Samsung 49" Odyssey OLED G9 (G95SC) Curved Smart Gaming Monitor, QD-OLED, 240Hz, 0.03ms, FreeSync Premium Pro, G-Sync Compatible, Dual QHD, Neo Quantum Processor, LS49CG954SNXZA

Update 2 years later: This panel has been going strong since purchasing in October of 2023. Like others, I too have encountered random black screens. And I resolved it by changing out my Display Port cables. Ironically, the 4th one I chose, a standard DP 1.4 Amazon Basics stopped this issue outright. Last time it happened to me was Jan 2024. No burn in issues to report either or dead pixels. I know others haven't been so lucky with Samsung's panels, but it's been good to me. But it is a gamble. You may get lucky like me, you may not. Original review: I was initially hesitant given how middling the CHG90 was (what I had before this G9 OLED). Along with the usual fears of OLED burn in given this is a PC monitor and would be used as such. Not just gaming. But after a few months of usage, I'm still floored every time I use it. The PPI, colors, clarity, response, refresh, contrast are all amazing. However like all OLEDS, it suffers in total peak brightness (though being a Gen 2 QD panel does help). In HDR it produces amazing contrast, and can even hit 1000 nits in 2% windows for some amazing highlights. But overall it's just a 400 nit panel. Not the worst (better than an HDR 400 LCD), but not HDR1000+ mini LED amazing either. Using in a light controlled room is recommended for optimal usage. The added Tizen smart UI is a bit wonky however, and I wish I had opted for the version without it. I don't ever see myself using a single app from it, ever. No need for it to be on a gaming monitor. Overall, this has been the best monitor I've owned. 5120x1440p 240Hz is perfect, having it be OLED is a cherry topper.

[UPDATE - 12-13-2024] I am updating my review on this panel due to a problem with the VRR support in this panel that I believe showed up at some point after a firmware update that results in the panel just going black randomly, requiring you to forcibly change some settings like resolution to kick it back in gear. Even turning it off and on again doesn't seem to reliably fix it. This seems to happen when opening full screen applications, however it also happens when closing Photoshop. The only workaround appears to be to disable VRR, which also seems to turn off game mode, which prevents access to a lot of handy settings. From what I have read, this does not occur on the less expensive (and preferable, in my opinion) G93SC panel that is functionally identical, minus the spyware smart tv garbage that comes with this version. In conclusion, skip this one, save yourself some money, and go with the G93SC. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- I've had this panel for about 2 weeks now. Coming from a pair of 24" 1080p IPS panels from 2016 this was a massive upgrade for me, so I cant really speak for this panel compared to other similar panels. With that in mind, I love this panel. I have been absolutely blown away by the true blackness of this panel, essentially, the black areas look like the thing isn't even turned on in those areas. It's crazy. For productivity it's almost like having a three-wide panel setup, because I can have windows in the center where the bezel would have been on my previous setup. Since I don't maximize windows basically ever unless it's a video, this means I can easily have my main window centered, with other windows on either side. And there is something to be said for being able to stretch a spreadsheet out to the full 32:9 if I'm working with a particularly large dataset. I've even played around with stretching my VS Code window out to make word wrapping a thing of the past. It's glorious. Games that support 32:9 (or can be forced into it using config tweaks or by using Flawless Widescreen to inject support are so much more immersive, though for the heavy hitters, even my 4080 can struggle to output enough frames, and I've found myself turning down some details to keep things around 60 fps. Video playback is great, except in situations where widescreen videos have baked in letterboxing. This has required finding solutions to zoom the video in somewhat so that I can get the full vertical capacity of the screen, but there are solutions out there. Now for the annoyances. I wish I had known about the "lower" spec version of this panel that does not include the "smart tv" stuff. There is nothing that can do that I cannot (and do not) already do with the PC it is connected to. It's a neat feature, knowing that if I wanted to I could simply take this panel, a keyboard, mouse or controller and still get access to gaming and most of the entertainment stuff I would want to have, but realistically, transporting a 32:9 panel anywhere is just not going to happen. If I want to do those things while traveling, I will simply take my laptop, so I could have saved a couple hundred bucks. Additionally, the UI is not the best. Getting to some settings requires you to first bring up the "smart" menu, then select settings, then you can either select the setting, or go to the settings and select the settings in a different way. It would have been so much nicer to just have a direct access button to the settings. Then, when you are done depending on where you are in the UI you can either simply use the back button on the remote, or sometimes that just puts you into a loop of switching between the smart menu and the smart category, and the only way to get out of that is to go to the input list and select the one you already have selected. It just adds extra actions, and again, would have been so much better to have a button that just exits the smart features directly. And then we come to the panel health features. Certainly a gladly accepted function (assuming it actually does what it says on the tin) A feature to help prevent burn in (a real concern with oled, especially when spending this much on a panel). I love the idea of a feature that will help improve the longevity. I HATE that I have zero control over it. Several times, in the middle of working, I've had this thing pop up and tell me that it will need to turn the panel off for 10 minutes. In the middle of my work day, while I'm in a teams meeting, while I'm working on code, whenever. I would REALLY like to have an option to set a specific time for this to happen, or even better, schedule a time when the panel can just shut off for an extended period of time (like when I go to bed at night) without screwing up my monitor settings in Windows, because if I just turn the panel off, suddenly all of my windows shift to other displays on my system (I've got a 24" panel to the right, and a 43" tv above). Samsung! Let me set a schedule for this health improvement feature for the love of god! Then there is the fact that after this completes and the panel turns back on, it insists on telling me that it finished, as if I can't tell because there is an image on screen. And this notification doesn't just show up for a couple seconds, I have to use the remove to tell it okay to make it go away. Does Samsung think I'm a moron? I think they do. One thing I do wish, is that this panel was available with a 1000r curve. Because it is so much larger than my previous pair of 24" panels, I actually find that the extreme sides of the panel aren't as easily readable because they aren't angled toward me as much as I had my two panels angled. The 1800r curve definitely is better than if it were flat, but I kind of feel like a 1000r curve would have made this a complete non-issue, though admittedly as the cost of desk real estate due to the panel being "deeper". This is probably a somewhat niche thing, but probably worth mentioning. I have a Tobii eye tracker. Currently I have only mounted this by using double double sided tape on the bottom of the panel. This works, but isn't the cleanest. Obviously since the panel is curved I can't mount it properly until I print out a curved adaptor for it. This isn't a deal breaker, but probably worth knowing for anyone else who has a tobii. So ultimately, this is an amazing panel that is hindered by how "smart" it isn't. I suspect that if I had gotten the non "smart" version, this would have been a 5 star review. Naturally, I will follow up on this review in the future if it blows up or whatever, or if Samsung decides to hire some actual UX people and improves things in that area.

