Samsung Announces New ‘Affordable’ Curved Gaming Monitors

Your standard desktop computer monitor is almost an impulse purchase at this point. A 22 or 24-inch 1080p LCD panel costs less than $100, but that’s not the kind of monitor PC gamers want to use. Those monitors come with higher refresh rates, more pixels, and other features that invariably push the price up. Samsung has just announced a pair of gaming-oriented monitors that should cost somewhat less than many competing models.

In classic Samsung fashion, the monitors don’t have fancy names — they’re just C27JG5 and C32JG5. As you might be able to guess from the model numbers, the monitors are 27 and 32-inches. They’re both 16:9 with a resolution of 2560 x 1440. So, the first concession to price is that these are standard widescreen panels rather than ultrawide, which is increasingly popular with gamers. However, they’re curved, which manufacturers insist reduces eye strain.

The refresh rate is why these devices can credibly be labeled “gaming monitors.” They both support up to 144Hz, whereas an inexpensive LCD tops out at 60Hz. That means you can enjoy higher frame rates in games if you’ve got the hardware to render them. However, Samsung doesn’t support adaptive sync technologies known as AMD FreeSync or Nvidia G-Sync. These systems can sync a monitor’s refresh rate to the frame rendering of your GPU to reduce “tearing” distortions in games. G-Sync adds substantially to the cost of monitors because of Nvidia license fees. FreeSync is less expensive to implement, but apparently not inexpensive enough for these monitors.

Curiously, Samsung didn’t release prices for its “affordable” gaming monitors. However, PC Gamer spotted both models on Amazon UK, where they’re listed at £309.99 for the 27-inch and £359.99 for the 32-inch. That works out to around $400 and $465, respectively. That’s a bit less than other monitors in this size range, but just a little more and you can get something with an IPS panel and FreeSync support. The displays will start shipping globally in the third quarter of this year.

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