Gaming diagonal of 27 inches with the traditional aspect ratio of 16:9 is probably the most “universal” at the moment – it creates a big enough picture to the player a sense of immersion in the game, and the monitor is still relatively compact so as not to take a full desktop. Today we take a look at the Samsung Odyssey G7 – which not only looks great, but also boasts outstanding gamer features.

Design

Samsung Odyssey G7 looks very unusual – its case is curved and in the central part where the display is attached to the leg it is several times thicker than the edges, as a result the curvature radius of the back side is even smaller than that of the screen.

The case is made of black matte plastic, the back is covered with a complex textured pattern, as if converging on a central ring around the point where the display is mounted – it features RGB LED backlighting, which can be both static and dynamically change its intensity. In addition, the backlighting is also installed on the bottom edge – symmetrically placed LEDs on the sides give a moderate and not interfering in the workplace reflection on the surface of the table.

The stand is metal and very stable, the leg is V-shaped with a rather wide span – you won’t be able to noticeably rock or, moreover, accidentally knock the monitor over. The stand allows you to adjust the height of the screen (the lower border of the image can be in the range 97-217 mm above desk level), angle, turn the screen left and right (but a relatively small angle) and even translate the display into portrait mode – the latter, admittedly, is not common among models with a curved screen. If necessary, you can hang the monitor on the wall – it comes with a special VESA-compatible mount that mounts over the ring with backlight.

The foot provides for concealed cable routing which is masked by a decorative cover, as a result the monitor looks neat from behind and attached cables do not spoil the rather effective design of the rear cabinet. There is also a sliding lever on the foot, on which you can hang a gaming headset.

All the connectors are at the bottom of the rear side in a special recess, which is covered with a decorative cover after the cables are connected. Here you can find two DisplayPort, one HDMI, a headset mini-jack and a USB hub with two USB 3.0 ports.

Menu

To control the monitor is used a 5-position joystick, located on the bottom edge in the center, under the Samsung logo. Its left-right deviation brings up a video input selection window, up-down provides a quick menu to adjust the main image parameters, and a press brings up the main menu.

The first item in it is “Game”, where you can adjust different gaming parameters: for example, specify the maximum possible screen refresh rate, select the degree of overdrive, activate adaptive frequency, etc. By the way, when you turn on FreeSync, the ability to adjust overdrive is disabled.

In “Image” there are the traditional settings like video mode selection (several templates for different gaming genres, movies, etc.), brightness, contrast, color temperature and gamma adjustments, plus there is an activation of the “eye rest” mode (it reduces the proportion of blue in the backlight, making the image warmer and more comfortable for the eyes).

The item PIP/PBP contains settings of the frame-in-frame mode, with the choice of the location of the screens, video sources and other parameters. The OnScreen Display item is used to choose the OSD language and the time of its display, and the System item is used for the system settings, such as local backlight dimming, volume, dynamic brightness, RGB LED backlight behavior settings, “supercharging” via USB, etc. And in the last item, “Information”, you can see information about the monitor and the current video mode, update the software, perform an automatic diagnostic of the monitor and reset all parameters to factory defaults.

Functionality

The Samsung C27G75TQSI uses a 27-inch 10-bit (8-bit + FRC) VA panel made in-house with a quantum dot screen – Quantum Dot. QLED screen means that instead of traditional filters, it uses a thin film with quantum dots on it (the tiniest semiconductors glowing under the influence of weak irradiation of LEDs). This allows for greater color gamut and higher contrast. Also, the G7 model is available in diagonal 32 inches, in addition, the Odyssey line has a model G9 with an impressive diagonal of 49 inches – in Ukraine they will be on sale a little later.

The panel resolution is 2560×1440 dots (pixel density ~109 PPI), the maximum refresh rate – 240 Hz. This combination of resolution and diagonal gives a dense and clear picture, the individual pixels from a normal distance are almost indistinguishable, but to get in today’s games appropriate to this monitor fps, you will need to build a performance gaming system.

The Samsung Odyssey G7 has support for AMD FreeSync Premium Pro adaptive frequency (works in the 60-240 Hz range when connected via DisplayPort and 48-144 Hz – via HDMI), and also has official compatibility with NVIDIA G-Sync technology (supported range – 60-240 Hz). FreeSync Premium Pro – the most “advanced” version of this technology, to fully support it, the monitor must meet a number of requirements, such as screen refresh rate of 120 Hz or higher at Full HD resolution, support for low-frame rate compensation (in other words, the technology works in a wider frequency range than usual), HDR support and low input latency in both SDR and HDR modes.

