windwithme

Starting from 2011, MSI had been serious about the gaming market and studied the field for years. As long as it’s been through, as much as it can get for the brand awareness and richness in product lines. GT series is mainly for high-end extreme performance position while GE series is taking the mainstream line. The one which personally appreciated is the GS series, packed with high performance hardware but made with slim-shape looking. This time we would like to share the review for new coming MSI GS63VR 7RG Stealth Pro. The dimension is 380x249x17.7mm, weight is around 1.89kgw. By packing the latest Max-Q Nvidia GPU, thickness of GS63VR’s is below 18mm to fit the regulation. It’s hard to believe it belongs to high performance position by its slim shape in 15.6 inch laptops. Let’s take a look at the A cover, it’s made by brush metal and aligned with dual muscle lines like the racing car’s hood to enforce its speedy scene. Still remembering the sharing of GS70 in 2004, the design only appeared to flat one. In addition, I am highly appreciated this colorful picture with shinning sunshine on the GS63VR. Let’s check the dragon logo plate on the A side, it’s been made by Corning 8H glass and modified little bit by removing the black “Gaming G Series†wording. It glows during the booting and seems more elegant than previous design. Then we check the B side which is surrounding the LCD. Above the screen area will find the 720P 30fps webcam, with dual digital microphone aside. This matte 15.6 LCD panel here is featuring 120Hz/3ms with 94% NTSC color gamut. Black brush metal is surrounding the keyboard area, we can say the design idea of C side is same as A side. The Steelseries RGB gaming keyboard, as usual, have been adopted to MSI high-end laptops with Silver-Lining Print. When there is request to change the color scenario, you have to use the Steelseries Engine software to handle it. The tactile has been evolved and feels better than previous generation. The left-right click on touch pad have been form as one piece, surrounded the red diamond cut design to show its elegancy. Right hand side of the touch pad would be the feature stickers to show those main features and technology of GS63VR. Front of the C side set 7 red indicating lights, starting from the left which are “Sleepâ€, â€Storage accessâ€, “Numpadâ€, “Caps lockâ€, “Blue toothâ€, “Wi-Fiâ€, and “Batteryâ€. A slightly change of the power button, which had been moved to the edge of C side since last year, it will be initiated by pressing deeply more than one second to prevent the booting of accidentally touch. One of the advantages of GS63VR is the 180 degree of the flip angle. The tiny holes on the upper area of C side are designed for air flow, not the space for speaker sound. And there is LED indicator in the middle to show the figure of power button, looks special while booting and experiencing it. Right hand side of the machine can see the IO area, from the left hand side which are power button \ USB2.0 \ Thunderbolt 3(usb3.1) \ HDMI \ mini DisplayPort \ power connector. IO on the left hand side of the machine, starting from the left which are Kensington lock \ RJ45 connector \ SD card reader (XC/HC) \ USB 3.0 x3 Gold plated audio hole for 3.5mm Hi-Fi headset and microphone, especially the headset supports ESS SABRE HIFI technology.

Tom Clancy’s Rainbow Six Siege 1920x1080, graphics in Ultra Starting screen – 117FPS Compared to previously tested 970M – 48 FPS, GTX980 -112FPS Assassin’s Creed Sundicate 1920x1080, graphic preset is ultra high Starting screen – 37 FPS These past 2 years, INTEL and NVIDIA have started implementing their products into notebooks because of the emerging demand for high performance gaming notebooks. Though it is true the performance has increased, it brought about even higher unwanted heat and higher power consumption; and this has always been the biggest challenge for notebook manufacturers to overcome. Take GT62VR for example, it has GTX1060 for high 3D rendering, outperforming GTX970 and GTX980M. GTX1060 doesn’t fall short of GTX980 either, few games even benefits more from the new GPU infrastructure. GeForce GTX 10 Series has increased over efficiency and performance, bringing gaming notebooks a new meaning of high 3D rendering performance. windwithme opened up GT62VR 6RD DOMINATOR the bottom chassis to share the internal layout and its components. Left side are 2 slots for DDR 2400 and a subwoofer; below the keyboard are two DDR4 slots that came with 2x 16GB Bottom left is the M.2 SSD, bottom right is the 2.5inch SATA3 HDD On top is MSI’s new generation Cooler Boost 4 cooling module Left and right side are embedded with Cooler Boost 4 twin fans design. Fans are 8cm in diameter and 1.5cm in height. Copper heat pipes have been coated black and made thicker with extra materials, so as to help GT62VR with improved thermal management. 