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There was a bit of a buzz when a new class of 27-inch 4K gaming OLED monitors emerged from a flurry of press releases around CES this year. Personally, I struggled to get fired up for reasons we’ll come to shortly. But the new MSI MPG 272URX has landed on my desk, so it’s time to find out if I’m missing a trick.
Physically, the 272URX looks like a dead ringer for MSI’s larger 32-inch 4K OLED monitors, including the MSI MPG 321URX we reviewed last summer, just slightly smaller. So, it’s a reasonably slick looking monitor with slim bezels and a smattering of RGB lighting on the rear.
It offers a similar collection of inputs, including dual HDMI 2.1 ports and DisplayPort. The latter, however, is upgraded to DP2.1 this time around and in the full UHBR20 spec, which allows for 4K 240 Hz without compression, albeit the only GPUs with DP 2.1 support among Nvidia GPUs are the very latest RTX 50 cards. AMD’s Radeon RX 7000 also support the 2.1 standard.
Alongside that you get USB-C with 98 W power delivery and a two-port USB-A hub. So, connectivity is well covered. Actually, a lot of the panel specifications look similar to earlier 32-inch 4K OLEDs from MSI. So along with the 3,840 by 2,160 resolution, there’s that 240 Hz refresh and 0.03 ms response, all really nice numbers even if they’re identical to the 32-inch alternative.
MSI MPG 272URX specs
The same goes for quoted panel brightness. At 250 nits full screen and 1,000 nits in a 3% window, there’s no advance over the 32-inch 4K model, which uses Samsung’s 3rd Generation QD-OLED panel technology.
There’s been mixed messaging from various monitor makers over the status of this new class of 27-inch 4K Samsung QD-OLED. They’re all using the same panel, but some are marketing it as 4th Generation.
Adding to the confusion, at CES this year both LG and Samsung showed off new TV-spec large OLED panels capable of much higher full-screen brightness up around 400 nits and peak brightness of 4,000 nits in a 3% window thanks to new quantum dot materials and a so-called five-layer tandem OLED structure.
While the MSI MPG 272URX does indeed get Samsung’s new for 2025 4th Gen monitor panel tech that also sports the new QD material and five-layer tandem OLED structure, the higher pixel density is limiting in terms of brightness.
Our understanding is that without the new panel tech, this high density 4K panel would actually have been less bright than previous QD-OLED monitors. Indeed, there’s also a new 27-inch 1440p QD-OLED panel that ups full screen brightness to 300 nits thanks to the new QD-OLED technology being applied to a lower pixel density.
Firing the MSI MPG 272URX confirms that the new-for-2025 QD-OLED tech looks very familiar, at least in this implementation. Pretty much all the strengths and weaknesses of the older 3rd Gen QD-OLEDs are apparent from the get go.
Oh, with one exception. 4K on a 27-inch makes for a very tight pixel density of 166 DPI, up from 140 DPI on those 32 inchers. If nothing else, that elevated pixel density puts to bed any remaining issues with font rendering on this monitor. Text looks really nice.
Fonts look super crisp, image content is incredibly sharp.
It’s true that Samsung has retained the slightly odd triangular as opposed to vertically striped RGB subpixel structure. On panels with lower pixel density, that resulted in text fringing and a slight softening of image detail. But here, with that 166 DPI density, it’s all good.
Fonts look super crisp, image content is incredibly sharp. Of course, the same is largely true of the 32-inch QD-OLED class. Yes, this 27-incher is a tiny bit sharper. But it’s a subtle upgrade in that regard and one which comes with a rather more obvious downgrade in panel size. At this price point, 27 inches feels a bit stingy.
Moreover, if the improvement in font rendering with the jump from 32-inch to 27-inch 4K is marginal on the Windows desktop, it’s pretty much invisible in-game. If for whatever reason you actively want a physically smaller display perhaps for ergonomic reasons, great. But don’t go buying this monitor because you think it’s going to make a 32-inch 4K look a little fuzzy. It absolutely doesn’t.
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Anywho, getting back to that carried over QD-OLED 3rd Gen panel vibe, this MSI betrays the same marginally oversaturated colors and warm temperature of the 32-inch model and frankly many other QD-OLED panels. It’s not absolutely ideal, but it’s something that you adjust to and can mitigate to an extent via calibration.
The new 4th Gen QD-OLED tech for monitors as applied here isn’t a big step.
