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LG 38GL950G - 37.5" 3840x1600/G-Sync/175Hz
- Thread starter Vega
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Well, I just tried the BestBuy site and, sure enough, they will honor the price match with the LG site sale of $200 off despite it not being "in stock" at the dealers with the low price. I was mostly checking for the price match and was helpless to the power of (perceived) savings and ordered one for delivery Wed. the 18th. Now I will need to sell my Dell Alienware 34" but will likely keep my MSI 32" (not to mention a few other older monitors scattered around). Way too much money spent but I am weak and the weakness is very strong.
DoubleTap
2[H]4U
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It's worth it.
Played DCS again today, goddamn it looks good.
Had the screen well over a month now, still love it. The money, which made me wince even with a lifetime of PC’s paid for with Nvidia shares, is a distant memory.
Still don’t have my stand though
Had the screen well over a month now, still love it. The money, which made me wince even with a lifetime of PC’s paid for with Nvidia shares, is a distant memory.
Still don’t have my stand though
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I'm in the camp that I want one of these but probably want to wait for the hdr600 version. I'm not positive I want to stick to that since the price drop makes it more interesting.
All that said, I have been tempted. But TB3 is something I use very regularly on the 38 I have now. That 38 just got taken over by the family who also like it (doh!) So I need another and this new model is much better.
I think the upcoming panel will be better for me, but yes, I will get one of these versions.
- Not a fan of "the fan". Fans can die. They do make some noise. And it adds bulk to the panel.
- Thunderbolt is useful to me as one device that will come on and off the monitor would be a surface book 2 which handily runs with no other connection than TB3 off my Dell 3818
- and TB is only coming in the panel that comes later
- While I won't hold my breath, it might have been useful if at least LG has managed to put HDMI 2.1 in this - something they could do if they weren't using the Nvidia control board
- HDR 600 vs HDR 400 is pretty much the difference between "ok" and "barely worthy". Neither is going to move you like OLED, but 600 is definitely better and at this price point I feel like 600 makes the price a bit more palatable
- As with the fan comment above, if you look at the 38WN95 page here you'll see that the top down view shows a MUCH slimmer profile with no Nvidia gsync control module https://www.lg.com/us/monitors/lg-38wn95c-w-ultrawide-monitor#
All that said, I have been tempted. But TB3 is something I use very regularly on the 38 I have now. That 38 just got taken over by the family who also like it (doh!) So I need another and this new model is much better.
I think the upcoming panel will be better for me, but yes, I will get one of these versions.
shadow2761
Limp Gawd
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Higher res does not really matter, I came from 4K @ 43" to this LG 38", and the higher ppi on the LG can put the 4K 43" to shame. The LG feels like a 5K monitor compared to the lower ppi 4K 43" I came from.
DoubleTap
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Well, I was just sitting here, doing my job, connected to the HDMI input and with my office so quiet, I did hear the fan spin up. The weird thing is, there is only text based stuff up on both the DP (home) and HDMI (work) inputs. My room is maybe 76F - so I'm not sure why the fan would kick in, but there it is.
If it never gets any louder, I think I can live with it, but is there even a way to blow the dust out or anything?
This is the first non positive emotion I've had about the monitor.
If it never gets any louder, I think I can live with it, but is there even a way to blow the dust out or anything?
This is the first non positive emotion I've had about the monitor.
Thunderbolt would be useful for me too, being able to easily hook up my work Macbook Pro without adapters and also charge it.
Another feature on the Freesync models I like is the picture by picture mode. It's useful for working with two computers. It is actually one of the things that I am sad that the LG CX OLED won't have as it would have the display size and desktop space to do it well. Would probably have to do some sort of remote desktop setup to get anything like that.
HDMI 2.1 seems to be pushed to 2021 across the board with LG OLEDs being some of the few TVs to implement it.
HDR600 won't be any better without a local dimming solution. It will be interesting to see if the Freesync model has one and how barebones it is. Anything would be an improvement over HDR400 with no local dimming tho.
