- The CRG9 lets your games play and look at their very best, even more so than a standard size monitor with a sharper 4K resolution than the 1440p resolution on the CRG9.
- I don't think $1,300 is too high an asking price for this monitor considering people pay as much or more for high-end TVs to play games, too.
- The CRG9 is a symbol of peak gaming entertainment that's reserved for the PC gamer rather than the console player.
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Six months with Samsung's crazy $1,300 ultra-wide gaming monitor — it's a symbol of peak video gaming entertainment
I've been using Samsung's crazy super-ultra-wide monitor that's as wide as two 27-inch monitors stuck together to play video games.
Samsung CRG9 Gaming Monitor 2
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For six months, I've been living in an alternate reality playing video games on Samsung's crazy super-ultra-wide CRG9 gaming monitor,
Now that I'm back to reality playing on a more standard sized monitor, it's clear that the $1,300 CRG9 is a lot more than just a gaming monitor it's a symbol of peak video gaming entertainment.
So it goes, TVs and monitors get better and better with higher resolutions for super sharp graphics and higher refresh rates for smoother gameplay. But few companies have tried to change the shape of your video games quite like Samsung does with its super-ultra-wide monitors .
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Samsung's super-ultra-wide monitors are twice the size of a standard screen, letting games stretch their legs beyond the standard rectangular frame that many are used to. As a result, games are allowed to shine in a way that normally-sized monitors can't replicate.
And, surprisingly, I don't think $1,300 is too much to ask for something like this, either. Many gamers connect their consoles to high-end $3,000 OLED televisions. For those who want the best experience on a powerful PC gaming rig, and can afford it, this super-ultra-wide monitor lets your games look and play at their very best.
Check out Samsung's CRG9 the best accessory to your gaming arsenal in an alternate universe:
If youre thinking this monitors width will let you see more of the playing field and give you an advantage in games, youd only be half right.
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Antonio Villas-Boas/Business Insider
Indeed, you see more of the playing field, but I rarely found that the CRG9 gave me an advantage by seeing more than a player with a regular monitor. In turn, my performance and scores in games were none the higher while using the CRG9.
You do get the occasional moment where the extra width gives you a little advantage, like revealing an enemy in your peripheral you wouldn't have seen on a regular monitor. Again, those moments are surprisingly rare.
What you get with the CRG9 is a celebration of your video games.
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Antonio Villas-Boas/Business Insider
The main difference between the CRG9 and a regularly sized monitor is almost entirely based on immersion. In a first-person-shooter like "Battlefield V," for example, the chaos of war is amplified you see more explosions, more rubble, more debris, more teammates and enemies fighting and falling around you. It's truly a celebration of a game's graphics and visual effects that maximizes the spectacle and emotion of a game's setting.
Some gamers would dislike that, as they'd rather eliminate as many peripheral and "unnecessary" distractions as possible to boost their own performance. For those kinds of players, the CRG9 monitor isn't for them.
Otherwise, for almost every genre of game, the CRG9 offers an enhanced visual experience of your games simply by the virtue of its extra screen real estate, as well as features like HDR for beautiful colors and contrast (in games that support HDR). The CRG9 also comes with AMD's FreeSync 2 technology to help remove unwanted artifacts like screen tearing when parts of the screen lag behind other parts of the screen. I also found that it's compatible with Nvidia's G-Sync technology, which does the same thing as FreeSync, but works with Nvidia graphics cards.
You might be surprised, but I dont think $1,300 is such a crazy price for the CRG9.
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There are TVs out there that cost several thousands of dollars. Those TVs are often large and come with premium screen technology like OLED. People who buy them are after the best of the best, and there are lots of people who invest heavily into these kinds of TVs to maximize their living room entertainment, whether it's for watching movies and TV shows or playing video games from a console like the PlayStation 4 or Xbox One.
So who's to say that $1,300 for a supreme video game experience at your desk is too much? It's just an option albeit, an option for those who can afford it, just like those who buy expensive and large OLED TVs. As in the TV market, there are plenty of cheaper monitor options out there if $1,300 is out of budget.
But consider that to make the most of the CRG9, you need high-end hardware, which can also get expensive.
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The CRG9 is designed to turn your games into a visual spectacle, and if you're considering spending $1,300 on a monitor, it wouldn't be crazy to presume that you'd accept nothing less than the highest graphics settings in your games for the best visuals.
So, to make the most of the CRG9's 5120 x 1440 resolution and 120Hz refresh rate, you're going to need some powerful and expensive hardware.
To give you an idea, my PC is currently running on some of the most powerful and expensive parts, including:
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- An Intel Core i7 9700K (overclocked to 5GHz)
- An Asus ROG Strix RTX 2080Ti graphics card (overclocked to 2070MHz).
With a demanding game like "Battlefield V" on "Ultra" graphics settings, I was getting anywhere between 90 and 110 frames per second.
Less-intensive games like "Fortnite" are more forgiving and won't require such high specs to run at high graphics settings and frames per second.
For the gamer who appreciates the visuals and plays for the immersion of their games, the CRG9 is the obvious choice. But for me to recommend a $1,300 computer monitor outright is madness.
The CRG9 is a symbol of whats possible with video games, and console gamers should be a little jealous.
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While it's possible to hook up the CRG9 to a high-end console like the Xbox One X or PlayStation 4 Pro, it's not a good idea, or a good investment.
For one, consoles aren't designed with crazy monitor sizes like the CRG9's 32:9 aspect ratio. They'll only output at the standard 16:9 ratio that your TV supports. So if you try to play a game from a console on the CRG9, half the screen will be black and unused.
Furthermore, games on consoles are usually capped at a maximum of 60 frames per second half of what the CRG9 is capable of displaying.
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The CRG9 represents one of the reasons why I stick to the good-old PC to play video games.
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I'm not knocking consoles, but if you're looking to get the absolute maximum out of a game, the PC is the way to go. You have the choice of picking out a PC that unlocks graphics and smoothness that consoles simply can't match. And to top it off, you're given the option of enjoying your games on screens that give games a fresh look and shape, like the CRG9.
The CRG9 comes highly recommended for the type of person who values immersion in their video games just as long as they can afford the CRG9's price tag. Speaking of price, I should note that Samsung is selling the CRG9 for a small $100 discount. It's not much of a price cut, but it's something!
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But also take into account that Samsung has a new model of its super-ultra-wide monitor coming out soon called the Odyssey G9 . The main upgrade in the upcoming Odyssey G9 is its 240Hz screen, which is twice as fast as the CRG9's 120Hz screen.
See Also:
- The next Xbox is scheduled to arrive this holiday season, and it's named Xbox Series X here's everything we know so far about Microsoft's next game console
- A new report shows the most popular web browsers in the world are sending companies your history or personal data. Here's how each browser's privacy stacks up.
- The company behind one of the biggest video games in the world could pay $400 million after a lawsuit claimed it created a sexist work culture where women were rated on their 'hotness' and shown unsolicited photos of male genitalia
SEE ALSO: Samsung made a super-ultrawide monitor that even the most powerful gaming PC probably can't keep up with
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