Samsung S90D 65"

The S90D's 144Hz OLED panel and gaming features are top-tier, landing in the 91st percentile for gaming and 92nd for display. But user sentiment sits in the 11th percentile, with multiple owners reporting power board failures and volume control issues. It's a stunning TV when it works, but the reliability concerns make it a gamble, especially at the higher end of its $1,147 to $2,098 price range.

The S90D's gaming chops are the headline. A 144Hz refresh rate with FreeSync Premium and VRR support puts it in the 91st percentile for gaming, which is basically top-tier for a living room TV. The NQ4 AI Gen2 processor handles 4K upscaling, and Motion Xcelerator keeps fast scenes from turning into a blurry mess. HDMI 2.1 across all four ports means you can plug in a console, a PC, and still have room for a soundbar without sacrificing bandwidth.

The display itself is a 4K OLED panel with near-infinite contrast, since black pixels just turn off completely. That's the OLED party trick, and it's why owners rave about the deep blacks. The 40W 2.0-channel speaker setup is decent for built-in audio, landing in the 86th percentile, and it supports Dolby Atmos and DTS Virtual:X. But the picture quality percentile at 36th is a head-scratcher. The panel specs suggest it should be much higher, which makes us wonder if the reliability issues are dragging down the overall picture quality score in our database.

Against the LG OLED evo C5, the S90D holds its own on gaming specs with that 144Hz panel, but LG's OLED track record for reliability is generally stronger, and the C5 doesn't carry the same user sentiment baggage. The Sony BRAVIA XR A95L is the picture quality king in this class, and if you're a cinephile who cares more about accuracy than refresh rate, Sony's processing is hard to beat. The TCL QM8K and Hisense U8 are the value plays, offering mini-LED brightness that OLED can't match for less money, though you give up those perfect blacks. The S90D's sweet spot is gaming, and on that front it beats most of these competitors on paper, but the reliability concerns make it a tougher recommendation than the specs alone would suggest.

The S90D's pricing is all over the place. We found listings ranging from $1,147 to $2,098 across five US vendors, which is a $951 spread for the exact same TV. That's not a small difference, and it means you could easily overpay by nearly a grand if you don't shop around. The lowest price we found was $1,147, and at that number the S90D starts to look like a solid deal for a 65-inch OLED with this gaming feature set. At the high end, you're paying a premium for the Samsung name and the bundled soundbar kit, which may or may not be worth it depending on whether you actually want the S800D audio system.

The Samsung S90D is a 65-inch OLED that nails the fun stuff. Gaming performance sits in the 91st percentile of our database, and the 144Hz panel with FreeSync Premium means this thing is built for a PS5 or a beefy PC. The display itself ranks in the 92nd percentile, which tracks with what owners say about the vibrant colors and deep blacks. It's a genuinely stunning screen when it works.

But here's the rub. User sentiment lands in the 11th percentile, which is rough for a TV with a 4.5-star average from nearly 4,000 reviews. The picture quality percentile is also weirdly low at 36th, which seems to contradict the glowing owner feedback about the OLED panel. That gap between the spec sheet and the real-world reliability reports is the story here. Multiple owners mention power board failures and volume control issues, and that's not the kind of thing you want to hear about a premium TV.

If you're buying a TV you expect to last five-plus years without drama, the S90D's reliability record should give you pause. The 11th percentile user sentiment score isn't just a few grumpy reviewers, it's a pattern of power board failures and volume control issues that multiple owners have reported. The picture quality percentile at 36th is also a red flag, especially when the display specs suggest it should be much higher. If you're not a gamer who needs that 144Hz refresh rate, you're paying a premium for features you won't use while taking on reliability risk you don't need. The LG C5 or Sony A95L are safer picks for movie watchers who want OLED without the gamble.

The S90D is a fantastic gaming TV with a serious asterisk. The 144Hz OLED panel, FreeSync Premium, and four HDMI 2.1 ports make it one of the best gaming displays we've seen in this price range, and the display quality is genuinely stunning when it's working. But the 11th percentile user sentiment score is impossible to ignore. Multiple owners report power board failures and volume control problems, and that's a pattern, not a fluke. If you can find it at the low end of that $1,147 to $2,098 price range and you're willing to roll the dice on reliability, the gaming performance is hard to beat. If you want peace of mind, the LG C5 or Sony A95L are safer bets.