Samsung’s 5K monitor has good gaming chops and a great price

There are quite a few 5K monitors out there. Many of them are designed to appeal to Mac users who are looking for cheaper Studio Display alternatives without giving up the pixel-dense 218ppi screen. However, if you’re interested in hearing about one with gaming chops, Samsung’s 27-inch Odyssey G80HF seems like one of the best monitors out there to satisfy your niche, but respectable desires. Currently, you can grab this model for $599.99 at Amazon and B&H Photo, which beats its best price by $100.

The G80HF supports two display modes with its Fast IPS panel: 5K at up to 180Hz refresh rate, or 1440p with up to a 360Hz refresh rate. Samsung touts Nvidia G-Sync compatibility as well as AMD FreeSync Premium to ensure the monitor’s refresh rate remains in lockstep with your GPU’s frame rate output. The monitor features a DisplayPort 2.1 port (just one, and Samsung doesn’t advertise its bandwidth), two HDMI 2.1 ports, and a USB hub for charging or connecting two USB-A 3.2 Gen 1 accessories.

As a gamer, one of my favorite features here is the one-millisecond response time. That’s a very common spec among gaming monitors — even in ones that cost hundreds less — but it’s a bit of a rare spec in a 5K monitor at this price. I tested KTC’s sub-$500 model last year, and gaming on it was a pretty atrocious experience despite having what it claimed to be gaming-ready capabilities.

For $200 more ($799.99), LG’s 27-inch UltraGear evo 5K Mini LED monitor delivers slightly better specs. It has more dimming zones for a more accurate picture, it can get brighter, and it supports USB-C video input with 90W power delivery output to charge your device as you use it. Its dual mode refresh rates aren’t as high as Samsung’s (165Hz / 330Hz), but I don’t really see that as much of a downside.

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