Image quality

The screen surface of the Samsung Odyssey G7 is curved, the radius of curvature is very small, only 1000 mm. On such a diagonal, from a normal distance the curvature is noticeable, but in Windows applications you quickly get used to it, while playing games or watching videos this type of panel, on the contrary, contributes to a greater immersion in the events on the screen.

The difference between the typical gaming frequency of 144 Hz and 240 Hz in this monitor is noticeable in very dynamic games with quick changes of camera angles – for example, in online shooters, where even a very fast turnaround still feels even smoother than at a lower frequency, and allows you to aim more accurately at the enemy “on the fly”.

The claimed response time at 240 Hz is 1 ms (GtG); in practice this is the best index achieved in very bright areas, the average value turns out to be slightly higher – up to 3 ms. However, this is still an excellent result, on the level of very fast gaming TN-monitors (the total input delay is also on a very impressive level – about 5 ms). In the settings there is an activation of overdrive with two degrees of acceleration – Faster and Fastest, plus the option of combined maximum overdrive with technology MBR (motion blur reduction – reducing motion blur by turning off the backlight frame by frame).

In the latter case, moving objects are obtained as clear as possible, but it markedly reduces the brightness plus there is a flickering effect of backlighting, which can be felt by people with sensitive eyes. In general, it is worth noting that the panel in the Samsung Odyssey G7 is unusually fast for VA technology – in fast-moving scenes the image remains very clear, blurred to a minimum, even with disabled overdrive. Note that even with the maximum overclocking of the matrix overclocking artifacts in the form of glowing plumes behind moving objects are almost absent – you can discern their minimal manifestation only in test photos.

Response time test

240Hz refresh rate (overdrive off/maximum):

The coating of the screen is semi-matte, so that stray glare and reflections in it are not observed; the crystal effect is minimal, when working with the monitor on it do not pay attention, it appears, in fact, only on the macro picture, and that is very weak.

Backlight uniformity is average, in the test photo (black background at maximum brightness, shooting in a dark room with a shutter speed of 20 seconds) you can see a few bright spots along the bottom and top borders of the screen. Here we should also note that thanks to the use of VA-panel black color is much blacker than the IPS-monitors – there is a similar brightness of the black field in the photo is obtained at half, or even three times slower shutter speed.

The monitor supports local backlight dimming (the entire screen surface is divided into 8 independent zones), its inclusion allows you to further reduce the “glow” black – however, given the already rather deep black in this VA-panel, the activation of this function has a rather weak effect.

Glow-effect in the Samsung C27G75TQSI is very weak: when viewed from above at an angle in the dark areas of the image glow is very moderate and noticeably weaker than on a typical IPS-panel.

Viewing angles are quite good as for VA-panel, at a higher angle shows the typical for this technology image warming and contrast reduction with the highlighting of the dark areas of the image.

The minimum brightness is 42 cd/m² – for a desktop monitor this is quite low value, at this brightness this screen can be quite comfortable to play and work even in very low ambient light. The maximum brightness in normal mode (average of 35-point measurements) is 265 cd/m², the peak brightness is 300. In addition, this monitor supports HDR, in this mode the peak brightness can reach 600 cd/m². Here we should also note that no full-range PWM is used for brightness control, so this monitor’s screen doesn’t flicker even at minimum brightness.

Video mode

The default video mode is “Custom”, where all the manual adjustments of the image parameters are available. It is also the most universal – in this mode the screen has an extended color gamut (covering ~90% of the DCI-P3 space). The color temperature is only slightly below the standard 6500K, the gamma curve on the brightness scale is almost linear, with the default setting “gamma 1” its average value is 2.02, in “gamma 3” – about 2.18, with some overestimation in the bright areas. Using the “Black Equalizer” setting in the “Game” menu, you can increase or decrease the gamma value in the dark areas of the image, which allows you to show details in the shadows – this can be useful in dark games.

The other video modes (FPS, RTS, RPG, etc.) differ mainly in the presets of such parameters as brightness, sharpness, gamma curve, contrast and color temperature.

Pros:Very fast matrix with minimal input delay, at the level of the best TN-monitors for gaming; compatible with both technologies of adaptive frequency; high image quality

Cons: Traditionally for VA technology, not the greatest viewing angles
Conclusion: The Samsung Odyssey G7 is a spectacular-looking gaming monitor that, in addition to its unusual appearance, also boasts high image quality and excellent gaming features like a very fast panel with minimal input lag, 240Hz screen refresh rate and support for both AMD FreeSync and NVIDIA G-Sync.