Question Subjective is OLED actually worth it?

igor_kavinski · Nov 24, 2024

It's true that using OLEDs does have this extra layer of anxiety on one's consciousness but when used properly, I still believe OLEDs are excellent value at current prices.

I have this: https://www.samsung.com/us/computin...nitor-with-sleek-metal-design-ls27dg602snxza/

When the monitor turns on and the Odyssey logo is displayed, you know you are in for a special treat coz it's the whitest white on the blackest black screen I've ever seen. You need to see it to believe it.

moonbogg · Nov 24, 2024

This clip from Rtings dropped a nuke on my confidence in using one of these as a PC monitor. Only 700 hours of 16:9 content and the exact monitor I was considering buying got destroyed. It literally destroyed itself in only 700 hours from simply using it as a PC monitor.

moonbogg · Nov 25, 2024

OK I bought the stupid thing. It's amazing.

igor_kavinski · Nov 25, 2024

moonbogg said:
OK I bought the stupid thing. It's amazing.

Which one? The ultrawide? Model number?

MoragaBlue · Nov 25, 2024

Yeah, I picked one too a few days ago during the first day of Amazon's Black Friday sale. I chose the Asus PG32UCDM 32" 4K OLED on sale for $999. It's amazing compared to my prior LED, and the color is spectacular. Playing games on this is such a joy.

I'll primarily use this with my gaming rig, and really don't using for basic PC stuff too often. As was suggested, I've hidden the tool bar, removed my screen icons, and set a screen saver to run after few minutes of non-activity. The monitor has a pixel cleaning feature--so I'll use it when suggested.

It comes with a 3-year warranty for burn in; so, I assume it should last at least 3 years? Right out of the box, it's calibrated and the best picture quality I've ever seen.

lakedude · Nov 25, 2024

moonbogg said:
OK I bought the stupid thing. It's amazing.

What!!! After all that!

Hope you like it. My buddy has an OLED and it was amazing, until it got burn in...

If you watch the same channel with the same logo in the same spot you can get burn in on a TV...

moonbogg · Nov 26, 2024

igor_kavinski said:
Which one? The ultrawide? Model number?

Alienware aw3423dwf. It's the 34" ultrawide. I got the brightness at 45% and might even lower it a bit more to make it more like my previous display. I favor a low brightness for viewing comfort which may also help with longevity. I am using this as a PC monitor, so I have my task bar there and icons and wallpaper and everything just the same. I have some dark themes going on for some stuff, so that might help, but I had most of that stuff that way already so I can use the PC at night without lighting up the room too much. I was worried about text issues too, but it's actually fine enough. I'm not babying this thing. If you can't have icons, a task bar, or wallpaper, then you might as well just turn it off if you're that afraid to use it. This one only cost $650 brand new, so I'm less afraid to use it and feel like a dangerous rebel using it like an actual monitor. Some people would call that abuse. I'm not some people. I'm a reckless bastard.

igor_kavinski · Nov 26, 2024

This guy has great tips:

https://www.reddit.com/r/OLED_Gaming/comments/15lmxdg/comment/jvc4gop

He mentions this for enjoying HDR in SDR games: https://wiki.special-k.info/en/HDR/Retrofit

MoragaBlue · Nov 26, 2024

igor_kavinski said:
This guy has great tips:

https://www.reddit.com/r/OLED_Gaming/comments/15lmxdg/comment/jvc4gop

He mentions this for enjoying HDR in SDR games: https://wiki.special-k.info/en/HDR/Retrofit

Thanks for the link!

After using the OLED for almost a week continuously, I'm of the opinion it's definitely worth the extra money over the mini-LED models. Assuming one can control the lighting, OLEDs just offer far superior image quality and color.

Also, probably because of the 240 MHz refresh rate, I've noticed when using Nvidia's DLSS no longer appears to increase input lag. At least to my naked eye, there appears to be no decrease in image quality and can run Lies of P at 4K best quality at around 120+ FPS in most areas. I've played this game enough to notice potential input lag on the timing parries, and there's been no degradation.

