MSI’s new ‘Rapid VA’ gaming monitors are the budget displays I’ve been waiting for
MSI is steaming ahead with a bunch of new monitors for PC gamers. The Taiwanese brand recently unveiled a new selection of OLED screens and has now unveiled a range of gaming monitors that use the company’s new Rapid VA technology.
For those who don’t know, Vertical Alignment (VA) screens are a type of LCD screen; essentially the opposite of In-Plane Switching (IPS) displays, where the liquid crystal cells are aligned horizontally. VA panels are more commonly found in LCD TVs, while IPS is generally the most popular choice for the best computer monitors.
VA panels typically offer better contrast and deeper blacks than their IPS counterparts, but can have a higher response time that results in ‘ghosting’ (a type of visual defect) in fast-paced games where the screen struggles to keep up with the action. -screen. But MSI’s Rapid VA technology promises to make this a thing of the past, using improved manufacturing techniques to create a thinner liquid crystal layer with a higher driving voltage that increases response time to just 1ms.
VA, away!
MSI’s first monitors to get the Rapid VA treatment are a stack of four products, all part of MSI’s MAG brand, which is aimed specifically at gamers. The new monitors will range in size from 27 to 35 inches and feature refresh rates of 170Hz or 240Hz, making them ideal for fast-paced gaming now that MSI has fixed the VA response time issue.
All four displays are also curved, something that’s becoming increasingly common in gaming monitors, where viewing angles don’t matter as much. I’ve personally owned one of MSI’s curved monitors in the past (the Optix MAG321CURV) and have enjoyed using it for years, so I’m curious to see how these new MAG monitors perform. You can do the product pages is already on the MSI website.
By not using OLED panels, they will hopefully be more affordable than MSI’s other upcoming displays. MSI is already known as a more budget-friendly PC gaming brand, and this could cement its position as the monitor maker of choice for gamers on a budget. Expect one of these to make it onto our list of the best gaming monitors in the future.
All four models will have a 1440p QHD resolution (my personal favorite gaming resolution – 4K displays are just too expensive) and will include the usual selection of features we’ve come to expect from MSI monitors, such as Quantum Dot technology for enhancing the brightness and color accuracy and a smart reticle for shooters.
If I had An complaint, it’s that they all have stupid, hard to remember names. How should I remember the difference between the MAG 325CQRXF and the MAG 325CQRF-QD? Of course, this isn’t a problem unique to MSI; PC monitors have historically had terrible, nonsensical naming conventions. But maybe it’s time we switched to a slightly more grounded method of naming displays, hmm?