LG Ultragear 39GX90SA-W evaluation: This large OLED monitor packs TV smarts

Blink and also you’d miss it, nevertheless it’s true. Sensible gaming screens are right here. Each LG and Samsung now provide screens marketed at players that embrace a totally useful TV working system that works a lot because it does on every model’s good TVs. The LG Ultragear 39GX90SA-W brings this idea to an enormous, lovely OLED panel. It seems to be nice, nevertheless it’s not good.

Learn on to study extra, then see our roundup of the very best gaming screens for comparability.

LG Ultragear 39GX90SA-W specs and options

Essentially the most notable specification on the LG UltraGear 39GX90SA-W’s spec sheet is its dimension. It’s a 39-inch ultrawide with a 21:9 facet ratio, and whereas a 39-inch show might not sound considerably bigger than a 34-inch ultrawide, it ends in a 31 p.c improve in show space. Put merely, the 39-inch LG feels method larger than a 34-inch different.

• Show dimension: 39-inch 21:9 facet ratio
• Native decision: 3440×1440
• Panel sort: WOLED
• Refresh fee: As much as 240Hz
• Adaptive Sync: Sure, Adaptive Sync, AMD FreeSync Premium, Nvidia G-Sync Suitable
• HDR: HDR 10, VESA DisplayHDR True Black 400 CertifiedHDR
• Ports: 2x HDMI 2.1, 1x DisplayPort 1.4, 1x USB-C with DisplayPort Alternate Mode and 65 watts of Energy Supply, 1x Ethernet, 2x USB-A (2.0), 1x 3.5mm audio-out
• Extra options: Wi-Fi 6, Bluetooth, distant management, LG webOS
• Audio: Audio system included
• Guarantee: 2-year elements and labor guarantee
• Value: $1,599.99 MSRP, $1,299.99 retail at time of evaluation

The 39GX90SA-W can also be notable as a result of it consists of LG’s webOS good tv working system. It really works simply because it does on an LG Sensible TV and gives entry to all kinds of apps, in addition to connectivity to many digital content material libraries, like motion pictures you may need bought by means of YouTube. It even helps cloud gaming providers like GeForce Now.

Pricing is excessive, although no more than anticipated. The retail MSRP is $1,599.99, however a look at value monitoring web sites reveals the sale value of $1,199.99 is extra typical. That’s costly however anticipated for an enormous, high-end OLED monitor.

LG Ultragear 39GX90SA-W design

The LG Ultragear 39GX90SA-W is a 39-inch ultrawide monitor with an aggressive 800R curve. Although clearly not as massive as 45-inch ultrawide options, it has critical presence and takes up loads of area on a desk. The aggressive curve stands out instantly and can show polarizing. For those who like a curved monitor, it’s nice. If not, you’ll have bother placing up with it.

Dimension and curved show apart, the 39GX90SA advantages from an alluring ultra-white design. The rear panel and show stand each function a stark, clear, nearly medical look that can slot in with minimalist desk setups. A lot of the monitor’s supplies are plastic, however the backside half of the stand is steel, and the plastics used had been sturdy once I picked up the monitor.

The stand is large. It features a broad neck, a big base, and a deep attain that locations the ultrawide show panel comparatively near the person’s face. It may be tough, or unimaginable, to search out a perfect place in case your desk is lower than 30 inches deep, or lower than 50 inches extensive. That’s to be anticipated given the 39GX90SA’s large ultrawide display screen, nevertheless it’s nonetheless essential to bear in mind. Most individuals will discover a 34-inch ultrawide a greater match for his or her desk.

Even so, LG’s design is a win. It’s a minimum of as premium as Samsung’s Odyssey G8 and G9 screens, and extra enticing than current options from Asus, Gigabyte, and MSI (amongst different manufacturers). It really works particularly properly as a mixed-used monitor in a room that serves as a house workplace through the day and a gaming den at evening.

LG Ultragear 39GX90SA-W connectivity

Connectivity is usually a spotlight for the LG Ultragear 39GX90SA-W, with just a few caveats.

On the plus aspect, the monitor consists of loads of video connectivity. It has two HDMI 2.1 ports, one DisplayPort, and one USB-C with DisplayPort. That’s a complete of 4 video inputs and a very good vary of choices for connecting laptops, desktops, and recreation consoles.

The USB-C port additionally helps knowledge and as much as 65 watts of Energy Supply. I’m blissful to see a USB-C port with Energy Supply included, because it reinforces the monitor’s id as a show for each work and play. House owners can use a single cable to attach and cost a thin-and-light laptop computer that has USB-C.

