Samsung Odyssey G4 25" 240Hz Review: Fast IPS for Competitive Gaming

The Samsung Odyssey G4 is aimed squarely at competitive gamers who've been putting up with a 60Hz or 144Hz panel and want to know what all the fuss is about with 240Hz. Maybe you're coming from a budget 1080p monitor that's been fine but never felt quite right. Maybe you've been watching your mates talk about frame rates and you want to actually feel the difference. This is the monitor Samsung is pitching at you, and across gaming, general use and some colour work there's a pretty clear picture of what it does well and where it falls short.

The short version: it's a genuinely fast IPS panel that delivers on its motion performance promises better than most monitors in this bracket. But there are trade-offs, and some of Samsung's marketing language needs unpacking before you hand over your money.

Connectivity is decent without being spectacular. You get two HDMI 2.0 ports and one DisplayPort 1.2. Worth noting: if you want the full 240Hz, you'll need to use DisplayPort. HDMI 2.0 can reach 240Hz at 1080p in theory, but DisplayPort is the safer choice for sustaining the full refresh rate. There's no USB hub, no USB-C, and no audio passthrough beyond a headphone jack. For a gaming-focused monitor at this price point, that's about what you'd expect, but it's worth knowing upfront if you were hoping to use it as a hub.

The stand offers height adjustment, tilt, and the monitor is VESA 75x75 compatible if you want to mount it on an arm. No pivot (portrait mode rotation) and no swivel, which is a minor frustration if you like to angle your monitor slightly off-centre. The back has that angular Odyssey aesthetic that Samsung has been running with for a few years now, and the base footprint is reasonably compact. Here's the full spec breakdown:

Wide viewing angles are one of the IPS strengths here. For a single-user gaming setup this barely matters, but if you ever share your screen or have people watching over your shoulder, it's a nice property to have. The anti-glare coating is a standard matte finish. It does its job keeping reflections manageable in a normally lit room, though it adds a very slight haze to the image compared to glossy panels. In a bright room with a window behind you, you'll be grateful for it. In a dark room, you might occasionally wish the image had a touch more pop.

IPS panels at this price point are prone to some backlight bleed and IPS glow (that slight brightening of corners at an angle), visible mainly in very dark scenes or loading screens. If you're coming from a VA panel and you're used to inky blacks, you will notice the difference. That's just the IPS trade-off, and it's worth being honest about.

Peak brightness in SDR mode is rated at 350 nits (typical). That's adequate for most indoor environments. It's not going to compete with a high-brightness panel designed for use in very bright offices, but for a gaming monitor in a typical room it's fine.

Adaptive sync support covers both AMD FreeSync Premium and Nvidia G-Sync Compatible certification. FreeSync Premium requires a minimum 120Hz LFC (Low Framerate Compensation) support, which means even if your frame rate drops below the VRR range, the monitor doubles or triples frames to keep things smooth rather than letting you drop into tearing territory. The VRR range runs from 48Hz to 240Hz, which is a decent spread. In practice, if you're targeting 240fps in competitive titles, you'll want a GPU that can sustain that. But if you're playing something more demanding and your frames dip, the FreeSync range has you covered down to 48fps before things get choppy.

G-Sync Compatible certification means Nvidia users aren't left out. It's not a full G-Sync module (which would add significant cost), but the certification means VRR is supported in everyday use. The VESA Adaptive Sync standard underpins both implementations.

The OSD offers several overdrive levels (Samsung calls the middle one "Faster" and the top one "Fastest"). On IPS panels, the most aggressive overdrive setting tends to introduce inverse ghosting (bright halos trailing behind moving objects), so the middle setting is the sensible starting point for gaming.

MPRT (Moving Picture Response Time) is a different measurement that some monitors advertise, typically achieved through backlight strobing. The G4 doesn't use backlight strobing, so the 1ms MPRT claim you sometimes see associated with this panel is purely the GtG figure. At 240Hz, fast pans carry less motion blur than on a 144Hz IPS panel and far less than on a 60Hz display.

A factory Delta E figure isn't specified, so if you're doing colour-critical work, you'd want to run a proper calibration with a colorimeter.

Samsung includes several preset modes including a sRGB mode, which clamps the output to the sRGB colour space and improves accuracy for web content and SDR media. There's also a game-specific mode that boosts contrast slightly and adds some sharpening. The sRGB mode is worth using if you're doing any photo work, as it prevents the slight oversaturation that can occur when a wide-gamut panel displays sRGB content without gamut mapping. It's a small thing, but it shows Samsung has thought about the monitor's use beyond pure gaming.

Without local dimming, the panel can't independently control brightness in different zones of the image, so dark areas of the screen don't get any blacker when bright highlights are present. The overall HDR effect is subtle rather than transformative.

