MSI MPG27CQ
A competent gaming monitor with plenty of LED bling to compliment your tricked-out gaming rig.
A27-inch display makes for the ideal single monitor experience. Big enough to fill most of your vision, but not so big that you’re moving your noggin all over the place to see what’s going on. It’s curious then, why MSI decided to give the Optix MPG27CQ a subtle 1800R curve. Besides this probably marketing induced oddity, the Optix MPG27CQ is a solid gaming monitor.
144Hz refresh rate with FreeSync support and low response time (~9ms full black to white) will keep the twitch gamers happy. 2560x1440 will be useful for web browsing and other stuff when not gaming. 82% DCI-P3 colour gamut means it’s better than most panels in this price range for satisfying colours. Even those into a bit of bling will like the inclusion of RGB LEDs on the base of the Optix MPG27CQ that can be controlled via Steelseries’ GameSense software.
Being a VA-type panel, contrast is great, but viewing angle suffer compared to an IPS. At 27-inches with a slight curve, making sure you’re smack bang in the middle of the display shouldn’t be an issue. Backlighting on the Optix MPG27CQ is very even, with no obvious bleeding either.
Despite the Optix MPG27CQ panel being of high quality, calibration was difficult due to the limited OSD options. Luckily out of the box the Optix MPG27CQ is fine, but it could be so much better if MSI provided more flexibility to tweak colour settings.