LG UltraGear OLED 45GX950A Review

Every once in a while, something lands on my desk that makes me stop mid sip of my sugar free V, mutter “you’ve got to be kidding,” and immediately start rearranging my entire life to accommodate it. The LG UltraGear OLED 45GX950A is precisely that kind of chaos.

You don’t look at it, you enter it. It’s curved like a racetrack, glows like a sci fi cockpit, and has enough resolution to make your eyes question whether reality has been rendered incorrectly this whole time. LG calls it a gaming monitor. I call it an existential threat to your wallet and your free time.

The moment you power it on, you can practically hear it humming, “Go on, I dare you.” Everything about this thing screams overkill, 5K2K resolution, a refresh rate faster than most people can blink, and a response time that borders on witchcraft. It’s not built for people who want to play games. It’s built for people who live in them.

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Design and Build – A Screen That Eats Desks for Breakfast

The first thing you realise about the LG UltraGear OLED 45GX950A is that it doesn’t sit on your desk. It devours it. You clear space, measure twice, push your speakers aside, and still end up wondering if your desk has shrunk. The 800R curve is so aggressive it feels like the screen is trying to give you a hug, or possibly stage a coup against your entire workspace.

For context, my setup is on an Omnidesk Ascent L, which measures a fairly hefty 153 cm by 76 cm, and this thing still dominates it. The stand is a sturdy, industrial looking slab that screams “don’t even think about moving me.” Once you plant it, you don’t so much as adjust it, you make peace with its presence.

A few things to note:
• If you’ve got bookshelf speakers, they’ll likely vanish behind its wingspan.
• Shallow desks are the enemy, this screen demands depth.
• You’ll probably end up rearranging your entire setup, including where your PC sits.

The sheer curvature means the far ends of the monitor jut out towards you like the prow of a ship. It’s cinematic, immersive, and slightly intimidating. Every time you sit down, you feel like you’re about to launch a mission rather than open Excel.

If you want to reclaim some desk space, the VESA mount is your best friend. Stick this monster on an arm and you can shove it right back against the wall, freeing enough real estate for, well, actual work, or more snacks, whichever matters more.

It demands respect, a deep desk, and preferably a reinforced floor.

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Display and Visuals – Retina Melting Resolution

If last year’s UltraGear looked sharp, this new LG UltraGear OLED 45GX950A makes it seem like you’d been staring through cling wrap. LG has gone from 1440p to a full blown 5K2K resolution, and the difference is like swapping your prescription glasses for a telescope. Text finally looks crisp instead of fuzzy, colours leap off the panel, and every tiny detail in a game or photo practically screams for attention.

The improved OLED panel is nothing short of sorcery. Blacks are so deep they could swallow light itself, while HDR now pops with just the right amount of drama, fire, neon signs, or even a dull spreadsheet all look richer, moodier, and far more alive than they have any right to be.

Here’s where you’ll really notice it:
• Pixel density has jumped from a slightly tragic 84 PPI to a razor sharp 125 PPI, making long hours of text editing or design work actually enjoyable.
• Brightness and contrast are beautifully balanced, meaning no washed out whites or blown out highlights.
• Colour accuracy feels studio grade, which is bad news for anyone trying to blame their monitor for bad editing.

With the 800R curve, the entire field of view wraps naturally around you. You’re not scanning left and right like you’re watching a tennis match, everything feels in reach, perfectly angled toward your eyes. Even at the edges, the text stays sharp and clean, something previous ultrawides often struggled with.

For productivity, it’s an absolute dream. Multiple windows open side by side without squinting or scrolling. For gaming, it’s a sensory overload of perfection. The only downside is you’ll never look at another monitor the same way again.

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Performance and Gaming – When Power Meets Overkill

This is where the LG UltraGear OLED 45GX950A stops being a display and starts behaving like a show off. The specs alone sound like they were dreamed up by a caffeinated engineer at 3 a.m., 165 Hz at 5K2K, or an absurd 330 Hz in Dual Mode. And that 0.03 millisecond response time? It’s so fast that you start to question whether it’s predicting your next move rather than reacting to it.

Plug this into a proper gaming rig and it’s like watching reality get upgraded in real time. Every flick, dodge, or reload happens with instantaneous precision. There’s zero ghosting, no smear, no lag, just smooth, buttery chaos rendered in perfect fidelity. But, of course, that level of smoothness comes with a catch, your GPU will cry for mercy.

A few cold truths:
• To truly flex this monitor, you need at least an RTX 4090, or better yet, the new 5080 or 5090 cards.
• Anything less and you’re just teasing yourself, you’ll still get a gorgeous image, but not the full hit.
• Think of it like owning a Ferrari and never finding a straight road to floor it.

