Samsung Odyssey Neo G9 57" 7680x2160 super ultrawide (mini-LED)

Is there any reason to choose DP port over HDMI 2.1 port or vice versa as long as you don't exceed the bandwidth limitation, ie are there any differences regarding input lag, DSC etc? Due to the native resolution (does it have a name, DUHD?) at 240 hz limitations, both would be the the same computer, on for 120 hz at native resolution and one for 240 hz at 4K. I believe that power control etc is still better on DP which if true would make it seem reasonable to use that port for "productivity" which in my case would make up probably at least 90% of the time I use the monitor. Ie running native resolution at 120 hz on the DP port and use the HDMI 2.1 port for 240 hz 4K gaming.

Edit:

Well, apparently for some reason I am unable to even get 240 hz 4K working over HDMI which kind of simplified the question.
 
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Can confirm that with Adaptiv Sync disabled, the option to enable 240 hz, at least with my 3090, is gone (regardless of input).
 
improwise said:
Seems like a new Firmware was dropped today as well for the G95NC

  • Version 1003.0
  • 2.61 MB
  • 17 okt.. 2023
I guess we will have to wait to get info on what it actually does...
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There's never any changelogs for Samsung firmware updates. Just have to install it and hope it fixes an issue you have...
 
kasakka said:
There's never any changelogs for Samsung firmware updates. Just have to install it and hope it fixes an issue you have...
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If it had been any other brand than Samsung I might just have done that but with Samsung updates, bugs isnt what you have to worry about but rather entire features becoming gimped or gone completely...
 
I updated to firmware version 1003.0. I haven't noticed any differences so far. I also updated to driver version 545.84 (the latest) for my 4090. I still can't go over 120Hz over HDMI
 
Bigmonitorguy said:
I updated to firmware version 1003.0. I haven't noticed any differences so far. I also updated to driver version 545.84 (the latest) for my 4090. I still can't go over 120Hz over HDMI
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You probably have already mentioned this but you have a GPU with HDMI 2.1?
 
For the life of me I just can't seem to get used to mainly text on this monitor. And that is coming from someone having used OLED TVs as desk monitors for several years, which aren't exactly ideal for text either.

I didn't really notice this at all when trying out the real 8K QN900B 65" a few months ago which should probably have a somewhat similar panel albeit with a glossy or at least glossier panel. My main theory is that it might be the matte coating that is playing tricks on me and my eyes or perhaps my brain as I feel am constantly on a hunt to make things sharp. I have had similar experiences when trying out Neo G9s before but always attributed it to the low PPI, but perhaps that wasn't really the case. It is kind of like a constant sparkle in the image where there should be none, especially obvious on light background like white.

Of course, this might not be all surprising considering that this is a matte monitor but I had really hoped I would be able to get used to it but now I am starting to have doubts. I am old enough to remember when where there no glossy screens at all, but at least then it wasn't an option to get a glossy one (or almost no options). Choices choices :D

This is of course a highly personal opinion, and from what I can recall, I see nothing indicating that the grain on this monitor should be any worse than previous ones, so if you are find with previous Neo G9s, this one should be more than fine as well.

Edit: Please disregard this as of now, see comment below with updated info.
 
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improwise said:
For the life of me I just can't seem to get used to mainly text on this monitor. And that is coming from someone having used OLED TVs as desk monitors for several years, which aren't exactly ideal for text either.

I didn't really notice this at all when trying out the real 8K QN900B 65" a few months ago which should probably have a somewhat similar panel albeit with a glossy or at least glossier panel. My main theory is that it might be the matte coating that is playing tricks on me and my eyes or perhaps my brain as I feel am constantly on a hunt to make things sharp. I have had similar experiences when trying out Neo G9s before but always attributed it to the low PPI, but perhaps that wasn't really the case. It is kind of like a constant sparkle in the image where there should be none, especially obvious on light background like white.

Of course, this might not be all surprising considering that this is a matte monitor but I had really hoped I would be able to get used to it but now I am starting to have doubts. I am old enough to remember when where there no glossy screens at all, but at least then it wasn't an option to get a glossy one (or almost no options). Choices choices :D

This is of course a highly personal opinion, and from what I can recall, I see nothing indicating that the grain on this monitor should be any worse than previous ones, so if you are find with previous Neo G9s, this one should be more than fine as well.
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Do you find this more annoying during the day vs at night tho?

Personally I didn't see anything odd about the G95NC when I tried it at the store, looked great to me and not that much different from my G70A IPS panel which has a very non-grainy coating. That said, it was store conditions so strong overhead lights, high brightness on the monitor and not using it for probably more than 10-15 minutes.
 
kasakka said:
Do you find this more annoying during the day vs at night tho?

