MSI Optix G251F monitor – Specs, Pros / Cons: Almost Great! Yes, Almost.

LaptopMedia.com Reviews and Analysis MSI Optix G251F monitor - Specs, Pros / Cons: Almost Great! Yes, Almost.

From: Severin Kolakov 09 February 2024 / 18:34 | 0

Gaming monitors are the best monitors, regardless of what you’re doing. They often bring very high color coverage, as games need to look good, while our Display Profiles quickly take care of the color accuracy, making every gaming monitor ready for professional color-sensitive work.

One such case is the MSI Optix G251F that we have today. It’s a great gaming monitor, however, its specs also show that MSI was thinking about it with their Creator hat on, as IPS panels are usually more color-accurate. And what do we have here, a 24.5-inch Full HD IPS Panel with a 165Hz refresh rate, a 1ms Grey-to-Grey response time, and even G-Sync support, for the best gaming experience possible.

There’s something else too, but we’ll save it for a bit later. All we can tell you is that this is a great pickup for both gamers and creators, as we manage to calibrate the monitor so it stays accurate. You can buy our profiles RIGHT HERE.

You can check the current price of the MSI Optix G251F here: Buy from Amazon.com.au (#CommissionsEarned)

Specs sheet, Assembly, Drivers, Design, Connectivity
Display quality, Buy our profiles, Verdict

Specs sheet, Assembly, Drivers, Design, Connectivity

Screen size	24.5 inch (62.23 cm)
Refresh rate	165Hz
Response time	1ms
Panel type	IPS
Backlight type	LED
Screen finish	Matte
Resolution	1920 x 1080 (Full HD)
Technologies	Contrast ratio: 1 000:1 (Static) Brightness: 400cd/m² Viewing angles: H/V° 178/178 Tilt: -5 to 20° VESA mount: 100×100 Measurements (with stand): 557.3x 405.18 x 228.42 mm
I/O	1x HDMI 2.0b 1x DisplayPort 1.2a 1x USB 3.2 Gen1 Type-B 2x USB 3.2 Gen1 Type-A 1x Audio jack

What’s in the box? Assembly

Drivers

The driver package is available on MSI’s Support Page. There isn’t anything more than the driver, so no fancy monitor control software or anything else.

Design and Connectivity

While MSI brags about its Frameless Design, which should mean very small or virtually no bezels. However, once you fire it up you can definitely see the bezels and the rendered images on MSI’s website are a bit misleading. Still, bezels aren’t all that important and we’re grasping at straws. Realistically, the monitor is well put together, with a wide stand that’s able to support the weight. At 24.5 inches, this is still a compact screen, so the Full HD resolution still offers a detailed image.

The port selection is also quite wide, which is surprising to see on a more affordable monitor. You get an HDMI port and a Display Port, as well as two USB Type-A ports. There’s a single USB Type-B port, which transfers the signal from the monitor Type-A ports to your PC, as well as an audio jack.

Display quality, Buy our profiles, Verdict

Before getting to the color coverage and accuracy, we want to highlight the VESA certified DisplayHDR400, which promises a max brightness of 400 nits. According to VESA’s website (if you don’t know, VESA is the governing and standards body for the entire video electronics industry), it offers 8-bit colors, complete sRGB coverage, as well as a Black-Level luminance at 0.4 nits. This means that the black color of the monitor will always be no brighter than 0.4 nits.

The monitor also brings G-Sync support, for tear-free gameplay at any framerate. The range of the technology starts at 30 fps and goes to the maximum refresh rate of the monitor, which in this case is 165Hz.

The correlated color temperature on a white screen after a Factory Reset in sRGB mode is 6790K (Luminance 150 cd/m2 at 20% Brightness). The average gamma value is 2.18.

Color coverage

Here’s an illustration (Fig. 1). The whole “sail-shaped” map below consists of all the colors we can see, while the black crooked line shows all the colors from real-world scenes and nature around us.

Then, we’ve drawn some of the most important and interesting color spaces, compared to the colors the panel of MSI Optix G251F can show:

Standard/For Web: sRGB – widely used color space for most consumer devices, ideal for Web design and development
For Print: AdobeRGB – used in professional photo editing, graphic design, and print
For Photographers/Video Editors: DCI-P3 – used in high-end film production, post-production, and digital cinema
Premium HDR: Rec.2020 – the widest consumer ITU color standard, covering a massive 75.8% of the visible spectrum, a benchmark for premium HDR content

MSI Optix G251F: the yellow dashed triangle (– – – – – –) represents the range of colors this monitor can display. In our tests, we calculated the total color coverage of the monitor at 96% of the sRGB color gamut, as well as 80% of the DCI-P3 color gamut.

