Bottom Line
The LG 45GS95QE offers a responsive and immersive gaming experience thanks to its 45″ 3440×1440 240Hz curved OLED panel. While great for gaming and content consumption, its low pixel density and steep 800R curvature makes it less appealing for other use.
The LG UltraGear 45GS95QE is a 45″ 3440×1440 240Hz curved OLED gaming monitor that offers an incredibly immersive viewing experience!
Image Quality
Based on an OLED panel, the LG 45GS95QE boasts an infinite contrast ratio thanks to its self-emissive pixels that can completely turn off for true blacks. Moreover, since there’s no backlight, you won’t get any backlight bleeding, blooming, IPS/VA glow or other visual artifacts associated with LCDs!
The monitor uses LG’s W-OLED panel, which in addition to the regular red, green and blue subpixels also has a white subpixel for increased brightness. This pixel layout will, however, cause some minor fringing on fine details and small text, but most users won’t be bothered by it.
What many users won’t find ideal, however, is the subpar pixel density of 83.8 PPI (pixels per inch), which is similar to that of 27″ 1920×1080 monitors.
Now, thanks to the 3440×1440 resolution, you still get plenty of screen real estate, it’s just that details and text won’t be particularly sharp. For games and videos, this won’t be an issue at all.
If you happen to do a lot of work that involves text, the LG 45GS95QE is obviously not ideal for you, but unless you’re particularly sensitive to this type of thing, we find that it’s tolerable. Just keep in mind that if you’re coming from a display with a much higher pixel density, it will take some time to get used to.
At a distance of roughly 41 inches (~104cm), the 3440×1440 resolution on a 44.5″ viewable screen becomes ‘retina’, meaning that you won’t be able to distinguish the individual pixels anyway.
This is a bit contradictory to the monitor’s 800R screen curvature, which implies that for the ideal viewing experience, you shouldn’t sit more than 80cm (31.5″) away from the screen.
However, these are just ideal values and we find that there are no problems with the screen curvature or the pixels being too noticeable at a normal viewing distance for a monitor of this size.
An upside is that 3440×1440 is not nearly as demanding as 4K UHD (or 2160p ultrawide for that matter), allowing you to maintain decent frame rates even with a mid-range GPU. Most games also fully support the ultrawide aspect ratio, providing you with a wider field of view and a more immersive gaming experience.
There are a lot of movies shot at the ~21:9 aspect ratio, which are displayed without the black bars on the top and bottom of the screen as they are on 16:9 displays for a more cinematic viewing experience. The extra horizontal screen space is also very useful when it comes to productivity work and audio/video editing.
Moving on, the LG 45GS95QE monitor has gorgeous colors thanks to its wide 98.5% DCI-P3 gamut coverage (~135% sRGB relative size). There’s also an sRGB emulation mode, in case you prefer more accurate and natural colors for SDR content.
Additionally, the image is consistent regardless of the angle you’re looking at the screen, making the monitor suitable for professional color-critical work. It’s even factory-calibrated and supports hardware calibration via the provided True Color Pro application.
Thanks to its MLA+ panel, the LG 45GS95QE can maintain 275-nits for a 100% APL (Average Picture Level, full white window). Some users might consider this too dim, but we find that it’s perfectly acceptable under normal lighting conditions (screen not facing a big window or studio lighting). If you are in a particularly bright room, you’ll need to dim your lights or shut the curtains for optimal image quality.
In HDR, the monitor can achieve a high 1300-nit peak brightness for small bright highlights (<1%) and a decent 750-nits for 10% white windows.
The main downside of OLED technology is the risk of permanent image burn-in and temporary image retention. However, as long as you’re using the monitor sensibly, it shouldn’t be an issue.
This involves not leaving the image with bright static elements for too long, hiding your taskbar, hiding static HUD elements in games if possible and using LG’s implemented OLED Care features:
- Screen Move – moves the screen by a few pixels at regular intervals
- Screen Saver – screen turns off automatically when no movement is detected after a certain period of time
- Image Cleaning – pixels refresh after using the monitor for more than 4 hours
- Pixel Cleaning – pixels refresh after every 500 hours of use
LG offers a 2-year warranty that covers burn-in, though some OLED monitor manufacturers offer a better 3-year warranty.
Performance
Thanks to OLED’s instantaneous pixel response time speed, the LG 45GS95QE delivers an incredibly responsive fast-paced gaming experience with no visible trailing artifacts or overshoot.
The pixels transition rapidly regardless of the refresh rate, so there’s no need for different overdrive settings.
Further, variable refresh rate is supported via FreeSync Premium and HDMI 2.1 VRR, and while the monitor’s not officially certified by NVIDIA (at least not yet) as ‘G-SYNC Compatible’, VRR works without issues with supported GeForce GPUs (10-series or newer) for tear-free gameplay up to 240FPS.
