Samsung Odyssey Neo G8 review: premium image quality in every area

The Samsung Odyssey Neo G8 is an immediate contender for our best gaming monitors list because of the recent history Samsung has with gaming monitors – and it has a high-end specs list to make you sit up and take notice too.

If you're looking for a gaming monitor that can just about do it all, then you might have found it in this particular piece of hardware. This detailed review that follows will tell you everything you need to know about this monitor, from image quality to ease of setup.

The best monitor for one person isn't necessarily the best monitor for everyone else, however: we'd also encourage you to take a look at our guides to the best 4K monitors and the best ultrawide monitors while you're deciding which model is right for you.

Samsung Odyssey Neo G8: price & availability

You can buy the Samsung Odyssey Neo G8 right now and it'll cost you around £1,300 in the UK and $1,500 in the US at the time of writing (check the widgets embedded on this page for the best prices currently available on the web). If you're in the UK, you can pick up the monitor from retailers including Currys, John Lewis, and Amazon.

Samsung Odyssey Neo G8 review: design & setup

The Samsung Odyssey Neo G8 is straightforward enough to set up, though you are going to need a screwdriver to hand. The base slots into the stand and the stand slots into the monitor (there's also a wall-mounting bracket included in the box if you'd rather use that). Everything together weighs 8.9kg, and it's just about possible to set it up without any help from anyone else. It took us around 10 minutes in total.

As for the aesthetics, they follow the lead of the Samsung Odyssey Neo G9. The back is a mass of white plastic, with blue accents and RGB lighting around the circular bracket that connects the stand to the monitor itself. There's also some subtle RGB lighting on the front of the panel, in the lower left- and right-hand corners – this can all be customised via the on-screen menu, activated using buttons along the bottom of the monitor.

The rather tight 1000R curvature on this 32-inch monitor isn't going to be to everyone's tastes, and it's fair to say you need to be sitting in the right spot to get the most frpm it, but we're presuming that you're keen on something that's curved if you're reading this review – and it really does offer up an immersive viewing experience for games and videos. The ports (which are actually rather tricky to access) can be hidden from view with a plastic cover, and we'd say it's certainly a good-looking monitor as far as we're concerned.

Not only is the monitor well designed and easy on the eye, there are plenty of adjustment options too: you can tilt and swivel the Samsung Odyssey Neo G8, change its height on the stand, and even rotate it around 90 degrees if you want to use it in portrait mode (not a great experience with a curved monitor, but still). With the monitor on its highest point on the stand, the overall dimensions of the unit are 713 x 606 x 311mm.

Samsung Odyssey Neo G8 review: features & picture

The 32-inch LCD VA monitor type of the Samsung Odyssey Neo G8 runs at a native resolution of 5120 x 1440, and features no less than 1,196 local dimming zones. It makes use of Mini LED technology for a brighter, crisper picture, and the maximum refresh rate you can get from this screen is a high-end 240Hz. There's a 1,000,000:1 contrast ratio, a maximum brightness of 2,000 nits with HDR enabled, and a 1 millisecond grey-to-grey response time – in other words, a hugely impressive package hitting just about every spec you could want.

That superb specs list translates into superb performance in real life too. Games look slick and fluid, while movies appear detailed and crisp – pretty much anything you want to throw onto the Samsung Odyssey Neo G8's screen is going to look fantastic. While not everything is perfect (the viewing angles aren't particularly great, for example), this works superbly for gaming, for media consumption, and for everyday computing tasks.

Colours are rich and well rendered, while HDR (High Dynamic Range) performance – keeping the darkest and lightest part of the frame visible – is really good based on our testing. This is a bright, vibrant monitor: while you're only going to see the maximum 2,000 nits in very specific situations, generally speaking this is a monitor that pops in terms of its illumination. Creatives will want to know the monitor covers 100 percent of the sRGB colour space and 95 percent of the DCI-P3 gamut.

When it comes to connectivity, you're looking at one DisplayPort 1.4 port and two HDMI 2.1 ports, plus a USB hub comprising two USB-A ports and a USB-B port. There's also room for a headphone jack, but no USB-C connectivity, and there are no integrated speakers in this monitor – if you want sound, you're going to have to set up separate speakers or get a gaming headset hooked up. Overall it's a decent selection for the size of the monitor, and of course USB hubs will often come in handy.

Samsung Odyssey Neo G8 review: verdict

As you can probably tell by now, we like what the Samsung Odyssey Neo G8 has to offer – and we like it a lot. When it comes to the best curved gaming monitors around at the moment, this model definitely has to be in the conversation at some point. Not only does it come with an excellent specs list and some appealing features (especially for gamers), it also translates that into fine real-world performance.

First of all you need to decide if you like the design of the monitor, because that vast expanse of white plastic isn't going to suit everyone (check out the Samsung Odyssey Neo G7 if you want a black backing). We like the way that Samsung has put this piece of hardware together, and there's a lot of flexibility in terms of how you can adjust it – but that flexibility also means it's not the most solid or stable (put something down on your desk with too much force and it'll shake).

It's also worth mentioning the 1000R curvature again, because it is on the aggressive side for a monitor of this size. It's fine when you're looking straight at it, but those curves and the less-than-stellar viewing angles mean you don't always get a great viewing experience when you're looking at it from somewhere off to the side. It's not always possible, but if you can, try and see the Samsung Odyssey Neo G8 in real life and setup on a desk before spending your money.

These are really minor complaints though in the grand scheme of what this monitor is about. It's expensive, of course – and you're going to need to spend more to get a graphics card or a games console to use this monitor to its full capabilities – but you do get a lot of bang for all those bucks. Whatever you're doing on your computer or your console, it's going to look great on the Odyssey Neo G8.

Also consider

If you want a 4K gaming monitor with a high refresh rate, but would prefer a design that's a bit more straightforward than the Odyssey Neo G8, take a look at the 27-inch Dough Spectrum. It's not curved, and it's more understated than the Samsung model, but it still brings with it an excellent picture and plenty of ports for your various devices.

If you're not so bothered about the gaming credentials but still want a large 4K monitor to work with, then consider the 32-inch Dell P3223QE. It comes with some very useful features – including a USB-C hub – and while it can't quite match the Samsung model in terms of spec, it is around half the price, which definitely adds to its appeal.