LG 38GL950G 38" UltraGear Review: The New Ultrawide Performance Champion

[Julio Franco]

The LG 38GL950G is the best ultrawide monitor on the market right now. Essentially it takes every feature we got with previous flagship ultrawide displays, and takes it up a notch. The resolution and panel are physically bigger, up to 3840 x 1600, offering a more immersive experience and better for productivity work.

Read the full article here.

https://www.techspot.com/review/1976-lg-38gl950g-ultragear/

 

[Squid Surprise]

They've come a long way from the "Lucky Goldstar" that made crappy PC peripherals in the 90s...

 

[Uncle Al]

I got one of the super wide screens last year but the height was so short I could not read a text document. Great for gaming but for anything else it just wasn't realistic for me. A shame because it was needle sharp too .....

 

[bviktor]

Since having the 34WK95U, anything below 5120x2160p is irrelevant to me. There's just no going back from 2160p.

 

[theruck]

Wow what a great review. this is the reason I come back to techspot depsite the poor articles

 

[mrvco]

They've come a long way from the "Lucky Goldstar" that made crappy PC peripherals in the 90s...

Haha, thanks for reminding me, rebranding to LG was a great move. We've been very happy with our LG washer and dryer, OLED TV and my LG V40 has been good enough that I've kept it for more than a year now.

 

[poohbear]

Can you guys please review the new Alienware AW3420DW? Only 2 sites have reviewed it, and I'm reading that IT is the new ultra-wide king! It also uses LG's latest panel but with Dell's quality assurance and tweaks. pretty please!

 

[Lionvibez]

This was a great review thank you.

 

[Arbie]

As others say - a great review. This is exactly the kind of info I'd want if I were in the market for a monitor like this. Both knowledgeable on the tech details and practical re what matters and what doesn't etc. Good job.

 

[Sorileus86]

Be cheaper to just buy one of they're Nano TVs for $600 lol.

 

[Markoni35]

Who needs a monitor over which I can see the entire room, instead of seeing a picture? It's just lacking height. Maybe it's good for flight sims for small children.

 

[ddferrari]

Wow what a great review. this is the reason I come back to techspot depsite the poor articles

Aww, what a sweet left-handed compliment! O_o

 

[ddferrari]

I wish the Dell Alienware AW3418DW had been included in this review. It was considered the best UW for a year or two, and is available now for exactly $1000 less than this monitor. Disclaimer: Yes, I own this monitor, and yes, it's "only" 3440x1440.

Also, what GPU can possibly drive a 3840x1600 display at 175Hz? Hell, my oc'd 1080ti struggles to hit my monitor's 120Hz refresh rate in most AAA games, and often hovers in the 90's. Maybe the "3080Ti" ?

 

[Bawlsdeep]

I wish the Dell Alienware AW3418DW had been included in this review. It was considered the best UW for a year or two, and is available now for exactly $1000 less than this monitor. Disclaimer: Yes, I own this monitor, and yes, it's "only" 3440x1440.

Also, what GPU can possibly drive a 3840x1600 display at 175Hz? Hell, my oc'd 1080ti struggles to hit my monitor's 120Hz refresh rate in most AAA games, and often hovers in the 90's. Maybe the "3080Ti" ?

Haha, no comparison. This is 38 inch using higher resolution and higher refresh rate. What is the point. This monitor is way bigger and way better.

1080 Ti is not even considered mid-end at this point, no wonder you struggle. My RTX 3080 easily drives 4K/UHD at 100+ fps in most games.

4K has more pixels than 1440p Ultrawide and pretty much all cards from 3060 Ti / 6700 XT and up will drive 1440p Ultrawide well especially with FSR and DLSS - both cards slap the 1080 Ti around

 

[ddferrari]

Haha, no comparison. This is 38 inch using higher resolution and higher refresh rate. What is the point. This monitor is way bigger and way better.

1080 Ti is not even considered mid-end at this point, no wonder you struggle. My RTX 3080 easily drives 4K/UHD at 100+ fps in most games.

4K has more pixels than 1440p Ultrawide and pretty much all cards from 3060 Ti / 6700 XT and up will drive 1440p Ultrawide well especially with FSR and DLSS - both cards slap the 1080 Ti around

Yes, I've wanted a 3080 since it came out. But by the time the prices fall back to normal, the 4xxx will be nearly out. So I'll wait for that. Meanwhile, I'll "suffer" with my EVGA 10809Ti FTW3 Hybrid. Not the latest, but no slouch! It's definitely quiet and cool!