Personally I didn't see anything odd about the G95NC when I tried it at the store, looked great to me and not that much different from my G70A IPS panel which has a very non-grainy coating. That said, it was store conditions so strong overhead lights, high brightness on the monitor and not using it for probably more than 10-15 minutes.
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This gets even weirder, having plugged in another display (the C2) I noticed it also looked worse than I remembered it. This led me to do some further investigating which ended with me starting up Better Cleartype Tuner only to find out that for whatever reason it might be, Windows had decided to switch to BGR instead of RGB. I haven't owned a BRG monitor in at least 10 years! What could have triggered that is beyond my knowledge and apparently running the normal ClearType tuner did nothing to reverse this even though ClearType AFAIK is RGB only.

So now I will have to do some further monitor switching to retest the G95NC and hopefully see improvements (not sure how much to expect, usually the higher the PPI, the smaller the differences tend to be based on my experience). At least now my C2 has way sharper text than the G95NC did which would seem to indicate improvements are to be expected when actually using a monitor with RGB. Will report back once done. The size of the involved monitors makes this a bit more of a logistic challenge than normal, mostly due to lack of desk space for side by side comparisons :)

If anyone would happen to have an idea of why Windows would go BGR all by itself, feel free to share.

Edit:

One thing that is extremely obvious though is the difference between the glossy surface of the C2 and the G95NC and no BGR/RGB will change that. Perhaps not that surprising but still. In all fairness, the difference in max brightness is also quite obvious as well as the one regarding viewing angles.
 
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improwise said:
This gets even weirder, having plugged in another display (the C2) I noticed it also looked worse than I remembered it. This led me to do some further investigating which ended with me starting up Better Cleartype Tuner only to find out that for whatever reason it might be, Windows had decided to switch to BGR instead of RGB. I haven't owned a BRG monitor in at least 10 years! What could have triggered that is beyond my knowledge and apparently running the normal ClearType tuner did nothing to reverse this even though ClearType AFAIK is RGB only.
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The regular Cleartype tuner software does support BGR as well, it's I think the first "which one you like better" choice where there's only two options. Better Cleartype Tuner is of course...clearer, pardon the pun!
 
kasakka said:
The regular Cleartype tuner software does support BGR as well, it's I think the first "which one you like better" choice where there's only two options. Better Cleartype Tuner is of course...clearer, pardon the pun!
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Ah, didn't know that, thought it was RGB only. Perhaps logical though as BGR is RGB reversed from what I remember (as the name implies also).

That should probably mean that switching between them in BCTT wouldn't have that much effect (as one choice would have been obviously better in the normal CT tuner) but will give it a go later on today if I find time for it. My main theory is that the AG filter is to blame and there is just a matter of accepting it or return the monitor. Such a shame that Samsung insists on matte filter but considering the size and shape of these monitors, it might be a must as every glare would probably be concentrated on the user because of the massive curve.
 
improwise said:
Ah, didn't know that, thought it was RGB only. Perhaps logical though as BGR is RGB reversed from what I remember (as the name implies also).

That should probably mean that switching between them in BCTT wouldn't have that much effect (as one choice would have been obviously better in the normal CT tuner) but will give it a go later on today if I find time for it. My main theory is that the AG filter is to blame and there is just a matter of accepting it or return the monitor. Such a shame that Samsung insists on matte filter but considering the size and shape of these monitors, it might be a must as every glare would probably be concentrated on the user because of the massive curve.
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In store conditions I did not find the G95NC to have a particularly grainy AG coating and that's very good. People were complaining about this with the Neo G8 but not the Neo G7.

When I use my glossy Macbook Pro 16" right next to my 28" G70A, in daylight conditions I don't find any huge difference in how their image looks for SDR when both have about the same brightness level. IMO glossy vs matte is not a big deal for anything smaller than TV size, as long as the AG coating is not visibly grainy so it looks dirty all the time.
 
improwise said:
Ah, didn't know that, thought it was RGB only. Perhaps logical though as BGR is RGB reversed from what I remember (as the name implies also).

