LG 45 Ultragear OLED (45GX950A-B)

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3 days ago

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The LG 45 UltraGear OLED Curved Gaming Monitor wowed us when it came through PC Labs in 2023. Two years later, the big screen returns with some key refinements. The new LG 45 Ultragear OLED (45GX950A-B) is a $1,999 45-inch ultrawide gaming monitor with a 5,120-by-2,160-pixel resolution, an OLED panel, and an 800mm curve. You'll also find a host of new perks, including a DisplayPort 2.1 port. All of those features push the monitor up to a rather high price—but it's easily justified once you set eyes on this panel. If you've got the cash, you'll enjoy the Editors' Choice-winning 45GX950A-B, one of the best big-screen gaming monitors we've seen.
This massive LG monitor matches the physical size of its previous incarnation, but it packs in a higher resolution: LG, in fact, claims it's the first monitor to offer a 5,120-by-2,160-pixel resolution on a 45-inch curved OLED screen. The pixel density of 125 pixels per inch improves text clarity and visuals, and lends itself to an overall sharper image, the company says.
Indeed, we rarely see a resolution this high on big screens: The Samsung Odyssey Neo G9 is the only other monitor we reviewed that surpasses it, landing at 7,680 by 2,160 pixels. Another Samsung, the Odyssey OLED G9, has a 5,120-by-1,440-pixel resolution. But both of these monitors offer a 32:9 ratio (referred to colloquially as "super ultrawide"), while the 45GX950A-B delivers this many pixels at a less narrow 21:9 aspect ratio. Indeed, the 45GX950A-B offers more screen area than a 49-inch 32:9 monitor, despite having a smaller diagonal measurement.
The 45-inch 45GX950A-B has a pronounced curvature rating of 800R, which means that a circle of these monitors placed edge to edge would have a radius of 800mm. The tighter the curvature, the more the screen fills your vision, which makes curved monitors the favored choice for immersive simulation games.
The monitor weighs 30.9 pounds, heavier than the aforementioned 49-inch Samsung Odyssey OLED G9 (28.4 pounds) but 10 pounds lighter than the 57-inch Odyssey Neo G9 (41.9 pounds). You'll need plenty of desk space for the 45GX950A-B, as it measures 26.2 by 39 by 13.5 inches (HWD) with the stand at its full height. In all, the wide gray stand travels 5 inches up and down and has an opening in the center for funneling cords, while its hexagonal base leaves room for you to push your keyboard against it during intense play (though we're not sure if we'd recommend that for a monitor this big).
The 45GX950A-B's port hub consists of a USB-C port (with 90 watts of power delivery), two USB-A ports, two HDMI 2.1 ports, a headphone jack, and a DisplayPort 2.1. That last connection lets you get the most out of cutting-edge, high-performance GPUs: DisplayPort 2.1 can handle more than double the bandwidth of DisplayPort 1.4 (80Gbps versus 32.4Gbps), so you can maintain higher resolutions and refresh rates without the compression that erodes color accuracy.
The 45GX950A-B also offers multiple refresh-rate and resolution combinations, in the same vein as LG's 32-Inch UltraGear OLED Gaming Monitor (32GS95UE-B). By default, the monitor offers a 5,120-by-2,160-pixel resolution at 165Hz, but you can trade resolution for a higher refresh rate by swapping to 2,560 by 1,080 pixels at 330Hz. You can also shrink the size to a 37-inch display area with a 16:9 aspect ratio at 4K (3,840 by 2,160 pixels), or a 21:9 aspect ratio at 39 inches and 2,560 by 1,080 pixels. (In those cases, you get black bars on either side of the picture, in a sort of reverse letterboxing.) In addition, the screen supports AMD FreeSync Premium Pro and is Nvidia G-Sync Compatible, which should minimize any potential tearing.I'm always happy when I see a headphone jack on a monitor, and even happier when it offers DTS Headphone:X. With the four-pole headphone jack, you can take advantage of 3D audio with DTS Virtual:X, which simulates surround-sound audio. If you're not using headphones for sound, you can enjoy the internal speakers. Surprisingly, they include a bit of bass, and the curved screen creates a nice chamber of sound, even if the speakers didn't get as loud as I expected.
We measured color gamut, brightness, and contrast ratio using Calman monitor calibration software and a Klein K-10A colorimeter. We also ran the monitor through a gauntlet of games to measure input lag and judge its real-world performance.
In our first test, we benchmarked the brightness with the monitor's default gaming profile over an SDR signal. Under these conditions, we saw an average brightness of 413 nits. That's above the 275-nit ceiling listed on the monitor's spec page, and well above recently reviewed OLED monitors like the HP Omen Transcend 32 OLED (264 nits) and Alienware AW2725Q (275 nits). We achieved this result with the 45GX950A-B's Peak Brightness setting on High, though you can adjust it to Low or turn it off completely depending on your lighting situation.
OLED monitors don't have to get very bright because they can maintain contrast at lower brightness levels, so the picture will always look vibrant in low-light settings, even if the measured brightness seems low. The 45GX950A-B boasts a sky-high contrast ratio rating of 1,500,000:1, while IPS panels typically feature contrast ratios of 1,000:1 to 3,000:1. IPS panels do reach higher brightness levels with SDR content, but the lower contrast ratios of IPS panels can lead to blacks appearing washed out, affecting the perceived brightness.
Color gamut performance is up next. In our tests, the 45GX950A-B spanned 92.5% of Adobe RGB color gamut (see the chart above), 139.3% of the sRGB gamut (see the chart below), and 96.1% of DCI-P3. That's a near-match for the Acer Predator X45's color gamut of 92.3% Adobe RGB,139% sRGB, and 96.3% DCI-P3.
The 45GX950A-B delivers an impressive color range, but its gaming prowess is probably what you care most about, right? To measure the monitor's input lag, we deployed the Leo Bodnar 4K Input Lag Tester; we also played a handful of games from our library to check for any noticeable blemishes, like screen tearing.
For casual play at 60Hz, input lag of 16ms or less is more than adequate. The 45GX950A-B cleared that benchmark easily, turning in an excellent 8.8 milliseconds (ms) of input lag at 1080p/60Hz using the Bodnar device. At 1080p/120Hz, we recorded 4.7ms of input lag, 7.9 ms at 1440p/60Hz, and 9ms at 1440p/120Hz. Finally, we recorded 8.8ms of input lag at 4K/60Hz. (The Bodnar device doesn't support refresh rates above 120Hz, so we couldn't measure the response times at 165Hz or 330Hz.)
The 60Hz reading of 8.8ms is likely imperceptible to most casual players and is pretty great for those who enjoy multiplayer shooters. Of course, you can go lower. LG's own 27 UltraGear OLED (27GX790A) clocks in at 2.5ms at 1080p/240Hz. However, the 27GX790A is designed and sized for serious esports play, whereas the 45GX950A-B is not.
Ad-hoc testing included playing Cyberpunk 2077, Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion Remastered, and F1 24, as well as watching some 4K videos. Keep in mind, not every game supports ultrawide aspect ratios. Of the many modern releases that do, not all support the 45GX950A-B's full resolution. For example, Oblivion does support ultrawide ratios, but only at 3,440 by 1,440 pixels.
Needless to say, games looked great on the big, wide monitor. The curved screen is especially nice for gamers interested in simulators and strategy titles that take advantage of the extra space. For games that don't support the aspect ratio, the smaller window options are a welcome addition, though ultimately, I would feel more comfortable playing on a 16:9 monitor, so I don't have to deal with the black bars on the side.