The MAG271CQR is a new 27 inch 1440p 144Hz curved gaming monitor from MSI, so let’s
check it out and see if it’s something you should consider.
As mentioned this is a 27 inch monitor with a 16 by 9 aspect ratio and runs at the 1440p
resolution, so 2560 by 1440. It’s got AMD’s FreeSync too, so you’ll need an AMD graphics
card in order to take advantage of this. You can still use an Nvidia graphics card with
it perfectly fine, but you’ll still get screen tearing, although I think it’s less
noticeable with higher refresh rate monitors if you can push high frame rates anyway.
The panel also runs at 144Hz with a 1ms MRPT response time, which makes it an excellent
choice for gamers, the GTG response time isn’t listed but I don’t have the tools needed
to test response times. The monitor has three response time settings, normal, faster and
fastest. I didn’t really notice a difference in the UFO test between normal and faster,
while fastest did appear to reduce ghosting at the expense of adding flicker, although
I could not see this with my own eyes, it was only picked up on camera.
As you may have noticed it’s also got an 1800R curve. This is a fairly noticeable curve,
especially for a monitor of this size, but after using it for a while I did start to
get used to it and prefer it, not having the corners further away was nice.
It’s also using a VA panel, and to me the colours look great with great viewing angles,
I couldn’t notice any changes even when looking at the screen on sharp angles, MSI
list that it’s capable of 178 degree viewing angles both vertically and horizontally.
I’ve previously reviewed MSI’s MAG27C, the older version of this model, so I’ll
also mention throughout the video how they differ, so far the specs mentioned have been
the same.
In terms of colour accuracy, MSI note that the panel is capable of 115% of sRGB and 90%
of DCI-P3. My Spyder 5 doesn’t show results above 100% of sRGB and doesn’t test DCI-P3,
so with that in mind I got 100% of sRGB, 79% of NTSC, and 84% of AdobeRRB, exactly the
same as the older MAG27C, a pretty good result for a gaming monitor in my opinion.
It’s got a peak brightness of 400 nits, a fair bit better than the 250 nits we got
from the older MAG27C. With my own measurements at 100% brightness in the center I got 396
nits, above average brightness compared to other gaming monitors I’ve tested. MSI also
specify that it has a 3000:1 contrast ratio, fairly high as VA panels are great for blacks,
and in the center of the screen I measured this one with an 1040:1 contrast ratio, so
I’m not sure what settings you need to get 3000:1, even if I max out the contrast setting
I can only raise it to 1090:1, still though it’s a pretty nice result compared to some
IPS ones I’ve tested.
The bezels are fairly thin too, at around 9mm around the sides and top based on my own
measurements, and then around 2.5cm down the bottom with a subtle MSI logo in the center,
with the power button found down the right bottom corner.
I’ve taken a long exposure photo in a dark room as a worst case backlight bleed test.
There did appear to be a bit of bleed, which seems to be more common in curved monitors,
although I could hardly notice it with my own eyes in this worst case instance, and
never while actually using it normally, however results will vary between monitors.
It’s not all just about the panel though, taking a look at the rest of the monitor it’s
got a matte black metal V shape stand. The rest of the stand is a dark grey plastic with
a brushed textured finish, and it’s got a hole in it for cable management. Overall
I found the stand pretty solid, even while bumping my desk hard the monitor didn’t
move much. The stand can be removed from the back of the panel by simply removing two screws
with a Phillips head screwdriver. Underneath the stand mount we get access to a 100mm VESA
mount, allowing you to attach your own mount, and this is larger than the 75mm mount present
in the older MAG27C.
The rest of the back has a mixture of black matte, glossy and brushed finishes with the
MSI logo on the left and dragon logo on top of the stand. There’s also some RGB lighting
on the back, a bit of a difference to the red only lighting on the older MAG27C, however
all of these new MAG models also have non RGB counterparts which should be a little
cheaper if you prefer not to pay more for lighting. Through the on screen display you
can only turn the RGB lighting on and off, if you want to customize it you’ll need
to install the MSI gaming app and use MSI’s Mystic Light sync software. To do this you’ll
just need the monitor plugged into your computer with the included USB Type-B cable in order
to control it.
There are 10 different effects available, or you can disable the lighting if you prefer,
and MSI’s website does a good job of demonstrating roughly how they all look.
In a normally lit room I couldn’t actually notice the lighting, even with my room lights
off it was still difficult to notice, you’d probably have to have your monitor right against
a wall to properly see it as I’ve got mine in a corner further away from the walls, it’s
not that bright and quite subtle with no way of adjusting brightness.
The IO is on the back toward the bottom and faces down. On the left there’s a standard
power input, so no external power brick needed here. On the right there are two HDMI 2.0
inputs, a DisplayPort 1.2 input, 3.5mm audio output, and two USB 2.0 Type-A ports. You
can use the monitor as a USB hub once you connect the USB 2.0 Type-B port on the far
right to your computer. The USB 2.0 speeds aren’t great, but at least it has a USB
hub, the older MAG27C didn’t have one at all, and if you’re just using USB to control
the monitor via software it doesn’t really matter.
