Samsung Odyssey G81SF OLED Gaming Monitor Review: Gorgeous Leave a comment
Let’s lower to the chase—Samsung’s newest QD-OLED pc monitor is totally superior, and I’ve liked having it at my desk for the previous month or so. Each sport I play on it seems to be unimaginable, and it has shortly turn out to be the centerpiece of my battle station.
Even so, I am nonetheless having hassle recommending 4K high-refresh displays to individuals who have to purchase and construct their very own methods. Having a monitor with some room to develop is the fitting alternative, however the hole between efficiency and functionality could be irritating in case you’re on in any other case budget-friendly {hardware}. For those who’re considering of constructing an improve, very nice 1440p screens can be found for below $400, they usually is likely to be a greater efficiency match for most individuals.
Alternatively, in case you’ve already obtained essentially the most highly effective gaming PC in your good friend group and also you’ve obtained the money to spare, you’ll be extraordinarily happy with the Samsung G81SF. It provides the most effective panel kind within the class, the very best decision and refresh price fashionable methods can moderately handle, and the suite of options to match.
Quick Refresh, Excessive Decision
The G81SF options Quantum-Dot OLED know-how. (We’ve got an in-depth explainer about panel sorts if you need the technical particulars.) The result’s nearly the most effective gaming monitor expertise you possibly can have in the intervening time. Colours are tremendous brilliant and vivid, and shadows and darkish areas completely disappear into blackness. It makes me wish to flip off the lights, placed on some headphones, and settle in for too many hours of some deeply cinematic sport.
For most folk, the QD-OLED screens are going to be the best possible gaming expertise you will discover, however there are options. For those who’re simply set on 4K and 240Hz, the Mini LED model of the identical display from Samsung has a slower response time, and received’t have the identical stunning Quantum Dot-powered colours, however could be discovered for $700 or much less. For those who’re contemplating this display, I don’t assume that one will impress you just about as a lot, nevertheless it does point out the sort of premium you’re paying for the most recent tech.
Given the excessive refresh and backbone, leveraging adaptive refresh right here will probably be essential for stopping tearing, and the Samsung options FreeSync Premium Plus, quite than Nvidia G-Sync. Essentially the most noticeable benefit to doing so is that it saves you some bucks, with FreeSync screens usually being a bit cheaper than their counterparts. The opposite benefit is that it really works with each Nvidia and AMD playing cards, so that you received’t be tied to at least one or the opposite when searching for GPUs.
The problem for most individuals will simply be getting video games to run easily. I’m fortunate sufficient to have an RTX 5090 (7/10, WIRED Recommends) for overview functions. Even with Nvidia’s present top-end, not too long ago launched card, most fashionable video games received’t get anyplace near 240 FPS at 4K with out important settings tweaking and liberal use of body era. For those who’re on a lower-powered or older card, you would possibly get annoyed to seek out that solely Terraria runs at full decision and refresh price. Folks with playing cards older than the RTX 20 Sequence ought to avert their eyes, as a result of it’s possible you received’t even have the ability to output at 4K and 240Hz, not to mention sport.
Tech and Stand
It has a easy platform stand, which is sufficiently sturdy given the comparatively heavy display, with a primary cable loop on the base. It additionally has RGB lights in a small ring across the again, however to be able to see them your room will should be darkish and your monitor pretty near the wall behind it. You’ll be able to set them from the on-screen show, so no further software program wanted.
New displays typically come out of the field with the display brightness turned method up, and I like to recommend turning it right down to anyplace from 20 to 30 %. You is likely to be shocked how a lot it spares your eyes over the course of some hours of gaming, and it’ll prevent a couple of dollars in your energy invoice. I tweaked just a few different settings as properly, together with turning down the distinction to 40 and the colour to twenty.
It’s actually necessary to the touch on the ports, as a result of each DisplayPort 1.4 and HDMI 2.1 depend on Digital Stream Compression to achieve 4K at 240Hz. Compression would possibly sound like a scary phrase right here, however in accordance with the VESA the results shouldn’t be visually obvious. Technically, the HDMI port has the next bandwidth, however I couldn’t inform the distinction when switching backwards and forwards between them.
