Design
Curved
Curve Radius
The MSI MAG274UPF has a black plastic body with a simple aesthetic from the front, though it has a much more gamer-oriented look when viewed from behind the monitor. The stand only takes up a little room below the front of the monitor, and you can place a keyboard or mouse very close to it.
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8.0 Design
The monitor has great build quality. Although the body is plastic, it feels solid. The stand is also solid, and the monitor is well-constructed overall.
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9.4 Design
Min Height To Top Of Panel
Height Adjustment
Tilt Range
Rotate Portrait/Landscape
Swivel Range
Wall Mount
The monitor has fantastic ergonomics, and it's easy to adjust to your preferred position for a long gaming session or share your screen with another person. The stand features a loop for cable management.
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Design
Base Width
Base Depth
Thickness (With Display)
Weight (With Display)
The square-based stand takes up almost no space in front of the monitor. It supports the monitor well, and there isn't much wobble. These results are with the display at its minimum height. When the display is at its maximum height, it's 6.3" (16 cm) thick because the stand is slightly angled back.
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Design
Size
Housing Width
Housing Height
Thickness (Without Stand)
Weight (Without Stand)
Borders Size (Bezels)
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Design
A joystick on the back right side of the monitor controls the power and lets you adjust the on-screen menu.
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Design
Power Supply
- HDMI cable
- USB-C cable
- USB-A to USB-B cable
- Power cable
- Power supply
- Manuals
- VESA standoffs
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6.2 Picture Quality
Native Contrast
Contrast With Local Dimming
The monitor's contrast is mediocre. As a result, deep blacks appear gray in a dark room, and there's no local dimming feature to improve the contrast further.
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LEARN ABOUT CONTRAST
0 Picture Quality
Local Dimming
Backlight
Though this monitor doesn't have local dimming, we still film these videos so you can compare the backlight performance with a monitor that has local dimming.
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LEARN ABOUT LOCAL DIMMING
8.2 Picture Quality
Real Scene
Peak 2% Window
Peak 10% Window
Peak 25% Window
Peak 50% Window
Peak 100% Window
Sustained 2% Window
Sustained 10% Window
Sustained 25% Window
Sustained 50% Window
Sustained 100% Window
Automatic Brightness Limiting (ABL)
Minimum Brightness
Settings
- Pro Mode: User (After Calibration)
- Brightness: Max
The SDR brightness is great. It gets bright enough to overcome glare and maintains its brightness consistently across different content. The monitor has a very high minimum brightness, which isn't ideal if you're playing in a dark room and prefer a lower brightness level or are sensitive to bright light.
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LEARN ABOUT SDR BRIGHTNESS
7.1 Picture Quality
VESA DisplayHDR Certification
Real Scene
Peak 2% Window
Peak 10% Window
Peak 25% Window
Peak 50% Window
Peak 100% Window
Sustained 2% Window
Sustained 10% Window
Sustained 25% Window
Sustained 50% Window
Sustained 100% Window
Automatic Brightness Limiting (ABL)
Settings
- Pro Mode: User
- Brightness: Locked
The HDR brightness is satisfactory. It gets brighter than in SDR, but not enough for highlights to pop. It tracks the EOTF extremely well with a sharp cut-off at peak brightness, so highlights get as bright as possible.
The following settings are locked out in HDR:
Locked-Out Settings
- MPRT
- Low Blue Light
- HDCR
- Brightness
- Contrast
- Color Temperature
- Optix Scope
- PIP/PBP
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LEARN ABOUT HDR BRIGHTNESS
6.9 Picture Quality
Color Washout From Left
Color Washout From Right
Color Shift From Left
Color Shift From Right
Brightness Loss From Left
Brightness Loss From Right
Black Level Raise From Left
Black Level Raise From Right
Gamma Shift From Left
Gamma Shift From Right 32°
The monitor's horizontal viewing angle is fair but not as good as many IPS displays. While you can share your screen with someone next to you, the image appears darker and washes out at wider angles.
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LEARN ABOUT HORIZONTAL VIEWING ANGLE
7.1 Picture Quality
Color Washout From Below
Color Washout From Above
Color Shift From Below
Color Shift From Above
Brightness Loss From Below
Brightness Loss From Above
Black Level Raise From Below
Black Level Raise From Above
Gamma Shift From Below
Gamma Shift From Above
The vertical viewing angle is decent. If you stand up and look down at the monitor, the image appears slightly washed out.
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LEARN ABOUT VERTICAL VIEWING ANGLE
7.3 Picture Quality
50% Std. Dev.