WOW.... 1) I am 95% about production type work (Spreadsheets, Emails, Billing), and "thinking about" doing a little gaming, now that I am only working part time, not that I am in my mid 60's. 2) I hooked my new Samsung 49" Odyssey OLED G9 (G95SC) Series Curved Smart Gaming Monitor up to my HP Probook 450 G6 laptop. 3) I immediately thought I had made a mistake in purchasing this new G95SC monitor. The laptops image DID fill the whole 32:9 Ultrawide screen, but all of the documents, icons, pictures, texts were extremely stretched to fill the screen. It looked awful. My immediate thought was to box it back up and return it. I decided to wait until my new desktop computer arrived in a couple days. 4) I plugged this monitor into a new desktop that had a video card that could 32:9 graphics (RTX 5080 Prime) and "WOW", the monitor popped to life. Distorted icons, documents and pictures were now all perfectly view on this awesome monitor. I can now easily put three documents up on the screen, all at once and just slide my pointer to any of the documents I want (ALL ON ONE SCREEN).... Man, did I say, "This monitor is awesome"!? I can fit four documents on this monitor too, if I want, but I find three documents at one time, is perfect for what I do. 5) At first, I doubted that I did the right thing by buying this. I thought perhaps I should have gone with three monitors turned up vertically, but the issue with that is, small (21" or 24"), do not come with the specs that this G95SC does, and my documents would have physically been on three different screens, with that annoying bezel in the way. 6) No doubt about it... I AM HAPPY WITH MY PURCHASE. It was a little pricey, but it has great specs. looks great and ticks all the boxes I needed for a productive monitor. And oh yeah, #7 It looks awesome as a gaming monitor too! LOL I have only used it for MSFS 20024 so far, but with .03 latency, and all the specs that a great gaming monitor needs, I have no doubt that it will perform flawlessly in and environment I put it in. 8) If you have the money, and the graphics card to run it.... "DO IT"! 9) WOW

The Samsung Odyssey OLED G9 is an incredible monitor, but it heavily depends on the GPU you're using. I own an RTX 3070 Ti, and unfortunately, it's not quite powerful enough to handle gaming at this monitor's full capabilities. I've struggled to play in full screen, and even when setting the resolution to 2560x1440, the monitor still struggles to deliver a smooth experience. Using windowed mode doesn't significantly improve performance either. I'll most likely return this monitor and repurchase it when I can upgrade to a more powerful GPU, like the 5080 Ti. If you think many games support this monitor's native resolution effortlessly, think again. It's not the monitor's fault, it's a fantastic piece of hardware that would be wasted on my current setup because I can't use it to its full potential. On the other hand, for productivity, it's absolutely outstanding. With tools like PowerToys, this monitor becomes a must-have in every household for multitasking and productivity. That's why I still gave it 5 stars. The issue lies with my GPU, not with the monitor itself.

