Samsung Odyssey G7 review: Extreme curve and 240Hz for buttery smooth immersive gameplay

|
, , , ,

Techaeris Rated 9.6/10

We first saw the Samsung Odyssey G7 and G9 gaming monitors back at CES 2020. They definitely looked sleek in the Samsung area of the annual tech convention. From our short time with them at CES, the QLED QHD 16:9 HDR600, and a peak brightness of 600 cd/m² Odyssey G7 looked like it would be great for gamers. Samsung sent us one for a first look ahead of release. Our Samsung Odyssey G7 review takes a look at the 32-inch version, complete with a 240Hz refresh rate and 1000R curvature for buttery smooth immersive gameplay. Read on to find out what it earned a Top Pick of 2020 Award here at Techaeris.

We also reviewed the Samsung Odyssey G9. In case you’re unfamiliar with it, the Odyssey G9 is Samsung’s flagship 49″ gaming monitor and it is a new level of immersive gaming! Check out that review RIGHT HERE!

Specifications

The Samsung Odyssey G7 curved gaming monitor (as reviewed) has the following features and specifications: 

HOW TO: Change system date in OS X ...
HOW TO: Change system date in OS X from Terminal
Model LC32G75TQSNXZA 
Screen Size 31.5 inches, 27-inch model available 
Display TypeQLED
Panel Type VA 
Aspect Ratio 16:9 
Max Resolution 2560 x 1440 (QHD) 
Curvature 1000R 
PPI 93
Brightness 600cd/m² (max); 350cd/m² (typ) 
HDR HDR600 Certified 
Native Contrast 2500:1 (typ) 
Viewing Angle 178°(H)/178°(V) 
Tilt  -9° ~ +13° 
Swivel -15° ~ +15°  
Height Adjustment (distance) 120mm (4.72 inches) 
Response Time 1ms (GtG)
Refresh Rate 240Hz 
Display Colors 1.07 billion
Color Gamut 95% DCI (Typical, 88% minimum) 
125% sRGB (Typical) 
Color ModeHigh-Brightness, Custom, FPS, RTS, RPG, sRGB, AOS, Cinema/Dynamic Contrast
Backlight Type LED
Horizontal Frequency 357.6 KHz
Vertical Frequency 240Hz 
Inputs/Outputs 2x DisplayPort, HDMI, 3.5mm Audio, 2x USB Type-A 
Wall Mount100 x 100 (mm)
Power Consumption 140W (max) 
Power Supply Type  AC 100~240V 
Dimensions (with stand) 710.1 x 594.5 x 305.9mm (27.95 x 23.41 x 12.04 inches) 
Weight (with stand) 8.2kg (18.07lbs) 
Additional Features• Picture-in-Picture
• Flicker-Free
• Eye Saver Mode
• Picture by Picture
• Off Timer Plus
• Refresh Rate Optimizer
• Black Equalizer
• Quantum Dot Color
• Super Arena Gaming UX
• USB Super Charging

What’s in the box

  • Samsung Odyssey G7 gaming monitor
  • Power cable
  • HDMI cable
  • DisplayPort cable
  • USB cable

Design 

There’s no question the Samsung Odyssey G7 is a gaming monitor. Its design is sleek with fairly thin top and side bezels. The side and top bezels are just over 1/4-inch thick. The bottom bezel is 3/4-inch in the middle and about an inch at its highest on each edge. The edges are angled down slightly as this is where the bottom LED lights are housed. Centered on the bottom edge is a single power button that doubles as the menu/source/PIP toggle. 

The back of the Samsung Odyssey G7 curved gaming monitor
The back of the Samsung Odyssey G7 curved gaming monitor.

The back of the monitor has a roughly 6-inch circle in the middle of it. This circle is the LED core that illuminates and glows while the monitor is turned on. Available lighting modes include Static, Rainbow, Flash, Double Flash, and Breathing. Depending on which mode you choose, you can customize the LED colour as well in the on-screen menu. A textured motif on the back radiates in circles and lines out from the core for an interesting look. The top half does bulge out slightly as it wraps up around the middle core.

The core itself is capped with a translucent ring that splits in half for assembly. The LED core is 6-inches in diameter where it attaches to the monitor, sloping out to 4-inches at the back, and is 1 1/4-inch in depth. When the monitor is on, the core does throw out quite a bit of light depending on what lighting mode and brightness you’ve chosen. In a dim setting, it definitely added some excellent ambiance to the gaming setup. 

