I’ve been using the 2025 Samsung Odyssey G8 G80SD OLED monitor for the last ~12 months, so I was eager to check out the new model, which has a number of changes.
The big change this year surprisingly is the fact that Samsung has gotten rid its smart TV functionality, making this a pure monitor. Whilst I doubt many used this, I did appreciate it as it provided a way of using the monitor as TV in your room/office, although if you’ve got a PC connected to it, you’ve essentially got that functionality, so I suspect that’s why Samsung did away with it, even it it was extremely cool to be able to play the likes of Xbox Cloud Gaming through the monitor without anything connected.
Even without the smarts, this is a fantastic gaming monitor. Just like last year it has a QD-OLED display utilising Samsung’s anti-reflective coating which is great for bright Australian rooms, and even though it dulls those inky blacks just a tad, it’s must better than having large reflective splotches, and the increased brightness of up to 1,000 nits of peak HDR makes up for it as well, making the picture much more vibrant this year in comparison to my daily driver last year.
THE CHEAPEST PRICE: $1.899 FROM SAMSUNG
You’ve once again got a 4K resolution with a 240hz refresh rate in both the 32-inch and 27-inch models, and a response time of 0.03ms making this one of the most capable gaming monitors on the market and I really love that no matter which size you go for, you’re essentially getting the same capability as well.
In terms of the design, it’s identical to last year with a minimal bezel and a sleek silver design that I actually really love. The stand supports height and swivel adjustments as well which is a must-have with a gaming monitor for me.
If you’re getting a high-end gaming monitor, I’d obviously recommend that you go OLED, and it’s really hard to go past the G80SH from Samsung as well, unless you’re already tied into the ecosystem of another manufacturer, then I’d say you should look at their offering. I know there’s still a lot of hesitation when it comes to gaming on an OLED because of burn-in, but it really hasn’t been a factor for many years and Samsung has a bunch of measures in place to stop that from happening too.
As far as ports go, you’ve got a DisplayPort 2.1 port with full bandwith (up from 1.4 last year), 2 x HDMI 2.1 ports, a USB hub for peripherals, and thankfully, as a Mac user for my daily driver, there’s a USB-C port with 98W power delivery and DisplayPort Alt mode, meaning you can charge and get signal out of just one cord.
This was easily the biggest gripe that I had with last year’s model, and ultimately why I had to stop using it, because almost every other high-end monitor had USB-C connectivity, which means I got the best of both worlds both for my gaming PC and my MacBook, and I’m so glad that Samsung have added it this year, because it make sit an easier recommendation.
All-in-all, it’s improvements all round with the Samsung Odyssey G8 G80SH OLED monitor and unless you have a need for the Smart TV functionality, there’s absolutely no reason why you shouldn’t go for this model.
The Samsung G80SH is available from Samsung for $1,899 for the 27-inch model or $2,099 for the 32-inch model.
