Samsung's Curved $1,499 Gaming Monitor Is Insanely Wide

Why get two gaming monitors when you can just have one obscenely wide one?

That was my first thought when I saw Samsung's new CHG90, a curved, ultra-wide gaming display that spans a whopping 49 inches. It's available now for $1,499, and it's utterly ridiculous in a very good way.

One of the first things you'll notice about the CHG90 (aside from the fact that it's gigantic) is that it's pretty darn bright and colorful. Like all of Samsung's new gaming monitors, the CHG90 supports High Dynamic Range (HDR) while utlizing Samsung's Quantum Dot technology. That means you can look forward to rich colors, high contrast and lots of brightness. While I've yet to see a game running on Samsung's crazy-wide display, the HDR images running in a demo video on the monitor left me hopeful.

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As far as specs, the CHG90 touts a 1,800R curvature and a 178-degree viewing angle. It should thoroughly engulf you, whether you're fighting aliens in Mass Effect: Andromeda or flying X-Wings in Star Wars Battlefront. The monitor's 3840 x 1080 (or "double full HD") screen packs a 144Hz refresh rate and 1ms response time, which means that you shouldn't have to worry about input lag despite the massive real estate. It also supports AMD's FreeSync 2 technology, which is designed to provide smoother graphics performance for folks playing on AMD graphics cards.

If, for some odd reason, you don't have space for a 49-inch curved monitor, Samsung has two other new gaming displays that are more conservatively sized. The company's CHG70 display comes in 27-inch ($599) and 31.5-inch ($699) variations, boasts a sharp 2560 x 1440 resolution and features the same HDR, FreeSync 2 and Quantum Dot tech you'll find in the CHG90. These displays seem like a smart evolution of last year's CFG70, retaining the same colorful display and flexible hinge that made that monitor such a standout while upping the resolution.

While Samsung's new lineup of gaming displays were a joy to look at, they seem primarily aimed at gamers with big wallets. The CHG90's $1,499 price tag is quite daunting for a 1080p display, especially since you can get sharper ultrawide displays such as the Acer Predator X34 for hundreds of dollars less.

At the same time, the CHG90 eliminates the need for a dual-monitor setup, and extra features such as FreeSync, HDR and Quantum Dots could make both new displays worth it for folks willing to splurge. We look forward to putting both models to the test soon.

Photo Credit: Mike Andronico / Tom's Guide

Mike Andronico is Senior Writer at CNNUnderscored. He was formerly Managing Editor at Tom's Guide, where he wrote extensively on gaming, as well as running the show on the news front. When not at work, you can usually catch him playing Street Fighter, devouring Twitch streams and trying to convince people that Hawkeye is the best Avenger.

3 Comments Comment from the forums

Chamblis

This will soon just be a conversation piece, (a very large one). And not because there will be a bigger better one.

Small Virtual Reality headsets are due to replace not only the mega/multi monitor, but regular monitors for everyday business work.Monitor designers know this, even the ones who made this one. It's intended mainly for publicity

In ten years, a child will look at this giant monitor and ask what it was for. Sort of like the way they quizzically look at a phone booth now.
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Wow! Yeah, I got nothing.
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Jaylampin

You have an error in the article. " The CHG90's $1,499 price tag is quite daunting for a 1080p display, especially since you can get sharper ultrawide displays such as the Acer Predator X34 for hundreds of dollars less."

It s a4K 144hz 1ms response time monitor.

Also, what type of performance should we expect with an NVIDIA graphics card (No free sync2 support) connected vs the AND Graphics card. Hoping to get this answered after you guys test. :)
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