Samsung added AI upscaling to its new OLED gaming monitor

Samsung has added some additional features to the new OLED G8 gaming monitor it announced back in January, including safeguards against OLED burn-in and AI-powered resolution upscaling for content and games.

Preorders for the display are already available in regions like Australia and Singapore, suggesting that a US launch isn’t far behind. Best Buy lists the 32-inch Odyssey OLED G8 (model G80SD) for $1,299.99 — making it a smidge cheaper than the first $1,499.99 OLED gaming monitor Samsung released last year — and Samsung currently has a countdown timer teasing its “new 2024 monitors,” which expires today at 9:59AM ET. We’ve asked Samsung to clarify the release dates for the Odyssey OLED G8 but haven’t yet heard back.

Samsung says the G80SD model is its first AI-powered gaming monitor, featuring the same NQ8 AI Gen3 processor as its recently released 2024 Neo QLED 8K TV. That chip is behind the monitor’s AI-upscaling capabilities, according to Samsung, which enables content and games to be upscaled to almost 4K when run through the monitor’s built-in smart TV apps and Gaming Hub, respectively.

The company has also updated the G80SD’s cooling system to mitigate OLED burn-in, adding a proprietary “pulsating heat pipe” to the monitor, which Samsung says is five times more effective at diffusing heat than the graphite sheet method it was previously using. The monitor also detects and automatically reduces the brightness of static images like taskbars or heads-up displays in games.

The G8’s remaining specifications — such as its flat display, 3840 x 2160 resolution, 240Hz refresh rate, and 16:9 aspect ratio — are otherwise identical to what was already announced ahead of CES 2024. Samsung says the monitor can deliver 250 nits of peak brightness and supports FreeSync Premium Pro to help reduce screen lag and screen tearing.

Resolution upscaling has been available in TVs and streaming devices for some time now, but I’m still curious to see how well it performs built into a gaming-focused monitor. As OLED gaming displays especially keep growing in popularity, the feature could help Samsung’s latest offering stand out against the competition — provided people actually want to use it.