The Corsair Xeneon Flex ($1,999) isn’t content material with being both a flat or curved gaming monitor. It aspires to be each. This concept sounds nice on paper however doesn’t translate nicely into the actual world — no less than with this particular monitor. It’s the strangest OLED gaming monitor of the year.
The Xeneon Flex has retractable handles on its sides that help you bend the show. If bending a monitor’s display sounds scary, that’s as a result of it’s. Whereas the act doesn’t require a lot power, it feels unnatural to bend a monitor in such a vogue.
Exterior of its bendability, the Xeneon Flex has all of the options you’d anticipate from one of many greatest gaming displays and greatest curved displays. This features a vivid 45-inch ultrawide panel with a most curvature of 800R that helps make the greatest PC video games really feel extra immersive. Its 240Hz refresh charge and 0.03ms response time additionally ship a easy and quick gaming expertise.
At a minimal, the Corsair Xeneon Flex is a strong gaming monitor with all the usual options anticipated of such units. Nevertheless, the power to bend its show is something however elegant. Toss within the excessive $1,999 worth level, and you’ve got what’s successfully a distinct segment product for everybody however hardcore tech fans into novel units.
Corsair Xeneon Flex: Specs
| Header Cell – Column 0 | Corsair Xeneon Flex |
|---|---|
| Value | $1,999 |
| Dimensions | 41.7 x 22.5 x 12.4 inches |
| Display measurement | 45 inches |
| Decision | 3,440×1,440 |
| Refresh charge | 240Hz |
| Inputs | 2x HDMI 2.1 ports, 1x DisplayPort, 2x USB-C ports, 4x USB-A ports, 1x headphone jack, 1x menu button/joystick |
| Response time | 0.03ms |
| Facet ratio | 21:9 |
| Panel sort | OLED |
| Weight | 15.25 kilos |
Corsair Xeneon Flex assessment: Value
The Corsair Xeneon Flex is obtainable now for $1,999 on Corsair’s web site. At time of writing, Amazon is promoting the monitor for $1,599 — although it’s unclear how lengthy the seller will hold it at that discounted worth.
Corsair Xeneon Flex assessment: Design
- Giant 45-inch OLED panel
- Bodily bending the panel is irritating
The Corsair Xeneon Flex is a monstrous monitor due to its 45-inch ultrawide panel and extensive stand. Due to its giant measurement and all-black design, the Xeneon Flex seems fairly intimidating. There’s not a touch of RGB lighting in sight.
The V-shaped monitor stand has an appropriately thick shaft to assist the large monitor. You’ll be able to’t alter the show’s peak alongside the shaft however you possibly can tilt it ahead or backward, although solely by a couple of levels in both route.
You’ll discover the vast majority of ports over on the again of the stand. This features a pair of HDMI 2.1 ports, a DisplayPort, two USB-C ports and two USB-A ports. There’s additionally one other pair of USB-A ports on the entrance of the stand, together with a 3.5mm headphone jack and the menu button/joystick.
As I stated within the intro, the Xeneon Flex has retractable handles on both aspect of its show which you utilize to bend the show. Making an attempt to slip the handles out of the monitor is a precursor to the awkwardness you’ll expertise bending the show. There’s a everlasting deal with on the monitor’s backside heart used for transferring the show to your most popular angle.
Then there’s the Xeneon Flex’s bendability characteristic, which doesn’t work in addition to I’d have hoped. As an illustration, it’s essential to maintain the monitor down on the desk whereas bending it because it’s simple to tug the whole monitor towards you. I assumed the thick and heavy stand would hold the monitor in place, however I used to be unsuitable.
The press you hear when you’ve reached the utmost 800R curvature isn’t very loud, which might make you query whether or not or not you’ve absolutely curved the monitor. Returning the monitor to its unique place is simply as cumbersome as bending it ahead as a result of it is too simple to shove the whole gadget again if you’re making an attempt to bend it. Having one aspect absolutely bent again to regular whereas the opposite was nonetheless barely bent grew to become irritating. The truth that colleagues in our workplace had the identical issues meant it wasn’t a consumer error on my half.
Whereas I can applaud Corsair for making a monitor with such a novel mechanism, the entire course of was too burdensome and annoying. The LG OLED Flexwhich has a mechanism that routinely bends the panel with the contact of a button, is a much more elegant resolution.
Corsair Xeneon Flex assessment: Show
- Vivid colours
- HDR disables different show modes
Although bodily bending the show is a clunky affair, the precise panel is beautiful. At 45 inches, the show’s measurement is extra akin to the greatest OLED TVs. The three,440 x 1,440 decision delivers clear and sharp pictures whereas the 21:9 side ratio permits you to see extra in video games that assist it. The 800R curvature is respectable sufficient, although I want the extra immersive 1,800R curvature of displays just like the Samsung Odyssey OLED G8 or Alienware AW3423DWF.
Doom Everlasting and Cyberpunk 2077 regarded beautiful on the Xeneon Flex. The previous took full benefit of the monitor’s extensive side ratio, which prevented demons from sneaking up on me from off-screen. Vibrant colours and glorious distinction between darkish and lightweight parts have been current in each titles, although Cyberpunk 2077 with its neon-drenched streets and shadowy allies regarded probably the most spectacular to my eyes.
