LG 38UC99 - 37.5'' 24:10 3840x1600 75Hz IPS FreeSync Strobing Backlight

andrewtech · 31 Oct 2016 at 21:23

dog2_99 said:
I see it now shows as in stock

Yep, shipped here for me Today, so hopefully should arrive Tomorrow. Be interesting to compare it to the 34um95.

andrewtech · 1 Nov 2016 at 12:33

Turned up safe and sound Today and I must say dam this is a nice screen. Still testing it out but a massive big improvement for me is on my 34um95 when I switched from 780ti sli to 980ti sli I always had the black screen bug when booting on cold boot. I'm please to say this monitor does display Bios from cold boot. Ran a quick heaven benchmark and dropped 400 points but I was expecting that. I remember when I went from 2560 x 180 to 3440 x 1440 I dropped 1500 points back in the day so there is some perf hit. Glad now I didn't go to 4K but ran benchmarks in the games I play and all of them are hitting above 60fps. So yeah I'm really really happy. Also I'm glad to see DP 1.2 fully works on this monitor so for me, this is a more refined 34um95. One thing to note yes it is a tad bit of a darker panel, but nothing noticeable and not enough of a negative for me to return it.

A few pics for you

http://imgur.com/lqIsOh3

http://imgur.com/BcDAeLt

Also worth noting so far no image retention and for me response times are on par with the 34um95.

This is not a conclusive review, and I have not been exposed to gaming monitors as such, so for me the 38uc99 is a perfect upgrade for the 34um95

Daniel - LG · 1 Nov 2016 at 12:43

Hi andrewtech,

glad you are happy with the upgrade

be interested to see your thoughts once you have been using it for a few days?

old gamer · 1 Nov 2016 at 12:50

andrewtech said:
Turned up safe and sound Today and I must say dam this is a nice screen. Still testing it out but a massive big improvement for me is on my 34um95 when I switched from 780ti sli to 980ti sli I always had the black screen bug when booting on cold boot. I'm please to say this monitor does display Bios from cold boot. Ran a quick heaven benchmark and dropped 400 points but I was expecting that. I remember when I went from 2560 x 180 to 3440 x 1440 I dropped 1500 points back in the day so there is some perf hit. Glad now I didn't go to 4K but ran benchmarks in the games I play and all of them are hitting above 60fps. So yeah I'm really really happy. Also I'm glad to see DP 1.2 fully works on this monitor so for me, this is a more refined 34um95. One thing to note yes it is a tad bit of a darker panel, but nothing noticeable and not enough of a negative for me to return it.

A few pics for you

http://imgur.com/lqIsOh3

http://imgur.com/BcDAeLt

Also worth noting so far no image retention and for me response times are on par with the 34um95.

This is not a conclusive review, and I have not been exposed to gaming monitors as such, so for me the 38uc99 is a perfect upgrade for the 34um95

I found it a bit strange at first gaming, but completely used to it now

Daniel - LG · 1 Nov 2016 at 17:32

Appreciate all feedback from those lucky owners! I want one myself

andrewtech · 1 Nov 2016 at 18:05

Daniel - LG said:
Hi andrewtech,

glad you are happy with the upgrade

be interested to see your thoughts once you have been using it for a few days?

Yeah be happy to give a more conclusive review. So far nothing bad to say about it, really impressed how QC seems to have improved and this monitor just works out the box. My 34um95 did as well but it was one of the first rev and never really worked with DP 1.2 properly. Also occasionally has the weird issue where you get a split line down the middle for a fraction of a second.

The 38UC99 has no issues so far and glad I purchased it. Id like to think in 3 years when I purchase the next monitor that we have 1280 ti gpus and 5K ultra wide 5120 × 2880 monitors. I wouldn't advise LG to go any bigger than 38 inches, this monitor is spot on in size / proportions.

old gamer · 1 Nov 2016 at 18:40

I would agree there, I don't think I would want bigger than 38", I've disabled freesync by enabling anti blur motion and quite like it for fast paced games like cs go

andrewtech · 1 Nov 2016 at 23:57

old gamer said:
I would agree there, I don't think I would want bigger than 38", I've disabled freesync by enabling anti blur motion and quite like it for fast paced games like cs go

Are you using the LG software by any chance ? have not installed it yet but just wondering if its worth it ? also I cant for the life of me find where freesync is in the monitor on screen menus

old gamer · 2 Nov 2016 at 09:10

andrewtech said:
Are you using the LG software by any chance ? have not installed it yet but just wondering if its worth it ? also I cant for the life of me find where freesync is in the monitor on screen menus

no the software disc is on the desk waiting, not sure whats on it, i think its for split screen modes.

i will have a look later at the menu, one screen has freesync on/off and just below it there is the option for anti blur which when enabled automatically turns off freesync

dog2_99 · 2 Nov 2016 at 09:13

Mine will come on Saturday and i cant wait. What graphics cards are you all using to drive it?

