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Our main test involves using an X-Rite i1 Display Pro Plus colorimeter and utilising Portrait Display's Calman Ultimate software. The device sits on top of the screen while the software generates colour tones and patterns, which it compares against predetermined values to work out how accurate the screen is.
The results show:
- A monitor’s maximum brightness in candelas or cd/m2 at various levels set in the OSD.
- A monitor’s contrast ratio at various brightness levels in the OSD.
- Gamut coverage, primarily focusing on sRGB and DCI-P3 colour spaces.
- Greyscale accuracy, measured across 20 shades, with an average colour balance reported.
- The exact gamma levels, with a comparison against preset settings in the OSD.
- The colour accuracy, expressed as a Delta E ratio, with a result under 3 being fine for normal use, and under 2 being great for colour-accurate design work.
We first run these tests with the display in its out-of-the-box state, with all settings on default. If there is an sRGB emulation option or other useful mode then we may test that too. We then calibrate the screen using the Calman Ultimate software and run the tests again.
You can read more about our test methodology HERE.
Default settings
Brightness and Contrast (Full Screen)
| OSD Brightness | White Luminance (cd/m2) | Black Luminance (cd/m2) | Contrast Ratio |
| 0% | 29.6 | 0.00 | ~Infinite |
| 25% | 94.3 | 0.00 | ~Infinite |
| 50% | 161.7 | 0.00 | ~Infinite |
| 75% | 222.3 | 0.00 | ~Infinite |
| 100% | 254.9 | 0.00 | ~Infinite |
Kicking things off with brightness and contrast testing, it is worth clarifying that we did select the User mode for this test – out of the box, the MPG 271QRX defaults to the Eco mode which caps brightness slightly lower than what can be achieved with the User mode.
Still, the results are about as expected – we see a peak brightness of just over 250 nits, while the minimum of 30 nits is impressive.
Luminance is also very steady regardless of the window size (APL). Some OLED (usually WOLED) monitors will show a noticeable drop off in brightness as the window size gets bigger, even in SDR, but that is not the case for the 271QRX.
Gamut (CIE 1976)
| Colour space | Coverage |
| sRGB | 138.5% |
| DCI-P3 | 99.2% |
| Adobe RGB | 96.8% |
| Rec.2020 | 80.4% |
We see extremely very wide gamut coverage due to the QD-OLED panel, it well exceeds the sRGB space and delivers 99,2% coverage of DCI-P3, alongside 96.8% reporting of the AdobeRGB colour space. Rec.2020 coverage is also decent, hitting 80.4%.
Greyscale
Moving onto greyscale testing, out of the box the 271QRX delivers solid results, with an average dE 2000 of 2.64. My sample does have a slightly warm average Correlated Colour Temperature (CCT) of 6042K, something we also observed from the 321URX. Gamma tracking is generally fine too, averaging 2.18, though it is slightly too low in the brighter shades.
Thankfully there is user-adjustable white balance available, and I got significantly improved results simply by lowering the red balance from 100 down to 96, with the green channel at 98. That resulted in an average dE 2000 of just 1.14 which is fantastic, with a improved average CCT of 6464K, too.
Saturation
In terms of saturation, given just how wide the monitor's gamut is, it's no surprise that we see quite a bit of over-saturation relative to the sRGB space.
Things do look better relative to the DCI-P3 colour space however, with an average dE 2000 of 2.14.
Colour Accuracy
That has knock on effects for colour accuracy, relative to the sRGB, which is fairly poor with an average dE 2000 of 4.88.
Once again, if we compare to the DCI-P3 space instead, the result do improve, with a new dE 2000 of 2.57.
sRGB Emulation Mode
For those working in the sRGB colour space, it's good to see MSI includes an sRGB emulation mode, which does a good job at clamping the gamut as we can see here.
This mode didn't correct the slightly warm colour balance we saw in the out of the box settings (and colour balance settings are locked down when the sRGB mode is applied), but it has improved gamma tracking to almost flawless levels, and the overall greyscale dE of 2.01 is decent.
Saturation accuracy is also much improved, with an average dE 2000 of just 1.32, compared to 4.15 using the out of the box settings.
Likewise, colour accuracy has come on tremendously, with a new average dE 2000 of 1.22, making this one of the best sRGB modes I have ever used.
Calibrated results
We also put the 271QRX though a full calibration using Calman Ultimate. This delivered almost flawless greyscale and gamma tracking, while average dE for our saturation sweeps dropped to just 0.59, while colour accuracy also posted the exact same average result.
