My brand new Ultra-Wide MSI Gaming Optix MAG341CQ monitor!

MAG341CQ REVIEW AND CALIBRATION

Hi guys,

I have bought a new MSI ultra-wide monitor! Before I elaborate more, I would like to share my experience with what I'm comparing this monitor brand new monitor to and what I used to have - long story short I was using for the past 6 years a common LG 24" IPS monitor - 60Hz.

After those years and since my PC setup has changed, I decide to buy a new monitor with a higher frequency than 60Hz (to be able to see more FPS in games). I was searching for a long time on the internet what I'm going to buy - I really liked one of the IPS ASUS 27" 144Hz, 1ms monitor, however, FullHD "only". Then I put the filter on 2K and more, where did I found this ultra-wide 21:9 spaceship monitor, 34 inches, and 100Hz too! I was like...If I'm going to use this resolution then 100Hz is definitely enough for my graphic card - GIGABYTE GeForce GTX 1070 G1 Gaming, 8GB GDDR5 (and still be able to run recent games on max). Then I saw that this is not an IPS panel, but VA - based on this information my fears regards to a color quality start getting under my skin, ...and unfortunately, they come true.

Before we start with the calibration - Feel free to check the whole monitor specification below:

SPECIFICATION

PANEL SIZE	Curved 34" (86.36cm)
PANEL RESOLUTION	3440 x 1440 (UWQHD)
REFRESH RATE	100Hz
RESPONSE TIME	8ms (actually 9.2ms)
PANEL TYPE	VA
BRIGHTNESS (NITS)	250 nits
VIEWING ANGLE	178° (H) / 178° (V)
ASPECT RATIO	21:09
CURVATURE	1800R
CONTRAST RATIO	3000:01:00
DCR	100000000:1
ACTIVE DISPLAY AREA (MM)	797.22(H) x 333.72(V)
PIXEL PITCH (H X V)	0.23175(H) x 0.23175(V)
SURFACE TREATMENT	Anti-glare
DISPLAY COLORS	16.7M
DCI-P3 / SRGB	NA / 110%
VIDEO PORTS	1x DP (cable included)
	1x HDMI (2.0) (cable included)
	1x DVI
VESA MOUNTING	Requires special MSI wall mount adaptor ( 75 x 75 mm, 100 x 100mm) (sold separately)
CONTROL	5-way OSD navigation joystick
POWER TYPE	Internal Adaptor
POWER INPUT	100~240V, 50~60Hz
POWER CONSUMPTION	54W
SIGNAL FREQUENCY	30 to 144KHz (H)
	48 to 100Hz (V)
ADJUSTMENT (TILT)	-5° ~ 15°
DIMENSION (W X H X D)	818.4 x 452 x 197.8 mm / 32.22 x 7.78 x 17.8 inch
WEIGHT (NW / GW)	7.1kg / 11.6kg
	15.65lbs / 25.57lbs
NOTE	Display Port: 3440 x 1440 (Up to 100Hz)
	HDMI: 3440 x 1440 (Up to 100Hz)
	DVI: 3440 x 1440 (Up to 60Hz)
	The color gamut follows the CIE 1976 testing standard.

ADDITIONAL FEATURES

PIP/PBP Technology; Display and view dual contents simultaneously with multiscreen functionality.
100Hz High Refresh Rate; Experience smooth gaming with a blazing fast 100Hz refresh
rate, that gives you the upper hand in fast-moving games.
FreeSync technology; AMD FreeSync® will prevent screen tearing or stuttering,
producing ultra-smooth and lag-free gameplay. Also, supports for Nvidia Gsync!
110% sRGB; Get the most vivid and detailed colors with sRGB 110% (or at least, what it says).
Anti-Flicker technology; MSI Anti-Flicker technology provides a very comfortable
viewing experience by reducing the amount of screen flicker.
Less Blue Light; Effectively reduce blue light which could cause serious longterm damage to your eyes.
Wide Viewing Angle; View games at any angle with wide viewing angles. Colors and
details will stay sharp at an angle of 178°.

