I just tested ‘one of the most beautiful QD-OLED monitors I’ve ever seen’ — and it’s so worth the premium

If there’s only one monitor you buy this year, make it the MSI MPG 341CQR QD-OLED X36. This 34-inch QD-OLED monitor is an absolute delight and doesn’t give you much to complain about. For gamers, you’ve got a silky smooth 360Hz refresh rate and quick 0.03ms response time. For productivity power users, there’s accurate and wide color coverage and 10-bit color depth. It’s the ultimate hybrid monitor.

With plenty of connectivity options packed into a sleek design that doesn’t take up heaps of space on your desk, the X36 is one of the best curved monitors I’ve personally used and professionally tested. Performance on paper is just as solid as real-world use, and even though the monitor is expensive, it’s well worth the premium for a plethora of reasons.

For the complete breakdown, read my full MSI MPG 341CQR QD-OLED X36 review.

MSI MPG 341CQR QD-OLED X36 review: Specs

MSI MPG 341CQR QD-OLED X36 review: Cheat sheet

• What is it? A curved, ultrawide 34-inch QD-OLED monitor with a 0.03ms response time and 360Hz refresh rate
• Who is it for? Power users needing expanded screen real estate and best-in-class gaming performance
• How much does it cost? Quite a bit. The X36 retails for $949 / £999
• What do we like? The 360Hz refresh rate and 0.03ms response time for gaming, accurate and wide color coverage, sleek design, and AI features
• What don’t we like? The slightly dim panel and premium price tag

MSI MPG 341CQR QD-OLED X36 review: The ups

From its silky smooth 360Hz refresh rate and accurate color reproduction, to its 0.03ms response time and useful AI features, the MSI MPG 341CQR QD-OLED X36 is the cream of the crop.

Sleek design

Though the MSI MPG 341CQR QD-OLED X36 features a 34-inch panel, it sports a sleek design. It comes in all-black with minimal branding and good-looking RGB lighting around the back. The panel is held together by a body that measures 32 x 8.9 x 21.3 inches, including the stand, and with the stand, the monitor weighs 29.7lbs. I didn’t find it too bulky or unwieldy to move around — trust me, I’ve carried it between studio spaces.

The base of the X36 stand is fairly compact too, as it has been upgraded from the previous Y-shaped stand to a sleek, flat base that’s thin enough to slide a keyboard over. The monitor can now sit closer to the wall for a more efficient and cleaner desk setup. If you like having two monitors on your desk, you’ll be pleased with how much the monitor can be tilted (20°), swivelled (60°) and pivoted (20°) — plenty of movement to achieve the ideal, ergonomic viewing angle.

Plenty of connectivity options

There’s no dearth of connectivity options and ports on the MSI MPG 341CQR QD-OLED X36. You’ll find the ports around the back, and these include: power, two HDMI 2.1, a DisplayPort 2.1a, two USB-A, one USB-B, a USB-C 98W PD, and a 3.5mm audio out for headphones. The X36 has you covered in basically every aspect. The USB-C port with its 98W power delivery means you can use your laptop or handheld console using a single cable.

Setting up is a walk in the park and it took me less than a minute to connect my laptop to the monitor. If you want to take advantage of the 360Hz refresh rate, which I did for the most part during my testing, you’ll need to use the DisplayPort 2.1a port.

Powerful gaming performance

If you want a curved monitor for an immersive and powerful gaming experience, there are few better than the MSI MPG 341CQR QD-OLED X36. Firstly, there are plenty of picture modes for both gaming and professional use, such as AdobeRGB, FPS, RPG, Premium Color, RTS, and… Black and White. The monochrome mode is good for accessibility reasons and can help reduce eye strain — or if you want a cinematic or aesthetic experience, if that’s your speed.

