MSI MPG 491CQP QD-OLED review: 49-inch gaming OLED monitor

Ultra-wide monitors - with an aspect ratio of 21:9 or more - are great for gaming and movies, as they significantly expand the field of view. Today, we're going to take a look at one of the largest of these monitors - the 49-inch MSI MPG 491CQP QD-OLED.

Specifications of MSI MPG 491CQP QD-OLED

Design

The first thing that comes to mind when you look at the MSI MPG 491CQP QD-OLED is "how long it is...". The monitor has the same height as a conventional 27-inch 16:9 model, but its width is as much as 120 cm, meaning that this monitor can easily occupy a medium-sized computer desk without leaving any room for acoustics.

For such dimensions and a curved screen, it has a rather small depth: only 19 cm. At the same time, traditionally for OLED monitors, due to the lack of additional backlighting, most of the body is very thin - 1 cm thick, and only the central part with all the electronics somewhat "spoils" this minimalism.

The case is made of practical matte black plastic, and there is no RGB backlighting, which is traditional for gaming models: the only pattern that can be found here is the glossy manufacturer's logo.

The screen is made in the traditional "bezel-less" design, when it is framed only by a thin line of the side edge of the case. However, in this case, even in the off state, if you look closely, you can see a black frame around the screen, which is hidden under the protective glass.

Also, traditionally for modern OLED monitors, asymmetry of the bezels appears from time to time: it is periodically noticeable that one bezel is wider than the other. This is the result of the mechanisms that protect the OLED panel from premature burn-in during prolonged display of a static image: in this case, it shifts by a few pixels to one side or the other.

The stand is massive, with huge metal "paws" in the shape of the letter V: the distance between their "limbs" is 63 cm.

The stand allows you to adjust the screen's tilt (-5°~12°), height (0~100 mm), and left-right rotation (-30°~30°). There is a hole in the bottom for cable management.

All video connectors are located in a small niche under the stand mount: one DisplayPort 1.4a, two HDMI 2.1, and one USB-C (DP Alt Mode). You can also find a mini-jack for connecting wired headphones and a USB hub with 2 USB 2.0 ports. A very strange solution for a top-of-the-line monitor in 2024 - but we once saw the same option in another QD-OLED model from the same manufacturer, the MPG 321URX QD-OLED.

Menu

The MSI MPG 491CQP QD-OLED is controlled by a 5-way joystick, which can be found in the center on the back of the case, opposite the activity indicator. There are two large buttons on either side of it - to turn on and launch the proprietary Gaming Intelligence utility.

The first item in the menu is G.I. (Gaming Intelligence) with KVM settings and gaming functions - crosshairs and "optical sight" (zooming in on the center of the screen).

After it is another gaming section, this time Gaming. Here you can find the menu of gaming video modes, activation of adaptive frequency, illumination of dark areas of the image (Night Vision), etc.

The Professional section contains professional video modes, activation of the reduced blue mode, and the "image enhancement" function. The Image section contains traditional image settings such as brightness, contrast, color temperature, clarity, and a choice of two HDR modes.

Input Source allows you to manually switch between video inputs and activate automatic detection of connected signal sources, PIP/PBP contains parameters for frame-to-frame operation, and Navi Key allows you to reassign "quick" functions to joystick deflection.

System settings (OSD menu settings, activity indicator behavior, HDMI CEC activation, etc.) are collected in the Settings menu, and in the last item, MSI OLED Care, you can find the settings for protecting the OLED panel from premature burnout.

Functionality

The MSI MPG 491CQP QD-OLED uses a 49-inch 10-bit QD-OLED panel manufactured by Samsung. The aspect ratio is 32:9, the resolution is 5120 x 1440 dots (DQHD). The dot density is almost 109 PPI, the physical size of the dot is 0.234 mm.

The maximum refresh rate via both DisplayPort and HDMI is 144 Hz, and there is support for adaptive frequency technology (although there is no NVIDIA G-Sync or AMD FreeSync certification). The response time, according to the manufacturer, is 0.03 ms (GtG).