Source: https://www.msi.com/Monitor/OPTIX-MAG341CQ

HOW TO CALIBRATE

From the beginning, I would like to mention, that I'm not the monitor calibration guru with knowledge of all colors spectrums (plus I'm a man, thus I'm not even able to see it, as this ability is bound by gender and women only who can determinate 10 types of pink shades and name it completely differently by its shade). However, I'm using editing software such as Sony Vegas, Adobe After Effects / Photoshop, and video editing in general, for over 15 years, thus I may have a slight color touch too.

How I did it?

First of all, I used this default calibration tool which supports Windows 10 in control panels -> where did I type to search column calibration and it pop-up to my screen - then you have a bunch of texts and pictures on which you may select what you like the most. Once you are happy with your selection then press the complete button so it becomes permanent to your desktop screen.

Then I started to downloading 21:9 wallpapers - here is my favorite one as I'm planning to play VALORANT, are you joining too?


...based on a few wallpapers I started to noticing of a low "color blur" quality against what I used to have on the IPS panel (much was more straight and vivid).

Then I started to dig for more online software regards to 100Hz frequency check and motion picture response time (MPRT), just to be sure that this is correct at least. In case, you are interested in, then feel free to visit these websites for your monitor check too:

MPRT Check: https://www.testufo.com/mprt
Ghosting Check: https://www.testufo.com/ghosting
FPS Check: https://www.testufo.com/framerates-versus
Online Calibration Check: https://www.eizo.be/monitor-test/

Once, I had real info sorted out, then I started to browse YouTube videos and I started with the calibration, based on different all kinds of sites and videos below.

Here is my list:

https://www.facebook.com/ - 5 types of blue + white color
https://www.youtube.com/ - red, white, 2x grey layout contrast + dark mode
https://www.seznam.cz/ - local news, red texts, and sharpness of texts
Machine Gun Kelly - Bloody Valentine - https://youtu.be/wSdT-SArM2Q - vivid color test + Megan is nice
Agust D '대취타' - https://youtu.be/qGjAWJ2zWWI - green, nature, yellow mix - still not the greatest results
BRIXTN - Tebe - https://youtu.be/d4ZdH65RzyM - flash, dark, live concert environment
Koven - Butterfly Effect VIP - https://youtu.be/kXAWsuhbZcw - green, yellow mix flash drop, very nice song btw

LIZOT ft. Holy Molly - Menage A Trois - https://youtu.be/aBcqQsL9dsU - 4K, Purple, black, flash, 21:9 check 

Bring Me The Horizon - Ludens - https://youtu.be/B9wvTuDC-H0 - 21:9, dark, flash check
Quintino - Get You Home - https://youtu.be/NwxTgf_J_vY - pretty face check ^^
Max + Johann ft. Zina Ida - Blurry Memory - https://youtu.be/8NaqxRagu4Y - face details color check, 21:9

Iggy Azalea - Started - https://youtu.be/flPCk8Z5XS0 - white color check

BLACKPINK - 'Kill This Love' - https://youtu.be/2S24-y0Ij3Y - vivid colors check

Clean Bandit - Solo (feat. Demi Lovato) - https://youtu.be/8JnfIa84TnU - warm vivid colors check

Pekař - Větrolamy - https://youtu.be/reOWPs9MlWk - 4K, black color correction, contrast vs brightness + city view

Pekař - Kámen - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WN6K5lwh0Hs - 4K, white color correction, contrast vs brightness + nature view

Alright, based on these videos, wallpapers, websites, and other quality checks I had a really nice starting point and imagine what I need to adjust to try to get back my colors back and touch the quality of the previous IPS monitor. 

Here we go!

