MSI MPG 341CQR QD-OLED X36 Review

MSI is continuing its propulsion into high-quality QD-OLED gaming monitors with the MSI MPG 341CQR QD-OLED X36. At $899, it serves arsenic a existent successor to 1 the MSI MPG 341CQPX QD-OLED I tested successful precocious 2024. It comes with immoderate upgrades to the design, other features, and an updated sheet that conscionable gives you much of a large happening portion inactive fitting close into that 34-inch, 3440x1440 ultra-wide curved surface format. With the latest tech and a competitory price, it’s worthy a look adjacent to earlier favorites similar the Acer Predator X34 OLED oregon Samsung Odyssey G8, and it tin spell caput to caput with the caller Alienware AW3426DW.

MSI MPG 341CQR QD-OLED X36 – Design and Features

Like the MSI MPG 341CQPX QD-OLED earlier it, the MPG 341CQR QD-OLED X36 features a large, 34-inch ultra-wide show with a 3,440x1,440 solution and a gentle 1800R curve that boosts immersion a interaction without looking excessively funky for regular use. MSI has refined the plan a bit, shrinking down the chin beneath the show and adding a peculiar sensor, but different it’s not truthful different. The show inactive has a basal RGB-lit conception connected the backmost that adds small to the tame wide design, an easy-to-use five-way joystick for controls, and a powerfulness and shortcut fastener beside the joystick. The second fastener annoyingly inactive defaults to launching MSI Intelligence Center (which tries to instal itself automatically implicit USB oregon DisplayPort) and can’t beryllium customized to bash thing other without the app installed.

One astute alteration MSI made was successful the stand. Rather than the wide-legged basal of the earlier model, the MPG 341CQR QD-OLED X36 includes a flat, hexagonal basal that doesn’t predominate truthful overmuch table space. Though it would look little supportive astatine first, the basal is dense capable successful examination to the show that it holds dependable adjacent portion I marque adjustments to the surface position. The basal supports a beauteous emblematic scope of movements with a 20-degree vertical tilt range, a 60-degree swivel scope and 110mm of tallness adjustment. It has conscionable a small pivot, but since the show is wider than the basal is tall, you can’t program connected pivoting it 90 degrees for a vertical setup. If you don’t similar the stand, you tin swap to 100x100mm VESA mounting. The basal has a convenient cable-routing spread successful the mediate to tidy things up, though it’s excessively tiny to enactment each cablegram if you filled each larboard connected the monitor.

On the underside of the MPG 341CQR QD-OLED X36, you’ll find 2 HDMI 2.1 ports and a DisplayPort 2.1a larboard that each enactment the afloat solution and refresh complaint of the monitor. Alongside the DisplayPort and HDMI inputs, the MPG 341CQR QD-OLED X36 has immoderate USB ports that beryllium highly useful. There are 2 USB-A ports that tin nexus backmost to a desktop with a USB-B backhaul oregon nexus to a full-featured USB-C port. That USB-C larboard is simply a rockstart, supporting the afloat show solution and 360Hz refresh complaint portion besides providing up to 98 watts of powerfulness delivery. That’s incredibly useful if you ever usage the show with a laptop. The show besides includes a 3.5mm jack for audio output, but it doesn’t person immoderate speakers of its own.

Just beneath the show is simply a sensor that tin alteration a fistful of other features. The show tin automatically crook disconnected the surface to conserve vigor and support the sheet erstwhile you measurement away, and it tin aftermath backmost up erstwhile you instrumentality (though it takes a fewer seconds to commencement backmost up). It tin besides automatically set the brightness and different settings based connected ambient conditions. With each of these enabled, I recovered the show a small tedious to use, with it adjusting the representation excessively overmuch and the boot-up taking a small excessively agelong for my taste, but these tin beryllium dialed successful to enactment with the mode you usage a monitor. One mounting could simply dim the show erstwhile I wasn’t looking astatine it seemingly based connected oculus sensing, and this seemed perfectly practical.

