3D Gaming is a phrase I haven’t heard in a very long time, yet here we are with the new Samsung Odyssey 3D G90XF, a 4K PC monitor that promises to finally bring high quality 3D gaming to the masses. This may sound far-fetched, but after seeing objects shoot off the screen and fly by my face in real time, I can confidently say Samsung has delivered.
The Odyssey 3D G90XF is a genuine leap off your screen, portal into another dimension that sucked me into my favorite games in a way no Mini LED or OLED ever has. During my time reviewing it, I was reminded of my first experience where I was truly wowed by the potential of 3D. This of course was as a kid watching Spy Kids 3D, but unlike back then, the G90XF delivers all the punch & depth, without the annoying glasses or weird colors.
Like many of you I was highly skeptical of the 3D claims, and while it's not perfect, in many ways, it lives up to the hype. The question is, should you actually buy one for daily use? Keep reading to find out.
Samsung’s 2025 3D G90XF is a bold attempt to bring back 3D gaming to a wider audience. With the addition of the Reality Hub app allowing for all full screen video to be processed into 3D, Samsung may have a chance of finally getting the tech mainstream. The glossy 4K screen has incredible clarity even in 2D, and 3D gaming is a sight to behold. It truly transcends the capabilities of any other monitor, transporting the user into content like no 2D alternative can achieve.
That said, it does unfortunately appear to cut the resolution significantly in order to achieve the 3D effect, and not all content translated to 3D well. Additionally the display is a traditional LCD panel which means contrast, viewing angles, as well as HDR suffers greatly.
Disclaimer: This monitor was lent to me by Samsung for review, but all opinions are my own. Additionally Home Theater Review may run advertising campaigns with various manufacturers including Samsung.
For this review I used an X-Rite i1 Pro spectrophotometer, Color Checker Display Plus colorimeter, Calman Ultimate, Portrait Displays Video Forge Pro 8K pattern generator, a Sony RX100 VII 1000fps camera, an SM208 Screen Luminance Meter, and a Sony Cinema Line FX3 mirrorless video camera. Plus years of display testing experience.
The Samsung Odyssey 3D G90XF Price is high for a 27” display.
Above is the Connectivity for this monitor. Surprisingly it comes with 2x 5W speakers.
The unboxing experience for the Samsung G90XF is good. The monitor is lightweight and can easily be assembled by one person. It’s not entirely screwless, but downloading the app and getting 3D working was far simpler than I expected.
Color performance isn’t the main reason Iwould buy this monitor, but it's still very important. In SDR everything definitely looked reasonably accurate and punchy. While it does technically have HDR support, I decided to skip out on testing it since this is neither a Mini LED or OLED display, which will greatly limit its ability to present great HDR imagery.
For home theater enthusiasts below are all my Calman results measuring the accuracy of the display. For everyone else, feel free to skip to the TLDR.
Rec. 709 Testing
Out of the Box in Film Maker Mode, the Samsung Odyssey 3D G90XF has issues with raising near black data. It will also stretch colors in SDR on a Windows machine.
Thankfully these issues can mostly be fixed.
SDR Color Accuracy Test
Color Accuracy in SDR is solid.
The short version: The Samsung Odyssey 3D G90XF presents SDR content in a sufficiently accurate and vibrant way. However in HDR while it can show wider color gamuts, it does not have the same contrast as Mini LED or OLED Displays. Additionally HDR cannot be enabled when using the 3D mode, which is a shame.
For that reason the Samsung Odyssey 3D G90XF overall has mediocre color performance considering you are essentially locked into SDR gaming only.
Since the Samsung Odyssey 3D G90XF is a simple LCD based display, don’t expect much in terms of brightness or HDR impact. In fact, I recommend skipping to the gaming section where I will cover the main reason you would buy this monitor. The 3D!
The Samsung Odyssey 3D G90XF has mediocre brightness.
The Odyssey 3D G90XF does not have very impressive HDR performance.
The Short version: Brightness is acceptable for an LCD based display. It is technically capable of displaying HDR, but the presentation is greatly held back, and you will likely never use it.
In terms of contrast the Samsung Odyssey 3D G90XF is hard to measure. On the one hand it has very poor contrast overall due to it being a simple LCD monitor, but the actual impression when gaming in 3D makes it appear as though it has enormous depth the likes of which even the best OLEDs cannot replicate.
For that reason I’ve decided to skip showing measurements and just give you my impressions. In dark scenes when gaming you do lose a lot of fine detail due to its low contrast, but it almost seems as though the contrast is massive as objects literally leap off the screen at you.
It creates a sense of realism that simply can’t be matched by any other display on the market. It’s incredibly engaging and makes you really feel like you're there. It’s just a shame this tech wasn’t used with OLED tech to enhance this feeling even more.
The clarity on the Samsung Odyssey 3D G90XF is incredible when viewed in 2D head on. Thanks to the clear glossy coating used by this monitor it leads to very crisp text, especially considering the incredibly high 4K resolution on a smaller 27” screen size.