Ok, so I know 4 stars is doesn’t sound like love, but I do love this monitor. The image looks amazing. Source 1 I have my work laptop. It looks good with my laptop broadcasting at 4 to it. It is almost enough space to not need my other monitor but there is no way to squeeze 3 screens out of this one. This one easily works awesome as 2 screens just not 3. It is amazing to work smartsheets on this a not have to slide left and right all the time. Source 2 is my gaming rig. I broadcast to it in 5k. It is simply spectacular. The sound is nice and crisp and the oled is just visually stunning. It is a nice and smooth picture even when doing fast motion. Why this is not 5 star. The kvm switch is quirky. And so is auto power on. I turn on pc1, if it was on pc1 the monitor starts right up. Not that it’s on if I start Pc2 it swaps. If I shut off pc2 it stays on that source, doesn’t swap back to PC1 that is still on. If shut down PC1 and start if back up with last on pc2 it will the monitor doesn’t come out of sleep. Same thing vice versa. I can hit home and it will come out of sleep, then swap to the pc I want but it’s clunky at best. The stand is solid but the monitor jiggles a bit when my desk it moving up or down which can misalign my monitors or change my webcam view. That is really it.

I'm very happy with this buy after having used a triple monitor setup for a few years. I was a bit worried about switching to a single monitor, even if ultrawide, but it's really easy to split browser windows into thirds, albeit they're not quite 1080p equivalent, but definitely still workable given the quadrupled refresh rate and sharper image. Only downside is on my end in that I need to get a better GPU. Was hoping my EVGA 2070 Super would do the job, and it handles at acceptable frames but not nearly enough to ultimate take full advantage of the resolution or refresh rate, though I bet if I just bite the bullet and lower my graphics settings, I could take better advantage. The dilemma! The setup, as other reviews indicate, was kind of a pain. I recommend just doing it via the remote they provide and not your phone as they indicate is "easier" since I ran into quite a few hangups or the monitor not refreshing status after completing a step on the phone. I also likely won't use the smart TV aspect of this monitor, but it's nice to know it's there as long as it doesn't somehow get in the way of functionality, which I don't have enough time yet with to know. The monitor settings aren't terrible user friendly either, but I can deal for what is a nice monitor indeed. So far no technical issues either, knock on wood.

An Amazing Experience! The best monitor I ever had. Not one complaint about the quality while gaming or watching content, BUT even as much as I liked it this 1st gen OLED STOPPED WORKING on me within 2 MONTHS. This is apparently is a known issue with Samsung and other outlets... My SAMSUNG 49" Odyssey OLED G9 G95SC Series Curved Smart Gaming Monitor had a bad OLED panel causing a permanent ' BLACK SCREEN ' Unfortunately: When looking for help it is difficult to weed out complaints about damaged screens in shipping, single dead pixels, or posts where no one gives any more information besides that their monitor was stuck on a black screen. Fortunately: After some hours of digging on Amazon reviews, forums on Samsung's website, and other tech review/help forum. I found this is exact problem and that it's not rare or unusual. With my Black Screen issue the monitor would turn on and function in every way: audio worked, display ports worked, HDMI port worked, USB ports worked, All Smart Monitor functions worked including connecting to internet. Only the OLED panel itself wouldn't power on. -The way you can tell you have the same issue besides for testing if all the other functions are working is when you are Turning on the power to the monitor or when you are trying to switch sources (this is best scene using the remote) look directly below the middle of the monitor. This is the receiver for the remote and from what i understand where some of the light sensors and other sensors. ---->Try this: Cuffing your hand closely under this sensor and then attempt turning on the power and/or switch between source to the display. What you are looking for is the reflection of a red LED light that will be flickering sporadically with no noticeable pattern. If you are seeing this, then you are having the same issue as me and many others. you notice a red light flickering sporadically with no noticeable pattern.<---- - What I don't know is whether this is defective panel or some kind software bug that just bricks the OLED. - What I do know from people who bought this monitor threw Samsung is that the manufacturer warranty resulted everytime in Samsung providing a local 3rd party repair technician to REPLACE THE OLED Panel and the Sensor/Receiver. So same everything else just new screen. -As for myself and those of us buying from Amazon there was no repair. I bought mine with special amazon warranty and I was outside of the 30 day return policy, but within 90 days. Amazon wasn't able to replace the monitor, but I was able to get a refund. ------>HERE's THE DEAL... Samsung's curved gaming oled monitor's may have the G9 Odyssey branding, BUT you should treat this as brand new tech and you should pass.<------ -Samsung may have all the right tech for an awesome OLED monitor, but it's clear they haven't reached an economy of scale with this 1st generation of curved OLED monitors with its inconsistencies in build quality and the buggy smart monitor software. I am sure that by the 3rd maybe 2nd gen they will be as consistent as 3rd gen G7 and G9's.