3 copper heat pipes attached to the i7-6700HQ, and 4 copper heat pipes for the GTX 1060 for the optimal thermal design. This type of cooling module and thermal design in the gaming notebook market is currently one of the best and the most efficient. As a result, the notebook might be a little bulkier, but let’s just call this a fair trade-off wouldn’t you think Room temperature roughly 29 Deg Celsius, attempting thermal test First off is the NVIDIA GTX 1060 Shutting off Cooler Boost 4, opening FurMark and we got 49 Deg Celsius on standby and 80 on full speed Turning on Cooler Boost 4, opening FurMark and we got 44 Deg Celsius on standby and 69 on full speed Thanks to Cooler Boost 4, GTX1060 temperature can decrease at roughly 5 Deg Celsius in standby and 11 Deg Celsius at full speed CPU standard clocking at 2.6~3.5GHz, power in balance mode Turning off Cooler Boost 4, operate LinX 0.6.5 at full speed – 71~82 Turning on Cooler Boost 4, operate LinX 0.6.5 at full speed – 61~74 During burn test , turning on Cooler Boost 4 helps lower CPU temperature by 8~10 Deg Celsius. Standby mode doesn’t really show the power of the Cooler Boost 4; it is during full speed performance where Cooler Boost 4 really shines. With these high quality hardware, the level of thermal management on GT62VR is exceptionally satisfactory Cooler Boost 4 doesn’t really create a lot of noise, plus it is usually at low frequency, which helps encourage its usage Built with GTX1060 while playing a DVD video, 70% after an hour, 10% after 3 hours. Battery lasts roughly 3 hours, which is still considered adequate for a high end gaming PC Concluding GT62VR 6RD DOMINATOR Its unique appeals and advantages 1.Top Cover A side has 2 strips of glowing red lines, creating that speed sensation 2.Uses NVIDIA GTX 1060, greatly increasing 3D rendering performance 3.Both Wifi and Ethernet uses Killer Gaming Processor, supports Killer Shield 4.Frosted IPS Panel that supports 100% RGB and 72% NTSC; and provides True Color screen customization technology 5.New DRAGON CENTER provides refined and a more intuitive layout for the users 6.Cooler Boost 4 twin fan cooling module with thicker copper heat pipes provide outstanding passive cooling compare to other NB of its category 7.Dynauido technology combined with NAHIMIC 2 audio enhancer, giving that remarkable audio experience 8.Provides 4-DIMM DDR4 slots, clocks at 2400, giving better bandwidth and performance 9.Steelseries Engine 3, RGB management, as well as many other customizable options on the keyboard 10.15.6inch notebook weighin at 2.93kg, lighter than DELL’s Alienware 15’s 3.2kg notebook 1.Chassis could be made a little slimmer, or lower the rubber foot on the bottom might be better 2.SteelSeries keyboards lack feedback and a bit on the soft side. More feedback would feel better 3.WebCam quality could use a little more work 4.B and D sides frosted material could maybe use a little refinement or use a different material to elevate the texture 5.If the ventilation in the back could be made to look similar to the GT72S, with a touch of red strips along the lines, could elevate the overall appeal. Performance ★★★★★★★★★☆ 88/100 Hardware ★★★★★★★★☆☆ 88/100 Specs ★★★★★★★★★☆ 90/100 Appeal ★★★★★★★★☆☆ 80/100 Price ★★★★★★★★☆☆ 82/100 This time around, MSI high end gaming notebooks have earned the reputation of faster product refresh compared to other manufacturers Lots of models are already VR Ready, and have been upgraded to GTX10 Series GPU to increase 3D performance. Furthermore, GT62VR has also improved features like the DRAGON CENTER, Cooler Boost 4, NAHIMIC 2, and more. A side has also been refined to look more sporty, and plus True Color can help with even more screen customization options Many of GT62VR’s advantages are in their internal design and use of components. Externally would be the audio and the design. But personally they could use a little more work on the exterior. Maybe it’s to reduce weight, that they had to sacrifice other aspects to find a balance. These are some of my insights after tested a few high end notebooks. If they don’t mind increasing the weight, and change to more DELL Alienware-like high quality chassis would be helpful as well Afterall, GT is MSI’s top gaming notebook model, primarily focusing on the highest performance capacity; which is why price, weight, and dimensions are relatively higher. But MSI also has the GS for slim and GE for the more affordable options to choose from In the high end market, GT62VR with its aggressive sleek design and quality build, definitely has the competitive edge facing its rivals. This article is also published in the younger brother’s blog: WIND3C, 3D enthusiasts are welcome to visit.

