Looking for a bargain? – Check out the best tech deals in Australia

LG 45 UltraGear OLED Curved Gaming Monitor

LG 45 UltraGear OLED Curved Gaming Monitor

A dramatic curve makes the case for OLED

4.0 Excellent
LG 45 UltraGear OLED Curved Gaming Monitor - LG 45 UltraGear OLED Curved Gaming Monitor (Credit: Molly Flores)
4.0 Excellent

Bottom Line

If you've been on the fence about OLED technology, LG makes a strong argument with the 45 UltraGear, an ultra-big, ultrawide curved monitor that delivers a picture as vivid as its price is high.
Best Deal$2999

Buy It Now

$2999
  • Pros

    • Gorgeous, gigantic display
    • Attractive design
    • Vivid, smooth picture for gaming or movie watching
    • 240Hz refresh rate
  • Cons

    • Expensive
    • Key features can't be accessed without remote control
    • Low SDR brightness

LG 45 UltraGear OLED Curved Gaming Monitor Specs

Adaptive Sync AMD FreeSync Premium
Aspect Ratio 21:9
Dimensions (HWD) 25.5 by 39.1 by 14.3 inches
Native Resolution 3440 by 1440
Panel Size (Corner-to-Corner) 44.5
Pixel Refresh Rate 240
Rated Contrast Ratio 1500000:1
Rated Screen Luminance 200
Screen Technology OLED
Swiveling Stand?
Tilting Stand?
USB Ports (Excluding Upstream) 2
VESA DisplayHDR Level HDR10
Video Inputs DisplayPort
Video Inputs HDMI
Warranty (Parts/Labor) 2
Weight 35.3

LG might be best known for its TVs, but its gaming monitors are strong contenders for your entertainment dollars too. The company's latest massive monitor combines cutting-edge OLED technology with a deep, ultrawide curved display. The LG 45 UltraGear OLED Curved Gaming Monitor ($1,699.99) falls short of 4K resolution with a 3,440-by-1,440-pixel panel, but makes up for it with a sky-high 240Hz refresh rate. The enormous monitor expertly balances performance and visual fidelity with plenty of gaming-forward features. It's not without a few annoying issues—you need the remote control to access most settings, and its brightness could be higher—but the UltraGear gets almost everything else right, giving deep-pocketed gamers a display that's more than capable of handling the latest releases.


The Ultragear Is Ultrawide

Any large curved monitor is a statement piece in its own right, and the LG 45 UltraGear is sure to turn more than a few heads. The massive 44.5-inch screen features an 800mm-radius curve (often called 800R). The tighter the curve, the more the wraparound screen fills your vision, making curved monitors the favored choice for immersive simulation games.

(Credit: Molly Flores)

A 1000R curve is thought to match the curvature of the human eye, which helps minimize eyestrain. Shallower curves like 1800R and 1500R exist, but 800R is about as tight as you can go without sacrificing picture quality. If a gigantic curve isn't your cup of tea, LG offers a more compact, 27-inch alternative with essentially the same feature set as its big brother.

Razor-thin bezels frame the massive screen. A slight bump at bottom center holds a tiny, downward-facing control stick. As with LG's line of HDTVs, you can access a quick menu by pressing the stick's button, but the bulk of the settings can only be accessed via the bundled remote control, so you'll want to keep the latter handy.

(Credit: Molly Flores)

The big UltraGear measures 25.5 by 39.1 by 14.3 inches (HWD) on its stand, claiming plenty of desk space. The monitor also weighs a hefty 35 pounds, topping even the Corsair Xeneon Flex (22 pounds). Most of the LG's weight seems to have gone to the hefty pillar that holds it steady, while still offering sufficient tilt, swivel, and height adjustment.

(Credit: Molly Flores)

Spinning the monitor around reveals additional accoutrements including some nice RGB lighting hugging the hexagon that houses the ports. A closer look reveals two HDMI 2.1 ports, both supporting Variable Refresh Rate (VRR) on the PlayStation 5 and Xbox Series X. There are also a DisplayPort, two USB Type-A ports, and a USB-B port.

(Credit: Molly Flores)

Moving back to the front, the UltraGear's OLED panel is of course the main attraction. OLED screens outclass IPS displays in almost every category, including power efficiency, color gamut, and viewing angles. It's the only technology that provides true blacks, with the black pixels actually turned off to create zero-light zones and maximum contrast. OLED's downsides include the potential for burn-in from a static image being left onscreen too long, and a significantly higher price than IPS, TN, or VA panels.

