Holy Sh*t are the first words that come to mind when you sit down at this gargantuan gaming monitor from Samsung. At 49″ in screen size and a 32:9 ratio and a 1800R curvature, this monitor is impressive to say the least, before you even turn it on.
Pulling the monitor out from it’s box and placing it on your desk makes you instantly feel like you’ve upgraded everything in your life, it takes up a significant amount of space, and it feels sturdy and high quality (but be warned, some people have mentioned easily cracked screens whilst changing cables! It’s not hard to see why it’s on our Top Gaming Monitors list!
From the very beginning the Samsung CHG90 QLED Curved Monitor feels like you’ve made it, before you even turn on your computer, this large executive screen wraps around you in visual splendor. The moment of truth arrives, we turn on the screen and, hoorah, no dead pixels! Keep an eye out for these, and hope to God you didn’t buy direct from Samsung, their customer support is notoriously terrible
But seriously, the experience when you turn this ultra-wide monitor on is nothing short of amazing. A back-light lights up the wall behind your monitor, and within seconds rich vibrant colors assail your senses, with deep blacks highlighting the whites and colors even more. It’s not easy to describe the feeling of being immersed in an environment when using this monitor, even when you’re on your desktop, you’ll literally find yourself turning your head.
Before I get too deep into this review though, here’s what you’re getting for the rather hefty $999 (on sale) price tag.
Samsung 49″ CHG90 Technical Specs
- 49 Inches of Display
- 3840 X 1080 resolution, 1800R curvature
- QLED (Max 113 watts of power consumption, 1 billion shades of color)
- Quantum Dot Technology – creating more vivid lifelike colors, especially greens.
- HDR Technology (Darker darks, vivid colors, brighter whites)
- 144hz Refresh Rate
- 1ms motion picture response time
- 2HDMI, 1 DP
- Freesync support
- Side by Side Screens Because the CHG90 is essentially the width of two monitors, they allow you to connect two devices to the monitor and use it simultaneously with both devices. This is alongside the regular picture in picture modes.
- Inbuilt eye saver mode (Blue light reduction)
- Inbuilt game modes
- Arena Backlighting (Lights behind the monitor for improved maintenance)
- Vertical Alignment Panel (Do not recommend for curved monitors, but if you want it…)
- Official title: Samsung LC49HG90DMNXZA CHG90
Gaming with the Samsung CHG90
At it’s heart there is no doubt that the Samsung CHG90 is a gaming monitor. It’s blazing fast 1ms response time means that your actions appear with what is essentially no display lag. This is quickly becoming standard (especially on flat panel monitors) but it’s something you want to make sure you have on a gaming monitor.
The 144hz refresh time is just as amazing as an experience, zero stutter, smooth flowing graphics help pull you in alongside the curvature.
Combined these two features help keep your mouse movements and whats happening on the screen perfectly synced, essential for FPS games such as Battlefield or CoD.
When I tested this game with Battlefield V, the field of view became immediately apparent. I can turn my head, rather than move my mouse, allowing me to see more of whats happening around me, without having to lose my cursor focus, great for sniping/support or close action fighting.
Racing games are far more immersive, you feel far more a part of the action than on a regular flat screen monitor, and thanks to the 1ms/144hz combo there was basically zero ghosting or blur. (This may be even better with Freesync, alas, I have an Nvidia graphics card, so couldn’t test this feature.
With third person games, you’re basically cheating. The field of view allows you to look around corners with ease, and the widescreen gives you a much clearer view of whats happening around you.
Of course, not all games work with the extreme widescreen of the Samsung CHG90. You’ll find plenty of games, new and old, will add some big thick black borders to either side of your game, there’s nothing wrong with this per say, but it can be a little disappointing when you’re used to the larger field of view.
Summary
The Samsung CHG90 is an amazing monitor, one of the best I’ve used. Setting it up can be a pain, the monitor is huge, but once it’s there, you’re ready to roll.
The only complaint I have beyond that is the resolution is pretty low compared to most modern monitors. This is a drawback in most curved monitors, although hopefully we’ll begin to see that change in upcoming generations due to be released in 2019.
Recent Comments