49-inch CHG90 super ultrawide gaming monitor from Samsung

I'll see your giant curved monitor, and raise you the SimPit 270 Centurion! (Although it obviously more for simming, I bet SotA would still be awesome on it!)

http://www.simpit.co.nz/index.php/features-2/projection-display-solutions/simpit-270-centurion

 

I changed my mind about the new video card in part because of @Earl Atogrim von Draken said but also because I thought maybe I am spending money to solve a non-existent problem. I will wait and see if the 1080 is good enough first.

 

NO!!!! LET ME SUFFER TO TAKE IT FROM YOU!!!!

I'd be surprised if you noticed much difference from a new card honestly. The 1080 is top of the line by a long shot in all the reviews I've seen. The benefits of pairing a monitor with the right card is nice, but not sure you'd get your money's worth doing it (though now I want to search and see if someone has tested that for actual numbers).

 

The thing is that I really don't think that freesync will make enough difference to compensate for the 1080 even with the AMD being overclocked and liquid cooled. Even if I did the experiment for "scientific" purposes it is not apples to apples. A more fair comparison would be a over clocked liquid-cooled 1080.

See this thread about the freesync difference
https://www.reddit.com/r/Amd/comments/4zh1w4/poll_do_you_find_freesync_makes_a_noticeable/

 

It really depends on how the Freesync is implemented in the monitor, but it is true that usually the best benefit is in 30-50 fps range. If you plan to keep monitor for a while you might want to wait for the next generation of AMD cards, 1080 is current high end card and switching to AMD will not get you that much benefit at this time. Besides you never know, Freesync is open standard and Nvidia might decide one day to support it

 

As requested...

Before: Samsung 32” WQHD LED Monitor (S32D850T) Been great to me for years.



After: Samsung 49" CHG90 QLED Gaming Monitor


To compare the field of vision, here is the exact same screen shot with only daytime differences with both monitors.



And the 1080 seems to be fine. It keeps it at a fixed 120Hz.

 

@Tahru - That, my friend, IS A MONITOR!

I think I know what I want for XMas.

 

Dont know how I missed this thread. Ill need to take a picture tonight of my set up:

Epson Home Cinema 4000 4K HDR Projector
133" Screen innovations screen
Marantz AV8802A Pre-Amp
7 x Outlaw monoblock 200w
2 Outlaw LFM-EX 12" subs
Mix of Paradigm and Polk Home theater speakers.
Dolby Atmos
Hometheater PC wireless mouse and keyboard
Shroud of the Avatar


This is an old 5+ year old pic with my older equipment (older projector, avr, speakers) but it shows the basic gist. Im currently playing Destiny 2 a lot down there on the XBOX S

 

A little update...

Firstly, switching from HDMI to DisplayPort increased the refresh rate from 120Hz to 144Hz. I cannot say enough good things about the display.

However, there is a quark... When I shut down my computer, the monitor will never recover upon restarting. The only way to see it again is to unplug it form the wall and re-plug it in. I called Samsung and got 1st level support. He was very nice and walked me through the manual as best he could. I ended up explaining that I could upgrade the firmware and try it again (and call back...). Since then I upgraded the firmware (what a hassle as it required a small and slow thumb drive to work [who has those anymore?]). No success, then I switched form HDMI to DisplayPort, then went into the bios and turned off the splash screen in case that was causing problems...

Looks like I will call them back tomorrow. I am not unsatisfied with the support, it is just that I don't want to send it back. I freaken love this monitor. I will miss it dearly if I have to send it back and wait for a fix or replacement.

 

I've been looking at getting one of these - currently I've got a 4k screen in the middle and 1080s either side of it - so cant really use it in surround mode. - this screen would easily replace the 3 of them. The question I have Tahru, that I hope you can help with, is: what's the ghosting like on it? - a couple of reviews have said there's noticeable ghosting in games and when moving windows and that's been putting me off. - so what's it like to use in the real world?