The monitor’s extra connectivity consists of two USB-A ports (each USB 2.0) and Ethernet. The Ethernet port is beneficial for those who plan to benefit from the monitor’s good connectivity, which I’ll get to shortly. For those who don’t have Ethernet helpful, nonetheless, that’s wonderful: The monitor additionally helps Wi-Fi and Bluetooth.

A 3.5mm audio jack rounds out the connectivity.

LG Ultragear 39GX90SA-W menus and options

LG calls the Ultragear 39GX90SA-W a “good gaming monitor.” What does that imply? It’s mainly a sensible TV.

Whereas it lacks a TV tuner (that means it could’t settle for cable or antenna TV enter), it in any other case works very similar to any LG tv that runs LG’s webOS. It gives an enormous number of streaming apps, from Netflix to Crunchyroll, and even helps cloud gaming apps like GeForce Now (which implies you possibly can technically recreation and not using a PC or console by connecting a Bluetooth recreation controller to the monitor). WebOS is fast, enticing, and straightforward to know.

Nevertheless, the 39GX90SA-W suffers just a few issues in relation to how the monitor interacts with PC inputs. For instance, when a brand new PC enter is related, the monitor will ask for those who’d like to modify to that enter. The immediate doesn’t keep on-screen for lengthy, although, so I typically discovered it had disappeared by the point I climbed out from below my desk to attach my desktop.

I additionally had small however noticeable points with the responsiveness of the monitor’s on-screen menu, which sometimes hesitated as I moved by means of choices. I even encountered a loading display screen icon whereas swapping between monitor menus. That’s not one thing you’ll see on a monitor that lacks a sensible TV working system.

That is most blatant when utilizing the Sport Optimizer mode. Opening the on-screen menu on this mode opens a Ultragear-branded menu that in any other case doesn’t seem. It doesn’t assist adjusting many options, nonetheless, and the swap from the Ultragear menu to the usual menu takes just a few seconds, throughout which a loading icon seems.

Alternatively, the 39GX90SA-W ships with a compact distant that gives easy accessibility to watch choices. Whereas the menu system’s generally sluggish efficiency is annoying, it’s much less annoying than adjusting monitor menus utilizing a joystick or buttons on the monitor itself (a joystick continues to be discovered on the monitor, although, in case you lose the distant). The streaming apps I examined, corresponding to YouTube and Netflix, labored as anticipated.

Matthew Smith / Foundry

Audio system are bundled within the 39GX90SA-W, however they’re not loud sufficient to be helpful in most conditions. I discovered them tepid at most quantity even in my house workplace, which has no vital noise apart from my house HVAC. The 39GX90SA-W’s audio system may hardly compete with that.

I’m unsure everybody will discover the 39GX90SA-W’s good includes a win, nevertheless it’s all the time attention-grabbing to see them on an enormous, ultrawide monitor. That is successfully a 39-inch ultrawide good TV—one thing that doesn’t exist within the conventional HDTV market. It’s sadly not massive sufficient to be used in most TV dens, however I do assume this idea will attraction to customers principally excited by viewing motion pictures or taking part in PC video games.

LG Ultragear 39GX90SA-W SDR picture high quality

The LG Ultragear 39GX90SA-W makes use of an LG WOLED panel. These panels have been examined in quite a few screens and are typically barely much less vibrant in comparison with Samsung’s QD OLED panels, though they nonetheless carry out properly when it comes to distinction and brightness. The LG Ultragear 39GX90SA-W stays on-script.

Matthew Smith / Foundry

I measured a sustained SDR brightness of about 246 nits from the 39GX90SA-W. Because the graph reveals, that may be a typical stage of brightness for a contemporary OLED monitor in SDR. Though it’s not particularly brilliant, it’s sufficient to be used in a room with some mild management, like blinds or curtains.

If you’re sitting close to sunlit home windows, nonetheless, glare can grow to be a difficulty. The monitor has a semi-gloss coat, however its aggressive curve can have the impact of focusing mild sources relying on their angle, which might amplify glare.

Matthew Smith / Foundry

Distinction is a power of OLED panels. They’ll attain a minimal brightness of zero nits, which implies they’ve an successfully infinite distinction ratio. The result’s the deep, immersive picture that propelled OLED to the highest of picture high quality rankings.

The 39GX90SA-W is not any exception, nevertheless it additionally doesn’t stand out. All of the OLED panels discovered on trendy screens attain a minimal luminance of zero nits, so there’s no significant distinction right here.

Nonetheless, distinction is a key purpose to pick out the 39GX90SA-W as a substitute of an ultrawide LCD competitor.

Matthew Smith / Foundry

The 39GX90SA-W’s shade gamut spans 100% of sRGB in addition to 96 p.c of DCI-P3 and 88 p.c of Adobe RGB when examined in the usual monitor preset. That’s a superb end result and sufficient to offer a vibrant, extremely saturated picture that most individuals will discover pleasing.

