When I reviewed the 32” 4K MSI MPG321URX a few weeks ago, I called it the best bang-for-buck QD-OLED gaming monitor you could buy today. However, that monitor comes with a hefty $2100 price tag, which is almost $600 more than Alienware’s AW3225QRF curved QD-OLED. MSI has now introduced the MPG271QRX — a 27” version of the same monitor but with a 1440p resolution and an astounding 360Hz refresh rate.
Frustratingly, the MPG271QRX retails for about $1700, making it more expensive than Alienware’s competing 360Hz, 27” AW2725DF OLED by a whopping $600. It’s also pricier than the bigger 32″ 4K AW3225QRF by $200, which raises questions about its market placement. However, like its bigger sibling, the 271QRX offers better connectivity than either of Alienware’s offerings, including a Type-C video with Power Delivery and a KVM switch.
These features might not necessarily sway the dedicated esports pro who just wants the fastest OLED monitor for Valorant or CS and also happens to want a colour-accurate monitor to edit their gameplay videos. In truth, the 271QRX’s lower 1440p resolution will be much more manageable for most gamers’ hardware, allowing them to maximize that 360Hz refresh rate, something that was much harder in 4K.
Combined with the identical features that made the 321URX an easy recommendation, the smaller 271QRX is even easier to recommend to a wider selection of gamers who don’t have graphics cards that cost more than this monitor.
Design and Build
The 271QRX mirrors its bigger sibling in every way. It sports the classic MSI look, with an all-black chassis supported by a simple stand with a polygonal base that takes up minimal space. It might not hold a candle to Alienware’s design, but it fits nicely in any setup.
The stand offers the usual tilt, swivel, and height adjustments, and it can rotate 90 degrees into portrait orientation, which is great if you want to use it as a second monitor. The stand also features a channel for basic cable management, which is handy given the wealth of ports on the monitor.
These include two HDMI 2.1 ports with VRR support for consoles, a DisplayPort 1.4, and a USB Type-C with 90W power delivery, ideal for laptops. Additionally, there’s a 3.5mm audio port and a full USB hub with a KVM switch, allowing you to share peripherals between two devices.
The panel itself is unbelievably thin, even thinner than my iPhone 15 Pro Max. This is because, as an OLED, it doesn’t require space for backlights. All the monitor’s ports, controls, and electronics are housed in a 2-inch thick passive heatsink on the back. It has a Graphene film that keeps the panel cool without requiring any fans, so the monitor is dead quiet during operation. The heatsink has a 100×100 VESA mount point for the included stand or compatible monitor arms if you prefer.
There’s a thin strip of MSI Mystic Light RGB on the top of the heatsink, which looks cool but isn’t bright enough to be visible when placed against a wall. You can choose between two modes of lighting or turn it off, but mostly, this is one of those features that only make sense at LAN parties or eSports shows where everyone can see it. Most of us will have the monitor facing a wall and never see the RGB.
All the controls are conveniently located in the middle of the lower back panel. There are two buttons and a multi-function joystick. The menu is typical MSI fare and offers a wealth of color presets, game tools, and more. What’s cool is that Windows PC users can also use the MSI Gaming Center widget app to directly access the menu with their mouse.
Outstanding Image Quality
The 27-inch QD-OLED display on the MSI MPG 271QRX delivers an exceptional visual experience. It’s the same 3rd-gen OLED tech found in its bigger brother, which is fine by us. The panel is semi-glossy, so while there are some reflections, it’s still very usable in bright environments. The monitor boasts both DisplayHDR True Black 400 and Clear 13000 certifications, ensuring deep blacks and bright highlights. It also supports HDR 1000, giving a 1000-nit brightness in a contained 3% window.
As you can imagine, the infinite contrast and inky blacks make colors and pictures sizzle on this display. Watching HDR content on Netflix looks stunning, though you will need to switch between HDR 400 and HDR 1000 depending on your taste. Games look fantastic, and I’ve been playing way too much Diablo IV Loot Reborn. That game is made for OLED’s with its dark, damp caves and dungeons. The monitor handles the darks excellently while still shining brightly as monsters explode into golden showers of loot.
