Everything You Need to Know About the Msi Optix Mag Series

MSI is one of the biggest players in the PC business, so when it releases a new monitor it's wise to requite it more than a quick glance. That's exactly what we're doing today with the new MSI Optix Mag 321CQR Gaming Monitor (See information technology on Amazon). It's a big 32-inch curved display that aims at the sweet spot for features and performance. With a vertical resolution of 1440p and 144Hz refresh charge per unit, information technology's competitively priced at nether $425 as of this writing.The market for these features is becoming increasingly crowded, so does the Optix MAG 321CQR do enough to set itself apart and demand your difficult-earned dollars? I've spent the last two weeks with the monitor to respond that exact question.

MSI Optix MAG 321CQR Gaming Monitor – Design and Features

There's no fashion around it: the Mag 321CQR is a big monitor. At 32-inches, its panel takes up substantially more of your field of view than even a 27-inch monitor similar the Gigabyte AORUS AD27QD I reviewed previously. Depending on your setup, this can exist either a strength or a weakness. Yous'll need more space, for one, but 32-inches is near the indicate where I discover myself having to turn my caput slightly to have in the full screen.

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That said, 32-inches is easily my favorite screen size for gaming. Afterwards a couple of days, I adapted to the larger format and could brainstorm sinking in to enjoy what I experience is a genuinely more than immersive game experience. The extra screen existent estate really does aid to draw you into the game, especially in outset-person shooters and RPGs similar Skyrim.
The 1800R curve - the aforementioned institute on many Acer Predator gaming monitors and the AOC AG273QCX—also enhanced this effect. Until trying curved screen monitors for the offset fourth dimension last year, I was skeptical of whether or not the curve would make any difference at all; with TVs, I bluntly didn't run across the benefit. Since you're sitting and then close to a monitor, the bend gives a slight wrap-effectually effect that you lot can actually experience and does enhance the experience slightly, especially on a massive panel. The result is subtle; information technology doesn't "make" this monitor but it is a prissy feature the improves the overall feel. I also didn't detect whatever text distortion at the edges which I've encounters on smaller curved displays in the past.
MSI has gone with a "super narrow bezel" pattern their product page describes equally "edge to edge." This is non an border-to-border display. A quarter inch blackness border trims the screen before getting to the plastic bezels. "Super narrow" still feels remarkably accurate, though. The plastic bezels themselves are merely a couple of millimeters thick, so fifty-fifty with the black edges on the screen, it notwithstanding feels very spacious. Compare the bezels here to the those on the Acer Predator XB273K and you can easily see the departure this style makes.
The monitor comes with a high-quality stand that offers just over v inches of tiptop adjustment. Information technology also offers -five to -xx-degrees of tilt which came in handy when I wanted to stand up at my desk. There'due south no rotation since it's curved, yet, and so portrait fashion is off the table and if you demand to turn it, y'all'll have to turn the entire stand. My biggest complaint about the stand is that it simply doesn't grip the desk-bound enough. More than once, I went to adjust the elevation and accidentally slid the monitor back so the rear leg pushed right off the edge.

I likewise wish that y'all were able to lower the brandish more. If I'm turning my caput, usually it's to look up and being able to move it just an inch or two lower would really assist with that. Thankfully, the monitor supports VESA mounting, so it's uniform with virtually aftermarket stands and mounts.

Looking to the rear of the panel, nosotros find the joystick for navigating the OSD and a little bit of RGB for ambience lighting. The lights are only on one side and really serve to accent the glossy blackness blueprint on the back. Information technology's a nice touch but like most rear-monitor lighting is forgotten about once the monitor is in turned around and in identify. They're besides just off or on, so at that place are no special effects built into the monitor to choose from.
The implementation of the joystick is well idea out and I constitute it much easier to navigate than standard button controls. Navigating the OSD on the Magazine is intuitive. It really is every bit simple as pressing in the direction yous want to move and clicking to select.

The large screen size also opens the door to picture-in-motion picture/picture-by-flick.

Inside the OSD, MSI has hidden a handful of game-centric settings including a handful of preset picture furnishings for genres like Racing or FPS, a blackness tuner to speedily change the brightness of scenes, response fourth dimension options to eliminate ghosting, and Anti Motion Blur and Zero Latency to ensure the moving picture stays crisp and input lag not-existent. There's also an "Alarm Clock" setting which volition brandish a countdown timer of annihilation from ane minute to ninety minutes on unlike parts of your screen. Y'all might exist wondering why they'd call it an Alert Clock when there's no alert and no clock, and, well, then am I.