That should probably mean that switching between them in BCTT wouldn't have that much effect (as one choice would have been obviously better in the normal CT tuner) but will give it a go later on today if I find time for it. My main theory is that the AG filter is to blame and there is just a matter of accepting it or return the monitor. Such a shame that Samsung insists on matte filter but considering the size and shape of these monitors, it might be a must as every glare would probably be concentrated on the user because of the massive curve.
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Have tried going back to the G95NC now but as expected, the differences between RGB and BGR was marginal at best (I am running without scaling). When flipping between then in BCTT I can see marginal changes happening but in a blind test I am unable to spot what is what from a normal viewing distance which is kind of expected considering PPI. In BCTT with 400% default scaling of text, the changes are of course more obvious. I should add that the effect of the AG filter, also as expected, is much more obvious on light/white background than on dark ones. So my conclusion from this is that it is the matte AG filter that, at least for me, seems to be the closest thing to a deal breaker.

Well, that and the fact that the QC / firmware on this seem to also match what is expected from Samsung. Often find myself ending up in a "war of buttons" with the G95NC when it starts flashing and flickering and simply refuse to show the PC image for more than a second or two. Also ended up with this a few times which does not look all that promising, especially combined with the horror stories already popping up on r/ultrawides on Reddit about delivered monitors being DoA or close to that...
 

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kasakka said:
In store conditions I did not find the G95NC to have a particularly grainy AG coating and that's very good. People were complaining about this with the Neo G8 but not the Neo G7.

When I use my glossy Macbook Pro 16" right next to my 28" G70A, in daylight conditions I don't find any huge difference in how their image looks for SDR when both have about the same brightness level. IMO glossy vs matte is not a big deal for anything smaller than TV size, as long as the AG coating is not visibly grainy so it looks dirty all the time.
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I've absolutely seen much worse examples of AG filter than this one, for a matte one I think it is actually quite OK, even though you still have that shimmering effect on white backgrounds etc. But that is kind of the idea of the filter so can't really fault it for that. So I am not saying that the AG filter here is bad, just that compared side by side to something like a glossy C2 (or even the X27), the difference is quite noticeable. Of course, depending on your setup, so might reflections on a glossy screen.

Currently have Hardforum in Darkmode right next to Outlook in light mode, and as I am typing this, I really don't notice the AG effect at all but switching to Outlook, I do. So again just to avoid any misunderstandings, it is not that the AG filter here is bad, it is just for obvious reasons quite different from a glossy one.

Edit:

Maybe I should add that I am a max brightness kind of guy and I would imagine that a lower brightness probably makes the AG filter a bit less obvious.
 
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improwise said:
Have tried going back to the G95NC now but as expected, the differences between RGB and BGR was marginal at best (I am running without scaling). When flipping between then in BCTT I can see marginal changes happening but in a blind test I am unable to spot what is what from a normal viewing distance which is kind of expected considering PPI. In BCTT with 400% default scaling of text, the changes are of course more obvious. I should add that the effect of the AG filter, also as expected, is much more obvious on light/white background than on dark ones. So my conclusion from this is that it is the matte AG filter that, at least for me, seems to be the closest thing to a deal breaker.
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FYI you should restart the computer or log out and log in for Better Cleartype Tuner settings to apply properly. Otherwise some apps might not pick them up.

improwise said:
Well, that and the fact that the QC / firmware on this seem to also match what is expected from Samsung. Often find myself ending up in a "war of buttons" with the G95NC when it starts flashing and flickering and simply refuse to show the PC image for more than a second or two. Also ended up with this a few times which does not look all that promising, especially combined with the horror stories already popping up on r/ultrawides on Reddit about delivered monitors being DoA or close to that...
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Are you using the included cables? They are very short for a reason - that being that this much resolution is difficult to drive over longer distances. So e.g just a 2m cable could mean more issues occurring if the cable itself is not the highest quality possible. Which can be impossible to figure out without just trying cables since the specs tell nothing when everything is supposedly 8K capable.
 
kasakka said:
FYI you should restart the computer or log out and log in for Better Cleartype Tuner settings to apply properly. Otherwise some apps might not pick them up.


Are you using the included cables? They are very short for a reason - that being that this much resolution is difficult to drive over longer distances. So e.g just a 2m cable could mean more issues occurring if the cable itself is not the highest quality possible. Which can be impossible to figure out without just trying cables since the specs tell nothing when everything is supposedly 8K capable.
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If an app required a restart I probably would not see the difference when flipping between them but still a restart is always a good idea.

Its not a cable problem but a monitor problem causing the problems. Have not updated the firmware yet though, mainly due to the horrible track record of Samsung updates.
 
I have the eletrical popping noise on the top left corner as do other australian owners.

So its a common issue it appears
 
-snoopi- said:
I have the eletrical popping noise on the top left corner as do other australian owners.

So its a common issue it appears
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I also have popping noises but they seem to be the normal "plastic getting heated" ones that has been around on the G9s for years.
 
-snoopi- said:
I have the eletrical popping noise on the top left corner as do other australian owners.

