Wednesday, October 6th 2021
MSI Announces a Trio of Optix MPG Series Gaming Monitors
MSI, the world's leading manufacturer for true gaming hardware, is proudly expanding the hardware possibilities for all gamers. Today, we are honored to introduce 3 new Esports Series monitors: Optix MPG341QR, Optix MPG321UR-QD, and Optix MPG321QRF-QD. QD stands for our Quantum Dot and both QD monitors are equipped with Quantum dot technology for improved color performance in gaming.
All of these 3 models feature an IPS panel with a 32-inch screen or 34-inch screen, high resolution, high refresh rate, next-gen console compatibility, gaming intelligence, and many gamer-friendly features. Customers can choose the monitors based on their preferences. The Optix MPG341QR has a 34-inch IPS screen with UWQUHD (3440 x 1440) resolution with a 21:9 aspect ratio which is a great option for widescreen gaming. This monitor has many MSI exclusive monitor features like Gaming Intelligence. Users are also allowed to choose PBP mode with 16:9 and 5:9 aspect ratio for PC gaming and gaming on smartphones.Both Optix MPG321UR-QD and Optix MPG321QRF-QD are 32-inch monitors with Quantum Dot technology. Optix MPG321UR-QD features UHD (3840x2160) resolution and supports up to 144 Hz with HDMI 2.1. This beast is a great companion for next-gen consoles. Also, MSI's exclusive KVM 3.0 feature allows gamers to adjust monitor settings with a console controller.
On the other hand, the Optix MPG321QRF-QD is equipped with a rapid IPS panel with WQHD (2560x1440) resolution and a 175hz refresh rate. This is a great option for gamers who prefer gaming on a 32-inch WQHD monitor and are looking for low response time and great color. A monitor with a 175 Hz refresh rate can provide a better gaming experience and smoother gameplay performance than regular 144 Hz or 165 Hz monitors. To understand each monitor's spec and differences, please refer to the spec comparison table.
Always improving, MSI will keep on challenging itself in the design of gaming monitors, and ensure that you are always ahead of your opponents.For more information, visit the product page.
All of these 3 models feature an IPS panel with a 32-inch screen or 34-inch screen, high resolution, high refresh rate, next-gen console compatibility, gaming intelligence, and many gamer-friendly features. Customers can choose the monitors based on their preferences. The Optix MPG341QR has a 34-inch IPS screen with UWQUHD (3440 x 1440) resolution with a 21:9 aspect ratio which is a great option for widescreen gaming. This monitor has many MSI exclusive monitor features like Gaming Intelligence. Users are also allowed to choose PBP mode with 16:9 and 5:9 aspect ratio for PC gaming and gaming on smartphones.Both Optix MPG321UR-QD and Optix MPG321QRF-QD are 32-inch monitors with Quantum Dot technology. Optix MPG321UR-QD features UHD (3840x2160) resolution and supports up to 144 Hz with HDMI 2.1. This beast is a great companion for next-gen consoles. Also, MSI's exclusive KVM 3.0 feature allows gamers to adjust monitor settings with a console controller.
On the other hand, the Optix MPG321QRF-QD is equipped with a rapid IPS panel with WQHD (2560x1440) resolution and a 175hz refresh rate. This is a great option for gamers who prefer gaming on a 32-inch WQHD monitor and are looking for low response time and great color. A monitor with a 175 Hz refresh rate can provide a better gaming experience and smoother gameplay performance than regular 144 Hz or 165 Hz monitors. To understand each monitor's spec and differences, please refer to the spec comparison table.
Always improving, MSI will keep on challenging itself in the design of gaming monitors, and ensure that you are always ahead of your opponents.For more information, visit the product page.
35 Comments on MSI Announces a Trio of Optix MPG Series Gaming Monitors
This image is very misleading because the layers are arranged in the opposite order from the viewers perspective . The quantum dots on this product are used for the enhancement film ( QDEF ) , they are placed right after the backlight layer in order to enhance the blue light of the backlight as seen here :
It's a shame to see monitors being this far behind in terms of technology because this is essentialy old quantum dot technology used on commercial TVs from 2013 . Nowadays (from 2019 and on ) TVs have the quantum dot layer also applied infront of the LC layer much closer to the eye of the viewer , this is called QD color filter ( QDCF ) as seen here :
( In this example QD are not used to enhance the backlight )
Yet in PC monitor market we get to enjoy 2013 technology in 2021 .... Can't wait for OLED to shake up this lethargic PC monitor market !
I look more forward to microLED/high-count miniLED, however the former does not exist yet, and the latter's current prices of 2,5-4K $ are ridiculous.