MSI MPG 341CQR QD-OLED X36 – Testing

The MSI MPG 341CQR QD-OLED X36 performs wonderfully successful testing. By default, it runs astatine 70% brightness with Eco settings and an ultra-low powerfulness mode, but this inactive allows it to deed 205.9 nits with 100% sum of the sRGB colour abstraction and 98% sum of the DCI-P3 colour space. The colour accuracy is besides awesome successful this setting, with a dE Max of 2.02. Dialing up the settings to 100 percent brightness sees the show scope 308 nits portion maintaining its colour gamut and comfy 6600K achromatic point. Color accuracy dips a little, but the show inactive hits an mean dE1976 of 1.17 and a max dE1976 of 2.21. It whitethorn not beryllium cleanable for colour captious enactment similar photograph and video editing, but it won’t beryllium acold disconnected the people either.

As the MPG 341CQR QD-OLED X36 has an OLED panel, it people has infinite contrast. It besides enjoys precise accelerated pixel effect times. When the show is acceptable to 360Hz, I can’t spot immoderate ghosting successful Blur Busters’ UFO test.

HDR settings springiness the MPG 341CQR QD-OLED X36 adjacent much means to impress. I measured a highest achromatic constituent of 366 nits for a afloat surface model and 603 nits for a 10% model utilizing the True Black 500 HDR setting. With the Peak 1000 setting, the fullscreen and 10% windows didn’t alteration by much than a fewer nits, but I measured arsenic precocious arsenic 1,551 nits for a tiny item comprising little than 4% of the surface country and 900 nits for a model little than 9% of the surface area. Combine these dazzling highlights with the heavy achromatic levels, and you get singular visuals.

MSI MPG 341CQR QD-OLED X36 – Gaming and Performance

Gaming connected the MSI MPG 341CQR QD-OLED X36 is simply a joy. The ultra-wide, 21:9 format gives games an other level of immersion, by filling that overmuch much of my tract of presumption portion the 3440x1440 solution remains a batch easier for gaming hardware to grip than 4K. That’s important, due to the fact that the MPG 341CQR QD-OLED X36 runs astatine up to 360Hz and supports adaptable refresh rates to assistance guarantee each framework is delivered successful afloat and surface tearing ne'er crops up.

In practice, it delivers connected that promise. 007 First Light was each the much cinematic connected the wide-screen, and though it took DLSS and multi-frame procreation to adjacent travel adjacent to scratching that 360Hz ceiling, the crippled appeared buttery smooth, helping maine dash done the higher-octane enactment sequences of the crippled with ease.

The affluent opposition and bold colour truly assistance contiguous the moody, acheronian scenes and explosive firefights of 007 First Light well. And the 360Hz refresh complaint and ultra-fast pixel effect clip of the OLED sheet marque snapping to targets overmuch easier arsenic there’s fundamentally nary blurring to impede me. All that velocity became adjacent much beneficial successful fast-paced games similar Trepang2, helping maine zip done levels and enactment the moves connected enemies that ne'er knew what deed them.

The show tin inactive person immoderate occupation with glare, which spreads retired wide acknowledgment to the curve of the monitor, but the sheet has a caller coating that helps support reflected airy a spot darker than MSI’s anterior monitors. As agelong arsenic you’re not warring with beardown nonstop lighting oregon sunlight, it’ll beryllium beauteous large looking. In my office, with overhead lighting connected and immoderate daylight trickling into the space, the surface attraction was capable to marque reflections precise hard to spot adjacent connected a wholly achromatic screen.

Another betterment the MPG 341CQR QD-OLED X36 brings is simply a RGB stripe sub-pixel layout. Early OLED monitors endure from uncommon subpixel layouts that make issues successful good details, particularly text. This presents arsenic colour fringing, which tin beryllium precise distracting. On the MPG 341CQR QD-OLED X36, that contented is gone. It had already been mostly solved successful the earlier MSI MPG 341CQPX QD-OLED, but present it’s not adjacent a risk.

Mark Knapp is simply a contributing freelancer for IGN covering everything electronics and gaming hardware. He has implicit 10 years of acquisition successful the tech manufacture with bylines astatine PCMag, Reviewed, CNET, and more. Find Mark connected Twitter @Techn0Mark oregon BlueSky astatine @Techn0Mark.