Elsewhere in the OSD, you'll find settings to adjust color balance, enable dynamic contrast, and change the shortcuts tied to the joystick. The large screen size also opens the door to picture-in-picture/motion picture-by-picture. Historically, I've avoided PIP because the square is either too low or it takes up too much of the main display. Here though, it's actually functional (though still small), so if you want to run two inputs and, say, stream an episode of Game of Thrones volition you grind mobs, y'all can actually exercise that.

On the other side, nosotros have our I/O and power header. The MAG 321CQR supports two HDMI 2.0 inputs and a single DisplayPort 1.2. Nosotros also have 2 USB 2.0 headers, as well as a larger Type-B to transmit data to and from the PC. At this price point, I'1000 disappointed to run into USB 2.0 instead of three.0. It volition work fine for nigh peripherals just if you lot're using a thumb drive to transfer large files, the older standard can experience painfully irksome. We also have a headphone jack every bit the monitor functions every bit a sound device simply doesn't feature any speakers of its ain.

I'll give MSI kudos for including USB ports at all.

Everything is adequately standard when it comes to I/O and I'll give MSI kudos for including USB ports at all. It'southward not a feature that I expect on monitor whose pricing is clearly skewed toward the big, loftier resolution and refresh charge per unit screen. What I dislike is that they've gone with an external ability supply and the flimsy single pole connector in the dorsum. The power brick for this display is large (roughly what you'd notice on a gaming laptop) and difficult to cable manage around. The header is too much less durable than the standard three prong connection used with most monitors. It's non a deal billow, but I've used multiple monitors with external power supplies and they're ever more trouble than they're worth.
Finally, nosotros come to the bread and butter of this display: the panel. MSI has opted for a VA panel here which offers ameliorate colors, contrast, and viewing angles than the TN panels usually used in gaming monitors. They're a touch slower and more likely to result in ghosting, though companies take gotten quite skillful at driving VAs to be fast enough for competitive gaming. In fact, MSI quotes a response time of 1ms, which is identical to competitive TN panels.

MSI has opted for a VA console here which offers meliorate colors, contrast, and viewing angles.

The improved colour reproduction and contrast also makes the Magazine 321CQR fitting for hobbyist creative piece of work. MSI quotes the DCI-P3 color spectrum at 92% and the sRGB reproduction at up to 122%. Interestingly, there is no sRGB mode, so you'll need to manually flatten colors if y'all prefer to edit with less saturation. Also, this display doesn't support HDR and tops out at 8-bit colour depth and 300 nits of brightness, so it's non the best suited for existent professional work, and HDR is a no-show.

The MSI MAG 321CQR features a 2560x1440 resolution (1440p or "2K") with a maximum refresh rate of 144Hz. Tech writing has privileged me with the ability to effort but near every major resolution and refresh rate popular on the market place today and I firmly believe that this is the sweetness spot for price, performance, and visuals. While 4K gaming might exist tempting, the operation demands are huge. Even with two 2080 Tis, it tin can be a struggle to go new games to run at a consistent 60 FPS at 4K (I'1000 looking at you Rage ii).

At 1440p, even so, even a concluding-gen GTX 1070 can push loftier frame rates. If you want to run at a full 144Hz, you'll need a more than powerful graphics card, but by and large, y'all tin run a monitor like the Mag 321CQR far easier than any 4K display and you'll have vastly improved visuals and smoothness over a normal 1080p/60Hz monitor. When I upgraded from 1080p/60Hz, I was surprised that even my desktop felt more than smooth.

The MAG321CQR also supports AMD FreeSync for gamers on Team Cherry. If you're running an Nvidia bill of fare, you're in luck as I was able to turn on and bask Thousand-Sync but by checking the option within the Nvidia Control Panel. It worked flawlessly; no hitching or stuttering, just buttery smooth gameplay thanks to the adaptive frame rate syncing.

MSI Optix MAG 321CQR Gaming Monitor – Performance and Gaming

To test the monitor, I used Lagom's LCD examination pages. On the Blackness Level exam, I was able to clearly make out each foursquare, but when I assessed White Saturation, the pattern became washed out on the highest two squares. This indicates that while dark tone reproduction is good, you may lose some detail in the brightest scenes. On the Contrast and Gradient tests, I didn't notice any banding at all, and then colour presentation is in smashing shape. The gamma was always so slightly likewise bright, though, and, bizarrely, there's no gamma control built into the OSD. I had to tweak contrast to bring information technology in line.

