Samsung Announces First Freesync 2 Monitors: CHG70 & CHG90 - Quantum Dots, Up to 49”, 144 Hz, DCI-P3
by Anton Shilov on June 12, 2017 10:00 AM ESTSamsung on Friday announced the C49HG90 monitor, their new flagship gaming monitor that includes virtually all of the major gaming-oriented display technologies available today. The new 49” screen has a an ultra-wide 32:9 aspect ratio, a 144 Hz refresh rate, and uses quantum dot nanocrystals to enable support for DCI-P3 color gamut, and, perhaps most importantly, it supports AMD’s forthcoming FreeSync 2 technology. In addition, Samsung introduced its CHG70-series displays that will support the same technologies, but will be smaller and more affordable.
The Samsung C49HG90 is the company’s first ultra-wide display with the 32:9 aspect ratio and the so-called double full HD (DFHD) resolution (3840×1080). The monitor is based on a VA panel with up to 600 nits brightness, 1 ms moving picture response time (MPRT) as well as a 144 Hz refresh rate, two features important for fast-moving games. The panel has 1800R curvature along with 178° viewing angles to make gaming experience more immersive. The smaller C32HG70 and C27HG70 monitors use 32” and 27” curved VA panels (respectively) with a 2560×1440 resolution as well as the same refresh rate and MPRT as on the flagship model.
Large dimensions, curvature and a high refresh rate are not the only distinctive features of Samsung’s new breed of gaming displays. The C49HG90 features LED backlighting enhanced with quantum dots that enable support for the DCI-P3 color space (as well as larger-than-sRGB gamut) and the HDR-focused AMD’s FreeSync 2. Samsung claims that the QLED backlighting of the display is similar to that used in its high-end UHDTVs with HDR, but does not say anything about features like local dimming or formal support for the HDR10 spec. Keeping in mind that Samsung’s announcement is focused around games and FreeSync 2 (and the latter uses its own HDR transport) the status of the HDR10 support isn't known at this time.
Meanwhile, Samsung’s HDR implementation makes the CHG70- and the CHG90-series displays the first to support AMD’s FreeSync 2, which is something bigger than just a new dynamic refresh rate technology (as discussed in the appropriate article). The FreeSync 2 mandates support for Low Framerate Compensation – an optional feature for FreeSync 1 monitors – but the biggest shift from a feature perspective is how HDR works. Rather than double-tone mapping the dynamic range – tone mapping a game once from its rendering space to HDR10's space, and then again in the monitor from HDR10 to the monitor's native space – FreeSync 2 skips the middle-man by having games tone map directly to a monitor's native dynamic range. This saves potentially precious milliseconds both by removing a step, and by putting the extremely fast GPU in charge of the process instead of the historically inconsistent display processors inside monitors.
As this is the first FreeSync 2-related news to hit the scene in nearly 5 months, there are some remaining questions that at least as of Samsung's announcement have not yet been answered. Chiefly, when AMD will enable FreeSync 2 support on their end, as all of the heavy lifting is being done by AMD's drivers. Coupled with that is a need for FreeSync 2-enabled software – since devs need to code for it – so that there's something to use with the display. Samsung says that it had collaborated with DICE and Ghost Games to enable HDR in the upcoming Star Wars Battlefront II and Need for Speed Payback games, which may indicate that these two titles will be among the first to support AMD’s FreeSync 2.
Samsung CHG70 and CHG90 QLED Gaming Monitors with AMD FreeSync 2 | |||
C49HG90 LC49HG90DMNXZA |
C32HG70 | C27HG70 | |
Panel | 49" VA | 31.5" VA | 27" VA |
Native Resolution | 3840 × 1080 | 2560 × 1440 | |
Maximum Refresh Rate | 144 Hz | ||
Response Time | 1 ms MPRT | ||
Brightness | 600 cd/m² | ||
Contrast | 3000:1 (typical) 2400:1 (minimal) |
||
Backlighting | LED w/Quantum Dots | ||
Viewing Angles | 178°/178° horizontal/vertical | ||
Curvature | 1800R | ||
Aspect Ratio | 32:9 (3.56:1) | 16:9 | |
Color Gamut | 95% DCI-P3 | ||
Dynamic Refresh Rate Tech | AMD FreeSync 2 | ||
Pixel Pitch | 0.312 mm² | 0.2767 mm² | 0.2335 mm² |
Pixel Density | 81.41 PPI | 91.79 PPI | 108.8 PPI |
Inputs | 1 × DP 1 × mDP 2 × HDMI |
1 × DP 2 × HDMI |
|
Audio | 3.5 mm input and output | ||
USB Hub | 2 × USB 3.0 Type-A connectors 1 × USB 3.0 Type-B input |
||
MSRP | $1499 | $699 | $599 |
Samsung plans to demonstrate its CHG70- and the CHG90-series monitors in action at the Ubisoft booth at the E3 convention this week, just a couple of weeks before the devices will hit the market. This in turn implies that this Ubisoft is also set to support AMD’s FreeSync 2 (good news for the GPU developer) in at least some of its titles, but this is a speculation for now.