Whilst gaming is not my focus I am tempted to upgrade my PC, I was leaning towards an AMD card to get the most of the 75hz but their offers are a little weak at this res (until 490 comes out); a 1080 would be best right?

Baddass · 2 Nov 2016 at 09:23

old gamer said:
no the software disc is on the desk waiting, not sure whats on it, i think its for split screen modes.

i will have a look later at the menu, one screen has freesync on/off and just below it there is the option for anti blur which when enabled automatically turns off freesync

you can control the other OSD settings from it as well, so may be a quicker way to be switching blur reduction on and off. didn't really look at it much myself

roysters · 2 Nov 2016 at 13:12

shame this isnt GSYNC, as i recently got a 1080, otherwise I definitely would have bought this.

Shame.

dog2_99 · 2 Nov 2016 at 13:38

Am i right in the thinking that you can still hit 75hz with the 1080 using the Motion Blur function?

I may have misread?

http://www.tftcentral.co.uk/reviews/lg_38uc99.htm

Spuddy · 2 Nov 2016 at 14:47

dog2_99 said:
Am i right in the thinking that you can still hit 75hz with the 1080 using the Motion Blur function?

I may have misread?

http://www.tftcentral.co.uk/reviews/lg_38uc99.htm

Yes thats correct, but there will be some noticeable strobing to the naked eye. BUT it wont drop any frames and stutter.

Id rather not have strobing tbh, depends how sensitive you are to it.

dog2_99 · 2 Nov 2016 at 14:56

Spuddy said:
Yes thats correct, but there will be some noticeable strobing to the naked eye. BUT it wont drop any frames and stutter.

Id rather not have strobing tbh, depends how sensitive you are to it.

ok, understood.

I am not that fussed about the gaming side, so if i did decide to go for a 1080 i doubt i would notice/miss the extra 15hz

old gamer · 2 Nov 2016 at 15:39

I thought blur reduction and strobing were two different things, but I've not looked to much into it tbh

Baddass · 2 Nov 2016 at 16:54

old gamer said:
I thought blur reduction and strobing were two different things, but I've not looked to much into it tbh

no, they're one and the same. The "1ms Blur Reduction mode" on the 38UC99 and other new LG monitors is basically a strobing backlight, similar to other strobe systems like ULMB, BenQ's Blur Reduction, Turbo 240 and other names you might see for essentially the same thing.

On the 38UC99 it operates at a fixed 75Hz and will work from NVIDIA and AMD systems without resulting in dropped frames etc. it works pretty well and does a nice job of reducing perceived motion blur in moving content. Tracking of moving images is easier and they look sharper and clearer. The only issue is that at 75Hz frequency the strobing can be fairly noticeable to some people and may introduce some flicker. Certainly visible on desktop (but you wouldnt want to use the feature there anyway!) but maybe less so in fast moving games. Most other screens with blur reduction strobe backlights will only offer it at 85Hz and above, with it being synced to the refresh rate. Typically the higher the supported refresh rate the better as it helps to avoid any noticeable flicker

old gamer · 2 Nov 2016 at 17:23

Can't say I've seen any flicker but could this be down to me using a amd card, I wish I had a 1080 to try to see if it made any difference to me

UberTiger · 2 Nov 2016 at 17:48

andrewtech said:
I wouldn't advise LG to go any bigger than 38 inches, this monitor is spot on in size / proportions.

I had the 40" non-curved Philips and got rid of it as it was too big for me.

Glad to hear it sounds like 38" curved might be the sweet spot.

Watching this thread to see how it pans out

Smurfin · 2 Nov 2016 at 18:09

UberTiger said:
I had the 40" non-curved Philips and got rid of it as it was too big for me.

Glad to hear it sounds like 38" curved might be the sweet spot.

Watching this thread to see how it pans out

Same here! Bought an Acer X34 Predator and haven't looked back, 40" 16:9 on your desk is just too big for day to day work.