MSI MPG 321URX QD-OLED  Monitor Review

The MSI MPG 321URX has a gamer-oriented aesthetic with a black plastic body. It has a square-based stand and RGB lighting at the back of the monitor.

The build quality is excellent. The monitor body is all plastic but feels very solid, and the back panel doesn't flex very much.

The ergonomics are reasonable. It has excellent height adjustment, so it's easy to place in your preferred position for a long gaming session. It also has a good swivel range, so it's easy to share your screen with someone else. The stand features a cutout for cable management.

The square-based stand holds the monitor effectively, and there's very little wobble.

The monitor has a joystick at the rear of the monitor to control the on-screen display, as well as a macro key and power button.

• HDMI cable
• DisplayPort cable
• USB-B to USB-A cable
• Power cable
• VESA wall-mount adapter screws
• Documentation

The monitor has a near-infinite contrast ratio, as its QD-OLED panel can turn individual pixels on and off. This means it displays deep blacks next to bright highlights in dark rooms. However, in bright environments deep blacks appear purple, so it doesn't display the same deep blacks in bright rooms.

The MSI 321URX doesn't have a backlight, so it doesn't require a local dimming feature. However, with a near-infinite contrast ratio, there isn't any blooming around bright objects, and it's the equivalent of a perfect local dimming feature. We still film these videos on the monitor so you can see how the screen performs and compare it with a monitor that has local dimming.

Settings

• User: Calibrated
• Brightness: 100
• Pixel Shift: Slow
• Static Screen Detection: Off

The SDR brightness is adequate. It gets bright enough to fight glare in rooms with a few lights, though it can't overcome glare if bright light shines directly on the screen. It's best used in a darker environment anyway, as deep blacks appear slightly purple when enough light shines on the display.

Settings

• Professional: User
• Gaming: Premium Color
• DisplayHDR: Peak 1000 nits
• Brightness: Locked
• Pixel Shift: Slow
• Static Screen Detection: Off

The HDR brightness is okay. Very small highlights pop against the rest of the image, though larger highlights don't. The EOTF follows the target curve well, though it has a roll-off near peak brightness, so highlights don't get as bright as they could.

True Black 400 Mode

The 'Peak 1000 nits' DisplayHDR mode lets very small highlights get much brighter than in 'True Black 400'. However, in 'Peak 1000 nits, the screen's brightness varies depending on how much of your screen has very bright content, which could be distracting. An additional benefit to 'True Black 400' is the PQ EOTF curve has less roll-off than 'Peak 1000 nits'. You can see the results with 'True Black 400' below:

• Real Scene: 365 cd/m²

This monitor has fantastic gray uniformity, and there aren't any noticeable issues. However, like any OLED, there are thin gray vertical lines in dark scenes, but you won't notice them unless you look for them.

The black uniformity is fantastic, with a uniform black level across the entire screen.

The accuracy before calibration in the 'sRGB' picture mode is excellent. The color temperature is fairly close to the 6500K target, and the white balance is excellent. Also, while colors are slightly oversaturated they have excellent accuracy. Gamma follows the target curve fairly well, though darker and brighter parts of scenes are too dark.

Locked-out Settings

Using the sRGB mode locks out the following settings:

• Contrast
• Low Blue Light
• Color Temperature

If you want to access those settings, then you need to use another mode with worse color accuracy, like User.

The accuracy after calibration is fantastic, and you won't notice any inaccuracies.

The SDR color gamut is remarkable. It displays all colors in the common sRGB color space and a wide range of colors in the Adobe RGB color space. That said, some colors are off in Adobe RGB, and it oversaturates red.

The HDR color gamut is fantastic. It displays nearly all colors in the common DCI-P3 color space and a wide range in the Rec. 2020 color space, though white is somewhat inaccurate in DCI-P3. The 'Display P3' setting in Pro Mode isn't as accurate as 'User.'

The MSI MPG321URX has an amazing HDR color volume. Thanks to its QD-OLED panel, it displays bright and vivid colors without any issues, and dark colors look fantastic, too.

The horizontal viewing angle is outstanding. Although it technically isn't perfect, you visually won't see any inconsistencies when viewing from the sides or if you sit close to the screen.

The MSI 321URX has excellent text clarity. Thanks to its high pixel density, text looks very sharp, and enabling Windows ClearType (top photo) improves the boldness of letters. However, text isn't as sharp as on a 27-inch, 4k QD-OLED with higher pixel density, like the MSI MPG 272URX QD-OLED.