**Update - Still very happy with how this monitor looks. But not happen with Tizen OS. If you want this amazing OLED display, get the version of the G9 that does not haven Tizen - MSRP is a bit less, but street price is probably the same ($1100-1200). Besides really annoying input switching logic and aggressive screen blanking (to prevent burn in, which is generally a good idea with OLED), Tizen OS also has Bluetooth that you can't disable - so enjoy getting random OSD pop-ups asking if you want to let your neighbors connect to your display. It -might- be defeatable if I want to try to get it into dev mode and use some codes that work on Tizen TVs, but haven't bothered yet. But why is this crap on there in the first place? And why did a security researcher rip Tizen OS as being the least secure commercial software he's ever seen? WTH, Samsung? So yeah, great looking OLED display, but garbage software - avoid the Tizen OS version. **Original post Recently on sale for a price that was too good to pass up. Specifically wanted a version that supported G-Sync . Initially it's a little strange to use given the super wide display characteristics, but I got used to that pretty quickly. The display looks phenomenal. Am recently using this with an RTX 4090 laptop card that can drive it at 240Hz. Will shortly be paired to a desktop system with desktop version of same card. Wish monitor had a 2nd display port input (has 1 x Displayport, 1 x HDMI), but no complaints otherwise. Expecting to use this mostly for gaming, and some personal coding/dev projects. And I'm saving the rather large packing box and shaped foam protective packing material - can't imagine ever moving this display without it due to the curved nature of the screen. Recently mounted this large display on a monitor arm, not so much to move display around as much as to reclaim limited desk space from the large and sturdy OEM monitor base. EDIT - Removing 2 stars on account of some issues I've run into post-purchase: 1 - Post-purchase paranoid re: OLED burn-in - I was aware before purchase that OLED had burn-in issues, but subsequent reading & viewing of others' experiences with OLED displays and Samsungs in particular convinced me to change my usage of Windows insofar as I removed all my desktop icons, hide my task bar, and rotate my desktop backgrounds every 30 seconds. I'm probably overreacting a bit here given that I am not using this as a productivity display, or even for more than a few hours at a time/day, but I really do not want my fantastic looking new monitor to suffer any sort of burn-in for a long time (4-5 years minimum). One thing that has not changed is that this display looks absolutely amazing compared to any other display I've ever used. 2 - The bigger issue is that the display does not show the POST screens when coming out of hibernation. I am running this display at 5140x1440, 240Hz, 10-bit (set via nVidia control panel) because my RTX 4090 supports that display mode. Generally, I prefer to sleep rather than hibernate my machines, but for reasons (thanks, Microsoft!) Windows 11 machines in general and this machine in particular refuses to sleep for more than 15 seconds at a time, which had it waking the display up constantly. So I've opted to hibernate the machine between usage sessions (I don't like rebooting because then I have to relaunch all my apps between sessions), and that's when I ran into those no-POST screens at 240Hz issue. All my drivers have been updated, I'm using a HDMI 2.1 ultra high speed cable, or a DP 1.4 cable, either of which should support 5140x1440 at 240Hz with DSC enabled, and the display has the latest Samsung firmware. People have been posting about this blank screen issue at 240Hz for over a year, and logged tickets with Samsung to no avail. So it's not like Samsung hasn't had an opportunity to work this problem. At this point I know based on the PC and keyboard RGB light status when it's likely to be waiting for boot password input, enter my password, and then watch the RGB lights cycle as it boots into Windows. But before I figured that out I was doing hard reboots with the power button thinking the machine had crashed. Some folks have said turning the display off and back on fixes the POST issue, but that has not worked for me. On restart, I do see the POST screens, but not when resuming from hibernation. 3 - The built in Samsung OS / software is really annoying. I bought this display because I wanted a spectacular display for my Windows machine and this monitor IS that. But I really do not like the Samsung overlays or the native management software - when troubleshooting the blank POST screen all that extra software got in the way of me diagnosing the issue. It was hard to tell if the display was simply switching away from the desired input (claiming no signal), or putting itself to sleep, or even WHAT it was doing with the constant power state changes (off, powering up, showing the power-up overlay, showing the built-in desktop/home screen, etc.). Sometimes I really just wished for a simple monitor that would reliably show me what was signal was being sent (or not sent) from the PC so I could tell what was really going on. Make no mistake: when everything is working well, it's fantastic. Otherwise this display makes a good case for why we don't need so many layers of software mediating our user experience - or at least provide end users with a way to disable all this nice-to-have but hardly essential bloat. In my case, 100% of my usage of this display is driving it with a Windows 11 gaming machine and I don't need it to do anything else.