MSI is a household name for PC gamers, so when they release a new product, I tend to pay close attention. The MSI MPG 341CQPX is a new ultra-wide 34-inch gaming monitor from the Taiwanese gaming company that sports a 240hz refresh rate and an impressive OLED display. I was thrilled to spend a lot of gaming and working hours testing out this new monitor and can’t wait to report back what I thought.

Price, availability, and specs

The MSI MPG 341CQPX retails for $850 and is available from Amazon and Best Buy. It might also be found at your favorite online gaming equipment retailer.

The MPG 341CQPX is an ultra-wide gaming monitor, meaning it’s built with a native contrast ratio of 21:9, and offers 3440×1440 in resolution. It’s the same image quality as your trusty 1440p monitor, but with a wider image offering more information to your left and right than on a standard 16:9 monitor. The MPG features a QD-OLED panel, which means near infinite contrast ratio, and a 240hz refresh rate is more than enough for competitive fast-paced FPS games.

What I liked about the MSI MPG 341CQPX

Ultra-wide is amazing when the image truly fits

Using an ultra-wide monitor takes some getting used to, particularly if you’ve never owned one before. When I first started testing the MPG 341CQPX, I was honestly really skeptical about its applications, but it quickly grew on me under certain circumstances.

Firstly, there are a number of fantastic films that have been released in 21:9 natively, such as No Time To Die and the Dune series, so watching these on the monitor’s stunning OLED display, with HDR support, and a native 21:9 image filling the screen from edge to edge, was breathtaking. Normally, cinematic experiences of this caliber are reserved for the living room, but this MSI monitor made watching these films an absolute joy.

Working in ultra-wide was a game changer

My wife is a civil engineer, and once a week she works from home and borrows my PC setup and desk for the day. She absolutely loved working in AutoCAD on the MPG 341CQPX’s ultra-wide OLED screen. The intricate designs on screen became so much easier to sift through and work on thanks to the extra lateral space on the 34-inch monitor, and the near infinite contrast of OLED made it easy to see what she was doing without having to turn the brightness all the way up.

I had a similar experience while researching, writing, or doing other work. Really, I began wondering why I never tried working on an ultra-wide monitor earlier in my life.

A stunning gaming experience

I’ve been playing a lot of Destiny 2 lately, and running it in 3440×1440 was, pardon the pun, a game-changer. The color accuracy, depth of contrast, high refresh rate, and added space on the sides of the image made for a stunning gameplay experience. I felt more aware of my surroundings, and more immersed in the in-game environments.

Because the OLED display allows for such a rich image, I felt more comfortable playing at a lower brightness, which helped reduce eye strain over longer gaming sessions. For games where your peripheral awareness is much more important than what’s above or below you, I will now always prefer the MPG 341CQPX’s ultra-wide screen.

What I didn’t like about the MSI MPG 341CQPX

For my own sanity, please stop making ports so hard to reach

I will never understand why some monitor manufacturers insist on making the ports so difficult to reach. Many companies put the ports on the back of the monitor, which I find really easy to access. I just stand up, lean over a bit, maybe rotate the monitor slightly, and can easily see exactly what I’m doing and manage the plug with ease. Some companies instead opt to place all of these ports, where easy access is paramount, on the bottom of the monitor, meaning you have to angle the monitor as far back as possible to see any of the ports. Most of the time, an angle this steep isn’t even possible unless you’re using monitor arms, so you have to lay the monitor flat on its back every time you want to change inputs, cables, or otherwise plug or unplug anything.

Sorry, but I’m not done, because then to top it all off, in what I can only imagine is an effort to help with the unsightly nature of cables jutting out from underneath your monitor, they place the ports recessed up high on the monitor, making them even harder to reach and see. This will never stop infuriating me.

Comically large stand

There isn’t even much to say about this, other than to simply point out the comically large stand that MSI has placed on this monitor. It takes up a ridiculous amount of real estate on my desk and is yet another reason to mount it on monitor arms, which I eventually had to do because the size was driving me crazy.

Distracting bars on standard sized content

Earlier, I mentioned that ultra-wide is at its best when the use case fits, so now I’ll mention that this format is at its worst when the use case doesn’t. Watching any 16:9 content, like YouTube videos, most movies, and TV shows, will obviously not take up the entire screen, so black bars will be presented on either side of the image with the video in the middle of the monitor. Just something to keep in mind in case watching 16:9 is what you primarily do on your monitor.

Verdict: Should you buy the MSI MPG 341CQPX?

If you’re looking for a monitor primarily for work and gaming, the MPG 341CQPX will bring stellar performance to both your nine-to-five and gaming sessions afterward. Once you get used to it, this MSI monitor will quickly become a favorite for tasks that take full advantage of the 21:9 format, the OLED panel, and the high refresh rate. It is, after all, a gaming monitor, so gaming should be a primary, or at least an equal-time use case for you.

I wouldn’t recommend this monitor for a casual PC setup where the main activities are watching YouTube videos and answering emails. Those tasks don’t require an ultra-wide monitor and may make the activities even less enjoyable.