These Amazing OLED Gaming Monitors Are Great Deals For Cyber Monday Shoppers
This year has brought some pretty darn decent deals on potent new PCs and powerful parts. We hope you aren't planning to hook up that new thousand-dollar graphics card to your terrible ten-year-old 1080p monitor, though. There's nothing wrong with an FHD screen, but display technology has come a long way even since 2020. Gorgeous OLED monitors are finally finding their way into price classes accessible to mere mortals, and a whole bunch of them are on sale this Cyber Monday.
If you haven't done so, we recommend reading over our Displays 101 post explaining common monitor specifications. As a refresher, you'll want to know the term "QHD"; it means 2560×1440, the most popular resolution for fancy new gaming monitors right now. It's exactly four times as many pixels as "HD" (thus, "Quad HD"), and it's a big upgrade over 1080p in sharpness while avoiding the huge performance penalty of 4K UHD. You'll also see WQHD, a term that describes a 21:9 aspect ratio display in 3440×1440 "ultrawide" resolution, as well as UWQHD, which is 32:9-aspect screen with 5120×1440 resolution.
Samsung Odyssey G6 27" QHD 360Hz OLED Monitor, $589 at Amazon (35% off)
We're starting off with a 27" Samsung Odyssey G60SD. This display boasts a heat pipe for effective passive cooling, which is important for OLEDs, as heat is what kills them. It also has a super-smooth 360-Hz refresh rate and HDMI 2.1 support. Like all OLEDs, it has basically-instant response times, and you also get an integrated 5-Gbps USB hub. Pick it up for 35% off at $589 today.
If you're a Samsung hater or simply not sold on the "thermal modulation system" of the Odyssey, MSI offers a display with stunningly similar specifications known as the MAG 271QPX. This display likewise has a QHD native resolution, 360-Hz refresh rate, and all the same OLED performance qualities you want. It also has VESA HDR400 TrueBlack certification; a measure of HDR is nice in a $700 monitor—although it's down to $579 after a 23% discount right now.
If you're a hard-core PC gamer, chances are you do most of your gaming in a darkened environment to maximize the contrast ratio from your display. A dark room means minimal reflected light, and that means the brightness-diffusing anti-glare coating on your display isn't necessary. At least, that's ASUS' pitch for its ROG Strix XG27AQDMG, which is a 240Hz QHD OLED gaming monitor that sports a perfect glossy finish. It also has a brightness uniformity guarantee, and ELMB black frame insertion. It's down to $549 after a 27% price cut.
Maybe you're the kind of fellow who wants your displays a little bit longer on one side. If you're after that thicc ultrawide style, how about this Predator X34? This is a 34" WQHD OLED gaming monitor with an extremely tight 800R curve for increased immersion. It refreshes at 240Hz, and sports VESA DisplayHDR 400 TrueBlack certification. It includes a KVM switch, and 90W Power Delivery on its USB Type-C port. Pick it up for 25% off at $899, its lowest price ever.
Another very highly-regarded curved OLED gaming monitor is the Alienware AW3423DWF—much-discussed after its appearance on Linus Tech Tips, where it was lauded as "the best gaming monitor." That was last year, and things have moved on a fair bit since then, but this is still a phenomenal monitor. It's WQHD, refreshes at 165Hz, and has that DisplayHDR 400 TrueBlack certification. Grab it for just $644, 28% off the list price.
Philips is a name you don't hear too much in computer monitors, which might be a shame as this Evnia 34M2C8600 QD-OLED monitor looks like a steal. It has fundamentally similar specifications to the Alienware above, except that the refresh rate is slightly higher at 175 Hz. Philips also advertises a four-year advance-replacement warranty that covers burn-in. It's marked down 29% to $569.
If 21:9 isn't wide enough for you, let's go all the way to double-wide, or "Super Ultrawide." These monitors are essentially like two standard 16:9 monitors slapped side by side. This first one is a Samsung Odyssey 49" G93SC curved OLED with a 240-Hz refresh rate and HDR400 TrueBlack certification. Samsung calls it "the absolute immersive experience"; you can get it for $949 now, a full 41% off.
This last display is a bit of an oddball because it isn't actually an OLED. This monitor uses a VA LCD in the same 49" size and same 5120×1440 resolution as the Samsung above. However, the refresh rate takes a cut by half to 120-Hz. We reckon this display will still offer a phenomenal viewing experience, though. It manages an HDR400 certification (albeit not "TrueBlack"), and INNOCN promises "tip-top color performance" with a DeltaE value under 2 out of the box. It's just $594 after the $80 Amazon coupon.
A lot of people still wince at the idea of an OLED gaming display because of fears that it will suffer burn-in rapidly. It is true that if you play games with static HUD elements on screen for hours at a time, you will want to reduce brightness, otherwise you may damage the display before long. However, most games are not like that; typically you're opening a sub-screen or changing scenes often enough that it really isn't a concern with modern OLEDs, which are fairly resilient. Tests have shown that it will take thousands of hours to burn in a current-generation OLED—and that's on max brightness.
What do you think, dear reader? Does one of these gorgeous OLED screens whet your appetite for a new gaming monitor? It could just be the biggest quality of life upgrade you can make to your gaming machine. Don't forget to check out our other recent deals posts, as many of the deals are still valid!
