Samsung Odyssey G5/G51C S27CG51 Monitor Review

The Samsung Odyssey G51C has a gamer-oriented aesthetic with etched lines on the back. There's a blue ring where the stand attaches to the back, but it doesn't feature RGB lighting like on other monitors.

The build quality is decent. While there isn't anything that stands out as being poorly made, the plastic materials don't feel premium, and the bottom bezel isn't perfectly flush with the entire screen either. The screen wobbles on the stand, and it can be hard to remove the stand from the screen, but that's only an issue if you need to mount it anyways.

This monitor has excellent ergonomics, as you can adjust it in many ways. As you can only rotate it into portrait mode in one direction, the bottom-facing inputs will always be facing to the left when rotated, as you can see here. At the minimum height in the standard orientation, the screen is about 0.79" (2 cm) from the bottom of the table. The back of the stand also features a clip for cable management.

There's a single joystick underneath the center of the monitor to control the on-screen display.

• DisplayPort cable
• HDMI cable
• Power supply
• Power cord
• User guides

The Samsung Odyssey G51C has a good native contrast ratio to display fairly deep blacks next to bright highlights in dark rooms.

The Samsung G51C doesn't have a local dimming feature. We still film these videos on the monitor so you can compare the backlight performance with a monitor that has local dimming.

The SDR peak brightness is alright. Its brightness is consistent across different scenes, which is fantastic, and while it doesn't get extremely bright, it's still fine if you have a few lights around. However, it struggles in bright environments, like if you place it opposite a bright window. These results are from after calibration in the 'Custom' Picture Mode with the Brightness at its max.

The HDR brightness is disappointing. Without a local dimming feature, small highlights don't pop against the rest of the image, and they're dull and muted. It doesn't follow the target PQ EOTF either, as it severely darkens images. These results are in the HDR Standard mode with the Brightness at its max.

This monitor has a narrow horizontal viewing angle. Images look washed out and darker from the sides, so it isn't ideal for sharing your screen with others.

The vertical viewing angle is disappointing. The image looks washed out at wide angles, so you won't see a consistent image if you stand up and look down at the monitor.

The gray uniformity is excellent. While some of the edges are a bit darker, the screen is uniform throughout, and there aren't any noticeable issues.

The Samsung G51C has excellent black uniformity. While it doesn't have a local dimming feature to further improve the black levels, there isn't much noticeable blooming around bright objects.

The accuracy before calibration is alright. Although Samsung advertises that it has a dedicated sRGB mode, it isn't available in the list of Picture Modes, as you can see here and here. While colors are still locked to the sRGB color space, most colors are still inaccurate with a cold temperature, meaning they have a blue tint. The white balance is also awful, and the monitor displays too much blue. Lastly, gamma seems to follow a 2.2 target instead of sRGB, so dark scenes are too dark, while bright scenes are slightly over-brightened.

The Samsung G51C has remarkable accuracy after calibration. A full two-point calibration fixes most issues, especially with the white balance and gamma, but some colors are still slightly inaccurate.

The SDR color gamut is excellent. It has near-full coverage of the common sRGB color space, but it's a bit inaccurate as reds and greens are oversaturated, while blues are undersaturated. It also has limited coverage of the Adobe RGB color space, which is disappointing for professional photo editors and publishers.

The SDR color volume is incredible. It displays most bright colors well, and while it does a good job with darker colors, it doesn't perfectly display all dark colors.

The HDR color gamut is disappointing. It doesn't display the wide range of colors needed for HDR content in either the DCI-P3 and Rec. 2020 color spaces, and it struggles with tone mapping, so most colors are inaccurate.

The Samsung G51C has an okay HDR color volume. It struggles to display colors as bright as pure white, and it also struggles with dark colors.

The reflection handling is good. It's fine if you have a few lights around, but the glare can be distracting if you place it opposite a bright window.

