This could end up being one of the best Black Friday gaming monitor deals as MSI's gorgeous 4K OLED is the cheapest it's ever been
$700 for such pixel perfection is an absolute bargain.
Price watch:➖
MSI MAG 321UP | 32-inch | 4K | 165 Hz | QD-OLED | $829.99 $699.99 at Amazon (save $130)
While the MAG321UPX sports a 240 Hz refresh rate, this one (without the X) is 'just' 165 Hz. But who cares when it's so good? You're still getting the same gorgeous 4K OLED panel, with a super-fast response time and fabulous pixel quality.
Price check: Newegg $699.99
You know, I don't ask for much. I'm content with my PC gaming life and all the rigs I've got do me just fine. But if a genie popped up and granted me a lovely new gaming monitor, I'd only ask for a few things: 32 inches in size, 4K resolution, a refresh rate of 144 Hz or more, and a QD-OLED panel for the very best HDR experience.
Sadly, that's never going to happen, but if I were to spend $700 on a luxurious new gaming monitor, this is the one I'd get without hesitation.
MSI doesn't get everything right with its hardware (its laptops are especially variable) but when it comes to gaming monitors, its screen division is top-notch. This MAG 321UP is as close to my dream display as I'm going to get at the moment and it's all down to the panel it uses.
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Coming in at 32 inches in size, with a resolution of 4K (3840 x 2160) and a refresh rate of 165 Hz, it's perfect for my tired old eyes. To be honest, it should be perfect for anyone's eyes because with a pixel density of 138 PPI, it's in the sweet spot for ensuring Windows doesn't look blurry or too small.
Sure, it'd be nicer to have a higher refresh rate but you get diminishing returns above 144 Hz, so the fact that this one is 'only' 165 Hz isn't an issue for me.
As it's a QD-OLED (quantum dot OLED) panel, you get near-instant pixel response times, ultra-low input latency, along with bright and vivid colors. Naturally, you also get the benefit that all OLED screens have: true black colors and an enormous contrast ratio.
OLEDs aren't the brightest of screens, so they're not perfect for a bright office room, but in a gaming den, they're just a dream to game on. Enable HDR mode in any game that supports it and the level of immersion is just sublime. The panel has a glossy coating, too, which is great for combating reflections.
The MAG 321UP comes with a fully adjustable stand (height, tilt, and swivel), plus a wealth of inputs: two HDMI 2.1, one DisplayPort 1.4a, and one USB Type-C input.
I honestly couldn't want anything more from a gaming monitor. Well, a $50 price tag would be very nice indeed but that's just being silly. All this tech really shouldn't be this cheap and at $700, this MSI MAG 321UP deal is an absolute bargain.
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Nick, gaming, and computers all first met in 1981, with the love affair starting on a Sinclair ZX81 in kit form and a book on ZX Basic. He ended up becoming a physics and IT teacher, but by the late 1990s decided it was time to cut his teeth writing for a long defunct UK tech site. He went on to do the same at Madonion, helping to write the help files for 3DMark and PCMark. After a short stint working at Beyond3D.com, Nick joined Futuremark (MadOnion rebranded) full-time, as editor-in-chief for its gaming and hardware section, YouGamers. After the site shutdown, he became an engineering and computing lecturer for many years, but missed the writing bug. Cue four years at TechSpot.com and over 100 long articles on anything and everything. He freely admits to being far too obsessed with GPUs and open world grindy RPGs, but who isn't these days?