Side by side up, I ran the Response Time and Ghosting tests. In the Response Fourth dimension test, the darker squares (A-D) showed very pronounced flickering, indeed probably the worst of the terminal vi VA panels I've reviewed from companies big and small. This indicates a slower response time; in fact, the flickering is essentially worse than the Massdrop Vast which quotes a 4ms response fourth dimension on its VA console - four times what MSI quotes! The lighter squares (E-H) were much better and showed almost no flickering at all. Irresolute the response time on the monitor didn't make any difference to these results.

When I performed the Ghosting Test, I saw similar behavior with slower response in the darks than whites. In the moving-picture show higher up, you can come across the two left-nigh bars in the centre pattern are darker than the residue. These represent the nighttime-to-light transitions. The correct-most bar is also nighttime, which shows the light-to-dark transition. Observe how the MAG 321CQR takes longer to transition out of black and into grayness? Information technology's worth noting that this behavior lessens the higher up the effulgence calibration you go.

Ultimately, what this ways is that, if the Magazine 321CQR is going to show ghosting, it's going to happen with dark objects turning low-cal. In practise, while I thought I may have noticed here and at that place, it was never long enough or prevalent plenty for me to say for sure. If I hadn't conducted the Lagom tests first and been actively looking for it, I doubt I would have noticed it at all. Ghosting is never a adept affair simply if it's happening here, it's and so slight it'due south barely noticeable.

MSI Optix MAG 321CQR Gaming Monitor – Functioning

To examination monitors, my go-to genre is fast-paced first person shooters. It's a genre that demands responsiveness and item to land shots and climb the leaderboard. As a upshot, I spent the nearly time in Battlefield Five and APEX Legends. To circular things out, I loaded up Divinity: Original Sin 2 to feel its gloriously saturated palette on the Mag's VA panel.
In Battlefield V, the 1440p resolution looked glorious. The higher resolution immune me to make out more details about and far. In the picture above, the far ridges were lined with snipers. I was able to selection out movement without looking through the telescopic, allowing me to spend less time "hunting' and more time lining upward shots.

The high refresh rate and FreeSync/G-Sync made movement feel extra smooth. In that location was no screen tearing whatsoever. Battleground is a "rough and tumble" game series, as you're often diving onto the ground and whipping your weapon around in big arcs when on the motion. It's important that the screen be fast enough to avoid motion blur or otherwise distorting the image. The MAG 321CQR did a practiced job here and stayed clear enough that I never one time felt hindered.

In Noon Legends, I was especially curious to see how well I would be able to pick out enemies in the highly saturated environments. In a game like this, improved colors and contrast should, in theory, make picking out hidden enemies easier. In reality, all the VA console did was make the game await gorgeous with richer colors and better blacks. Where the VA panel did help was in dark settings at a distance, viewing enemies through windows, which is a directly event of information technology'southward proficient contrast. I didn't notice any ghosting at all hither or fifty-fifty doubtable it.

The existent do good came in but how smooth gameplay was.

Like Battlefield Five, the existent do good came in just how polish gameplay was. If Battlefield V is about the "rough and tumble," Apex is about the menstruum. With my RTX 2080, I was able to push button upwardly of 120 FPS consistently which G-Sync was able to command and make super smooth. Sliding down a loma in a mad rush to beat out an enemy team at a fully synced 120+ FPS is a glorious matter.

Finally, in Divinity: Original Sin 2, I enjoyed just how rich the colors were. The high refresh charge per unit doesn't offer any competitive advantage simply playing at 2K definitely immune me to pick out actress particular in the environment. This helped me to sink into the world more and enjoy what the artists had created.

Yet, for each of these games, I struggled to notice something definitive nearly this display in item. Companies like Viotek charge substantially less while offering very similar features and picture quality (with admittedly more limited stands). Then while the MSI Optix MAG 321CQR is undoubtedly a adept gaming brandish, I was a trivial disappointed to observe that information technology didn't offer more to make itself stand out and in fact lacked in basic options similar sRGB and Gamma correction.

Purchasing Guide

The MSI Optix MAG 321CQR has a listing toll of $479.99, just you can frequently discover information technology cheaper from nearly online retailers.

The MSI Optix Magazine 321CQR is one of the most affordable 32-inch 1440p/144Hz monitors your can find from a major manufacturer. It has a dandy flick and it was good for gaming but comes with sacrifices in response time, color depth, and an external power supply that's kind of a pain. Faced with stiff competition from lesser-known brands like Pixio and Viotek, it'southward a proficient monitor that falls short of smashing.

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Source: https://www.ign.com/articles/2019/08/21/msi-optix-mag-321cqr-gaming-monitor-review

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