MSI MPG 321CURX Gaming Monitor Review - Peak PC Gaming for $999

TweakTown's Rating: 97%

The Bottom Line

MSI's MPG 321CURX is a phenomenal 4K at 240Hz gaming monitor that is priced at $999. The 32-inch QD-OLED panel makes every game look incredible, and it's cheaper than its competitors, with only some small concessions. You can't go wrong here if you are looking for peak performance.

Pros

• Stellar 4K gaming at 240Hz
• Gorgeous OLED panel
• Curved display
• Unique design
• Competitive price versus competition

Cons

• OLED Care can be annoying
• Forked stand

Should you buy it?

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Buy at Amazon for $849.99 USD

Buy at Newegg for $899.99 USD

Buy at Amazon for $1537.01 CAD

Buy at Newegg for $1470.39 CAD

Buy at PC Case Gear for $1729 AUD

Introduction & Specification Details and Close-up

4K gaming monitors powered by the incredible QD-OLED panel technology are becoming more prominent in the gaming monitor market. MSI has jumped in with yet another high-end offering, but this time it's curved.

A quick look at the MSI MPG 321CURX Gaming Monitor

At 32 inches, the MPG 321CURX boasts an incredible third-generation QD-OLED panel that is capable of a 240Hz refresh rate and 0.03ms (GtG) response time for a reasonable high-end price of $999. While this is quite pricey compared to 1440p variants, it's cheaper than other offerings on the market that have similar performance, such as the Alienware AW3225QF, which is priced at $1199. Moreover, the MPG 321CURX is cheaper than MSI's other new 32-inch 4K at 240Hz gaming monitor, the 322URX, which is priced at $1,299 and offers little difference compared to the MPG 321CURX.

In this review, I will attempt to identify the key differences between each of the aforementioned gaming monitors, the type of gamer that should be considering purchasing one of them, and, of course, the positives and negatives of the MPG 321CURX. Before we get into the details, a gamer considering a 4K gaming monitor should first make sure their system is capable of reaching 240FPS at 4K in the titles they play the most (depending on the game). To achieve this, the gamer should have a high-end GPU and CPU. With that disclaimer out of the way, let's sink our teeth into MSI's latest 4K gaming monitor.

Specifications

Close-up

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	$1537.01 CAD	-	-	Buy
	$1470.39 CAD	$1470.39 CAD	-	Buy
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Design

MSI has stepped outside of its norm with the MPG 321CURX by bringing back the forked stand and adding a new design to the enclosure on the back that houses all of the monitor components. Compared to the MPG 322URX and its predecessor, the MPG 321URX, the MPG 321CURX arrives with a much cleaner physical design, with the MSI logo being moved from the center of the display to the left-hand corner, a darker silver matte finish on the base, and a clean silver color on the back panel. The silver color is a personal favorite of mine compared to the black on the MPG 322URX and MPG 321CURX. It's not as nice as the white on the AW3225QF, but that monitor stands out incredibly in a sea of predominately darker-colored displays.

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Keeping to the back of the MPG 321CURX, MSI has done some great work on smoothing out the edges of the enclosure so it looks like it blends in with the panel. Moreover, the back enclosure, while still looking boxy, looks much better with a cleaner, more minimalist aesthetic. Furthermore, MSI has decided to opt for a new design on the back enclosure, which separates this display from the company's other offerings. The new design retains MSI's iconic dragon logo, but the enclosure features a shiny plastic with raised lines across three-quarters of the enclosure. On the left-hand side, MSI has raised shiny lettering that reads "32 QD-OLED".

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The stand for the MPG 321CURX is forked, which is quite disappointing to see as it's my least favorite stand design given the risk of gamers who play on low mouse sensitivity and who sit close to the display, say in first-person-shooter titles (Counter-Strike, etc), colliding their mouse with one of the stand's feet. Additionally, the stand doesn't come with any pivot adjustments. As always, I recommend to anyone thinking about purchasing a monitor to consider picking up a monitor arm as most monitors, and especially these higher-end models, come with VESA support, meaning users are able to take off the stand completely and attach the monitor arm that is either mounted via a desk clamp or wall mount. Trust me, once you have a monitor arm, you won't ever want to go back to stands.