Can’t get G-Sync on any thunderbolts screens sadly. I had the same frustration.
I wish everyone would stop being savages and move all monitors to thunderbolt tbh. It’s annoying having to keep caldigits around depending on people’s monitor and machine choices.
I’d be very happy if the next gen of cards started coming with displayport 2 over thunderbolt connectors, even if we just do it like we did when started moving from DVI and just have a single ‘new’ port. It’s relevant to this because it still makes me a bit spazzy that I can’t use the colour depth and refresh rate because of shitty bandwidth.
I’ll file it under my idle dreams. It’ll happen, not least because usb4 kinda merges it all anyway, but it’s taking too long and I’m impatient damn it.
I wish everyone would stop being savages and move all monitors to thunderbolt tbh. It’s annoying having to keep caldigits around depending on people’s monitor and machine choices.
I’d be very happy if the next gen of cards started coming with displayport 2 over thunderbolt connectors, even if we just do it like we did when started moving from DVI and just have a single ‘new’ port. It’s relevant to this because it still makes me a bit spazzy that I can’t use the colour depth and refresh rate because of shitty bandwidth.
I’ll file it under my idle dreams. It’ll happen, not least because usb4 kinda merges it all anyway, but it’s taking too long and I’m impatient damn it.
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Yeah I hit that one pretty much every day. Took me ages (well 20 minutes) to work that out on the docking stations the first time round. If it wasn't both thunderbolt 3 and active, then the speed downgrade dropped it below what the resolution the monitor needed. Cue "thunderbolt 3" labels all round the office. I also believe you still can't get more than 2m with them.
It'll be the same frustration with Displayport 2 being twice the bandwidth of Thunderbolt and USB4, but those should at least mean mean that you can get 40gbit cables a lot cheaper. Virtuallink is in the same pile of frustrations. Currently though, the active tb3 cables are worth the price just for the whole single cable and charge thang. Whole situation is ridiculous really, but I suspect higher bandwidth is probably going to require these type of 'hacks' for a while. Attenuation being the bitch that it is. Not quite the same R&D budget as there is in phone companies and telco's for this stuff.
At home I have both a caldigit TS3+ for my laptop and a 2 Port KVM that connects that and my PC. All so it can be workable for a high bandwidth G-Sync monitor. Hate it. Plus, per original point, still not enough bandwidth to drive it at 175ghz 444.
DoubleTap
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That sounds right to me. I no longer get the static/EMI dropouts since I got the fibre optics cable. I've asked other people if they get this and it sounds like humidity may be a factor as well.
I'm in agreement that HDR600 would be better than HDR400 but its really only going from crap to barely okay IMO. I'm not really up on DP 2.0. We're still waiting for GPUs with HDMI 2.1 so I can only imagine how long before we see DP 2.0 ports and cables to arrive in products.
MaverickSY19
n00b
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B&H have had them in stock several times, they just sold out fast. I originally had it preordered, then cancelled my preorder because I wasn't sure I wanted to spend the $1970 estimate on the preorder. Then later decided to buy it when B&H had them in stock end of December for $1800, was free 1 day shipping to northern Virginia area too. Many folks on the Ulrawidemasterrace reddit got theirs from B&H as well.
Been loving mine for almost 2 months now. Never hear the fan at all either above my rooms ambient noise level. Runs great on my EVGA RTX 2080Ti FTW3 Ultra Hybrid card though can't wait to get a 3080Ti so the higher end graphics games can run 100+ FPS at max graphics. It's a same DLSS isn't supported in anything so you can't really use ray tracing without a huge performance hit on this monitor.
On a side note is anyone having issues with the LG Ultragear software that controls the lighting saying you don't have the USB connected even though you do? I have the USB cable that came with the monitor hooked up and I can even stick a thumb drive in the back of the monitor and use it, but this software constantly says I'm not hooked up to USB and won't check firmware or let me adjust the lighting. The Onscreen software lets me adjust brightness/contrast and use the screen split stuff also but doesn't have a firmware checking option like he manual states.
