PC Monitor Era: Samsung Odyssey G9 Ultrawide or LG CX 48" OLED

[Gowans]

I've been eyeing up a new PC monitor for my office and have been looking at something rediculous.

What would you pick Era?

I have a 3090 that can drive and a desk that is big enough for either.
I love my LG 65" E9 for my Series X & PS5 but something about swapping my dual monitor setup for an ulrawide is really appealing to me.

 

[ParksCo2]

I'm in the same boat. I'm just here for the comments.

 

[Lom1lo]

Im at the same point and will probably go with the 2021 G9 when it releases. This will have mini led and hopefully tackles the shortcomings of the current model (dimming zones)

 

[Rock Howard]

Desk big enough is cool and all but you may want to consider wall mounting the CX since you need a certain viewing distance due to the lacking curvature.
I myself am waiting for a more reasonably sized OLED monitor, meaning something in the range of 27-32"

 

[fulltimepanda]

how far do you sit away?

You can get away with greater horizontal screen space than vertical height for a given distance away.

 

[Dedazen]

Monitors and TVs with 240Hz support are not viable at this point, because there are very few games that would reach 240 fps to fully utilize the capabilities of such a monitor or TV.

LG CX is a much better option at this point.

 

[Deleted member 15227]

Was considering a 48" CX but it's way too big for a computer monitor. 42" is probably my limit without having to sit excessively far back.

 

[oneils]

If you play a lot of esport type games, Im thinking the monitor would be nice. If you play a lot of stuff with a controller, then the tv would be great.

 

[Wubby]

I'm waiting for that 43" LG that's coming personally. Not sure I would be happy with the pixel density on a monitor larger than that.

 

[EvilBoris]

You know I'm all about the HDR
only 10 edgelit zones on the G9.

 

[Yahsper]

I use my PC for more than just gaming and due to working at home, I've been noticing a third monitor could be really useful. So for me, I've been eying the Oddyssey G9. I have an LG C9 for my consoles but wouldn't really trust myself considering the burn-in risk (having the same docs and sheets open for hours on end).

 

[Raiden]

Monitors and TVs with 240Hz support are not viable at this point, because there are very few games that would reach 240 fps to fully utilize the capabilities of such a monitor or TV.

LG CX is a much better option at this point.

Click to shrink...

My 3090 has trouble hitting 144fps for my 144hz 1440p screen.

Unless you're playing old games and lower settings.

But why though (lower settings)

Get that CX and bathe in its oled glory!

 

[Ganado]

I'm biased due to owning a G9 but it rocks, having the screen estate of two 1440p 27' screens together is awesome and I say that as someone that used a single 1080p screen for years until I got this. Also much I think using a TV screen might be too big, depending on how you position it. They are not meant to be close up and might give you neck-aches due to needing to look up.

 

[Barrel Cannon]

Voted G9 because I assume this is work first, gaming second. The support for ultrawide on PC is amazing so I feel like there's a lot of benefit to reap there. The eventual Ghosts of Tshumina port is gonna look so goddam ridiculous on it

 

[BeI]

I'd personally go with a TV at that size. OLEDs look pretty amazing. My hubby briefly had the Oddyssey and I thought it was terrible for gaming. Maybe some people are really into their ultra super wide gaming, but I think it looks horrible with everything curving around.

 

[Gowans]

You know I'm all about the HDR
only 10 edgelit zones on the G9.

Click to shrink...

Yeah, if the LG was a little smaller I'd go for it.

Maybe I wait for the 2021 models.

Everytime I hear ultrawide my ears prick up.

 

[Shifty Capone]

Okay so I have both. I've had the G9 for a year and the LG 48 OLED for 2-3 weeks now. Both have caveats, some can be pretty major depending on use case.

What do you generally play? Games only? Or Is productivity a big factor?

 

[Gowans]

Okay so I have both. I've had the G9 for a year and the LG 48 OLED for 2-3 weeks now. Both have caveats, some can be pretty major depending on use case.

What do you generally play? Games only? Or Is productivity a big factor?

Click to shrink...

It's going to be a mix, daytime work.
Evening and weekends games.

 

[HaloForzaGuy]

Are there any 40 inch or lower tv's in the pipeline?

 

[Shifty Capone]

It's going to be a mix, daytime work.
Evening and weekends games.

Click to shrink...

The reason I ended up purchasing the LG and now use it more often than the G9 is mainly because gaming/movies are just better on it. 4k + OLED + gorgeous black levels is very hard to beat.
The G9 is absolutely amazing for anything productive. I mean really, it is so much better than two monitors. Especially if you use Power Toys correctly.
If you play MMOs often or similar games like that, the G9 shines. The super ultrawides FOV is absolutely amazing.