While the C27HG70 and C32HG70 look like rather regular gaming displays with a high refresh rate and FreeSync 2, HDR and DCI-P3 support as important bonuses, the C49HG90 seems like an experimental model that will compete against multi-monitor setups. Consumer displays with the 21:9 aspect ratio have been available for several years now and are gaining traction, but so far, no monitor manufacturer has attempted to offer a very large monitor with the 32:9 aspect ratio and a relatively low DPI. People buying the C49HG90 will not be able to watch 4K content on them in native resolution and that may stop some gamers from adopting it. On the other hand, those who use multi-display setups for ultra-wide screen gaming today do not necessarily enjoy 4K video anyway.
The Samsung C49HG90 will be available in late June at a price of $1499. The monitor is now available for pre-order at Amazon and Micro Center in the U.S. The 32” C32HG70 will cost $699 and is available for pre-order at Newegg, whereas the 27” C27HG70 will be priced at $599 and can be pre-ordered from Samsung now.
Related Reading:
- Samsung Investing in 3840x1080 and 3840x1200 Curved Displays at 144 Hz
- Samsung CFG70: Curved 144Hz Displays with Quantum Dot Backlighting and AMD FreeSync
- Acer Announces Predator X27 Monitor: 4K@144 Hz with DCI-P3, HDR10, & G-Sync
- ASUS Demonstrates ROG Swift PG27UQ: 4K, 144 Hz, HDR, DCI-P3 and G-Sync
- ASUS Announces Designo Curve MX38VQ: 37.5 Inch Curved Display with Qi Charging
- LG 38UC99 Announced: 37.5-Inch Curved 21:9 Display with 3840×1600 Resolution
Source: Samsung
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Magichands8 - Monday, June 12, 2017 - link
The DPI on the 49" model is horrendous. The fix isn't that hard though. Just buy 2 C32HG70s and put them together. You can even set them up together side-by-side vertically to change the bezels. For the same price as the 49" model you can vastly increase your resolution and still enjoy all the other bells and whistles that come with these monitors. And that's what Samsung should have done. They should have combined two of the C32HG70s to eliminate the bezel providing a resolution of 5120 x 1440 or maybe even 5120 x 2160. Now THAT I would drop $1,500 on.milkod2001 - Tuesday, June 13, 2017 - link
Dear Samsung. Make that 32 incher 4k NOT CURVED, put all tech there and we have a deal at: $799.R3MF - Tuesday, June 13, 2017 - link
Dear Samsung, make a 35" curved ultrawide (12:9) and we have a deal.But for ~£750 I expect it to support HDR10+ just like your TV's do. ;)
nikkko - Tuesday, June 13, 2017 - link
Positive evolution of monitors towards better color accuracy while keeping native resolutions reasonable: 4K does not make sense on a 27-inch screen, other than for gaming. Everything is too small. 2560 × 1440 or 2560 × 1600 makes much more sense.But there are deal breakers on these models: no Thunderbolt 3 / USB-C support. It's 2017. They are also keeping the very unstable stand design from the current 28 inch 4K monitor.
Ahnilated - Tuesday, June 20, 2017 - link
As soon as it said "curved" they lost me. I will never purchase a niche curved display, they are useless no matter what the price.37gmanlfc - Wednesday, July 12, 2017 - link
Cannot find the spec for input lag on these new Samsung QLED monitors? someone said in another forum the input lag is 4ms. does anyone know if this is true ? Seen on display lag site that the best Samsung input lag monitor is 11ms and the best input lag monitor was Acer at 9ms. all hep finding out what is the correct information would be appreciated.37gmanlfc - Wednesday, July 12, 2017 - link
Cannot find the spec for input lag on these new Samsung QLED monitors? someone said in another forum the input lag is 4ms. does anyone know if this is true ? Seen on display lag site that the best Samsung input lag monitor is 11ms and the best input lag monitor was Acer at 9ms. all help finding out what is the correct information would be appreciated.