My recommendation: don't buy the G4 for its HDR capability. It's there, it works, and it's better than nothing, but it's not a reason to choose this monitor over alternatives. If HDR is important to you, you'd need to look at monitors with DisplayHDR 600 or higher certification, local dimming, and significantly higher peak brightness. For a 240Hz competitive gaming monitor at this price point, the HDR implementation is about what you'd expect, and the monitor's strengths lie elsewhere.

Peak SDR brightness of 350 nits (typical) is solid for indoor use, and the matte coating helps in brighter rooms. For most gaming setups, the brightness is more than adequate. It's not a monitor designed for use in a brightly lit office environment, but for a gaming setup it's fine.

The overall brightness and contrast performance is appropriate for a competitive gaming monitor where the priority is motion clarity and refresh rate rather than cinema-quality image depth.

The neck of the stand has a cable management channel, which is a nice touch that keeps things tidy. The monitor itself is relatively thin for a non-OLED display, and the bezels are slim on three sides with a slightly thicker bottom chin. The overall aesthetic is that angular, slightly aggressive Odyssey design language that Samsung has been using across their gaming range. It's not subtle, but it's not garish either. No RGB lighting on this model, which suits a clean desk setup.

VESA compatibility at 75x75mm means you can put it on a monitor arm if you want to free up desk space or get more precise positioning. The 75x75 standard is less common than 100x100 for monitor arms, so double-check your arm is compatible before buying. Most quality arms support both patterns. The monitor weighs around 3.7kg with the stand, which is light enough to handle easily during setup. There's a cover plate that hides the mounting point for a clean look.

• 2x HDMI 2.0
• 1x DisplayPort 1.2
• 1x 3.5mm headphone jack

That's it. No USB hub, no USB-C, no built-in speakers. For a competitive gaming monitor, the two HDMI ports are useful if you want to connect a console alongside your PC without swapping cables. The DisplayPort 1.2 connection is what you'll want for your main PC gaming setup to get the full 240Hz reliably. DisplayPort 1.2 has enough bandwidth for 1080p at 240Hz with room to spare, so there's no technical limitation there.

The absence of a USB hub is noticeable if you're used to monitors that double as a desk hub for your keyboard, mouse, and peripherals. It's not a dealbreaker, but it's worth factoring in if your PC is tucked away and you rely on your monitor's USB ports for convenience. Similarly, no USB-C means you can't use this as a display for a laptop with a single-cable connection. Again, for a dedicated gaming monitor at this price point, these omissions are understandable, but they're real limitations if your setup needs that flexibility.

The headphone jack is a nice inclusion. It passes audio from whatever source is connected via HDMI or DisplayPort, which means you can plug your headset directly into the monitor rather than routing cables to your PC. There are no built-in speakers, which is fine. Monitor speakers are almost universally terrible, and the space they'd take up is better used elsewhere. The OSD (on-screen display) is controlled via a joystick on the back of the monitor, which is much more intuitive than the button arrays some monitors use.

The honest value question is whether 240Hz is worth it for you specifically. If you play competitive titles like CS2, Valorant, Apex Legends, or similar games where frame rate directly affects your ability to track and react to opponents, 240Hz is a meaningful upgrade over 144Hz. The difference is real, and at this price point the G4 is one of the more affordable ways to get there on an IPS panel. For a broader look at how it stacks up against other options, our best PC accessories/monitors UK guide covers the full competitive landscape, and pairing it with best gaming peripherals will complete your setup. If you play mostly single-player games, open-world titles, or RPGs where frame rate matters less than image quality, you'd probably be better served by a 1440p 144Hz monitor at a similar price.

The mid-range bracket is also where you start to feel the absence of premium features. No USB-C, no USB hub, no local dimming, no swivel. These aren't dealbreakers, but they're the kind of things that remind you this isn't a top-tier panel. For a dedicated gaming setup where you know exactly what you want (fast, smooth, accurate colours, reliable adaptive sync), the G4 is genuinely good value. For a monitor that needs to do everything well, you might find the compromises add up.

That said, it's not for everyone. If you play mostly single-player games and care more about image quality than frame rate, a 1440p monitor at a similar price would serve you better. If you need a USB hub or USB-C connectivity, look elsewhere. If you want genuinely impressive HDR, this isn't it. And if you're coming from a high-quality VA panel and love deep blacks, the IPS contrast will be a step down. These aren't criticisms so much as honest descriptions of what this monitor is and isn't. It's a specialist tool for a specific use case, and it's a good one.

Affiliate Disclaimer: This article contains affiliate links. If you purchase through these links, vividrepairs.co.uk may earn a small commission at no additional cost to you. This does not influence our editorial opinions.