When I got the Samsung CFG70 delivered to my house I didn’t know what to expect. It was a big box and overwhelming. I was excited to see what was inside and when I finally took it out of the box and put it together I was able to see just how beautiful a monitor it was albeit quite gaudy.
When you look at it from afar, you can’t help but think you’ve got a high end piece of hardware and every dollar you’ve spent on this monitor was worth it. That’s the feeling I got and I still have it.
I won’t pretend that I know much about high end PC gaming. I’m fairly new to it. From the complexed technical aspect of it, I’ve got a lot to learn and that includes my knowledge of monitors. Over the past two years I’ve gotten immersed into PC gaming when I started building my own high end gaming rig. I didn’t realize how important the monitor was to that equation. I assumed that it was all about the PC itself. Wrong. Now that I’ve been gaming on the CFG70 my mind is blown. I didn’t think I would love gaming more just because of a monitor and now I realize I do.
Design
The design of the CFG70 is curved. Ever so slightly with an 1800R curvature that will give you really good viewing angles whichever way you have the screen fixed and even in bright natural light.
At the bottom, there is a heavyweight rounded stand which provides really good stability for the monitor. Once you place the CFG70 on your desk or tabletop, you have to pick it up to move it. The monitor itself (once you attach it) sits on an elbow like dual hinge that allows you a great deal of range to raise and lower the monitor as well as being able to place the monitor in portrait mode if you wish. This design gives you a lot of options and different ways to game that’s comfortable for you.
Screen and performance
The screen of the CFG70 is what you would have bought it for. There is a lot of science and technology that went into it. I don’t fully understand it all but there are some key things that you should know about the CFG70. For starters, the Quantum Dot technology. What that basically does is it gives the monitor the ability to increase the overall color gamut by raising the intensity of reds and greens which ultimately give you a better picture contrast and picture quality overall. That’s a very loose explanation of it but in laymen’s terms, your games are going to look more accurate as far as the colors go.
The CFG70 has a refresh rate capable of output at 144 Hz with a response time at 1ms. This essentially means that the delay in the information that is sent from the GPU to the monitor itself is minimized thus giving you more gameplay in as close to real time as possible.
The menu on the CFG70 allows you to really be able to customize your experience to how you like to play your games but also to the games that you like to play. Once you get into the menu you can change the refresh rates, response times, picture style, toggle FreeSync on or off, etc. All of this can be done with the power button in the rear which doubles as the menu click knob by pushing and moving the button up, down, left or right. The CFG70 is multi-functional and totally designed with the total gaming experience in mind.
The CFG70 is not restricted to just PC gaming. This monitor is absolutely perfect for console gaming. In fact I’ve made the switch from my Samsung TV to the CFG70 since I got it. It’s not that my TV doesn’t make my games look great, it does. The CFG70 however is primarily focused on pixel density and color accuracy and when I play my games they stand out more and they’re just beautiful to look at and to play. Lastly, console games max out at 60 FPS which this monitor can handle with ease, every game you play will move fluidly.
Specs
The CFG70’s boast a great deal of technology and if you want to see what’s behind the screen. Here’s a full spec rundown of the CFG70. It’s complexed but you get incredible results.
Screen Size: 27 Inches (1800R Curvature)
Resolution: 1080p FHD
Aspect Ratio: 16:9
Panel Technology: Vertical Alignment (VA)
Refresh Rate: 144 Hz
Response Time: 1ms
Contrast Ratio: 3000:1 (Static)
Brightness: 350 cd/m²
Built-in Speakers: Yes (2 x 2 watts RMS)
Stand: Height -Yes
Stand: Tilt – Yes (-2°/+17°)
Stand: Swivel – Yes
VESA Compatibility: Yes (100 x 100)
Connectivity: HDMI x 2, DisplayPort x 1, 3.5mm Audio Jack
Dimensions with Stand (W x H x D): 24.5” X 21.7” X 15.2”
Dimensions without Stand: 24.5” X 14.4” X 3.6”
Weight: 13.7 lbs.
Final Thought
The CFG70 is the perfect gaming monitor for anyone looking to buy one. The CFG70 isn’t exactly what I would consider to be “budget” but if you want to have a really good monitor for all of your gaming needs then you gotta spend a few dollars. At $379.99 it is a little steep and there are some similar monitor options for a bit less but the whole package that you get from Samsung is top notch. It’s not the best monitor that you can get but again, it is in my view a perfect gaming monitor and not just for the PC master race. Console gamers should not let the fact that it’s a PC gaming monitor sway them from buying the CFG70.
There aren’t many drawbacks to having this monitor. If there is a drawback it’s in that there is no built in speakers so audio is solely output via headphones or a speaker system and that really sucks especially at $400. You could say that it doesn’t come in a bigger size than 27″, true BUT when you go big and ultrawide you don’t always get a full screen picture. You end up with letterboxes or a distorted looking game in some cases and a guy like me needs the whole screen filled and a great looking game. Samsung did a great job at making this a great option in a limited market of curved screen monitors. Anyone that owns the CFG70 will agree and those who eventually see it in action and use it would want to have one. Rightfully so.
