Samsung Odyssey G50D QHD Fast IPS 180Hz 1ms DisplayHDR 400 Gaming Monitor

– PROS, CONS, SETUP, CONCLUSION –

PROS: First, the assembly was easy. Literally 3 pieces that snap into place. The stand is incredibly sturdy: the metal base plate is HEAVY. The arm is solid. The monitor easily moves up and down the arm, pivots forward/back, side to side – with the perfect amount of force. It is also simple to rotate into vertical mode – just twist it, there is no button etc etc. All adjustments require a firm, but not excessive, amount of force; once set, it DOES NOT shake, feel unstable, etc… it is rock solid.

There is an HDMI and DVI input (not clear from the listing) The HDMI seems to only support 144hz, so DVI is required for 180hz. There is a headphone jack on the back of the monitor which is VERY convenient. I didn’t think it was possible to transmit audit via DVI cable… but I was wrong. It sounds great.

180hz is buttery smooth. I play primarily on a 120hz OLED panel, and the difference between 120hz to 180hz is significant. The variable refresh rate is a large part of this – even a 4090 cannot keep demanding games at 180fps steady – so the monitor’s ability to perform smoothly from 150-180 is more important than the max refresh rate itself. I tested 180hz in Darktide and Destiny 2: Darktide had more variation, Destiny kept things at a flat 180 more consistently. BOTH situations were noticeably smoother than a 120fps limit.

Nvidia Frame Generation – it still doesn’t work properly with VSync in some games (Darktide) without going into the Nvidia control panel and making tweaks. However, even letting Darktide rip at 500fps (see pics) was smooth: no screen tearing. On my normal panel I get screen tearing in this situation.

GTG/Response Time. The GTG time is advertised at 1ms, but using ideal quality settings in the monitor setup reduces this to 5ms in some circumstances (See pics). I also compared this monitor to a 1440p, 165hz, curved monitor purchased for almost 2x the price about 3 years ago. The difference between these two screens is significant. While the ‘expensive’ screen can do 165hz, it is not apples to apples with the Samsung. Something (I presume response/GTG time) makes the ‘expensive’ monitor feel more blurry – even more than the 120hz OLED in some situations. **Not all advertised refresh rates are the same! 165hz does not always mean the same thing!**

Having primarily played at 120fps for multiple years, I was blown away at how much smoother this monitor felt in FPS games. Is it the same change as 60fps to 120 fps… no. However, if you are shopping between a 144hz and 180hz screen – you will notice the difference.

Reflections… the difference between reflections on this panel and my 3 year OLED is perhaps the most profound difference of all! With the OLED I had to turn off all lights, and use black-out curtains just to play. This Samsung screen makes reflections a non issue (check pictures comparing the two screens!)

Brightness – it is 400 nits! On an affordable, high refresh rate monitor. This is good… but it might not really give the “HDR experience” (more on this below).

CONS:
The panel does not produce excellent, inky-blacks. See the “FBI picture” – the bottom of the screen should be totally black – but you can see the backlight bloom; it doesn’t look this bad in real life (camera adjusts exposure) – but it is indicative of the blooming you see in the black levels.

In many of the pictures you will see a screen in the background – this is the OLED panel, and demonstrates both the difference in black levels, as well as reflections!

No one should be expecting it to at this price, but it needs to be said. This isn’t a big deal when you’re playing a fast-twitch, FPS, e-Sports title; but in an atmosphere game like Alan Wake 2, it comes up a little short. See pictures.

HDR. If you’ve never used an “HDR” screen before, this is going to look great for you. However some YT channels don’t consider ‘real HDR’ possible below 600 nits… I don’t necessarily agree with this: this panel looks great compared to a monitor with no HDR functionality. However, “High Dynamic Range” requires just that – a high range (contrast). 400 nits could, in my opinion, be sufficient, but it depends on what the black levels can achieve. With the deficiencies in black levels that are inherent to these type of panels, you just don’t get, in my opinion, “true HDR.” Is it better, yes. Does it look good – yes. Buy even Windows does not recognize this device as “HDR Certified” (See picture).

27″ is a bit small for my taste (and aging eyes). I think the 32″ version would be perfect – but this is just my opinion, I believe most competitive players use 27″.