Underneath the core are the usual ports. When looking at the back of the monitor, these are (from left to right) the 3.5mm audio port, HDMI, two DisplayPort, USB hub, two USB-A, and the proprietary round power port. Speaking of power, the power cable comes in two pieces. The first, which connects to the monitor, ends in a power brick. A second AC cable plugs into the power brick via a figure-eight style plug. Finally, for the back, Samsung has designed a piece that snaps into place to hide the cables. In an interesting design choice, the cables feed through a small opening at the top of this piece as opposed to feeding up through the bottom of the monitor. This is due to where the cable management hole in the stand is, more on that in a second. 

The input ports on the Samsung Odyssey G7 curved gaming monitor
The input ports on the Samsung Odyssey G7 curved gaming monitor.

The included stand comes in two parts: the legs and the arm. Combined, they weigh roughly 3.5 lbs., giving the monitor a nice sturdy stand to sit on. The legs are skinny and jut out in a v shape towards the front. The underside of the legs angle up a bit towards the back, leaving a bit of a gap underneath the legs towards the back. Foam pads are attached at the front of each leg and towards the back to prevent scratching your desk.

The stand arm is more or less flat on the front but curved around the back. It has a hole cut out at the bottom on the back and another one on the front not quite halfway up for cable management. Above this front hole is the main assembly which screws onto the back of the monitor. This assembly also slides up and down within the stand, giving you about 4 3/4-inches of height adjustment. The assembly also angles left and right and tilts up and down for more fine-tuned setup control. 

While there is cable management inside the stand arm, it doesn’t really facilitate much aside from the power cable. Even so, it was a bit tricky to get the power cable fed through, and even trickier trying to pull it out when we disassembled the monitor. A DisplayPort or HDMI cable doesn’t feed through it at all. On that note, where the feet meet the arm near the back is raised a bit and cords easily fit underneath that. Still, it would have been nice to have a wider cable management slot for a tidier setup. 

As opposed to other curved gaming monitors with lesser curvature, this one has a very noticeable and pronounced curve. It’s noticeable when sitting in front of it and it’s really noticeable when looking at the monitor from above. Even though it’s a 32-inch monitor, it’s not as wide as a flat 32-inch due to its curvature which also saves slightly on desk space depending on your setup. 

The Samsung Odyssey G7 curved gaming monitor has a 1000R curvature
The Samsung Odyssey G7 curved gaming monitor has a 1000R curvature.

Overall, however, the Samsung Odyssey G7 looks like a gaming monitor through and through from its design to its LED core ring and bottom accent lights. 

Display 

The display on the Samsung Odyssey G7 32-inch gaming monitor is 31 ½-inches diagonal. With its 16:9 aspect ratio, it is 15 1/2-inches high by 27 1/4-inch across. The 1000R curvature is interesting though and, at a glance, one might be fooled into thinking this was a 4:3 aspect ratio monitor instead. Before I go into specifics on this model, why would someone want to use a curved monitor?

Well, when you think about it, the human eye isn’t flat, it’s curved. In fact, the curvature of the typical eye has is indicated by the number 1000R. The 1000 is the number of millimeters and the R is for radius. When combined, they indicate that the radius the curve, in this case the monitor will be 1000mm when completing a perfect circle. When using a flat monitor, especially a larger or widescreen one, your eye must adjust as you scan to the left and right edges of the screen. This can cause eye strain and fatigue, especially after longer periods of sitting in front of a screen. Samsung has a pretty decent write up on their website as to the advantages of curved versus flat monitors

Standard monitor curvatures for curved monitors these days seem to be 1800R or, more recently, 1500R. My daily monitor is a 35-inch 1800R curved monitor and the curve is quite pleasant and adequate for all-day use. When I first sat down in front of the Odyssey G7 with its 1000R curvature, I could tell a big difference. In fact, it looked almost extreme. After getting used to it after a couple of hours, I had no issue adjusting to it and it was pretty immersive while gaming or watching full-screen video. The 32-inch size works well with this curvature when placed at a proper distance from you.

With a VA display panel, the display is clear and crisp. The colours on the display are very rich with the default setting — some of the richest I’ve seen in a gaming monitor with the default settings. As is characteristic of this panel type, the contrast is very decent. 

The Samsung Odyssey G7 curved gaming monitor has a 1000R curvature
The Samsung Odyssey G7 curved gaming monitor has a 1000R curvature.

As with any decent monitor, there are quite a few settings that you can customize. To access the onscreen menu, simply wiggle the power button toggle on the underside of the monitor. It will bring up a menu panel with four options, selecting up will allow you to access the menu. selecting left will switch inputs, selecting right will toggle PIP/PBP mode, and selecting down will power the monitor off. 

