One of the biggest upgrades you can make to a PC setup in my eyes is to switch to an OLED monitor for a much sharper viewing experience. A lot of it is down to the deeper blacks, stronger contrast and excellent colours you can get from modern panels. It is more of a premium upgrade if you’ve got the cash and the PC needed to drive a high-res and high refresh rate screen, but definitely worth it as someone who made the switch to a 32-inch 4K 240Hz option just like this Samsung Odyssey OLED G8. This screen is down to $849 from Amazon USA in the Spring Sale, marking out a hefty $450 discount on its previous high price – it has been closer to $900 and this exact price in more recent weeks, though.
The star of the show with this screen is undoubtedly its QD-OLED panel, providing the classic, inky blacks and immense contrast and dynamic range we’ve come to expect from OLED screens across a larger 32-inch panel. For good measure, it has a 4K resolution for brilliant detail, plus a 240Hz refresh rate for silky smooth motion. All of this combines to make it a dead cert for both fast-paced shooters where you’ll be able to take advantage of that refresh rate, plus in more cinematic titles with a little more responsiveness when warranted. Take it from me as someone who moved to a Philips model with a very similar panel to this Samsung choice around 18 months ago – it’s a gorgeous screen with excellent clarity and lovely depth.
Peak SDR brightness is only rated at 260 nits, as is typical for this panel type, although in HDR content, it should be able to go much higher for impactful highlights. HDR support comes in the form of HDR10+ and DisplayHDR True Black 400, while this Odyssey OLED G8 also has variable refresh rate support with AMD FreeSync Premium Pro to prevent unwanted screen tearing and juddering. Samsung’s specs also rate it to have excellent colour accuracy, with virtually perfect coverage of the DCI-P3 colour gamut.
The Odyssey OLED G8’s design is clean and modern, with the rear of the panel and stand having a pleasant silver finish, plus a circle of RGB lighting around the middle. Its stand can tilt, swivel, height adjust and go into portait if you wish, or is 100x100mm VESA compatible for putting on an arm or stand. Ports come in the form of a pair of HDMI 2.1s, a singular DisplayPort. plus a USB-B upstream and two USB-A downstream ports. There is also a headphone jack, which you may want to use as this monitor doesn’t have any speakers.
If you want to grab a sublime 4K 240Hz QD-OLED gaming monitor at a healthy discount, this Amazon USA deal on the Samsung Odyssey OLED G8 is one to consider.
