MSI Optix MAG321CURV

A budget 4K gaming panel?

- ZAK STOREY

WE’RE HERE, we’ve finally made it. It’s taken a few years, but at last we’re at the point in our technological lives where 4K gaming is not only feasible but also affordable. Well, if you ignore the graphics card cost. Here we have MSI’s Optix MAG321CURV. This large and impressive 32-inch 4K gaming monitor comes packed with a curved VA panel, a 60Hz refresh rate, FreeSync as standard, and a 1ms G2G response time. That’s a lot of spec, especially as it comes in at just under $450 at retail. In fact at the time of writing it’s currently on sale for $390 at Amazon. Go back three years, and this thing would’ve been over twice that price.

So before we head into reviewing this screen, the question has to be asked: Is it viable to game at 4K today? Well, sort of. If you’re after that 60fps sweet spot, you’re looking at a minimum of an Nvidia RTX 2080 in your build. You can get away with less than that (the 2070 Super is a fine card, averaging around the 40fps mark in most AAA titles), especially in lower fidelity titles and indie games, but for the AAA big boys, you’re going to be needing to drop the graphical settings if you do decide to go that route instead.