LG 38GL950G - 3840x1600/G-Sync/144Hz

[Thysanoptera]

Ya, very odd. Only way I can hear my fan is if I put my ear up to the back of the monitor and I'm a pilot that gets hearing tests done every year with great results. I also keep my room pretty cool, ~19C so maybe that also keeps the fan RPM down.

Again, it is not loud, but it is distinct. Here are couple of screenshots, maybe that will explain it better, taken in noisy environment (AC running full blast), green lines are instantaneous so they move a lot, the magenta is averaged :

Noise measured at the top vent:


Noise measured at arms length, where I sit:


Monitor off, same position as above:


That spike at 6k in the middle picture is what causing me headaches. Objectively, this monitor is not loud at all, but it is annoying as hell. Like a fly in a bedroom when you're trying to sleep.It is not like I'm imagining things here, it is clearly visible in the graph.

Since you're a pilot, do they ever give you some kind of a chart showing how you respond to different frequencies, or is this just pass/fail type of test? Could you open the service menu and check what is your die temperature?

 

[ghj3e456]

Again, it is not loud, but it is distinct. Here are couple of screenshots, maybe that will explain it better, taken in noisy environment (AC running full blast), green lines are instantaneous so they move a lot, the magenta is averaged :

Noise measured at the top vent:


Noise measured at arms length, where I sit:


Monitor off, same position as above:


That spike at 6k in the middle picture is what causing me headaches. Objectively, this monitor is not loud at all, but it is annoying as hell. Like a fly in a bedroom when you're trying to sleep.It is not like I'm imagining things here, it is clearly visible in the graph.

Since you're a pilot, do they ever give you some kind of a chart showing how you respond to different frequencies, or is this just pass/fail type of test? Could you open the service menu and check what is your die temperature?

Thanks for trying to measure this. I agree, to me the monitor is not necessarily loud but very annoying especially since I've geared my PC to run well at near-silent if I choose. BTW turning on deep-sleep turned my hissing off at night in case you also literally meant noise while you're trying to sleep. Can we differentiate the monitor hissing from the AC noise here? Could you do back-to-back tests with and without the AC or am I missing the point?

 

[Thysanoptera]

Thanks for trying to measure this. I agree, to me the monitor is not necessarily loud but very annoying especially since I've geared my PC to run well at near-silent if I choose. BTW turning on deep-sleep turned my hissing off at night in case you also literally meant noise while you're trying to sleep. Can we differentiate the monitor hissing from the AC noise here? Could you do back-to-back tests with and without the AC or am I missing the point?

I have deep sleep on, but that messes up with gsync and signal processing, after waking up (the monitor) I have to turn it off and on again to restore gsync, 144Hz and get rid of something that looks like static ghosting around pixels.

I wanted to show how that stands out over background noise, so with AC on, you can see the hissing clearly at 6kHz, where the red cursor line is. If I turn AC off this will be just more pronounced, I can do it later today, at night.

 

[ghj3e456]

Got some preliminary news for y'all. I replaced the GL with the GN and there's still a hissing noise coming from the monitor! I'm going to give it a few hours but maybe there's still a small fan on a sync module in there that constantly spinning and the GN just lacks the 2nd, blower-style fan.

edit: no fan noise. I'm going to take apart the GN to look inside out of curiosity but I think the hissing I was hearing this time was coil whine from my GPU at 100% load.

 

[Cavallino]

Picture not showing?

Also... are you sure about the noise?

(The words... "Are you frikkin kidding me?" come to mind...)

 

[Tephnos]

I haven't heard a single owner of a 38GN talk about a noise coming from it at all.

You have something really weird going on. There is no reason for a fan to be present in the Freesync Premium monitors, none of the others do.

 

[Thysanoptera]

Got some preliminary news for y'all. I replaced the GL with the GN and there's still a hissing noise coming from the monitor!

Can you open service menu, there is option "aging" on GL at least, it would ramp up the fan and display its speed. On my GL it shows values only for the gsync fan, the blower is not visible in that menu. You should hear it really loud, maybe post a picture of it.