Just an overall amazing experience, and couldn't recommend the Asus enough to gamers. The ready to go tested and fully calibrated is worth the extra premium on this model, in my view.

moonbogg · Nov 26, 2024

Looking at video of night city scenes is insane. Every headlight is so bright and distinct. It goes the other way too with city scenes in the daytime with bright white buildings and dark black windows. Shadows in games are very crisp and black with bright candles and flashlight beams right next to them. I was playing the Resident Evil 4 demo with HDR on and that was unexpectedly impressive.

igor_kavinski · Nov 26, 2024

moonbogg said:
Looking at video of night city scenes is insane. Every headlight is so bright and distinct. It goes the other way too with city scenes in the daytime with bright white buildings and dark black windows. Shadows in games are very crisp and black with bright candles and flashlight beams right next to them. I was playing the Resident Evil 4 demo with HDR on and that was unexpectedly impressive.

YES YES YES!

You get it now

MoragaBlue · Dec 16, 2024

moonbogg said:
Looking at video of night city scenes is insane. Every headlight is so bright and distinct. It goes the other way too with city scenes in the daytime with bright white buildings and dark black windows. Shadows in games are very crisp and black with bright candles and flashlight beams right next to them. I was playing the Resident Evil 4 demo with HDR on and that was unexpectedly impressive.

Yeah, it's just incredible, really.

Playing games with the pitch dark backdrop with zero degradation to lightness levels of the surrounding atmosphere is life changing, gaming wise. With my prior LEDs, in dark environments, I had to use extra lighting in game; however, with the OLEDs, I could actually see and make out the room or cave without having to use a character's torch or lantern.

I just can't get over how good these OLEDs are for gaming. If they could solve the potential burn in issue, these things would be true game changers.

biostud · Dec 17, 2024

My old Sony Xe90 55" VA TV died so I bought a LG C3 OLED to replace it, both cost me around $1050.

But there's no doubt that the C3 is better in every aspect than the Sony.

lakedude · Dec 17, 2024

MoragaBlue said:
Yeah, it's just incredible, really.

Playing games with the pitch dark backdrop with zero degradation to lightness levels of the surrounding atmosphere is life changing, gaming wise. With my prior LEDs, in dark environments, I had to use extra lighting in game; however, with the OLEDs, I could actually see and make out the room or cave without having to use a character's torch or lantern.

I just can't get over how good these OLEDs are for gaming. If they could solve the potential burn in issue, these things would be true game changers.

We had a similar experience with Plasma some years back. I had this theory that a smaller closer monitor was visually the same as the larger monitor farther away if they both took up the same percentage of your view. Boy was I wrong! The Plasma lit up the whole room and the inky blacks were better than any LCD.

Man those Plasmas were not cheap, they make OLED seem reasonable.

MoragaBlue · Dec 17, 2024

lakedude said:
We had a similar experience with Plasma some years back. I had this theory that a smaller closer monitor was visually the same as the larger monitor farther away if they both took up the same percentage of your view. Boy was I wrong! The Plasma lit up the whole room and the inky blacks were better than any LCD.

Man those Plasmas were not cheap, they make OLED seem reasonable.

Agreed.

I was in the ignorance is bliss camp, where I just assumed how much better can an OLED be compared to my already pretty good LED 4K @ 144 MHz? Well, ah, it's significantly better! This contrast is even more pronounced for me because of the side by side comparison with the same games, where I went directly from my LED to the OLED. The OLED's image is just so much better in every aspect, it's hard to put into words. Moreover, the response time is just so quick--it's like a CRT in this respect.

Yeah, I remember those Plasmas. I mean, just walking and looking at one was around $5K! Yeah, those things were definitely not cheap. At least, with OLED monitors, the price seems to be reasonable now, compared to several years ago.

igor_kavinski · Dec 18, 2024

MoragaBlue said:
Yeah, I remember those Plasmas. I mean, just walking and looking at one was around $5K! Yeah, those things were definitely not cheap.

I had a chance to get a used 42 inch plasma TV once. The reviews were great. I was checking out the specs and one thing stood out. 40 KG weight. Never considered getting one after that. I can barely move 20 KG.

PJVol · Jan 26, 2025

moonbogg said:
Alienware aw3423dwf. It's the 34" ultrawide. I got the brightness at 45% and might even lower it a bit more to make it more like my previous display. I favor a low brightness for viewing comfort which may also help with longevity.

Yeah, I feel basically the same and set brightness to 25/50 and contrast to 30/50 on a newly bought Odyssey G8 g85sb.
Honestly, all this fuzz about "moar nits" really boggles my mind. The font issues on qd-oled seem quite an overhype also.

igor_kavinski · Jan 26, 2025

PJVol said:
Honestly, all this fuzz about "moar nits" really boggles my mind.