50% DSE
The gray uniformity is decent. While the edges of the screen are darker than the rest in some places, there's minimal dirty screen effect in the center, which is great.
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LEARN ABOUT GRAY UNIFORMITY
6.4 Picture Quality
Native Std. Dev.
Std. Dev. w/ L.D.
The black uniformity is mediocre. Backlight bleed is visible along the monitor's edges, and the screen is a bit cloudy. There's no local dimming feature to improve this performance further.
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LEARN ABOUT BLACK UNIFORMITY
8.3 Picture Quality
Picture Mode
sRGB Gamut Area xy
White Balance dE (Avg.)
Color Temperature (Avg.)
Gamma (Avg.)
Color dE (Avg.)
Contrast Setting
RGB Settings
Gamma Setting
Brightness Setting
Measured Brightness
Brightness Locked
The MSI MAG274UPF has great accuracy before calibration in the 'sRGB' Pro Mode. The color accuracy is good, and colors are almost perfectly saturated. The white balance is adequate, and the color temperature is fairly close to the 6500K target. Gamma follows the target curve fairly well, though dark parts of scenes are a bit too dark, and most other parts are a bit too bright.
The following settings are locked out in the 'sRGB' mode:
Locked-out Settings
- Low Blue Light
- Contrast
- Color Temperature
If you want to access these settings then you need to use another mode with worse color accuracy, like User.
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LEARN ABOUT COLOR ACCURACY (PRE-CALIBRATION)
9.6 Picture Quality
Picture Mode
sRGB Gamut Area xy
White Balance dE (Avg.)
Color Temperature (Avg.)
Gamma (Avg.)
Color dE (Avg.)
Contrast Setting
RGB Settings
Gamma Setting
Brightness Setting
Measured Brightness
ICC Profile
The accuracy after calibration is remarkable, and you won't notice any problems. Additionally, you can use any of the settings that are locked out in the sRGB mode.
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LEARN ABOUT COLOR ACCURACY (POST-CALIBRATION)
9.7 Picture Quality
sRGB Coverage xy
sRGB Picture Mode
Adobe RGB Coverage xy
Adobe RGB Picture Mode
The monitor has an incredible SDR color gamut. It has fantastic coverage of the sRGB color space and superb coverage of the Adobe RGB color space used in professional publishing. However, red and green are inaccurate in Adobe RGB.
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LEARN ABOUT SDR COLOR GAMUT
9.1 Picture Quality
Wide Color Gamut
DCI-P3 Coverage xy
DCI-P3 Picture Mode
Rec. 2020 Coverage xy
Rec. 2020 Picture Mode
The HDR color gamut is fantastic. It has outstanding coverage in the common DCI-P3 color space and a wide range in the Rec. 2020 color space, though colors are less accurate in Rec. 2020.
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LEARN ABOUT HDR COLOR GAMUT
7.6 Picture Quality
1,000 cd/m² DCI-P3 Coverage ICtCp
DCI-P3 Picture Mode
10,000 cd/m² Rec. 2020 Coverage ICtCp
Rec. 2020 Picture Mode
The HDR color volume is good. Its wide color gamut helps it display a large range of colors, but it struggles to display bright and dark colors well.
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LEARN ABOUT HDR COLOR VOLUME
9.0 Picture Quality
Pixel Type
Subpixel Layout
The text clarity is incredible. Enabling Windows ClearType (top photo) helps improve the clarity of letters. These photos are in Windows 10, and you can see them in Windows 11 with ClearType off here, and with ClearType on here. This monitor has a strong matte coating, so text is slightly less sharp than on some other matte screens.
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LEARN ABOUT TEXT CLARITY
7.5 Picture Quality
Screen Finish
Total Reflections
Indirect Reflections
Calculated Direct Reflections
The MSI MAG274UPF has good reflection handling. While some strong light sources cause distracting glare, it's bright enough to fight glare in most environments.
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LEARN ABOUT REFLECTIONS
9.8 Picture Quality
Color Depth
The gradient handling is outstanding, and you won't notice any issues with banding in scenes with shades of similar colors.
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LEARN ABOUT GRADIENT
7.4 Motion
Native Refresh Rate
Max Refresh Rate
Max Refresh Rate Over DP
Max Refresh Rate Over HDMI
Max Refresh Rate Over DP @ 10-bit
Max Refresh Rate Over HDMI @ 10-Bit
Your graphics card needs to use Display Stream Compression (DSC) to reach the maximum refresh rate over DisplayPort.
