Samsung Odyssey G70f 27" Dual Mode

Samsung's Odyssey G70f is a unique 27-inch gaming monitor that nails both 4K 180Hz and 1080p 360Hz modes in one package. The colors are great and the stand is excellent, but the low brightness holds back its HDR performance. If you need one screen for both cinematic and competitive gaming, and you find it at a good price, it's a smart buy.

Samsung's Odyssey G70f is a monitor that refuses to pick a lane, and honestly, that's the point. It's a 27-inch IPS panel that can run crisp 4K at 180Hz for your scenic RPGs, then flip a switch to blast 360Hz at 1080p when you need every frame in a competitive shooter. It's a clever trick that saves you from buying two separate displays.

The dual-mode party trick is the star here. At 4K, 180Hz is buttery smooth for most people, and the 1ms response time keeps things sharp. Flipping to 360Hz FHD mode is where it gets wild, and input lag is practically nonexistent in our testing, landing in the 84th percentile for performance. The weak spot is brightness. At 280 nits, HDR10 is more of a checkbox than a visual feast, and it's not going to make highlights pop the way a good OLED or a brighter mini-LED panel would. Colors are accurate out of the box, covering 99% sRGB, which is solid for a gaming monitor.

Pricing is all over the map for this one, with a wild spread from $360 to over $900 depending on the vendor and condition. If you can snag it at the lower end of that range, it's a fantastic deal for a high-refresh 4K monitor with a legit 360Hz backup mode. At the higher end, you're bumping into OLED territory, where you'll get way better HDR and contrast. For most buyers, finding a solid used or sale price is the smart play here.

Stacked against the ASUS ROG Strix XG27AQDMG or the Alienware AW-Series 34 QD-OLED, the Samsung's IPS panel can't touch the inky blacks and HDR brilliance of those OLEDs. But those competitors can't drop to 1080p and hit 360Hz either. The LG UltraGear 45GX900A-B is a massive ultrawide beast, so it's a different conversation entirely. The Samsung carves out a niche for the gamer who wants one screen for both cinematic single-player games and sweaty competitive matches, without sacrificing too much on either end.

If you primarily play single-player, atmospheric games in a dark room, skip this and get an OLED. The low brightness and IPS glow will leave you wanting deeper blacks and better HDR pop. Similarly, if you need a big screen for immersion, the 27-inch size might feel restrictive.

The Odyssey G70f is for the practical gamer who wants a single, do-it-all screen. If you split your time between visually rich 4K games and high-frame-rate competitive titles, this monitor's dual-mode feature is a genuine problem-solver. Just don't expect it to blow you away with HDR brightness, and maybe keep an eye out for a good deal.