Post
MSI MAG 273QP X24 Review: Is a "$500" QD-OLED Monitor Worth It?
This video analyzes the MSI MAG 273QP X24 QD-OLED gaming monitor, a 27-inch, 1440p display with a 240Hz refresh rate. It compares its features, performance, and price with other QD-OLED and W-OLED monitors on the market, highlighting its strengths and weaknesses to determine if it offers good value for money.
1. 🔍 Introduction and Design of the MSI MAG 273QP X24
- ✅ The MSI MAG 273QP X24 is a 27-inch QD-OLED gaming monitor with 1440p resolution and a 240Hz refresh rate.
- ✅ MSI has several similar models on the market, with minimal differences between them. It is speculated that the X24 is a more economical version to manufacture.
- ✅ It uses a QD-OLED panel from Samsung Display similar to the 280 and 360Hz models, but with a lower refresh rate.
- ✅ It is not a lower refresh rate version of the 272QP X50, as the latter uses a newer QDLE panel with Display HDR True Black 500 certification, offering higher SDR and HDR brightness.
- ✅ The design is similar to other MSI OLED monitors, but with adjustments to reduce costs.
- ✅ The rear panel uses simpler black plastic, and the standard connection requires screws.
- ✅ The stand offers height, tilt, swivel, and pivot adjustments.
- ✅ Ports include DisplayPort 1.4 (with DSC for 10-bit at 240Hz) and two 48 GBs HDMI 2.1 ports. It does not include a USB-C port or additional USB ports.
- ✅ The OSD is controlled via a directional toggle and offers typical MSI functions, but does not have support for Black Frame Insertion.
00:00 - 02:57
1. 🔍 Introduction and Design of the MSI MAG 273QP X24
- ✅ The MSI MAG 273QP X24 is a 27-inch QD-OLED gaming monitor with 1440p resolution and a 240Hz refresh rate.
- ✅ MSI has several similar models on the market, with minimal differences between them. It is speculated that the X24 is a more economical version to manufacture.
- ✅ It uses a QD-OLED panel from Samsung Display similar to the 280 and 360Hz models, but with a lower refresh rate.
- ✅ It is not a lower refresh rate version of the 272QP X50, as the latter uses a newer QDLE panel with Display HDR True Black 500 certification, offering higher SDR and HDR brightness.
- ✅ The design is similar to other MSI OLED monitors, but with adjustments to reduce costs.
- ✅ The rear panel uses simpler black plastic, and the standard connection requires screws.
- ✅ The stand offers height, tilt, swivel, and pivot adjustments.
- ✅ Ports include DisplayPort 1.4 (with DSC for 10-bit at 240Hz) and two 48 GBs HDMI 2.1 ports. It does not include a USB-C port or additional USB ports.
- ✅ The OSD is controlled via a directional toggle and offers typical MSI functions, but does not have support for Black Frame Insertion.
02:58 - 04:58
2. 🖼️ Image Quality: Screen Coating, Subpixels, and Burn-in
- ✅ Text clarity is similar to other 1440p QD-OLEDs, using Samsung's revised triangular RGB subpixel design.
- ✅ Text rendering is not as sharp as on LCDs, producing pink and green fringes at the top and bottom of the text.
- ✅ Overall, text rendering on QD-OLED is adequate for gaming and reasonable for occasional desktop use.
- ✅ The QD-OLED panel is bright, which increases sharpness and clarity compared to matte coatings.
- ⚠️ Mirror-like reflections are well managed, but reflection of ambient light can cause black panels to appear gray in brighter environments.
- ⚠️ OLED panels are susceptible to burn-in with prolonged static content, making them less suitable for intensive productivity uses.
- ✅ MSI offers a standard 3-year warranty against burn-in.
04:59 - 08:11
3. ⚡ Response Time, Latency, and Power Consumption Performance
- ✅ The response time is excellent, around 0.3 milliseconds at all refresh rates.
- ✅ There is no need to adjust the overdrive setting according to the refresh rate.
- ✅ OLEDs are much faster than LCDs, with no overshoot artifacts.
- ✅ Motion clarity on OLED is directly related to the refresh rate.
- ✅ Input latency is excellent, offering a processing delay of less than 1 millisecond in SDR and HDR modes.
- ✅ Power consumption is typical for a QD-OLED, consuming 66W for a completely white image.
- ✅ In a typical gaming session, power consumption is similar between 240Hz QD-OLED, 240Hz W-OLED, and 280Hz QD-OLED, around 30W.
08:12 - 10:21
4. 🎨 Color Performance and Factory Calibration
- ✅ The monitor offers 99% coverage of the DCI-P3 color space and 80.4% of REC 2020.
- ✅ The factory calibration is decent, with good color temperature and gamma.
- ⚠️ The SDR mode does not use an sRGB or REC 709 gamut clamp by default, which can result in color oversaturation.
- ✅ The monitor works well with Windows 11's automatic color management.
