"Samsung's Odyssey G7 should be the ultimate gaming monitor, but the flickering problem with G-Sync is holding it back."
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Excellent color rendering
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Beautiful design
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Great curve for immersing yourself in games
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Fast refresh rate of 240 Hz
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Defective adaptive synchronization
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Low static contrast performance
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Curve off-center
Curved gaming monitors are not a gimmick. These wraparound screens offer a fun way to immerse yourself in game worlds without the need for clumsy VR headsets.
The new Odyssey G7 from Samsung extends the technology even further. For the first time, the screen curve, now 1000R, finally matches the curvature of the human eye. It is true immersion in games at its best.
I looked at the 32-inch version of the Odyssey G7 monitor, which has a native resolution of 1440p and a refresh rate of 240 Hz. It's certainly a one-of-a-kind gaming monitor, but with a widespread G-Sync flicker problem and $ 800 price tag, the Odyssey G7 has a lot to prove. Is the Samsung Odyssey G7 worth a spot on your desk?
design
When it comes to design, Samsung has done an admirable job. The first thing you need to do when unpacking the monitor is to attach the triangle base to the neck of the stand. Then insert the top of the neck into the back of the monitor, attach four screws, and lift the entire assembly out of the packaging. You will then be greeted with an absolute giant of an ad.
While 32-inch monitors are initially large, the 32-inch G7 from Samsung sets new standards. The stand is huge and the curve seriously brings the ends of the monitor far forward. Pushed all the way back on our desk, the sides of the panel protrude about a full foot forward so you really want to make sure you have plenty of room for the G7.
The intense curve of the G7 makes it a real centerpiece on your desk.
If you do, you will be pampered. The intense curve is a wonderful eye-catcher, and with the display so far forward it becomes a real centerpiece. The stand itself may be large, but it uses long, slender legs to give it a spacious feel and to leave plenty of room. The stand also has tilt and height adjustments. It can even turn into a portrait, though I can't think of any reason why anyone would want to do this.
The curve in our example was a bit uneven, with the sharpest point being a little off-center on the left. However, when you are immersed in a game, you forget about everything.
Cables can be run through the inside of the stand to keep things tidy. A headphone hook keeps your cans off your desk when you're not playing.
On the back of the display is Samsung's Infinity Core lighting that extends to the lower corners on the front. This doesn't really add much to the display, but it's implemented in a somewhat subtle way so it's not a problem – the front lighting elements aren't really visible from most seating positions.
Connections and controls
The connectivity of the G7 is minimal, but in a good way. It has two DisplayPort inputs and an HDMI connection as well as an integrated USB 3.0 hub with two connections. Power is supplied by a large power supply module that you want to hide somewhere under your desk.
Your only control mechanism is a directional button at the bottom of the display. Click it once to bring up the first selection screen, where you can choose between input source, picture-in-picture mode, and main menu.
In the main menu, the two most interesting submenus are the game menu and the picture menu. The game menu offers settings for the refresh rate, the black equalizer, the response time, the adaptive synchronization and the low input delay. You'll want to make sure you're set to 240Hz, and you can easily set the Response Time setting to "faster" with little entry delay as these settings don't seem to go beyond the control panel.
The black equalizer is set to 13 at the factory, which you might want to lower to around 10 for more accurate performance. By the age of 13, dark elements turn black a little too early, which gives a deeper picture but puts you at a competitive disadvantage in gaming as you cannot see details in the dark.
The Picture menu provides settings for managing colors, including settings for brightness, contrast, sharpness, and color adjustments.
picture quality
The panel used by Samsung is of the VA type and has a resolution of 2,560 x 1,440 pixels. This is a bit low for a 32-inch panel, but not a problem when gaming as higher frame rates are possible. In my tests, the color reproduction was also good, covering 100% of the sRGB storage space, 85% of the AdobeRGB storage space and 90% of the DCI-P3 storage space.
With support for 1.07 billion colors and a tested Delta-E (color deviation from real) of 1.25, this panel offers surprisingly good performance in terms of color space and accuracy. Note, however, that I only measured the center of the screen. There is a noticeable color shift at the edges, probably due to the curve that the VA panel bends to its limits.
