Samsung CHG90 Curved 32:9 3840×1080 49-Inch Ultrawide Monitor Review

The Samsung CHG90 is an ultra-wide curved 32:9 gaming monitor with a maximum resolution of 3840×1080 and refresh rate of 144Hz. It was one of the first monitors of this type and has proved popular among sim racers who value the peripheral vision a wide screen allows without the monitor bezels seen in multiple screen setups.

Background
I moved from a triple screen ‘office desk’ setup of 23-inch screens that had a 1-inch bezel all-around to this 49-inch seamless curved screen. I built a desk specifically for it that I work at every day with a lower desk I can slide underneath to get my wheel and eyes closer when required.

Screen size
The 49-inch curved display surrounds me and my peripheral vision is very nearly entirely filled with it when I sit roughly 2-3 feet away. The 3840×1080 (effectively a dual 1080p/half 4k) display is sharp and I don’t feel the 80 PPI (pixels per inch) panel is necessarily a big drawback here.

Although you can give the display two inputs to effectively split it into two seamless 1920×1080 screens it can be a little awkward to turn your head left and right. In work applications you will most likely end up using the full monitor and positioning your primary window in the center of the screen, giving space on both the left and right to something else.

Screen Features
The screen has FreeSync 2 (which so far has caused me no issues with tearing on my NVIDIA GPU), HDR, and a refresh rate of 144Hz. While a screen with that high of a refresh rate is new to me, I am delighted to say that thanks to the fact I am driving less pixels from my GPU (2x1080p vs. 3x1080p) I actually get better framerates in most sim racing titles than I did with the triples, and this is allowing me a more seamless experience when racing.

Coupled with the fact that the screen has excellent backlighting, one millisecond response time (~5ms in real-world application) and VESA certified DisplayHDR 600, it feels unchallenged by both work and game applications I have given it so far.

The only potential negative is input lag which I couldn’t really perceive with sim racing use, but did see when recording 240fps video on my phone. At most I would estimate 15ms, and that might be enough for serious gamers in other genres to worry about it.

Physical Features
The screen has two HDMI, one DisplayPort and one Mini DisplayPort inputs as well as 3.5mm audio input and output. It also has a USB3 input and two USB3 outputs on a built-in USB3 hub. The screen has a capable stand that allows easy and fluid vertical, tilt and swivel adjustments, and does come with a wall mounting bracket and all required cables.

There are four buttons on the underside of the monitor at the right side. Three are for profiles you can create for various uses, the fourth is to access the menu to set all other features.

Pricing
Obviously I think it was worth the price – I bought one. I’d rather have this screen than the triples I had before, and by reducing the number of pixels I am driving from my GPU while keeping my peripheral vision full, I may have pushed off a GPU upgrade for a little while longer.