HDR support is available - the monitor has a VESA DisplayHDR True Black 400 certificate. The monitor also has a "console mode" that supports VRR (Variable Refresh Rate) and ALLM (Auto Low Latency Mode, automatic switching to game mode when a "game" signal is detected).

To control the monitor, you can also use the proprietary Gaming Intelligence utility, which duplicates the OSD functions and offers some additional features, such as reassigning the G macro button next to the joystick.

This monitor can receive video signals not only via DisplayPort and HDMI, but also via USB-C. Additionally, there is KVM support, so you can connect two systems to the MSI MPG 491CQP QD-OLED - for example, a desktop and a laptop - and work with them using a single set of keyboard and mouse thanks to the presence of a USB hub. The laptop can be charged at the same time - USB-C supports Power Delivery (90W).

Image quality of MSI MPG 491CQP QD-OLED

The screen has a glossy finish, which, compared to matte, produces a significantly deeper black color under ambient room lighting. At the same time, it has an effective anti-reflective coating, thanks to which, when you look directly at the screen, there are practically no parasitic reflections of the environment on it, even in fairly bright light - only very light objects or light sources can be seen against the black background. Moreover, when viewed from the side, the coating does not work and the screen becomes almost mirror-like.

Like the MPG 321URX, this model uses a new generation QD-OLED panel with an updated sub-pixel arrangement - compared to the previous, second generation of Samsung's technology, they are much denser, which gives a clearer image with better fonts.

It is worth noting that a screen with these characteristics - 49-inch diagonal, 32:9 aspect ratio, 5120×1440 resolution - is equivalent in size and pixel density to two conventional 27-inch monitors with 2560×1440 resolution, so it may be of interest not only to hardcore gamers but also to users who are used to working with dual-monitor systems.

Such screen proportions are not the best option for movie screenings - if you will use the monitor mainly for watching movies, it is better to pay attention to 34-inch models with a "cinematic" aspect ratio of 21:9 and a resolution of 3440×1440. On them, modern movies will occupy the entire screen area, while the MSI MPG 491CQP QD-OLED will still have quite large black areas on both sides of the image.

But for gaming, this model is almost perfect: with a typical player sitting at a computer, a screen of this size almost completely covers the player's field of vision horizontally, and games create an almost complete sense of immersion in what is happening on the screen.

Additionally, the curvature of the screen contributes to this effect. In this model, it's not too strong, only 1800R, and on this diagonal it's practically imperceptible even when working in Windows. In games, however, it seems to "envelop" the player: your character's surroundings on the periphery feel as if they were really located somewhere to the side of you.

The reaction time is 0.03 ms - traditionally, OLED panels have a significant advantage in this parameter even over fast gaming IPS panels, which have a reaction time of 1-2 ms at best. This makes MSI MPG 491CQP QD-OLED a great option for fast online shooters that require instant response to what's happening in the game.

The sharpness of dynamic scenes is almost perfect, and objects moving rapidly across the screen are virtually blur-free - neither at the maximum 144 Hz frequency for this monitor nor at the "standard" 60 Hz.

Thanks to the OLED panel, this monitor displays a completely black color: the absence of additional screen glow is well felt in the dark, where a turned-on screen with a black background is indistinguishable from a turned-off monitor.

Viewing angles are maximized, and in this regard, the OLED monitor is also significantly superior to the highest quality IPS models: even when viewed from the side, the brightness and color saturation remain at the same level.

Traditionally for OLEDs, the maximum brightness in HDR dynamically changes according to how bright the current scene is. In addition, as with other OLED monitors from this manufacturer that we tested, there are also two modes of working with HDR content. In "True Black 400" the maximum brightness is limited to ~400 cd/m², while in "Peak 1000 nits" its peak value, according to the name, can reach 1000 cd/m² (provided that the screen is almost black with a white "window" of 2% of the entire image area).

