Earlier this year, at CES 2022, Samsung announced the Odyssey Neo G8, which is quite a monumental product in the gaming monitor space. This was among the first 4K monitors announced with a faster than 144Hz refresh rate. And Samsung didn't just tiptoe over the 144Hz threshold; it leaped to 240Hz, which sounds like a good prospect for our best 4K gaming monitors list.
Now, we're learning more about the monitor, including the fact that it will be priced at $1,500 when it launches in the United States in June. We previously learned that the Odyssey Neo G8 features a 31.5-inch Quantum Mini LED panel with a 1000R curve, and now it's been revealed that there are 1,196 individual zones for the backlight. As a result, Samsung boasts a dynamic contrast ratio of 1,000,000:1 with 4,096 steps for brightness control. The Odyssey Neo G8 peaks at an incredible 2,000 nits (350 nits typical) and is DisplayHDR 1000 certified.
The Odyssey Neo G8, of course, supports AMD FreeSync and Nvidia G-Sync Adaptive-Sync technologies and is rated for an MPRT response time of 1ms. Connectivity is plentiful, with two HDMI 2.1, one DisplayPort 1.4, and two USB 3.0 (Type-A) ports. Samsung also says that the Odyssey Neo G8 is adjustable for tilt, swivel, pivot, and height. And given that this is a gaming-centric monitor, RGB lighting effects adorn the exterior to sync with your other peripherals.
But that isn't all that Samsung has up its sleeve; there's also a sister model in the form of the Odyssey Neo G7, according to ComputerBase. The Odyssey Neo G7 also features a 31.5-inch 4K Quantum Mini LED panel with 1,196 local dimming cones, but the refresh rate "only" tops out at 165Hz (which is still impressive for a 4K panel). Typical brightness is the same 350 nits as the Odyssey Neo G8, but maximum brightness is cut in half to 1,000 nits.
Most other specs mirror the Odyssey Neo G8's 1000R curvature, dynamic contrast ratio, response time, Adaptive-Sync compatibility, and port arrangement. However, one visual difference is that the back panel of the Odyssey Neo G8 is white, while the Odyssey Neo G7 is black. Unfortunately, we don't have any information regarding pricing or availability for the monitor.
You’re going to need a sufficiently beastly graphics card to hit the 165 fps mark at 4K that the Odyssey Neo G7 can sustain. However, something like the Nvidia GeForce RTX 3090 Ti, which is among the best graphics cards for gaming, should be up to the task. As for hitting the 240 fps mark with Odyssey Neo G8, perhaps we’ll have to wait to see what Nvidia’s GeForce RTX 40 Series offers on the performance front at 4K resolutions.