So its a common issue it appears
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Someone on Reddit claimed it could be built up static from the packaging and recommended you disconnect the display from power, then hold the power button to try to power on the screen or hold the power button but it will just discharge its capacitors. Whether this actually works I don't know.
 
improwise said:
He kind of summarizes my opinions on the matte coating...which perhaps is what to be expected from such a filter. Actually, I agree with most if not all said in the video come to think of it.


View: https://youtu.be/P7QNp6U5cKA?t=431
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This guy is one of those "glossy fanatics" though where he has complained about matte coatings in multiple videos. So I just ignore that because his stance is "matte = bad" as if there are no very legit reasons to use it. Would I like to see more glossy options? Sure, but it doesn't mean I consider matter finishes uniformly bad.
 
kasakka said:
This guy is one of those "glossy fanatics" though where he has complained about matte coatings in multiple videos. So I just ignore that because his stance is "matte = bad" as if there are no very legit reasons to use it. Would I like to see more glossy options? Sure, but it doesn't mean I consider matter finishes uniformly bad.
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I believe you like everyone else are entitled to have your own opinions about matte vs glossy without having to be called fanatics (unless you really deserve to be like saying matte monitors are always bad etc). This guy seems to be a it over the top in general based on the video but it is not someone I follow regularly so don't know if he is trying to push an agenda or simply states his opinions on matte vs glossy. Which to me would be fine regardless of if he preferred matte or glossy as long as someone does not claim it to be a universal truth.

I used to be in the matte camp but especially with increased brightness, I am now in the glossy camp even for laptops and would much have preferred this monitor to be glossy as well. But as always, YMMV. This monitor obviously isn't glossy regardless of personal opinions :)
 
Is there a reason why 4k@240hz seems possible only on the DP port but not the HDMI 2.1 port? At least I have never been able to get anything but 60 hz when doing 4K over HDMI 2.1.
 
improwise said:
Is there a reason why 4k@240hz seems possible only on the DP port but not the HDMI 2.1 port? At least I have never been able to get anything but 60 hz when doing 4K over HDMI 2.1.
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Probably the same issue why you can't even get 8Kx2K @ 120 Hz if you set the display to 240 Hz.
 
kasakka said:
This guy is one of those "glossy fanatics" though where he has complained about matte coatings in multiple videos. So I just ignore that because his stance is "matte = bad" as if there are no very legit reasons to use it. Would I like to see more glossy options? Sure, but it doesn't mean I consider matter finishes uniformly bad.
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My view on guys like this is if they complain a lot about a matte finish it's probably good. If they like a monitor it's shit for my use in my home office. Tried both in my home office/computer room and shiny is just too much glare. That said I like a shiny finish on my living room TV, but that's in a different room and has a different use case. Not gonna sell my house and buy a different one to make some shiny screen shill happy, so no shiny screens in my home office.
 
zandor said:
My view on guys like this is if they complain a lot about a matte finish it's probably good. If they like a monitor it's shit for my use in my home office. Tried both in my home office/computer room and shiny is just too much glare. That said I like a shiny finish on my living room TV, but that's in a different room and has a different use case. Not gonna sell my house and buy a different one to make some shiny screen shill happy, so no shiny screens in my home office.
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That's a perfectly valid reason, there are pros and cons of both. That said, I am surprised Samsung does not, at least that I know of, have monitors with their anti glare filter which they use on TVs like the QN900 which at least I found to be a much better compromise between glossy and matte. Not sure if the massive curve has an impact on that though as their TVs these days are not curved. I recall that Philips developed some Moth eye tech a few years ago which was apparently much better than normal AG filters, and I think that Samsung bought that tech somehow.
 
improwise said:
That's a perfectly valid reason, there are pros and cons of both. That said, I am surprised Samsung does not, at least that I know of, have monitors with their anti glare filter which they use on TVs like the QN900 which at least I found to be a much better compromise between glossy and matte. Not sure if the massive curve has an impact on that though as their TVs these days are not curved. I recall that Philips developed some Moth eye tech a few years ago which was apparently much better than normal AG filters, and I think that Samsung bought that tech somehow.
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Yeah the AG coating choices are weird considering Samsung had a different one on the Neo G7 and Neo G8 for who knows what reason. Meanwhile I'm very happy with the AG coating on my G70A which uses an Innolux IPS panel. Maybe these are all made by different teams that have different preferences.
 
kasakka said:
Yeah the AG coating choices are weird considering Samsung had a different one on the Neo G7 and Neo G8 for who knows what reason. Meanwhile I'm very happy with the AG coating on my G70A which uses an Innolux IPS panel. Maybe these are all made by different teams that have different preferences.
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Could panel tech be a reason here? The AG filter on my X27 (also IPS) is noticable better than the one on the G95NC (which in turn is not bad compared to many others). Especially on a monitor targeted for gaming it seems strange just to put on just an average AG filter considering it also effects colors etc.
 
