The expression "having your cake and eating it too" is puzzling in the sense that what on earth are you going to do besides cake? Nevertheless, if we were to bake this sentiment into a PC monitor made for esports, it would be MSI's Optix MAG274QRF.

Regularly priced at $399.99, it has been reduced to $354.99 on Amazon, the lowest price ever at the retailer, according to CamelCamelCamel's price tracking history. Still not cheap by any means, but a good price given the specs.

The 27-inch 1440p (2560x1440) display features what MSI calls a "Rapid IPS" panel; IPS displays typically offer better visuals than TN panels, but not necessarily faster. In this case, however, it boasts a 1ms response time and a 165Hz refresh rate. It also supports G-Sync.

In short, it combines the smooth visuals that can keep up with powerful graphics cards outputting triple-digit frame rates with the image quality characteristics of IPS, including wide viewing angles (178° horizontal and vertical).

Less interesting is the HDR-Ready stamp, with a modest brightness level of 300 nits. While this is fine for competitive gaming, it is not bright enough to properly display HDR content on an LCD screen. In any case, HDR is largely irrelevant for esports, so it is not a major issue.

Connectivity options include one DisplayPort 1.4 input, two HDMI 2.0b ports, a USB-C port (DisplayPort alternative), and a built-in USB 2.0 hub (2 ports).

A word of caution - do not confuse this monitor with MSI's Optix MAG274QRF-QD. "QD" is a slightly upgraded model with quantum dot technology and 97% DCI-P3 color space coverage instead of 94%. It is not yet available on Amazon, but Newegg and B&H Photo sell it for $449.99.