Samsung Odyssey G7/G70B S32BG70 Monitor Review

The Samsung Odyssey G70B has an all-black plastic body and RGB lighting zones in the front and back. Although it has a flat screen, the back panel still has a curvature with textured plastic, giving it a gamer-oriented look.

The build quality is great. It's made of high-quality plastic that feels sturdy, and it's well put together. The stand supports the screen well when you adjust it, and even though the display wobbles a bit when you shake the table, this isn't a problem unless you have an unstable desk. It does have a dead pixel near the center, which you can see in the Black Uniformity photo, but it isn't a major concern, and it's hard to notice.

The ergonomics are excellent, and it's easy to adjust to an ideal viewing position. The stand has a clip for cable management to help keep your setup clean, but it's rather basic.

The stand supports the screen well as it holds it in place when you adjust it, and even though there's a bit of wobble, this is only a problem if you shake the table.

This monitor comes with Tizen OS built-in, and you can change the settings with the included remote. You can also plug in peripherals like a mouse, keyboard, or joystick to navigate the menu. Although it has a directional pad underneath the screen, it isn't easy to navigate the menu with it.

• Power supply and cable
• DisplayPort cable
• USB-B to USB-A cable
• Remote
• VESA-mount adapter
• User guides and documentation

The Samsung Odyssey G70B has a mediocre contrast ratio, making blacks look gray next to bright objects. Although it has a local dimming feature, it doesn't do much to improve the contrast, as most content causes all zones to turn on.

The edge-lit local dimming feature is terrible. It has 32 zones, and all of them turn on with the majority of content, meaning it doesn't improve the contrast at all, even with Local Dimming set to 'High.' When zones remain off, there's still distracting blooming around bright objects, and the uniformity is awful. Although the dimming zones keep up with fast-moving objects, there's a noticeable backlight flicker whenever a small object transitions between zones. Overall, the feature does little to improve the picture quality in dark scenes and make blacks deeper.

It performs equally as badly even when using the built-in applications, although the zones are a bit less sensitive to light in that scenario, so they don't turn on as often.

Settings

• Picture Mode: Custom (Calibrated)
• Game Mode: On
• Brightness: 100
• Local Dimming: High

The SDR brightness is great. It easily gets bright enough to fight glare, and there aren't any distracting changes in brightness.

Settings

• Picture Mode: Custom
• Game Mode: On
• HDR10+ Gaming: Advanced
• Brightness: 100
• Local Dimming: High

The HDR brightness is okay, but it doesn't get bright enough to make small highlights stand out against dark backgrounds. The EOTF doesn't follow the target PQ curve well with bright scenes, meaning the image looks darker than it should. The EOTF performs the same even if you set HDR10+ Gaming to 'Basic.' You can also enable Game HDR if you want a brighter image, but then the EOTF is too bright, as you can see here.

The horizontal viewing angle is decent. While you won't notice any inconsistencies when sharing the screen with others or viewing off-center, the image starts to look washed out at wide angles.

This monitor has a decent vertical viewing angle. For the most part, the image remains consistent, even if you're standing up and looking down at the screen.

The gray uniformity is good. Although the edges are darker than the rest, it isn't too distracting, and there isn't much dirty screen effect in the center.

The black uniformity is disappointing. While the local dimming feature helps reduce some backlight bleed, there's still clouding throughout. You can also see the dead pixel to the top left of the center cross, but it isn't a major concern.

The Samsung Odyssey G70B has excellent accuracy before calibration. Setting the Color Space setting to 'Auto' instead of its default of 'Native' locks the colors to the sRGB color space, and you can still change other settings as you wish. Most colors are accurate, and the white balance is only slightly off. The color temperature is a bit on the warm side, resulting in a reddish tint, and gamma doesn't follow the sRGB target curve perfectly, so most scenes are too dark, while bright scenes are too bright.

The accuracy after calibration is fantastic, and you won't easily notice any inaccuracies.

The SDR color gamut is fantastic. It displays a wide range of colors, both with the commonly used DCI-P3 color space and the wider Adobe RGB color space used in some publishing and photo editing.

The HDR color gamut is remarkable. It has near-perfect coverage of the DCI-P3 color space used in most HDR content. Even with the wider Rec. 2020 color space, it has decent coverage with good tone mapping.

The HDR color volume is good. It displays most colors well, but struggles with really bright colors.

The Samsung Odyssey G70B has excellent text clarity. While text looks sharp thanks to its 4k resolution and high pixel density, some letters aren't as bold as on other 32-inch, 4k displays like the Samsung Odyssey Neo G8 S32BG85. These pictures are with Windows 10, and you can also see the pictures in Windows 11 below.

• ClearType On
• ClearType Off

The reflection handling is good. While some reflections from strong light sources can get distracting, the monitor still gets bright enough to fight intense glare.

The Samsung Odyssey G70B has remarkable gradient handling, and you won't notice any banding.

Your graphics card doesn't need to use Display Stream Compression (DSC) to reach the max refresh rate over HDMI thanks to its HDMI 2.1 bandwidth. However, you need to be in Game Mode to send a fixed 144Hz signal.

On top of supporting FreeSync VRR and G-SYNC compatibility, the Samsung Odyssey G70B also supports HDMI Forum VRR.

The motion handling is good with VRR enabled. Motion looks sharp, and it doesn't have more inverse ghosting at lower refresh rates, but there's still some blur. The 'Standard' overdrive has the consistently best performance, and the CAD of 'Extreme' is so high that it passes the limits of the chart. You can see an alternative chart here. Unlike with other Samsung monitors, you can adjust the overdrive settings even with VRR enabled.

