MSI OPTIX MAG272 27" - good budget monitor?

hybridpwn · 11 Apr 2020 at 00:43

Hey all.

Recently built my first pc and had an Asus 60hz monitor laying around so have stuck with that.

Certainly feel that it is sub par for my intended use of gaming. Certainly a lot of screen tearing, enough to be difficult to deal with at times.

I found the MSI OPTIX MAG272 27" whilst browsing. Looking to get 1440p and 27" seems good size for what i need. Is this good value for money vs the £210 budget? .

Have found monitors around £300 but realistically this is not within budget.

Or are there suitable alternative around the same price?

TIA guys

Jimmy Weirdarms · 11 Apr 2020 at 23:56

That monitor is a 1080p monitor, not 1440p.

The MSI OPTIX MAG272QR is a 1440p monitor that I won't hesitate to recommend, but it comes in about £280, if you can find it in stock anywhere, but the plain MAG272 is a "Full HD" 1920x1080 product AFAICT.

For a 27" 1440p in your budget ... I will defer to others, I have no idea!

hybridpwn · 13 Apr 2020 at 10:19

Jimmy Weirdarms said:
That monitor is a 1080p monitor, not 1440p.

The MSI OPTIX MAG272QR is a 1440p monitor that I won't hesitate to recommend, but it comes in about £280, if you can find it in stock anywhere, but the plain MAG272 is a "Full HD" 1920x1080 product AFAICT.

For a 27" 1440p in your budget ... I will defer to others, I have no idea!

I was clearly being a late night numpty ha!

Anyone else able to put any input in?

Mr G · 14 Apr 2020 at 09:38

Jimmy Weirdarms said:
That monitor is a 1080p monitor, not 1440p.

The MSI OPTIX MAG272QR is a 1440p monitor that I won't hesitate to recommend, but it comes in about £280, if you can find it in stock anywhere, but the plain MAG272 is a "Full HD" 1920x1080 product AFAICT.

For a 27" 1440p in your budget ... I will defer to others, I have no idea!

@hybridpwn - Vouch for this monitor, cracking for the cash. It's worth saving those extra pennies if you can find one in-stock. I managed to nab one not so long ago for £279 on the rainforest and can't fault it!

hybridpwn · 14 Apr 2020 at 10:48

Mr G said:
@hybridpwn - Vouch for this monitor, cracking for the cash. It's worth saving those extra pennies if you can find one in-stock. I managed to nab one not so long ago for £279 on the rainforest and can't fault it!

Thanks Mr G. I did find this to start and seemed good based on reviews and cost but is a little stretch. Think i will just wait until funds permit. Thanks my dude

EDIT - Seems to be cheaper for the newer curved models from what im searching. hmm

Jimmy Weirdarms · 14 Apr 2020 at 14:13

hybridpwn said:
EDIT - Seems to be cheaper for the newer curved models from what im searching. hmm

Which model are you looking at? The MAG272CQR is more expensive where I'm looking...

We went for the flat one specifically, 'cos my partner said she didn't want curved. If curved suits you and you can find it cheaper, probably a good buy.

Oberon · 20 Apr 2020 at 08:56

I have ordered the curved version of this monitor, the MSI Optix MAG272C. I'll let you know how I get on with it after it arrives tomorrow as I too have found, there are no real reviews out there for this latest range of MSI gaming monitors, apart from the high-end model, the MAG272CQR.

Every review so far has highlighted a few things:

1. Backlight bleed - doesn't seem to be a particular problem so far, but is unit dependent.
2. Banding - can be an issue, but not many reviews on YouTube have reported this recently.
3. VA Ghosting - the one thing I'm most apprehensive of, can be a problem around the 60Hz response time range on the previous generation of this range.

That said, I understand MSI has used a new panel for this latest range and have hopefully, fixed the issues and is overall, better than the previous generation.

Jimmy Weirdarms · 20 Apr 2020 at 11:10

Not to put a downer on your order ... but that's another 1080p panel, not 1440p.

Oberon · 20 Apr 2020 at 14:07

Jimmy Weirdarms said:
Not to put a downer on your order ... but that's another 1080p panel, not 1440p.

Debbie downer, thanks a bunch mate!

Nah, only kidding. I'm aware this is a 1080p monitor, not ready for 1440p yet, don't have the hardware for it. As far as I'm aware, they only have the 2nd generation MAG272CQR at 1440p, the rest are all 1080p. I'm sure there will be more models along soon. I saw a few of their new IPS models running at 1080p/1440p 165Hz are listed on their website, but again, no reviews.

Oberon · 21 Apr 2020 at 20:35

Hi all,

So I got my monitor today (MSI Optix MAG272C) and I have to say, I think it's a mixed bag, but it has improved. Overall summary:

1. No back light bleed is present.
2. Good uniformity in all areas.
3. Excellent colours out of the box (with official colours/driver installed from MSI website) in comparison to my old TN monitor.
4. Response time - mixed bag.

More on that last point. There are 3 response time settings: normal, fast, fastest and one additional option "Anti Motion Blur". Normal and fast response times are too slow for me, the monitor was clearly too slow to keep up with any fast action. Fastest was just about OK, but I could still tell the picture was blurred due to the response time. Enabling "Anti Motion Blur" did little to stop it. The UFO test proved obvious ghosting in the high refresh rates, but I didn't see that in any games, just a bit of blurring as I mentioned (on fastest setting).

I tried the monitor in a few games: Doom, World of Warcraft, The Witcher 3, Total War Thrones of Britannia. The first 3 games proved to have motion blur, even with the various settings disabled to ensure there wasn't any additional effects running to produce it. But, I persevered since I want this monitor to be great.

The best way to completely resolve the blurring was to enable FreeSync. WoW looked as quick as my TN after enabling it, and I'll be trying a few other games again later. That said, I had to hook it up to my GFs machine to test this as my old GTX 970 doesn't support FreeSync. Looks like I'm getting me a new GFX card to go with this monitor. That said, if I feel there are more problems, I'll return it and get a refund. I'll keep you guys posted if you're interested.

hybridpwn · 30 Apr 2020 at 12:30

Oberon said:
Hi all,

So I got my monitor today (MSI Optix MAG272C) and I have to say, I think it's a mixed bag, but it has improved. Overall summary:

1. No back light bleed is present.
2. Good uniformity in all areas.
3. Excellent colours out of the box (with official colours/driver installed from MSI website) in comparison to my old TN monitor.
4. Response time - mixed bag.

More on that last point. There are 3 response time settings: normal, fast, fastest and one additional option "Anti Motion Blur". Normal and fast response times are too slow for me, the monitor was clearly too slow to keep up with any fast action. Fastest was just about OK, but I could still tell the picture was blurred due to the response time. Enabling "Anti Motion Blur" did little to stop it. The UFO test proved obvious ghosting in the high refresh rates, but I didn't see that in any games, just a bit of blurring as I mentioned (on fastest setting).

I tried the monitor in a few games: Doom, World of Warcraft, The Witcher 3, Total War Thrones of Britannia. The first 3 games proved to have motion blur, even with the various settings disabled to ensure there wasn't any additional effects running to produce it. But, I persevered since I want this monitor to be great.

The best way to completely resolve the blurring was to enable FreeSync. WoW looked as quick as my TN after enabling it, and I'll be trying a few other games again later. That said, I had to hook it up to my GFs machine to test this as my old GTX 970 doesn't support FreeSync. Looks like I'm getting me a new GFX card to go with this monitor. That said, if I feel there are more problems, I'll return it and get a refund. I'll keep you guys posted if you're interested.

Sorry havent been able to get back online for a while. Thank you for your informative input.