STRAIGHT TO THE POINT

Monitor Panel Settings:

Game:

Mode - User

DCR - Off

FreeSync - On

Aspect ration - 21:9

Crosshair - None (unless you want to have an aim in CS:GO for AWP^^)

Response Time - On

Image:

Brightness - 74

Contrast - 69

Color Temp. - Cool (if you select warm, then the white color is kinda yellowish)

Gamma - 2.2

Input:

DP - Display Port (cable connection)

Control Panels - NVIDIA (accessible through right-clicking on the desktop screen):

Resolution:

3440 x 1440 (native) 100Hz

Color desktop adjustments:

Use NVIDIA settings.

Brightness - 42%

Contrast - 50%

Gamma - 1.00

Digital coloring - 52%

Shade - 0%

MSI Display Kit - Software To Download

Color Mode:

Personal setting

Gamma - 50

Level - 52 

Brightness - 44

Contrast - 55

...and that's it!

In general, I have adjusted 3 things; Monitor settings, NVIDIA coloring, and MSI Display Kit (for personal mode). I spend so many hours adjusting and trying different options to come with this result! To me, this is the most likely the best color view option that is possible for this monitor. 

Feel free to adjust some numbers or try different settings, but this can be your base at least! :)

In the end, I would like to recommend a big help addon, which will definitely improve your ultra-wide experience overall.

MUST HAVE ADDON

This is a Google Chrome extension called: UltraWide Video, that allows wider than average screens (eg.21:9) to play online video content and fit the screen properly in fullscreen mode (no black bars). All you need to do is to find your favorite 16:9 video, press the full-screen button, and press ctrl + alt + c, which will do the magic and change the aspect ratio of the video so you will be using your whole ultra-widescreen - this works on Netflix too!

BEFORE

AFTER

THE CRACKING SOUND AND HEAT

What also worth mentioning is the cracking sound of this monitor. Do you remember your old grandparents' house and those times when you slept over and heard the cracking noises from furniture (or maybe it was a ghost)? Well, this monitor would totally fit there and actually be the frontman of the old furniture band! I thought it's just my case, however, if you search for internet reviews, then you may see that this issue is actually repeating! It's not a big deal....but once a while you hear the crack noise, like in the old days - but at the same time, it does actually worth mentioning and cannot be completely ignored.

Then there are some rumors, that this display is heating a lot, and that you can actually feel warm, while you are sitting in front of the monitor. This is not true (or at least no in my case) and it's the same (unnoticeable) heat as from any other monitor.

SCORE - 7/10

Where, should I start? This monitor is definitely not for everyone - starting from a high/mid-end graphic card which is required. The calibration process is an absolute disaster and it requires someone to play with it for many hours...and then, you still have this background feeling: "maybe a little bit more brightness would be better, or should I adjust digital colors". Well, It's super hard to manage. Also, if you are a streamer, then beware, that you will need to make a lot of adjustments in OBS, etc. to manage the 21:9 aspect ratio and keep the streaming 16:9 standards.

On the other hand, once you survive the first two days and decide to not return it back due to lack of colors, cracking sounds, etc..., and when you also trying to find a bigger picture (which this monitor definitely has)! Then you realize that you have an amazing spaceship monitor view which is so handy if you are working on multitasking applications or working on video, music editing. 

In general, it's not all the fault of this monitor, but the internet/world is not ready yet for 3K, 21:9 aspect ration. If you find the video/game which supports this ratio, then you will find it amazing! In the gaming industry, it actually provides you with a truly bigger view than other players can see (it's not just the scaling, but you can see more view). 

Price: 11990 Kč, $ 480, € 444 (including tax).

In case, you are looking for a decent spaceship / ultra-wide monitor and you are not afraid to do a lot of adjustments on your own, then go for it!

Anyway, I hope that you find this review and calibration guide helpful and that you have saved some time or money?!

Thank you for your support, share, and subscribe!

See you next time!

In conclusion:

"...not great, not terrible!"

~Lucas

P.S.: I may do a slight adjustments in the next weeks, but the major calibration is done. Feel free to return to this page and check if the calibration is still the same.

P.S.S.: If someone from MSI company is reading this, then please, send me a new monitor to change my mind that you can actually make a color flawless monitor. Unfortunately, this is not the one that would stand for color quality, thank you!