Tested: LG humongous OLED gaming monitor wants to double as my smart TV

Best Prices Today: LG Ultragear 39GX90SA-W

$1296.99

$1299.99

$1,299.99

$1299.99

$1299.99

Blink and you’d miss it, but it’s true. Smart gaming monitors are here. Both LG and Samsung now offer monitors marketed at gamers that include a fully functional TV operating system that works much as it does on each brand’s smart TVs. The LG Ultragear 39GX90SA-W brings this concept to a big, beautiful OLED panel. It looks great, but it’s not perfect.

Read on to learn more, then see our roundup of the best gaming monitors for comparison.

LG Ultragear 39GX90SA-W specs and features

The most notable specification on the LG UltraGear 39GX90SA-W’s spec sheet is its size. It’s a 39-inch ultrawide with a 21:9 aspect ratio, and while a 39-inch display may not sound significantly larger than a 34-inch ultrawide, it results in a 31 percent increase in display area. Put simply, the 39-inch LG feels way bigger than a 34-inch alternative.

• Display size: 39-inch 21:9 aspect ratio
• Native resolution: 3440×1440
• Panel type: WOLED
• Refresh rate: Up to 240Hz
• Adaptive Sync: Yes, Adaptive Sync, AMD FreeSync Premium, Nvidia G-Sync Compatible
• HDR: HDR 10, VESA DisplayHDR True Black 400 CertifiedHDR
• Ports: 2x HDMI 2.1, 1x DisplayPort 1.4, 1x USB-C with DisplayPort Alternate Mode and 65 watts of Power Delivery, 1x Ethernet, 2x USB-A (2.0), 1x 3.5mm audio-out
• Additional features: Wi-Fi 6, Bluetooth, remote control, LG webOS
• Audio: Speakers included
• Warranty: 2-year parts and labor warranty
• Price: $1,599.99 MSRP, $1,299.99 retail at time of review

The 39GX90SA-W is also notable because it includes LG’s webOS smart television operating system. It works just as it does on an LG Smart TV and provides access to a wide variety of apps, as well as connectivity to many digital content libraries, like movies you might have purchased through YouTube. It even supports cloud gaming services like GeForce Now.

Pricing is high, though not more than expected. The retail MSRP is $1,599.99, but a glance at price tracking websites shows the sale price of $1,199.99 is more typical. That’s expensive but expected for a huge, high-end OLED monitor.

LG Ultragear 39GX90SA-W design

The LG Ultragear 39GX90SA-W is a 39-inch ultrawide monitor with an aggressive 800R curve. Though obviously not as large as 45-inch ultrawide alternatives, it has serious presence and takes up a lot of space on a desk. The aggressive curve stands out immediately and will prove polarizing. If you like a curved monitor, it’s great. If not, you’ll have trouble putting up with it.

Size and curved display aside, the 39GX90SA benefits from an alluring ultra-white design. The rear panel and display stand both feature a stark, clean, almost clinical look that will fit in with minimalist desk setups. Most of the monitor’s materials are plastic, but the bottom half of the stand is metal, and the plastics used were sturdy when I picked up the monitor.

Matthew Smith / Foundry

The stand is huge. It includes a broad neck, a large base, and a deep reach that places the ultrawide display panel relatively close to the user’s face. It can be difficult, or impossible, to find an ideal position if your desk is less than 30 inches deep, or less than 50 inches wide. That’s to be expected given the 39GX90SA’s huge ultrawide screen, but it’s still important to keep in mind. Most people will find a 34-inch ultrawide a better fit for their desk.

Even so, LG’s design is a win. It’s at least as premium as Samsung’s Odyssey G8 and G9 monitors, and more attractive than recent alternatives from Asus, Gigabyte, and MSI (among other brands). It works especially well as a mixed-used monitor in a room that serves as a home office during the day and a gaming den at night.

LG Ultragear 39GX90SA-W connectivity

Connectivity is mostly a highlight for the LG Ultragear 39GX90SA-W, with a few caveats.

On the plus side, the monitor includes a lot of video connectivity. It has two HDMI 2.1 ports, one DisplayPort, and one USB-C with DisplayPort. That’s a total of four video inputs and a good range of options for connecting laptops, desktops, and game consoles.

The USB-C port also supports data and up to 65 watts of Power Delivery. I’m happy to see a USB-C port with Power Delivery included, as it reinforces the monitor’s identity as a display for both work and play. Owners can use a single cable to connect and charge a thin-and-light laptop that has USB-C.