Nahimic 2 Audio Software in recent years has been implemented to all high end MSI gaming notebooks. Settings and customizations have been refined as well; for example, HD Audio Recoder on top right already has a second generation interface When talking about the sound speakers produce, it is often subjective to each individual, which is why we’ll focus on how notebook’s built-in speakers perform. The speakers creates quite a stir when turned on full blast, reaching over 95.2dBA High Frequency – no high pitched sound, detailed sound, outstanding performance overall Mid Frequency – excellent details with outstanding voice clarity Low Frequency – adequate performance, bass isn’t too blend; but mid and high frequency easily overpowers low frequency MSI GT62VR speakers combined with Nahimic 2 audio enhancer perform even better in music, watching movies, or playing games. The immersive sound performance is complementary to the gaming genre. Its specialty is creating a surround-like environment with outstanding clarity, but mid frequency’s voice output still got some room for improvement GT62VR is a high end gaming notebook with several different models already been pushed out. Today’s test will be using a higher model GT62VR 6RD Dominator 013TW. However, there’s a rumor that there will be an even higher model GT62VR in the near future, equipped with the latest NVIDIA GTX1070 GPU with INTEL’s 6th Generation i7 Core processor. There’s already been a few models sharing the same CPU performance previously, but let’s quickly walk through 6700HQ CPU’s software performance. CINEBENCH R15 CPU => 673 cb CPU(Single Core) => 138 cb Fritz Chess Benchmark => 25.70/12335 FRYRENDER Running Time => 5m 13s x264 FHD Benchmark => 22.8 Basically high end models carry 4C8T Core i7 architecture, greatly outperforming Core i5, and is quite often seen equipped in high end gaming notebooks. This is usually the more cost effective solution; because though there are more powerful processors such as the 6820HQ or 6920HQ, they cost more and the performance boost doesn’t always justify the cost System Performance PCMARK8 - 4582 DRAM Performance Test DDR4 2394.8 CL17 17-17-39 2T ADIA64 Memory Read - 33613 MB/s Most high end notebooks still use DDR4 clocked at 2133, and MSI’s previous generation Gaming notebooks are no exception. MSI’s new gaming notebooks will increase DDR4 clocking to 2400, increasing bandwidth and performance ADIA64 Memory Read gets a 10~14% bandwidth increase compared to 2133. This upgrade will also marginally increase fps while gaming, though not significant, still worth mentioning for its improvement Storage is one of MSI’s unique features, using their own Super Raid 4 technology SSD with NVMe M.2 interface, TOSHIBA THNSN5256GPU7, using 16nm MLC IC HDD with HGST HTS721010A9E630, performs at 7200 rpm with 1TB capacity AS SSD Benchmark -2372 Seq Read - 2087.97 MB/s Write - 888.82 MB/s 4K - 64Thrd Read - 827.21 MB/s Write - 588.00 MB/s 3DMARK Fire Strike => 9627 Consumers are encouraged to spend a little more money on upgrading their computer components these 2 years. First and foremost should be the GPU; second should be the NVMe infrastructure M.2 SSD which greatly surpasses SATA3’s limitation at 600 MB/s transfer capacity by a significant margin. Of course there is also the U.2 interface that works slightly more efficiently than the M.2, but by a small margin and won’t fit inside a notebook. Ultimately, having NVMe infrastructure M.2 SSD would help transfer data at faster pace There are two GPUs built inside; one is Intel Core i7-6700HQ internal HD Graphics 530; the other one is the NVIDIA GeForce GTX1060 with 6GB GDDR5. Below is the performance test result for the 1060 3DMARK Fire Strike => 9627 Heaven Benchmark 4.0 DX11 1920 X 1080 => FPS 113.8 Call of Pripyat Benchmark Resolution 1920x1080, in Ultra setting, rest are default settings FAR CRY 4 Resolution 1920x1080, 3D rendering in Ultra setting Opening title screen – 173 FPS, opening animation and starting screen – 75FPS 75 FPS compared to previously tested 970M – 48FPS, GTX980 – 83FPS

Left body IO From left, anti-theft lock \ USB 2.0 \ Line-in \ Line-out \ Mic-in \ Headphone-out Right body IO From left, SD(XC/HC)card reader \ 3 x USB 3.0 Rear IO From left, RJ45 Ethernet Port \ Thunderbolt 3 including USB 3.1 \ HDMI \ Mini- Display Port \ Power Jack Both left and right sides consist of large heat-dissipating surfaces GT62VR D side resembles GT72S, applying a sleek red chassis with large surface area. Battery is 8-Cell generating 75.24wHr, but is not detachable The small protruding red square is the woofer And the 5 rubber feet on the bottom helps elevate the notebook by a bit, assisting in heat-dissipation and stability MSI Applications DRAGON CENTER is a proprietary software developed by MSI Latest updates improved interface resolution, also giving a more refined and intuitive layout App Portal tab shows installed software and apps, helps easier