MSI MPG 321CURX Review: 4K 240Hz Curved OLED Gaming Monitor

While there are many 32″ 4K 240Hz QD-OLED gaming monitors out there, there are only a few curved variants available.

The MSI MPG 321CURX is the most feature-packed version and it’s priced competitively, so let’s see how it performs in our tests!

Image Quality

The advantages of QD-OLED panels are nowadays known to most monitor enthusiasts – starting with the infinite contrast ratio thanks to per-pixel dimming that offers true blacks and bright whites without any backlight bleeding, glowing or blooming artifacts associated with LED-backlit panels.

Next, you get outstanding color vibrancy, true 10-bit color depth for smooth gradients without banding and 178° wide viewing angles, which ensure flawless image quality regardless of the angle you’re looking at the screen.

For our testing, we’re using the Calibrite Display Pro HL colorimeter paired with DisplayCAL and HCFR software. Note that our tests were done using the FW.016 monitor firmware version.

Color Gamut

We measured an impressive 162.7 sRGB color gamut volume with 100% sRGB, 97% DCI-P3 and 95.6% Adobe RGB color space coverage. This is a bit lower than the specified 99.3% DCI-P3 coverage for the QD-OLED panels, but this is due to different colorimeters and testing methods.

When we compare it to other monitors we measured using the same method, you can see considerably higher color volume compared to LG’s W-OLED panels, which is the case in real-world use as well since colors are noticeably more saturated and vibrant on QD-OLED panels.

Brightness & Contrast

Now, while LG’s W-OLED panels with MLA+ technology have a higher brightness specified on paper – 275-nits for 100% APL (Average Picture Level, white window test size), and 1300-nits for 1% APL, note that these measures refer to white luminance.

As you can see in the charts above, QD-OLED panels have a higher color luminance, that is, colors can get brighter, which in addition to the wider color gamut results in an overall higher perceived brightness – despite the lower peak white luminance of 250-nits for 100% APL and 1000-nits for < 3% APL.

In the video below, you can see how the MSI MPG 321CURX compares to the KTC G27P6S with a W-OLED panel.

In SDR, brightness is limited to around 250-nits in order to avoid ABL (Automatic Brightness Limiter) behavior, which would dynamically change the brightness depending on how many bright elements are on the screen.

These constant changes in brightness would be quite annoying during everyday use, which is probably why MSI opted to have them disabled without the option to turn it on. Some OLED monitors offer an option to enable or disable this, such as Uniform Brightness, but such an option isn’t available on the MSI MPG 321CURX.

The minimum brightness is also very good at 25-nits, which makes the monitor suitable for use in both dark and bright rooms. Of course, if you plan on using the screen in a particularly bright room (with studio lighting or facing a big window without curtains), you’ll need a brighter mini LED display to mitigate glare. Under normal lighting conditions, 250-nits is more than good enough for most users.

Image Accuracy

Next, let’s check out SDR factory calibration.

Since the monitor has a wide color gamut, this results in high Delta E of 2.9 average (target is < 1.5) and 7.13 maximum (target is < 3) when compared to the standard sRGB SDR color space in Windows as the OS lacks proper color management.

When compared against the DCI-P3 color space, the results are much better with the average Delta E now being 1.17, and the maximum 3.2.

The measured color temperature is 6210K (a bit shy of the 6500K target, but there’s no noticeable tinting to whitepoint), while gamma tracking is also very good at 2.15 average (target is 2.2).

The monitor also has a Premium Color mode, but it even further over-saturates colors, resulting in a very high Delta E of 4.57 average and 11.64 maximum, so we don’t recommend using it.

In the OSD (On-Screen Display), under ‘Gaming’ and ‘Game Mode’, you’ll find the following picture modes: Premium Color, User, FPS, Racing, RTS and RPG. We highly recommend sticking with the User mode here, since the other modes are inaccurate.

Under the ‘Professional’ tab and ‘Pro Mode’, you’ll find a few more picture modes, including Eco, User, Anti-Blue, Movie, Office, sRGB, Adobe RGB and Display P3.

Here, we recommend the User mode if you prefer the over-saturated colors for extra vibrancy and sRGB, Adobe RGB or Display P3 for the most accurate colors depending on your use case (sRGB for Windows, Adobe RGB for print work and Display P3 for macOS).