MSI note that both the DisplayPort and HDMI ports support 1440p at 144Hz, a little difference
over the older MAG27C monitor which only went to 120Hz with its HDMI 1.4 port, and needed
DisplayPort for 144Hz.
On the left hand side of the monitor there’s a headphone holder which comes out by first
pushing it in, so you can conveniently store your headphones there.
Otherwise on the right, or left when you’re sitting in front of the screen, there’s
a Kensington lock, and then on the opposite side there’s a single joystick which made
it easy to navigate through the on screen display when compared with your typical buttons.
Rather than use this though, I highly recommend installing MSI’s gaming OSD software. Basically
after you connect the USB Type-B cable to the monitor and plug it into your computer,
you’ll be able to manage all of the settings through the software in Windows, it’s much
easier because you can just use your mouse instead of the joystick on the back. There
are also some options available through the software that aren’t found in the on screen
display, such as changing the RGB effects, as discussed earlier.
There are quite a few built in profiles which will change the settings to best match what
you’re doing. You can easily change brightness, contrast, sharpness, colour profiles, and
even pick between 6 different crosshairs to overlay onto the screen and much more.
As for the included cables, you get an HDMI, DisplayPort, USB Type-B to Type-A, and power
cable.
Both the stand and display together weigh in at around 5.6kg, although due to the awkward
size I wasn’t able to test this myself. With the stand attached at maximum height,
the dimensions are 61.2cm in width, 56cm in height, and 26.6cm in depth.
There are only a couple of adjustments available, -5 to 20 degrees of tilt adjustment and 0
to 130mm of height adjustment. I found that a bit more force than usual was needed to
move it up and down, so you definitely don’t have to worry about the panel staying in position.
Unfortunately there’s no pivot or swivel available here, however I think both of those
adjustments are less useful for a curved monitor anyway.
So far the monitor looks pretty good, but how was it to actually use day to day? I’ve
used a few 1440p 144Hz gaming monitors now, and I think they’re a great sweet spot for
many games as long as you’re graphics card is able to run at that resolution with decent
frame rates. After getting used to the curve I was finding that it does help in regards
to immersion, and making use of FreeSync with my AMD RX 580 was icing on the cake.
In my previous video on the MSI MAG27C a lot of people asked in the comments about using
the monitor with a console. While you could definitely connect this up to an Xbox One
X or PS4 no problems, those consoles don’t support 1440p at 144Hz, so depending on the
console the monitor would just run at a lower resolution or refresh rate. I think PS4 runs
at either 1080p or 4K, while the Xbox can run at 1440p which is downsampled 4K, but
neither support 144Hz at this resolution, so you could probably save money getting a
lower refresh rate panel.
I’ve also used the monitor to edit some videos and no problems there either, thanks
to the decent colour gamut I think it’s also good enough for some content creation,
at least for a gaming monitor, personally I still prefer my 32” 4K monitor for that,
but if I needed one for both gaming and content creation this would be my preferred option.
For updated pricing check the links in the description, as pricing will change over time.
At the time of recording, I've been advised that the monitor will launch with a $549 AUD
price tag here in Australia, or $449 USD in the US for my international viewers, and the
non RGB models should be around $20 to $30 cheaper.
MSI also have a few other models available, including 1080p 24 and 27 inch options, as
well as a larger version of this one, 32 inches with a 1440p resolution, so you’ve got a
few options available with the new MAG series.
So what did you guys think about the new MAG271CQR gaming monitor from MSI? Overall I found it
to have many nice improvements over the previous generation MAG27C, it’s improving on what
was already a popular monitor, although if you’ve already got that one I don’t think
it’s worth upgrading from as it is still a good monitor. 1440p at 27 inches is a nice
sweet spot in my opinion, and combined with a 144Hz refresh rate and AMD’s FreeSync
it’s got the makings of a great gaming monitor. Despite the 1ms response time, it’s MPRT
rather than GTG, and as shown I did notice some ghosting in the UFO test, although as
we saw this could be improved a bit with the faster response time setting at the expense
of some flicker.
The curve is going to come down to personal preference, at first when I swap to a curved
monitor it always feels a little strange, but I get used to it quickly, and when I go
back to a regular monitor I always miss the curve, there’s just something about having
the corners closer to you rather than further away, especially in games. Otherwise the VA
panel looked great, good colour gamut and contrast ratio were also really nice and make
it decent for content creation too. The RGB lighting was a little too dim to really be
that noticeable, and the new OSD software to manage the monitor through Windows was
a very convenient feature to have.
Let me know what you thought of MSI’s MAG271CQR gaming monitor down in the comments, leave
a like if you found the review useful, and of course subscribe if you want to see more
tech videos like this one.