The X36 boasts some impressive specs, such as its 360Hz refresh rate and 0.03ms response time. Regardless of the game I played, I didn’t experience any choppiness during fast-paced games, such as F1 25, and competitive first-person shooters, like Counter-Strike 2. The smooth, blur-free performance was nothing short of outstanding. The 0.03ms response also meant that I didn’t experience any ghosting or motion blur. This response time is on par with other high-end gaming monitors, such as the MSI MPG 272URX QD-OLED ($1,099), and even faster than the Alienware AW3423DWF QD-OLED (0.1ms, $1,099).

The QD-OLED panel is a sight for sore eyes, and playing on the X36 is some of the most fun I’ve had while gaming on a PC (as I’m more of a console fan). The X36’s screen is bright and boasts accurate color reproduction. In Forza Horizon 5, the greens were vivid and there was plenty of detail and depth to enjoy in the sand dunes. I also appreciated the level of detail revealed in the shadows in the moody Lies of P, where the world is always dark. I avoided a few jumpscares as I could see the faint outline of enemies in the black areas, which you may not necessarily notice otherwise.

My lab testing further confirmed the X36’s wide color replication, as you can see in the table above. The X36 covers the entirety of the sRGB color spectrum and then some, and this is also true in the case of the wider DCI P3 color gamut. While the Alienware AW3423DWF does slightly better on paper, colors on the X36 still look gorgeous and won’t give you much to complain about — and it performs better than the Lenovo Legion Pro 34WD-10 OLED ($,199) too.

The 34-inch panel makes for a thoroughly immersive experience, especially in the first-person F1 25 where I felt like I was actually in the driver’s seat. The 21:9 aspect ratio wraps around your peripheral vision, which makes games feel more realistic, and because of the increased screen real estate, you can see more of the game world without needing to pan the camera as often.

Fantastic for work, too

If you’re spending big bucks on a 34-inch monitor, chances are you’ll be using it for things other than gaming — like work. The MSI MPG 341CQR QD-OLED X36 is a fantastic monitor for productivity, and I used it as my daily driver for writing articles, scrolling through long message threads on Slack, navigating ginormous spreadsheets, and some photo editing too.

As I noted earlier, the X36 boasts excellent color coverage, and the accuracy is not too shabby either, as proven by my lab testing and real-world use. The Delta-E score is a numerical representation of how much two colors differ, and how close the color relayed on screen (i.e. the monitor) is to the color output from the source (i.e. the computer). The closer the score to zero, the better.

The table above shows that the X36 has a Delta-E score of 0.15, compared to the Alienware AW3423DWF’s score of 0.24 (worse) and the Lenovo Legion 34WD-10’s score of 0.08 (better). While the X36 doesn’t rank as well as the 34WD-10, 0.15 is still excellent. Colors on screen appeared extremely accurate to me, and the monitor made quick work of color grading photos and videos in post-production.

For photographers who print, there’s an Adobe RGB color mode too. The Adobe RGB color gamut covers a wider range of colors used by CMYK printers versus sRGB. This, in turn, ensures color accuracy when editing images for printed photography. It’s great to see MSI include this color mode in a gaming-first monitor, as we were surprised to see it missing from the productivity-first BenQ PD3226G ($1,099).

You also get 10-bit color depth, which means that the X36 is capable of displaying 1.07 billion individual hues. This is great for those who capture 10-bit 4:2:2 raw video with the best cameras or the best drones. Having such a large display at your disposal also means there’s plenty of room for accessing all the controls and different settings in Adobe Photoshop and other software.

Useful AI features

Located just below the MSI logo on the front of the X36, you’ll find what looks like a webcam. It is, in fact, not a webcam, but an AI Care Sensor instead, which can automatically alter the X36’s settings by detecting a human in front of it. The AI Care Sensor, basically, detects images every 0.2 seconds to identify human presence and enable auto turn-offs to conserve energy.

While this is technically a camera, MSI was keen to point out to us that there is no storage functionality — it’s a camera with on-sensor autofocus subject detection capabilities, but it doesn’t actually write (store) that data, to allay any privacy concerns. Imagine a mirrorless camera with autofocus and detection, but with no SD card inserted to save images or video.

