The world of OLED gaming monitors is getting bigger than ever, and in the case of the LG UltraGear 45GR95QE, that's quite literal. This 45-inch ultrawide monitor offers one of the most immersive experiences you can get, and with its OLED panel and a 240Hz refresh rate, you can't do much better than this for gaming.

Every game looks incredibly smooth and vibrant on this screen, and the huge size and curved panel make this an immersive experience unlike any other. However, with the wave of upcoming QD-OLED models for 2024, it's a big investment to make unless you really want something of this size. In that case, there isn't much like it, and it's a very good choice.

Pricing and availability

The LG UltraGear 45GR95QE was introduced at CES 2023, and it's been available for some time now. You can find it at Best Buy or on LG's own website, though it isn't very widely available at other major retailers at writing time.

Pricing comes in at $1,700, making this a decidedly premium monitor. For this size and quality, though, it's not unusual. Its most direct competitor in recent years is the Corsair Xeneon Flex (which also uses an LG Display panel), though that one has a bendable display and is even more expensive.

Design and ports

Solid connectivity, but no built-in sound

Starting with what you can connect to this monitor, right off the bat, the port selection is solid. It comes with two HDMI 2.1 and one DisplayPort 1.4 input, allowing you to take advantage of the full resolution and refresh rate using either connection. It's not uncommon for some monitors to be more limited using HDMI, so it's good to see LG didn't do that here, and you could use this with a gaming laptop and still take full advantage of its specs.

It is unfortunate that it lacks a USB Type-C input, though. While HDMI and DisplayPort do the job fine, USB-C would be great since it would not only allow you to take advantage of the full refresh rate and resolution, but also use the built-in USB Type-A ports. As it stands, the monitor requires a USB Type-B upstream connection in addition to the display input to power those ports. Because of that, there's also no KVM support built into the hardware itself.

Perhaps most unfortunate of all is the lack of built-in speakers. I know these speakers get a bad rap, but not everyone wants to invest extra money into a soundbar or sound system, especially if you're using this monitor for console games. I always like having built-in speakers to fall back on so I don't have to use headphones. Even subpar ones are better than nothing, and for something this pricy, it would have been a nice inclusion.

It looks great, though

The monitor itself looks really nice. The panel is very thin at the edges, with most of the guts in the center, which gives it a more slender appearance. The stand is also not overly big, either, so it doesn't feel like it's wasting space. Packing a 45-inch display automatically means this is a big monitor, though, so your setup needs to be ready to accommodate it.

The only major downside for me is that the power supply isn't built-in, meaning you have to find a place for the chunky power adapter to not get in the way. It's another strange decision for what's already a fairly large monitor. Concealing the power adapter should have been a no-brainer, in my opinion.

The panel is very thin at the edges, with most of the guts in the center, which gives it a more slender appearance

Around the back, there's also some RGB lighting that lights up around the sides of the monitor to illuminate the wall behind it and the desk underneath it. It makes for a cool effect, though you have a limited selection of colors to pick from and there isn't an option to make it match what's on the screen. It's also not bright enough to overpower light coming in from a window, but in a slightly dim room, it looks nice.

Display

OLED never gets old

Of course, what matters most here is the display itself, and the LG UltraGear 45GR95QE is phenomenal. It comes with a large 44.5-inch ultrawide OLED panel, with a 21:9 aspect ratio. This panel by itself is fairly uncommon, and the only modern competitor I could find was the Corsair Xeneon Flex, which uses the same panel but has a different form factor with a bendable display. That's important because, while you might find better display technology in some other monitors like the Alienware AW2725DF this year, there isn't much competition for this specific monitor. Despite being a 2023 model, this is still one of the best options around.

Regardless of being a year old, OLED panels are still absolutely fantastic. Colors on this display look absolutely stunning, and the individually-controlled pixel brightness makes for some of the best HDR experiences you can get, well beyond what the advertised 200 nits of brightness might suggest. Blacks are deep and whites are bright without being blown out, and the whole spectrum of colors helps games truly feel alive. Forza Horizon 5 is one of my favorite games to test HDR, and it looks stunning on this panel. Shadow of the Tomb Raider similarly looks great, and even Rocket League with Auto HDR enabled is really good.

It looks incredibly sharp, smooth, and pretty much pixel-perfect.

On top of that, this display touts a 240Hz refresh rate and a super-fast 0.03ms response rate, and it shows. Going back to Rocket League, running at 240Hz looks incredibly smooth and without any smearing or artifacts. It looks incredibly sharp, smooth, and pretty much pixel-perfect.

One complaint I've seen from some other reviewers and customers is that, because of the matte cover, the LG UltraGear 45GR95QE can introduce some haziness to the visuals compared to a smooth glossy display. Personally, I don't detect this haziness in my own usage, at least not to a harmful degree. You could argue that it looks slightly less sharp, but I don't think this takes away from how great everything looks on this screen.

Display tests

To verify some of the qualities of this display, I used the SpyderX Pro sensor to test the color coverage and brightness of the LG UltraGear 45GR95QE. The brightness and contrast test shows the display slightly exceeds the 200 nits of advertised brightness in the default Gamer 1 color profile, reaching up to 215 nits.

As for the color coverage, it covers 100% of sRGB and 97% of P3, just slightly short of the 98.5% advertised by LG. It also covers 90% of Adobe RGB, so colors are great on this monitor.

I also tested the white point at all the different presets offered by the monitor to paint a picture of the options you have. The default profile has very cool whites, but there are options for warmer tones, including a reader mode that's much easier on the eyes.

It's very curvy

One thing that does bother me slightly with the LG UltraGear 45GR95QE is the curvature of the panel. This monitor seems to adhere to something of a trend with gaming monitors that are very curved, with a curvature of 800R. To me, this is far too curved for regular use. For gaming, I think it works well, and since it brings the edges of the monitor into your peripheral vision, it makes games feel that much more immersive.

But if you use your monitor for anything other than gaming, this curvature feels unnatural and I really don't like it. My main monitor is the LG UltraWide 49WQ95QC, which has a curvature of 1800R, and that's much more reasonable for day-to-day use. This is an area where the Corsair Xeneon Flex (which I unfortunately haven't tested) has the edge, since its bendable panel can go from 800R to completely flat as needed. In the absence of something that fancy, a 1000R curvature would have been better here.

Controls and software

It comes with a remote

Changing settings on the LG UltraGear 45GR95QE isn't done like on most monitors I've seen in the past, since the monitor comes with a remote. The button built onto the underside of the monitor can't do much aside from switching inputs or changing the brightness and volume. It's not a nub, either, all the controls are simplified to either pressing or holding.

It's so much better functionally

Using the remote controller, everything is way easier and more advanced, and it's much better than a nub. Having a separate device to change monitor settings can be more clunky in terms of organizing your space, but it's so much better functionally. You have quick access to changing inputs, volume, and brightness, but you can also easily navigate the full menu to enable picture-by-picture mode or configure the lighting.

There's even a customizable button you can set up to access the settings you need most often. Well, technically, there are two, but one of them only gives you one setting you can access with it, despite being called a user-customizable key. Still, changing settings with this controller is very easy and convenient. These settings include choosing from different color profiles and tweaking more specific color settings, changing inputs, sound output, and so on.

You can also use software

As per usual with LG monitors, if you don't want to use the remote control or the (very limited) button, you do have the option to install an app for your Windows PC or Mac to replace it. The app, called OnScreen Control, gives you all the controls built into the OSD settings but in a more intuitive interface you can control using your mouse, so you don't need to reach for the controller.

I've covered the LG software extensively in the past so I won't go deep into it here. However, I will note some features aren't available here, like using picture-by-picture mode, or customizing the RGB lighting. That's a weird oversight considering the app instead includes extra features, like splitting the screen into multiple sections for easier multitasking.

Another app LG offers is called Dual Control, which offers a virtual KVM of sorts allowing you to control two PCs at the same time. It doesn't really require any special hardware and instead connects the PCs over the internet, so it's hardly a monitor feature.

Should you buy the LG UltraGear 45GR95QE?

The LG UltraGear 45GR95QE is a fairly unique monitor that's going to appeal to specific people. Not everyone wants something this big or curvy. But if you do, there isn't much like this monitor on the market, and you could do a whole lot worse. The OLED display is beautiful and the huge size makes for an incredibly immersive experience. There are downsides, like the lack of speakers or USB-C input, but this is a terrific monitor. And while the $1,700 MSRP is a bit high, you can find it on sale for significantly less from time to time, so it's worth keeping an eye out.

You should buy the LG UltraGear 45GR95QE if:

• You want a big screen to get immersed in your games
• You're looking for an OLED panel for those deep blacks and amazing HDR
• You need smooth frame rates for competitive gaming

You shouldn't buy the LG UltraGear 45GR95QE if:

• You want USB-C connectivity
• You don't like how curvy the screen is or the matte coating
• You'd rather get something smaller with newer OLED technology
• $1,700 is too much for you