Image quality is just as good on PlayStation 5, which had no issue working with the 271QRX. MSI has a Console Mode that accepts the 4K 120Hz signal and down samples it to 1440p automatically. Of course, this really isn’t necessary since the PS5 now supports 1440p resolution, but it’s nice to have the monitor do the work for you.
Like its bigger sibling, you get a practically instantaneous 0.03ms response time and 10-bit color panel, covering 99% of the DCI-P3 color space with a Delta E<2. So for anyone doing creative work, this monitor will not let you down in terms of color accuracy. The monitor also has specific color preset modes for sRGB, Adobe RGB, and P3 wide gamut.
And while everything I said about the 321URX applies to this panel, there are two huge differences that would make you choose this panel over that one — 1440p and 360Hz refresh rate.
PC Gamers everywhere swear by 1440p as the best resolution that strikes a balance between visual fidelity and performance. 1440p is a much easier resolution for most people’s hardware to push while still hitting very high frame rates in modern titles. Unless you own an RTX 4080 or 4090 GPU, pushing anything over 100 fps on the 4K 321QRX was near impossible, rendering its 240Hz refresh moot. But with the 271QRX, it’s a lot easier to drive games like Valorant, CS:GO and Fortnite close to 360Hz with the right settings.
The 360Hz is so smooth that even if you aren’t hitting those high frame rates, games just feel smoother and more responsive. There’s never a hint of ghosting or blur while playing fast-paced games, which is exactly what pros would want. There’ll be no excuses for your poor KD here.
Outside of gaming, the 1440p at 27” doesn’t give you the biggest canvas to work with, but what you do get is ultra-sharp clarity. With a pixel density of over 100ppi, text and lines look sharp, and even with the typical OLED text fringing issues, the 271QRX looks great for working with documents and browsing the web.
OLED Care 2.0
Just like with the 321QRX, the 271QRX ships with MSI’s OLED Care 2.0, a suite of protection features aimed at reducing the risk of burn-in. We all know about OLED burn-in, but in case you haven’t been bombarded with internet discourse about it, burn-in occurs when a bright, static image leaves an imprint on the OLED panel.
I honestly don’t think that’s a concern for anyone who isn’t mad enough to have the same static content on their monitor for weeks straight. However, given that this is a gaming monitor and not a TV, I’ll concede that burn-in is more likely here given game HUDs, Windows taskbar, and app elements.
To that end, the OLED Care 2.0, which includes staples like pixel shifting, an automatic brightness limiter, logo and taskbar detection, as well as a full-on panel refresh, is more than enough to keep your precious investment from damage. Most of these work in the background without you noticing, and it’s only the Panel Protection feature that gives you a prompt every 4 or 16 hours to do a full panel refresh, which takes about 7 minutes.
During that time, the monitor is unusable, but it’s a small price for safety. I’m happy that the system was updated from my time with the MPG321URX, which would basically hijack the monitor from me right in the middle of a work call with no room to cancel or defer. With the MPG271QRX’s new firmware, you can at least stop the process from starting, though you can’t go beyond 16 hours.
MSI, like Alienware and Asus, offers a 3-year warranty that covers burn-in, so I wouldn’t worry.
Verdict
The MSI MPG 271QRX QD-OLED is a fantastic 27” QD-OLED that is truly hard to fault. It’s got a fantastic panel with excellent gaming and media performance, rich colors, HDR, and high refresh. The lower 1440p resolution is the sweet spot for high fidelity, high frame rate gaming, and most hardware will easily handle this monitor. Gaming aside, it’s also a great productivity monitor with a wealth of connectivity options, including a KVM switch and USB Type-C display with Power delivery for the laptop warriors.
There’s only one issue I can find with the MPG271QRX, and that is the price. In a vacuum, it would be a shoe-in, but given that Alienware has a similarly spec’d monitor for $600 less, albeit without Type-C with power delivery and KVM, it’s just hard to fathom why you wouldn’t save the money.
Even more baffling is that in the US/UK market, MSI’s monitors are the cheaper option to Alienware, so I really don’t know what’s going on here in Australia. That said, if you choose to get this monitor, esports pro or prosumer, you will not regret it. This is easily one of the top three esports QD-OLEDs this year.
MSI Australia kindly loaned the MPG271QRX to PowerUp for the purpose of this review.
