Samsung Odyssey G5 32G55 monitor – Specs, Pros / Cons: It Should’ve Been Better!

A bigger monitor just means a bigger tool for you to play with. At the end of the day, it’s you who’ll use the monitor and it’s only going to be as good as you are. With the Samsung Odyssey G5 32G55, you get an excellent gaming monitor, that can also fit a Creator’s setup perfectly. The monitor has a 32-inch VA panel with a Quad HD resolution, a 144Hz refresh rate, and a 1ms response time.

There’s also FreeSync Premium support, which means tear-free gameplay at pretty much any FPS up to 144. The curved design feels very modern, while our color coverage and accuracy tests are all over the place. You’ll see what we mean by this once we get to them.

You can check the current price of the Samsung Odyssey G5 32G55 here: Buy from Amazon.com (#CommissionsEarned)

Contents


Specs sheet, What’s in the box?, Drivers, OSD, Design, Connectivity

Screen size32 inch (81.28 cm)
Refresh rate144Hz
Response time1ms
Panel typeVA
Backlight typeLED
Screen finishMatte
Resolution2560 x 1440 (QHD)
Technologies
  • Curve: 1000R
  • Contrast ratio: 2500:1 (Static);
  • Brightness: 250 cd/m² (Typical)
  • Viewing angles: H/V° 178/178
  • VESA mount: 75 x 75 mm
  • Tilt: -2 to 18°
  • Height adjustment: 0 – 130mm
  • Measurements (with stand): 710 x 273 x 554 mm
  • Power consumption (Idle): 40W
  • Power consumption (Stand-by): 0.50W
I/O
  • 1x HDMI 2.0
  • 1x DisplayPort 1.2
  • 1x Audio Jack
  • 1x USB service port

What’s in the box? Assembly

Drivers and Software

You can find all the drivers, firmware, and additional software on Samsung’s official Support Page. There are the drivers as well as the Easy Setting Box app, which is there to try and make you a better multitasker, by offering customizable layouts so you can take better advantage of the 32-inch screen.

Design and Connectivity

The Samsung Odyssey G5 32G55 comes with a black plastic chassis and tons of intricate details, lines running across the back, as well as the Odyssey “O” logo. Compared to other Samsung monitors, the stand here doesn’t offer as much adjustability as other models do. There’s only Tilt functionality, so if you want more, you can use the 75 x 75 mm VESA mounting holes to set up a wall or a desk mount, which can offer much more movement. With that said, the monitor is pretty heavy at 4.8 kg without the stand and 5.7 kg with it, so if you plan to use a mount, pick a more robust solution that can sustain the heft of the Odyssey G5.

The port selection on the monitor isn’t too bad, offering one HDMI 2.0 port, a single DisplayPort 1.2 port, an audio jack, and a USB service port for updating the firmware.


Display quality, Buy our profiles, Verdict

The Samsung Odyssey G5 32G55 brings a 32-inch Quad HD screen, which means a pixel density of 91.79 PPI, a pitch of 0.2767 x 0.2767 mm, and a Retina distance of 37.46 inches or 95.15 cm. From this distance, the human eye can’t distinguish individual pixels.

The correlated color temperature on a white screen after a Factory Reset in sRGB mode is 5930 K (Luminance 150 cd/m2 at 20% Brightness). The average gamma value is 2.18.

Color coverage

Here’s an illustration (Fig. 1). The whole “sail-shaped” map below consists of all the colors we can see, while the black crooked line shows all the colors from real-world scenes and nature around us.

Then, we’ve drawn some of the most important and interesting color spaces, compared to the colors the panel of Samsung Odyssey G5 32G55 can show:

Standard/For Web: sRGB – widely used color space for most consumer devices, ideal for Web design and development
For Print: AdobeRGB – used in professional photo editing, graphic design, and print
For Photographers/Video Editors: DCI-P3 – used in high-end film production, post-production, and digital cinema
Premium HDR: Rec.2020 – the widest consumer ITU color standard, covering a massive 75.8% of the visible spectrum, a benchmark for premium HDR content

Samsung Odyssey G5 32G55: the yellow dashed triangle (– – – – – –) represents the range of colors this monitor can display. In our tests, we calculated the total color coverage of the monitor at 88% of the sRGB color gamut.

(Fig.1) Samsung Odyssey G5 32G55 covers 88% of the Web colors (sRGB) 

This means that if the Samsung Odyssey G5 32G55 tries to show any color outside of its triangle, it will show the closest color to it that’s inside the triangle.

Color accuracy

Now let’s see how big is the difference between the real colors and the one you’ll see on the Samsung Odyssey G5 32G55. We measure that distance in DeltaE – the bigger the number, the more different they look.

For the next illustration, we’ve chosen 24 common colors like dark and light skin, blue sky, green grass, etc.