Likewise, the slightly purple-grey tint of the actual QD-OLED panel itself when reflecting ambient light remains present. In really bright ambient conditions, it compromises black levels a little. But again it’s only a minor distraction even then, and in typical ambient conditions and especially at night, it’s a non-issue.
While we’re talking relative compromises, it’s immediately obvious from the full-screen brightness that this new 4th Gen QD-OLED tech for monitors as applied here isn’t a big step or really any step at all in that regard. That means the full-screen brightness performance is OK, but only just. Actually, MSI has been pretty conservative with its ABL or automatic brightness limiter in SDR mode. If you crank up the SDR brightness in HDR mode, you actually get a punchier result.
The only problem is then that the SDR color mapping in HDR mode isn’t all that good. So, you need to use the sRGB SDR mode to get accurate SDR colors and that in turn means compromising on overall punchiness.
Speaking of HDR, that’s where the MSI MPG 272URX really sings. Night time scenes and indoor in-game locations look utterly stellar. A good example is a section of Cyberpunk 2077 set at night on a raised metal gantry next to a rocket. Along the sides of the metal walkway are dotted a few boxed-in fluorescent light installations.
And, oh my goodness, those lights absolutely pop. They’re incredibly bright next to the dark background, but also have crisp, sharp borders. No LCD comes close to this performance, even one with a few thousand dimming zones. There’s always some light bleed, always some blooming.
That said, when rendering brighter outdoor game scenes, this new MSI is no different to all other recent OLED monitors we’ve reviewed. It can look a little dull because even this latest OLED tech isn’t capable of driving large sections of the panel really hard.
HDR aside, the other big advantage over LCD is obviously response. By way of comparison, I’ve been playing with a 520 Hz IPS monitor this week, too. While it has a very slight latency advantage, in subjective terms, it’s nowhere near when it comes to clarity, motion blurring, and color stability in motion. It’s just no contest.
With this monitor, you don’t have to worry about overshoot, smearing, inverse ghosting, any of the stuff that all fast IPS and VA LCD monitors suffer from to at least some extent. Like pretty much all OLED panels, the 272URX’s pixel response is essentially a solved problem.
What almost certainly isn’t a done deal, however, is OLED burn-in. This is a really tricky subject on which to draw definitive conclusions. But there are three things we can say with confidence. First, MSI has equipped the 272URX with a full suite of burn-in mitigation features, including pixel shifting, logo and taskbar detection and various panel refresh cycles.
Second, that won’t absolutely guarantee you’ll never have a problem with burn-in. Third, MSI provides a three-year burn-in warranty, so you are covered for at least that long. It’s also worth noting that Samsung says this latest QD-OLED panel tech is even more durable than before, but for now that’s just a claim. Beyond that, it’s very hard to say what might happen with long term ownership other than it will likely depend on your usage and how you set up things like the Windows interface.
Buy if…
✅ You want crispy visuals and great fonts: This is the first time we’ve seen 4K on a 27-inch OLED panel and the pixel density is certainly sweet.
Don’t buy if…
❌ You want a cinematic experience: For the money, this is not a terribly large monitor.
All of which means this new MSI QD-OLED is a largely similar proposition to other QD-OLEDs we’ve seen. The HDR experience is mostly stunning, though it does disappoint that OLED technology still isn’t capable of being punchier across larger sections of panel.
The SDR experience is mostly fabulous, but a little more compromised. Relevant to both modes are the new OLED TV panels announced at CES. Samsung has implied their boosted brightness will trickle down to gaming monitors in the near future. So, if you have any concerns over full-screen brightness, it would be worth waiting until those panels appear.
More specifically regarding the 272URX, I’m not convinced by the 27-inch form factor. The benefits over 32 inchers in terms of clarity, image detail and font rendering is marginal. At the same time, the larger 32-inch form factor scores for both gaming immersion and desktop working space in Windows.
However, if you prefer the smaller 27-inch form factor, then you’ll love this monitor. It’s super sharp and gives you all the existing benefits of QD-OLED tech. So, if it’s pixel density above all else you’ve been waiting for, the MSI MPG 321URX might be for you. In all other regards, it’s a mostly familiar OLED experience despite the new QD-OLED panel technology and that includes full-screen brightness that’s barely good enough. If you’re after something brighter, look out for those upcoming 4th Gen 1440p QD-OLED models, which we hope to review soon.
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Kurt Indovina
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