Here’s how these three presets perform.

In the sRGB mode, the average Delta E is reduced to 0.7 and the maximum down to 1.87 with a color temperature of 6277K and an average gamma of 2.16. In the Display P3 mode, the average Delta E is 0.87, the maximum 1.93, 6315K color temperature and 2.18 average gamma.

Finally, the Adobe RGB preset has a low average Delta E is 0.91, the maximum is 3.3, 6268K color temperature and 2.19 average gamma.

Overall, all three modes are well-calibrated and allow for professional color-critical work out of the box. While you can adjust the brightness in these modes, color temperature settings are locked.

However, the color gamut was clamped down a bit too much from the native 162.7% sRGB color volume to 90.4% sRGB color space coverage and 90.7% volume. In the Display P3 mode, the coverage and volume were reduced to 96.1% and 94.8% respectively, and in Adobe RGB mode to 93.2% and 94.8%.

We tried using software clamping as well (AMD Custom Color or novideo_sRGB for NVIDIA GPUs) and while the gamut results were better at 98% sRGB coverage and 100.5% volume, red was a bit over-saturated with a high Delta E of 4.22.

Calibration

For full calibration, we used the User mode with the ‘Customization’ ‘Color Temperature’ with color channels adjusted to 94 red, 96 green and 100 blue for a more accurate 6535K color temperature.

The brightness was set to 35/100 for 120-nits and after calibration, we got a low average Delta E of 0.31, the maximum of 1.04 and a 2.19 average gamma. You can download our ICC profile here if you wish to use it with the novideo_srgb tool or to create a 3D LUT. Gamma corrections might not look good on your particular unit, so you can test them out here and choose whether or not to apply them.

Subpixel Layout & Pixel Density

The MSI MPG 321CURX monitor uses a QD-OLED panel with an improved triangular subpixel layout that’s more square-shaped than that of previous-gen panels. In addition to its high pixel density of 140 PPI (pixels per inch), the fringing on small text and fine details is no longer an issue.

You can still spot it if you look at the screen up close or zoom in on your camera, but at a normal viewing distance, it’s not noticeable.

The 4K UHD resolution also provides you with plenty of screen space and stunning detail clarity. Although it’s quite taxing on the GPU when it comes to gaming, thanks to upscaling technologies, such as XeSS, DLSS and FSR, you will be able to maintain smooth frame rates with a decent mid-range GPU in most titles.

On a 32″ 4K monitor, scaling is optional. Some users prefer no scaling at this pixel density, while others opt for 125% or 150%.

Burn-in

Another issue with OLED displays is the risk of permanent image burn-in and temporary image retention. When an image stays on the screen for too long, there’s a chance that bright static objects can remain permanently visible as an afterimage.

However, as long as you use the monitor sensibly and play varied content, it shouldn’t be an issue.

MSI even offers a 3-year warranty that covers burn-in, as well as plenty of additional features that reduce the risk of it occurring. To start with, the MSI MPG 321CURX has active cooling via a heatsink instead of a cooling fan.

This provides more effective cooling that reduces the risk of burn-in. It’s also more silent and reliable since cooling fans can be loud and fail in time.

You’ll also find additional features in the OSD (On-Screen Display) menu, including:

• Pixel Shift – occasionally moves the entire image by a few pixels (three frequency levels available, cannot be disabled)
• Panel Protect – refreshes the pixels every 4 or 16 cumulative hours (takes around 9 minutes)
• Static Screen Detection – lowers the brightness after detecting that a static image remains on the screen
• Multi Logo Detection – lowers the brightness of static elements
• Taskbar Detection – lowers the brightness of the taskbar area
• Boundary Detection – lower the brightness when vertical lines, boundaries, letters, pillars, etc are detected

Unlike it was the case with the MSI MPG 341CQPX, the Screen, Multi Logo, Taskbar and Boundary features are enabled by default and they can be used at the same time as VRR. However, this might’ve been changed via a firmware update on the 341CQPX.

HDR

The MSI MPG 321CURX supports HDR (High Dynamic Range) and has VESA’s DisplayHDR 400 True Black certification.

There are two HDR modes: ‘True Black 400’ and ‘Peak 1000 nits’.

