Review: MSI Mag 341CQP QD-OLED Gaming Monitor

Sitting in front of MSI’s Mag 341CQP gaming monitor is almost intimidating. The 34-inch curved, ultrawide display engulfs my field of vision, but it’s not the size that strikes me so much as the clarity. The monitor uses a quantum dot OLED panel that’s so clear and vivid that it’s hard not to get sucked into the games I play.

MSI’s curved gaming monitor is one of a few recent displays that have brought QD-OLED panels to the desktop gaming space. A couple of our top picks in our Best TVs guide use the tech, but monitors that use it have only recently started to dip below the four-figure price point. This relatively new type of display brings some of the benefits of quantum dots—like more precise colors and less wasted light—to OLED panels, which only light up the pixels you need, leading to perfect blacks.

Starting at $900, this display from MSI is shockingly affordable for what you’re getting (and it's worth noting that even at the time of writing this review, I was already seeing it on sale for less than $800). On top of all the benefits of QD-OLED, it has a 3,440 x 1,440 resolution, 175-Hz refresh rate, HDR support, and some nifty features to prevent burn-in that all add up to a premium monitor.

Pixel Perfection

I’ve preferred OLED displays since the very first time I laid eyes on one, but this display from MSI still managed to impress me. Naturally, it has those characteristic perfect blacks, and in HDR mode, it can reach a peak brightness of 1,000 nits, which is convenient for me since my desk is right next to a window that gets a lot of sun in the afternoon. Once evening sets in, though, the maximum brightness can be almost blinding.

When I was playing games like Overwatch 2, this contrast helped lend itself to an extra level of immersion. The blast from D.va bombs going off feels intense, as the bright flash from the explosion lights up my face. The vivid red outlines of enemies pop, making it just a touch easier to spot that Widowmaker from across the map.

MSI claims the display reaches 99.3 percent of the DCI-P3 color space, though in my testing using my trusty Spyder X2 Ultra, it got closer to 95 percent, leaning a tiny bit more on the reds. It was even further off from AdobeRGB, with MSI rating the display at 97.8 percent of this color space, but my test results showing it at closer to 86 percent. If you want to use this display for professional photo or video work, this might be a concern for you, but for most people it’s still fine.

On the color accuracy front, the panel reached an average delta E level of 1.23. For reference, a delta E of less than 2.0 is barely perceptible to the human eye if you look closely, and less than 1.0 is difficult for humans to tell the difference at all. To put it simply, this MSI monitor reproduces colors incredibly accurately, so you’re less likely to notice any off hues or tints unless there’s a software problem.

Enveloping Entertainment

When I play Overwatch 2, I’m often playing characters that could benefit from an enhanced field of view. Whether I’m a Mercy watching over my shoulder for a flanker that’s going to end my life, or a Wrecking Ball trying to scope out the enemy team before diving in, the more I can see, the better. I’m kicking myself for not playing on an ultrawide monitor sooner.

The first time I hopped into the practice range, I could see a door to the right of the spawn point that would normally be outside my field of view. While playing in games, there were a few situations where I felt almost like I had a superpower: This time, when I heard a Reaper or a Genji sneaking up on me, I could see and track them just a hair quicker than before.

The 175-Hz refresh rate was plenty for my needs, even in competitive games like Overwatch 2. I’ve used 240-Hz and higher displays, and while I can certainly tell the difference at higher speeds, in practice it’s not so much smoother that it puts me at a disadvantage. If you’re used to playing games at 60 or even 120 fps, this monitor will still feel like an upgrade.

One of the most delightful experiences for me, though, came while playing Doom Eternal. This is another fast-paced game that makes excellent use of the high refresh rate, but it’s also a vibrant, colorful game. I felt a genuine sense of wonder as the elaborate set pieces seemed to glow in the light of the QD-OLED panel.

The colors were rich, and the deep blacks made the yawning chasms of hell in Doom Eternal feel like they could swallow me whole. I don’t know if it was the fact that the ultrawide monitor filled my peripheral vision, the colors were so accurate that it didn’t look like I was staring at a monitor, or that the refresh rate was so smooth I couldn’t notice any jitter, but put it all together and I’d never felt more immersed in the game I was playing.

Bountiful Bonuses

For a monitor that hits all the right buttons for me, I would’ve been happy without too many extras, but MSI still threw in some bells and whistles that I appreciate. The monitor stand is sturdy, with plenty of adjustment options. It has an impressive 60 degrees of rotation (30 in each direction from the centered position), which was more than enough to turn the whole monitor to face someone standing off to the side of my desk.

It’s also capable of tilting up about 15 degrees, which I felt was necessary since it doesn’t quite get up to the height I prefer. I’m somewhat tall and even at its full height, I’m at eye level with the top 20 percent of the screen or so. Tilting it upwards helped alleviate some of the strain on my neck, but it would be nice if I could lift it just a bit higher. I was also a bit annoyed with the legs of the stand, which stick out far enough that I felt my mouse hand bumping into one side occasionally.

The monitor also has a built-in KVM switch, which means you can use it and your connected keyboard and mouse for both your desktop and laptop. Switching between them was super smooth, I just plugged in my laptop and it took over the display faster than I could get my hands back into place on my keyboard.

The only thing that would normally hold me back from fully endorsing a monitor with this many perks would be the OLED burn-in issue, but MSI has some nifty features to help with that, too. Burn-in happens when the same image is displayed for too long and certain pixels get stuck displaying the same image.

To help combat this, MSI has added features to detect certain kinds of common things that can be displayed for long periods of time, like your taskbar, static logos (like you might see on newscasts), or the boundary between windows. When the monitor detects any of this, it will selectively dim those pixels to put less stress on them.

It’s impossible to say how well these features will work at preventing burn-in over the long-term just yet, but MSI’s three year warranty includes coverage for burn-in, so that’s at least some comfort. While we’d hope that a $900 monitor would last a lot longer than three years, it’s reassuring to know that there’s a long window to spot any issues before you’re stuck with it forever.