Even when downscaling, it still performs admirably. On something like a 3090, you can happily sit at 4K with 60 FPS, which still looks sublime. And that’s the beauty of it, it scales gracefully. You can’t say that about most ultra high end panels that fall apart the moment you sneeze at the settings menu.

Then there’s LG’s Dual Mode, which feels like a built in cheat code. One press, and you jump from 5K2K 165 Hz down to 1080p 330 Hz, perfect for twitchy shooters like Valorant or CS2, where raw frame rate trumps pixel count. In practice, it feels like two completely different monitors stuffed into one chassis.

And no matter the setting, that OLED magic never wavers. The blacks stay black, the colours stay violent, and the experience stays ridiculous. You don’t just play games on this thing, you live in them.

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Dual Mode Technology – Two Screens in One Beast

This is where LG basically decided that one absurdly powerful display wasn’t enough, so they crammed in two. The LG UltraGear OLED 45GX950A’s Dual Mode Technology lets you flick between 5K2K at 165 Hz and 1080p at 330 Hz, which is like choosing between a cinematic masterpiece and a caffeine fuelled esports blur.

In 5K2K mode, it’s all about immersion. Every pixel is crisp, every texture has weight, and the world feels properly alive. Then you hit the toggle, either through the LG Switch software, the on screen menu, or a custom hotkey, and suddenly you’ve teleported into competitive heaven. The resolution drops, but the responsiveness skyrockets. Mouse movement feels so instant it’s almost telepathic.

A few handy things worth knowing:
• The switch happens instantly, and your PC treats it like you’ve plugged in a whole new monitor.
• You can even pick from eight aspect ratio presets, including 16:9 options for games that throw tantrums at ultrawide setups.
• Competitive titles like Valorant, Overwatch 2, or CS2 feel absurdly fluid in 1080p 330 Hz mode.

The real trick here is how seamless it all feels. It’s not some gimmicky setting buried in a menu, it’s fast, practical, and genuinely useful. For work, editing, or watching films, that 5K2K mode is glorious. For late night ranked matches, you just flick it over and watch your reflexes suddenly seem Olympic.

It’s a rare bit of tech that doesn’t just say it’s versatile, it actually is. LG has effectively built two elite monitors into one hulking OLED frame. It’s ridiculous, it’s over engineered, and it’s absolutely brilliant.

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Curve and Immersion – Wrapped Around Your Head Like a Race Helmet

If you’ve ever wanted to feel like your monitor is trying to physically absorb you, the 800R curve on the LG UltraGear OLED 45GX950A will do the trick. It’s so aggressive that it almost feels illegal. Sit at the proper distance, around 80 centimetres, and the edges of the screen are the same distance from your eyes as the centre. The effect is both eerie and mesmerising, like sitting inside a digital cocoon that happens to also be really, really expensive.

Once you’re in position, everything starts to click.
• Mini maps? Instantly visible, no head turning required.
• Peripheral action? Right there in your line of sight.
• Movie scenes or racing games? Completely engulfing, to the point you’ll forget where your real world walls are.

The curve fundamentally changes how you see and feel everything on screen. It gives games this sense of depth and motion that’s impossible to replicate on flat panels. Even mundane stuff like spreadsheets or photo editing becomes strangely satisfying, because the whole workspace bends naturally around you.

And honestly, I think this might be one of the best monitors you could possibly use for a sim setup. Whether you’re hammering through Spa in Assetto Corsa or flying low over the Alps in Microsoft Flight Simulator, that curvature makes you feel like you’re actually in the cockpit. The sides of the display practically wrap around your vision, giving you that perfect sense of speed and immersion without needing to spend thousands on a triple screen rig.

Of course, there’s a downside. That glorious wraparound shape means it sticks out, a lot. If your desk isn’t deep, the monitor will practically crawl into your lap. Mounting it on an arm fixes most of that, but there’s no getting around the fact that this display is as subtle as a V8 doing a burnout in a cul de sac.

But when you fire up a game and the world curves to meet your vision, all is forgiven. You stop noticing the size, the overhang, the cost. You’re just there, helmet on, heart racing, screen wrapped tight around your imagination. It’s pure, immersive lunacy, and it’s wonderful.

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Connectivity – Everything and the Kitchen Sink

The LG UltraGear 45GX950A doesn’t mess about when it comes to connectivity. It’s like LG sat down and said, “Right, what if someone wanted to plug in everything?” and then just went ahead and made it happen.

