I’ve had my Samsung Odyssey G9 for a few weeks now. Its been on my wishlist for 6 months; I kept daydreaming about it while watching YouTube reviews, and finally decided to pull the trigger during the winter holidays as a gift to myself.
It almost spans the entire width of my large desk.
It’s a 49-inch ultrawide monitor with a 32:9 aspect ratio, 5120x1440 resolution, and a 240Hz refresh rate. It’s an absolute beast.
The first thing that struck me about the Odyssey G9 is its size, obviously. It’s massive, and it takes up a lot of desk space. The ultrawide aspect ratio makes it fantastic for multitasking and gaming.
In particular for online games, I find myself seeing opponents that I wouldn’t have spotted on a smaller monitor. It definitely gives you an edge. However, you are also overloaded with visual information, and it can be a bit overwhelming at first. It takes some time to get used to it, but once you do, it’s hard to go back to a smaller screen.
The immersive experience is also incredible, sitting close enough fills your entire field of view. It’s like having a triple monitor setup without the bezels in between.
All of that comes with a drawback, though. Long gaming sessions can be a bit of a strain on the neck, especially having to turn your head a lot to see the edges and corners of the screen. Modern games cleverly limit the UI to 16:9, but older games don’t and use the full 32:9, meaning you crane your neck everytime to look at health, ammo or the minimap.
Screenshot from Red Dead Redemption 2 running at 5120x1440 on my RTX 4090.
Another tricky part is using a monitor arm, which I’d say is recommended to adjust the height and angle of the monitor to your liking. There’s currently only one industrial-grade mount on the market that can support the weight of the Odyssey G9, and it’s quite expensive. Mine was €300, on top of the €1.900 for the monitor itself, ouch.
Other than that, colours and contrast are fantastic, and the 240Hz refresh rate makes for a buttery smooth gaming experience (if your rig can run it at that resolution). Overall, I’m really happy with my purchase, and I think it’s worth it if you have the desk space (and budget) for it.