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This should be fixed in future games that use DLSS 2.0. Currently the only game using it is Wolfenstein Youngblood but it should work with arbitrary resolutions (rather than a fixed set like in previous DLSS iterations) and give results that look as good as the native resolution.
Stand arrived, couple of pictures for before and after.
after
All up, pretty happy aside from having to put it in off centre for it to be right distance (it’s the heavier duty stand andhas one less articulation point. Before anyone asks, it’s not quite high enough for portrait sadly
The main purpose was to lift it a couple of inches as I have a long torso, but I’ve set it at the right distance now too. Great ergonomics now and stand by my view of this size being just about the best in market at the momentS
(As an aside the desk is a bit cramped and speakers relegated to living room as my house is storm damaged and so I need to have my pc on my desk for a bit)
after
All up, pretty happy aside from having to put it in off centre for it to be right distance (it’s the heavier duty stand andhas one less articulation point. Before anyone asks, it’s not quite high enough for portrait sadly
The main purpose was to lift it a couple of inches as I have a long torso, but I’ve set it at the right distance now too. Great ergonomics now and stand by my view of this size being just about the best in market at the momentS
(As an aside the desk is a bit cramped and speakers relegated to living room as my house is storm damaged and so I need to have my pc on my desk for a bit)
The only reason I was "ok" with HDR600 is that for the amount of support HDR has so far, I didn't feel chasing a higher standard was really going to be of use for a few years yet. And by then monitors will have improved.
USB C cable length ability is longer if your underlying DP connection is lower. I have longer cables but the SB2 only does DP 1.2 so it does no visible harm to the signal. Just something to note when I see that some people have longer cables and no problem. Often the person with problems is driving 1.4 and no problem person is on 1.2. So really the issue is that DP 1.4 has limits until you go optical. While we all may want DP 2.0, I suspect that we will have even more "forum problems" as people will find that signal is even more sensitive to attenuation than 1.4. But 2.0 will allow us to have 40" 5120x2160 (essentially the widescreen equivalent of a 31.5 aka 32" 4K monitor). While it will be harder to drive, 2 generations of GPU ought to help and since 32's are so popular I'd bet you see alot of takeup.
Anyway as far as this 38 (and future) is concerned I have a curiosity question. The HDR600 panel model is going to get USB C (with the limits of length associated with the underlying DP 1.4 channel) as well as local dimming by way of edge driven sections (the weakest of the local methods but also perhaps the least susceptible to halos and other FALD driving issues). Do people think it's better to go with Gsync+HDR400 and take the more limited connections and that "fan" or do you think the HDR600, no fan, more connections is the better choice? I know opinions will vary but I'm curious anyway.
USB C cable length ability is longer if your underlying DP connection is lower. I have longer cables but the SB2 only does DP 1.2 so it does no visible harm to the signal. Just something to note when I see that some people have longer cables and no problem. Often the person with problems is driving 1.4 and no problem person is on 1.2. So really the issue is that DP 1.4 has limits until you go optical. While we all may want DP 2.0, I suspect that we will have even more "forum problems" as people will find that signal is even more sensitive to attenuation than 1.4. But 2.0 will allow us to have 40" 5120x2160 (essentially the widescreen equivalent of a 31.5 aka 32" 4K monitor). While it will be harder to drive, 2 generations of GPU ought to help and since 32's are so popular I'd bet you see alot of takeup.
Anyway as far as this 38 (and future) is concerned I have a curiosity question. The HDR600 panel model is going to get USB C (with the limits of length associated with the underlying DP 1.4 channel) as well as local dimming by way of edge driven sections (the weakest of the local methods but also perhaps the least susceptible to halos and other FALD driving issues). Do people think it's better to go with Gsync+HDR400 and take the more limited connections and that "fan" or do you think the HDR600, no fan, more connections is the better choice? I know opinions will vary but I'm curious anyway.
bananadude
Limp Gawd
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If you want the absolute best GAMING performance, between the two, the existing model will have the edge. It may not be noticeable for everyone, but the G-Sync module will be superior in terms of the sync range it covers and will likely do better at eliminating overshoot. For casual gamers though, the cheaper 38WN95C-W will likely be the better choice... but keep in mind that there is no release date on this yet, and I wouldn't be surprised if it isn't available until late Q4 or even Q1 2021.
