A New CES Star for PC Gaming Monitors
CES 2026 has been oddly quiet for traditional PC hardware. Nvidia and AMD barely showed anything truly new, and Intel’s Panther Lake CPUs were one of the only major chip announcements. But while GPUs and processors took a back seat, one category absolutely did not: gaming monitors.
Leading that charge is what could be the most exciting gaming display of 2026 so far, the LG UltraGear Evo 39GX950B. This 39 inch OLED ultrawide brings together resolution, size, refresh rate, and panel tech in a way that looks tailor made for PC gamers.
If you have been holding off on a big monitor upgrade because nothing felt quite right, this might be the screen that finally ticks all the boxes.
Why This 39 Inch 5K2K OLED Matters
The LG UltraGear Evo 39GX950B is built around a new 39 inch OLED panel with a 5K2K resolution. In plain terms that is 5,120 by 2,160 pixels. Think of a regular 4K monitor, which is 3,840 by 2,160 at 16:9, and then stretch that width out to a 21:9 ultrawide without losing vertical resolution.
The result is essentially the pixel density of a 32 inch 4K display spread across an ultrawide canvas. That means around 140 pixels per inch, which is a sweet spot for PC use. It is sharp enough that text and UI elements look clean, but not so dense that you have to fight with scaling or need a monster GPU to drive every frame.
Compared with a 27 inch 4K panel, the pixel density is slightly lower, but for gaming that difference is barely noticeable. What you absolutely notice is immersion. A larger, wider panel fills more of your field of view, pulls you deeper into games, and gives you a lot more workspace for productivity and content creation.
For many PC users, 32 inch 4K has already become the sensible high end choice. This LG display essentially gives you that same crispness while stretching your horizontal space for racing games, sims, ultrawide friendly titles, and multitasking.
On top of that, the UltraGear Evo 39GX950B runs at 165 Hz at its full 5K2K resolution. That combination of high resolution and high refresh is exactly what PC gamers want: smooth motion without sacrificing detail.
There is also an alternative mode that drops the resolution to 2,560 by 1,080 and pushes the refresh rate up to a blistering 330 Hz. That lower resolution mode will be especially attractive to competitive players who prioritize maximum frame rates and lowest input lag over pixel count.
Ultrawide Design, Curvature and Everyday Use
For many people, an ultrawide is far more pleasant than a dual monitor setup. You avoid bezels in the middle of your view and everything feels more seamless. The 39 inch size hits a practical balance here. It is large and immersive but not as unwieldy as huge 49 inch or 57 inch super ultrawides, which can dominate a desk and be awkward to position.
LG has clearly learned from its previous 45 inch 5K2K OLED, the LG UltraGear 45GX950A. That model had a very aggressive 800R curve, which some users found too extreme. The new 39 inch UltraGear Evo steps back to a gentler 1500R curvature. This curve still wraps the screen around your vision for immersion, but should feel more natural and comfortable for mixed use: gaming, browsing, work, and media.
As a daily driver for both gaming and general computing, the 39GX950B offers:
- Plenty of horizontal space for timelines, toolbars, and multiple windows
- Enough vertical resolution at 2,160 pixels to avoid feeling cramped
- OLED benefits like deep blacks and strong contrast for both games and movies
For creative users, the extra width is also handy for video editing, music production timelines, and side by side app layouts.
Price, Panel Tech Trade offs and Burn in Concerns
There are two main reservations with this monitor: price and panel characteristics.
First, price. LG’s similar 45 inch 5K2K OLED, the 45GX950A, launched at around 1,999 dollars and has since dropped to about 1,499 dollars. The new 39 inch model is smaller and will likely come in cheaper. A realistic expectation is around 1,000 dollars, if not at launch then a few months after release.
That is still expensive, but if you get five years of daily use out of it, you are effectively paying roughly 200 dollars a year for a top tier visual experience. For serious PC gamers or people who live at their desk, that can be a justifiable investment.
Second, panel tech. This new UltraGear uses LG’s latest OLED panel, but not the new RGB stripe subpixel layout that some were hoping for. Instead it relies on an RGWB style layout with an additional white subpixel to boost brightness. Pure RGB layouts typically offer slightly sharper text and more vivid colors, while LG’s approach trades some of that for higher luminance.
Some display enthusiasts would love to see this exact format built with Samsung’s QD OLED technology, which does not rely on a white subpixel and is known for especially rich colors. Even so, LG’s modern OLED implementations have already impressed many gamers with their picture quality and speed.
The other lingering concern is OLED burn in. This is the worry that static elements like taskbars, HUDs, and UI panels could permanently mark the screen over long term use. In practice, recent OLED monitors have not suffered the nightmare scenarios many feared, especially with built in protections like pixel shifting and refresh cycles.
However, five or more years of heavy PC use is a long time, and it is fair to say that a bit of burn in anxiety will always sit in the back of your mind when you spend this much on an OLED. For many users, the trade off is still worth it for the incredible contrast and response times OLED brings to gaming.
Even with those caveats, the LG UltraGear Evo 39GX950B stands out as one of the most compelling PC gaming monitors to come out of CES 2026. It combines a very smart resolution and size, high refresh options, a more sensible curve, and the deep blacks only OLED can deliver. If you have been waiting for a near perfect ultrawide upgrade, this could be the display that finally earns a spot on your desk.
Original article and image: https://www.pcgamer.com/hardware/gaming-monitors/lgs-new-39-inch-5k2k-oled-is-easily-my-favourite-new-pc-monitor-at-ces-2026-and-it-might-just-be-the-gaming-panel-ive-been-waiting-for/