The Peak 1000 nits mode is considerably brighter with APLs smaller than 10%, which results in significantly brighter and punchier highlights, which is why most users will prefer it and we recommend it as well.

However, the True Black 400 mode is more accurate when it comes to larger APLs.

In the PQ EOTF tracking charts below, the gray line represents the target for accurate brightness, while the yellow line is the monitor’s brightness.

As you can see, for APLs between 25% and 100%, the monitor’s brightness is lower than intended in the Peak 1000 nits mode, while the gray and yellow lines are closer together in the True Black 400 mode, though it gets a bit brighter than intended around 70% white.

As a result, the True Black 400 mode can actually appear brighter than Peak 1000 nits mode in HDR scenes with a lot of large bright elements, though you lose the punchiness of really bright small elements of the Peak 1000 nits mode.

For smaller APLs between 1% and 10%, the Peak 1000 nits mode is very accurate, so highlights appear as bright as the creator’s intent.

This is a typical behavior of all monitors using Samsung’s QD-OLED panels. There is no single best mode and most users prefer the Peak 1000 nits mode, but you can experiment and see what works best for you personally.

The MSI MPG 321CURX can also maintain its brightness without dropping.

Here are some brightness measurements from real scenes.

	Sunlight in ‘A Perfect Planet’	Sign in ‘Cyberpunk 2077’	Small flash from ‘Chasing The Light’	Large flash from ‘Chasing The Light’	Lightning in ‘A Perfect Planet’	Solar flare in ‘A Perfect Planet’	Sunlight in‘ A Perfect Planet’
KTC G27P6S (W-OLED MLA+)	317-nits	645-nits	739-nits	313-nits	602-nits	183-nits	216-nits
MSI MPG 321CURX (QD-OLED) Peak 1000 nits	538-nits	731-nits	974-nits	328-nits	549-nits	108-nits	113-nits
MSI MPG 321CURX (QD-OLED) True Black 400	429-nits	455-nits	452-nits	310-nits	450-nits	201-nits	207-nits
BenQ EX321UX (Mini LED IPS)	792-nits	1231-nits	1140-nits	1440-nits	579-nits	309-nits	317-nits
MSI MPG 341CQPX (QD-OLED) Peak 1000 nits	520-nits	672-nits	970-nits	Not measured	Not measured	Not measured	Not measured
ASUS PG27AQDM (W-OLED)	515-nits	741-nits	Not measured	Not measured	Not measured	Not measured	Not measured

In the table above, you can also see just how brighter mini LED displays can get, such as the BenQ EX321UX. However, they don’t have as good motion handling or black depth, and they’ll have blooming artifacts in certain scenes. An upside is that they don’t have the risk of burn-in.

In the video above, you can see how the MSI MPG 321CURX compares to the BenQ EX321UX with a mini LED backlight in a few HDR scenes.

At around 4:18 mark in the video, you can see how QD-OLED struggles with scenes with a lot of bright elements, such as the snow scene where the monitor’s ABL (Automatic Brightness Limiter) kicks in and causes those jumps in brightness for a few seconds.

In the next scene, at around 4:41, you can see the blooming artifacts following the flying birds on the BenQ EX321UX. To be fair, both of these scenes are extreme examples that we haven’t encountered while watching other content, but it’s a good illustration of how both technologies have their strong and weak points.

Overall, while watching various content side by side, we came to the conclusion that some scenes look better on the EX321UX, other scenes look better on the 321CURX, and there are scenes that look very similar on both displays. So, in the end, the choice between the two technologies comes down to personal preference.

HDR color accuracy is very good. You can also choose the Premium Color mode, but it over-saturates the colors too much, so we don’t recommend it.

Color temperature is also fairly accurate at around 6125K. It’s a bit lower than the 6500K target, but there’s no noticeable tinting to the whitepoint.

The monitor will automatically enable HDR when compatible content is detected, and disable it once you exit HDR content.

Performance

The MSI MPG 321CURX has a maximum refresh rate of 240Hz, which ensures buttery-smooth gameplay with low input latency.

Moreover, OLED displays have instantaneous pixel response time speed for zero ghosting behind fast-moving objects regardless of the refresh rate, making it ideal for fast-paced competitive titles.

For latency and response time testing, we’re using OSRTT. Before the tests, the monitor was calibrated and warmed up.

