Superb PC Gaming with Next-Gen 4K QD-OLED Monitors



For the past few weeks we've got been checking out the upcoming MSI MPG 321URX, a brand new gaming reveal packing one of the long-awaited 32-inch 4K 240Hz QD-OLED panels, and nowadays we are going to offer a preview and proportion as a whole lot as we will approximately this product. This is a pre-production unit, so we are now not allowed to proportion overall performance facts simply yet, but we do have quite a chunk of information to go over and answers to questions we count on you may have.

To begin with, the MSI 321URX can be available within the US, Europe, Australia, and New Zealand starting in February, with a much broader release in March, priced at $1,2 hundred. That's around the mark of different top class OLED displays and must slot in properly considering that 1440p 240Hz WOLEDs are now down across the $800 mark. It does continue to be a top class-priced display, however this rate is a long way from excessive thinking about what a few reveal producers have charged for proper HDR shows over the last few years.

This fee factor ought to be indicative of the opposition it is set to land on the gaming reveal market in 2024. This MSI reveal isn't always the only one to use this 4K QD-OLED panel – other versions from Asus, Dell, Samsung, and greater also are launching quickly. We are also looking forward to extreme competition as a second 32-inch 4K 240Hz OLED panel from LG Display is likewise coming. This LG WOLED panel will provide dual-mode functionality, doubling as a 1080p 480Hz display. With such a lot of options and, crucially, multiple panel manufacturers focused on this spec, a fiercely contested conflict need to hold prices in test.

Basics and Specs

The MSI 321URX makes use of a second-era QD-OLED panel, offering a smaller pixel shape to permit for a higher density 4K decision compared to recent 49-inch great-ultrawide QD-OLEDs. The show is slightly overprovisioned with additional pixels for pixel moving functionality whilst maintaining a complete 3840 x 2160 decision, a common feature in gaming OLEDs.

MSI is quoting a 0.03ms grey-to-gray reaction time. However, we're no longer looking ahead to any reaction time performance variations as compared to different OLEDs, which usually sit down in the zero.2 to zero.3ms variety based totally on our testing.

They also are quoting 250 nits of ordinary brightness for complete-screen sustained SDR utilization, as well as 1,000 nits of height brightness for HDR. We can't display you actual numbers just but, but those figures align with what we have seen from other QD-OLEDs, so brightness characteristics should be comparable. It comes DisplayHDR True Black 400 certified, which is the identical spec other QD-OLEDs have obtained, now not to be pressured with DisplayHDR four hundred for LCDs.

For ports, we've got DisplayPort 1.Four with DSC, HDMI 2.1 ports, and USB-C with DP-Alt mode and 90W of strength delivery. All those ports support the overall 4K decision at up to 240Hz. Features like DSC mean DisplayPort 1.4 remains enough for this type of display, as we already knew from the Samsung Odyssey Neo G8. This consists of 10-bit HDR and adaptive sync as well, and not using a need for unusual subsampling strategies. There's also a integrated KVM transfer.

One of the primary questions we had getting in changed into whether or not these 32-inch 4K OLEDs might require lively cooling like some different QD-OLED video display units or whether or not they might function passively. We can affirm the MSI variant is silent and utilizes passive cooling via a custom heatsink. This heatsink is contained inside the principal box at the rear, from which the QD-OLED panel extends outwards, similar to the Asus PG27AQDM, which is also a passively cooled display the usage of WOLED technology.

We sat proper next to it whilst in operation and it's useless silent, that is always a relief as active cooling has been a nuisance on a few different gaming video display units just like the AW3423DW.

Screen Coating and Panel Composition

For panel composition and coating, that is a classic Samsung second-gen QD-OLED panel, that means it's glossy with an "anti-reflective" floor treatment. Comparing it facet by facet with every other 2nd-gen QD-OLED, the Asus PG49WCD, indicates that the reflectivity of the glass for each ambient mild and objects in the front of the display is comparable.

Some ambient mild is contemplated in brighter lighting situations because of the panel composition, a commonplace issue for QD-OLEDs across all fashions, and that's no distinct here. However, as TFT Central has demonstrated, this 2nd-gen QD-OLED layout is more effective than 1st-gen QD-OLEDs, like the 34-inch 3440x1440 175Hz panels, in phrases of minimizing ambient light reflectivity.

Mirror-like reflections are also visible at times, even though usually, QD-OLEDs are first rate at minimizing this trouble in comparison to different sleek panels.

So in case you're thinking whether or not you may want to optimize lights situations to use a 32-inch 4K QD-OLED screen, we suspect with a view to be the case, though to a extremely lesser extent than the unique ultrawides. In our office vicinity, that's often well lit thru sunlight or overhead lighting, we did word raised blacks. However, whilst moving lighting behind the show or the use of it in a dimmer environment, it's a complete non-issue.

We suppose what we've got said formerly approximately QD-OLED panel coating and composition will continue to be authentic with these more recent 4K panels as visible inside the MSI 321URX, however we're going to want more time with it and to conduct extra checking out to verify what we have visible on this preliminary palms-on preview.

Text Clarity

Pixel density and textual content readability is any other huge question: is a 4K QD-OLED suitable for computing device work? Well, putting burn-in apart for a second, we had been actually pretty impressed with the textual content clarity after the use of this reveal for a few days.