I tested the maximum brightness of the display without HDR and recorded a number of 392 nits. This is above the typical brightness of 350 nits specified by Samsung, but is sufficient for brightly lit rooms.
Calibrating the display resulted in better colors but less brightness.
Where the monitor suffers a disappointment is the contrast performance. Samsung claims a static contrast ratio of 2500: 1, which is lower than the 3000: 1 VA panels normally produce. This is likely because it is bent to within an inch of its life, so I can forgive that. However, the example I have available doesn't provide a contrast ratio close to the Samsung numbers, with the highest number recorded ending up at 1480: 1 when dynamic brightness is turned off. These are very low values for a VA panel, although it would appear that these numbers vary significantly from sample to sample.
Calibrating the display resulted in a slightly better color reproduction with a Delta-E of 1.09, but that decreased slightly from peak brightness to 370 nits, and the peak contrast ratio dropped to 1330: 1 – almost half what Samsung is promising.
The G7 also supports DisplayHDR 600, which means it should achieve a peak brightness of up to 600 nits. However, this only happens when the rest of the display is dark. With just eight vertical lighting zones, HDR performance is modest at best. It is best to leave it deactivated.
Overall, the image quality of the G7 can be rated as quite good, especially when you consider that it is a gaming monitor with a panel curved to 1000R.
Sacrifice practicality for game skills
I use a 32-inch 4K monitor as my own daily driver, so you can imagine the step from this to QHD with the same panel size being quite a success. I tried switching from the 32-inch Samsung G7 in my main work setup but to no avail. While the color reproduction is impressively good, especially for a gaming monitor, the resolution isn't high enough to work on, especially considering the distance the monitor is due to its large base. The curve also causes distortion which makes photo editing confusing.
While the Samsung G7 falls short when it comes to productivity tasks, the display changes to its original element as soon as you start a game. This is where the lower QHD resolution becomes an advantage as driving is much easier than 4K and high frame rates are provided for this monitor. I equipped the display with an RTX 2070 super graphics card, with which the frame rates in competitive games could be increased significantly to 150 frames per second (fps) and higher. And yes, that makes you a better player.
I don't know how Samsung did it, but the VA panel continues to deliver sharp, smudge-free images even at higher frame rates and extremely fast movements on the screen, making it very easy to track fast-moving subjects from competitive shooters. In Destiny 2, I was suddenly able to track fast-moving subjects with a sniper rifle and successfully land headshots at moving targets over and over again – which I couldn't reproduce on my 60 Hz 4K monitor.
Start the BLJR Busters UFO test and see three UFOs flying across your screen, one at 240 Hz (top), one at 120 Hz (center), and one at 60 Hz (bottom). The 60 Hz alien always runs a few pixels behind the 120 fps and 240 fps aliens. The 120 and 240 Hz aliens are practically neck to neck for on-screen position, but where the 120 Hz UFO is slightly blurry in its rapid movement, the 240 Hz alien is crystal clear.
The image provided is from a video taken with the camera to track the aliens, which makes a pretty good impression – but I couldn't capture how dramatic the difference is with my camera. The 240Hz alien is so crystal clear at high speed that you wonder why anyone would care about a 120Hz display.
The G7's 1000R curve makes games incredibly impressive.
I also launched Horizon Zero Dawn which recently launched on PC. At the highest settings, my PC only pushed around 70 fps into the G7, but the game ran incredibly smoothly and the curve just pulled me in and held me in place. The G7's 1000R curve might not work for productivity, but it makes gaming oh so impressive.
The deep black of the VA panel as well as the vivid colors and high brightness draw you further into the game. If you want to perform well in competitive games, then you should only look at the 27-inch version. However, this 32-inch panel is great for balancing the power of competitive gaming with the immersion in slow single-player gaming, story-driven games.
Address of the elephant in the room: G-Sync Flicker
As many people report on the internet, the G-Sync flicker problem also occurs. The Samsung G7 is technically not a true G-Sync monitor. Instead of using a G-Sync module developed by Nvidia, it is based on the adaptive synchronization protocol implemented in the VESA DisplayPort 1.4 standard.