Samsung Odyssey 3D G90XF Real 3D & Contrast.
That said, it does have some issues. For starters it appears as though the pixels had to be layered in some fashion or broken up to achieve the 3D effect. This leads to the display looking as though it has some sort of faint interlacing when viewed at an angle.
Additionally when viewed in the 3D mode it appears to significantly reduce the overall resolution in order to achieve the 3D effect. This leads to the image having significantly more aliasing on the edges of objects than you might expect out of a 4K display. Despite that the image still does look excellent as you really can’t beat the immersion and clarity.
Samsung Odyssey 3D G90XF Reflections.
Finally although the clarity is great, this particular finish has no anti reflective treatment at all. Unlike the LG G5 OLED or many other displays that feature a clear glossy screen while reducing the intensity of reflections, the Samsung Odyssey 3D G90XF is like a mirror. Every object will be reflected right back at you, so it is best viewed in a dark room.
Finally it’s time to talk about the whole reason you would buy this monitor. 3D gaming. Let’s address the elephant in the room. Is 3D gaming worth it? When a game supports it, yes.
The main game I tested during my time with the Odyssey 3D G90XF was Lies of P. I absolutely love this game, and to see it presented in 3D was nothing short of mind blowing. In particular I recall messing with the intensity while my character’s sword was popping out of the screen toward me, and the effect was like nothing I’d seen before.
As you can imagine running by objects or dodging incoming attacks to see them literally go past your face is an experience you have to see to believe, and if I could load up all my games this way I would certainly be tempted to buy this monitor for personal use. I can only imagine how cool 3D gaming would be in my favorite titles like The Finals.
Motion Performance is better than expected.
But therein lies the problem. Not all games are supported. While you can load up any full screen video in 3D, during my time with this monitor, I was unable to trick it into loading up any other games in 3D outside of the very short list of approved titles. Now I’m sure this list will grow significantly over time, but at $1,999 I think Samsung will be hard pressed to convince the majority of gamers to buy into this ecosystem.
28ms of total system latency.
Look, I absolutely love the 3D effect on this monitor, and much like ultrawide if 3D was the standard, I think everyone would be better off for it, but seeing how hard it’s been just to support a wider screen properly in games I do fear that getting 3D implemented well in all games could be a herculean challenge.
I really hope Samsung can pull it off, because I’d love to see this tech take off and move to more affordable and higher contrast display tech.
I’ll cut to the chase. Viewing angles are not good. Now to be fair, you're very unlikely to be viewing this monitor at a significant angle, but if you do. You're in for a world of hurt.
Samsung Odyssey 3D G90XF viewing angle issues.
Off angle the Samsung Odyssey 3D G90XF loses a massive amount of contrast, brightness, and color. This leads to the screen being completely unusable at significant angles, but again this is unlikely to affect anyone.
Surprisingly the Odyssey 3D G90XF comes with sound, and for a monitor, it’s actually pretty good. Don’t get me wrong, it pales in comparison to some good headphones or speakers, but in a pinch it will certainly get the job done.
It has pretty decent timbre and clarity, and I didn’t notice any severe distortion, even at higher volume levels. Unfortunately the monitor does sound a bit thin, which may leave you wanting to use more powerful speakers to get fully immersed.
In terms of the menu the Samsung Odyssey 3D G90XF is easy to navigate and speeds through the menus. It has everything you need to get accurate color results for both SDR and HDR which is great.
More importantly in terms of features is the Samsung Reality Hub. This app allows you to not only play your approved games in 3D, but when run in the background, it will let you play any full screen videos in 3D as well. This is great for loading up YouTube videos to wow your friends, and when I did so I remember showing it to a friend who stopped over, to which there response was “why would anyone play games any other way”
I love the Odyssey 3D G90XF. I love what Sasmung is trying to do with it, and I really love the 3D visuals it was able to display.
Samsung Odyssey 3D G90XF 3D Example (For illustrative purposes).
In terms of immersion and depth there is absolutely nothing like it on the market. If that’s what you're most interested in I can definitely recommend it. During my hands-on time with the device I was absolutely awe struck by the sheer quality of 3D. Considering the glasses free approach I assumed it would be riddled with issues, but that was simply not the case.
It was a breeze to get working, and when playing games in 3D I got into them in a way that I never had before. I could definitely see many people absolutely falling in love with this display, as it’s almost like playing in VR, but without having to strap a hot chunk of plastic to your eyes.
That said, it's not without its issues. Due to the basic LCD display there is a serious lack of contrast. Additionally response times are mediocre even at 165Hz, and viewing angles are certainly not its strong suit. Even more concerning is that very few games are officially approved at this point in time, and while I suspect the list to grow rapidly, it does leave me worried that many games may never work properly in 3D.
Despite that, I still love the Samsung Odyssey 3D G90XF, and my time with it was an absolute joy. I desperately want this tech to succeed and continue to improve, and if you're after a gaming experience the likes of which you cannot get anywhere else, it may be worth giving the G90XF a try.
