LG's UltraGear evo GX9 costs $1,799.99 and is, according to PCMag's review published Sunday, the first 5K2K OLED gaming monitor at its 39-inch screen size. That resolution, 5,120 by 2,160 pixels, sits inside a 21:9 ultrawide curved panel built on LG's fourth-generation Primary RGB Tandem QD-OLED technology, a panel design the company also calls Primary RGB Penta Tandem.
Tandem OLED stacks two emissive layers instead of one, which is how panel makers have been pushing past the brightness and longevity limits that dogged earlier QD-OLED monitors. PCMag's testing found the approach addresses the old complaints about dim screens, soft text and weak black levels in bright rooms. LG isn't alone here. The Alienware 34 280Hz QD-OLED uses a similar structure from Samsung, badged QD-OLED Penta Tandem, and PCMag notes that Samsung and LG supply the panels inside most gaming monitors regardless of whose logo is on the box.
What PCMag measured
Using Portrait Displays' Calman software and a Klein K-10A colorimeter, PCMag measured 322 nits at a 10% window in the out-of-the-box SDR mode, landing between LG's stated typical brightness of 330 nits and its minimum spec of 300 nits. The panel carries DisplayHDR TrueBlack 500 certification with a rated peak HDR brightness of 1,300 nits, while LG separately promises 1,500 nits at a 1.5% average picture level in HDR, a narrower and brighter measurement window.
The curve is rated at 1500R, meaning a ring of these monitors edge to edge would trace a 1,500mm circle. Gamers get dual-mode flexibility too: 165Hz at the native 5K2K resolution, or 330Hz by dropping to 2,560 by 1,080. The display area can also shrink to 34, 27 or 24.5 inches for players who want a tighter competitive view without giving up the ultrawide option for single-player games.
The AI features that drove up the price
LG built an onboard processor, whose model and architecture the company won't disclose, to upscale lower-resolution console or PC output to fill the 5K2K panel, working independently of AMD FSR or Nvidia DLSS on the GPU side. PCMag's review treats this as one of the more interesting additions but also one of the pricier ones, and says it's a factor in why the GX9 costs more than rivals without it.
The monitor's twin 7-watt speakers get an AI Sound mode meant to separate elements of a mix for a clearer, more controlled profile. PCMag's tester ran King Krule's bass-heavy "Pink Shell" through it and found the processing cleaned up separation but didn't deepen the bass, even with boost enabled, and added reverb that isn't in the original recording.
On connections, the back panel carries two HDMI 2.1 ports, one DisplayPort 2.1 jack, two USB-A 3.2 Gen 2 ports and a USB-C input with 90 watts of power delivery, plus a headphone jack, all set into a matte-black, logo-free chassis that measures 23.8 by 36.3 by 12.7 inches with the stand extended and weighs 23.6 pounds.
Despite the panel praise, PCMag's review names two other monitors as its Editors' Choice picks in the category: LG's own AI-free 45 UltraGear OLED (45GX950A-B) and the Alienware 39 5K OLED Gaming Monitor (AW3926QW), both cited as better value than the GX9 at its current price.
CDFiled by The Computing Desk
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