The Samsung Odyssey G50D S27DG50 is a 27-inch, 1440p entry-level gaming monitor with a 180Hz max refresh rate and FreeSync and G-SYNC VRR support. It replaces the older Samsung Odyssey G5 S27AG50. There's a larger 32-inch version of this monitor, the S32DG50, and it's one of several monitors in Samsung's Odyssey series gaming lineup, including the similarly priced Samsung Odyssey G5/G55C S27CG55. The G50D competes with other 27-inch entry-level gaming monitors, such as the Dell G2724D and the MSI G274QPF-QD. Though it doesn't have many added features, it has a few extras for gamers, such as shadow enhance controls and virtual crosshairs.
The Samsung Odyssey G50D is alright for PC gaming. It has a 180Hz refresh rate for a smooth feel, supports FreeSync VRR, and is G-SYNC compatible to reduce screen tearing. It has very low input lag and a decent response time that remains consistent across its refresh rate range, though there's still a bit of motion blur. However, it has low contrast and a terrible local dimming system, and deep blacks appear gray in a dark room. Additionally, it has limited picture quality as colors aren't vivid, especially in HDR.
The Samsung Odyssey G50D isn't bad for console gaming. It has very low input lag for a responsive feel and good motion handling at 120Hz and 60Hz, but it doesn't eliminate all blur. The biggest downside is that it can't take full advantage of the PS5 and Xbox Series X|S as it lacks HDMI 2.1 bandwidth and has some compatibility issues with both consoles. It also has limited picture quality, so it can't deliver life-like and vivid images because it has a low contrast ratio and a terrible local dimming feature.
The Samsung Odyssey G50D is very good for office work. It has great reflection handling and gets bright enough to fight glare, so it works well in fairly bright environments. Additionally, it has superb ergonomics, so you can set it to your preferred position for a long work session, and its wide viewing angles make it easy to share work with a colleague. It also has good text clarity.
The Samsung Odyssey G50D is decent for media creation. It has superb ergonomics, so you can set it to your preferred position for a long editing session, and its wide viewing angles make it easy to share work with a colleague. It also has great accuracy before calibration, so you don't need to calibrate it for an accurate image. However, while it supports HDR, it doesn't get bright enough for highlights to pop, and HDR colors don't look vivid.
The Samsung Odyssey G50D has good brightness. It gets bright enough to fight glare in a well-lit room, but its HDR brightness is limited, as small highlights don't pop against the rest of the image.
The Samsung Odyssey G50D has a good response time. It remains fast over its entire refresh rate range, but while there isn't any noticeable inverse ghosting, there's still a bit of motion blur.
The Samsung Odyssey G50D has disappointing picture quality in HDR. It has a low contrast ratio, and blacks look gray in a dark room. While it has a local dimming feature, it performs terribly and doesn't improve contrast.
The Samsung Odyssey G50D has adequate picture quality in SDR. Its biggest downside is that blacks look gray, and it has a low contrast ratio, but it displays a wide range of colors.
The Samsung G50D has great accuracy. It has an accurate sRGB mode, so you don't need to calibrate it in most cases. However, its color temperature is a bit cold. And although it has decent gray uniformity, the edges of the screen are darker, so the image isn't as accurate along the edges.
Updated to firmware 1004, which adds a G-SYNC Compatibility certification.
We tested the 27-inch Samsung Odyssey G50D, which is very similar to the larger 32-inch Samsung Odyssey G50D. However, the 32-inch version is a different monitor, and the results are only valid for this model.
Model | Size | Panel Type | Refresh Rate |
---|---|---|---|
G50D S27DG50 | 27" | IPS | 180Hz |
G50D S32DG50 | 32" | IPS | 180Hz |
Our unit's label indicates it was manufactured in June 2024. We originally tested it with firmware M-D5000GGZA-1001.0.
The Samsung G50D is an entry-level 27-inch 1440p gaming monitor for those who want a responsive gaming experience on a budget. Though it has no stand-out features, its performance compares well to the best monitors in this class, as it's bright enough to use in most situations, has a high refresh rate, and fairly crisp motion handling. However, other monitors in this class, such as the Dell G2724D, offer equal performance in most areas and better motion handling at a lower cost.
For more options, check out our recommendations for the best budget and cheap monitors, the best 1440p gaming monitors, and the best 27-inch gaming monitors.
The Dell S3222DGM and the Samsung Odyssey G5/G50D S27DG50 are 1440p gaming monitors. The Samsung is better if you plan to use the monitor for both work and gaming. It's better at overcoming glare, has better ergonomics, better viewing angles so others can see your screen more easily, and has slightly clearer text. However, if you're gaming in a dark room, you may prefer the Dell, as it displays deeper blacks. Additionally, the Dell is better if you prefer a larger screen.