For me at least the extra connections for easily hooking up my work Macbook Pro and running PbP mode for my working from home rig would be nice. HDR600 with reasonable amount of local dimming zones (most likely has just 8-10 vertical columns, 16 zone grid would be nice) would take the HDR support from rubbish to usable. No, it would not be OLED level or anything but at least something you can use on a game by game basis if you want.
I've got G-Sync and Freesync 2 monitors here and to be honest the difference isn't massive. While G-Sync is certainly better, Freesync 2 is going to be fine for most. By the time the cheaper monitors are released, the 38GL950G might have come down in price enough that it's a similar situation to the LG 34GL950 Freesync vs G-Sync models where the price difference is totally negligible.
Martha Stewart
Gawd
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How the hell did the price of this go back up to $1800 :\
and OOS everywhere
and OOS everywhere
Keep in mind that the tariff situation with China is going to impact prices. And sadly Marketing 101 says that if your product is in gigantic demand such that you can't produce enough to satisfy, you raise the price. But because the price was high enough to cause people to question the purchase I suspect you will see the price come back again after the initial demand has been met. Also remember the next model down, with Freesync 2 and Gesync compatible (meaning it is still a gaming capable monitor) plus USB C, more inputs overall and HDR600 is due out in Q2. MSI's version of this monitor (gamer focused) will use this panel. I'd love it if Alienware did a "both" where you had a AW3820F2 and AW3820G but who knows where they will land. Acer went with the Gsync hardware equipped model. So apparently both panels are possible, just up to a given OEM to decide just what models to offer.
But price will eventually come down, just not while the demand is huge I suspect. We'll see. Try the LG website too - because many vendors will price match if that price is 1599 instead of 1799.
But price will eventually come down, just not while the demand is huge I suspect. We'll see. Try the LG website too - because many vendors will price match if that price is 1599 instead of 1799.
DoubleTap
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I suspected that this might happen - between the tariffs and the virus, a lot of things could be harder to get for a while.
Martha Stewart
Gawd
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buydig.com is the only place you can buy this now at MSRP. I had a best buy open box order placed but it got cancelled .
I went and looked some more at the other two LG 38" monitors coming out, and I don't think they will support strobing... might as well get the better one with g-sync inside
Will be nice to go back to one monitor at home so I can get more space back on my desk.
. I went and looked some more at the other two LG 38" monitors coming out, and I don't think they will support strobing... might as well get the better one with g-sync inside
Will be nice to go back to one monitor at home so I can get more space back on my desk.
DoubleTap
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buydig.com is the only place you can buy this now at MSRP. I had a best buy open box order placed but it got cancelled
I went and looked some more at the other two LG 38" monitors coming out, and I don't think they will support strobing... might as well get the better one with g-sync inside
Will be nice to go back to one monitor at home so I can get more space back on my desk.
While I do have a second monitor (a 21.5" IPS) mounted above this one for things like discord, I have not - not even once - missed my triple 27" setup. Not for work, not for gaming, not for just messing around on the web - this monitor is superior in every way. The reduced complexity, the ability to switch system inputs in 1-2 seconds with one click instead of 7-10 seconds with multiple, unintuitive inputs, the way my desk has opened up and I no longer have giant blinders wrapped around me - from just an experiential level, it's so much better. From a technical level, it's basically a dual 1920x1600 monitor - bigger than a 34, easier to push than a 4K.
I can't recall another tech purchase that I was so completely happy with.
Phew, glad that’s worked out for you. I went as strong as I’ve ever gone in recommending it over a multi screen.
It’s been a revelation for my home set up. Now I’ve got it properly adjustable on a stand even moreso.
