Samsung Odyssey Neo G9/G95NC S57CG95 Review: 7680×2160 240Hz mini LED Curved UltraWide Gaming Monitor

The Samsung S57CG95 is the first 57″ super-ultrawide display available, aimed at those who truly want to take their gaming experience to the next level!

Image Quality

The monitor has a 57″ 7680×2160 DUHD (Dual Ultra HD) VA panel with a 32:9 aspect ratio. It’s basically equivalent to two 32″ 4K displays put side by side, just without the bezels between them.

This also means that the display is quite demanding on your GPU. In fact, you’ll need an AMD Radeon 7000-series GPU to get 240Hz at 7680×2160.

The RTX 40-series is limited to 120Hz at 7680×2160. However, this won’t be a big issue for most users considering that even the RTX 4090 struggles with getting over 120FPS at 7680×2160 in the latest AAA titles with decent image settings.

Moreover, this $2,500 monitor is obviously intended to last you at least a few GPU upgrades.

Next, the 32:9 aspect ratio provides you with an extended field of view in compatible games for a more immersive viewing experience.

Most games support this ultrawide resolution (either natively or via mods), but make sure your favorite titles support the 32:9 format before purchasing the display to avoid having black bars at the sides of the screen.

As we noted earlier, the Samsung G95NC is equivalent to two 32″ 4K displays side by side, so you get the same pixel density of 140 PPI (pixels per inch), which results in plenty of screen space as well as sharp details and text. Scaling is optional at this pixel density, some prefer native, and others will go with 125% – 150%.

The monitor uses a VA panel with a high 2500:1 native contrast ratio and an exceptional peak brightness of ~800-nits for a 100% white window in SDR mode!

Further, it has a quantum dot enhanced backlight with a 95% DCI-P3 wide color gamut coverage for vibrant colors and there’s an sRGB emulation mode available if you want to clamp the gamut down to ~100% sRGB.

Where the 57″ Samsung Odyssey Neo G9 really shines is the HDR image quality thanks to its stellar ~1300-nit peak brightness for 10% and smaller white windows (~750-nits for a 100% white window) and the 2392-zone mini LED FALD (full-array local dimming) backlight.

These zones (spread in a 92×26 grid) can dim parts of the screen that are supposed to be dark without affecting the areas that need to remain bright, thus greatly increasing the contrast ratio.

As a result, you get deep blacks with vivid details in the shadows of the image, bright and punchy highlights and vibrant colors – all at the same time.

Now, in some demanding scenes, such as stars in the night sky, subtitles on a dark background, or fireworks, the light from the small illuminated objects will bleed into the surrounding dimmed zones and create blooming (or the halo effect).

This is an expected drawback of FALD technology, and it’s tolerable considering that it only occurs in those demanding scenes.

OLED displays, in comparison, don’t have this issue as they have per-pixel dimming, but they have other drawbacks, such as much lower brightness (for instance ~250-nits vs ~750-nits peak for a 100% white window), risk of burn-in and peculiar subpixel layouts resulting in text fringing.

Performance

The Samsung S57CG95 has three response time overdrive modes: Standard, Faster and Extreme.

The Extreme mode adds too much overshoot, whereas Standard has some noticeable ghosting, so we recommend sticking with the Faster mode across the entire fresh rate range.

Thanks to its rapid 1ms GtG pixel response time speed, there’s no ghosting or overshoot behind fast-moving objects. There’s also no dark-level smearing that’s usually associated with VA panel displays.

Input lag is below 4ms, which makes for imperceptible delay between your actions and the result on the screen.

Variable refresh rate is supported via AMD FreeSync Premium Pro, NVIDIA G-SYNC Compatible (no official certification, but it works) and HDMI 2.1 VRR for tear-free gameplay up to 240FPS.

The backlight of the monitor is flicker-free (unless local dimming is enabled) and there’s an integrated low-blue light filter (Eye Saver mode) available.

Note that even though the monitor has 178° specified viewing angles, they’re not quite as wide as that of IPS panels with the same specification as some gamma and saturation shifts can be noticed at certain angles.

However, this is not an issue for everyday use at a normal viewing position. If you intend on doing professional color-critical work though, an IPS panel would be a better choice (though there are no 57″ or mini LED 32:9 IPS models available).

Features

Beneath the bottom bezel of the screen, there’s a directional joystick for quick and easy navigation through the OSD (On-Screen Display) menu.

Besides the standard image adjustment tools (brightness, contrast, color temperature, etc.), the Samsung S57CG95 also supports some advanced settings, including sharpness, gamma and saturation. Automatic input detection is supported as well.

Useful gaming features include various picture presets, crosshair overlays, Black Equalizer (improves visibility in dark scenes), on-screen timers and a refresh rate tracker.

The Samsung G95NC also supports Picture in Picture and Picture by Picture, and has an integrated KVM functionality, allowing you to connect two PCs to the screen and easily swap between keyboard/mouse control.

Lastly, it has the CoreSync+ RGB lighting at the rear and two LED strips at the front. The lighting can be synchronized to on-screen content and the LEDs at the back are strong enough to reflect off of the wall to create atmospheric lighting.

Design & Connectivity

The stand of the monitor is quite sturdy and offers height adjustment up to 120mm, +/- 15° swivel, -5°/12° tilt and 100x100mm VESA mount compatibility.

Next, the screen has a light matte anti-glare coating that prevents reflections without making the image too grainy. The screen also has a steep 1000R curvature for added immersion.

Connectivity options include DisplayPort 2.1, three HDMI 2.1 ports (two with 32 Gbps, one with 48 Gbps), a headphone jack, two downstream USB 3.0 ports and two upstream USB-B ports for the KVM functionality.

Price & Similar Monitors

The Samsung Odyssey G9/G95NC S57CG95 goes for $2,000 – $2,500, which is a reasonable price considering its unique set of specifications.

Keep in mind that the other two 49″ 5120×1440 240Hz Odyssey G9 HDR models can be found for $1,300 nowadays, the G95NA with a mini LED panel and the G93SC and G95SC with a QD-OLED panel.

Check out our best HDR monitors buyer’s guide to find out more about all mini LED and OLED HDR displays worth considering.

Conclusion

While the Samsung Odyssey G95NC is too big, too expensive and has a resolution that’s too demanding for most users, it undoubtedly offers an incredibly immersive gaming experience for those looking for something extravagant.

Specifications

Screen Size	57-inch
Screen Curvature	1000R
Resolution	7680×2160 (DUHD)
Panel Type	VA
Aspect Ratio	32:9 (Super-UltraWide)
Refresh Rate	240Hz
Response Time	1ms (GtG)
Adaptive-Sync	FreeSync Premium Pro (48-240Hz)
Ports	DisplayPort 2.1, 3x HDMI 2.1
Other Ports	Headphone Jack, 2x USB-A 3.0, 2x USB-B
Brightness	420 cd/m²
Brightness (1 – 3% White Window)	1200 cd/m²
Brightness (10% White Window)	1300 cd/m²
Brightness (100% White Window)	750 cd/m² (HDR) 800 cd/m² (SDR)
Contrast Ratio	2500:1 (static)
Colors	1.07 billion (8-bit + FRC) 95% DCI-P3
HDR	VESA DisplayHDR 1000
Local Dimming	2392-zone mini LED FALD
VESA	Yes (100x100mm)