The Samsung Odyssey G50D S27DG50 and the Dell S3422DWG are different types of entry-level gaming monitors. The Dell is the better choice if you care about picture quality, as it has a higher contrast ratio for deeper blacks, and it also gets brighter in HDR. However, the Samsung gets brighter in SDR, which is something to consider if you want to use it in a bright room, and it has better ergonomics and wider viewing angles that make it the better choice for sharing the screen with someone else. The Samsung is also better for gaming because it has less smearing with fast-moving objects. On the other hand, the Dell monitor has a few extra features, like a USB hub, that the Samsung doesn't have.
The Dell G2724D and the Samsung Odyssey G5/G50D S27DG50 are 1440p 27-inch gaming monitors. Both monitors are very similar; you may prefer to get whichever is less expensive. However, if you care a lot about motion handling, the Dell is a better choice, as it has better motion handling. The Dell is also a better choice if you use your monitor for console gaming, as it's more compatible with consoles.
The Gigabyte M27Q (rev. 1.0) and the Samsung Odyssey G50D S27DG50 are both 1440p gaming monitors. However, there are some differences between them. The Samsung monitor has slightly better motion handling at low refresh rates and better reflection handling, which makes it better for use in bright rooms. On the other hand, the Gigabyte has a few extra perks, like a USB hub and a KVM switch, making it easy to change between sources and use the same keyboard and mouse on both.
The Samsung Odyssey G50D S27DG50 and the Gigabyte G34WQC are different types of budget gaming monitors. The Samsung is the better choice for a pure gaming experience because it has better motion handling with less smearing, and it's the better choice for well-lit rooms as it gets brighter. However, the Gigabyte is better for dark rooms thanks to its higher contrast ratio for deeper blacks. The Gigabyte's ultrawide screen also makes it a better choice for immersive gaming, like if you play atmospheric games.
The AOC CU34G2X and the Samsung Odyssey G50D S27DG50 are both budget-friendly gaming monitors. There are a few differences between them, though, as the Samsung has an IPS panel with better motion handling and less smearing, and its wide viewing angles make it a better choice to use if you need to share your screen with someone else. However, the AOC has a wider screen, so it offers a more immersive feel, and it has a VA panel with a higher contrast ratio, so its picture quality is better. The AOC also has a few extra perks, like a USB hub to which you can connect your devices.
The Dell S2722DGM and the Samsung Odyssey G50D S27DG50 are both 27-inch budget-friendly gaming monitors. There are some differences between them, though, as they have different panel types. The Samsung has wider viewing angles, which is ideal if you need to share your screen with someone else, while the Dell monitor's higher contrast ratio makes it the better choice for using it in a dark room. However, the Samsung is the better monitor for gaming because it has less smearing with fast-moving objects than on the Dell, and it also supports HDR, unlike the Dell.
The Samsung Odyssey G5/G51C S27CG51 and the Samsung Odyssey G5/G50D S27DG50 are 27-inch 1440p gaming monitors. The G51C is a better option if you're gaming in a dark room, as deep blacks look darker. The G50D is a better option in a bright environment as it's much better at overcoming glare.
The MSI G274QPF-QD and the Samsung Odyssey G5/G50D S27DG50 are 1440p 27-inch gaming monitors. The MSI is the better choice if you care about colors, as it displays a far wider range of colors in HDR. However, if you plan to use the monitor in a bright room, the Samsung is a better option, as it gets notably brighter.
The LG 27GR75Q-B and the Samsung Odyssey G5/G50D S27DG50 are 1440p 27-inch gaming monitors. Both monitors are similar, and you may prefer to get whichever is less expensive. However, the Samsung is better if you plan to use the monitor in a bright room, as it gets much brighter.
The LG 27GL850-B/27GL83A-B and the Samsung Odyssey G5/G50D S27DG50 are 27-inch 1440p gaming monitors. The Samsung is a better choice if you plan to game next to a window, as it gets much brighter. However, the LG is better if you want the sharpest image, as it has better motion handling.
The build quality is satisfactory, though the back plastic flexes. Our unit has two dead pixels, though they aren't visible with most content. One of the dead pixels is visible at the upper right of the black uniformity picture.
The ergonomics are superb, and it's easy to adjust to your preferred position for a long gaming session or share your screen with another person. The stand features a clip for cable management.
The local dimming is terrible, as the monitor has only eight large zones, and we don't recommend using it. In most cases blooming is minimal. However, when objects move from one zone to another, the transitions are quite visible, and each zone can be distracting when it turns on or off. Zones are slow to turn off, but they quickly turn on when needed. These results are with Local Dimming set to 'High'. You can see the results for the other settings below:
Settings
The SDR brightness is great. It's bright enough to fight glare in a well-lit room and maintains that brightness consistently across different content.
Settings
The HDR brightness is okay. It doesn't get bright enough for highlights to pop and it rolls off near peak brightness, so highlights don't get as bright as they could.
The horizontal viewing angle is good. The image remains consistent from the sides, and you can easily share your screen with someone else.
The image remains consistent if you stand up and look down at the monitor.
The monitor has excellent accuracy before calibration. It doesn't have a dedicated sRGB mode, but when you set Color Space to 'Auto,' it clamps colors to the sRGB space very effectively. It has good color accuracy and white balance, though the color temperature is quite cold. However, gamma follows the target curve fairly well.
