Samsung’s insane ‘8K’ ultrawide monitor can a blistering 900Hz, with a catch

Samsung has been building super-wide gaming monitors for a while now, but its latest one is the most bombastic yet. The newest 49-inch Odyssey monitor has an “8K” resolution, according to its reveal in the AMD Radeon 7000 presentation, though it’s only on the horizontal axis. Assuming the same 32:9 aspect ratio as the current model of the Odyssey Neo G9, that would give it a resolution of 7680×2160, essentially two 4K monitors side by side (and the bottom half of a full proper 8K display). But what’s really amazing is how fast the display can push those pixels.

According to PC Gamer, Samsung claims that the monitor can handle up to 900Hz refresh rate, the maximum output of the new Radeon RX 7900 XT and RX 7900 XTX using DisplayPort 2.1. Now here’s the other foot dropping: it can’t hit that ridiculous speed at its maximum half-8K resolution. 900Hz is how fast it goes at 1440p resolution, 480Hz at 4K resolution (presumably 3840×1080 on the ultrawide panel), and “just” 165Hz in its native res. Even so, we’re talking about approximately 16.6 megapixels, 165 times a second — still pretty amazing, and better than anything you’re likely to find on the market today.

You’ll need a new Radeon card to hit those ridiculous refresh rates at that resolution, as even Nvidia’s most powerful cards still top out at DisplayPort 1.4. But its other charms, including a quantum dot mini-LED panel, 100R curve rating, and rear RGB lighting, will work with any modern desktop or laptop. More technical details along with a price and release date aren’t available, though AMD says similar high-res, high-refresh designs are on the way from Dell, LG, Acer, and Asus, starting in “early 2023.” More info will be revealed at CES in January.

If you’re wondering how much you should be saving up, the current top-of-the-line Odyssey G9 ultrawide with 5K horizontal resolution has a retail price of $2300. A little napkin math says that a $3000+ price tag wouldn’t be unreasonable. In the meantime, you might want to check out our roundup of the best gaming monitors for more economical options.