I mean market research demonstrates that the vast majority of users want and prefer matte which is why 99% of displays are matte. Asus has repeatedly stated that when probing their customer base (both professional and home users), nobody wants to see themselves or the room they are in while using a display due to reflections.

The people clamoring for glossy finishes are a super tiny minority. Personally I really don't care either way. Standard matte (not Neo G8's thick coating) for a all around productivity/media display and glossy if I only used the display for media consumption in a light controlled environment. Since the latter is never the case, I really don't mind matte.
 
SoCali said:
I mean market research demonstrates that the vast majority of users want and prefer matte which is why 99% of displays are matte. Asus has repeatedly stated that when probing their customer base (both professional and home users), nobody wants to see themselves or the room they are in while using a display due to reflections.

The people clamoring for glossy finishes are a super tiny minority. Personally I really don't care either way. Standard matte (not Neo G8's thick coating) for a all around productivity/media display and glossy if I only used the display for media consumption in a light controlled environment. Since the latter is never the case, I really don't mind matte.
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What about Macbooks? They are glossy and you can't accuse Apple of lacking market research.
 
SoCali said:
I mean market research demonstrates that the vast majority of users want and prefer matte which is why 99% of displays are matte. Asus has repeatedly stated that when probing their customer base (both professional and home users), nobody wants to see themselves or the room they are in while using a display due to reflections.

The people clamoring for glossy finishes are a super tiny minority. Personally I really don't care either way. Standard matte (not Neo G8's thick coating) for a all around productivity/media display and glossy if I only used the display for media consumption in a light controlled environment. Since the latter is never the case, I really don't mind matte.
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I would doubt that anyone prefers matte, I do however think that if people were asked if they wanted to see massive reflections in their monitors, they would probably say no. So as always the answers depends on the questions asked. And perhaps "lets put a cheap AR coating on every monitor" isn't really the solution people want and their might be better solutions. Like the solution Samsung uses on their own high end TVs.

The waste majority of monitors sold are probably so on price rather than optimal performance (which is kind of crazy considering the amount of time people spend in front of them) so not sure if you can really apply that logic to a super high end gaming monitor.

You realize that the G95NC is probably targeted at a super tiny minority? :)
 
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So, I finally got around to doing some gaming on the G95NC, Doom to be more precise as that of the games I know of have some eye candy and nice colors (probably better ones but seldom have time to game these days so not that updated). Would have hoped to be really impressed in a side by side with the OLED with its much better brightness and improved FALD but to be honest, I wasn't.

No matter how I tried to adjust it I just could not get it to look as good or even close to it, and even running att 240 hz (4K with no scaling, ie a virtual 32" monitor with blackbars) the motion clarity etc. on the OLED just felt better (probably due to pixel response time). And even with improved local dimming, in a side by side it was still very apparent that FALD at Standard and High still has some catching up to do with noticeable haloing and blooming. Still really good for being an LCD though and probably not as noticeable without an OLED right next to it.

Perhaps this isn't all that surprising, as even with 2000 local dimming zones (from what I have heard, true?), it is still about one per 8000 pixels compared with the OLEDs 1:1. The matte filter of course did not help either I would assume with regards to punchy colors etc.

Compared with my previous rant about the matte AR filter, this made me ultimately decide that all in all, this isn't the monitor for me and I have scheduled a return for it. Perhaps I will give it another try when GPUs etc have caught up so that the full potential of the monitor can be unleashed, and Samsung perhaps have tuned the performance with some future updates etc.

Now, remember that these are just my personal opinions and based on very limited testing. I am sure that for sim racing etc the G95NC would probably come out on top, or just if you happen to prefer a different kind of "look" to the picture. Of course there are many advantages of the G95NC compared to OLED as well. I am not here to tell you what to like, just sharing my personal opinions.

The hunt for an ideal monitor continues :)
 
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I'm on the fence if I want to spend the money too. I have a dual 4K 144 Hz 28" setup already that works well enough for work so putting down over 2000 euros for this might not be worth it. Black Friday sales and whether the 240 Hz issues are fixed will determine what I'll do.

Been just gaming on PC in the living room with my LG CX 48" so might consider spending my money on a new 50-55" TV next year instead, if LG or Samsung release anything relevant. 4K 240 Hz would be nice.
 
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