Custom PC – October 2019

M

easuring31.5infromcornertocorner,

MSI’sOptixMAG321CURVis largeenough

thatyoucanjustaboutusethescreenatitsnative

4KresolutionwithoutusingWindowsscalingoptions.If

that’sa stretchtoofar,youcanalsogetawaywithscalingit

upbyjust 125 percent,oryoucanenjoya large,easy-to-read

experiencerunningatitsdefaultscalinglevelof 150 percent.

MSIhasequippedthismonitorwitha VA-typeLCDpanel,

whichprovidesit witha highnativecontrastratioof

2,500:1.Thiscontrastratio,combinedwiththelarge

screensize,makesit particularlywellsuitedforsitting

backandenjoyingvideoorplayingcertaingames.

Addsupportforanextendedcolourrange(81per

centDCI-P3),andtheMSIcandelivera formofHDR.

It’snotthemostdazzlingHDRmodewe’veever

seen,buttheextendedcolourrangedoesadda bit

ofextrazip.Crucially,MSIhasn’tmadethemistakeof

havingthescreenrunatitsextendedcolourrangeall

thetime,unlikesomeHDRdisplays.Assuch,when

you’reusingthedisplayfornon-HDRsoftware,

coloursstilllookcorrectandnotoverlysaturated.

Indeed,overallimagequalityfromthisdisplayis

surprisinglygood,althoughnotperfect.Thecontrast

exceedsthefigurequotedbyMSI–thecolour

temperatureonlydeviatedfromtheideal6,500K

figureby 78 (droppingto 41 whencalibrated),andthe

averagedeltaE 2000figureof0.2showssolidcolour

accuracy.TheColourbalanceis allbutperfect,plus

thegammameasurementof0.01is closetoideal

too.However,there’sa slightlywashed-outlookto

theimage,particularlywhenthedisplayis corrected

calibrationsoftware,

sultingincompressed,

chy-lookingcolours.It’sfine

generalusebutnotideal

mageandvideoediting.

SIhasdoneanexcellent

withmostotheraspects

hescreen.It lookssmart,

itsgentlycurveddisplay,

edibly thin bezels and

antmetal stand, and it

s plenty of features too.

one DisplayPort input,

SUPPLIER amazon.co.uk

MSI OPTIX

MAG321CURV

/£449 inc VAT

GAMING MONITOR

twoHDMIportsandevenUSBType-Cforvideoinputs,along

witha two-portUSBhubontheback.Thestandalsooffers

height,rotationandtiltadjustment,soit’seasytogetthe

displaysetup.Meanwhile,theon-screendisplaysystemis

easytonavigate,viaa singlemini-

joystickonthebackofthedisplay,and

it hasalltheoptionsyou’llneed.

Sofar,sogood,butthere’sone

majordownsidetothisdisplay,which

is thatit’slimitedtoa refreshrateofjust

60Hz.TheadditionofFreeSynchelps

tokeepframeratessmoothwhen

usedwithAMDgraphicscards,but

therearen’tmanyAMDGPUsthatcan

handle4Kgaming(G-Syncsupport

wouldbemoreusefulhere),andthe

overallresponsivenessofthescreen

isn’tgreat.It’sfineforslower-paced

gamesbutnotforcompetitiveplayers

offast-pacedfirst-personshooters.

Conclusion

TheOptixMAG321CURVis a decent-

qualityscreenfora competitiveprice.

It’sparticularlygoodif youjustwanta

bigpaneltositbackandenjoywatching

video,orforplayingslower-paced

gamesinfull4Kdetail.However,the

60HzrefreshrateandlackofG-Sync

supportmeansit’slimitedasa true

gamingscreen,whileothermonitors

arebetterforprofessionaluse.

EDWARDCHESTER

REVIEWS / MONITOR

VERDICT

A big 4K monitor at a great price,

but it comes with compromises.

OVERALLSCORE

75

IMAGEQUALITY

20 / 30

GAME

PERFORMANCE

24 / 30

FEATURES

14 / 20

VALUE

17 / 20

SPEC

Screen size

31.5in

Resolution

3,840 x 2,160

Panel technology

VA

Maximum refresh rate

60Hz

Stated response time

4ms

Stated contrast ratio

2,500:1

Display inputs

1 x DisplayPort 1.2, 2 x HDMI

2, 1 x USB Type C

Audio

No

Stand adjustment

Height, rotation, tilt

Extras

Rear RGB lighting

VISION

+ Good price

+ Decent overall

image quality

+ Great balance of

resolution and size

DERISION

• No G-Sync support


• Basic gaming
  performance


• H DR
  underwhelming

with

res

pat

for

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with

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offers

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