 

[Bawlsdeep]

Yes, I've wanted a 3080 since it came out. But by the time the prices fall back to normal, the 4xxx will be nearly out. So I'll wait for that. Meanwhile, I'll "suffer" with my EVGA 10809Ti FTW3 Hybrid. Not the latest, but no slouch! It's definitely quiet and cool!

It's still a decent card for 1440p but 3440x1440 might be pushing it unless you play older games or lower graphic settings alot. I still have a 1080 Ti lying around, ASUS STRIX, backup card. 1080 Ti and 980 Ti have been my best Ti cards ever. I remember the 980 Ti overclocked like crazy, from 1200ish MHz to 1600 MHz matching 1080 in most games and benches... So glad I picked that over Fury X, which I almost bought instead...

My Asus 3080 TUF OC is the quiestest card I have ever had. Way quieter than my 1080 Ti and former RTX 2080 Gigabyte Aorus, thats for sure. Most 3080's have a huge cooling surface and slowspinning fans, they don't require high RPM to keep cool. My 3080 hits 70c TOPS in the hot summer days with a +150 MHz OC. Usually it's 65c or so.

The Ampere chips themselves are not that power hungry, GDDR6X is the culprit in most cases. Just look at 3070 vs 3070 Ti, you get ~5% more performance at 1440p but power usage goes up 90 watts on average. Thats because of the GDDR6X.

I got my 3080 4 days after release for MSRP, 715 dollars (ASUS TUF OC EDITION) so yeah I'm ready for 4000 series in Q4 2022 unless AMD delivers something decent again with RDNA3 - However I'm not buying first gen MCM cards to be a beta tester.

It worries me tho, that 4000 series and RDNA3 should get even more power hungry.

3090 and 6900XT can pull crazy watts, especially peak (above 600 watts spikes).

My 3080 never went above 400 watts spike, usually is 350ish average and the GDDR6X is 90-100 watts of those so the chip is pulling around 250-300 watts, which is nothing crazy for a high-end GPU.

When you replace that 1080 Ti with a brand new RTX you will see a night and day improvement in performance, believe me. With DLSS enabled on Quality mode, you will be looking at a 250-300% improvement going from 1080 Ti to 3080 like I did. Without DLSS it's more like 200% on average.

Biggest leap I have ever gotten from an upgrade I think.

In Cyberpunk at 1440p/165 Hz the 1080 Ti delivered like 30-45 fps maxed, rarely hit 50+ fps. The 3080 did 80-110 without DLSS and 130-160 with (using Quality Mode and NO RAY TRACING obviously). Night and day difference in gameplay.

I had a 3080 Ti too for a few weeks but returned it. Not worth it for me. Only got 10% more perf and price was WAY HIGHER, like double of what I paid for my 3080.

100% higher price for 10% performance? No thanks.

RTX 4080 or 4070 will probably be my next GPU.

 

[ddferrari]

"When you replace that 1080 Ti with a brand new RTX you will see a night and day improvement in performance, believe me"

Oh, for sure! I know my 1080 Ti is long in the tooth, but I refuse to pay scalper prices.

I'm fairly satisfied with this card for the moment, but I realize that at my resolution it ranges from really good to meh. I don't get too bothered if it gives me 80fps vs 120 (my monitor's refresh rate). But of course, I would like to max it out!

But as I mentioned, I might as well wait for the 4xxx series now. Hopefully, the global chip shortage will be resolved. And why buy a 3xxx series when the next gen is just around the corner, right?

Maybe I'm ignorant, but 4K seems like a waste of resources except on the largest of monitors... but I'm only going by what I've read, not seen. Articles I've read say that under a certain size (40") it has diminishing returns. I think the trade-off of 1440p is worth the higher framerates.

I'll have to stop by my local Microcenter and compare.

Thanks for your insights. Cheers!

 

[ddferrari]

It's still a decent card for 1440p but 3440x1440 might be pushing it unless you play older games or lower graphic settings alot. I still have a 1080 Ti lying around, ASUS STRIX, backup card. 1080 Ti and 980 Ti have been my best Ti cards ever. I remember the 980 Ti overclocked like crazy, from 1200ish MHz to 1600 MHz matching 1080 in most games and benches... So glad I picked that over Fury X, which I almost bought instead...