 

I am running at 144Hz refresh rate via the displayport and see no noticeable ghosting to the best I can tell in regular usage. I was getting 120 hz via HDMI and it is possible there was some ghosting then, but I don't recall any.

I went and tried several online ghosting tests, but it is really subjective as all monitors have some level of ghosting. I can say that there was less ghosting on this compared to a new 15" Macbook Pro or a Wacom mobile studio running the same tests.

 

Excellent news, I think I may treat myself!

 

I've seen some weird things in my years as a computer tech. One is the monitor not coming up when the computer does. Turn computer on, monitor already on, nothing displays. Turn monitor off and on again, nothing, switch input, nothing. Turn everything off, turn on computer, turn on monitor, nothing, Switch everything off again, turn on monitor then turn computer on quickly, then the display appears.
Also, if you can, make sure the default input in set to DisplayPort (Or whatever you are using), and not Auto. I've seen that cause issues as well.

 

I did that as well. I called support again today and they are going to service it. Don't know what that means just yet. I will miss it if it is shipping back.

 

Probably means they will send you a refurbished unit to replace your new one.

 

Thanks for the reality check. I am just being too nice about this issue.
I starting the return RMA process at Samsung and I already ordered another one from Amazon to be delivered Tuesday. I am not giving up on this monitor. It is a real joy to use.

 

I started looking at other top end monitors, and I found reviews for those complaining about the same issue I am seeing with this one restarting.

So I started searching on the problem instead of the monitor and I found the problem is most likely caused by my ASUS overclocked motherboard. ASUS seems to be the most common least common denominator in this issue dating from 2012 forward.

So I am still returning mine to Samsung Direct and buying another from Amazon because Samsung made me wait for an hour on the phone and because I want to verify that it is not my specific monitor.

During this, I also considered a triple monitor setup, but I decided that at the end of the day, this monitor is the best option for me.

If the restart problem persists, I can solve it for $11 with a power remote.

 

All those setups look far too good to be real.
No notepads - no post it for quick reminders - no pencil/pen - no towel to catch the sweat from your wrist while being slaughtered in K'rul?

 

So here is my final review of this monitor. Firstly, this monitor is every bit as beautiful as you probably expect! Sadly, I am going to recommend not to buy it. I have gone through two of them now and have decided to wait for december to buy another from someone else. Here is why,

#1 Fragile

The monitor is very heavy and very large! It seems to be very fragile. If you are not really careful, the monitor can break under it's own weight. You would not even attempt to carry around a double or triple monitor setup in real life before taking it apart, yet with this one, you have no choice in the matter.


#2 Freesync, not G-sync

At least for now, FreeSync is for AMD and unfortunately AMD is getting it's butt handed to them by Nvidia at this time by about 30%. It is not what I want, it is just how it is. Hence, you will want to use a 1080 ti no matter what as even with Freesync, AMD is behind the pack. Maybe that will change next year... Even if you wanted a Vega, you would be paying too much for it from scalpers right now. It seems bitcoin miners have screwed everyone over with AMD cards. The resolution of this monitor is going to drain FPS in games, so you are absolutely going to want to do everything possible to gain FPS.


#3 Vertical Resolution

This monitor is 3840x1080 which is vertically challenged but not uncommon for gaming monitors. But coming from a 1440 vertical monitor it is losing 25% pixel density vertically and is noticeable. So noticeable that I am now hiding my taskbar.

#4 Horizontal Resolution

There is not a lot of software support for a screen this wide in games or applications. So the experience is hit and miss.

#5 Head turn

This monitor is WIDE, maybe too wide! I do have to turn my head to focus on the left or right most parts of the screen.


#6 December

Both Acer and Asus will have 200Hz (this one is 144Hz) 3440x1440 35" g-sync curved monitors. They will be expensive, but less than this one most likely.

#7 My power problem

This is my problem, not necessarily the monitor's problem. The monitor does not wake up from PC sleep or power off without me climbing under my desk and unplugging it from the wall first. After much research, I found people have the same problem with a lot of monitors, especially high end ones. So this one may not be the monitor's fault.