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LEARN ABOUT REFRESH RATE
Motion
Variable Refresh Rate
FreeSync
G-SYNC
VRR Maximum
VRR Minimum
VRR Supported Connectors
| NVIDIA | VRR Min | VRR Max |
| DisplayPort | <20Hz | 144Hz |
| HDMI | <20Hz | 144Hz |
| AMD | VRR Min | VRR Max |
| DisplayPort | <20Hz | 144Hz |
| HDMI | <20Hz | 144Hz |
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LEARN ABOUT VARIABLE REFRESH RATE (VRR)
7.6 Motion
Recommended VRR OD Setting
Variable Overdrive Advertised
Avg. CAD
Best CAD
Worst CAD
| Refresh Rate | CAD Heatmap | RT Chart | Pursuit Photo |
| 143 | Heatmap | Chart | Photo |
| 120 | Heatmap | Chart | Photo |
| 100 | Heatmap | Chart | Photo |
| 80 | Heatmap | Chart | Photo |
| 60 | Heatmap | Chart | Photo |
This monitor has good motion handling across its refresh rate range with VRR enabled. Its motion handling is extremely consistent with the 'Normal' and 'Fast' Response Time overdrive settings, which is ideal if your game's frame rate varies a lot, but there's still some motion blur. The 'Fastest' overdrive setting has such a high CAD that it exceeds the limits of the default chart, though it's visible in an alternative chart.
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7.5 Motion
Compliance @ Max Hz
Compliance @ 120 FPS
Compliance @ 60 FPS
The refresh rate compliance is good. The 'Normal' and 'Fast' overdrive settings have the most consistent compliance across the refresh rate range. The response time isn't fast enough to make full-color transitions before the monitor draws the next frame.
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7.4 Motion
OD Transition Max Refresh Rate
Recommended Overdrive Setting
Avg. CAD
Best 10% CAD
Worst 10% CAD
| Overdrive Mode | CAD Heatmap | RT Chart | Pursuit Photo |
| Normal | Heatmap | Chart | Photo |
| Fast | Heatmap | Chart | Photo |
| Fastest | Heatmap | Chart | Photo |
The CAD at the max refresh rate of 144Hz is decent. There's a moderate amount of blur, even with the 'Fast' overdrive setting. The other settings are slightly blurrier, and 'Fastest' has inverse ghosting.
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Motion
Recommended Overdrive Setting
First Response Time
Total Response Time
RGB Overshoot
Worst 10% First Response Time
Worst 10% Total Response Time
Worst 10% RGB Overshoot
| Overdrive Mode | First Response Heatmap | Total Response Heatmap | RGB Overshoot Heatmap |
| Normal | Heatmap | Heatmap | Heatmap |
| Fast | Heatmap | Heatmap | Heatmap |
| Fastest | Heatmap | Heatmap | Heatmap |
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7.5 Motion
OD Transition 120Hz
Recommended Overdrive Setting
Avg. CAD
Best 10% CAD
Worst 10% CAD
| Overdrive Mode | CAD Heatmap | RT Chart | Pursuit Photo |
| Normal | Heatmap | Chart | Photo |
| Fast | Heatmap | Chart | Photo |
| Fastest | Heatmap | Chart | Photo |
The CAD at 120Hz is good, and fast-moving objects are slightly blurry. The recommended overdrive setting is still 'Fast,' as the other settings are slightly blurrier, and 'Fastest' has inverse ghosting.
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Motion
Recommended Overdrive Setting
First Response Time
Total Response Time
RGB Overshoot
Worst 10% First Response Time
Worst 10% Total Response Time
Worst 10% RGB Overshoot
| Overdrive Mode | First Response Heatmap | Total Response Heatmap | RGB Overshoot Heatmap |
| Normal | Heatmap | Heatmap | Heatmap |
| Fast | Heatmap | Heatmap | Heatmap |
| Fastest | Heatmap | Heatmap | Heatmap |
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7.5 Motion
OD Transition 60Hz
Recommended Overdrive Setting
Avg. CAD
Best 10% CAD
Worst 10% CAD
| Overdrive Mode | CAD Heatmap | RT Chart | Pursuit Photo |
| Normal | Heatmap | Chart | Photo |
| Fast | Heatmap | Chart | Photo |
| Fastest | Heatmap | Chart | Photo |
The CAD at 60Hz is good, and fast-moving objects look slightly blurry. Unlike at 120Hz, the recommended overdrive is 'Fastest' as it has the fastest response time and almost no overshoot if you start the game at 60Hz.
