It's hard to overstate just how much this monitor will blow you away the first time you use it. Samsung was somehow able to double the peak brightness over the 1,000 nits in last year's model to 2,000 in the Samsung Odyssey Neo G9. That gives it an HDR 2000 rating, which is the best HDR you'll find outside of just playing your PC games on a top-end OLED TV.

As for additional upgrades, the Neo G9 now supports HDMI 2.1. So you can enjoy up to 144Hz refresh over HDMI, including 120Hz with the latest consoles. The full 240Hz action is available only via DisplayPort. And remember that, for now, neither the Microsoft Xbox Series X|S or the Sony Playstation 5 support the G9’s extreme ultrawide aspect ratio and resolution. That HDMI 2.1 interface may come in handy one day, but right now this epic panel isn’t a good fit for any console. While the Neo G9’s HDR performance is great in games, it’s not ideal in Windows. Turning on HDR makes the display appear washed out and dull rather than more vivid. You’ll want to turn HDR off outside of games or HDR movies. This is a common problem for all monitors, but one the Neo G9 doesn’t resolve. Purchasing Guide We tested the monitor with the PS5's new variable refresh rate feature and confirmed that even though the monitor supports HDMI Forum VRR, it's not working properly. Average brightness (as measured with the monitor brightness maxed and all dynamic adjustment settings disabled) was upwards of 400 nits in every mode, with the brightest unsurprisingly being High Bright, with 418.6. This is well above what we saw with the Razer Raptor 27 (295 nits) and the Acer XFA240 (352 nits), but below the likes of the LG 38GL950G (544 nits) or the ViewSonic Elite XG270QC (524 nits).Although the display presets offer a distinguishable amount of variation among them, I rarely found them especially useful. The FPS preset, in particular, was distractingly bright; though this implementation was likely inspired by the frequently dark cast of those games’ playing areas, the murky uncertainty of dark tunnels and shadowy ruins are usually part of the fun, and flooding them with light ruins the effect. Cinema, too, exaggerated colors and brightness, creating a dulling effect on motion picture–style video. To my eyes, the rather darker Custom setting was an excellent choice—if not the best choice—in nearly all situations. Samsung Odyssey G9 review: Gaming performance I get it. This is a big monitor with a big curve, so it’s going to take up space. Still, I can’t help but think the monitor would be more practical with a less extreme curve and a stand that trades size for heft. Added that this monitor is a better super ultrawide gaming monitor than the LG 49GR85DC-B in the Compared to Other Monitors section.

Onward to gaming performance testing. We used the HDFury 4K Diva HDMI matrix to determine the monitor’s input lag, which we recorded at less than 1 millisecond (ms), an excellent result. If someone comes across a different type of panel or their Samsung Odyssey Neo G9 doesn't correspond to our review, let us know, and we'll update it. Note that some tests, like gray uniformity, may vary between units. We tested the local dimming with Adaptive Sync and Low Input Lag enabled and there isn't much of a difference when using either of those modes. Overall, the local dimming is better than any other monitor we've tested as it helps to improve the contrast and make highlights pop. It looks really good when viewing from the center, but there's more blooming when looking at it from the side. It's on par with some local dimming features on TVs, but don't compare the score with TVs. Instead, we took real content local dimming videos like we do with TVs so you can see how it looks: Added in the Variants section that the Samsung Odyssey OLED G9/G95SC S49CG95 is a newer version of this monitor with a QD-OLED panel.

Samsung’s uber gaming monitor gets a mini-LED upgrade.

The monitor also supports AMD FreeSync Premium Pro, the highest tier of AMD’s technology that eliminates screen tearing and stuttering by providing a variable refresh rate if you have a compatible graphics card. To that end, the gameplay was smooth from all angles, and while I did notice some warping when viewing from the sides, I saw no issues when seated right at the center of the monitor, exactly where you want to be to enjoy all of its ultrawide splendor. I also noticed the top of the monitor would get warm after extended play sessions, though it didn’t interfere with gameplay. Minus the box, our Samsung Odyssey G9 Neo review sample weighs an absolutely mammoth 14.5kg which is the equivalent of holding a ludicrous 55 Galaxy Z Fold4 foldables in your hands.

Bezels are definitely still visible, especially along the bottom, but because the screen is so big, it's not something you're going to notice on a day-to-day basis. Plus, the only logos you'll find on the front of the display is the Nvidia G-Sync logo, which we would rather not be there. But hey, at least the monitor has G-Sync.

Samsung's 49-inch curved beast is great at what it does — but not everything looks great on it

It’s no slouch when it comes to competitive online shooters, either. We’re not sure how Samsung has managed to create such fast VA panels of late. But it’s impressive all the same. Even using the most aggressive of the three levels of user-configurable overdrive offered in the Neo G9’s OSD menu, there’s no discernible overshoot. Just oodles of pace. This thing is so, so fast. The Neo G9’s incredible contrast provides a rich, deep image with great dimensionality. Yet, if anything, the high contrast ratio undersells the display’s strengths. Mini-LED completely eliminates the edge-lit glow that plagues most gaming monitors and ruins the ambience of dark scenes. Watching the sun set in an open-world game is a truly beautiful experience.