MSi Optix MAG322CQRV

I love this monitor – My very first monitor purchase along with a custom-built desktop. My purchase criteria were a 30" curved screen and at least a 144Hz refresh rate, this monitor ticked all of the boxes for me. The build quality is very good too, the minimal use of piano black plastic and a lot of the textured plastic gives the whole product a very premium feel. I would recommend this product to anyone looking for a decently sized curved gaming monitor. Show details

Best VA panel in its price range – MSI is a Taiwanese company that specializes in computing parts, generally GPU's and Motherboards which they have a good reputation for which has only gotten greater since 2015. As time travels further it seems that MSI wants to expand to more things than just internal computer parts and that's Monitors. Their debut in the Monitor business has… Read more

started off very stunningly with their first line of monitors being the Optix series; that has been emphasized to be marketed towards the gaming community. With that in mind they cater mostly to what would be imperative in a gaming environment that is response time and refresh rate, which they've succeeded in very well with the beautiful smooth 144hz SDR 1440p 1800:R Curved VA panel that has been notorious for its slow response but despite that MSI has still achieved a 1ms response time and really has one of the best VA panels ever as of its release compared to its competitors. The monitor also comes with 2 USB 1.0 slots and a headphone output as well as your standard HDMI and DP ports which helps tidy up wiring in front of the monitor with its cable management hole which sadly isn't able to be covered but nonetheless I still love the overall elegant design. The software for the monitor is fairly easy to navigate due to its joy stick design and inhibits a fair few options such has response time, refresh rate, colour, contrast, sharpness as well as its own few settings like image enhancement.

It might not be a gorgeous panel to look at at times like an OLED TV but in the end it is just a desktop display and cant really excel to that degree unless MSI desires to make possibly the best looking gaming monitor. Movies and TV shows come out pretty well with a little white tinge in the black shades especially in black and white films like the lighthouse, although when it comes to colors it doesn't exactly pop or seem vibrant as they would on a TV, but again considering it is a gaming monitor its very cleary that its not supposed to excel in that regard. The monitor is 92% DCI-PC and 122% SRGB that is fairly good combination for general use as well as editing videos and studio use.

The cons

The monitor doesn't have a rotate mechanism in place but it does raise and tilt which is okay for most consumers but those who use photoshop with a tablet this may be a no go unless you only paint landscape. It also doesn't have any monitor speakers but that does get balanced out by the headphone port so if you like you can attach your own small speaker. The colour accuracy isn't amazing, whites will always have some shadow in it and blacks will always have some white glow to it which isn't a problem if you're used to SDR monitors but if you are used to HDR monitors/tv's with deeper vibrant colours it is easy to spot it. doesn't have any covers for its cable managing or ports which makes cords visible but in the end does do its purpose.

The pros

The monitor is quite fast as mentioned before and does its job great in gaming. It does achieve a degree of good colour in games as well as movies and the refresh rate is very smooth. The ergonomic design of the joy stick is really an essential in a monitor that you may be changing settings in all the time, and the addition of the ambient lighting is quite nice although I wish it was much brighter and visible. The mechanisms of the tilt and raise are quite smooth and the stand is fairly easy to setup out of the get-go. Some of the nice pluses that I like are the included hdmi and display ports as well as the included ghost recon game which really gives MSI more Value for what your paying brand new. All in all it does outweigh the cons to an extent although it could use some improvements.

If theres something i'd want to see in the future with MSI and their displays it would be getting higher than or at HDR500 in combination with the low response time (less than 6ms) and high refresh rate making a very well versatile monitor which the market is currently lacking.

All in all its a very good monitor for its price range and doesn't only cater to the gaming community but with its price to the budget community. For what you get compared to its price is certainly not underwhelming but as with all monitors there are some take aways compared to the highest model they have and that's the HDR feature which i've yet to do some research on. If you're looking to buy a monitor but are choosing between Asus and Samsung your best bet probably lies here, its very versatile despite what its marketed for and can really achieve a lot, as of now its MSI and AOC that are making the best monitors but for now I'd recommend this over any other model.

Solid choice – Big, bright monitor. The curve is nice and pulls you in. Lots of colour adjustment. Very happy with my choice. Big step up from my old Samsung 19 inch monitor. Show details

great buy, well worth the money – This monitor replaced my Acer predator 1080p montitor, i picked the MSI Optix mag322cqrv because my brother had bought it and was hooked straight away. The response time is quick with no stuttering or blurring of text while playing fps games. The brightness and color can be better, but at $649 its impressive being 2k 144hz and 1ms response time. This monitor is perfect for the gamer that wants to upgrade from 1080p to 2k gaming. Show details

Gorgeous – This monitor is great and I am extremely satisfied with my purchase, the colours amazing, the Software is easy to use, It has a nipple joy stick for easy control.