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Motion
Recommended Overdrive Setting
First Response Time
Total Response Time
RGB Overshoot
Worst 10% First Response Time
Worst 10% Total Response Time
Worst 10% RGB Overshoot
| Overdrive Mode | First Response Heatmap | Total Response Heatmap | RGB Overshoot Heatmap |
| Normal | Heatmap | Heatmap | Heatmap |
| Fast | Heatmap | Heatmap | Heatmap |
| Fastest | Heatmap | Heatmap | Heatmap |
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Motion
Backlight Strobing (BFI)
Maximum Frequency
Minimum Frequency
Longest Pulse Width Brightness
Shortest Pulse Width Brightness
Pulse Width Control
Pulse Phase Control
Pulse Amplitude Control
VRR At The Same Time
This monitor has an optional backlight strobing feature to reduce image persistence. It only functions when the monitor's refresh rate is 120Hz or 144Hz, and it doesn't work if VRR is enabled. You can't adjust the monitor's brightness when it's on. Enabling backlight strobing results in image duplication. You can also see this at 120Hz.
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LEARN ABOUT BACKLIGHT STROBING (BFI)
9.0 Motion
Dark Gray Flicker
Middle Gray Flicker
Light Gray Flicker
This monitor has no noticeable VRR flicker with changing frame rates, which is fantastic for gaming.
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10 Motion
Flicker-Free
PWM Dimming Frequency
The backlight remains flicker-free at all brightness levels, which helps reduce eye strain if you're sensitive to flicker.
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LEARN ABOUT IMAGE FLICKER
8.6 Inputs
Native Resolution @ Max Hz
Native Resolution @ 120Hz
Native Resolution @ 60Hz
Backlight Strobing (BFI)
This monitor has low input lag for a responsive feel while gaming.
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LEARN ABOUT INPUT LAG
8.8 Inputs
Native Resolution
Aspect Ratio
Megapixels
Pixel Density
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LEARN ABOUT RESOLUTION
10 Inputs
4k @ 120Hz
4k @ 60Hz
1440p @ 120Hz
1440p @ 60Hz
1080p @ 120Hz
1080p @ 60Hz
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10 Inputs
4k @ 120Hz
4k @ 60Hz
1440p @ 120Hz
1440p @ 60Hz
1080p @ 120Hz
1080p @ 60Hz
The Xbox doesn't support HDR with 1440p or 1080p signals, so this isn't a limitation of the monitor.
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Inputs
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Inputs
DisplayPort
Mini DisplayPort
HDMI
HDMI 2.1 Rated Speed
DVI
VGA
Daisy Chaining
3.5mm Audio Out
3.5mm Audio In
HDR10
3.5mm Microphone In
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Inputs
USB-A Ports
USB-A Rated Speed
USB-B Upstream Port
USB-C Ports
USB-C Upstream
USB-C Rated Speed
USB-C Power Delivery
USB-C DisplayPort Alt Mode
Thunderbolt
The MSI 274UPF has a USB-C port that supports DisplayPort Alt Mode to display an image from a compatible device. The USB-C port supplies 65W of power, which is enough to charge many laptops while they're operating. You can connect the monitor's USB-B port to another computer and use the monitor's KVM switch to use your keyboard, mouse, and monitor with two different computers.
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Inputs
| Connection | HDMI 2.0 | HDMI 2.1 | USB-C |
| Max Refresh Rate | 60Hz | 144Hz | 144Hz |
| VRR Range | N/A | 48-120Hz | 48-144Hz |
| HDR | Yes | Yes | Yes |
This monitor works well with macOS. When using a MacBook, windows return to their original position when reopening the lid or waking the laptop up from sleep. Additionally, the KVM switch works well on macOS. VRR also works well, though the max refresh rate with HDMI 2.1 is 120Hz with VRR on. Additionally, colors in HDR look quite washed out.
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LEARN ABOUT MACOS COMPATIBILITY
Features
Speakers
RGB Illumination
Multiple Input Display
KVM Switch
The MSI MAG274UPF comes with a few extra features, including:
- Gaming Intelligence: Lets you use your mouse and keyboard to configure the monitor.
- Low Blue Light: Decreases blue light output to help reduce eye strain.
- HDCR: Enhances image quality by increasing the contrast of images.
- Image Enhancement: Enhances image edges to improve their acutance.
- Smart Crosshair: Overlays crosshairs to assist with aiming.
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Features
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