My Asus 3080 TUF OC is the quiestest card I have ever had. Way quieter than my 1080 Ti and former RTX 2080 Gigabyte Aorus, thats for sure. Most 3080's have a huge cooling surface and slowspinning fans, they don't require high RPM to keep cool. My 3080 hits 70c TOPS in the hot summer days with a +150 MHz OC. Usually it's 65c or so.

The Ampere chips themselves are not that power hungry, GDDR6X is the culprit in most cases. Just look at 3070 vs 3070 Ti, you get ~5% more performance at 1440p but power usage goes up 90 watts on average. Thats because of the GDDR6X.

I got my 3080 4 days after release for MSRP, 715 dollars (ASUS TUF OC EDITION) so yeah I'm ready for 4000 series in Q4 2022 unless AMD delivers something decent again with RDNA3 - However I'm not buying first gen MCM cards to be a beta tester.

It worries me tho, that 4000 series and RDNA3 should get even more power hungry.

3090 and 6900XT can pull crazy watts, especially peak (above 600 watts spikes).

My 3080 never went above 400 watts spike, usually is 350ish average and the GDDR6X is 90-100 watts of those so the chip is pulling around 250-300 watts, which is nothing crazy for a high-end GPU.

When you replace that 1080 Ti with a brand new RTX you will see a night and day improvement in performance, believe me. With DLSS enabled on Quality mode, you will be looking at a 250-300% improvement going from 1080 Ti to 3080 like I did. Without DLSS it's more like 200% on average.

Biggest leap I have ever gotten from an upgrade I think.

In Cyberpunk at 1440p/165 Hz the 1080 Ti delivered like 30-45 fps maxed, rarely hit 50+ fps. The 3080 did 80-110 without DLSS and 130-160 with (using Quality Mode and NO RAY TRACING obviously). Night and day difference in gameplay.

I had a 3080 Ti too for a few weeks but returned it. Not worth it for me. Only got 10% more perf and price was WAY HIGHER, like double of what I paid for my 3080.

100% higher price for 10% performance? No thanks.

RTX 4080 or 4070 will probably be my next GPU.

When you replace that 1080 Ti with a brand new RTX you will see a night and day improvement in performance, believe me.

Agreed. I just haven't pulled the trigger on a RTX 3080 because of the prices.

I'm guessing that by the time the RTZ 4xxx comes out prices MIGHT come back to normal.

This isn't a cash flow thing- it's a principle thing!

Thanks for your insight. Nice rig!

 

[Bawlsdeep]

When you replace that 1080 Ti with a brand new RTX you will see a night and day improvement in performance, believe me.

Agreed. I just haven't pulled the trigger on a RTX 3080 because of the prices.

I'm guessing that by the time the RTZ 4xxx comes out prices MIGHT come back to normal.

This isn't a cash flow thing- it's a principle thing!

Thanks for your insight. Nice rig!

I understand for sure. No one should pay scalper prices - the situation looks better and better every week tho.

Here in Europe cards are stocking up at all retailers. There is ALOT of cards in stock but prices have not really come down yet, so people are simply not buying them. Prices dropped slightly tho.

It will probably take a few more quarters before we hit MSRP pricing with normal availability. Lets hope. Hardware market has been boring for a long time now. What is the fun in reading reviews etc, when you can't even buy the stuff..

 

[Bawlsdeep]

When you replace that 1080 Ti with a brand new RTX you will see a night and day improvement in performance, believe me.

Agreed. I just haven't pulled the trigger on a RTX 3080 because of the prices.

I'm guessing that by the time the RTZ 4xxx comes out prices MIGHT come back to normal.

This isn't a cash flow thing- it's a principle thing!

Thanks for your insight. Nice rig!

I understand for sure. No one should pay scalper prices - the situation looks better and better every week tho.

Here in Europe cards are stocking up at all retailers. There is ALOT of cards in stock but prices have not really come down yet, so people are simply not buying them. Prices dropped slightly tho.

It will probably take a few more quarters before we hit MSRP pricing with normal availability. Lets hope. Hardware market has been boring for a long time now. What is the fun in reading reviews etc, when you can't even buy the stuff..