The Xeneon Flex has seven show modes in complete. There’s a lone Sport mode, together with others named Customary, Film, Textual content, sRGB, Artistic and HDR. Every show mode is barely totally different and optimized for what they’re named after. For instance, Sport mode favors efficiency whereas Textual content mode makes textual content on internet pages and paperwork bolder.
| Row 0 – Cell 0 | Corsair Xeneon Flex | Samsung Odyssey OLED G9 | Acer Predator X32 FP |
| Nits (brightness) | 147 | 236 | 404 |
| sRGB | 150.7% | 194.5% | 226% |
| DCI-P3 | 106.7% | 137.8% | 160% |
| Delta-E | 0.06 | 0.12 | 0.26 |
How did the show fare in our lab checks? Once we pointed our Klein-10A colorimeter at it, we discovered that the Xeneon Flex’s display achieved a mean brightness of 147 nits of brightness in Customary Mode. That’s decrease than each the Samsung Odyssey OLED G9 (236 nits) and Acer Predator X32 FP (404 nits) of their respective normal modes.
Concerning shade replica, a lot of the Xeneon Flex’s show modes usually produce oversaturated colours — which profit the colourful worlds of video games like Cyberpunk 2077 and Doom Everlasting. In Customary mode, the show coated 150.7% of the sRGB shade gamut and 106.7% of the extra demanding DCI-P3 shade house (nearer to 100% is greatest). For Delta-E, which measures shade accuracy, the Xeneon Flex had a price of 0.06 (nearer to 0 is good). We noticed these values throughout a lot of the out there show modes.
How does that examine to the competitors? In its Customary mode, the Odyssey OLED G9 coated 194.5% of the sRGB shade gamut and 137.8% of the DCI-P3 gamut, with a Delta-E worth of 0.12. The Predator X32 FP’s show achieved 226% of the sRGB shade gamut and 160% of the DCI-P3 shade gamut, with a Delta-E worth of 0.26.
A lot of the Xeneon Flex’s show modes don’t get very shiny, with Customary mode being the brightest at 147 nits. Nevertheless, with HDR enabled, we discovered the show reached 500 nits of brightness throughout 10% of the show. That’s far decrease than the marketed 1,000 nits of brightness, nevertheless it’s nonetheless vibrant to my eyes.
One curious side about HDR is that it doesn’t seem as a show choice within the menu until you allow HDR in Home windows 11. While you do that, HDR turns into the one show mode out there within the menu. This may be a small factor for some, however having to allow/disable HDR in Home windows after I needed to check different show modes was irritating.
Corsair Xeneon Flex assessment: Efficiency
- Easy 240Hz refresh charge
- Quick 0.03ms response time
The Xeneon Flex includes a 240Hz refresh charge, a 0.03ms response time, and assist for each Nvidia’s G-Sync and AMD’s FreeSync adaptive sync applied sciences. Due to that, you’ll take pleasure in a responsive and buttery easy gaming expertise irrespective of which GPU your PC has.
When testing video games on the Xeneon Flex, I used the Dell XPS 8950 desktop, which packs a twelfth gen Intel Core i5-12600k processor, an Nvidia GeForce RTX 3060 Ti GPU and 16GB of RAM together with a 512GB SSD and 2TB of HDD storage. This isn’t the beefiest gaming PC nevertheless it pairs nicely with the Flex since it could run video games at excessive framerates.
I received Doom Everlasting to run round 100 frames per second on medium settings on the XPS 8950 and it ran nice on the Xeneon Flex. Mowing down demonic hordes felt easy and exact due to the fluid 240Hz refresh charge. I wasn’t capable of get Cyberpunk 2077 to run above 60 frames per second nevertheless it ran easily regardless, even when there was plenty of motion taking place on the display.
Corsair Xeneon Flex assessment: Interface
- No-frills interface
- Simple-to-navigate menus
The Xeneon Flex has a bare-bones interface that’s simple to navigate. It options white lettering over a black background, with highlights in yellow. Throughout the menu, you possibly can alter brightness, show modes, enter choice and extra.
The sq. menu button situated on the stand beneath the panel additionally serves as a joystick to navigate by means of the menu. I discovered this nub-like button responsive and I by no means had an issue utilizing it to seek out particular settings. I respect the general simplicity of the interface expertise.
Corsair Xeneon Flex assessment: Verdict
I needed to love the Corsair Xeneon Flex extra. I actually did. And if it was the one bendable gaming monitor in the marketplace, I might need lower it some slack for making an attempt one thing new. Sadly, LG already discovered a greater resolution to bendable displays with the OLED Flex. It’s onerous to justify a monitor it’s important to bodily bend when there’s one which achieves the identical operate with the press of a button.
It’s a disgrace that the Xeneon Flex’s signature characteristic can also be its greatest hindrance because it’s an important ultrawide gaming monitor that delivers wealthy oversaturated colours and glorious efficiency. Nevertheless, in case you’re in search of an ultrawide curved gaming monitor with comparable specs, the $1,799 Samsung Odyssey OLED G9 presents an general higher worth. If you’d like a big monitor that doesn’t bend, the $1,499 Acer Predator X32 FP is one other glorious various.
As for the Corsair Xeneon Flex, I say it’s a noble however flawed gadget. When you’re into bizarre tech and may afford the lofty $2,000 worth, then this monitor would possibly curiosity you. For everybody else, you’ll need to look elsewhere.
