Finally, MSI’s take on the brave new generation of 32-inch 4K OLED gaming monitors has landed. Why were we so eager to get our dirty paws on the MSI MPG321URX? Simple. It is by far the cheapest available.
At least, if there is actually availability. We’ve seen it offered for around $849 to $899, with the latter being more common. That’s at least $200 cheaper than any other 32-inch 4K gaming OLED. So it’s perhaps not surprising that it seems to sell out immediately as soon as a new batch is released to retailers.
Still, we can’t blame MSI for that. What we can say is that on paper there’s every reason to rush the MPG321URX when it shows up. After all, it offers exactly the same Samsung QD-OLED panel as plenty of other, much more expensive monitors, including the $1,300 Asus ROG Swift OLED PG32UCDM, the $1,200 Alienware 32 AW3225QF, and the $1,100 Gigabyte Aorus CO49DQ.
So yes, this is the fourth 32-inch 4K QD-OLED monitor we’ve tested in recent months. They all share the same basic specs, including 240Hz refresh, 0.03ms response and 250 full-screen brightness, plus 99% DCI-P3 coverage.
MSI MPG321URX Specifications
Screen size: 32-in
Solution: 3,840 x 2,160
Brightness: 250 nits full screen, 1000 nits max HDR
Color Coverage: 99% DCI-P3
Response time: 0.03ms
Refresh rate: 240Hz
HDR: DisplayHDR 400 True black
Functions: Samsung QD-OLED 3rd generation panel, Adaptive Sync, 1x DisplayPort 1.4, 2x HDMI 2.1, 1x USB-C with 90W PD, KVM switch
Price: $899 | £1,289
And of course, they all offer the same key benefits, namely the combination of OLED’s perfect illumination per pixel and a huge speed advantage over any LCD panel, along with the 4K-capable pixel density that was missing from previous OLED monitors. In theory, this is not only the ultimate recipe for high-end gaming, but also for precision productivity.
In other words, until these monitors you couldn’t have the benefits of OLED and nice, sharp fonts at the same time. That is now possible and the new MSI MPG321URX is no exception. Yes, it retains the slightly strange triangular sub-pixel arrangement of all QD-OLEDs. But the pixel density is so great that it is not a problem when it comes to text blur or edges.
Before we get into the finer details of how the MSI MPG321URX performs, it’s worth noting that its broader feature set doesn’t suffer from its competitive pricing. In addition to a pair of HDMI ports and a DisplayPort interface, there’s USB-C with a 90W power delivery. That’s something the more expensive Alienware lacks, while the Gigabyte’s USB-C interface is limited to a fairly pointless 18W.
You could argue that USB-C is fairly irrelevant for gaming, as 90W isn’t enough power for a high-end gaming laptop. But the appeal of this class of monitor is that it’s great for both gaming and all the other boring stuff. Either way, it’s just another reason to prefer this MSI if it turns out to perform as well as the rest of the 32-inch QD-OLED crowd. You even get a KVM switch thrown in.
With the risk of giving away too much too quickly, that is in principle the case. As always, there are always nuances, detailed differences. But broadly speaking, the answer is yes, you’ll get just as good an experience as the more expensive options, just for less money.
The most obvious highlights are contrast, brightness and speed. Like every other QD-OLED 32-incher, the MSI MPG321URX has a nice glossy coating. It’s a somewhat controversial issue, but we’re firmly in the pro-shiny camp. It’s essential for an OLED panel to really show its high-contrast HDR stuff. This thing stands out positively.
You even get a KVM switch thrown in.
It’s also incredibly fast, both in terms of response and latency, the latter thanks to the 240Hz refresh, which is as good as it gets for 4K at the moment. The MSI MPG321URX also has near-perfect viewing angles. The only thing it’s really noticeably missing is the 480Hz pixel-doubling 1080p mode of LG’s upcoming 32-inch 4K OLED monitor, based on its own WOLED rather than Samsung QD-OLED technology.
We expect it to land with us in about two weeks. In the meantime, playing games in a so-called secondary “native” 1080p mode, thanks to pixel doubling on a very high-end 4K monitor, is something of a niche affair. But for what it’s worth, no current QD-OLED monitor offers that.
Anyway, the question is how this MSI model compares to those other QD-OLEDs. The panels tend to get a bit warm in terms of color temperature, the Gigabyte Aorus CO49DQ most noticeably. Sitting next to most LED-backlit LCD monitors, this MSI still looks quite warm with slightly yellow-tinged whites. It’s probably a function of how QD-OLED works. The quantum dots not only respond to the light from the OLED sub-pixels, they also convert and reflect back some of the ambient light.
Therefore, black tones on QD-OLED panels can appear somewhat gray in high ambient light environments. I suspect that the quantum dots activated by ambient light are at least partially responsible for the perceived warmth of these monitors. Anyway, with the MSI we wouldn’t consider it problematic to the same extent as that Gigabyte monitor, it’s just something to be aware of.
Another drawback, which it shares with every other QD-OLED monitor, is that there is no one ideal HDR mode.
Full-screen brightness is another crucial point for any OLED monitor. Subjectively, the MSI MPG321URX seems very comparable to other QD-OLEDs and good for the claimed 250 nits. The caveat is that there doesn’t appear to be a toggle for the screen’s ABL in the OSD menu.
An ABL or automatic brightness limiter is designed to ensure that the brightness of an OLED panel does not vary depending on what is being displayed. Without this, you’ll find that the overall brightness of an OLED panel actually decreases as you expand a predominantly white app window, such as a web browser.
In general, it is desirable for an ABL to run in SDR mode on the desktop. However, we found with these QD-OLED panels that the panel allows for just that little bit more pop in SDR mode when the ABL is disabled. The disadvantage is the variability of brightness. But it is so small with QD-OLED panels that it is not a problem. With some QD-OLED alternatives you can at least take your pick and decide if you want that little bit extra and the little brightness variability that comes with it.
Another downside, but this time shared with every other QD-OLED monitor, is that there is no one ideal HDR mode. Fortunately, the MSI MPG321URX only has two HDR modes, DisplayHDR 400 and a 1000 nit mode. The former maps content to a maximum of 400 nits, while the latter theoretically allows the panel to reach its full 1,000 nits capacity over small areas of the screen.
To summarize the problem here in a nutshell: the DisplayHDR 400 mode works really well for bright outdoor gaming scenes, where it looks noticeably punchier than the 1,000 nit mode. However, the 1,000 nits mode works best for dark scenes with bright highlights, the latter being able to achieve greater highlights. The problem is that bright details in DisplayHDR 400 mode suffer from blooming and compression, which can lose detail and definition.
It’s not the end of the world and we would generally opt for the DisplayHDR 400 mode, which still looks great for dark scenes. But it’s hardly practical to constantly switch between modes, especially since this resyncs the monitor with your PC and takes you back to the desktop.
Anyway, overall HDR remains a bit of a mess on PC and I’m not convinced anyone, be it Microsoft, the GPU vendors or display vendors, is putting enough effort into fixing it.
Buy as…
✅ You want the glory of 4K OLED gaming at a lower price: This MSI is cheaper than the competition but does not fall short in terms of features and performance.
Don’t buy if…
❌ You don’t like fussing with settings: As with all QD-OLED monitors we’ve tested, finding the perfect HDR setup is tricky.
Other than that, and taking into account that no QD-OLED monitor solves that problem yet, there’s little else to put you off the MSI MPG321URX over more expensive alternatives. The build and design are fine if a bit generic, the OSD is packed with reassuring but overly complex burn-in mitigation features and it doesn’t annoy you as much as some alternatives (the Alienware in particular comes to mind) about it ruining your screen with burn-in.
MSI also offers the same three-year burn-in warranty as other brands. So it all adds up to pretty good news. Long story short: right now and assuming we can get our hands on one, this is the 32-inch 4K QD-OLED panel we’d go for. It’s significantly cheaper than the alternatives, with no significant drawbacks in terms of features or performance. So as no-brainer recommendations go, this is about as simple as it gets.