This isn't the same type of great trying out we do for our complete opinions, however our preliminary impressions are that the purple-inexperienced fringing visible from 1440p-elegance QD-OLEDs, in particular the preliminary wave of 34-inch ultrawides, is a whole lot much less significant at a 32-inch 4K pixel density. The development from a hundred and ten PPI to 140 PPI is a large 27% advantage, and combined with the 2nd-gen QD-OLED subpixel shape, textual content readability is a whole lot better.

I normally use 32-inch 4K video display units at a hundred twenty five% scaling in Windows, which appears fantastic on the 321URX, however we additionally tried one hundred% scaling and found that to be very usable as nicely. On first-gen QD-OLEDs at a decrease pixel density, the fringing troubles are smooth to spot and were one of the downsides we talked about in those critiques. However, in this monitor, the textual content readability appears quite amazing. Of direction, a few humans never had an difficulty with those first-technology panels both, but we think the ones people will notice an improvement with the 32-inch 4K panels and suspect all of us at the fence who was concerned about textual content readability may be very glad with this show.

The massive check, of direction, is whether or not or no longer this QD-OLED panel with its triangle RGB subpixel format (yes, nevertheless triangle RGB right here) is as precise as a 32-inch 4K IPS with a conventional RGB stripe for textual content clarity. You'll have to wait till the whole evaluation to look a extra vast examine this, however our initial mind are that it's truly fairly near. To our experienced eyes, we might say an IPS panel nonetheless seems slightly higher, however we think many people would locate it difficult to spot the distinction. It certainly seems that this MSI screen and QD-OLED panel are capable of supply a actual 4K revel in for text.

Burn In Protection Features

On the burn-in facet of things, OLED still carries a chance, and with 2nd-gen QD-OLED and truely any OLED, we are nonetheless in a chunk of an unknown section in which we do not really realize how lengthy these panels will ultimate for desktop usage. We suspect many buyers will be interested by a display like this for each gaming and computing device paintings. We're now not positive how cushty we might be recommending it for that, however we did spot a few thrilling functions that MSI is offering.

In the OLED care section, we determined all the standard stuff for burn-in mitigation: pixel shifting, panel protect (a.K.A. Panel refresh, pixel refresh, or pixel compensation), and static display screen detection. However, there may be additionally a few new stuff: multi-logo detection, taskbar detection, and boundary detection.

These are extra measures to locate and dim static elements. Taskbar detection, for example, does exactly that; it tries to recognize and dim the Windows taskbar, supporting to save you that region from burning in, although the general display brightness is pretty excessive. Unfortunately, those three new capabilities are the most effective ones that require adaptive sync to be disabled to characteristic, a bit annoying for people so one can allow VRR for gaming. But again, this is a pre-manufacturing pattern, so it's no longer clear whether or not with the intention to be the case with very last retail devices.

But, it is nonetheless suitable to see greater strategies being implemented in more moderen presentations to attempt to extend the lifespan of QD-OLED panels. Eventually, it need to get to the factor in which the panels are strong sufficient and the panel care capabilities smart sufficient that this form of monitors may be best even for computing device use, and we might not need to fear about burn-in. We're not there yet, but it's something we will maintain searching into with future reveal releases.

Further Impressions

So, how become the usage of the MSI 321URX for 4K 240Hz HDR gaming? Yes, that is a very remarkable enjoy. It's a vibrant display with an first-rate contrast ratio, and it appears to be the same QD-OLED revel in we have come to love in different products, however now at a fairly sought-after length and resolution.

That's essentially what all people has wanted for the reason that dawn of OLED shows: a excessive-resolution gaming version at a decent size. This appears to be that, and it's been a pleasure to apply to this point – we have not used it lengthy sufficient to discern out if there are overall performance troubles, missing capabilities, or other annoyances, so look for our full evaluation in a while.

It's additionally a very high refresh fee screen. We do not assume we're allowed to reveal a UFO Test result, but if you've visible results from 240Hz 1440p WOLED opinions, you have a pretty true idea of what to expect. The motion clarity here is splendid, and with one of these high decision and refresh charge mixture, that is the type of product that ought to ultimate for a long time, thru several generations of GPU hardware. During our palms-on time thus far, we did not spot any issues with low brightness flicker, low refresh price gaming, or adaptive sync.

Finally, some brief phrases on MSI's layout... We assume it seems very well, especially from the front where the main display section is skinny and has noticeably slender bezels. The rear container phase is a bit busy for our liking near the vent segment on the pinnacle, however it does have a chunk of RGB LED lighting fixtures. The stand itself is manufactured from a pretty fundamental black plastic for the outer surfaces. It has all the usual ergonomic adjustability, excluding being capable of use it in a portrait orientation; you may pivot the display slightly but not all of the manner to portrait.

Those are our initial impressions of the MSI MPG 321URX. If you want to look a complete evaluation with actual performance numbers, we ought to be receiving a final retail version in February to test it out around the time of release. This very tons seems to be the flagship gaming screen that many human beings had been anticipating.

Of direction, it will also be interesting to look what different vendors do with this QD-OLED panel, as well as how the dual-mode WOLED panel stacks up with its interesting 1080p 480Hz mode. It seems as even though these QD-OLEDs will hit the market first, with the WOLED panel to follow, but absolutely, there's masses of trying out to do in 2024.

Shopping Shortcuts:

• Alienware AW3423DW 34" QD-OLED on Amazon
• Samsung Odyssey OLED G9 on Amazon
• Asus ROG Swift OLED PG49WCD on Asus
• Asus ROG Swift PG42UQ on Amazon
• Samsung Odyssey OLED G8 on Amazon
• LG C2 forty two" OLED TV on Amazon
• Corsair Xeneon Flex on Amazon

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