Samsung 24" and 27" CFG70 144 Hz / 34" CF791 100Hz VA FreeSync

[Toss3]

We have being playing with them for a few weeks, but have had to keep our lips sealed.

But in short the VA, 1ms, Quantum DOT, 144Hz is an absolute master piece. We also have a model not shown here which were not allowed to mention yet but oh my god, it is without doubt the best freaking monitor I have ever used.

The Quantum DOT makes colours and sharpness absolutely stunning, without looking over-saturated. We have three of them here on long term test to help with Samsung's fine tuning for gaming, in short the guys here absolutely love them, other monitors simply cannot match the colour or sharpness particular on fast moving scenes.

You guys will be impressed, particular with a model coming in January.

The models you see here shall be on sale if all goes well by end of this week.

Is it a true 10-bit panel, or 8-bit with dithering?

 

[justbeingmiko]

I need that 34" in my life!! Just hope I can decide on which GPU to run it in time. Was hoping to hold out until Vega announcement, as this is Freesync....

 

[Panos]

We are trying to get an introductory price, but 1k will be regular price yes, but pushing for lower for first batch, will do my best.

But its worth 1k all day long, it is simply better than anything else out there:

100Hz guaranteed
Advertised as 4ms, but it reacts more like 1ms
Low input lag
Quantum Dot
3440x1440
1500R curve
sRGB 125%
FREESYNC

Even better an RX 480 and Fury power it absolutely fine, FREESYNC works very well, requested to know the freesync range but an RX 480 and Fury are silky smooth in pretty much all games maxed out at native resolution which is very impressive.

Gibbo, calling dibs to the first one I will come and collect also, even if I am 4h round trip away. Just to save you the courier costs

Sold the 1080, Nano is back already........ my PC and my wallet are prepared......

 

[Secret_Window]

I don't care for freesync, but a VA panel and 144hz looks interesting.

 

[Wulfster]

I don't care for freesync, but a VA panel and 144hz looks interesting.

G sync variants will be following next year. http://www.pcgamesn.com/samsung/samsung-quantum-dot-gsync

Best

Wulf

 

[BlazeGaming]

Response time on the ones we have here is absolutely brilliant including the big 34" monster which in short is the best monitor I have ever witnessed.

I am on the verge of buying a Asus PG348Q because there is a good deal that expires on the 16th in my country. I really wanted to wait for the Samsung 34 inch but with all these reports of purple artifacting on dark colours I'm afraid its not worth the wait. Could you please confirm if your CF791 suffers from the same issues? Would really help me in taking a good decision.

 

[pmc25]

Well, I've taken the plunge.

A unit should be arriving tomorrow.

Read a few decent reviews which suggest this is one of the most responsive panels ever on partial transitions (not 100-0 or 0-100) and more than competitive at full transitions. They also suggest that the latest firmware update(s) have largely eliminated the colour shifts that were occurring.

Will post my thoughts.

 

[1Deep]

Got mine a couple of days ago, seems great so far but I've not tested for the purple issue.

In general use and some light gaming it's been brilliant, no BLB.

Be good to hear your thoughts pmc25. Mine's an October build by the way, direct from Samsung.

 

[Nerusy]

For the 34" CF791 3440×1440 model ocuk website says that there is are no speakers built in but Samsung website says there are "Dual 7-watt speakers embedded into the display".

Slightly different models or is the ocuk description incorrect?

 

[Benny144]

I have met with the product engineers in Korea, we have expressed the need for 2560x1440P 144Hz 1ms VA G-SYNC and FREESYNC 27" curved and flat models. They have said they understand and it should/will happen, but be a few months.

Response time on the ones we have here is absolutely brilliant including the big 34" monster which in short is the best monitor I have ever witnessed.

1440P 27" 144Hz 1ms VA Free Sync!! Give it to me now!! D:

 

[pmc25]

Well, I have my CFG2470 set up now.

Firstly, the good:

- Excellent contrast
- Good colour accuracy
- Very responsive. Feels more so than plenty of 144Hz TN panels I've used (as the Dutch review suggested).
- Very, very little colour shift.
- The purple overshoot, if that's what it is, is rare and limited in my later hardware / firmware version.

The (very) bad:

- Impossible to disable the strobing backlight when at 120 or 144Hz (unless using FreeSync).
- The above means abominable, headache inducing flicker.
- Brightness is also locked when in this mode, to an eye bleeding level.
- Workaround for the above by hugely reducing contrast, but then why would you get a VA monitor if you have to operate it in a low contrast mode.


In short, for me, the product is unusable, and far worse than the terrible response times (for some transitions) and colour shift on the 24" Sharp 120Hz VA and AUO 35" 144Hz VA panels.