The Samsung Odyssey G51C has good text clarity. Enabling Windows ClearType (top photo) helps improve the clarity with diagonal lines, but straight lines aren't as bold. These photos are in Windows 10, and you can also see it in Windows 11 with ClearType on and with ClearType off.

The gradient handling is fantastic. While there's some banding with darker colors, you won't notice much banding with most content.

This monitor has FreeSync support that works over DisplayPort and over HDMI (up to 144Hz), but the G-SYNC compatibility only works over DisplayPort. Unfortunately, using VRR in dark scenes can cause some flicker, as you can see here, but it's only in certain scenarios, and it's hard to see.

The response time at the max refresh rate of 165Hz is adequate, but there's visible smearing with fast-moving objects. Enabling FreeSync Premium on the monitor turns off the Response Time setting, so you can't adjust the pixel overdrive with VRR on. That said, motion looks similar with VRR as with the 'Faster' overdrive setting. The downside of using VRR is that there's some flicker in dark scenes, as explained in the Variable Refresh Rate section.

The Samsung Odyssey G51C has a mediocre response time at 120Hz. There's visible smearing and blur with fast-moving objects. Although enabling VRR turns off the overdrive settings, it performs similarly to using the 'Faster' and 'Extreme' settings, but 'Normal' has a slower response time.

The response time at 60Hz is disappointing. Motion is still blurry with noticeable smearing and even image duplication with fast-moving objects with VRR enabled. With VRR disabled, the 'Faster' and 'Extreme' response times have overshoot that causes inverse ghosting, and using 'Standard' instead results in more black smearing.

Refresh Rate	Flicker	Motion Photo
165Hz	Chart
144Hz	Chart
120Hz	Chart

This monitor has an optional backlight strobing feature, otherwise known as black frame insertion. It only works with Refresh Rate in the on-screen display set to 165Hz, 144Hz, or 120Hz, and you can't enable VRR at the same time. While it reduces motion blur, there's still smearing, and it dims the screen.

The backlight doesn't use pulse-width modulation and remains flicker-free at all brightness levels, which helps if you're sensitive to flicker.

The Samsung G51C has low input lag for a responsive feel, and it doesn't increase at lower refresh rates either, which is great.

This monitor works well with the PS5, but without HDMI 2.1 bandwidth, it can't take full advantage of everything the console offers. You need to disable FreeSync Premium on the monitor for 4k to work with the PS5, but because the VRR doesn't work with the console anyways, it's best to leave that disabled when using the PS5. It displays 4k signals by downscaling them, which results in a more detailed image than native 1440p.

The Samsung Odyssey G51C works well with the Xbox Series X|S but can't take full advantage due to its lack of HDMI 2.1 bandwidth. You need to disable VRR on the monitor for 4k to work, and because the Xbox only supports HDR with 4k signals, you can't enable VRR and HDR at the same time. It displays 4k signals by downscaling them, which results in a more detailed image than native 1440p. Besides that, VRR works well with 1080p and 1440p signals up to 120Hz.

Although Samsung advertises it supports DisplayPort 1.4, it's limited to DisplayPort 1.2 bandwidth. Even the on-screen display confirms that it supports DisplayPort 1.2, as you can see here.

You can only use the USB port with a USB drive for firmware updates.

The Samsung Odyssey G51C works well with macOS, and there aren't any obvious issues. VRR works well, and while you can enable HDR, it looks washed out and has a cold color temperature. If you're using a MacBook, windows return to their original place when reopening the lid or after waking the laptop up from sleep.

This entry-level monitor has limited features, and unlike some higher-end Samsung monitors, it doesn't support the Tizen smart platform either. However, it does have a few extra features that you can find in the OSD:

• Black Equalizer: Adjusts gamma so that it's easier to see opponents in dark areas of games.
• Eye Saver Mode: Removes blue light to help with eye strain.
• Refresh Rate: Lets you change the refresh rate directly from the OSD.
• Virtual Aim Point: Displays a virtual crosshair that your game's anti-cheat tool won't detect, giving you a competitive advantage.