The refresh rate compliance is good. Although its response time isn't fast enough to make full color transitions at the max refresh rate, it's much better at lower refresh rates, especially with the recommended overdrive of 'Standard.'

The CAD at the max refresh rate of 144Hz is very good. The 'Faster' overdrive doesn't result in much blur, but it has inverse ghosting. If that bothers you, 'Standard' is a better choice, but it has more blur.

The CAD at 120Hz is very good. Unlike at its max refresh rate of 144Hz, the recommended overdrive is 'Standard' because 'Faster' has too much inverse ghosting.

The CAD at 60Hz is good. However, you can't enable VRR with a 60Hz signal in the monitor's OSD, so these results are with VRR disabled, and the overdrive settings perform nearly the same. This is different than if you were to start with a higher refresh rate and use VRR to go down to 60Hz, as you can see in VRR Motion Performance.

The Samsung Odyssey G70B has an optional backlight strobing feature to reduce persistence blur, but it's very limited. It only works when sending a fixed 60Hz signal with VRR disabled. You can use it with Game Mode enabled, but the input label needs to be set as 'Game Console' for that to work, as it doesn't work with it on 'PC Mode.'

This monitor doesn't have any noticeable VRR flicker with changing frame rates, which is fantastic. Although it has a VRR Control setting to reduce flicker, you won't need to use it, as the results are with it disabled, and using it increases the input lag.

However, like other Samsung monitors, it has scanline issues with VRR enabled. This happens with specific test patterns, as you can see here. However, this is a very specific example and isn't noticeable with real content.

The Samsung Odyssey G70B is completely flicker-free with the local dimming disabled, which helps reduce eye strain. However, the flicker is over 1000Hz when you enable local dimming, and you can see the graph here.

The Samsung Odyssey G70B has low input lag for a responsive feel at high refresh rates. While the input lag increases with 60Hz signals, it's still low enough for casual gaming. For the lowest input lag, without using the backlight strobing feature, you need to make sure you have the input label set to 'PC' and you're in Game Mode. With these settings with VRR disabled, you can only send a fixed 144Hz refresh rate, so we had to use a workaround to measure the input lag at 120Hz and 60Hz while still in Game Mode with the 'PC' input and VRR disabled. However, if you're using backlight strobing, you need to set the input label to 'Game Console' to have access to Game Mode, which allows for low input lag.

The input lag changes depending on the settings you use. You can see the different results below. Additionally, if you disable Game Mode, you can't send a 144Hz signal.

Game Mode Off - PC Mode On

• 144Hz: N/A
• 120Hz: 30.2 ms
• 60Hz: 55.4 ms
• BFI: 70.4 ms

Game Mode On - PC Mode On - Refresh Rate 144Hz

• VRR Control On: 43.6 ms
• VRR Control Off: 7.6 ms

If you want a monitor that has a consistently low input lag at any refresh rate without any issues, check out the LG 32GR93U-B.

The Samsung Odyssey G70B doesn't have any compatibility issues with the PS5, and it works perfectly with it. The Tizen OS knows it's connected to a PS5 and automatically switches the input label to 'Game Console.' You need to make sure it does because you can't send a fixed 120Hz or 60Hz signal when the input label is still set to 'PC.'

The Xbox Series X|S works perfectly with this monitor, and it supports all resolutions. Like with the PS5, the monitor automatically switches the input to 'Game Console' when you start your Xbox. Keep in mind that the Xbox doesn't support HDR with 1440p or 1080p signals, so this isn't a limitation of the monitor.

The monitor has an RJ45 Ethernet port, so you can connect it directly to the Internet for streaming. It also supports other connectivity options you'd normally find on a TV, like Wi-Fi, Bluetooth, and HDMI ARC if you want to connect a soundbar.

This monitor works well with macOS. HDR doesn't work while in Game Mode, so you have to choose between a 144Hz signal in SDR with low input lag or a 120Hz signal in HDR with higher input lag. Still, if you want to watch videos and don't mind the higher input lag, HDR looks good. There aren't any problems with VRR either. If you're using a MacBook, windows return to their normal position after waking up the laptop from sleep, but they don't return to their position when you open the lid after closing it.

This monitor comes with Samsung's proprietary Tizen smart platform built-in. It lets you stream content directly from the monitor without a computer and has built-in apps like Netflix, Amazon Prime Video, Disney+, etc. You can read more about all its features in the Smart Features section of the Samsung QN90B QLED TV review. Although it has a Multi-View feature, it isn't a true Picture-by-Picture/Picture-in-Picture mode because you can't view images from two sources at once, and instead, you can only split the screen between one external source and one built-in app.

The Samsung Odyssey G70B has other gamer-oriented features, including:

• Core Lighting: Controls the RGB lighting on the monitor.
• Game HDR: Helps increase the perceived brightness of the image in HDR.
• Game Mode: Mode needed for the lowest input lag possible.
• HDR10+ Gaming (HDR Tone Mapping): Adjusts the colors in HDR to match the creator's intent.
• Ultrawide Game View: Simulates a 21:9 aspect ratio for ultrawide gaming; you'll see black bars on the top and bottom.
• Virtual Aim Point: Adds a virtual crosshair on the screen that your PC won't detect.

Unlike other Samsung monitors, the menu uses the Tizen OS interface and looks much like the menu on TVs. You can read more about the settings with TVs here.