If you could disable the strobe and adjust the brightness level at 144Hz, it'd be hands down the best monitor I've ever used. As you can't, it's an absolute piece of ****.

I understand defaults, but not giving the option? It's inexcusable. The hardware is in my view the best on the market. But the soft/firmware decisions made mean it's just horrible to use.

 

[pmc25]

P.S. The strobe is actually tied to using the faster or fastest response time settings at high refresh rate. But if you put it in normal responsiveness mode, then you get poor responsiveness (too poor for 100-144Hz).

Also, even though the strobe may be turned off in Freesync mode, you still can't control brightness. Further, the strobe only appears to turn off when you actually engage Freesync in Radeon Control Panel, not by just turning it on, on the monitor ... or maybe my eyes are just borked by this stage and I can't see properly any more.

The settings are an absolute *********** on this monitor.

 

[pmc25]

One further thing ... surely there has to be some kind of directive which forces them to warn people they're using a strobe, if you can't disable it? I would imagine it would have a less than positive effect on epileptics ...

 

[pmc25]

Also, to give an idea of how bright the locked brightness is. If you're familiar with many of the TN monitors that come with default brightness set to 100, but need to be set at 25-35 to be usable, the locked brightness on a white screen feels like it's close to the 100 of those TN panels. You need sunglasses to view documents or white web pages.

 

[southernorth]

Also, to give an idea of how bright the locked brightness is. If you're familiar with many of the TN monitors that come with default brightness set to 100, but need to be set at 25-35 to be usable, the locked brightness on a white screen feels like it's close to the 100 of those TN panels. You need sunglasses to view documents or white web pages.

I had a similar issue with a 144hz VA panel, also made by Samsung. The Samsung and my monitor are advertised as flicker-free but I also got terrible headaches. I could never work out specifically what was causing the issue, even after fiddling with many many settings.

 

[pmc25]

I had a similar issue with a 144hz VA panel, also made by Samsung. The Samsung and my monitor are advertised as flicker-free but I also got terrible headaches. I could never work out specifically what was causing the issue, even after fiddling with many many settings.

These are the first Samsung 144Hz VA panels. The other ones are AUO, as would yours have been. I didn't get headaches so much, but my eyes felt very weird after using said panels and the Sharp 24" 120Hz one, I think due to the huge disparity in response times which led to very strange motion. Plus there was enormous colour shift on both. This panel has absolutely no problems with either. I doubt your monitor, whatever it was, had a locked (and over-bright) brightness level.

But, as far as I'm aware, this is the first monitor that forces you to use a strobe at its designed refresh rate (rather than as an option to decrease motion blur at designed or overclocked refresh rates).

 

[southernorth]

These are the first Samsung 144Hz VA panels. The other ones are AUO, as would yours have been. I didn't get headaches so much, but my eyes felt very weird after using said panels and the Sharp 24" 120Hz one, I think due to the huge disparity in response times which led to very strange motion. Plus there was enormous colour shift on both. This panel has absolutely no problems with either. I doubt your monitor, whatever it was, had a locked (and over-bright) brightness level.

But, as far as I'm aware, this is the first monitor that forces you to use a strobe at its designed refresh rate (rather than as an option to decrease motion blur at designed or overclocked refresh rates).

Look up Acer xz271and z271, they use VA 144HZ Samsung panels

Samsung LTM270HP02 SVA (Vertical Alignment type) technology panel

http://www.tftcentral.co.uk/reviews/acer_predator_z271.htm

 

[pmc25]

Look up Acer xz271and z271, they use VA 144HZ Samsung panels

Samsung LTM270HP02 SVA (Vertical Alignment type) technology panel

http://www.tftcentral.co.uk/reviews/acer_predator_z271.htm

Hadn't realised that monitors from other companies had made it to market based on this panel. Guessing they have the same basic firmware as Samsung, with a different front end, so that probably explains it.

 

[southernorth]

Hadn't realised that monitors from other companies had made it to market based on this panel. Guessing they have the same basic firmware as Samsung, with a different front end, so that probably explains it.

Yeah. Is a shame that Samsung is keeping all the 24in panels for themselves (I understand why). Maybe competitor would offer better examples.

 

[pmc25]

Found a pretty major issue with design.

The adapter for the power brick is not removable.

It's supplied with both a UK and EU adapter, the former was loose in the bottom of my box so thought they hadn't included one, and used a second adapter for EU > UK initially. On trying to remove the EU one, it appears that it's permanently locked. Trying to pry it off with the blade of a screwdriver just destroyed the fascia of the brick.

Called a friend who also received a unit - they're running their unit at 60Hz / Normal outside of gaming to avoid the brightness / strobe issues - and asked if they could remove their adapter. They confirmed that theirs was locked on and not removable either.

Just WHYYYYYYYY, like the no option to disable strobe ...