Via the settings menu, you can enable Active Mode, Wake On Approach, Lock on Leave, and more, and adjust the timers. If you’re sitting in front of the monitor and decide to get up to stretch your legs or get a coffee, the monitor will automatically turn off. It will turn itself back on when you return to your desk. This worked smoothly in my testing, and I think it’s quite a handy feature, especially if you want to protect your privacy or sensitive documents from onlookers. It’s also something I haven’t seen before on other monitors, so the X36 is well worth the premium (more on this shortly).

MSI MPG 341CQR QD-OLED X36 review: The downs

There’s a lot to love about the MSI MPG 341CQR QD-OLED X36, but it’s important to note that the QD-OLED panel isn’t especially bright for use in bright conditions, and it’s quite expensive.

A little dim

There isn’t a lot wrong with the MSI MPG 341CQR QD-OLED X36 but if you’re someone who wants the perfect brightness stats on paper, it’s worth noting that the monitor is a little on the dim side. OLED and QD-OLED monitors just aren’t very bright especially compared to IPS panels.

To test the X36’s brightness, I measured it in the standard SDR and HDR modes. As you can see in the table above, even though the X36 doesn’t sound especially bright, it still outclasses both the Alienware AW3423DWF and the Lenovo Legion 34WD-10 with its 280.2 SDR and 278 HDR scores. But the MSI MPG 321URXW ($1,099) and the LG UltraGear 45GR75DC ($899) are both much brighter in HDR — and LG’s offering is cheaper than MSI’s too.

While those scores aren’t particularly ideal for using the monitor in extremely bright or direct sunlight, chances are you’ll be using the X36 indoors anyway. I tested the X36 in the office with big windows located right behind me. Even when sunlight crept in, I was still able to see and read everything displayed properly on the monitor. Again, keep in mind that this isn’t a problem exclusive to the X36 — it’s just a limitation of OLED panels.

Expensive

If you’re planning on buying a QD-OLED ultrawide monitor, chances are you’ll be paying a premium. That’s just the nature of these monitors because of the technology and materials used, and the MSI MPG 341CQR QD-OLED X36 is no different. MSI lists the monitor for $1,099 on its website, but you can grab it for $949 at Walmart U.S. / £999 at Currys U.K. — which saves you $150 in the States.

This is more of a pre-purchase condition and not necessarily a drawback. Many other QD-OLED monitors we’ve tested cost either the same or a little less. For instance, the Alienware AW3423DWF QD-OLED costs $1,099 too, while the Lenovo Legion Pro 34WD-10 OLED retails for $1,199. Heck, even some of MSI’s non-ultrawide monitors, like the MSI MPG 272URX QD-OLED, cost nearly $1,100. That’s the price of admission for a QD-OLED panel.

Since the X36, at the time of writing, came out only in the first quarter of 2026, we haven’t seen it get any major discounts yet, but it’s worth keeping an eye on Black Friday sales if you don’t want to pay full price.

MSI MPG 341CQR QD-OLED X36 review: Verdict

MSI has knocked it out of the park, once again, with the MPG 341CQR QD-OLED X36. This monitor is nothing short of gorgeous, with bright, vivid and accurate colors. Its 34-inch QD-OLED panel makes for an immersive gaming experience, and it’s a productivity powerhouse too. 360Hz refresh rate, 0.03ms response time, and actually useful AI features make the X36 a formidable monitor.

The X36 doesn’t take up too much space on your desk either, thanks to its sleek design, and there’s plenty of room for your peripherals and trinkets. Minimal branding also helps the monitor fit right into a professional office environment. If you want to use a second monitor with the X36, you should have no trouble doing so.

Is it worth nearly $1,000, though? I believe so. Not only is the X36 exceptional in real world use, my lab testing showed that it’s just as good on paper too. At the end of the day, the X36 is the crème de la crème of curved monitors.