Also, as mentioned above, OLED has severe issues for large parts of PC usage, with burn-in/image retention still not being solved. It's partially manageable, but it's highly usage dependent (OLED is essentially fine for movie and varied gaming use, but if you play one game a lot or use the desktop a lot, you're going to get retention of various parts of the UI after a while, and no mechanisms for lessening it can fully fix the issue. QD-OLED might alleviate this further by using a single color optimally tuned for longevity for the actual OLED layer, but you still can't get past the fact that organic LEDs degrade over time, while non-organic LEDs essentially do not (yes, they also dim, but at a vastly lower rate). If all you do is game (many different games) and/or watch movies/videos, OLEDs today are great (if large). If you spend a lot of time on the desktop or in the same game, LCDs are still going to be better for years to come.
Edit: The HWUB review is in. In summary: As expected, this is very close to the Asus PG32UQ - though not identical. The panel is likely the same though, as response time performance is very similar - just tuned slightly differently (trading slightly more overshoot for slightly faster response times). No single overdrive mode is really suited for the full range of refresh rates though. The stand-out is color gamut and accuracy when calibrated, which is staggeringly good. So, if what you're after is a do-it-all monitor with a strong emphasis on content creation/photo+video editing but also good (but not great) gaming performance, this looks like the best 32" 2160p144 monitor out there. But it still doesn't come close to the panel performance (response times, overshoot) of the ~27" class panels still. Seems we have to wait for the next generation of 32" panels for that to happen (at which time the 27" class has no doubt moved on once again).
MiniLED even under extremely high count still manifest all the shortcomings of FALD , no matter how many mini leds you put they will never be small enough to mimic the self emisive nature of OLED this can only be achieved by MicroLED . Had MiniLED been much more affordable it could be something worth considering as a stop gap untill MicroLED or QNED ( not to be confused with LG QNED which uses MiniLEDs instead of MicroLEDs for the backlight layer ) hit the market BUT at these sort of ridiculous prices MiniLED is DOA , i can buy 3 or 4 48'' OLED panels for the price of a single MiniLED monitor , even by abusing those OLED panels they will last me at least 2 years each so we are talking about 3-6 years worth of usage while blasting the MiniLED panel out of the water in terms of motion clarity and picture quality . So size limitations aside ( there are 42'' OLED panels coming and even smaller sizes according to reputable sources ) MicroLED is a waste of money in my opinion .
Now MicroLED sure is the endgame since it combines all the advantages of OLED and LCD technologies without any apparent drawback but the real drawback of MicroLED is the price . Chances are QNED displays ( MicroLED blue light backligh + Quantum Dot color filter ) and QD-OLED ( OLED blue light backlight + Quantum Dot color filter ) will hit the market much much sooner than MicroLED and in the case of ink jet printed OLED the prices will go down so we are talking about products that will cost orders of magnitude cheaper than any initial MicroLED product . Absolutely , quantum dots have a size of 2-8 nm nanosys.com/science even MicroLED type of pixel density is a joke for QD let alone for nowadays technologies . QD are not self emissive they are just a color filter so brightness is not a criteria as it depends of the backlight layer . So to answer your question no you are guessing wrong , the only reason why this is happeping in the TV market but not in the PC monitor market is because of how lethargic the PC monitor market is .
As i said can't wait for OLED , especially now that Chinese companies such as TCL are heavely investing into it and are coming up with ink jet printing methods etc , to enter this market and shake it up for good . OLED will only get cheaper as the time goes . Imagine monitors consting in the 500-700$ range while blowing any existing FALD product ( no matter the number of diming zones ) out of water in terms of picture quality and motion clarity ....
Hence my question. Individual quantum dots are of course tiny, but the question becomes how large of an area you need to collect a sufficient number to reliably and uniformly transform light at the intensity and wavelengths you need, in a sufficiently controlled manner. So it doesn't depend on the size of the quantum dots, but how the films are made - i.e. panel production technology.
As for OLED, there is no level of mitigations that can avoid that desktop OSes have fixed UI elements, nor that most desktop use cases include a high amount of high APL scenarios - web browsing, text documents, spreadsheets, whatever. And high APL scerarios are what causes the most wear and thus has the highest chance of causing retention on an OLED. You can't pixel shift your way out of your web browser occupying roughly the same area on your screen every time you use it. And sure, things like dark mode can further alleviate things a tad, but it won't solve any of the above examples, and soon you're looking at a scenario where you're spending a significant amount of time and work to avoid image retention. Is that worth it? It sure isn't to me. I want to use my monitor, not manage it.
Of course they are being given this denomination not because they act as a filter per say but because they replace the RGB color filter layer . Realistically they do indeed work as color converters ( hence QDCC ) blue light coming from the backlight layer excites the red and green QD subpixels who convert it in pure red and green light and goes through the convetional ( read no QD ) blue subpixel . Anyhow as i said the brightness of the panel doesn't depend of the QDCF/QDCC layer since quantum dots are not self emisive yet ( nanosys are working on it ) it depends on the blue light source aka the backlight . Well i did already answered this question , the manufacturing of QDCF/QDCC layers is mature enough to the point they can handle microLED requirements . They can arrange them with enough precision down to 3 micro meters , that's enough precision for any current or upcoming technology :