring illuminates the realm the place the neck meets the again. The placement of the picture inputs on the again isn’t nice, and could be very tough to work with. The display could be raised barely and tilted backwards, however can’t be adjusted in different methods. A pivot operate on such a large display would have been insanely cool, however Samsung hasn’t been so daring this time.

Mattias Inghe

How does the Odyssey OLED G9 carry out?

Was it definitely worth the wait? Yes, I believe so. I loaded up with as many spectacular immersive video games as I might consider, and pushed the RTX 4070 card in my pc to its limits to render the motion on the display in the highest quality.

It’s exhausting to argue that an excessive widescreen doesn’t impact gameplay favorably. With FOV settings set accurately within the video games and on the proper distance from the display, I get a area of view that vastly will increase peripheral imaginative and prescient and immersion. It took some experimentation and a few vertigo-like movement illness to get the angles proper. But it’s effectively price it when every part is aligned excellent.

Enemies showing out of the nook of my eye in Doom Eternal, permitting me to react sooner than with a narrower (and slower) display. A full field-of-view of landscapes and environments that makes it simpler to navigate… or just cease and absorb the dystopian ambiance in Cyberpunk 2077 and watch a sundown, or sweep your eyes over the horizon in Red Dead Redemption 2. Or why not take to the skies in Flight Simulator and watch the planet curve as you rise?

Mattias Inghe

Top-class colours and good HDR

It’s not only a vast image that provides to the expertise, but it surely helps that the image appears good too. The Odyssey OLED G9 is predicated on the identical QD-OLED expertise as Samsung’s glorious OLED-based TVs, and that’s mirrored in its vast shade gamut and excessive depth. It crosses the DCI P3 shade scale and begins to method Rec. 2020 ranges. Almost, however not fairly. And it hits fairly proper in colours in P3 mode and excellent for sRGB. It’s so near skilled stage for colours that anybody who needs to edit movie and photographs on the display must be very choosy to not be glad with this.

With OLED, darkish surfaces get intense blacks, and distinction right down to the smallest pixel stage is 100 p.c. The display is alleged to have 250 cd/m2 in regular kind brightness, and that appears to be true on a big, all-white floor. I get the identical worth of 248 cd/m2 throughout the complete floor. But it additionally has a said most brightness of as much as 1000 cd/m2 for small and short-term gentle spots.

I can’t measure this, however movies and video games in HDR mode clearly produce extra intense native and short-term gentle. The display has the identical HDR assist as most Samsung TVs, HDR10 and HDR10+ together with the gaming model, however no Dolby Vision. It can be Vesa DisplayHDR True Black 400 licensed.

Mattias Inghe

Perfect for gaming, good for different issues

The 240Hz body fee and assist for Adaptive Sync and FreeSync Premium Pro make it simple to get a easy and exquisite picture, even when a pc struggles to maintain the picture rendering easy. I didn’t expertise any display tearing, even with quick actions and digital camera sweeps. If you may have a brand new Nvidia GeForce graphics card, you don’t want G-Sync within the show anymore; Adaptive Sync is okay. Lightning-fast response occasions of 0.03 milliseconds make the show excellent for gaming.

This requires a pc that may deal with it. My pretty quick take a look at field with Intel Core i5 processor and Geforce RTX 4070 can ship 60 frames per second in most video games, however not all. Still, that’s loads of pixels to regulate. The 5120×1440 pixel decision means 7.3 million pixels. A 4K display at 3840×2160 yields 8.3 million.

It’s not simply video games that may profit from the large display, however a lot of workspace is a good benefit for different issues too. You can stretch the video editor to accommodate a transparent timeline and lots of home windows and instruments directly, and nonetheless have room for a browser and file supervisor. This is actually two “regular” 1440p 16:9 displays facet by facet.

Further studying: Best gaming monitors

Mattias Inghe

Some odd decisions

This means it’s also possible to join two picture sources and run two giant, high-resolution, regular-sized screens facet by facet. To achieve this, the monitor has a DisplayPort and two HDMI inputs, one normal-sized and one micro-HDMI.

It’s a format I haven’t seen shortly, and virtually feels a bit retro. What makes use of the micro-HDMI port like this in 2023? It would have appeared extra logical to have a USB-C enter for picture sign, ideally one with energy provide and full USB docking for a laptop computer. But you’ll must do with out that. There are three USB-C ports, however they’re a conventional USB hub and nothing else. One to connect with a pc and two to attach USB equipment. Again, an odd alternative of port format. What I want to join is usually USB Type A inputs for issues like keyboard and mouse.

And possibly headset. The display has built-in audio system, however the sound expertise is much from the glory of the image expertise. There are two 5-watt components positioned on the backside fringe of the display outwards on both sides. You get good stereo unfold and detailed sound, but it surely’s nonetheless fairly skinny, with flattened midrange and weak bass. There’s no analogue headphone jack—you’ll have to make use of a USB plug or Bluetooth.

Mattias Inghe

Almost a wise TV

Yes, the display has Bluetooth 5.3 assist, and likewise Wi-Fi 5 connectivity. This is one among Samsung’s good screens. With an Arm-based processor and the identical Tizen OS software program as in Samsung’s good TV. The performance is identical because the Smart Monitor M8 display we examined in 2022—a full good TV system with pre-installed and downloadable apps for all main and common streaming providers, in addition to many smaller media, data and leisure apps, video games and extra.

There’s an online browser, app to play media from USB-connected storage, net browser, management hub for good dwelling devices, and far more. You additionally get the identical sort of picture enhancement and upscaling as an everyday TV. And for pure connectivity and content material providers, there’s no scarcity of essential options. Except for receivers for terrestrial or cable TV.

Mattias Inghe

Everything is managed with a small distant that offers you quantity management, trackpad, and hotkeys to some key apps like Netflix and Prime Video. You additionally get a channel changer that works with Samsung’s personal Samsung TV streaming service, which has a number of stay streaming channels.

However, the expertise of this display as a wise TV is somewhat unusual. The interface solely covers a part of the display, which I assume is 21:9 format, with giant unutilized areas round it, and there are additionally giant empty areas when streaming content material.

With a price ticket of just below $1,800, the Galaxy Odyssey OLED G9 is clearly a giant funding, however given the image high quality, the superb gaming capabilities, the graceful dealing with due to the Tizen system and distant management, and the good display function usually as a bonus, it may be price it. Two 1440p OLED 16:9 screens this good most likely value the identical or extra. With higher audio system and a correct USB-C laptop computer dock, and it might be a complete winner.

Mattias Inghe

This article was translated from Swedish to English and initially appeared on m3.se.