The second option is intended for gaming and movie sessions - it is optimal for HDR content due to the ability to reach very high brightness in certain scenes. The first one is better for working in Windows - it has a minimal drop in maximum brightness, while with "Peak 1000 nits" active, the user will see a noticeable change in overall brightness when switching between different windows.

As with other MSI monitors, there are two video mode menus in the OSD: Gaming and Professional. The first contains modes customized for different gaming genres, a mode for custom settings, and Premium Color, in which the screen displays the most vivid and spectacular image.

In the second, you can find modes for emulating the main color spaces and various templates for office use. The last selected mode is active regardless of which of the two menus it is located in. After a factory reset, the Pro Mode - Eco video mode is automatically set.

Let's start with Premium Color mode, which is supposed to demonstrate all the advantages of QD-OLED. In this mode, we see the maximum color coverage of the panel - it significantly exceeds the sRGB space and covers 97% of the Adobe RGB space (99% DCI-P3).

The brightness in SDR mode varies in the range of 32-260 cd/m², which is quite enough for gaming in almost complete darkness and for working in typical office lighting.

At the same time, we evaluated power consumption at different brightness levels, from 0% to 100%. It was measured with the browser open in full screen with the main page of our website - you can consider it almost 100% filled with a light gray background.

But, as with other OLED screens, it is very easy to reduce consumption (for example, when operating from a charging station) by using dark themes whenever possible. So, in this case, after switching our website to a dark theme at 100% brightness, the monitor began to consume 40 watts instead of 130.

The static contrast value obtained during the tests, of course, does not correspond to reality: in the absence of backlighting, the black field has no brightness, and some result is obtained here only due to the colorimeter measurement error when measuring the maximum black color.

The MSI MPG 491CQP QD-OLED does not have manual gamma adjustments, but the value set by the manufacturer perfectly matches 2.2.

The color temperature in Normal mode is 6300-6400K, which is very close to the standard value of 6500K. It's a rare case, usually the "normal" temperature in other monitors is significantly overestimated, and close to 6500K is "warm". If desired, you can make the image warmer or cooler by switching to Warm (4800K) or Cool (9000K).

In the absence of additional backlighting, the uniformity of color temperature and white field across the entire screen area is very good, although not maximum: the maximum deviation ΔE in the first case is two, in the second case the maximum difference in brightness in different parts of the image does not exceed 3%.

The image in Premium Color mode has bright, saturated colors and looks even more impressive than on "regular" monitors with Quantum Dot. However, this has a negative impact on color accuracy: the average ΔE value is 3.5, and the maximum is 6.5.

Therefore, it is better to use the next item in the same game menu - User. It has almost the same color gamut (1% less than DCI-P3), so the color saturation remains the same.

The gamut value is also almost the same as in Premium Color, the color temperature is slightly cooler, but again, it's not significant: 6600K in Normal mode, and the brightness is adjustable in the same range.

At the same time, the color accuracy is much better: the monitor is obviously factory calibrated in this mode, so the average ΔE value in User gaming mode is only 0.5, with a maximum of just over one. It is believed that the average user is not able to notice the difference between the reference color and the one displayed by the monitor at ΔE <3.

Modes that emulate different color spaces effectively reduce the coverage to the size of the corresponding spaces: 95% sRGB (70% Adobe RGB, 73% DCI-P3) in sRGB mode, 97% Adobe RGB (93% DCI-P3) in Adobe RGB, etc. Their color accuracy is also on par, with an average ΔE value of less than one.

Color gamut, Premium Color - User - Display P3 - Adobe RGB - sRGB modes:

The rest of the modes, both in the gaming and professional sections, are simply different templates that differ in the initial settings of the main image parameters (brightness, gamma, color saturation, color temperature, etc.) for different tasks.

Game modes, from left to right: Premium Color - User - FPS - Racing - RTS - RPG:

Professional modes, from left to right: Eco - User - Anti-Blue - Movie - Office - sRGB - Adobe RGB - Display P3: