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The most important things about a gaming screen’s performance are speed and responsiveness, but image quality is just as important when looking for the best gaming monitor. It’s not enough for a monitor to just have a high contrast or a wide range of colors. Also important is how well these things fit together. When a show is perfect in every way, it stands out from the rest. The Optix MAG274QRF-QD from MSI is a great monitor for gaming.
It has a refresh rate of 165 Hz, works with G-Sync (see FreeSync vs. G-Sync), and can reduce blur. And the picture quality is great, with a wide range of colors that not only meets, but slightly exceeds, the DCI-P3 standard. It also connects via USB-C and can handle HDR signals at 1440p resolution and 10-bit color depth.
This is a good package that falls in the middle of the price and quality ranges. It costs about the same as the first 27-inch 1440p monitors that came out about eight years ago, but it works much better. Plus, it’s a good deal because it costs a lot less than $600. ).
MSI Optix MAG274QRF-QD review: Design
A quick look at the MSI Optix MAG274QRF-QD will show you that it is a well-made monitor with some great design details. The bezels are thin, which gives you a bit more screen space. The back has some cool gaming textures and details, like the RGB lighting that can be changed in a more subtle way, but it still looks smart and classy. The stand also has a way to manage cables that is built in.
This helps keep things pretty neat. The hinge gives users much freedom in how they place and turn the object. The Optix can tilt 5° down and 20° up, slide up to 100mm left or right, swivel 75° to the left or right, and pivot -90° to 90°. If you need to, you can switch to portrait mode.
This is something only a few monitors can do these days, giving this one a bit of an ergonomic advantage. Still, there is no auto-rotate option for the screen, so you have to go into the settings menu every time you change the way your computer is held to rotate your computer. You can get this gaming monitor from its official website.
MSI Optix MAG274QRF-QD review: Display
Quantum dot technology is used in the backlight, which is slightly different. It improves color accuracy enough that MSI can say it has very good color accuracy numbers. It covers 99 percent of the Adobe RGB space and 97 percent of the DCI-P3 space used for digital cinema. A USB-C port that can charge devices is another less common feature of a panel designed for gaming.
The cool thing about this is that you can use a single cable to connect a laptop, drive the display, connect accessories, and charge the laptop itself. Or it would be if the MSI Optix MAG274QRF-QD had more charging power. It only has 15W, which isn’t enough for a thin-and-light laptop, let alone a gaming laptop. It’s not something that a gaming panel can’t live with.
But if you’re going to add USB-C for charging, it would be better to make it work. Another feature that might not be very useful is the console mode, which lets the MSI Optix MAG274QRF-QD accept 4K resolution from the Sony PS5 and scale it down to 1440p.
MSI Optix MAG274QRF-QD review: Features
The directional joystick on the back of the monitor can be used to change the OSD (On-Screen Display) menu. You can also use the Gaming OSD 2.0 desktop application to make the changes you need. Notable gaming features include Night Vision, which makes it easier to see in dark scenes, different pre-calibrated picture presets (FPS, RTS, RPG, Racing, etc.).
Custom crosshair overlays, a refresh rate tracker, and on-screen timers. The standard brightness, contrast, color temperature, and other tools are also available, but there are no gamma or hue/saturation settings. There is an RGB LED strip on the back of the monitor that you can sync with other MSI Mystic Light RGB devices.
MSI Optix MAG274QRF-QD review: Connectivity
The MSI Optix MAG274QRF-QD may be missing some features, like built-in speakers, HDR support, and a stronger stand for better stability. But because it runs smoothly and has a clear, sharp, and colorful picture, it’s a great choice for gamers and streamers who want a 1440p screen with a high refresh rate. Its flexible hinge, which lets it turn into portrait mode, and USB-C port are also big selling points. This makes it great for both work and browsing.
MSI Optix MAG274QRF-QD review: Performance
The only bad thing about this place was HDR. The MSI Optix MAG274QRF-QD is a master of color and plays games very well. It just won’t help HDR content very much. HDR didn’t look bad, but it didn’t improve the experience. The picture quality didn’t change much when I turned it on. In Call of Duty: WWII, we didn’t notice a drop in frame rates, and Adaptive-Sync worked fine. But the fact that this monitor has HDR is not a reason to buy it.
The Anti Motion Blur feature can’t be used. Adaptive-Sync is a much better choice, and we got the MAG274QRF-QD to work with AMD FreeSync and Nvidia G-Sync. Both G-Sync and FreeSync could work with HDR. As long as we used the DisplayPort connection, all of the games we played with our GeForce RTX 3090 and Radeon RX 5700 XT had a maximum frame rate of 165 fps.
MSI Optix MAG274QRF-QD review: Price
High-quality, max-spec gaming monitors can be quite expensive, but if you lower your expectations for size and resolution, you can get a serious, high-quality screen for not too much money. The MSI Optix MAG274QRF-QD is a 1440p monitor with a 27-inch screen that costs $399 and has a 165Hz refresh rate.
It has a great picture and great motion performance. It has a wide range of colors and an input lag that is very low. It’s not the brightest or most contrasty monitor on the market, but for the price, it’s one of the best we’ve tested and gets our Editors’ Choice award for a midrange gaming panel of its size.
MSI Optix MAG274QRF-QD review: Conclusion
The MSI Optix MAG274QRF-QD is a great monitor for playing games. It has a refresh rate of 165Hz and works with both FreeSync and G-SYNC to reduce screen tearing. Motion looks smooth because of how fast it responds and how little input lag there is. It’s well-made and easy to use, so you can put the screen wherever you want.
It uses quantum dot technology to give HDR content a very wide color gamut, but HDR content doesn’t look much different from SDR content because of its low HDR peak brightness, average contrast, and lack of local dimming. You might also need to have it calibrated because the colors look too bright when you first get it. Lastly, it has a lot of features, such as a “Console Mode” that makes 4k content from the PS5 look like 1440p.
MSI Optix MAG274QRF-QD Rating