This is not a problem in and of itself as many displays work well this way. But not the G7. Turn on adaptive sync. While you usually won't notice any problems using the desktop, problems do arise as soon as you start a game.
You'll notice the black flicker in game menus and loading screens the most. It's also present when playing games at high frame rates, although it does so at lower frame rates too. On my panel, it was worst on the left and right edges of the screen, like a black vignette that keeps popping up.
This made adaptive synchronization unusable. Despite everything the G7 does to immerse you in the game, the flickering was so intense with adaptive sync enabled that it felt like I had a twitch in my eye. I searched the internet for a solution ranging from new cables to various settings to a firmware update, but nothing solved the problem. I also tested two 27-inch G7s, both of which had the problem, albeit to a lesser extent. It is best known and known as a known problem with this 32-inch sample.
The only solution for crack-free gameplay was to turn off adaptive sync and enable V-sync instead. Usually this is a sub-optimal solution as it may fix the tearing. However, stuttering and input lag become an issue as the display cannot adjust the screen refresh rate to match your frame timings.
When adaptive sync is enabled, the monitor waits for the GPU to shift a frame out, then immediately updates it to display it, and waits for the next full frame. Without this option, the display is updated 240 times per second, regardless of whether a new frame is to be displayed or not. When V-Sync is disabled and the GPU is halfway through rendering a frame, the display will show that half the frame, causing quick responses, but with cracks visible. With V-Sync enabled, the PC waits for the entire frame to be rendered and the panel to reach an update interval, resulting in tear-free images but also a short delay.
Samsung should take responsibility for the G-Sync flicker issue.
The monitor can display up to 240 fps evenly spaced apart from one second, even when running at much lower frame rates, so the images are displayed at almost the exact speed that the GPU is pushing them out. The lag caused by V-Sync is much shorter compared to a 60Hz, 120Hz, or 144Hz monitor, even if your game is running at relatively low frame rates.
In some ways, the G7 is so fast that it doesn't need adaptive sync, and most people would barely notice the difference between V-sync and unbroken adaptive sync on a 240Hz monitor. But that doesn't change the facts: the 32-inch Samsung G7's adaptive sync is broken, and that's just not acceptable for a $ 800 gaming monitor when so many cheaper displays get it right. Given that price, I would love to see Samsung take responsibility for this issue and either come out with a solution, issue a recall, or remove G-Sync certification and lower the price.
Digital Trends has contacted Samsung for a comment and we will update this review as soon as we hear about it.
Our opinion
The 32-inch Samsung Odyssey G7 is an excellent gaming monitor with a curve that draws you into gaming like no other display. However, the problem with G-Sync flicker is hard to miss.
Classic V-Sync can still solve the problems. With a refresh rate of 240 Hz, you don't necessarily need G-Sync for smooth gameplay. However, it's a second-rate solution that is hard to accept when asked to pay $ 800 for a monitor. Until it is repaired, the Odyssey G7 remains faulty.
Are there alternatives?
If you want a 32-inch QHD monitor that is as fast as this one, with such a tight curve, with the deep black levels and vibrant colors that this VA panel offers, there isn't one.
The closest alternative is the Asus ROG Strix XG32VQ, but it's not that fast at only 144 Hz and doesn't have such a tight curve. Similarly, MSI's Optix MAG321CQR offers a monitor of the same size, resolution, but not as fast or curvy, despite being less than half the price.
How long it will take?
Samsung's monitors don't usually develop crazy problems, so I expect this to work for as long as you can expect from most monitors: at least five years. However, Samsung only gives a one-year warranty on the monitor, which is below the industry standard.
Monitor technology is also advancing rapidly, and I doubt it will be long before a competitor conjures up a product that performs similarly for less money. Combine that with the G-Sync issue, which likely can't be fixed and you can expect a sharp drop in value in your first year.
Should I buy it?
Not in its current state. The Odyssey G7's curve is still a great sight, but G-Sync's problematic implementation is a deal breaker.
There's one major caveat: if Samsung rolls out an update that fixes this issue, the Odyssey G7 will be back worth the $ 800 it costs.
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