MSI’s fifth-generation QD-OLED gaming monitor embraces RGB stripe subpixels — 34-inch display boasts enhanced text clarity, boosted brightness, and improved black levels

Who says you can’t have your cake and eat it too? That appears to be MSI’s mantra with the new MPG 341CQR QD-OLED X36 gaming monitor, which was on full display this week at CES. As its name implies, the MPG 341CQR QD-OLED X36 (say that three times fast) uses a 5th-generation QD-OLED panel with an RGB stripe sub-pixel arrangement.

The move to a vertical RGB stripe instead of the slightly odd triangular sub-pixel layout on previous Samsung QD-OLED panels allows for sharper text on screen. The increase in text clarity doesn’t come at the expense of the other advantages inherent to OLED panels (namely, rich color, ultra-fast response times, and deeper blacks).

In the case of the MPG 341CQR QD-OLED X36, we’re looking at full-screen brightness of 300 nits (1,300 nits peak), which is an increase from the typical 250 nits of preceding QD-OLED panels. MSI says that it incorporates an anti-reflective DarkArmor Film to boost the black levels by another 40 percent (VESA DisplayHDR True Black 500 certified), while delivering a 2.5x improvement in scratch resistance (a curious bullet point for a desktop monitor, but it’s appreciated).