Samsung Odyssey G8 6K Review: Pixel Overdose | WIRED

Overview

6K is the new 4K. Oh, you didn't hear? We've seen a few of these super-sharp monitors already, but Samsung's newest monitor isn't just for office work. It's designed first and foremost to shoot for the crown of being one of the best gaming monitors.

The 32-inch Odyssey G8 G80HS has a resolution of 6144 x 3456 for your viewing pleasure, and it makes a lot of sacrifices in its single-minded pursuit of sharpness. It’s not a bad display, but it’s probably not the best way to spend your money.

Details

Let’s start with the monitor’s most obvious strength: sharpness.

The Odyssey G8 G80HS has a resolution of 6144 x 3456 which, I’ll note, means the 6K billing slightly undersells its advantage (a 4K monitor is actually 3840 x 2160 and doesn’t offer 4,000 pixels across either axis). The G80HS has a total of 21,233,664 pixels, which is a roughly 155 percent increase over a typical 4K display.

That’s a lot of pixels, and it results in an extremely sharp image. How much of a difference it makes is likely up to your viewing preferences, and perhaps even your visual acuity, but I found the difference obvious and dramatic.

The thing about sharpness is that it can make virtually everything you view look sharper. The Windows desktop is better. Games are sharper. Photos—if they’re of high quality—are sharper. The only thing that won’t see much improvement is video, as very few video sources exceed 4K resolution.

And the leap to 6K can solve some persistent visual quality issues in games. Fine objects, like power lines or a chain-link fence, are notoriously difficult for games to render without blocky, jagged aliasing. 6K nearly eliminates the problem, providing a clean and crisp image with extreme detail in even the smallest, finest objects.

Unfortunately, 6K has a big downside, too. You need a PC that can actually handle it, and most can’t.

Modern PCs will generally output 6K without an issue, though if you're on a system more than five years old, you should double-check your available video outputs. Hitting 6K at 165 Hz is a different story, though. You’re going to need a Display Port 2.1 output or an HDMI 2.1 output. That’s not rare on new PC hardware, but your PC may lack these ports if it’s more than a few years old.

Even if you have the required ports, though, rendering a 3D game at 6K resolution is a lot more demanding than rendering a 2D application. As mentioned, it’s a roughly 155 percent increase in pixel count over 4K—and an incredible 10X increase over 1080p.

Rendering all those extra pixels isn’t easy, and odds are high that your PC can’t handle it in modern games at a playable frame rate and acceptable detail settings. Mine certainly can’t, at least not in demanding titles, and I’m fortunate enough to have a gaming desktop with a recently released AMD Radeon RX 9070 XT graphics card. Most PC gamers aren’t so lucky. Even the mighty Nvidia RTX 5090 is going to struggle if you’re playing path-traced games like Alan Wake 2 or Halo Campaign Evolved.

To be fair, you can play these games at a lower resolution, like 4K, without a hugely bothersome hit to image quality. Modern image upscaling can also make up some of the difference. But if you have to play at 4K or lower to achieve playable frame rates, you’ve lost the 6K monitor’s greatest strength.

6K resolution can also lead to problems in older games. Titles more than a decade old often have a user interface that targets a lower resolution. Sometimes the UI can’t scale up, which results in tiny icons and text. In other cases the UI can scale up, but the art assets remain at a lower resolution, which leads to a fuzzy and muddy look.

On its own, the G80HS’s resolution would be an acceptable compromise. It requires a beefy rig but also delivers unparalleled sharpness. Unfortunately, there’s another problem. The monitor has an IPS-LCD panel.

There was a time—not so long ago, really—when IPS LCD was normal for any gaming monitor. That changed with the arrival of the first mainstream OLED gaming monitors in 2022, such as the Alienware 34 (AW3423DW). Today, a wide variety of excellent OLED gaming monitors exist, and all of them are plainly superior to the G80HS in color gamut, color accuracy, and contrast.

Sharpness is nice, but there’s a lot more to a great gaming display than the pixel count. A great gaming display should provide a vivid, realistic image with a sense of depth and immersion. The G80HS looks OK on its own, but when compared to an OLED alternative, the IPS LCD panel appears flat and lifeless. Contrast is a particular issue, as the monitor’s maximum measured contrast ratio was about 2,000:1—not bad for IPS, but a long way from the 1,000,000:1 (or better) contrast ratio OLED can deliver.

Motion clarity is a similar story. The monitor supports 6144 x 3456 resolution at up to 165 Hz or 3072 x 1728 resolution at up to 330 Hz. It’s remarkable to see 6K at such a high refresh rate, and the Odyssey G8 also provides pixel response times down to one millisecond, which reduces motion blur.

However, modern 4K OLED monitors routinely hit 240 Hz or 36 0 Hz and offer pixel response times down to 0.03 milliseconds. The G80HS’s motion clarity is good, but it’s once again inferior to OLED competitors.

The G80HS has one Display Port 2.1 and two HDMI 2.1 inputs, but it notably lacks a USB-C input with Display Port connectivity. That means you can’t readily connect a laptop with USB-C connectivity to the monitor. You’ll instead need to use Display Port or HDMI if it’s available, or an adapter.

That’s a real bummer. 6K displays are great for productivity, so it would make sense for the G80HS to include a USB-C input, even if gaming is the focus. It doesn’t. Samsung does include a USB-B upstream port, but it connects to just two USB-A 3.2 Gen 1 downstream ports. That’s not a lot of USB connectivity. Indeed, it’s easy to find monitors that cost a third of the G80HS’s price with better USB connectivity.

Build quality is also a disappointment. The monitor is priced at nearly $1,600, yet it offers a basic matte black build with little adornment besides a subtle RGB-LED light ring centered on the rear of the panel. While tastes may vary, I think Asus’ Pro Art and LG’s Ultra Fine evo 6K monitors look more attractive than the G80HS. I also find the G80HS’s mediocre build quality strange, as several of Samsung’s own Odyssey OLED monitors are more attractive and less expensive.

Samsung does include an ergonomic stand that adjusts for height, tilt, and swivel. It can even pivot 90 degrees for use in a vertical orientation, which is notable. Most 32-inch monitors lack pivot because a 32-inch panel’s larger size requires that the stand lift the panel higher than most stands can accommodate.

The Samsung Odyssey G8 G80HS is a monitor that’s ahead of its time. I’m sure that 6K monitors will someday be the norm, but that day is not this day—nor, I suspect, any day this decade.

6K resolution is simply too demanding on modern graphics hardware. Stretching for 6K also forces Samsung to use an IPS LCD panel with image quality that, aside from sharpness, is inferior to that of a 4K QD-OLED gaming monitor.

Samsung might’ve had more luck if it had designed the G80HS as a versatile display for both gaming and work, but it lacks the build quality and connectivity users expect from a high-end work and productivity display.

Add in the monitor’s high

Key Takeaways

• The 32-inch Odyssey G8 G80HS has a resolution of 6144 x 3456 for your viewing pleasure, and it makes a lot of sacrifices in its single-minded pursuit of sharpness
• Let’s start with the monitor’s most obvious strength: sharpness
• The Odyssey G8 G80HS has a resolution of 6144 x 3456 which, I’ll note, means the 6K billing slightly undersells its advantage (a 4K monitor is actually 3840 x 2160 and doesn’t offer 4,000 pixels across either axis)
• That’s a lot of pixels, and it results in an extremely sharp image