 

[ghj3e456]

Can you open service menu, there is option "aging" on GL at least, it would ramp up the fan and display its speed. On my GL it shows values only for the gsync fan, the blower is not visible in that menu. You should hear it really loud, maybe post a picture of it.

Before I unmounted the GL I used your instructions to get into service menu, my die temp was around 55c non gaming, ~60C or so when gaming, either way hissing sound present. During that time I accidentally selected 'aging' and had the fans ramp up and it was the first time I had heard the side, blower fan come on; it's very loud! I wonder if some of the 38GL fan complaints I've read were from these blower fans coming on. Anyway I'm willing to activate the Service Menu on my 38GN if you could also instruct me how to turn it off I couldn't turn it off on the GL; the best I could do is reduce it to a smaller, floating status box that traveled around the borders.

I'm thinking about taking the GN apart and taking photos. Might as well use my disassembly skills while they're fresh.

 

[Thysanoptera]

Anyway I'm willing to activate the Service Menu on my 38GN if you could also instruct me how to turn it off I couldn't turn it off on the GL; the best I could do is reduce it to a smaller, floating status box that traveled around the borders.

You just need to open settings and push that "aging" item again, it will turn it off, it is an on/off button, exactly the same way as to turn it on. Your temps are almost the same as mine, I wonder if those who don't hear anything are below 50C threshold.

 

[mlkmade]

Does the GL have just as crappy of a stand as the GN? holy geez this is a joke for a $1600 item!

 

[ghj3e456]

Does the GL have just as crappy of a stand as the GN? holy geez this is a joke for a $1600 item!

took some side by side photos I can share. The GL base looks thicker and weights 50% more than the GN base. Did you mean the vertical column too?

 

[JediFragger]

GL base is pretty solid imo.

 

[Cavallino]

WOuld love to see the wobbliness of the base!

 

[lugerfield]

I've tested the 38GN950. My main concerns about this monitor are the flickering with active local dimming enabled, the overshoot below 120 Hz with default overdrive and the lack of smoothness within the free-sync range.

Also an old AW3418DW is smoother. Here we go again. No gsync module has a lot drawbacks. But the LG 38GL950G is unacceptable by making buzzing sounds. So whats our next step? The Samsung G9 with a tone overshoot and flickering as well?

Or should we use beside of the coil whining 38GL950G a second monitor? I dont know.

 

[Cavallino]

Lugerfield please can you explain your post? I’m interested to understand what you mean by the flickering. What kind of flickering?

You reckon the Gsync module takes care of it?

 

[lugerfield]

Its flickering if local dimming is enabled. So the hdr function of the monitor is for nothing.

 

[Tephnos]

HDR is meh for me, but what's the default overdrive? Fast? If so, similar to the 34GN that rtings tested then where they recommend normal. Annoyingly, LG locked overdrive to fast in sRGB mode, but you can override that in the service menu at least (and specifically calibrate overdrive from 0-255 levels to dial it in perfectly).

The gsync thing is weird though, as someone in this thread (or another one specific to this panel, forget which) specifically tested both kinds of monitors and found no perceptible difference between them - so why do you and not him?

Edit: found it: https://forums.overclockers.co.uk/posts/33721402

Are you having large framerate oscillations?

 

[IIISLIDEIII]

I confirm, indeed, if I have to be honest I see more fluidity in the 34GN (compatible gsync) than in the 34GK950G (gsync module), also I do not see any overshoot around the minimum fps that I do (100-120fps), both with overdrive on fast or normal. Not what to say for different experiences, each monitor can be different? I do not know. Maybe 38GN works differently (worse) than 34GN, I don't know, but I don't think.

 

[Rock]

Looks like one of your LCD panel bonded tabs may have shorted out. The tabs connect the LCD panel to the driver board for communications purposes.

I believe so, that sounds similar to what the support person said to me while confirming my details for a replacement, which arrived today - so refreshing after being on a 24” 1080p for the last 2 weeks

 

[ghj3e456]

I've returned my first 2 GL's because of the fan hissing and need to soon decide between the 3rd GL and a GN. Today I noticed this black smudge on my 38GN. I don't know what kind of defect this is but I guess I'll be returning the GN to costco and moving ahead with attempted fan/heatsink mod for the GL.