LG 38GL950G - 3840x1600/G-Sync/144Hz

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i can tell you now, 10 months since i got the monitor and the fan has become close to impossible to bear in the same room, i even hear it from the next room, loud and high-pitched, its in my head all day long.

Just to make sure about this, i ordered a brand new GL 5 days ago and the hissing in this one is way better, I'd say like 20% of my older one, definitely bearable (as my older one was when it arrived).

So at this point i'm about to either RMA it with LG so they replace the Gsync fan / module or in case that doesnt solve it, i'm about to disconnect the damn fan and play the odds of melting it honestly

There seems to be fairly comprehensive problems with these fans on these and similar products. I think G-Sync really made a mistake here, requiring fans.
 
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I did not want to make any physical modifications to the display because I'm still in the 30 day return window. I'll be returning this 38GL950 and I placed a new order for the 38GN950-B which is essentially the same display minus the GSYNC module making it fanless.

hey, did you manage to get your 38GN950? How are you liking it compared to the GL version?

OOTB I noticed a huge difference in black levels (the GN crushed low black levels and there was no way to make it better either with black stabilizer or gamma) And the other issue for me was the lack of variable overdrive, most high paced games resulted in blurry when the frame rate jumped up and down to the point I got dizzy after 15min of gameplay so I decided it was going back to the shop.
 
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There seems to be fairly comprehensive problems with these fans on these and similar products. I think G-Sync really made a mistake here, requiring fans.

Fans have been used reliably for decades... so I'm not sure it's the fans fault rather poor engineering choices and quality control over the components. My unit is absolutely fine for example.

They could have gone for a chunk of high efficiency copper heatsink but that would have cost quite a bit of money. I'm sure a larger + higher quality fan would solve the problem.
 
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What happens when you want to watch something at 4K resolution on one of these please? Does it chop part of the top / bottom of the picture off?

YouTube for an example, it will supersample 4K videos at 16:9 with black bars, same with 8K footage.

That said, I did watch an 8K HDR 21:9 video that looked awesome. My 3700x was at 100% trying to decode it.
 
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Just to share my own experience with my 38GL950-G after more than 6 months : the fan is not audible at all, it's when I read this thread that I discovered there was one inside .. and absolutely no IPS glow or whatsoever, the screen is absolutely fantastic !

Juts one thing that changed my life : DO NOT activate "deep sleep" in the LG menu and good luck if you want to mount it on a wall with a slim VESA mount, the ports being perpendicular to the wall ... (LG are among the only one to be that idiot ..)
 
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Just to share my own experience with my 38GL950-G after more than 6 months : the fan is not audible at all, it's when I read this thread that I discovered there was one inside .. and absolutely no IPS glow or whatsoever, the screen is absolutely fantastic !

Juts one thing that changed my life : DO NOT activate "deep sleep" in the LG menu and good luck if you want to mount it on a wall with a slim VESA mount, the ports being perpendicular to the wall ... (LG are among the only one to be that idiot ..)

Same as my one. I have over 1000hrs on it now, and not had any of these issues.

Also, why would you not activate "Deep Sleep?" - I've had mine activated since day one, with no issues.
 
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YouTube for an example, it will supersample 4K videos at 16:9 with black bars, same with 8K footage.

That said, I did watch an 8K HDR 21:9 video that looked awesome. My 3700x was at 100% trying to decode it.

Does that mean it down scales it to 2560 x 1440 so it maintains aspect ratio but puts black bars on all sides?

EDIT:

or

3480 x 1600?
 
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The resolution will be 2880x1600 16:9 up sampled to 4K with black bars either side.

Oh thanks, a fair bit smaller then as 4K on most 4K screens would be 3840 x 2160, I was curious to whether it supported 3480 as per some reddit comment I found whilst researching.

If it's letterboxed on 3840x1600, you will effectively lose resolution and aspect ratio, however if it supports native 3480x1600, you'll have a pretty similar aspect ratio presentation for the film, just less resolution.

https://www.reddit.com/r/ultrawidem...so_38_with_3840x1600_is_basically_4k_for_219/
 
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Oh thanks, a fair bit smaller then as 4K on most 4K monitors would be 3840 x 2160, I was curious to whether it supported 3480 as per some reddit comment I found whilst researching.



https://www.reddit.com/r/ultrawidem...so_38_with_3840x1600_is_basically_4k_for_219/


Just reading that link.

So the OP is saying, that a 4K movie in cinema 21:9 aspect will run 4K natively on the 3840x1600 monitor. Which it will, as a true 4K panel with 2160 height watching a 4K 21:9 movie will have the letterbox effect (Black bars top and bottom).