Due to the triangular subpixel layout, there's still some color fringing around letters and at the edge of windows. It's hard to see unless you look closely at the monitor. Although we didn't experience any eye strain during testing, even with long periods of use, this is something that changes from person to person, and it depends on how sensitive you are to this subpixel layout.

These photos are in Windows 10, and you can also see them in Windows 11 with ClearType on and with ClearType off.

The direct reflection handling is okay, though you can still somewhat distinctly see bright objects.

This monitor has bad black levels in a bright room. Any ambient light causes the black levels to rise, and they look purple in bright rooms, which is typical of QD-OLEDs, mainly due to the fact that they lack a polarizer. This means that it only displays perfect blacks in a dark room.

This monitor has minimal reflected light. Only bright objects are distinctly visible, and it doesn't spread reflections across the screen.

The gradient handling is remarkable, and you won't notice any banding.

While you can reach the max refresh rate with a 4k resolution over DisplayPort and HDMI, both connections require Display Stream Compression (DSC) to do so. Most modern graphics cards support DSC on at least one of the connections. You can disable DSC on the monitor, but the resolution and/or refresh rate are lower. If you're looking for an OLED monitor with a much higher maximum refresh rate, check out the ASUS ROG Swift OLED PG32UCDP, which has a 1080p @ 480Hz mode.

In addition to FreeSync and G-SYNC compatibility, this monitor also supports HDMI Forum VRR.

The MSI 321URX has outstanding motion handling across its entire refresh rate range with VRR enabled. CAD remains low throughout, and there's minimal blur with fast-moving objects.

The refresh rate compliance is outstanding. As it has a near-instantaneous response time, it makes full color transitions before drawing the next frame.

The CAD at the maximum refresh rate is outstanding. It displays fast-moving objects as intended, and motion is extremely sharp.

The CAD at 120Hz is outstanding. Pixels transition to their target RGB level almost instantly, so there isn't any blur trail or noticeable inverse ghosting.

The CAD at 60Hz is outstanding. Pixels transition colors almost perfectly, and any noticeable blur is persistence.

The monitor doesn't have an optional black frame insertion feature to reduce persistence blur further.

The MSI MPG 321URX QD-OLED has occasional VRR flicker with changing frame rates, though it's better than most OLEDs. However, there are occasionally some very quick flashes that occur randomly, which can be distracting. That said, this doesn't happen if your PC can maintain consistent frame rates.

The backlight isn't technically flicker-free because it has a slight dip in brightness that corresponds to the 240Hz refresh rate.

The input lag is very low, especially at its max refresh rate. The input lag is not affected by Display Stream Compression (DSC) or VRR being on or off with firmware FW.011. The previous firmware revision causes significant input lag at 120Hz and 60Hz when DSC is on, and significant input lag when using VRR at 120Hz and 60Hz when DSC is off.

The Xbox doesn't support HDR with 1440p or 1080p signals, so this isn't a limitation of the monitor.

The DisplayPort Alt Mode on the USB-C port allows you to connect a compatible laptop to display an image from it and charge it at the same time with up to 90W of power.

The MSI MPG 321URX QD-OLED has no compatibility issues with macOS. If you're using a MacBook, windows move to the monitor's screen when you close the laptop's lid, and they return to their original position when you reopen it again over any type of connection. VRR works well, though colors in HDR look a bit oversaturated.

The MSI MPG 321URX QD-OLED has several extra features to improve the user experience. It has a KVM switch that makes it easy to switch between sources and use the same keyboard and mouse connected to the monitor.

As with other OLED panels, this monitor has a few settings to help mitigate the risk of permanent burn-in when exposed to the same static elements over time. MSI also offers a 3-year burn-in warranty.

• Pixel Shift: This moves the image a few pixels at a time so that each pixel isn't always displaying the same thing. You can set it to 'Slow,' 'Normal', or 'Fast'.
• Multi Logo Detection: Reduces the brightness of static elements, like logos, that stay on the screen for a long time.
• Panel Protect: This feature activates a pixel refresh cycle to reduce the risk of permanent burn-in. A message pops up every four hours of usage to run the cycle, which takes a couple of minutes to complete. However, the message can pop up at any time, including while you're gaming. You can adjust the feature to activate after 16 hours instead of 4, though this may make your screen more prone to burn-in.

The monitor has some other extra features, including:

• Mystic Light: A soft ambient light that you can sync with other Mystic Light products.
• HDMI CEC: It supports the HDMI CEC standard, so it will automatically turn on when you power up compatible devices like consoles.
• Smart Crosshair and Optix Scope: These are two different settings for various crosshairs and scope features, making it easier to see opponents in games. Your games' anti-cheating tools won't detect it, giving you a competitive advantage.