If 2021 was the year 4K resolution went mainstream in gaming monitors, then 2022—with displays like the $899.99 MSI Optix MPG321UR-QD—is about the next phase of that process, getting our color cred up to par with the help of quantum dot technology. QD-backed panels have shown up here and there in the past, but it’s only this year that second-generation offerings like the recent Editors’ Choice-award-winning Alienware 34 QD-OLED have started to hit their stride. From the MSI’s stellar color results to some of the crispest headshots I’ve ever gotten on a gaming monitor, the Optix’s QD-IPS panel surprised and impressed from start to finish. If you’re looking for an all-rounder 4K monitor that combines gamer styling with spectacular performance for all, the MSI Optix MPG321UR-QD easily claims an Editors’ Choice award as the best such monitor so far this year.
Everything But the…
The MPG321UR-QD is a 27-inch monitor with UHD (3,840-by-2,160-pixel) resolution and a 144Hz refresh rate. As mentioned, it’s built around a QD-IPS panel. Quantum dot is the latest buzzword in displays that, like many before it, first appeared in HDTV sets and has now infiltrated the monitor market. QD tech features a thin layer of microparticles that help to boost the color accuracy and brightness of any panel type to which they’re applied.
It’s barely a week since we reviewed the QD-OLED-based Alienware 34, a superb monitor that improved considerably on the non-QD Alienware 55 OLED from 2019. We’re dwelling on that because, while your instinct might be to compare the new MSI and Alienware directly since both have the letters “QD” in their names, you should always consider the underlying panel type first and whether you want QD added second. If you want the India-ink blacks and sky-high contrast of OLED technology, adding QD to an IPS panel won’t satisfy you. Conversely, if you want the great gaming performance that many Rapid IPS and Fast IPS screens have become known for over the past year, quantum dot tech is only going to make your games look better, not magically make the pixels displaying them respond any faster (or slower, for that matter).
Looking at the Optix’s design, I’m impressed with the improvements I’ve seen MSI make in its premium monitors in recent years. While displays like the 2019 MSI MPG341CQR were award-winners in their day, the company’s build quality was a weak point. Since then, however, things have tightened up, and the addition of a metal badge on the back feels like a nice touch indicating that MSI is taking both design and craftsmanship more seriously with its latest monitors.
The Optix MPG321UR-QD is mounted on a small, square metal stand with three options for adjustability: a tilt of -5 to 20 degrees, left and right swivel from -30 to 30 degrees, and 3.93 inches of height adjustment. Those looking for a 4K monitor that pivots from landscape to portrait mode should consider other models—hopefully something a bit cheaper than $900 for a secondary monitor!
The back of the Optix is sleek black plastic, with the standard MSI stylings on display. For starters, there’s RGB lighting across the MSI logo, which you can program via the onscreen display (OSD) menu and five-way joystick at the rear or through on the back, or with MSI’s Gaming OSD Windows software.
From here, you can access the full plethora of features the Optix has on display (pun intended), and what a display it is. The company squeezed in any and every feature you could think of putting into a modern gaming monitor, including but not limited to OSD-level crosshair placement and adjustment; a scope magnifier with three different settings (1.5x, 2x, and 4x); a fully integrated KVM that supports up to three independent inputs; a six-hue calibration menu; black boosters; blue light protection; and what MSI calls its Sound Tuner service to enhance the game audio of pass-through devices. We could go on, but you get the idea; the only thing missing is the kitchen sink.
Despite being billed as an “Xbox Edition” monitor, the most obvious benefit of putting a KVM in the Optix is to help Twitch or YouTube streamers with dual-PC setups, but the feature also makes managing a console and PC plugged into the same monitor much easier. Why would you play with a console when there’s a perfectly good gaming PC within cable distance? That’s up to you to decide, based on your lifestyle and workspace.
Speaking of things you can plug in, the MPG321UR-QD is absolutely awash in ports. These include two HDMI 2.1 ports (for the console crowd, hence the Xbox branding), one DisplayPort 1.4b input, a DisplayPort-signal-compatible USB Type-C port, and no fewer than nine USB 2.0 ports (six Type-A and three Type-B). Two of the Type-B downstream ports are located on the side, next to a 3.5mm headphone jack for use with the HDMI audio pass-through, as well as a mic-in port and an audio combo jack.
Testing the Optix: QD-IPS Is 2022’s King of the Hill
As mentioned, this 4K monitor features a IPS panel with a native refresh rate of 144Hz. (No refresh-rate overclocking is supported.) We put the MSI Optix MPG321UR-QD through our standard gaming-monitor tests using a Klein K10-A colorimeter and a Calman Ultimate 2021 R4. Here’s what we saw…
Testing the display in its default picture mode with an SDR signal, the Optix managed a peak brightness of 423.8 nits (it’s rated for 400 nits, so a good sign) and a black level of 0.33 nit, which works out to a contrast ratio of 1,284:1. That’s excellent for a gaming monitor of any type and another instance of the display surpassing its rated specs (1,000:1 contrast).
