Samsung's Odyssey G9 is their top-of-the-line gaming monitor with a huge 49-inch, 1440p curved screen with a bright and colorful display. But with a price of $1429.99 it is not for everyone.
Ultra-Wide Design
The Odyssey G9 takes up a lot of space due to its 45 inches from left to right due to the curve and nearly 11.5 inches front to back, with the monitor protruding 21 inches from the wall and has a height of 14 inches by itself. I mean it is huge and will not fit on a small desk. It features the largest gaming monitor with a 1000R (1m of radius if the curve is made a full circle) curvature which helps in adding the immersion.
The front display has a thin bezel at the top, but a wider bottom bezel. Turn the monitor around and we see a sci-fi design with a glossy white exterior along with the stand that doubles as a headphone mount with its black pop-out hook, and some ports (Power Jack, HDMI 2.1, 2 Display Port, and USB). The monitor does not come with any in-built speakers, which is a shame for the price.
Samsung Odyssey G9 comes with a QHD resolution (5120x1440) VA panel. The resolution is equal to two 27-inch 1440p monitors put together side-by-side providing a 32:9 aspect ratio with a pixel density of 109ppi, a refresh rate of 240 Hz, and a 1ms response time, due to its 1440p nature it won't need a beefy graphics card to power it up.
The image quality of the G9 is also exceptional due to the Mini-LED display and Quantum Matrix technology which has allowed Samsung to put a total of 2048 dimming zones and a 12-bit gradation for greater control of the light source. The monitor has a max brightness of 2000 nits with VDE (Verband Deutscher Elektrotechniker) certification and a contrast ratio of 1000000:1. The display also supports Nvidia G-Sync and AMD FreeSync Premium Pro for a better gaming experience.
The back of the monitor also has RGB that Samsung calls the Infinity Core that can be controlled using the on-screen menu and can be customized in five different styles i.e., static, solid, rainbow, breathing, and flash/double flash.
Gaming Performance
Gaming on the Odyssey G9 is very snappy all thanks to its high 240 Hz refresh rate and 1 ms response time, the images were always moving at a perfect pace. The display is what makes the G9 unique and if someone should buy it or not depends on the type of games that they prefer to play or the software they want to use. Multi-tasking on this monitor was amazing due to its width and the monitor also allows the user to see multiple inputs at the same time meaning a streamer can play games on the PlayStation 5 or Xbox Series X using HDMI 2.1 and view their Twitch/Youtube chat at the same time.
The games that I tested were Cyberpunk 2077, Forza Horizon 4, Apex Legends, and Valorant. Starting off with Cyberpunk 2077 & Forza Horizon 4, the game was beautiful and I was able to see more of the game thanks to the Odyssey's width. But with competitive games like Apex and Valorant it is a whole different story. Apex even though I was able to see more horizontally, but the game achieves this by cutting vertically, and with Valorant I had black bars around me as I was only able to play the game in a 16:9 aspect ratio.
Conclusion
Samsung Odyssey G9's impressive performance makes it a worthy competitor for any individual who has $1700 with them and has the graphical power to run it. But the most important thing is space, the monitor is big as it requires an ample amount of desk space.
The G9 has a few gaming drawbacks as I experienced while playing Apex and Valorant, but single-player games work perfectly fine and this monitor would be a treat for any steamer due to its multi-input-display feature. It is one of the most luxurious and feature-packed monitor I have ever used.