Product: Corsair Xeneon Flex 45WQHD240
Type: Gaming Display (45”)
Price: 1999.00 USD
Availability: 2023
Link: corsair.com/us/en/Categories/Products/Monitors/CORSAIR-XENEON-FLEX-45WQHD240-Gaming-Monitor

There’s no doubt that the most prominent and immediate feature of the new Corsair Xeneon Flex 45WQHD240 is the fact that its 45-inch OLED display is bendable, going all the way to an impressive 800R curve. When we began to see bendable screens in the mobile space a few years ago, it felt like a glimpse into the future. And to be perfectly honest we didn’t think we’d get to see the technology make its way to PC gaming monitors and displays for quite a while.

Not only is it incredibly immersive when you grab the handles and physically bend the screen like some sort of magic trick, but 45 inches for this new Corsair display is massive for a 21:9 aspect ratio ultrawide. At the heart of the Corsair Xeneon Flex is its LG OLED panel, which has all of the benefits we’ve come to expect from the display technology. Crisp black levels with near infinite contrast, response times that are basically instantaneous, and support for HDR 10 with an impressive 1000-nit peak brightness.

Though when it comes to HDR and SDR the overall brightness feels lower than this claim. It’s worth noting that the Corsair Xeneon Flex 45WQHD240 we tested was more of a prototype of the near-final version of the display that will ship to customers next year.

And with a refresh rate of 240 Hz, it also happens to be one of the fastest OLED gaming panels on the market - with support for both AMD FreeSync Premium and NVIDIA G-Sync for buttery smooth performance. Of course, getting all of this cutting-edge tech comes at a cost. The USD 2000 price point puts it in the range of high-end TVs, but on the other hand, at 45 inches this is the sort of display where you’ll need plenty of deck space just to set it up.

Looking Good

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It’s not often that you set up a gaming display that requires two people to make the process a lot easier, and this is something you can chalk up to the sheer size of the Corsair Xeneon Flex. Thankfully it’s easy to do, with only one pre-installed screw to tighten when connecting the display to the base. And speaking of the base it’s indicative of the overall angular and stylish design, with easy-to-access controls and front-facing USB 3.2 inputs, and an audio jack for headphones or a headset. As cutting-edge as it is the Corsair Xeneon Flex features a very cool look and the display itself has a matte finish.

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Not only is it incredibly immersive when you grab the handles and physically bend the screen like some sort of magic trick, but 45 inches for this new Corsair display is massive for a 21:9 aspect ratio ultrawide.

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On the back, you’ll find more ports including two HDMI 2.1 inputs, DisplayPort 1.4, and even USB-C. Corsair has definitely covered all bases here, living up to the Corsair Xeneon Flex’s futuristic bendable screen. How it bends is fairly straightforward too, with two handles on each side that bend independently of each other. And with that, the Corsair Xeneon Flex can be used as a purely flat-screen display or bent all the way up to an 800R rated curve - which is one of the biggest curves we’ve seen in an ultrawide.

One little issue we didn’t expect was that the initial force required to bend does make the entire display tilt, pointing to a weighted base that might not be as weighty as it needs to be. Though there’s a breaking-in required, so to speak, the process becomes smoother after a few bends. Bending a screen isn’t something you’d call natural, so there’s that initial sense that maybe it’s going to snap or crack - which is fair enough. The good news is that Corsair is offering an extended warranty out of the gate, with a zero dead-pixel policy, and confirmation that the screen itself can be bent several times every day and still last five years. There’s also OLED burn-in protection.

As for usage, the OSD is clean and easy to follow, with adjustments made from the onboard controls. Colour accuracy is excellent and the picture quality is great out-of-the-box, hitting 100% sRGB and 98.5% DCI-P3. Coupled with the peerless contrast you get from a great OLED panel and it’s pretty incredible to witness all of this on a 240 Hz ultrawide.

A View to Remember

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There is one drawback to the 45-inch size of the Corsair Xeneon Flex, and that comes with the resolution being limited to 3400 x 1440. Okay, so maybe limited is the wrong word to use as you’ll still need to pair this with a high-end GPU in order to get performance anywhere close to 240 frames per second. Something like the new GeForce RTX 4080 or even the GeForce RTX 3080 Ti - two graphics cards that you wouldn’t consider mainstream. The problem with 1440p at 45 inches is that you lose out on a noticeable amount of crispness found on a smaller display, like Alienware’s impressive 34-inch 165 Hz ultrawide OLED.

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The results are often remarkable - no matter if you’re in full flat-screen mode or getting that impressive curve.

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In fact, due to the size, the pixel density is more in-line with a standard 1080p monitor than a 4K display. It’s not blurry or a mess of pixels, but it’s a softer presentation amplified by the fact that you sit a lot closer to a PC display than you would a TV.

Maximum Resolution: 3440 x 1440 (21:9)

Size: 45-inch

Panel Type: OLED

Refresh Rate: 240 Hz (AMD FreeSync Premium, NVIDIA G-Sync Compatible)

Response Time (GTG): 0.03ms

Contrast Ratio: 1,500,000:1

Brightness: HDR with 1,000nit peak brightness

Display Inputs: 2x HDMI 2.1, 1x DisplayPort 1.4, 1x USB Type-C DP Alt-Mode

That said, the results are often remarkable - no matter if you’re in full flat-screen mode or getting that impressive curve. Playing a range of games (with a GeForce RTX 4080), including Cyberpunk 2077, The Callisto Protocol, A Plague Tale: Requiem, and even some DOOM Eternal to max out that 240 Hz, is without a doubt awesome. At times you do see some of the seams/lines highlighting where the bends are located but this is pretty rare. HDR brightness is impressive and even SDR is great for day-to-day productivity. Though you probably notice the lack of 4K-like crispness here compared to an IPS panel.

Where the Corsair Xeneon Flex excels comes with the OLED’s contrast, self-lit pixels, and response times. Scenes with fast motion look great, and more than live up to the premium price tag and futuristic design. The bendable display might be the most talked about feature, but really it’s the immersion that comes from big-screen ultrawide gaming on an OLED at a blistering fast refresh rate that sticks with you. A true glimpse into the future of gaming displays.