The monitor’s additional connectivity includes two USB-A ports (both USB 2.0) and Ethernet. The Ethernet port is useful if you plan to make the most of the monitor’s smart connectivity, which I’ll get to shortly. If you don’t have Ethernet handy, however, that’s fine: The monitor also supports Wi-Fi and Bluetooth.

A 3.5mm audio jack rounds out the connectivity.

LG Ultragear 39GX90SA-W menus and features

LG calls the Ultragear 39GX90SA-W a “smart gaming monitor.” What does that mean? It’s basically a smart TV.

While it lacks a TV tuner (meaning it can’t accept cable or antenna TV input), it otherwise works much like any LG television that runs LG’s webOS. It provides a huge variety of streaming apps, from Netflix to Crunchyroll, and even supports cloud gaming apps like GeForce Now (which means you can technically game without a PC or console by connecting a Bluetooth game controller to the monitor). WebOS is quick, attractive, and easy to understand.

However, the 39GX90SA-W suffers a few problems when it comes to how the monitor interacts with PC inputs. For example, when a new PC input is connected, the monitor will ask if you’d like to switch to that input. The prompt doesn’t stay on-screen for long, though, so I often found it had disappeared by the time I climbed out from under my desk to connect my desktop.

I also had small but noticeable issues with the responsiveness of the monitor’s on-screen menu, which occasionally hesitated as I moved through options. I even encountered a loading screen icon while swapping between monitor menus. That’s not something you’ll see on a monitor that lacks a smart TV operating system.

This is most obvious when using the Game Optimizer mode. Opening the on-screen menu in this mode opens a Ultragear-branded menu that otherwise doesn’t appear. It doesn’t support adjusting many features, however, and the swap from the Ultragear menu to the standard menu takes a few seconds, during which a loading icon appears.

On the other hand, the 39GX90SA-W ships with a compact remote that provides easy access to monitor options. While the menu system’s sometimes slow performance is annoying, it’s less annoying than adjusting monitor menus using a joystick or buttons on the monitor itself (a joystick is still found on the monitor, though, in case you lose the remote). The streaming apps I tested, such as YouTube and Netflix, worked as expected.

Matthew Smith / Foundry

Speakers are bundled in the 39GX90SA-W, but they’re not loud enough to be useful in most situations. I found them tepid at maximum volume even in my home office, which has no significant noise besides my home HVAC. The 39GX90SA-W’s speakers could hardly compete with that.

I’m not sure everyone will find the 39GX90SA-W’s smart features a win, but it’s always interesting to see them on a big, ultrawide monitor. This is effectively a 39-inch ultrawide smart TV—something that doesn’t exist in the traditional HDTV market. It’s unfortunately not large enough for use in most TV dens, but I do think this concept will appeal to shoppers mostly interested in viewing movies or playing PC games.

LG Ultragear 39GX90SA-W SDR image quality

The LG Ultragear 39GX90SA-W utilizes an LG WOLED panel. These panels have been tested in numerous monitors and are generally slightly less vibrant compared to Samsung’s QD OLED panels, although they still perform well in terms of contrast and brightness. The LG Ultragear 39GX90SA-W remains on-script.

Matthew Smith / Foundry

I measured a sustained SDR brightness of about 246 nits from the 39GX90SA-W. As the graph shows, that is a typical level of brightness for a modern OLED monitor in SDR. Although it’s not especially bright, it’s enough for use in a room with some light control, like blinds or curtains.

If you are sitting near sunlit windows, however, glare can become an issue. The monitor has a semi-gloss coat, but its aggressive curve can have the effect of focusing light sources depending on their angle, which can amplify glare.

Matthew Smith / Foundry

Contrast is a strength of OLED panels. They can reach a minimum brightness of zero nits, which means they have an effectively infinite contrast ratio. The result is the deep, immersive image that propelled OLED to the top of image quality rankings.

The 39GX90SA-W is no exception, but it also doesn’t stand out. All the OLED panels found on modern monitors reach a minimum luminance of zero nits, so there’s no meaningful difference here.

Still, contrast is a key reason to select the 39GX90SA-W instead of an ultrawide LCD competitor.

Matthew Smith / Foundry

The 39GX90SA-W’s color gamut spans 100 percent of sRGB as well as 96 percent of DCI-P3 and 88 percent of Adobe RGB when tested in the standard monitor preset. That’s an excellent result and enough to provide a vibrant, highly saturated image that most people will find pleasing.

