MSI has debuted a new QD-OLED gaming monitor that promises to be up there with the very best, and it’s one of the first available to boast a full-speed DisplayPort 2.1a connection.
It’s called the MSI MPG 322URX, and as the name suggests it’s a 32-inch monitor that brings something that was missing on existing displays. With its support for up to 80Gbps bandwidth, it’s able to deliver full 4K resolution at 240Hz, without any need for Display Stream Compression. In contrast, most existing monitors with DisplayPort 1.4a can only deliver 32.4Gbps, which prevents 4K@240Hz.
DSC, as it’s known, is a kind of compression technique that encodes images with fewer chroma samples to reduce the bandwidth for a set resolution and refresh rate. It enables modern panels to deliver fast and highly detailed images without any fancy interfaces. But although DSC seems practically lossless to the human eye, it’s still not the true experience, which can only be had through DisplayPort 2.1a.
To benefit from the full-fat 4K resolution at 240Hz you’ll need a PC with a compatible GPU that also supports 80Gbps bandwidth, and unfortunately no such graphics cards currently exist. The best available right now is AMD’s Radeon 7000 Series, which maxes out at 52.22Gbps
Still, the MSI MPG 322URX is a future-proof monitor that may well come into its own next year when the new generation of GPUs arrives on the market, and it boasts some impressive specifications elsewhere, with its 31.5-inch QD-OLED panel having 10-bit colour depth that allows it to cover 138% of the sRGB, 99% of the DCI-P3 and 98% of the Adobe RGB colour gamuts.
Brightness is said to hit 250 nits in SDR, peaking at 1,000 nits in HDR, and the strengths of QD-OLED are all too apparent with the display boasting a 1,500,000:1 contrast ratio, a blazing-fast 0.03 milliseconds grey-to-grey pixel response time, as well as DisplayHDR 400 TrueBlack to get the best out of High Dynamic Range movies and games. Of course, VRR is onboard, with support for Nvidia’s G-Sync and AMD’s FreeSync Premium Pro, and there's ClearMR 13000 certification to ensure no blurs at all.
Besides the DisplayPort 2.1 connection, other options include two HDMI 2.1 ports, one USB Type-C with DP Alt Mode, and a 98-watt power delivery, a two-port USB hub and a headphone jack. There’s even a specialist UHBR20 cable that’s bundled with the monitor to get the most out of that DisplayPort 2.1a connection.
In addition, MSI said the display has plenty of room for ergonomics, flexible tilt, swivel and height adjustment options ensuring maximum comfort for every type of users.
MSI has not yet listed the MPG 322URX for sale on its website, but the French retailer PC21 is now offering it for a price of €1,485. That’s not cheap by any stretch, translating to £1,232 in U.K. money, but you do get what you pay for.