On the back, you’ll find a smorgasbord of ports, DisplayPort 2.1, HDMI 2.1, and a USB C port that pumps out 90W of power delivery, enough to charge a laptop while running full 5K2K video. It’s an all in one solution that makes cable management slightly less of a nightmare and your desk setup infinitely cleaner.

Here’s the important bit:
• That USB C port means a single cable setup for MacBook users, power, display, and data all at once.
• HDMI 2.1 ensures next gen consoles like the PS5 or Xbox Series X run at their full glory (though let’s be honest, this monitor is total overkill for them).
• DisplayPort 2.1 is where the magic really happens, letting your PC stretch its legs at 5K2K 165 Hz without compromise.

If you’re the kind of person who splits their time between productivity and gaming, this is about as future proof as it gets. No dongles, no weird adapters, no compromises, just a beautiful OLED panel ready for whatever you plug into it.

It’s the digital equivalent of walking into a garage and finding not just a Ferrari, but a full tool kit, a lift, and a spare engine waiting for you. LG didn’t cut corners here. They built a monitor that laughs in the face of “limited compatibility.”

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Productivity and Everyday Use – The Office, But Better Looking

For something designed to melt your eyeballs in Cyberpunk 2077, the LG UltraGear OLED 45GX950A is shockingly good at getting real work done. Fire up your email, editing suite, or code window, and it suddenly feels like you’ve been handed the command deck of a spaceship. The sheer screen real estate is ridiculous, you can have three, even four full size windows open side by side, each still perfectly readable and pin sharp.

It’s here that the jump to 5K2K really pays off. Text looks as crisp as laser engraving, and your eyes don’t feel like they’re doing a marathon after a long day. The 125 PPI pixel density makes every font razor sharp, and the OLED panel adds that subtle glow to white backgrounds that makes spreadsheets, of all things, look almost… luxurious.

Some quick wins worth noting:
• Multitasking heaven: You can write, design, and monitor social feeds all at once without window juggling.
• Creative work shines: Photo editing and colour grading benefit massively from OLED accuracy.
• Ergonomics done right: That 800R curve reduces head movement and eye strain.

Even the HDR support adds a strange kind of beauty to everyday use. A white document background isn’t just bright, it’s pure, with just enough contrast to make everything feel tangible. It’s the kind of screen that makes you want to organise your desktop folders just because it all looks too nice to leave messy.

Then there’s the practicality of the USB C 90W power delivery. Plug in your laptop, and that’s it, charging, video, audio, all done through one sleek cable. No mess, no adapters, no clutter.

It’s fair to say this monitor turns boring work into a bit of theatre. Even responding to emails starts to feel like you’re manning mission control. You sit down with a coffee, screens curve around you, and suddenly even Outlook feels dramatic. It’s overkill, absolutely, but once you’ve tasted this level of clarity and space, every other monitor feels like a toy.

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Verdict – The Endgame Display

So, after weeks of living with the LG UltraGear OLED 45GX950A, here’s the blunt truth, it’s outrageous, unnecessary, and completely magnificent. It’s the final boss of gaming displays. It doesn’t care about practicality or price tags, it exists purely to make you grin like a maniac every time you power it on.

Every part of this screen feels turned up to eleven. The 5K2K resolution makes your desktop look like a window into another dimension. The 165 Hz refresh rate keeps everything smoother than a politician’s promise, while Dual Mode at 330 Hz turns competitive shooters into an exercise in pure reflex. The OLED panel delivers blacks so deep they could hide state secrets, and that 800R curve wraps you in so tight, you’ll swear you can feel the G forces.

Let’s be honest, though, it’s not cheap. And it’s not subtle. You’ll need a desk the size of a dining table and a GPU that could power a small village. But if you’re the kind of person who wants the best, and doesn’t apologise for it, this is the screen you buy. It’s for those who want to see every pixel, every shadow, every flicker of motion in glorious, over engineered perfection.

From productivity to gaming to full on cockpit level immersion, the GX950A handles it all without breaking a sweat. It’s not flawless, but it’s so close you’ll forgive it for blocking your speakers and stealing half your desk.

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Would We Buy It

Yes. In fact, we’d buy it twice if our accountants would stop crying. The LG UltraGear OLED 45GX950A isn’t just good, it’s absurdly good. It’s one of those rare bits of tech that genuinely changes how you experience games, movies, and even work.

Sure, it’s pricey, it eats desks for breakfast, and it demands a GPU so powerful it could probably open a wormhole. But when you see that 5K2K OLED panel light up for the first time, every excuse evaporates. You stop thinking about cost and start thinking about which game to completely lose yourself in next.

So yes, we’d buy it. Proudly. Recklessly. Probably while whispering apologies to our bank accounts. Because it’s the one you’ll measure all others against for years.