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Keeping to the back of the monitor, the MPG 321CURX separates itself with its connectivity options when compared against the MPG 322URX, as the MPG 321CURX comes with 2x HDMI 2.1 ports capable of 240Hz, 1x DisplayPort 1.4a, and a 1x USB-C port capable of 98W of power delivery charging. Additionally, the MPG 321CURX has 2x USB 2.0 Type-A ports and 1x USB 2.0 Type-B port. The MPG 322URX, the more expensive non-curved variant, comes equipped with the latest DisplayPort 2.1a port and USB ports capable of 5Gbps.

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Overall, I find the design of the MPG 321CURX very attractive to the eye. It's sleek, clean, minimal, and features the connectivity options I would expect out of a $999 gaming monitor without going to the highest possible end, which would ultimately increase its price.

Panel Breakdown

It's hard to find a bad QD-OLED panel these days, especially if they are Samsung's third-generation QD-OLED panel, which was the generation that significantly improved on text clarity by stomping out the problems identified in the first and second-generation QD-OLED panels. The MPG 321CURX is one of these gaming monitors, and since it sports a third-gen QD-OLED panel, buyers get all of the beauty seen across any comparable display - gorgeous rich colors, infinite contrast ratio, crisp images, more than satisfactory text clarity, and incredible in-game visuals.

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The MPG 321CURX offers a 3840 x 2160 (4K/UHD) resolution across 32 inches, meaning it sports 138 Pixels Per Inch (PPI). For those wondering, PPI is an appropriate indicator of the overall sharpness of the image as it reveals the density of the pixels on the screen. The ideal PPI for any monitor should fall between 100 and 140; any smaller than 100, the image starts to show a significant drop in sharpness, and above 140, while necessary in certain situations (graphics design, etc.), results in the on-screen image appearing tiny. Generally, a higher PPI = better, but ideally, you want your monitor to fall comfortably between the aforementioned figures. The MPG 321CURX, being on the higher end of the scale, provides an incredibly crisp image that I don't believe any gamer would have an issue with.

If the image out of the box isn't to your liking, MSI has an array of On-Screen Display options that can be easily accessed by pressing the multi-directional joystick located directly behind the power LED light at the center base of the display. These options are displayed in the above GIF, but if navigating them isn't to your liking, users can download MSI's Gaming Intelligence app, where the features can be controlled with a mouse. Notably, to change monitor settings via the Gaming Intelligence app, the monitor needs to be plugged into a PC with its USB Type-B cable, which is provided in the box.

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My first criticism of the Gaming Intelligence app is the immediate prompt for the user to download Norton antivirus. Why is this necessary? And why is it the first thing a user sees when they are trying to access their monitor settings? A user trying to access their monitor settings isn't looking to download an antivirus software. This simply blatant annoying advertising. MSI, please remove this. The Gaming Intelligence window is also not resizable, which is quite annoying.

Other than those criticisms, the Gaming Intelligence app works as intended. It can be quite slow to make changes, but overall, it is much easier to make changes to the monitor than to navigate through the OSD.

Unfortunately, MSI does need some work with its OLED Care options, especially for power users that push the 16 hours of maximum runtime for the monitor. As I outlined in my MPG 272URX review, the OLED Care options force users to initiate the Pixel Refresh option after 16 hours of use. This can be quite annoying, especially if the user is in the middle of a game/important work. Unfortunately, the Pixel Refresh message is massive and appears directly in the center of the display, and the option to cancel Pixel Refresh cannot be selected, meaning users have to execute Pixel Refresh to remove the message. However, initiating Pixel Refresh turns the display black for several minutes as the cleaning process is being conducted. Now imagine this happening to you during a competitive game that has been going on for 30+ minutes.

