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| 32-inch LG Ultragear OLED gaming monitor is shown |
If you bought a shiny new OLED monitor in the last couple of years, you’re probably still in love with those perfect blacks and vibrant colors. But like that new car feeling, the question eventually arises: how will it hold up? A major new long-term test is giving us some of the clearest answers yet, and the results are a nuanced mix of reassurance and caution.
The latest insights come from the popular Optimum Tech YouTube channel, which has just concluded a comprehensive, real-world burn-in test on a flagship LG gaming monitor. After the equivalent of two years of use—or 3,000 hours of screen-on time—the findings reveal that permanent image retention is a real possibility, but one that many everyday users might never actively notice.
Putting a Top-Tier OLED Through Its Paces
The subject of this endurance test was the LG UltraGear 32GS95UV, a premium WOLED panel known for its dual-mode high refresh rate. The tester, Safwan from Optimum, used it as his primary monitor for productivity and gaming, accumulating 3,000 hours over two years. To put that in perspective, that’s like running the monitor continuously for 125 days.
The settings aimed for a realistic but demanding scenario:
- Brightness: Kept high, between 80-100%.
- Built-in Safeguards: Left at factory default settings.
- OS Settings: Windows taskbar was set to auto-hide, and the screen was set to turn off after 15 minutes of inactivity—a wise practice for any OLED owner.
The usage mix involved a variety of creative and productivity apps, but the primary source of entertainment—and ultimately, the source of the most visible wear—was Overwatch 2. In fact, just 400 hours of playtime with Blizzard’s hero shooter left a discernible mark.
The Reveal: What 3,000 Hours Actually Looks Like
To detect any permanent damage, the test used uniform gray and color patterns, the industry standard for revealing burn-in. The results were telling.
The most prominent artifact was the faint but permanent ghost of the Overwatch 2 health bar and ability icons, visible in the lower-left quadrant of the display. This aligns with reports from other OLED gamers: static, high-contrast UI elements common in games and desktop applications are the primary culprits for burn-in.
Despite this, the channel's host wasn't ready to condemn the monitor. "During normal use, you just don't see it," he noted, highlighting the subjective nature of the issue. The benefits of OLED—like unparalleled contrast and pixel-perfect response times—still outweighed the minor, hidden imperfections for his use case.
Should You Be Worried? It Depends.
The big takeaway is that OLED burn-in is not a myth, but its impact is highly situational. For users who toggle between varied content—movies, different games, web browsing—the built-in pixel refreshing, pixel shifting, and logo dimming features do a remarkable job of preservation.
However, for users with rigid, high-intensity screen habits—think day-traders with fixed layouts, programmers with bright IDEs open for 10 hours a day, or gamers who log thousands of hours in a single game with bright static HUDs—the risk of noticeable burn-in increases. As commenters on the video pointed out, some dedicated Overwatch players felt 400 hours was surprisingly little time for permanent marks to appear.
How to Smartly Protect Your OLED Investment
If you own an OLED monitor or are considering one, you shouldn't live in fear—just practice good screen hygiene:
- Use All the Built-in Tools: Don't disable pixel shifting or panel refresh routines.
- Embrace the Dark Side: Use dark mode in Windows, browsers, and all supporting applications. This reduces the energy output and stress on pixels.
- Hide Desktop Elements: Auto-hide the taskbar and use a blank screensaver or monitor sleep shortcut.
- Vary Your Content: If you're a marathon gamer, mix in a full-screen video or a different game occasionally to give static pixels a break.
Ultimately, the Optimum Tech test reinforces that modern OLED monitors are durable enough for most users, but they remain a premium, nuanced technology. They reward careful usage with the best picture quality on the market, but they also politely remind us that all screens, in time, bear the marks of how we use them.
Source: Optimum Tech YouTube channel - "3000 Hours on an OLED Monitor - The Burn-in Test"