Here’s a look at the response time tests.

The OSRTT device is picking up some overshoot, but this is due to its limitation as OLED response times are too quick.

There’s no noticeable overshoot in real use, as you can see in Blur Busters’ UFO pursuit-photo ghosting test, which we ran using 960 Pixels Per Sec, shutter speed set to 1/4 of the refresh rate with fixed focus, ISO and color temperature (6500K).

Here’s how it compares to some other models we tested.

Finally, the MSI MPG 321CURX has low display latency of 2.58 at 240Hz, 5ms at 120Hz and 13.09ms at 60Hz, resulting in imperceptible delay between your actions and the result on the screen. We got similar results via both HDMI and DisplayPort, and with VRR (variable refresh rate) disabled and enabled.

Next, variable refresh rate is supported for tear-free gameplay up to 240FPS via AMD FreeSync Premium Pro, NVIDIA G-SYNC Compatible and HDMI 2.1 VRR.

As expected from an OLED panel, there’s some minor VRR brightness flickering in certain scenes. This mainly includes darker scenes in poorly optimized games with fluctuating frame rates, such as WarCraft III Reforged, and in in-game menus and loading screens.

In some games, Doom Eternal, for instance, there’s no brightness flickering at all, so we recommend simply disabling VRR in affected titles as screen tearing is barely noticeable at 240Hz anyway. In general, the brightness flickering is less noticeable than it is on VA panels.

The MSI MPG 321CURX has excellent image uniformity, typical for QD-OLED panels, with a maximum of only 1.6% brightness and contrast deviation across the screen.

There’s also no ‘dirty screen effect’ (DSE) on solid dark-gray backgrounds associated with W-OLED panels.

We didn’t find any dead or stuck pixels, pixel inversion artifacts, frame skipping or other issues. Since OLED panels don’t use a backlight, there are no IPS/VA glow, backlight bleeding or FALD blooming visual artifacts present either.

Apart from the minor fluctuations in brightness due to the way OLED panels work (which is invisible to the human eye), the monitor is completely flicker-free. There’s also a low-blue light filter mode that reduces the color temperature to 4660K for a more comfortable viewing experience before bedtime.

Features

Behind the bottom bezel of the screen, there’s a directional joystick for quick and easy navigation through the OSD (On-Screen Display) menu in addition to dedicated power and input source selection hotkeys.

In addition to the typical image adjustment tools, such as brightness and contrast, the MSI MPG 321CURX offers some advanced settings, including sharpness, a DSC toggle and automatic input detection. We also measured the color temperature of all presets:

• Normal – 6264K
• Cool – 8679K
• Warm – 4943K
• Custom – 6155K

However, there are no hue/saturation or gamma settings.

Useful gaming features include:

• Crosshair overlays
• On-screen timers
• Refresh rate tracker
• Optix Scope
• Night Vision
• Screen Size – auto, 4:3, 16:9, 16:10, 1:1, 24.5″ and 27″ emulation modes

There’s also AI Vision and Image Enhancement, which basically combine Night Vision with increased sharpness.

In the OSD menu, you can also assign different shortcuts to the joystick (up, down, left, right), change OSD language, transparency and timeout, adjust RGB LED brightness or turn it off, and enable/disable HDMI-CEC, USB-C Power Delivery and the power LED indicator.

You can also choose whether the power button puts the monitor on standby or turns it off completely. Finally, there’s a factory reset setting and the option to put certain info on the screen (current resolution, refresh rate, input, SDR/HDR, bit depth, etc.).

MSI also offers the MSI Gaming Intelligence desktop application where you can make all OSD-related adjustments and more using your keyboard and mouse.

Finally, here are the DDC/CI settings you can change via third-party apps, such as ControlMyMonitor.

Design & Connectivity

The MSI MPG 321CURX has a robust design with sturdy metal legs, a plastic riser with a cable management hole and a good range of ergonomics, including up to 100mm height adjustment, +/- 30° swivel, -5°/15° tilt and 100x100mm VESA mount compatibility.

The screen has a moderate 1700R curvature for added immersion without distorting the image. It’s not as aggressive as 1000R, which many users dislike on 32″ sized screens.