That is it for cons…

SETUP: Physical setup was a breeze. As noted construction was top-notch. A good quality DVI cable (locking) is included. BUT – setup on the software side was an unnecessary pain!

The monitor shipped (to me) in 60hz mode. A disclaimer pops up saying this is not the idea setting, but it’s not clear that you need to change this in the monitor… Most people’s initial reaction is that the settings need to be changed in the Operating System. So, even with my experience, I spent an embarrassing amount of time in Control Panel, Nvidia Control Panel, resetting the system… downloading the newest drivers. It wasn’t until I exhausted all other OS options that I explored the on-panel settings and switched it from 60 to 180hz: why does it come setup like this.

Additionally, the monitor comes setup in ECO Mode. Why?

The device is not registered as Gsync compatible (See pictures). However, in 2024, this doesn’t seem to mean anything. VRR works with NVIDIA cards… either by using FreeSync or using Gsync (but without paying for certification?) Regardless it works, so don’t worry about it.

CONCLUSION: This is a great monitor. It is impressive what features and capability is packaged into a solid panel at this price point – just a few years ago this could have cost you double. If you are looking for a high-refresh rate in this price range I recommend this Samsung panel. Just consider if you would be happier with a 32″ size.

Firstly see my video on text sharpness, if that is a concern for you.
SAMSUNG 32-Inch Odyssey G50D.
Old monitor 24” 1080p.

Good:
1. Well worth the $279 I paid. Not worth $429, to me anyway.
2. Greatly adjustable. Raise it. Tilt it. Turn it. I’ve been looking at monitors for a long time.
One of the few 32″ with this much adjustability under $300.
3. Colors are fantastic. Vibrant colors with several presets. White is white. Black is black.
4. Text readability is fantastic.
5. Streaming shows are fantastic!! Gordon Ramsay never looked better.
6. GTA 5 ran great. Game looks sooo much better. Text is so much easier to read compared to old monitor.
7. IMO this monitor would be great for 95% of the gamers. Probably will fall short for the elite players.

Bad:
1. Had a very hard time time getting display to power on. Screen kept telling me no signal. I tried the cable I had been using first. Then I tried the new cable that came with monitor (displayport), still nothing. I finally started moving cables around on the back of the video card (new 3060). There was only one port on card where the monitor would turn on. I feel the monitor should work no matter where its plugged in IMO. Never had this problem before. Also the power light has never came on.

2. The ring that goes on the back and attaches to the monitor… I was never able to get it to attach. I spent a huge amount of time, then I threw it back in the box.

These negatives did not affect the quality, just the time it took to figure it out. So , 5 stars.

I tried this monitor because its brand new here, latest tech. (Risky? Now that I have it, NO!). Plus its a Samsung. Now that I have seen the new monitor against my old one. I want another new one… someday maybe.

Whoever said size doesn’t matter was way off. Must have been a guy, certainly not his wife.

2560×1440 is a bigger deal than I thought and was able to see how this monitor looked at 1920×1080 vs and old monitor that had a max of 1920×1080. What I noticed with the higher pixel count is you can get more files and text to fit on the screen and still have it readable, This same big monitor using my old laptop could only do the lower resolution (suppose due to old graphic card). Could get some extra on the screen, but it was limited. The high resolution and big screen was nice looking at maps, seeing more detail all at once.

Either resolution was not able to run at a faster refresh than 60Hz. Don’t know if the new laptop going through a USB-C to DisplayPort cable was the issue. The cheapy cable claims to do higher refresh rates, so maybe it is the laptop. In any case, I’m happy with the 60Hz (even 50Hz was fine) and the slower refresh is supposed to save power. Right now in the summer, don’t need heat radiating on my face. But, at 60Hz, I am not noticing much heat at all, just a small area along the bottom of the monitor has the slightest warmth.

I can push a couple buttons on the monitor and flip back and forth between an old on HDMI and new laptop on DisplayPort, fairly convenient. At the high resolution, I can load many files on the screen to work on and reference all at the same time. Perfect for what I need now. Maybe I should have gone even bigger.

Have to be cautious about unpacking the monitor. There are specific instructions on putting the base together and it is very slick and prevents damage to the screen. You never remove the monitor from the box until you assemble the base and attach it to the back of the screen. Then you pick it up and put it immediately on the desk.

