CES 2019: MSI monitors and lighting GeForce card

MSI has a few new goodies coming out of the show and I was able to get a nice tour through their booth at the Venetian.

Ultrawides seem to be the craze at the show and MSI has one of their own Optix MPG341CQR is a 34-inch curved WQHD VA panel that can run up to 144Hz and is FreeSync compatible. Something unique that MSI is bringing to the table though is that the monitor has a camera on the bottom part of the bezel to allow for Windows Hello sign in or streaming and there's going to be voice command support so you can control some aspects of the monitor by talking to it. At the bottom are some RGB LEDs if you want to add a little bit of color to your gamespace.

On the back is a mini-joystick so rather than having buttons for the OSD, you can cycle through the selections using the 4 way directional joystick. On the right side is a little mouse cable organizer so you can route it in the little springy attachment to tidy up your desk area. Expect it to come out in Q2 for around $900.

A more E-Sports type of monitor is the Oculus NXG21R, which is TN panel that has a 1920x1080 resolution at 24.5-inches. This one though can go up to 240Hz and supports G-SYNC. It has very thin bezels and also has RGB lighting. To help with your eyes, MSI has incorporated some tech to reduce the blue lighting and reduce flickering. There wasn't a price or a release window given for this one, but it should appeal to the hardcore gamers when it's released.

MSI had their variations of GeForce RTX 2060 cards on display and they are one of the partners that opted not to put in a VRLINK connection in theirs. They had two variants with the Twin Frozr 7 sporting two TORX 3.0 fans and a denser heat sink than the Ventus 6G OC card. Another difference is thst the Twin Frozr 7 card features MSI's Mystic Lighting, something the Ventus doesn't have.

Finally, MSI had a new GeForce RTX 2080 card on display with a small OLED screen and RGB fans. The GeForce RTX 2080 TI Lighting Z card features a three slot design with a solid carbon backing to ensure that the card doesn't flex or bend. The three TORX 3.0 fans can light up in multiple colors while you can use the onboard OLED screen to output information about your system. You're going to need to plug three 8-pin power connectors to power this massive card and it also comes with a bracket that can sit underneath the card to help hold it up. 

All told, MSI had some great products on hand and some unique offerings to give gamers a lot to choose from when customizing their desktop.