As I stated in the MPG 272URX review, MSI needs to make some changes here as this simply isn't good enough and is truly a downside for power users. Here are my suggestions. First, make the notice smaller, place it in the corners of the display, and have it disappear after several seconds. Second, make the cancel button available to press despite the total time runtime being exceeded, as ultimately, the user has paid for the monitor, so if they want to run the risk of burn-in occurring on their display, let them. It's their choice as the buyer has paid the $999 for the display. Lastly, I feel like this problem could be solved by implementing some detection software that can identify when a user is in a game and have the notice shown to the user in a small box when a game is open and disappears and then again when the user has alt-tabbed to their desktop.

Performance

The MPG 321CURX hit home runs with every game that I threw at it, and as with all of my monitor reviews, I like to play a wide variety of games to identify which type of gamer would get the most out of the display I'm testing. At 32 inches, the MPG 321CURX best performs in RPG titles, but that doesn't mean it doesn't excel at first-person shooters, as I'm of the belief that 32 inches is the perfect sweet spot for all genres. However, I can say that I enjoyed my time in RPG titles more than I did with first-person shooters.

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Here are the games I tested: League of Legends, Apex Legends, Overwatch 2, Black Myth: Wukong, Cyberpunk 2077, The Witcher 3, God of War Ragnarok, Valorant, DOOM Eternal, and Age of Mythology: Retold. It shouldn't be understated how incredible gaming is on the 32-inch QD-OLED panel, as every game looks absolutely fantastic with the panel's infinite contrast ratio, rich color profile, incredible sharpness, buttery smooth refresh rate, and impressive fast response time. I can confidently say that any type of game is going to look and feel fantastic on the MPG 321CURX, but here's what stood out to me the most.

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Games with vibrant colors really made the MPG 321CURX shine the most, and I thoroughly enjoyed my time in titles such as God of War, Overwatch 2, and The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt. Each of those titles has nice, vibrant colors, and it felt like this was where I was able to get the most out of the color capabilities. The darkness in DOOM Eternal, along with it being capable of 240FPS at 4K (thanks to my RTX 4090), made for a truly peak gaming experience, especially with the OLED panel being able to provide true black (pixels switching off).

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As for competitive titles, the MPG 321CURX made Summoners Rift in League of Legends look awesome, especially since the game is light enough to hit the monitor's full performance capabilities (4K at 240Hz). Moreover, the 0.03ms response time made headshotting an absolute pleasure in Valorant, Overwatch 2, and Apex Legends.

Final Thoughts

So, should you buy the MPG 321CURX? Compared to the Alienware AW3225QF, which is priced at $1199, and MSI's other new 32-inch 4K at 240Hz gaming monitor, the MPG 322URX, which is priced at $1,299, I would definitely recommend the MPG 321CURX if you just want a gaming monitor with incredible performance.

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The MPG 322URX differentiates itself from the MPG 321CURX with a flat display and the inclusion of DisplayPort 2.1. This is only necessary for buyers who want the absolute best of the best. Since the price difference between these two displays is $300, I would recommend the MPG 321CURX every single day of the week as you get all of the necessary specifications (4K, a 240Hz refresh rate, 0.03ms response time, and the QD-OLED panel), for $300 less. Yes, you get a curved display, but the curve isn't drastic and is hardly noticeable.

As for Alienware's variant, the AW3225QF, it has its aesthetics over the MPG 321CURX, but that comes with a $200 price hike. Ultimately, that subjective choice will be for the buyer to decide. Ultimately, the specifications most gamers should care about, listed above, are present in all three monitors, with the only real difference being in the connectivity options, screen curvature, and aesthetics. If I were shopping for a 4K 240Hz QD-OLED panel and didn't care how it looked as I just wanted my games to look and feel incredible, I'd pick the MPG 321CURX and save myself a few hundred dollars.

Incredible work here, MSI.