The stand seem quality and well built. I like the flat metal base since you can use it to store things. My old base mounded up in the center so nothing could sit on it. The pivoting feature and raising/lowering works nicely. The bottom edge of the monitor can go down to 2.5 inches from the desk. I like a low monitor so I don’t have to tilt my head back. The stand will allow me to rotate to portrait mode, trying to figure out if that is something to consider using.

The screen is a nice satin/flat matte look which does not reflect light. I have a window behind me and my old glossy laptop screen is terrible when the sun is bright with seeing reflections.

Can’t speak for the gaming aspect since I don’t have the special graphic cards, but it is a nice monitor and easy on the eyes.

Update: I did get the cable to go to 180Hz. The monitor was set by default to 60Hz limit. Changed the monitor setting and suddenly the monitor blinked a couple times as the video mode changed. For what I was doing I could not tell a difference in the picture. So, I put the monitor setting back to 60Hz. :end of update.

Over the years, I’ve used a number of monitors, but am by no means an aficionado or expert. As some of my older monitors are small but heavy, I’m slowly changing them out for newer, lighter weight options with higher resolution. This G50D, with a 2560×1440 resolution, is a definite step up from the 27″ monitor I was using before, resulting in nice crisp details and good contrast, all without needing much adjustment out of the box.

I’m not pushing the refresh rate too hard most of the time, and will admit to swapping systems back and forth, but it really spends most of its time right around 60Hz, but it’s nice to know that I can push this up as I rotate into some more demanding games.

Assembly was a completely different experience than I’m used to, using a rotating sort of twist on to attach the monitor to the stand, although a VESA mount is available underneath the base assembly, although I haven’t tried it to see how difficult it is to access. There is also a sort of cone-shaped cover to go over the monitor to arm connection, which I’m not as much a fan of….it feels a bit flimsy and doesn’t really want to latch in place very well for me, which could be user error, but given how easily everything else went together, this surprised me in its clunkiness compared the the elegance of the rest of the design.

One other nit I had initially (as I was switching back and forth between sources, so lots of monitors on/off connections) was the little nag screen at the bottom of the monitor for far too many times, bugging me to register, adjust settings, etc. It just caused an annoying delay for me in being able to use that part of the screen right away and seemed unnecessary to me.

Other than a few nits, this is likely the nicest monitor I’ve owned. It is far more capable than I will likely push it (despite having a higher-end gaming system), but it IS more than I’d also typically spend on a monitor as well, so the step up in performance does come at a little more cost.

The performance of this monitor is excellent, and the build quality is very good. The stand is heavy and feels robust. The cables and power supply are the quality as you’d expect from Samsung. The monitor housing feels tough and fairly heavy. Nothing feels cheap or sub standard.
The monitor is not curved, but I don’t mind. It’s fairly small, so it doesn’t need to be curved.
The colors are not as vibrant as I hoped. I think it’s due to the anti glare coating. It’s very good at eliminating reflections, but the colors and contrast aren’t eye popping. That’s my main complaint about this monitor. Don’t get me wrong, the image quality is still good, but it just lacks that extra punch to make you say “wow”. If you have a window or bright lights behind you, then you’ll appreciate the coating.
The second minor complaint is the on screen menu. It’s not as intuitive as other monitors. It’s going to take a while to adapt. I was especially frustrated when I tried to shut down the monitor. When I pressed the menu button, I only have 1 or 2 seconds before the monitor goes to sleep and the menu disappears. I have to memorize which button to press next, because there’s not much time to read the options.
To sum up, the performance numbers add up to a smooth gaming experience, but the anti glare coating is a bit too heavy, because it softens the color and contrast.

After 2 days there was a line that developed. Definitely would stay away from this monitor. The QC is not there and the hassle for dealing with it is more of a pain than it needs to be.

I have no direct issues with this monitor. I ordred the 32 inch version and i can say it is a good looking monitor. It feels very cheaply built, looks better than it feels. There is only one HDMI and one DP on the back which is not much. I am unimpressed by the viewing angles but the panel uniformity is good. The colors are good too when looking relatively dead on. Brightness is unimpressive but good enough. Also to note, there are like no options for customization in the settings. Can be good or bad depending on your preference. I personally like how simple it is, just a display and nothing else. One issue i had when i first connected it was it would only display 60Hz. I had to make a custom resolution in geforce (2560×1440 @ 180hz), but that worked first try and hasnt been an issue since. The panel is fast and smooth. I personally would not spend 430 dollars on a monitor like this as there are better options out there for sure, but as for what you get, the rest is fine.