Because the graph reveals, QD-OLED screens just like the Alienware AW3425DW are likely to have barely higher shade saturation. The benefit is refined, however noticeable, although the LG’s shade gamut continues to be glorious.

Matthew Smith / Foundry

The 39GX90SA-W has good shade accuracy in its normal picture preset, though because the graph reveals, it’s not the very best in its class. The picture seems to be lifelike, and I had issue noticing any main shade points other than shade temperature. It is very important observe that the monitor presents a complete vary of picture high quality presets, together with knowledgeable presets. These presets considerably improve shade accuracy, decreasing the typical shade error to a formidable 0.85.

In normal mode, the gamma was 2.3, which is above my goal of two.2, and the colour temperature was 7400 Ok—which is cooler and extra sterile than the popular 6500 Ok. The knowledgeable picture high quality preset once more improved issues dramatically, shifting each gamma and shade temperature to our desire.

Sharpness, nonetheless, is an issue that may’t be mitigated. The 39GX90SA-W has a local decision of 3440×1440, which is typical of most ultrawide screens. However most options have a smaller 34-inch panel, and spreading the identical variety of pixels throughout a 39-inch panel noticeably degrades sharpness. Small fonts have clear pixelation and shade artifacts round them, whereas small buttons and interface components can look blocky. It’s tolerable, however the 39GX90SA-W is just not for individuals who need a crystal-clear show.

The 39GX90SA-W’s total picture high quality is sweet, nevertheless it’s a bit below-average for an OLED monitor. It shares widespread OLED strengths, together with an unbelievable distinction ratio and extensive shade gamut. Nevertheless, LG’s WOLED nonetheless doesn’t rival Samsung’s QD-OLED in shade quantity, and the 39GX90SA-W’s sharpness will probably be a difficulty for eagle-eyed consumers. It’s a beautiful show however doesn’t stand out from the OLED crowd.

LG Ultragear 39GX90SA-W HDR Picture High quality

LG’s UltraGear 39GX90SA-W helps HDR and is VESA DisplayHDR True Black 400 licensed. That’s the standard stage of certification for an OLED monitor. Nevertheless, because the graph under reveals, the monitor can attain a better stage of brightness than that certification would recommend, with a most sustained HDR brightness of 783.5 nits.

Matthew Smith / Foundry

After I evaluate the 39GX90SA-W to its rivals I’m compelled to repeat myself, as as soon as once more it performs about in addition to most different OLED screens available on the market. Its HDR brightness figures are just like just lately examined WOLED screens. Samsung QD-OLED are presently a better option for HDR total, however I wouldn’t name it a night-and-day distinction, and it ought to solely sway you if HDR efficiency is amongst your prime priorities. 

Nonetheless, I used to be happy with the LG’s HDR image. It’s vivid in most scenes and video games, with solely scenes that try and push brightness throughout all the show actually difficult the monitor.

LG Ultragear 39GX90SA-W movement efficiency

The LG UltraGear 39GX90SA-W has a most refresh fee of 240Hz, which gives a buttery-smooth picture in PC video games that may attain body charges that prime. It additionally advantages from OLED’s low pixel response time, which drops as little as 0.03 milliseconds. In apply, this additional reduces movement blur. As a bonus, it additionally interprets to comparatively minor movement blur at decrease refresh charges (like 60Hz or 120Hz).

There’s extra to it than simply movement readability, as a result of the monitor additionally gives broad adaptive sync assist with official assist for Adaptive Sync, AMD FreeSync Premium, and Nvidia G-Sync requirements. Whereas most screens that assist any of those will even unofficially work with all three, it’s good to see official assist to offer players peace of thoughts.

As with different facets of the 39GX90SA-W, the monitor’s solely draw back is that it’s mainly the identical as different OLEDs available on the market. There’s a really extensive number of screens which have a 240Hz refresh fee or greater, so whereas the LG seems to be nice in fast-paced video games, it doesn’t look higher than the competitors.

Do you have to purchase the LG Ultragear 39GX90SA-W?

The Ultragear 39GX90SA-W is one other competent entry into LG’s ever-growing line-up of OLED screens. It delivers an immersive, colourful, contrast-rich picture with very good movement readability, although it suffers from sub-par sharpness. The monitor additionally gives LG’s webOS good TV working system with entry to acquainted apps together with Netflix and GeForce Now, alongside Wi-Fi and Bluetooth connectivity. Meaning it could function an all-in-one gaming and leisure show even and not using a PC hooked up.

That makes the 39GX90SA-W alluring if you’d like an ultrawide monitor that’s bigger and extra feature-rich than most rivals. For those who don’t care about good options in your monitor, nonetheless, a smaller and cheaper different just like the Alienware AW3425DW will make extra sense.