It's not all about screen tech, however. The 45 UltraGear is after all a gaming monitor, so it packs in a few ancillary features that gamers will appreciate. The monitor has no speakers, but does offer a 3.5mm audio jack with DTS Headphone:X support for accurate spatialization and localization when enjoying 3D audio with compatible headphones. The feature is a treat in games like Returnal that make heavy use of 3D audio to build atmosphere.

(Credit: Molly Flores)

The display supports both AMD FreeSync Premium and Nvidia G-Sync to eliminate screen tearing and stuttering during gameplay, ensuring a smoother experience.


Testing the LG 45 UltraGear OLED: A Big-Screen Contender

Clearly the jumbo LG is dressed to impress, but how does it fare against other high-end gaming monitors? To find out, we ran a few benchmark tests using our Calman monitor calibration software, Murideo Six-G signal generator, and Klein K-80 colorimeter.

First, we tested the monitor in its default picture mode with an SDR signal. The UltraGear managed a brightness of 131 nits (candelas per square meter), which is somewhat low for SDR but shouldn't matter too much in neutral lighting. In HDR mode, we saw brightness climb to 351 nits. Higher HDR brightness is attainable, but varies depending on the content you're viewing. LG advertises a peak brightness of 1,000 nits but we were unable to measure more than 633 nits. (The company's HDR ratings are based on 3% Average Picture Level, while ours is based on 10%.)

This relatively low brightness is actually fine, and sometimes preferred, for OLED monitors. In fact, LG suggests lowering the brightness level when viewing in artificial light or in a dark room. Keeping your OLED screen at max brightness all the time is a sure-fire way to shorten its lifespan. OLED monitors also maintain contrast with less brightness, allowing viewing in a dark room, though low brightness may be an issue in bright rooms (say, one with plenty of natural sunlight).

The monitor’s color-gamut coverage results are excellent. The Ultragear spanned 100% of the sRGB color gamut, 89% of Adobe RGB, and 96% of DCI-P3—sterling coverage all around. Color accuracy was strong as well, measuring a Delta E of 1.4 while in sRGB mode. The higher the Delta E, the farther colors tend to stray from their intended hue. A value under 1 is ideal, though few gaming monitors reach it.

(Credit: Portrait Displays)
(Credit: Portrait Displays)
(Credit: Portrait Displays)

As for contrast, we measured a black level of zero and a contrast ratio of 3,850:1, higher than the BenQ Mobiuz EX3410R and the ViewSonic Elite XG341C-2K. The contrast ratio indicates the difference in luminance between the brightest white and darkest black that a monitor can produce. It makes a difference in picture quality, especially during dark scenes in gameplay.

(Credit: Molly Flores)

IPS panels typically target contrast ratios of 1,000:1 or better, while OLED and mini LED panels can reach dramatically higher contrast ratios, at least in theory, due to the nature of the black pixels. In the UltraGear's case, LG claims a sky-high number of 1,500,000:1, which is stunning but not one you'd likely reach under normal circumstances.

Media and Gaming Performance

Overall, it's hard for a properly manufactured and adjusted OLED monitor to look bad, based on the ones we've seen. The 45 UltraGear doesn't buck the trend, but we should consider one final stat: a gaming monitor's input lag. Using an HDFury Diva HDMI matrix, we measured the LG's lag at 1.4 milliseconds—an excellent showing from the ultrawide OLED. While the display doesn't have the absolute lowest lag we've measured, it comes pretty close. Plus, hardcore gamers will appreciate the 240Hz refresh rate.

It's worth noting that while LG advertises a gray-to-gray (GTG) response time of 0.03 milliseconds, that's not the same thing as input lag. GTG means how long it takes for a pixel to go from one gray level to the next, while input lag measures the time it takes for the monitor to display a received signal. GTG is not a standard metric because vendors measure levels differently, so it's not one of the measurements we take during reviews.

(Credit: Molly Flores)

The huge 21:9 aspect ratio display makes movie-watching an event, but gaming is almost surely the reason you'll splurge on the UltraGear. Rest assured that whether you're cranking up the frame rate in Counter-Strike: Global Offensive (while biding your time for Counter-Strike 2) or touring Spain in terror with Resident Evil 4, the action on the screen is sure to be a delight.


Verdict: One Awesome OLED

With the release of the mainstream Nvidia GeForce RTX 4070 graphics card, it's clear that 1440p gaming is a hit with cash-conscious PC gamers, and choosing an OLED monitor can make up for a drop in resolution while maintaining blazing-fast performance. The LG 45 UltraGear OLED Curved Gaming Monitor is anything but a cash-conscious choice, but it proves that premium monitors can also occupy that sweet spot, with excellent visual fidelity alongside a massive 45-inch curve. If you're an affluent gamer tempted to go big, don't overlook this Editors' Choice award winner. Just make sure you don't lose the remote.

About Zackery Cuevas