LG will soon unleash a 480Hz OLED gaming monitor — its fastest yet

LG Display 480Hz gaming monitor
(Image credit: LG)

LG has begun mass-producing one of its fastest gaming monitors yet. Announced during CES 2024, this 27-inch OLED gaming monitor combines a blistering fast 480Hz refresh rate and a super low 0.02ms response time. While that might be overkill for the average gamer, it should be ideal for competitive gaming.

According to LG, this is the industry’s first 27-inch QHD gaming OLED that can run at 480Hz. Sure, the Asus ROG Swift OLED (PG32UCDM) can also hit 480Hz at 1440p, but it’s a 32-inch monitor. The 24.5-inch Alienware 500Hz has a native 480Hz refresh rate but lacks an OLED panel and tops out at 1080p.

According to the company, LG’s monitor also has a new record response time of 0.02ms on a gaming OLED. That’s certainly faster than the Samsung Odyssey OLED G8 with its 0.03ms response time. The average person probably won’t notice a 0.01ms response time difference, but professional gamers likely will.

The 2,560 x 1,440 resolution (which the industry calls QHD) on a 480Hz is somewhat rare, as monitors like the aforementioned Alienware 500Hz only go up to 1080p. Even LG’s dual refresh rate UltraGear 32GS95UE-B drops to 1080p resolution when you switch to its 480Hz mode (with the other mode being 4K at 240Hz). The fact this 27-inch OLED monitor has a sharper resolution than most 480Hz devices gives it an edge.

Outlook

480Hz gaming monitors are popping up more and more these days. Whether that’s due to demand or companies trying to compete with one another, I can’t say. I think 480Hz is excessive, especially since most games can’t run at 480 frames per second to take advantage of such an absurd refresh rate. 

However, even if you can’t play the latest Call of Duty at 480 fps, the higher refresh rate should still make the experience smoother, even for non-competitive gamers.

We don’t have an exact release date for this 27-inch OLED gaming monitor, but given that LG has begun mass production, it shouldn’t be long.

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Tony Polanco
Computing Writer

Tony is a computing writer at Tom’s Guide covering laptops, tablets, Windows, and iOS. During his off-hours, Tony enjoys reading comic books, playing video games, reading speculative fiction novels, and spending too much time on X/Twitter. His non-nerdy pursuits involve attending Hard Rock/Heavy Metal concerts and going to NYC bars with friends and colleagues. His work has appeared in publications such as Laptop Mag, PC Mag, and various independent gaming sites.