The OLED does have some issues with auto brightness, especially when you are doing work. If you're on a static document a lot of times the brightness will just dim horribly. I still am not used to it. It's my biggest issue and has had me think of putting the G9 back in the center of my desk setup.

Overall, I'd say LG is superior in most things gaming. Though, any productivity shifts that balance. I have a 3090 as well so I've had 0 problems pushing either monitor. Seemingly there isn't a 'perfect' monitor out there, regardless of budget. Caveats excist on all of them. I've tried a lot of them over the last year or so, but I think, for now, the OLED will occupy the #1 slot. It is just gorgeous to view.

 

[tokkun]

I think there are a few prerequisites for using an OLED for productivity work:

1. You are OK with the possibility of getting some degree of burn-in. Otherwise having that in the back of your mind is too distracting.
2. You are mostly working in apps where you can set dark mode so ABSL and logo dimming are not so pronounced.
3. Your office lighting setup is not going to have too many direct reflections. Otherwise I would suggest going with a display that has a less glossy coating.

 

[Aranath]

I've had both a 48" and 55" LG CX, as well as the G9. I ended up returning the G9 and got my money back in the end.

Some games were just downright broken trying to get them to work at 32:9 aspect ratio. Others worked without needing to fiddle with settings but then there was a crazy amount of distortion on the edges of the screen. That distortion was such an immersion killer for me. For example, playing Dishonored 2 on it, there was a moment where there was a guard standing around to my right. When I was looking almost perpendicular to them, the distortion made them look like they were right next to me. As soon as you turn the camera around to them and the distortion goes away, they'll zoom back out and then you realize they're standing like 10+ meters away.

I mean, not all games were like that, mind you. Flight Simulator was incredible on the G9. That worked without any fiddling whatsoever and it felt really immersive. Being able to see out your side window without needing to turn the camera while flying was awesome. When it works well it really is amazing and immersive.

On top of those issues, I found that the black levels were actually really disappointing for a VA panel. I was getting similar black levels on my IPS LG XB270HU monitor with better color accuracy.

Then there were the dead pixels I had as well, which is something I only discovered after has been a relatively common complaint with the G9.

The HDR is also pretty horrendous thanks to the elevated contrast and the terrible local dimming implementation.

That's not to say the LG CX isn't without its issues, though. I went through three 55" CXs and got my money back before taking a gamble on the 48", owing to ridiculous amounts of vertical banding and VRR flicker when using G-Sync.

So far, knock on wood, my 48" is working a lot better than my previous ones. The image quality is genuinely stunning and the HDR on it is incredible, even if it doesn't get as bright as the 1,000 nits of the G9. I play in a dark room, so the HDR is more than bright enough. I'm still getting the flickering when using G-Sync unfortunately, but that's a hardware issue and won't go away, so I've just accepted I may need to turn G-Sync off in certain games to avoid it.

Just remember, if you're wanting to do ultrawide gameplay, and especially if you're using the CX as a monitor, you can always set up a custom resolution or use the desktop resizing tool in the Nvidia Control Panel to set a 3840x1620 resolution, which will give you black bars above and below the screen, but with the perfect blacks of the OLED, you'll almost instantly forget they're even there. I've been playing The Surge 2 like that and it works perfectly. Although, right now it's a bit glitchy and won't let you select 10bit color, so using HDR with that might not work too well. I'm still trying to figure out if there's a workaround with that, like using CRU or something.

If you're a console gamer, you've got HDMI 2.1 with the CX whereas the G9 is limited to HDMI 2.0. However, one thing I liked with the G9 is that if you connect a console to it, you can set the output resolution to 4k and the panel will downsample that to 1440p in the center of the screen. That actually worked a treat for playing console games on the G9. The curvature just takes a bit of getting used to when you're only using the center section of the screen. However, again, god awful HDR whereas console games with HDR look amazing on the CX.

 

[F34R]

Get the C1 instead of the Cx.

 

[Gowans]

Thanks for all of the support Era, still so split, leaning G9 think i might go where the best deal is.

 

[Falchion]

Here for recommendations as well. Been wanting a G9 but not much point buying one until I can get my hands on a 3080.

 

[Perfect Chaos]

IMO, if whichever one you get will be on a desk, go with the G9. Craning your neck around on a 48" 16:9 display wouldn't feel good, I think.