Monitor settings include: 

  • Game: Refresh Rate, Black Equalizer, Response Time, Adaptive-Sync, Low Input Lag, Virtual Aim Point, Screen Size 
  • Picture: Picture Mode (Custom, High Bright, FPS, RTS, RPG, AOS, sRGB, Cinema, Dynamic Contrast), Brightness, Contrast, Sharpness, Color, Black Level, Eye Saver Mode, Screen Adjustment 
  • PIP/PBP: PIP/PBP Mode (On/Off), Mode Type, Screen Size, Screen Position, Source, Sound Source, Screen Ratio, Contrast 
  • OnScreen Display: Language, Display Time 
  • System: Core Lighting (Front & Back, Back, Off, Light Effect), Local Dimming, Volume, Dynamic Brightness, Off Timer Plus, PC/AV Mode, USB Super Charging, DisplayPort Ver., Input Port Ver., Auto Source Switch, Key Repeat Time, Power LED On 
  • Support: Shows model, serial number, software version, HDR/Adaptive-Sync status, resolution, source, and refresh rate 

As you can see, there are plenty of different options to customize the monitor functionality and display. To be honest, while I did toggle through the different Picture Mode settings, I settled on sRGB and was pleased with the “out-of-the-box” display settings for general use and gaming. 

Assembly 

Set up of the Samsung Odyssey G7 monitor is easy. The legs get attached to the arm and tighten by way of a screw with a handy loop on it. Next, the top of the arm slides into the back of the monitor and is screwed into place (you’ll need a screwdriver for that). Finally, the translucent core ring splits in two and snap it in place around where the monitor attaches to the arm. All said and done, you should be up and running with your new monitor in 10 minutes once you’ve unpacked it from the box. 

Performance 

While we’ve covered some of this in the Display section, there are a few things we didn’t touch on. This is a gaming monitor first and foremost and while it was fine for office tasks, web browsing, photo editing, and watching videos, it excels at gaming. 

Everything I threw at it from Heroes of the Storm to Forza Horizon 4 and Gears 5, the 240Hz refresh rate was smooth and the response time seemed great as well. I didn’t notice any tearing or screen artifacts of any type. Racing around Britain in Forza and blasting through the Horde in Gears 5 was buttery smooth. Heroes seemed extra smooth as well, especially considering the high frame rates on maximum graphics settings given I was playing on a machine with an NVIDIA 2080Ti GPU. 

Overall, I had no issues with the way the display performed, even under the factory settings. As any gamer knows, the faster the refresh rate, the more enjoyable gaming is and that definitely holds true with the Odyssey G7. In addition, the 1000R curvature felt more immersive while gaming, especially in the cockpit view in Forza

As with any monitor with HDR support these days, that is a bit hit and miss as Windows 10 doesn’t really do well with it. That being said, games that do support it, like Forza, looked extra gorgeous while playing with HDR enabled on this monitor, especially given the HDR600 certification. 

Price/Value 

Pricing on monitors really runs the gamut. Sure you can get a 32-inch curved gaming monitor for US$250 and up depending on features. The Samsung Odyssey G7 32-inch curved gaming monitor retails for $799, which seems steep in comparison. That being said, you are getting a 1000R curvature, 240Hz refresh rate, 1ms response time, and an HDR600 Certified QLED panel.

During our time with it, we had no issues with performance and, as mentioned above, gameplay is super smooth, and the colours are fantastic as well. If you are an avid gamer, dropping a chunk of change for a decent gaming rig setup isn’t unheard of and you’d do well adding the Odyssey G7 to your setup.

Additionally, if you want to save a bit or have a smaller setup, the 27-inch version sells for $699.99. Both sizes are now available for pre-order with shipping expected to start on July 13th.

Wrap-up 

While curved gaming monitors have gained popularity over the past couple of years, until now there hasn’t been an option available that closely matches the curvature of the human eye. The Samsung Odyssey G7 does just that while offering up fast 240Hz refresh rates, great colours, HDR600 certification, and a fancy rear core ring that adds a touch of LED glow to your gaming setup. All these features combined make this gaming monitor worthy of a Top Pick of 2020 here at Techaeris.

In some of our articles and especially in our reviews, you will find Amazon or other affiliate links. As Amazon Associates, we earn from qualifying purchases. Any other purchases you make through these links often result in a small amount being earned for the site and/or our writers. Techaeris often covers brand press releases. Doing this does not constitute an endorsement of any product or service by Techaeris. We provide the press release information for our audience to be informed and make their own decision on a purchase or not. Only our reviews are an endorsement or lack thereof. For more information, you can read our full disclaimer.

Last Updated on December 6, 2021.

Previous

HP announces the ENVY 6000 and 6400 Pro family printers

Infographic: The importance of momentum

Next

Latest Articles

Share via
Copy link
Powered by Social Snap