LG UltraGear 45GR95QE review: a giant OLED ultrawide perfect for gaming

Here comes the LG UltraGear 45GR95QE, eager for a spot on our lists for the best ultrawide monitors and the best gaming monitors – and it certainly has the specs to make it worth considering, with 45 inches of screen real estate and an elongated 21:9 aspect ratio.

LG of course makes some of the best OLED TVs around, and so is looking to transfer that quality and expertise over to the gaming monitor market here. It's certainly premium in terms of its spec, and in terms of the price you're going to have to pay to get one.

Our full LG UltraGear 45GR95QE review should tell you everything you need to know about this curved, ultrawide gaming monitor – and once you've finished it, be sure to also check out our comprehensive guides to the best gaming chairs and the best gaming headsets.

LG UltraGear 45GR95QE: price & availability

The LG UltraGear 45GR95QE is available to buy now, and is going to set you back around £1,700 in the UK and $1,700 in the US – though check the widgets on this page for the latest deals and lowest prices for this monitor on the web. If you're in the UK, you can get the LG UltraGear 45GR95QE from retailers including Amazon, Scan, and LG itself.

LG UltraGear 45GR95QE review: design & setup

Buy yourself a 45-inch ultrawide monitor and you know it's going to be pretty substantial in size. Fully assembled, the monitor with its stand weighs in at close to 11kg (24lbs) – we just about managed to put it up on our own, but really you could use a friend to help. No tools are required though, because the base fits neatly into the stand with a thumbscrew, and then the stand slots neatly into the back of the monitor.

In terms of aesthetic appeal this is a sleek-looking monitor that's confident in its own coolness. It's not flashy, but it's stylish, and we like the understated RGB lighting around the back which you can customise to suit your own tastes. Ports-wise we're looking at two HDMI 2.1, one DisplayPort 1.4, two USB-A, one USB-B upstream for your peripherals, a 3.5mm headphone jack, and even an optical audio socket for some speakers.

It feels well put together too, and solid in all the right ways. You can alter the height of the display, tilt it forwards and backwards, and swivel it on its stand to obtain the perfect position for it – there's not a lot of flexibility here, but enough. There's a simple clip provided for cable management to help keep your desk tidy too.

LG gets extra points for including an HDMI cable, a DisplayPort cable, and a USB upstream cable in the box, which means you've got everything you need to get up and running. There's also a small remote control included, which certainly makes it easier to get around the monitor's various on-screen menus and options. Unfortunately there are no built-in speakers, so you need some of the best headphones or the best gaming headset. 

LG UltraGear 45GR95QE review: features & picture

There are some very impressive specs here: a 240Hz maximum refresh rate, a 0.03ms response time, a 150,000:1 contrast ratio, 98.5 percent coverage of the DCI-P3 colour gamut, and a 3,440 x 1,440 pixel resolution. The OLED panel of course means deep and inky blacks, and it stands up very well for movie-watching – if you can put up with the black bars that will sit at the side of most of the content you watch.

With an 800R curvature, tighter than your typical curved ultrawide monitor, sitting in front of the LG UltraGear 45GR95QE is a fully immersive experience. It's designed first and foremost for gaming, and we found ourselves hugely impressed with it in this regard – games fly by, looking rich and vibrant, and with barely a smear or stutter. AMD FreeSync Premium and Nvidia G-Sync support definitely helps here.

We tested the monitor with titles including Grand Theft Auto V and Red Dead Redemption 2, which are able to make full use of the width of this monitor – and there's no debate that they look superb. The only department where the monitor falls down slightly is its maximum brightness, as is often the case for OLED: it barely detracts from the visuals at all, especially with HDR (high dynamic range) content, but you will find brighter screens out there.

You can of course use the LG UltraGear 45GR95QE as a more general PC monitor as well, with lots of room to spread out your programme windows. Here the aggressive curvature isn't quite so useful – and some will prefer flat screens – but we were very happy with the all-around quality of the LG UltraGear 45GR95QE (and indeed wrote up most of this review using the monitor).

LG UltraGear 45GR95QE review: verdict

No one could argue that the LG UltraGear 45GR95QE isn't a top-notch gaming monitor. The high refresh rate (assuming your gaming setup can do it justice), the contrast and HDR performance of this OLED panel, the low response time and input lag, and variety of input options all combine to make this one of your best options for a gaming monitor right now.

Is it the right gaming monitor for you specifically though? There will be those who'd prefer a screen that's not so curved, not so wide, or not so expensive (you can of course get a very decent gaming laptop for the same price as this). As always with a tech purchase like this, it's important to weigh up what you'll be using it for and from there the specific features you're going to need.

If you're doing anything besides gaming with the LG UltraGear 45GR95QE, it's not quite as impressive, while still clearly being one of the best monitors around. It doesn't quite hit a 4K resolution which means the definition of diagrams and text can be a little underwhelming – it's by no means a huge problem, but something to consider if you're planning to use this monitor for both work and play.

This is a really great monitor that gamers are going to love – it gets close to a perfect score, but considering the lack of speakers, the relatively low pixel density and brightness, and the high price you're going to have to pay, we wouldn't necessarily recommend it for everyone. If OLED tech, top-tier specs and a superb gaming experience are the boxes you need ticking though, it's an absolute star.

Also consider

The Samsung Odyssey OLED G9 has a lot of similarities with the LG UltraGear, including the focus on gaming and the ultrawide, curved form factor. One of the key differences is that it comes with on-board apps, so you can use it as a standalone smart TV as well – and there are built-in speakers you can make use of too.

Then there's the BenQ EX3410R Mobiuz, another hugely impressive gaming monitor in the curved, ultrawide category. It's smaller and less ambitious than both the Samsung and LG monitors, and it doesn't use OLED technology – that all means that it's about a third of the price, while still offering some top-notch monitor specs for you to take advantage of.