This LG monitor is effectively 4K, as it has 3840 horizontal pixels. Though some will debate, that due to only being 1600 pixels vertical, it is not true 4K. But when you give an example that watching a 4K 21:9 movie on this monitor with no back bars, is in fact rendered to the native resolution of this monitor, making it 4K 21:9.

I have both an Acer 49" 4k monitor mounted above my LG, when watching 4K 16:9 content on either, I wouldn't say one has better clarity than the other, this is due to the PPI difference in both monitors.
4K is up sampled on the LG from 2880x1600, but it is as detailed as the 49" true 4K monitor.

If watching films is what your purchase is about, then you need to decide at what distance you sit and watch films at to which will benefit you in giving the best clarity.

An Example, watching a movie on Netflix on my 55" TV, sitting 4m away, you cannot tell the difference between it streaming at 4K, or 1080p, only when you get up and get closer to the TV will you notice the difference.
 
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Just reading that link.

So the OP is saying, that a 4K movie in cinema 21:9 aspect will run 4K natively on the 3840x1600 monitor. Which it will, as a true 4K panel with 2160 height watching a 4K 21:9 movie will have the letterbox effect (Black bars top and bottom).

This LG monitor is effectively 4K, as it has 3840 horizontal pixels. Though some will debate, that due to only being 1600 pixels vertical, it is not true 4K. But when you give an example that watching a 4K 21:9 movie on this monitor with no back bars, is in fact rendered to the native resolution of this monitor, making it 4K 21:9.

I have both an Acer 49" 4k monitor mounted above my LG, when watching 4K 16:9 content on either, I wouldn't say one has better clarity than the other, this is due to the PPI difference in both monitors.
4K is up sampled on the LG from 2880x1600, but it is as detailed as the 49" true 4K monitor.

If watching films is what your purchase is about, then you need to decide at what distance you sit and watch films at to which will benefit you in giving the best clarity.

An Example, watching a movie on Netflix on my 55" TV, sitting 4m away, you cannot tell the difference between it streaming at 4K, or 1080p, only when you get up and get closer to the TV will you notice the difference.

So are you saying on a 4K 21:9 movie once the black bars top and bottom are removed it's actually around 1600 pixels high for the actual film content height? The 2880 x 1600 is a bit off putting though as it seems quite a bit smaller than filling the 3840 width and not what I consider anything like a 4K picture. So I guess the question is are most movies in 4K 21:9 and therefore I'd get a full screen picture with just the top and bottom bars lopped off what you would see on a true 4K screen?
 
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So are you saying on a 4K 21:9 movie once the black bars top and bottom are removed it's actually around 1600 pixels high for the actual film content height? The 2880 x 1600 is a bit off putting though as it seems quite a bit smaller than filling the 3840 width and not what I consider anything like a 4K picture. So I guess the question is are most movies in 4K 21:9 and therefore I'd get a full screen picture with just the top and bottom bars lopped off what you would see on a true 4K screen?

There about's, but this monitor is actually 24:10, so give or take a little on the amount of pixels a 4K 21:9 film vertical pixel height is.

So here's some pics I just took to explain this.

The middle image shows 4K at 16:9 at ~2880x1600 which is about the size of a 29.5" 16:9 monitor.
This Ultrawide is almost as wide as my 49" 16:9 monitor, so factor that in with how close you are sitting to the monitor.

The last image is 8K 21:9 which the pics do no justice. The clarity from this monitor, when given uncompressed media looks absolutely stunning. So don't be fooled by marketing, that you must have a 16:9 monitor to enjoy 4K content.

4K 21:9

NmOxBVz.jpg

4K 16:9

cI1C2Iy.jpg

8K HDR 21:9

0ybsi6Q.jpg
 
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There about's, but this monitor is actually 24:10, so give or take a little on the amount of pixels a 4K 21:9 film vertical pixel height is.

So here's some pics I just took to explain this.

The middle image shows 4K at 16:9 at ~2880x1600 which is about the size of a 29.5" 16:9 monitor.
This Ultrawide is almost as wide as my 49" 16:9 monitor, so factor that in with how close you are sitting to the monitor.

The last image is 8K 21:9 which the pics do no justice. The clarity from this monitor, when given uncompressed media looks absolutely stunning. So don't be fooled by marketing, that you must have a 16:9 monitor to enjoy 4K content.

Oh thanks, looks interesting, just need to figure out how prolific the 21:9 content is. Everything else seems decent, more interested in the WN model but I like the 1600 height as it seems good from a productivity perspective, splitting the screen into two 1920 x 1600 windows. Definitely on my shortlist along with possibly waiting for a decent 4K with 144Hz but am not sure whether a ~43" of those will be too tall if splitting the screen into 4 windows.
 
