Smooth performance from a curved screen – Geek review

When microseconds are the difference between winning plays and heartbreaking throws, it pays to have hardware that can keep up. MSI’s MPG ARTYMIS 273CQR monitor is ready, boasting a 165Hz refresh rate, 1ms response time and a curved 27-inch 2K display.

My complaints are few and far between with this monitor, but the ones that do exist may bother some. Let’s get into the review.

Setup: ready in just a few steps

The included quick start guide helps get things moving during the setup phase. Be sure to follow the sage advice MSI offers for damage-free assembly: leave the monitor face down in the styrofoam package while you attach the stand to the back of the screen.

Now place the stand horizontally so that it is flush with all four screw holes and screw it down to mount it to the screen. Once all the screws are in place, place the black plastic cover to hide them and you’re good to go.

While your MPG ARTYMIS 273CQR stands tall, use the wide rotation angle and vertical adjustability offered to place the screen where you are most comfortable.

Once your stand is connected and you have a good idea of ​​where the monitor will sit, it’s time to connect everything to the computer.

Connecting

The MPG ARTYMIS 273CQR has connections for everyone. Around the rear of the monitor, facing the ground, you’ll find the power socket (for an external 20V power block), DisplayPort, two HDMI ports and one USB-C port for audio and video connections. There is also a 3.5 mm audio jack, 2 USB-A ports and 1 upstream (USB Type-B) port for all computer peripherals.

While outlets that face the ground (rather than the wall) are great for keeping cables neatly organized, they can be a pain to plug in. I found the most efficient solution was to raise the monitor to peak height, use a flashlight to see what I was doing, and then connect the cable with my left hand.

Once you set it up, it’s not a problem. But if you’re moving from desk to desk or setting configuration to configuration, reconnecting these cables quickly becomes tedious.

I will talk more about the buttons and other features present on the exterior in the next section.

Design and display: The look fits, but does it fit on your desk?

This is a gaming monitor. If the 165Hz refresh rate doesn’t give it away, the RGB lighting and carbon fiber accents should be enough to set it apart from your typical office display. These stylistic choices, however, are only present on the back; the front of the monitor consists of a low-profile matte black chassis, slim bezels that provide a bezel-less display, and a simple white LED in the lower right corner that lets you know whether your monitor is currently on or in sleep mode.

To the left of that LED, in the middle of the front of the exterior, is a light sensor that the MPG ARTYMIS 273CQR uses to dynamically change brightness levels and color coding according to your environment. This is a nice touch that can help reduce eye strain during late-night gaming sessions that you know should be over when the birds start chirping their good mornings.

Above this lower bezel sits a 27-inch QHD display capable of 2560x1440p DisplayHDR 400 output. It’s beautiful. If you’re coming from a 1080p screen, be prepared, you’ll never want to look back. Coming from a daily driver of a 4K display, I wasn’t too keen on losing the extra pixel density. But I have to say that the high refresh rate compared to my usual 60Hz absolutely makes up for the loss in image quality when playing competitive games. I’ll talk more about this in the next performance section.

The 1000R curve is hard to miss. It bends the left and right edges of the screen towards the center so you don’t have to crane your neck for the best view. This makes it easy to see the entire screen at once when viewing directly, but the viewing angle becomes a bit of a problem if you plan to hold this monitor to the side of your main screen.

On the right edge is a headset hanger, ready to pop out and keep your headset (or, in my case, the Oculus Rift S) neatly organized when you need it and easily tucked away when you don’t.

Moving to the rear, the first thing you’ll likely notice is the RGB lighting. While I can’t say it takes away from the monitor, and I don’t like it, I don’t understand why it’s there. You won’t see this RGB at all when using a computer, and webcams in streaming settings usually record from the front of the screen towards the streamer. It is too dark to work as a backlight if placed against a wall.

It’s completely unnecessary for me. But if you need RGB on every item in your setup, the MPG ARTYMIS 273CQR is good. One neat thing you can do with it, though, is sync it with your other MSI rig with RGB lighting. I decided to sync it with my MSI GeForce RTX 3080 Ti Gaming X Trio and it worked perfectly using MSI Center’s Mystic Light tool.

In the lower right corner of the exterior on the rear is the ARTYMIS 273CQR set of two control buttons, one for power and one macro button, as well as a mini-joystick used to navigate the on-screen setup menu. Go to the opposite side and you’ll find a Kensington lock for an extra level of security.