- ✅ The sRGB mode is more accurate for SDR content and offers a good level of factory calibration.
10:22 - 11:15
5. 🔆 Brightness, Contrast, and Uniformity
- ✅ The maximum SDR brightness is 250 nits, similar to other 240-360Hz OLEDs.
- ✅ It does not use an automatic brightness limiter in SDR mode, maintaining a constant brightness of 250 nits.
- ✅ The minimum brightness of 30 nits is excellent for use in dark rooms.
- ✅ The viewing angles are very wide.
- ✅ The uniformity is very good, with no dirty screen effect.
11:16 - 12:45
6. 🎬 HDR Performance: Hardware and Advantages of OLED
- ✅ OLED panels are ideal for HDR due to their ability to emit light directly and control each pixel individually.
- ✅ This allows for deep blacks and local dimming per pixel, minimizing blooming in high-contrast scenarios.
- ✅ OLEDs are better at displaying high-contrast scenes with rich detail in the shadows.
- ⚠️ The main weakness of HDR on OLED is the overall brightness, especially in bright daytime scenes.
12:46 - 14:01
7. ⚙️ HDR Settings and Accuracy
- ✅ Offers True Black 400 and Peak 1000 nits modes.
- ✅ The True Black 400 mode is the most accurate, but the maximum brightness is limited to 450 nits.
- ⚠️ The Peak 1000 nits mode reaches 1000 nits, but exhibits panel dimming in brighter scenes, which affects accuracy.
- ⚠️ It does not offer an enhanced brightness setting.
- ✅ For the best experience, it is necessary to change the HDR modes depending on the content being played.
14:02 - 15:16
8. 🔆 HDR Brightness and Accuracy in Real Scenes
- ✅ HDR brightness is identical to other QD-OLED monitors.
- ✅ True Black mode has higher brightness in medium to high APL content, but is limited to 450 nits.
- ⚠️ Peak 1000 mode can reach over 900 nits in real-world scenes, but is not as bright in higher APL scenes.
- ⚠️ Performance is not as strong as newer OLED panels, such as 500Hz QD-OLEDs or tandem RGB primary W-OLEDs.
- ✅ It has excellent accuracy in dark scenes in both configurations.
- ⚠️ Accuracy in bright scenes is good in True Black mode, but very inaccurate in Peak 1000 mode.
15:17 - 15:52
9. ✅ HUB Essential Elements Checklist
- ✅ MSI does a good job advertising this monitor, getting the brightness details correct.
- ❌ The name is too long and mediocre.
- ✅ The feature support matrix is very similar to that of most other QDLE monitors.
- ❌ The X24 does not support Dolby Vision and has a more limited port selection than premium products.
15:53 - 19:15
10. 🤔 Final Thoughts: Is the MSI MAG 273QP X24 Worth It?
- ✅ The MSI MAG273 QPPX24 is a great QLED gaming monitor.
- ✅ Occasionally available for around $500 USD, it presents a decent value in the current market.
- ❌ It's not necessarily a standout option given the wide range of OLEDs that offer similar specs and performance.
- ❌ It's strange that MSI released the X24 when they recently launched the MAG271 QPXE2, which is essentially the same product.
- ✅ The X24 is better calibrated, but omits the USBC input and opts for a slightly more basic design to save a small amount of money.
- ✅ The X24 is a great product. It takes the 1440p 240Hz QDL panel from Samsung Display and calibrates it well in SDR and HDR modes.
- ✅ There's nothing special about how it performs. Same brightness and HDR modes as other variants, but it's still a very good monitor panel that offers a great gaming experience.
- ✅ Fast response times, excellent contrast ratio, per-pixel dimming, all the usual good stuff along with the typical weaknesses like screen coding.
- ✅ Price is the determining factor in whether the X24 is worth buying, as there is very little difference between this variant and others that use the same panel, whether in features or performance.
- ✅ $500 USD, the current price listed on the official MSI store, is decent. And in that range, I would probably recommend it, but right now it's out of stock at $500, with the next cheapest listings exceeding $600, which isn't so good.
- ❌ There are many products competing for attention in this price range that use very similar display hardware.
- ✅ One is the Dell Alienware AW2725D, which is actually a 280 Hz variant, and is available for just $530 USD, slightly below its MSRP of $550.
- ❌ There is no reason to spend more money on the X24 than on the AW2725D.
- ❌ If the Dell model is still available for $530, the absolute maximum that MSI can charge for its 240 Hz model is $500.
- ❌ Even then, you could argue that it's worth spending the extra $30 to get a slightly higher refresh rate.
- ✅ Prices may not be favorable in other regions as well, so it's worth checking all available options.
- ❌ Right now, in Australia, the MSI X24 is priced at $830, while the AW2725D costs just $800. So again, it's a no-brainer to opt for the Dell model.
- ✅ If prices change more in favor of the X24, it's a decent buy for sure.