I like the quality and the adjustability of the monitor. Runs my games well and it’s the right size for the things I use it for.

The adjustable stand this comes with is indeed very flexible, and I like that the base is quite thin, but solid metal, so it holds the monitor securely without being bulky. The straight back allows pushing it right up against the wall, so it doesn’t take up any more space than it needs to. That said, it does stick forward several inches in front, and I ended up ditching it for the raised monitor arm I already had because the long stand base took up too much room to use my gaming mouse pad in front of it. The VESA universal mount support is a nice thing to have for situations like that.

The power supply for this is a power brick with a cord that goes to the monitor and a cord that goes to the socket, like a game console or laptop would use. The upside is that it’s replaceable should the need arise, the downside is that the brick itself occupies a weird place in the middle of the cord’s total length. You will probably end up doing some odd cable management trying to hide that brick somewhere. I found it just a little annoying.

The resolution and pixel density of this are everything you expect, and more. I had vivid, accurate colors across the spectrum, and not a single dead pixel. With the resolution at maximum and the refresh rate set to the full 180Hz, I was blown away by how crisp and responsive even just scrolling the start menu list was. Normally with my old monitor there would be some “blur” on moving icons, which never bothered me, I just accepted it as motion blur, but on this even the most super-fast scrolling stayed pixel-sharp- it was kind of weirdly beautiful just to watch the rows of icons go zipping by!

By default Windows will make all of your menus and icons VERY TINY on a resolution this dense, which might work on a big TV, but on a monitor, even a gaming monitor this size, I still found myself squinting at. I’d recommend setting Windows icon/menu display scaling to 125%, to get nicely sized icons at this glorious resolution, but that’s my preference.

The monitor itself also has settings in a menu, accessed by buttons on the underside of it. Managing typical circle buttons (up/down/left/right/center) like you’d find on a remote from underneath without seeing them felt weird at first, but I got the hang of it quickly and went through a lot of options for color tone, contrast, and so on, before deciding *most* of them looked best at their default already. Still, there’s a lot in that menu, so I’d suggest having a look. Between Windows settings, your graphics card’s settings AND the device’s own menu there’s a lot to consider when getting the most out of a monitor this capable.

One thing I found frustrating though, was the different options limited by cable design I experienced. This comes with only a DP cable, oddly, no HDMI, and with the DP cable I could select the full 180Hz refresh rate, but not activate HDR color space. When I used an HDMI cable I own, HDR color space became available, but the refresh rate was limited to 144Hz. I tried a few different cables across a few ports, but could not get both 180Hz & HDR at the same time. My graphics card is not even remotely new- a GTX 970, so I can’t reasonably expect the world, but I did find it frustrating. It was odd the default included cable didn’t allow HDR to work, because let me tell you, using the HDR on HDMI looks downright AMAZING- absolutely worth a lower refresh rate if it comes to it in my opinion.

The headphones jack on the middle bottom of this in back is both awesome and annoying. If you’re using a soundbar or speakers it’s position is perfect, but if you’re using actual headphones like I am the cord draping across your keyboard and into the center of the monitor is awkward to say the least. On a monitor of this premium I’m kind of surprised there is no soundbar built in, really. The monitor audio jack appears as its own sound device, thankfully, so you can choose to use it, not use it, or set it as secondary under sound settings as desired.

This has an honestly beautiful picture, in HDR mode it will literally amaze you. The improved responsiveness, even at just 120Hz, was like a whole new world compared to my old 60Hz monitor. The stand is hit or miss, on the one hand it is great, on the other the base really does extend far forward and make the limited space of a tiny desk that much worse. The included DP cable but no HDMI cable and issues I had with one versus the other making certain features available or unavailable was genuinely frustrating, and the placement of the headphone jack in the center rather than off to one side is weird for using with gaming headphones. And then there’s that awkward power brick you have to hide under the desk or behind the monitor somewhere. I love the display, and that is the main thing this offers, but the design in many ways isn’t perfect. On sheer merit of image quality, this gets 4 stars, but everything else I didn’t like knocks off one star, even though it hurts, because taken together some of those flaws do add up.

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