Full screen high nits is bad for the eyes but 2 to 10% nits level for highlights is what makes HDR super impactful.

Samsung S90D/S90DD OLED (QD-OLED) Review (QN42S90DAEXZA, QN48S90DAEXZA, QN55S90DAFXZA, QN65S90DAFXZA, QN77S90DAFXZA, QN83S90DAEXZA)

The Samsung S90D/S90DD (QD-OLED) is a high-end TV in Samsung's 2024 OLED lineup and only sits below the flagship Samsung S95D OLED. The TV features Samsung's new...

www.rtings.com

That's where the nits are mostly going. I was playing Forza Horizon 3 years ago and it was totally dark, save for the car's head/tail lights and some fireworks were going off in the sky in the distance. I stopped racing and just moved the car around to look at them from different angles because they simply looked unreal and stunning against the backdrop of a mostly dark sky.

PJVol · Jan 26, 2025

igor_kavinski said:
Full screen high nits is bad for the eyes but 2 to 10% nits level for highlights is what makes HDR super impactful.

Yeah, I fully understand that. But my point was that IMO these 2% and 10% brightness doesn't add much value to the overall experience, compared to perfect black, fast response and in my case, switching from 75 hz VA.
May be it does make more sense for big TV panels, idk...

StinkyPinky · Mar 9, 2025

I love Oled. My main monitor is a 42" 120Hz oled (PG42UQ) and it looks fantastic. I also have an oled laptop which imo looks better than the Mini led macbook my wife has.

Golgatha · Mar 10, 2025

Months later, I'll just say I play a lot more BG3 and Diablo 4 because of HDR. It's like turning on a whole new level of graphics as compared to my old IPS monitor.

Dave3000 · Mar 12, 2025

I'm considering getting a 27" OLED 1440p monitor instead of a 27" IPS 4k monitor. From what I understand is that OLED screens have OLED care settings in their menus to help reduce risk of burn-in. Would the warranty become void if I disable those OLED care options (if they were enabled by default)? I think I would rather have better black levels at 1440p than worse black levels at 4k on a 27" screen.

MoragaBlue · Mar 20, 2025

Golgatha said:
Months later, I'll just say I play a lot more BG3 and Diablo 4 because of HDR. It's like turning on a whole new level of graphics as compared to my old IPS monitor.

100%! I had the same experience with the compare and contrast of going straight away from my prior LED to Oled, and, it's like an entirely new game, as you said. Everything just looks so much better, vibrant and the true blacks are just amazing. It's so good that in darker areas of Elden Ring, I don't even need the lantern.

Dave3000 · Mar 20, 2025

MoragaBlue said:
100%! I had the same experience with the compare and contrast of going straight away from my prior LED to Oled, and, it's like an entirely new game, as you said. Everything just looks so much better, vibrant and the true blacks are just amazing. It's so good that in darker areas of Elden Ring, I don't even need the lantern.

Do you get flickering in dark scenes/menus in games if VRR (G-Sync, Free-Sync, or Adaptive Sync)is enabled? G-Sync is important for me as I sometimes play DOS games using DOSBox Staging and most of them are programmed for a 70Hz refresh rate, which my current monitor (1080p 60Hz) does not support, therefore I get juddering in those games. I had some experience with two IPS monitors that support G-Sync but returned those monitors, due to issues with IPS glow issue in an area in the left side of the screen which I found noticeable in dark scenes in games in one and darker in the lower left corner in the other. If VRR is important to me, should I still get an 1440p OLED if I can afford it instead of a 4K IPS monitor?

MoragaBlue · Mar 20, 2025

Dave3000 said:
Do you get flickering in dark scenes/menus in games if VRR (G-Sync, Free-Sync, or Adaptive Sync)is enabled?

I do have G-Sync enabled playing on a 3080, and the only one or two times I had noticed flickering was when launching a game for the first time. If I recall, during a dark menu, I can see some flickering, but it adjusted after a few moments where the flickering stopped. It was very brief and I haven't noticed it again.

However, in game, I can't recall seeing any flickering during dark scenes.

Question *Subjective* is OLED actually worth it?

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Question Subjective is OLED actually worth it?