As the graph shows, QD-OLED monitors like the Alienware AW3425DW tend to have slightly better color saturation. The advantage is subtle, but noticeable, though the LG’s color gamut is still excellent.

Matthew Smith / Foundry

The 39GX90SA-W has good color accuracy in its standard image preset, although as the graph shows, it’s not the best in its category. The image looks realistic, and I had difficulty noticing any major color issues aside from color temperature. It is important to note that the monitor offers a comprehensive range of image quality presets, including expert presets. These presets significantly enhance color accuracy, reducing the average color error to an impressive 0.85.

In standard mode, the gamma was 2.3, which is above my target of 2.2, and the color temperature was 7400 K—which is cooler and more sterile than the preferred 6500 K. The expert image quality preset again improved matters dramatically, shifting both gamma and color temperature to our preference.

Sharpness, however, is a problem that can’t be mitigated. The 39GX90SA-W has a native resolution of 3440×1440, which is typical of most ultrawide monitors. But most alternatives have a smaller 34-inch panel, and spreading the same number of pixels across a 39-inch panel noticeably degrades sharpness. Small fonts have clear pixelation and color artifacts around them, while small buttons and interface elements can look blocky. It’s tolerable, but the 39GX90SA-W is not for those who want a crystal-clear display.

The 39GX90SA-W’s overall image quality is good, but it’s a bit below-average for an OLED monitor. It shares common OLED strengths, including an incredible contrast ratio and wide color gamut. However, LG’s WOLED still doesn’t rival Samsung’s QD-OLED in color volume, and the 39GX90SA-W’s sharpness will be an issue for eagle-eyed buyers. It’s an attractive display but doesn’t stand out from the OLED crowd.

LG Ultragear 39GX90SA-W HDR Image Quality

LG’s UltraGear 39GX90SA-W supports HDR and is VESA DisplayHDR True Black 400 certified. That’s the typical level of certification for an OLED monitor. However, as the graph below shows, the monitor can reach a higher level of brightness than that certification would suggest, with a maximum sustained HDR brightness of 783.5 nits.

Matthew Smith / Foundry

When I compare the 39GX90SA-W to its competitors I’m forced to repeat myself, as once again it performs about as well as most other OLED monitors on the market. Its HDR brightness figures are similar to recently tested WOLED monitors. Samsung QD-OLED are currently a better choice for HDR overall, but I wouldn’t call it a night-and-day difference, and it should only sway you if HDR performance is among your top priorities. 

Still, I was pleased with the LG’s HDR picture. It’s vivid in most scenes and games, with only scenes that attempt to push brightness across the entire display really challenging the monitor.

LG Ultragear 39GX90SA-W motion performance

The LG UltraGear 39GX90SA-W has a maximum refresh rate of 240Hz, which provides a buttery-smooth image in PC games that can reach frame rates that high. It also benefits from OLED’s low pixel response time, which drops as low as 0.03 milliseconds. In practice, this further reduces motion blur. As a bonus, it also translates to relatively minor motion blur at lower refresh rates (like 60Hz or 120Hz).

There’s more to it than just motion clarity, because the monitor also provides broad adaptive sync support with official support for Adaptive Sync, AMD FreeSync Premium, and Nvidia G-Sync standards. While most monitors that support any of these will also unofficially work with all three, it’s good to see official support to give gamers peace of mind.

As with other aspects of the 39GX90SA-W, the monitor’s only downside is that it’s basically the same as other OLEDs on the market. There’s a very wide variety of monitors that have a 240Hz refresh rate or higher, so while the LG looks great in fast-paced games, it doesn’t look better than the competition.

Should you buy the LG Ultragear 39GX90SA-W?

The Ultragear 39GX90SA-W is another competent entry into LG’s ever-growing line-up of OLED monitors. It delivers an immersive, colorful, contrast-rich image with superb motion clarity, though it suffers from sub-par sharpness. The monitor also provides LG’s webOS smart TV operating system with access to familiar apps including Netflix and GeForce Now, alongside Wi-Fi and Bluetooth connectivity. That means it can serve as an all-in-one gaming and entertainment display even without a PC attached.

That makes the 39GX90SA-W alluring if you want an ultrawide monitor that’s larger and more feature-rich than most competitors. If you don’t care about smart features in your monitor, however, a smaller and less expensive alternative like the Alienware AW3425DW will make more sense.