MSI MPG ARTYMIS 323CQR Gaming Monitor Review

A Closer Look

The MSI MPG ARTYMIS 323CQR is built for high-performance gaming, and while it’s far from the most expensive in the MSI range, it’s still a premium product, so I think the design has to reflect that. Thankfully, it does! This is a very sexy looking monitor and would compliment any high-end setup really well. It has a set of extra slim bezels on the sides and top, making it well suited to a multi-monitor configuration. There’s a thicker bezel at the bottom, but really, even that looks pretty stylish too. It has a nice shape and finish to it. Branding is kept minimal too, with just a small MSI logo in the bottom left corner.

The stand is heavy-duty, with a weighted base that uses nice wide arms to don’t jut out too far from the panel, so they take up surprisingly little space. Because the monitor is curved, more of the weight sits further back resulting in a very sturdy design despite the monitor’s overall size. The back part of the stand is pretty chunky, but it does look great, and it feels exceptionally well made. The stand allows you to easily adjust the height, you can slide it up and down with one hand and it stays where you leave it; you can adjust the height by 10CM! There’s a -5° ~ 20° level of tilt too, which is more than enough. Plus you get -30° ~ 30° of swivel, with the monitor turning on the stand, so no need to drag the heavy monitor stand over your desk to turn it.

The monitor features some small clips on the underside, allowing you to mount the mouse bungees that are included in the box. There are two included, much like we saw on the 323CQR recently.

The panel has a 1000R curve. I don’t like strong curves on my monitors, I find it a little too distracting. However, a 1000R curve on a 16:9 32″ monitor just seems like it’s hitting that sweet spot. It feels very natural, and really just helps pull those edges into your peripheral vision.

Around the back, I think the monitor looks even better! There’s a mixture of (fake) carbon fibre, glossy mirror sections, matte sections and even a brushed metal effect on one part. overall, it’s a nice design and will really stand out if you have a more open-desk layout. There’s even RGB built into it, with lights in the glossy section, as well as on the MSI logo.

Controls are easy enough, with a small control stick/button for easy menu navigation. However, there’s a dedicated profile button and power button here too, giving you a little more control than most monitors that use one of these little stick controllers.

Down the side of the monitor, you’ll find this little button that pops out… but what could it be?

Ta-da, it is a headphone stand! How neat is that!

As for connectivity, you get 1 x DisplayPort (Supports WQHD@165Hz as specified in DisplayPort 1.2a), and 2 x HDMI (Supports WQHD@165Hz as specified in HDMI2.0b). There’s also a USB Type-C which operates as DisplayPort. However, keep in mind that FreeSync Premium will only operate up to 144Hz on the HDMI ports.