DoubleTap
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I've got both on a pole mount with wire pass through. I'm doing some final wiring management, but with the migration to the Ncase, this is as clean and tight as my system has ever been.
Yeah definitely, I was pretty set that I was going to get a second screen inset into the desk before I used it for a couple of months but I’m not sure I’ll bother now. Even tempted to go ITX so I can make everything super clean. Tidiness really does help you feel better about it all.
Bolt through will definitely come, will change desk surfaces when I move house so avoiding drilling a hole atm but even though tidier those cables are bugging me and bolt through puts them under desks. Main reason I got an arm rather than pole or wall mount was just because I play flight sims (lower desk, raise screen) and very occasionally use the stand function.
Bolt through will definitely come, will change desk surfaces when I move house so avoiding drilling a hole atm but even though tidier those cables are bugging me and bolt through puts them under desks. Main reason I got an arm rather than pole or wall mount was just because I play flight sims (lower desk, raise screen) and very occasionally use the stand function.
DoubleTap
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that’s a good little stand, I like. Mine is awesome but aesthetically bugs me atm that I can’t have it in the middle of the monitor.
Speaker choice is another thing we have in common, LS50w Nocturne here, just can’t fit on my desk again until my study is repaired. Stupid oversized pc case.
IdiotInCharge
NVIDIA SHILL
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I'd still put maybe two more smaller monitors above it 
I'm glad I acted on the LG sale price at $1599 for the short time it was available (thru Best Buy price match). I have a similar setup to yours on articulating arms, except my 2nd monitor is a 32" 16:9. My speakers are no where near that large, though I have a 5.1 setup. Question: with your desk setup as shown, how far are you from the LG for viewing distance?
Speaker choice is another thing we have in common, LS50w Nocturne here, just can’t fit on my desk again until my study is repaired. Stupid oversized pc case.
Sorry off topic a bit, I did a quick google, am I reading that right? Those are $2000?
DoubleTap
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28" from my nose to the top of the monitor.
Retail is more like $2400
It's a full hi-fi system in a box though - all you need is (maybe) a sub.
The Nocturne version is a special edition and you can often get the regular LS50W for $1600-1800
Personally, I would go that way if they had a better warranty - a 1yr warranty on a $2k product doesn't work for me.
Somehow I got the nocturnes for cheaper than the standard ones thanks to my local hifi shop.
I think they were $1525 US equivalent. Which was a good deal. Very nerdy but I thought it went with the whole tech theme. KEF you wanna buy on a sale.
Single box solution is great and they’re generally regarded as good value for performance (it’s insane the sound and clarity for the size) but yeah the warranty sucks. As does the digital volume control and the fact that it has a great built in dac but no headphone port or audio out.
With $2000 speakers, $700 headphones and a $600 DAC on my desk (plus a $279 headset for calls and there’s another set of $600 headphones boxed up under my desk that I haven’t used for a year and am too lazy to sell) it perhaps provides context to why I perhaps wasn’t as price sensitive as most earlier in the thread (though to pull this back on topic, I still regret nothing with this purchase, but do think monitor prices are stupid these days, as are phones)
DoubleTap
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Always buy KEF on sale. Always.
The LSX is the little brother of the LS50W and I thought it might be promising but for two main problems:
1. Their industrial designer thought they needed to be wrapped in automotive grade carpet (or is it tweed?)
2. They inexplicably did not include a USB interface on what would otherwise be the most obvious high end computer speakers in years.
I feel like I could live with the Windows volume control over optical, but this is unforgivable:
The LS50 Black edition has a very coarse finish that is hard to clean/dust. A microfiber cloth seems to help, but the texture is like a chalkboard (but with some metal flake). I waited to long to buy the limited edition reds and I'll always regret that.
Your setup is impressively slick!
Few questions:
1. What amp/dac is that and what do you think of it with the KEF LS50 (or are they LS50W?)?
2. Can it switch between headphone/ speakers without needing to unplug the headphones?
3. Do you also use a sub?
4. What are those speaker stands and how do they attach to the desk?
5. What mic?
Thank you for sharing!