The accuracy after calibration is fantastic, and you won't notice any inaccuracies. However, the Color Space setting must be left at 'Auto,' even after calibration, or colors are oversaturated.
The SDR color gamut is fantastic, and the monitor has incredible coverage of the sRGB color space. However, it has more limited coverage of the Adobe RGB color space sometimes used in photo editing, and it doesn't display several colors accurately in that color space.
The HDR color gamut is satisfactory. It displays a moderate range of colors in the DCI-P3 and Rec. 2020 color spaces, but many colors in DCI-P3 aren't that accurate, so content in that format doesn't look as realistic as it could.
The text clarity is good. These photos are in Windows 10, and you can also see them in Windows 11 with ClearType on and with ClearType off.
Due to bandwidth limitations you can't reach the maximum refresh rate over HDMI. Additionally, you can only reach the max refresh rate with 8-bit signals over DisplayPort.
NVIDIA - G-SYNC Compatibility | ||
---|---|---|
Connection | VRR Min | VRR Max |
DisplayPort | <20Hz | 180Hz |
HDMI | N/A | N/A |
AMD - FreeSync | ||
---|---|---|
Connection | VRR Min | VRR Max |
DisplayPort | <20Hz | 180Hz |
HDMI | <20Hz | 144Hz |
Refresh Rate | CAD Heatmap | RT Chart | Pursuit Photo |
179Hz | Heatmap | Chart | Photo |
165Hz | Heatmap | Chart | Photo |
144Hz | Heatmap | Chart | Photo |
120Hz | Heatmap | Chart | Photo |
100Hz | Heatmap | Chart | Photo |
80Hz | Heatmap | Chart | Photo |
60Hz | Heatmap | Chart | Photo |
The Samsung G50D has decent motion handling across its refresh rate range. It's extremely consistent at any refresh rate, which is great. However, enabling Adaptive-Sync locks you out of the overdrive settings.
The refresh rate compliance is satisfactory. While its response time isn't fast enough to make full color transitions before the monitor draws the next frame at high frame rates, it improves at 60Hz.
Overdrive Mode | CAD Heatmap | RT Chart | Pursuit Photo |
Adaptive-Sync | Heatmap | Chart | Photo |
Standard | Heatmap | Chart | Photo |
Faster | Heatmap | Chart | Photo |
Extreme | Heatmap | Chart | Photo |
The CAD at the max refresh rate of 180Hz is good, and motion looks fairly sharp. The 'Faster' overdrive setting provides the best motion, with almost no inverse ghosting. However, you can only adjust the overdrive settings when Adaptive-Sync is off.
Overdrive Mode | CAD Heatmap | RT Chart | Pursuit Photo |
Adaptive-Sync | Heatmap | Chart | Photo |
Standard | Heatmap | Chart | Photo |
Faster | Heatmap | Chart | Photo |
Extreme | Heatmap | Chart | Photo |
The CAD at 120Hz is good, and motion is sharp. The 'Faster' overdrive setting provides the best motion, with almost no inverse ghosting. However, you can only adjust the overdrive settings when Adaptive-Sync is off.
Overdrive Mode | CAD Heatmap | RT Chart | Pursuit Photo |
Adaptive-Sync | Heatmap | Chart | Photo |
Standard | Heatmap | Chart | Photo |
Faster | Heatmap | Chart | Photo |
Extreme | Heatmap | Chart | Photo |
The CAD at 60Hz is good. The 'Faster' overdrive setting provides the best motion, with almost no inverse ghosting. However, you can only adjust the overdrive settings when Adaptive-Sync is off.
This monitor doesn't have a backlight strobing feature to reduce persistence blur.
The monitor has very low input lag for a responsive feel.
The Samsung G50D has a few extra features, including:
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I really have a hard time understanding how these are so highly. rated for phone calls. Mine are complete garbage. Universally, people tell me that I sound horrible. Everything else about these is fantastic, but I paid $400 for them and so disappointed in Bose
Hey there, thanks for sharing your thoughts with us. We definitely understand where you’re coming from. Unfortunately, this is a current limitation in test coverage to highlight that doesn’t account for this Bluetooth limitation. In cases where our existing methodology doesn’t cover everything, we try to use our text to account for this. In the “phone call” section. We mention that if you take a lot of calls from your PC or Mac, you may notice a drop in sound quality. However, this is a limitation of Bluetooth itself, and there isn’t a way around it. There’s also some information in our recording quality as well. In either case, this is definitely something we want to better account for with our methodology, so we’ll do our best to address this in a future test bench update!
I really have a hard time understanding how these are so highly. rated for phone calls. Mine are complete garbage. Universally, people tell me that I sound horrible. Everything else about these is fantastic, but I paid $400 for them and so disappointed in Bose
Update: The following test groups have been updated following TB 1.6: Wired Connection, and Bluetooth Connection. There have also been text changes made throughout the review, including to the usages and product comparisons to match these results.