Consideration all you avid gamers hell bent on the final word 27-inch 1440p expertise. The brand new MSI MPG 271QRX QD-OLED monitor is right here and it desires your cash. Numerous it, truly, as this panel has an MSRP of $800 within the US and is listed for pre-orders within the UK for £1,000. Ouch.
After all, we have seen expensive 1440p OLED panels earlier than. However not one operating at 360Hz courtesy of Samsung’s revised QD-OLED expertise. So, it is not solely sooner than the primary era of 240Hz 1440p OLED gaming screens. It is also punchier because of that Samsung QD-OLED tech. Earlier 1440p gaming OLEDs have relied on LG’s earlier WOLED panel tech, which was actually fairly poor in the case of full display brightness.
Like different current QD-OLED screens, response occasions are foolish fast at 0.03ms and the color protection is great at 99% of DCI-P3. As for the broader characteristic set, you get each a pair of HDMI ports, plus DisplayPort. All three interfaces can do the total 360Hz at 1440p. There’s additionally a USB-C port which provides a fairly helpful 90W of energy supply together with DisplayPort alt mode.
Rounding out the connections is a USB-A hub full with a KVM change. The stand can be absolutely adjustable, together with rotation into portrait mode if that is one thing you care about. All of it goes at the least some technique to justifying the painful pricing, albeit this monitor may be very a lot pitched consistent with the OLED competitors. It is costly, to make sure, it is simply not notably costly in comparison with the direct OLED options.
MSI MPG 271QRX
Display measurement: 27-inch
Decision: 2,560 x 1,440
Brightness: 1,000 nits HDR
Colour protection: 99% DCI-P3
Response time: 0.03ms
Refresh fee: 360Hz
HDR: DisplayHDR 400 Trueblack,
Options: QD-OLED panel, adaptive sync, 1x DisplayPort 1.4, 2x HDMI 2.1, 1x USB-C with 90W PD
Guarantee: Three years (inc. panel burn in)
Worth: $799 / £999 (estimated)
Design-wise, MSI’s ordinary angular, barely dated early-2000s gamer aesthetic is inevitably in proof. The again cowl may be very skinny across the edges of the OLED panel, which is good and provides a contemporary really feel in comparison with thicker LCD panels. The rear is thicker within the centre, most likely to cater for the display’s customized heatsink.
In reality, nonetheless, the plastics and general vibe do not actually really feel worthy of the elevated $800 price ticket. This does not instantly seem like a premium product. At this worth level, a sleeker, extra mature look would most likely be preferable for many patrons.
One other purely aesthetic demerit entails the display bezels. Superficially, it is the same old slim-on-three-sides-plus-a-larger-chin setup seen on so many present screens. Nonetheless, this OLED panel has fairly a little bit of pixel overprovisioning.
That is a superb factor for longevity. It offers plenty of scope for pixel shifting the picture to stop the dreaded burn in. However it additionally, in impact, provides to the obvious sizes of the display bezels, particularly the 2 aspect bezels. It isn’t an enormous deal, simply one thing to pay attention to.
You get three years of burn-in cowl from MSI with the 271QRX, in order that’s fairly reassuring.
Talking of burn in, this monitor has MSI’s OLED Care 2.0 suite of mitigation measures. Of the extra novel options are brand and taskbar detection. The concept is to detect when vivid static objects like logos and the Home windows taskbar are being displayed and decrease the brightness just for these components to cut back the chance of burn-in.
It is arduous to truly see that taking place with the MSI MPG 271QRX. Nonetheless, we had been operating Home windows in Darkish mode with a black taskbar which most likely meant the taskbar detection algorithm wasn’t being triggered. No matter, you get three years of burn-in cowl from MSI with the 271QRX, in order that’s fairly reassuring.
If that is the options, design, and specs coated off, what in regards to the precise viewing expertise? It is instantly apparent that this display has extra visible pop than these early LG-based 1440p OLED screens, together with LG’s personal UltraGear 27GR95QE-B.