In some darker scenes with fluctuating frame rates, however, VRR brightness flickering is common on OLED monitors.
Input lag performance is impeccable as well with ~2ms of delay, which is imperceptible.
Apart from slight dips in brightness due to the way OLED panels operate (which is not noticeable in real use), the LG 45GS95QE is flicker-free and there’s an integrated low-blue light mode.
Features
For quick and easy OSD (On-Screen Display) menu adjustments, you can use the provided remote controller or the On-Screen Control desktop application. There is no directional joystick on the monitor.
Useful gaming features include Black Stabilizer (improves visibility in dark scenes), crosshair overlays, a refresh rate tracker and various picture presets.
Besides the standard image settings (brightness, contrast, color temperature, etc.), the LG 45GS95QE also offers 6-axis hue/saturation, color temperature fine-tuning in 500K increments, sharpness, four gamma presets, aspect ratio control, Auto Input Switch and Picture in Picture/Picture by Picture support.
Using LG’s Dual Controller software, you can connect two PCs to the screen and control them via one set of keyboard and mouse, but both machines need to be connected to the same network and have the software installed.
The monitor also supports hardware calibration.
At the rear of the monitor, there’s the customizable Hexagon RGB lighting with strong enough LEDs to reflect off of the wall in a dark room.
Design & Connectivity
The stand of the monitor is fairly sturdy and offers a good range of ergonomics, including up to 120mm height adjustment, -1°/15° tilt, +/- 10° swivel and 100x100mm VESA mount compatibility.
Next, the screen has a steep 800R curvature for added immersion, though some users might find it too aggressive for uses other than gaming and content consumption.
The screen also has a light matte anti-glare coating that prevents reflections without making the image too grainy.
Connectivity options include DisplayPort 1.4 with DSC, two HDMI 2.1 ports, a DTS headphone jack with HP:X support for 3D audio simulation and a dual-USB 3.0 hub.
1440p 120Hz mode is supported on the PS5 with HDR and VRR, while the Xbox consoles support 1440p 120Hz with VRR or 4K 60Hz HDR with VRR.
Price & Similar Monitors
LG has a bad habit of setting MSRP too high for their monitors. The LG 45GS95QE, for example, goes for $1,700, but it can regularly be found on sale for ~ $1,000 – $1,200.
There’s also the LG 45GS96QB variant based on the same panel that also has a USB-C port with DP Alt Mode and 65W Power Delivery, as well as two 7W integrated speakers. Its price also ranges from around $1000 to $1700.
Moreover, there’s the older LG 45GR95QE model. It doesn’t have the MLA+ technology, so its brightness is noticeably lower, while it’s priced the same. Therefore, we recommend going with either the 45GS95QE or 45GS96QB model.
For more options and information, check out our best HDR monitors buyer’s guide.
In 2025, LG will also release 45″ 5120×2160 165Hz ultrawide gaming monitors with the improved RGWB subpixel layout with significantly sharper details and text.
Conclusion
Overall, the LG 45GS95QE offers an amazing gaming experience thanks to its high 240Hz refresh rate and instantaneous pixel response time speed, while the large 45″ ultrawide screen with decent brightness, infinite contrast ratio and gorgeous colors provides stunning HDR image quality.
So, if you don’t mind the low pixel density and steep 800R curvature, it’s one of the best gaming monitors!
Specifications
Screen Size | 44.5-inch |
Screen Curvature | 800R |
Resolution | 3440×1440 (UWQHD) |
Panel Type | OLED |
Aspect Ratio | 21:9 (UltraWide) |
Refresh Rate | 240Hz |
Response Time | 0.03ms (GtG) |
Adaptive-Sync | FreeSync (48-240Hz) HDMI 2.1 VRR (48-240Hz) |
Ports | DisplayPort 1.4, 2x HDMI 2.0 |
Other Ports | Headphone Jack, 2x USB 3.0 |
Brightness (1% White Window) | 1300 cd/m² |
Brightness (10% White Window) | 750 cd/m² |
Brightness (100% White Window) | 275 cd/m² |
Contrast Ratio | Infinite:1 |
Colors | 1.07 billion (true 10-bit) 98.5% DCI-P3 |
HDR | HDR10 |
VESA | Yes (100x100mm) |
The Pros:
- Infinite contrast ratio
- Wide color gamut with sRGB mode
- Low input lag, instant response time
- Plenty of features, including VRR up to 240Hz
- Ergonomic stand, USB hub
- Warranty covers burn-in
The Cons:
- Risk of permanent image burn-in
- Text clarity issues due to the uncommon subpixel layout
- Low pixel density
- Only 2-year warranty