 

[UltraJay]

Yeah, if the LG was a little smaller I'd go for it.

Maybe I wait for the 2021 models.

Everytime I hear ultrawide my ears prick up.

Click to shrink...

I'm waiting for the 2021 G9 as well. There are rumours it will get a crazy high HDR level too, more than any other monitor on the market now.

Keep in mind it can do picture by picture two 16:9 screens side by side. Good for stuff that doesn't play well with ultrawide resolutions so you can mimic a multi-monitor setup. This works with two different inputs as well like a console with each at 120 fps.

 

[Pargon]

You have to keep in mind that the 48" OLED is not really a "drop it on the desk and use it" display for most people.
Most are going to find it uncomfortably large with poor ergonomics when you do that.

I would recommend that you at least buy a VESA arm or wall-mount it, to push the display back about a foot or so. Note that something hollow like an Ikea desk will not take the weight of a VESA arm.
Getting a keyboard tray/arm or a deeper desk to create mode distance may be beneficial, too.
I did both of these things back when I was using a 46" TV as a monitor.

David Zhang is a YouTuber that has used ultra-wide displays for years (including 32:9 models), and was sent a 48CX to review for his desk setup.
He has produced a few informative videos talking about its use at a desk:



So in terms of ease of setup, the G9 wins.
However, image quality is going to be no contest at all. The G9 is an edge-lit display with very few dimming zones. That cannot compared to an OLED.
Even G-Sync Ultimate monitors like the ASUS PG35VQ, which has hundreds of dimming zones, cannot compare to OLED when displaying darker scenes. They do look better in bright scenes, though.



There's also the issue of the G9 being a VA-type panel rather than IPS-type.
I think those are terrible due to the extremely limited viewing angle - which becomes more apparent on wider displays.

And that I don't think the 32:9 aspect ratio is a good choice for gaming.
In my experience, going to 21:9 is an improvement over 16:9 in practically every single way.
It is a drop-in replacement for a 16:9 monitor and expands the view horizontally to fill more of my vision.
The only real downside is that games are more demanding on your CPU from the wider view.

But 32:9 is wide enough that I have to sit further back from it than 16:9 or 21:9 for it to be comfortable, and that makes the image I'm seeing feel smaller.
I really feel that 32:9 is more of a productivity-focused change than a gaming one, as a replacement for a dual-monitor setup.

I'm waiting for that 43" LG that's coming personally. Not sure I would be happy with the pixel density on a monitor larger than that.

Click to shrink...

You may be waiting a while, since LG Electronics have not announced anything yet.
There has only been the announcement that LG Display plan on producing 43" OLED panels.
With the 48" OLED LGE announced a TV model at the same time that LGD started producing panels in that size - and it arrived late.

I really wish they would have announced a 5K ultra-wide panel for monitors, rather than a 43" 4K screen, though.

 

[Moebius]

The LG 38GN950. 38 inch ultrawide. 3840x1600. 144hz, 120z with 10 bit color. G-Sync. HDR 600.

 

[versus87]

I'm waiting for the 2021 G9 as well. There are rumours it will get a crazy high HDR level too, more than any other monitor on the market now.

Click to shrink...

Actually there seems to be two models this year. A G9 (without MiniLED) and a G9 Neo (with MiniLED), which makes sense with the rumored price of 4599 $ based on Chinese retailer which already lists it.

 

[JudgmentJay]

Even if your desk is big enough I think 48" is going to be uncomfortable. Maaaybe if you're wall-mounting it and you're 4+ feet away it could work.

 

[zyvorg]

I was in the same boat last year, and for all the reasons listed above ended up going with the G9.

Its been a lot of fun honestly even if the PQ for Media is obviously not at the level of an OLED.

 

[breander]

I have the Samsung G9 and its a very nice monitor but it does have a few downsides as already mentioned the 10 dimming zones is not great but honestly only notice it when doing those super black hdr videos that are meant for oleds otherwise everything else and especially games I don't notice it. The other major downside is the gsync range only goes from 60 - 240hz. Most gsync monitors go lower like 30 - 40ish. But your rocking a 3090 so that wont be much of a worry.

 

[jkh13]

Get the G9 or wait for the new G9.

With the CX you will be craning your neck to view parts of it and you also risk burn in from static elements a lot more than if you are using it as a general purpose TV.

 

[nikasun :D]

I am in localization and the 49 is wonderful for this line of work. So if you have your main program, a browser and some reference files open, got for it. There are also the Windows power tools where you can create different desktop areas (also overlapping).