Curved monitors are nothing new, but that doesn't mean they're not still mightily impressive to sit in front of. When you take into account the vicious arms race in monitor specs that has been taking place in recent years, you start to realise why big manufacturers like LG are repeatedly being forced to up their game.

At an event a few days ago I got the chance to go hands-on with a monitor that LG says is one of its most in-demand ever, and one of the best gaming monitors you can find: the LG UltraGear OLED 45GX950A, which it announced back at CES.

This is a monster in every sense of the word, starting at a chunky $1,999, £1800 or €1,899 – if you can find it in stock. LG's spokespeople confirmed that the monitor practically flew off the shelves at pre-order, smashing expectations thanks to the hype that had built up around it. Units are therefore hard to come by right now.

The long and short of it? This is the world's first 45-inch OLED curved monitor with a dual-refresh rate option, and it brings a whole heap of other welcome features to the table to augment that somewhat convoluted boast. In practice, it's a quite unreal gaming proposition if you can afford it and have a PC to match.

LG has carved out a niche in the curved monitor market by going for an aspect ratio of 21:9, which is taller than typical and therefore a little more space-efficient. You can feel that real estate when you use one, but there's no getting away from how sharp the 800R curvature is – if you're used to flat screens, it'll feel like another world.