Further, the screen has ultra-thin 1mm bezels at the top and at the sides, while the bottom bezel is thicker at around 20mm. As usual, there are black borders before the image starts (approx. 7mm at the sides, 4mm at the top and 1mm at the bottom).

The design is mostly matte and textured with some glossy elements, and there’s a small RGB LED strip and logo at the rear with adjustable brightness (can also be disabled in the menu).

Connectivity options include DisplayPort 1.4 with DSC, two HDMI 2.1 ports with full 48 Gbps, a USB-C port with DP 1.4 Alt Mode and 98W Power Delivery, a dual-USB 2.0 hub (two USB-A downstream, one USB-B upstream) and a headphone jack.

HDMI CEC is supported as well, so if you connect a console to HDMI, the monitor will automatically power on with the console, and when the console enters the power saving mode, the monitor will turn off.

The monitor also has integrated KVM functionality and PiP/PbP support, allowing you to simultaneously display two PCs connected to the screen and use a single set of keyboard and mouse to control both devices.

The screen has a semi-glossy finish, which makes the image more vivid as there’s no graininess associated with matte anti-glare coatings.

However, the screen is also more reflective and since there’s no polarizer, blacks are raised when hit by direct lighting. As long as there’s no light directly pointed at the screen though, this won’t be an issue.

In the box, along with the monitor and its stand, you’ll get a DP cable, an HDMI cable, a USB-B to USB-A cable, a power cord for the integrated power supply, VESA mounting spacers and a quick start guide.

Price & Similar Monitors

The MSI MPG 321CURX price ranges from around $900 to $1,000. The other two 32″ 4K 240Hz curved models, the Dell Alienware AW3225QF and the Acer Predator X32X go for $1,200, so MSI’s model definitely offers the best value for the price.

Dell’s model doesn’t have built-in KVM and its USB-C port is limited to 15W PD, but it supports Dolby Vision. However, since there are only a few games with Dolby Vision, we don’t think it’s worth the extra cost.

At $900, it’s the same price as the flat-screen MSI MPG 321URX model (or the 321URXW in white design) with the same specs, so you can pick according to your preference. On 32″ sized screens, we prefer a subtle to moderate screen curvature.

If you want a flat-screen model, there are a lot of options to choose, but the MSI MPG 321URX generally offers the best value for the money. MSI also offers the MSI MAG 321UPX model without USB-C / KVM for $850, and the MSI MAG 321UP with a lower 165Hz refresh rate for $800.

Finally, there’s the MSI MAG 321CUP with a curved panel and a 165Hz refresh rate for $750.

Alternatively, there are 32″ 4K 240Hz monitors based on LG’s W-OLED panel with the 1080p 480Hz Dual Mode, such as the ASUS PG32UCDP.

However, they have a lower color luminance and 1080p results in a bit blurry image on a 32″ sized screen, so if you really want a higher refresh rate, we recommend going with the 27″ 1440p 480Hz W-OLED models, such as the ASUS PG27AQDP or waiting for the upcoming 27″ 1440p 500Hz QD-OLED monitors.

Conclusion

Overall, the MSI MPG 321CURX is an exceptional gaming monitor thanks to its OLED panel, high refresh rate and high resolution! It’s the most affordable curved model and even comes with premium features, such as KVM and USB-C with 98W PD.

So, if you prefer 32″ sized displays with a subtle to moderate screen curvature, the 321CURX is for you!

Specifications

Screen Size	31.5-inch
Screen Curvature	1700R
Resolution	3840×2160 (Ultra HD)
Panel Type	QD-OLED
Aspect Ratio	16:9 (Widescreen)
Refresh Rate	240Hz
Response Time	0.03ms (GtG)
Adaptive-Sync	FreeSync Premium Pro, G-SYNC Compatible, HDMI 2.1 VRR (48-240Hz)
Ports	DisplayPort 1.4, 2x HDMI 2.1, USB-C (DP Alt Mode, 98W PD)
Other Ports	Headphone Jack, 2x USB-A 2.0, USB-B
Brightness (1 – 3% White Window)	1000 cd/m²
Brightness (10% White Window)	450 cd/m²
Brightness (100% White Window)	250 cd/m²
Contrast Ratio	Infinite
Colors	1.07 billion (true 10-bit) 99.3% DCI-P3
HDR	VESA DisplayHDR 400 True Black
VESA	Yes (100x100mm)