Samsung Odyssey Neo G9
A super ultrawide Mini LED gaming monitor that will blow you and your budget clean away
SCORE ★★★★★
PRICE £1,541 (£1,849 inc VAT) from samsung.com/uk
The Samsung Odyssey Neo G9 is a monster. Measuring 49in from corner to corner, it arrives in a box big enough to sleep in. With a sweeping 1000R curvature, 1.15m width and 418mm depth, you’ll need a huge desk to accommodate it.
It also has one key industry-first feature hidden beneath its space-age white plastic exterior: Mini LED backlighting. This means its LEDs are up to five times smaller than normal (0.008in compared to 0.04in), which reduces the amount of backlight bleed and improves overall accuracy. Mini LED T TVs are becoming more common, but this is the first time we’ve seen the technology in a monitor.
There are 2,048 individual local dimming zones beneath the Neo G9’s panel, a vast improvement over th the ten zones on the plain Odyssey G9. This allows the Neo G9 to reach blisteringly high luminance levels in localised areas – I measured 2,200cd/m² on a 10% white window – which is what’s behind this monitor’s HDR2000 certification. Anything you choose to play in HDR looks stunning. Star Wars Battlefront
II was a particularly great example, with dark passageways streaked with sunlight giving way to neon blaster fire and gleaming lightsabers.
You’ll need to keep the Neo G9 in Dynamic HDR mode for the highest peak brightness. Standard HDR mode drops the maximum to around 1,100cd/m2, so is a better choice for dark rooms and late night gaming.
There are plenty more treats for gamers, with a maximum refresh rate of 240Hz, a grey-to-grey response time of 1ms and input lag of 2ms. It even supports both Nvidia G-Sync and AMD FreeSync Premium Pro.
Sadly, my PC was never going to manage 240fps at 5,120 x 1,440, but the Blur Busters UFO test confirmed that the 240Hz refresh rate was functioning as intended – although you have to enable it in the, thankfully intuitive, OSD.
For instance, it’s easy to pick between the Neo G9’s four response time modes (once you figure out that adaptive sync must be disabled first), which produce increasingly more ghosting as you cycle through them. The fastest, Extreme Motion Response Boost, suffered from an annoying amount of ghosting, but on the whole the monitor feels effortlessly responsive. On to image quality. The Odyssey Neo G9 performs erforms admirably in its default SDR configuration, but you’ll need to activate HDR in Windows 10 to push the display to its intended limits. Straight out of the box with dynamic brightness ness switched off, the Samsung Odyssey Neo G9 covered 99.6% of the sRGB colour gamut, and 91% of the DCI-P3 gamut. With dynamic brightness engaged, the Neo G9 hit a stunning contrast ratio of 6,491:1. Clear evidence of the Mini LED backlight at work.
The default picture mode was the most accurate: an average Delta E of around two means that you’re unlikely to notice any wayward or unnatural colours. Whether you’re watching films, gaming or using a web browser, the panel’s SDR performance is very good indeed.
A resolution of 5,120 x 1,440 translates into an aspect ratio of 32:9. That’s akin to two 1440p monitors side by side, and I found it an astonishing productivity monitor: the 1000R curve looks severe from behind but is perfect for keeping two full-sized windows side-by-side without hurting your neck.
This astonishing display is mounted on a stand that can be raised and lowered by 120mm, swivelled 15° left and right and tilted backwards 13°. This makes it easier to reach its ports, which are precious few for such a behemoth of a monitor. On the rear you’ll find two HDMI 2.1 ports, one DisplayPort 1.4, two USB-A 3, one USB-B port and a 3.5mm headphone jack. Sadly, you won’t find an HDMI 2.1 cable in the box, and it’s worth pointing out that although HDMI 2.1 is the gateway to next-gen gaming, the PlayStation 5 and Xbox Series X offer no super ultrawide support. It does, however, have a hollow portion to run cables through, and you can control the colours to make the rear glow.
Minor moans aside, the Neo G9 is the best HDR gaming monitor to date. It’s also the first monitor to make me exhale loudly through my nose after loading into a game. If you can afford the astronomical price, the Samsung Odyssey Neo G9 offers an unparalleled gaming experience.
SPECIFICATIONS
49in 5,120 x 1,440 VA panel up to 240Hz 12-bit 2-bit panel (1.07 billion colours) HDR2000 certification Nvidia G-Sync AMD FreeSync Premium Pro 1ms response time DisplayPort 1.4 2 x HDMI 2.1 2 x USB-A 3 120mm 20mm height adjustment 30° swivel -3°/13° 3°/13° tilt 1,150 x 418 x 537-657mm (WDH) 14.5kg 4.5kg 2yr warranty
“The Samsung Odyssey Neo G9 is the first monitor to make me exhale loudly through my nose after loading into a game”