Values below 2.0 are considered suitable for color-sensitive work. Before our calibration of the Samsung Odyssey G5 32G55, the Average color accuracy was 8.3 dE (Fig. 2), and with our Web Design and Office Work profile, it lowered to 6.2 dE (Fig. 3). This is way out of bounds for a monitor in this class and you most likely shouldn’t try to do any professional design work for clients on it.

(Fig. 2) Samsung Odyssey G5 32G55 in its factory condition
(Fig. 3) Samsung Odyssey G5 32G55 with our display profiles

Comparison in the sRGB color space (primaries and D65 white point specified in ITU-R BT.709, sRGB encoding curve).

Health-Guard eliminates the harmful Pulse-Width Modulation (PWM) and reduces the negative Blue Light which affects our eyes and body. Since it’s custom-tailored for every panel, it manages to keep the colors perceptually accurate (they may seem strange at first but after a few minutes our brain will start recognizing them as accurate ones – that’s how Health-Guard differs from alternatives like f.lux).

Pro Tip: As the Health-Guard profile simulates paper and has as accurate as possible colors, it could be a great tool for prepress designers!

Left: No Profile | Drag the slider to see the difference | Right: Health-Guard Profile

Gaming and Movies

We also have a third Gaming and Movies profile, which regulates the black colors, making dark areas in games and movies appear more visible, thus giving you a better viewing experience. Shooting at your opponent first can be a make-or-break moment, so make sure you’re best prepared with our profile.

Left: No Profile | Drag the slider to see the difference | Right: Design & Gaming Profile

BUY OUR DISPLAY PROFILES

Since our profiles are tailored for each individual display model, this article and its respective profile package are meant for the Samsung Odyssey G5 32G55.

*Should you have problems with downloading the purchased file, try using a different browser to open the link you’ll receive via e-mail. If the download target is a .php file instead of an archive, change the file extension to .zip or contact us at [email protected].

Read more about the profiles HERE.

Here’s how to prepare thе monitor for our profiles:

1. Open the OSD menu (On-Screen Display)
2. Reset Settings: Go to Menu ➡️ Support ➡️ Reset All, and click ‘Yes’.
3. Brightness: Navigate to Picture ➡️ Brightness and set it to 35% for optimal viewing.

In addition to receiving efficient and health-friendly profiles, by buying LaptopMedia's products you also support the development of our labs, where we test devices in order to produce the most objective reviews possible.

Office Work

Office Work should be used mostly by users who spend most of the time looking at pieces of text, tables or just surfing. This profile aims to deliver better distinctness and clarity by keeping a flat gamma curve (2.20), native color temperature and perceptually accurate colors.

Design and Gaming

This profile is aimed at designers who work with colors professionally, and for games and movies as well. Design and Gaming takes display panels to their limits, making them as accurate as possible in the sRGB IEC61966-2-1 standard for Web and HDTV, at white point D65.

Health-Guard

Health-Guard eliminates the harmful Pulse-Width Modulation (PWM) and reduces the negative Blue Light which affects our eyes and body. Since it’s custom tailored for every panel, it manages to keep the colors perceptually accurate. Health-Guard simulates paper so the pressure on the eyes is greatly reduced.

Get all 3 profiles with 33% discount


Verdict

The Samsung Odyssey G5 32G55 is a very divisive monitor. On one side, it’s great for gaming, thanks to the refresh rate, response time, resolution, curved design, the response time, and the FreeSync Premium support. It’s generally a very good gaming monitor, as you can get a smooth, responsive, and tear-free gaming experience.

On the other hand, its color coverage and accuracy don’t make it a very attractive option for many people. It only covers 88% of the sRGB color gamut, which is actually okay for most users. However, the color accuracy is seriously out of place, with a factory dE value of 8.3. After applying our Web Design and Office Work profile, it goes down to 6.2, which is still way below the 2.0 mark that we all here at LM want.

This leaves the rest of our profiles, which are still incredibly useful. Imagine this scenario: You’re 1v3 on Inferno at nighttime in CS2. The enemy is hiding in the dark and you can’t see him. ”Boom, Headshot!”. You’ve lost the round. Now let’s take the same scenario but with our Gaming and Movies profile applied. With the black colors properly dialed, you’re able to see the enemy and take him down. You do the same for the rest of your opponents and are hailed as the MVP. Doesn’t that sound nice? You can do this with our profile.

Lastly, the Health-Guard is for when you’re not gaming, but maybe working and doing menial work. Blue Light and PWM (Flickering) are both known to cause eye strain and with our profile, you can eliminate both.

You can check the current price of the Samsung Odyssey G5 32G55: Buy from Amazon.com (#CommissionsEarned)

Pros

  • Great Design that looks and feels modern
  • 88% sRGB coverage
  • Decent port selection
  • High resolution and a big screen


Cons

  • The stand isn’t as adjustable
  • Color accuracy is way, way off

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