Full display brightness is round 250 nits and whereas that does not sound that spectacular, it is a tangible step up over the sub-200 nits of the primary era of LG OLEDs and it is sufficient for all however the brightest ambient gentle situations.
The one slight snag is that that you must run this monitor in HDR mode after which ramp the SDR brightness proper up within the Home windows show settings to get the perfect SDR full display brightness efficiency.
This factor is decently punchy and has fabulous colors and distinction.
That is most likely as a result of in SDR mode MSI is operating some form of automated brightness limiter (ABL). There is not any toggle for on within the OSD menu. However the brightness does not fluctuate in SDR whenever you resize all-white software home windows, which is typical when an ABL is operating.
There’s a little brightness variability in HDR mode, alternatively, but it surely’s fairly refined and nowhere close to as unhealthy, once more, as these disappointing early LG-based fashions which dimmed dramatically if, as an example, you dared to open a big, principally white browser window.
Anyway, this factor is decently punchy and has fabulous colors. It additionally, clearly, has that excellent per-pixel OLED lighting factor occurring and due to this fact improbable distinction. On that word, the panel coating is shiny quite than matte, which provides to the sense of deep and inky black ranges. Good.
In case you’re questioning, sure, this QD-OLED panel does have a slight difficulty with obvious “greyness” in actually vivid lighting situations. It occurs as a result of QD-OLED panels do not have a polarising filter and so gentle hanging the show very barely prompts the quantum dot particles which in flip kick a tiny bit of sunshine again. At evening it is a complete non difficulty and we might argue within the day it is solely one thing to fret about, and even then simply barely, in actually vivid ambient lighting situations.
What’s extra of an issue is textual content high quality. Samsung’s revised QD-OLED tech has a modified subpixel construction which supposedly helps with font rendering. However it nonetheless seems fairly tender right here and that attribute pink fringing stays seen. It isn’t horrible, however in case you are very delicate to barely fuzzy fonts, you continue to will not be proud of this improved QD-OLED tech.
After all, gaming is the principle remit and there the MSI MPG 271QRX completely delivers. The mix of OLED-powered 0.03ms response occasions with 360Hz is fairly particular. That is about as speedy as desktop show tech at present will get.
Is it well worth the huge $500 worth premium in that regard over, say, the $300 Asus ROG Strix XG27ACS and its 1ms, 180Hz IPS panel? Most likely not.
Taking part in, say, CS: GO on each panels this MSI is certainly superior when it comes to latency and readability.Nonetheless, it does not really feel a number of occasions higher. Just a bit bit higher. However then insisting on the easiest efficiency often means paying via the nostril for it. The identical applies to the HDR efficiency. It is actually, actually (actually) good. Darkish scenes punctuated by neon lighting in Cyberpunk, as an example, look out of this world.
So, it is a spectacularly good gaming panel. The issue, as ever with OLED, is worth. At $800 for a mere 27-inch 1440p monitor it appears like megabucks when you may have screens just like the aforementioned Asus that are awfully good for simply $300.
On the identical time, the Alienware 34 AW3423DWF stays accessible for a similar $800 worth level. That is a 34-inch ultrawide mannequin with QD-OLED tech, albeit first-gen and operating at 165Hz. However it nonetheless appears like the higher deal because of that rather more immersive 34-inch ultrawide type issue.
Purchase if…
✅ You need the final word 1440p panel: That is the quickest, most responsive 1440p monitor we have seen.
Do not buy if…
❌ You desire a massive, immersive expertise: The 16:9 a-aspect 27-inch feels a bit puny at this worth level.
So this MSI does little incorrect and a complete lot proper. The picture high quality is usually fabulous. It is simply this section of the market, the 27-inch 1440p OLED gaming monitor, appears like poor worth subsequent to the options. A type of options is MSI’s personal 32-inch 4K OLED, the MPG 321URX, which at its $999 launch costs feels prefer it gives far more display and a tonne extra pixels for an affordable premium.
If for no matter purpose you need 27-inch 1440p above all else, that is the perfect but instance of the breed we have seen. It is actually glorious. However that apart and most significantly for the cash, it does not make a lot sense for many avid gamers.