Underneath it all is the monitor stand, a sore point from where I sit. While it does a magnificent job of keeping everything mounted and secure, it takes up too much space for its own good. The feet extend pretty far in all directions, even compared to my larger ViewSonic XG3220 32-inch 4K monitor.

This can make it difficult to position the keyboard and mouse where you want them, and if you’re using a two- or three-monitor setup, it’s almost guaranteed that you’ll need to move something around to accommodate this monitor. It’s definitely not impossible, but it’s slightly frustrating.

On the other hand, the stand offers an excellent range of vertical and rotational adjustment options.

Overall, the MPG ARTYMIS 273CQR is expertly designed for style, comfort and clarity – apart from the clunky base.

Performance: Seriously smooth

With a 165Hz refresh rate, I’d argue that the MPG ARTYMIS 273CQR is all the performance you’ll need, unless you’re actively competing in eSports tournaments or internal leagues (in which case you might even opt for something with a 240Hz refresh rate ). Especially if you’re coming from 60Hz, even 120Hz will make a world of difference.

It’s hard to imagine if you’ve only ever gamed at 60Hz, but going to 165Hz (or 144Hz, where I usually kept the monitor while gaming) removes lag you didn’t know existed. It’s like moving your Windows installation from a hard drive to an SSD drive, you can’t go back to the way it was before.

Do you even need the performance that comes with the price of a premium monitor? For many games, especially story-driven or single-player titles, 60Hz is just fine. I even preferred to play Red Dead Redemption 2 on my 60Hz 4K monitor for improved picture quality.

But when you want to compete against the best or climb the ladder of ranked games, exceptional performance pays dividends. A high refresh rate won’t turn you into a pro overnight, but you’ll notice that you can hit shots you couldn’t before, spot enemies before they see you, and use perfect timing abilities. This is, of course, if you have a PC or console that can handle it.

If you get less than a consistent 165 FPS in the games you intend to play, you won’t be using the full potential of your monitor’s refresh rate. But for easier-to-run, massively popular competitive games like Counter Strike: Global Offensive, League of Legends, DOTA 2, and Rocket Leaguemost configurations can achieve the 144+ FPS needed to justify capturing on the MPG ARTYMIS 273CQR, even if they can’t quite achieve the full 165 FPS.

Now your games run as smooth as silk, but do they look the way you want them to? If you want to light up dark corners Escape from Tarkov or give everything a warm hue, check out the customization options available.

Customization: Easy to navigate, options abound

First, make sure you manually set the refresh rate to what you want. It is set to 60Hz by default (and your resolution may be lower than 2K). To do this on a Windows machine with an NVIDIA card, right-click on the desktop and select “NVIDIA Control Panel”. Then, under “Change resolution”, adjust your preferred settings.

Now, using the navigation stick on the back right side of the monitor, click on it to open the menu. Navigate the menus using the joystick and press it to select the option you have highlighted. Here you can change color temperatures to preset profiles like RTS and Racing, apply a smart crosshair (which is always displayed in a color that contrasts with the object you’re looking at), adjust HDR settings, PIP (picture-in-picture) settings, and more that.

The MPG ARTYMIS 273CQR is also compatible with AMD FreeSync (although I can’t test it on my NVIDIA GPU) if you want even less screen tearing—you can edit these settings in the customization menu as well.

These customization settings can be a real hit or miss situation, with almost impossible to navigate menus all too common. Still, this gaming monitor makes it easy to find what you want and get to it.

You can even customize the up, down, left, and right joystick movements to quickly access settings you adjust frequently (like smart cross and color grading). The MPG ARTYMIS 273CQR’s customization options make it easy to play the way you want.

Should you buy MSI MPG ARTYMIS 273CQR?

If you want to upgrade from 1080p to 1440p, and want a high refresh rate for competitive gaming, I can easily recommend the MSI MPG ARTYMIS 273CQR gaming monitor. The only time I would have a hard time doing this is if you don’t have enough space in your setup and can’t accommodate a wide base and a curved screen.

Otherwise, this monitor has it all (as long as you’re not looking for 4K). Competitive price, fast 165 Hz refresh rate, customization options and adjustability for the perfect viewing angle.

If you’re looking for 4K, you might want to check out the Optix MPG321UR QD model from MSI. Although this display is not curved and offers a slightly lower refresh rate of 144 Hz, it comes with a huge increase in image quality.

By the way, you can pick up the ARTYMIS 273CQR today for $499.99 (and that’s regularly, heavily discounted). Be on the lookout for all the deals that turn this monitor from a fantastic choice to a must-have.