HDR testing returned a max brightness of 623.5 nits, again topping its rating of HDR 600. It’s important to know the true brightness of your HDR monitor in the case of games like Forza that let you set the level of brightness that the game sends to the monitor, controlled by HDR metadata. This prevents the game from blowing out the brightness of the image if you go over the limit, but it also guarantees you’re playing right up to your panel’s capabilities when tuned correctly.
One of MSI’s major marketing points for the Optix MPG321UR-QD is, naturally, the addition of quantum dot tech to its Rapid IPS panel. In terms of color coverage, QD is meant to boost both the brightness and coverage of a display, but we weren’t expecting it make as much of a difference as we saw once the tests got rolling…
Its results of 161.3% coverage of the sRGB gamut, 99.8% of Adobe RGB (shown above), and 94.6% of DCI-P3 are some of the highest we’ve seen, gaming monitor or otherwise. This puts the Optix in contention with other excellent recent results like those of the Corsair Xeneon, keeping competition tight among top panel makers (even if that model did stumble on HDR).
Coming off those remarkable color coverage results, the MSI’s relatively high Delta E average of 3.39 in color-accuracy testing was surprising…
We suspect this number could be brought down using the OSD’s six-hue saturation sliders, but we don’t hand-calibrate for gaming monitor evaluations. These are the readings recorded out of the box using the Standard image preset at 75% brightness.
Media and Gaming Performance
With quantitative testing out of the way, we moved onto our subjective content and gaming evaluations. In SDR, our 4K Costa Rica test footage (output at 4K to match the monitor’s native resolution) looked absolutely stunning. I knew within seconds it was one of the best implementations of SDR I’d seen on a gaming monitor, so I was excited to see how the Optix held up under HDR scrutiny.
AAA games like Red Dead Redemption 2 looked superlative in both HDR and SDR, thanks to the MSI’s strong contrast ratio and high brightness figures. However, one problem that many gaming monitors have is that they ship calibrated with much higher saturation levels than I think are necessary. While this might give you a competitive advantage in certain games such as Valorant, it can make all your favorite actors look like they just got off a 24-hour bender, with red-flushed faces everywhere.
The Optix does have this problem at first glance, but thankfully it also comes with as many color presets as it does other bells and whistles, including the option to manually tune the display to your preferred saturation levels. Once I got those dialed in, SDR content shone even brighter, while HDR content became the star of the show.
Games like Forza Horizon 5 that support native HDR and Elden Ring, which uses Auto HDR, both looked absolutely fantastic. If you want to game in 4K HDR, I can’t think of another gaming monitor that will do it with the same sense of snappiness I got from the MSI.
Speaking of snappiness, we test traditional input lag (the amount of time between when a monitor receives a signal and the screen updates) with an HDFury 4K Diva HDMI matrix. Given a 60Hz test signal, the MPG321UR-QD was yet another IPS-based panel that hit the limits of our hardware, with input lag registering simply as under 1 millisecond.
Finally, to see how that low input lag felt in action, I tried a few rounds of Counter-Strike: Global Offensive, Valorant, and Overwatch. All three games were an absolute pleasure to play on the MSI, and in several instances I found myself playing longer than usual just from the sheer joy of how great the action looked and felt. I’ve tested dozens of gaming monitors in recent years, but none got me as many effortless headshots as the latest Optix. Ghosting was nonexistent, screen tearing virtually nil, and there wasn’t a moment when I felt the panel’s responsiveness dip in multiplayer matches.
MSI Throws Down the QD-IPS Gauntlet
The MSI Optix MPG321UR-QD’s spectacular gaming performance, beautiful color, and solid build quality make it one of the best, if not the best, entries into the high-refresh 4K arena so far this year. While the Alienware 34 QD-OLED might have the flashiest panel tech on the block, IPS is showing its maturity in all the best ways with the integration of Fast IPS and a quantum dot layer in one display.
Combine that underlying panel quality with the nearly overwhelming number of extra features and customization options MSI has crammed in, and you’ve got a gaming monitor that would do just as well for your PC as it would for an Xbox Series X or a PlayStation 5. Despite its Xbox-centric branding, make no mistake—this is a 4K gaming monitor for all.
It’s not cheap, but at just $100 more than many of last year’s 1440p Fast IPS models like the Gigabyte Aorus FI32Q, the display hopefully augurs an incoming wave of less expensive 4K options that perform just as well as their lower-resolution counterparts. The age of compromise for 4K gaming is finally over, and the MSI Optix MPG321UR-QD is the first monitor we’ve seen that really lets you have it all.