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Also, why would you not activate "Deep Sleep?" - I've had mine activated since day one, with no issues.

I had the same issue as many people here (30 pages ago I think ^^), when coming back from sleep the monitor would eventually change overclock at "off", frequency at "60Hz" etc ... had to switch off and on the monitor each time to have my previous settings
 
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Ok so finally i decided to open my GL and take a deeper look. i disconnected the gsync fan, and tried it open with the back plate of the monitor removed so it could breath. Then i putted the back plate on and closed it. This is what i found:

1- for some reason, the side fan never turns on, not with the gsync fan on, nor without it (i think it needs the gsync fan connected to ever spin, but it never did, might be faulty)
2- without the back plate of the monitor (open), the DIE tops at about 88ºc (this is with oc @160hz, HDR and gsync active) i had it running benchmarks for 4h and never went further than 88ºc
3- with the back plate of the monitor in place (closed), different story: the temp raises above 98º but i don't know how far cause i got afraid and stopped it. But definitely not safe with the backplate on.

So for now I'm using it with the gsync fan off, and the backplate removed (open). Not the ideal scenario but works (is dead silent).

I'd really like to find a satisfactory way to both cool it and have the back plate in place without noise. Any ideas would be much appreciated.
 
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Ok so finally i decided to open my GL and take a deeper look. i disconnected the gsync fan, and tried it open with the back plate of the monitor removed so it could breath. Then i putted the back plate on and closed it. This is what i found:

1- for some reason, the side fan never turns on, not with the gsync fan on, nor without it (i think it needs the gsync fan connected to ever spin, but it never did, might be faulty)
2- without the back plate of the monitor (open), the DIE tops at about 88ºc (this is with oc @160hz, HDR and gsync active) i had it running benchmarks for 4h and never went further than 88ºc
3- with the back plate of the monitor in place (closed), different story: the temp raises above 98º but i don't know how far cause i got afraid and stopped it. But definitely not safe with the backplate on.

So for now I'm using it with the gsync fan off, and the backplate removed (open). Not the ideal scenario but works (is dead silent).

I'd really like to find a satisfactory way to both cool it and have the back plate in place without noise. Any ideas would be much appreciated.
Wow nice experiment. Even 88C seems really high though :0 I'd be worried about running like that forever. Are you satisfied with keeping the cover off indefinitely? If so you could grab a PWM fan or 2 and run them through one of the USB ports on the back of the monitor.


Also it's a bit disturbing that the side blower fan hasn't come on but it should still be powered; it's a separate plug from the gsync fan and when I had removed my my gsync fan I still successfully got the blower fan to come on by going to "AGING" screen in the screen menu. I wanted peace of mind that the blower fan was still operational in some way.
 
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Ok, you are right, activating the AGING screen makes the blower fan to come on at full speed. The weird thing is it never came on, not even when the DIE was at 98º with the backplate on (monitor closed)...so thats why i thought, it was faulty... maybe i have an old revision and they forgot to activate it when the gsync fan can't cool enough the DIE...or maybe its tied to the PCB temp, and the PCB never gets hot enough to require the blower fan to kick in and cool it (Im guessing this from the position the fan is pointing to...because there is no room for the blower fan air to come into the gsync heatsink...so I'm guessing they were trying to refrigerate the PCB from below?)
 
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Ok, I'm starting to think of another approach. After 5min of the blower fan at max speed (in the AGING screen) the DIE temp dropped below 55ºc, thats even lower than my factory temps: so like out of the box, the gsync fan connected and the monitor closed (it topped at 65ºc).

Question: Would the blower fan fit inside the heatsink in place of the gsync fan? because then it could blow air through the heat pipes and cool it...but here is the key question: can i connect the blower fan to the gsync fan header? because otherwise the blower fan never kicks in. Did you tried this? can the gsync fan header power off the blower fan?
 
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Ok, I'm starting to think of another approach. After 5min of the blower fan at max speed (in the AGING screen) the DIE temp dropped below 55ºc, thats even lower than my factory temps: so like out of the box, the gsync fan connected and the monitor closed (it topped at 65ºc).

Question: Would the blower fan fit inside the heatsink in place of the gsync fan? because then it could blow air through the heat pipes and cool it...but here is the key question: can i connect the blower fan to the gsync fan header? because otherwise the blower fan never kicks in. Did you tried this? can the gsync fan header power off the blower fan?
no you can't connect the blower fan to the gsync header, one of the fans is 5v and the other is 12v. Nice try though
 
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