(Fig.1) MSI Optix G251F covers 96% of the Web colors (sRGB)

This means that if the MSI Optix G251F tries to show any color outside of its triangle, it will show the closest color to it that’s inside the triangle.

Color accuracy

Now let’s see how big is the difference between the real colors and the one you’ll see on the MSI Optix G251F. We measure that distance in DeltaE – the bigger the number, the more different they look.

For the next illustration, we’ve chosen 24 common colors like dark and light skin, blue sky, green grass, etc.

Values below 2.0 are considered suitable for color-sensitive work. Before our calibration of the MSI Optix G251F, the Average color accuracy was 2.6 dE (Fig. 2), and with our Web Design and Office Work profile, it lowered to 1.5 dE (Fig. 3). This is a great increase in accuracy of exactly 1.85x. Our profile makes the monitor ready for professional color-work.

(Fig. 2) MSI Optix G251F in its factory condition

(Fig. 3) MSI Optix G251F with our display profiles

Comparison in the Display P3 color space (primaries and D65 white point specified in ITU-R BT.709, sRGB encoding curve).

Left: No Profile | Drag the slider to see the difference | Right: Design & Gaming Profile

Health-Guard eliminates the harmful Pulse-Width Modulation (PWM) and reduces the negative Blue Light which affects our eyes and body. Since it’s custom-tailored for every panel, it manages to keep the colors perceptually accurate (they may seem strange at first but after a few minutes our brain will start recognizing them as accurate ones – that’s how Health-Guard differs from alternatives like f.lux).

Pro Tip: As the Health-Guard profile simulates paper and has as accurate as possible colors, it could be a great tool for prepress designers!

Left: No Profile | Drag the slider to see the difference | Right: Health-Guard Profile

Gaming and Movies

We also have a third Gaming and Movies profile, which regulates the black colors, making dark areas in games and movies appear more visible, thus giving you a better viewing experience. Shooting at your opponent first can be a make-or-break moment, so make sure you’re best prepared with our profile.

Left: No Profile | Drag the slider to see the difference | Right: Design & Gaming Profile

BUY OUR DISPLAY PROFILES

Since our profiles are tailored for each individual display model, this article and its respective profile package are meant for the MSI Optix G251F.

*Should you have problems with downloading the purchased file, try using a different browser to open the link you’ll receive via e-mail. If the download target is a .php file instead of an archive, change the file extension to .zip or contact us at [email protected].

In addition to receiving efficient and health-friendly profiles, by buying LaptopMedia's products you also support the development of our labs, where we test devices in order to produce the most objective reviews possible.

Office Work

Office Work should be used mostly by users who spend most of the time looking at pieces of text, tables or just surfing. This profile aims to deliver better distinctness and clarity by keeping a flat gamma curve (2.20), native color temperature and perceptually accurate colors.

$9.90 BUY NOW

Design and Gaming

This profile is aimed at designers who work with colors professionally, and for games and movies as well. Design and Gaming takes display panels to their limits, making them as accurate as possible in the sRGB IEC61966-2-1 standard for Web and HDTV, at white point D65.

$9.90 BUY NOW

Health-Guard

Health-Guard eliminates the harmful Pulse-Width Modulation (PWM) and reduces the negative Blue Light which affects our eyes and body. Since it’s custom tailored for every panel, it manages to keep the colors perceptually accurate. Health-Guard simulates paper so the pressure on the eyes is greatly reduced.

$9.90 BUY NOW

Get all 3 profiles with 33% discount

$19.90 BUY NOW

Verdict

The MSI Optix G251F qualifies as both a gaming monitor and a creator monitor. It honestly excels at both. The gaming features make it great for both single-player and esports titles too, as the fast refresh rate, quick response time, and G-Sync support make it so good for fast-paced games where reaction times are crucial. G-Sync is probably the best anti-tearing technology out there, reducing input lag and display stutter as much as possible.

As for the Creator capabilities of the Optix, they are good by themselves, all the while improving the gaming experience, as your games will look better and be more immersive. The monitor shows 96% sRGB coverage, while our Display Profiles manage to improve the accuracy well enough that it reaches a dE value of 1.5, which is well under the 2.0 margin that’s considered accurate for this type of work.

Our Display profiles are not done, however, as they take care of Gaming, Entertainment, and Health too. The Gaming and Movies profile is there to regulate shadows and dark colors, bringing out more detail from certain shadowed and darker scenes, both in games and movies. As for the Health-Guard, it keeps PWM (flickering) and Blue light emissions to a minimum, which is great for your eyes.

You can check the current price of the MSI Optix G251F: Buy from Amazon.com.au (#CommissionsEarned)