MSI MPG 341CQPX QD-OLED  Monitor Review

The MSI MPG 341CQPX has a gamer-oriented aesthetic with a black plastic body and art on the back. The screen has a mild curve, which is standard for ultrawide displays.

The build quality is excellent. It feels solid, and the plastic body doesn't flex very much. However, the bottom of the screen curves up slightly, as you can see in the Vertical Viewing Angle video.

The ergonomics are decent, and they are particularly good for an ultrawide monitor. The stand has a cutout for cable management.

This monitor has a V-shaped stand that takes up a lot of space. The monitor wobbles a bit when bumped, but this is normal for an ultrawide monitor. The thickness is measured from the sides to the back of the stand, and the thickness from the center of the screen to the back of the stand is 8.7" (22.0 cm).

The thickness is measured from the sides to the back of the screen, and the thickness from the center of the screen is 3.2" (8.0 cm).

The controls consist of a power button, a macro key, and a joystick to control the on-screen menu.

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

The MSI MPG 341CQPX 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 brighter environments deep blacks appear purple.

OLED panels like this one don't have a backlight, so they don'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

• Pro Mode: User
• Game Mode: User
• Brightness: 100
• MSI OLED Care
  • Pixel Shift: Slow
  • Other OLED Care Settings: 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.

Settings

• DisplayHDR: Peak 1000 nits
• Brightness: Locked to max
• MSI OLED Care
  • Pixel Shift: Slow
  • Other MSI OLED Care Settings: Off

The HDR brightness is alright. It gets bright enough for small highlights to pop against the rest of the image. It also follows the PQ EOTF well enough, so it displays scenes at their correct brightness, but because it has a slow roll-off at the peak brightness, it doesn't let highlights get the brightest they can.

If you set DisplayHDR to 'TrueBlack 400' then there's less variation in brightness between scenes, but highlights also don't pop, as you can see below:

• EOTF: Chart
• Real Scene: 359 cd/m²
• ABL: 0.035

The MSI MPG 341CQPX has excellent gray uniformity, and there aren't any noticeable issues. However, like any OLED, there are thin gray vertical lines in dark scenes, but they're hard to notice.

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

The accuracy before calibration is great in the 'sRGB' Pro Mode with Game Mode set to 'User.' It locks colors fairly well to the sRGB color space, though they're a bit oversaturated. Additionally, its color temperature is close to the 6500K target, it has good white balance, and gamma is quite accurate, though very bright parts of scenes are a bit dark.

The 'sRGB' mode locks out the following settings:

• Contrast
• Low Blue Light
• Ambient RGB Light
• Color Temperature

If you want to access those settings, then you need to use another mode with worse color accuracy, as you can see in the graph for 'User' Pro Mode.

The accuracy after calibration is fantastic. Although it isn't perfect, like with gamma tracking, it improves the overall image accuracy.

The SDR color gamut is incredible. It displays a wide range of colors in both the sRGB and Adobe RGB color spaces, but oversaturates some colors in both.

The HDR color gamut is fantastic. It covers nearly all of the DCI-P3 color space used in most content, with minimal inaccuracies. However, it has a more limited coverage of the wider Rec. 2020 color space.

The HDR color volume is fantastic. It displays dark colors well and bright colors are vivid. These results are in 'Peak 1000 nits' mode.

Luminance levels for 'True Black 400'

• Red Luminance: 241 cd/m²
• Blue Luminance: 69 cd/m²
• Green Luminance: 716 cd/m²

The MSI MPG 341CQPX has an incredible horizontal viewing angle. 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 MPG 341CQPX has decent text clarity, though it's not as good as some other non-OLED 27-inch 1440p monitors. This is because the monitor's triangular subpixel arrangement causes some color fringing around letters. Enabling Windows ClearType (top photo) improves the boldness of letters. 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 decent. Reflections have a mirror-like effect, as light bounces off the screen, instead of spreading out. That said, because the screen isn't perfectly even, some bright objects look warped on the screen, but this depends on the light source itself and its positioning.

Ambient light causes the black levels to rise on this monitor, which is distracting if you have it in a bright room. This is typical of QD-OLEDs as they lack a polarizer. You need to use it in a dark room to get perfect black levels.

This monitor handles glares really well, and there's minimal reflected light. However, reflections look stretched out because of the monitor's curve.

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

While you can reach the max refresh rate with a 1440p resolution over DisplayPort and HDMI, DisplayPort connections require Display Stream Compression (DSC) to do so. Most modern graphics cards support DSC. You can disable DSC on the monitor, but that lowers the refresh rate.

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

The MSI 341CQPX 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.

This monitor has disappointing VRR flicker with changing frame rates, which is most distracting in dark scenes. The flicker you see in the video looks nearly the same as it appears in person.

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

The MSI 341CQPX has low input lag with most refresh rates for a responsive feel. However, it increases a bit more than expected with fixed 60Hz signals, but this isn't an issue if you start gaming at a higher refresh rate and use VRR as the refresh rate drops.

There aren't any compatibility issues, and the monitor downscales 4k signals. However, you need to change the HDMI 2.1 setting to 'Console' for everything to work. Additionally, because the console doesn't support ultrawide signals, you'll see black bars on the sides unless you stretch the image.

This monitor works well with the Xbox Series X|S and downscales 4k signals. This is useful, as the Xbox only supports HDR with 4k signals. However, you need to change the HDMI 2.1 setting to 'Console' for everything to work. Additionally, because the console doesn't support ultrawide signals, you'll see black bars on the sides unless you stretch the image.

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 341CQPX 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 and HDR both work well.

The KVM switch works well on macOS, and it switches effectively between PC and macOS after a 2–3 second switchover. If you put the macOS device to sleep when a PC is attached and turned on, the monitor switches to the PC.

The MSI MPG 341CQPX QD-OLED has extra features that 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. It works well and is responsive even if changing sources takes a couple of seconds. On top of the KVM switch, it has Picture-in-Picture and Picture-by-Picture modes to view two images at the same time, and it has different settings for how you can display the images.

MSI OLED Care

As with other OLED panels, it has a few settings to mitigate the risk of permanent burn-in when exposed to the same static elements over time.

• Pixel Shift: This moves the image by 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,' so while you can't turn it off, it's very hard to notice it's happening with it set to 'Slow.'
• Static Screen Detection: Reduces the brightness of static elements, like logos, that have been on the screen for a long time.
• Panel Protect: Does a pixel refresh cycle to reduce the risk of permanent burn-in. You can run it manually anytime, though it will also run automatically when the monitor turns off after four hours of use. Additionally, a message pops up every four hours of usage to run the cycle unless you set Protect Notice to 'Usage 16 hrs.'
• The monitor has several other features to reduce burn-in, such as Multi Logo Detection and Taskbar Detection, which reduce brightness for fixed objects on the screen. Additionally, Boundary Detection reduces the brightness of boundaries, such as vertical lines between windows.

Additional Features

The monitor has some other extra features, like:

• HDMI CEC: It supports the HDMI CEC standard, so it automatically turns 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.

You can see more OSD pictures by downloading this zip file.