access to different features System Monitor displays current hardware status The entire layout is more intuitive and informative compared to the older versions System Tuner Allows users to tweak settings for VR, hardware performance, fan speed, or adjust screen colors. On the left are 5 profiles where you can personalize each one to use in different settings Later we’ll use Shift Mode and set it to Sports for optimal performance, then test how powerful this notebook really is. LED Wizard Though users can already customize their RGB keyboard through SteelSeries Engine 3, MSI designed the DRAGON CENTER to have its own lighting functions MSI TRUE COLOR I am personally quite fond of this technology; it gives users a more elaborate screen color customizations, which is a function that is rare to see in a notebook MSI has 6 preset settings available on the go. Users can freely toggle through different settings to their preference, even allowing them to make detailed adjustments within each presets

This year in the IT world, the most popular trend and the most sought after topic would be the VR application, the so called “age of VR.†Its impact on the PC industry extends all across the gaming world and not just gaming desktop PC and gaming notebook; even its multimedia capability will be influential in future. However, the requirement for the hardware is still considerably high; for PC it will need at least a GTX970, or a GTX980M for the notebook, specifications usually carried in higher end PC. Our test subject for today is MSI’s GT62VR 6RD DOMINATOR. MSI has been working diligently in the gaming market, especially with its notebook products often refreshes faster than its competitors. With NVIDIA’s recent launch for the GTX10 series GPU, MSI also launched numerous models that are VR Ready compatible. After opening the box, we saw the nicely enclosed notebook pack along with a vacuum compressed MSI backpack This backpack made with softer fabric was designed for GT62VR, excelling in comfort but a bit bulky; even after putting a 15.6inch notebook inside, there is still a substantial space to put more items in. Personally I think the backpack looks stylish and yields impeccable comfort after wearing it for some time. GT62VR Accessories Driver CD, quick manual guide, product pamphlet, warranty card, SteelSeries RIVAL 50 mouse, DELTA 230W power adaptor, and power cable. Even with NVIDIA’s new power efficient GPU, it still needs quite a bit of power, hence having a bigger adaptor is inevitable GT62VR is 390 x 266 x 39.8mm in dimensions, weighing at around 2.94kg, which is still quite hefty for a 15.6inch notebook; but it is to be expected from a high performance notebook equipping better components, large heat-sink and fans, speakers, and additional DRAM slots for expansions. Similarly to high end models like Dell Alienware 15, close in dimensions, but GT62VR is still a bit lighter. A side is built with the usual black metallic strips, creating that engine-cap-like design. What’s different from the previous GT62 are the two red strips on each side to accentuate speed, it even lights up as you turn on the machine, greatly increases its already futuristic appeal B side is the 15.6 inch frosted IPS panel, with 1920 x 1080 FHD resolutions. The bezel itself is frosted and with a touch of sparkle to elevate the texture and quality. On top is the 1080P, 30Fps WebCam, and two dual-digital microphones on the sides C side mostly consists of black metallic strips, much like A side. You could see SteelSeries gaming keyboard which is usually used on MSI’s high end models. With silver lining printing keyboards, RGB is highly customizable in terms of colors and lighting patterns. Furthermore, the keypads are soft to touch; but compared to WS72, the latter has more feedback. The left and right buttons below the touchpad are isolated but responsive, and are less likely to mistakenly touch them There are 4 stretched buttons on the top right corner; starting from the right is the power button that emits a white glow when turned on; then the SteelSeries keyboard color switch that enables customized RGB options; next button works much like a sharing/streaming button that allow users to stream real time during gameplay; and the last button is the turbo fan boost, maximizing Cooler Boost 4’s heat dissipating technology 5 indicator lights at the front of C side Starting from left is hard-drive processing, Wi-Fi, battery/charging, Caps ON/OFF, and NumPad ON/OFF The panel can be opened to 180 degree, also one of GT series’ unique features

WS72’s drive C includes SAMSUNG MZVPV128HDGM 128GBX2 M.2 SSD The drive D is HGST HTS721010A9E630 which specs are 7200 RPM and 1 TB capacity for storing files Below is a benchmark test of 128GBX2 M.2 SSD Raid0 on the Drive C AS SSD Benchmark - 2448 Seq Read - 2752.91 MB/s Write - 1301.17 MB/s 4K - 64Thrd Read - 977.29 MB/s Write - 307.52MB/s CrystalDiskMark Seq Read - 3183MB/s Write - 1357MB/s ATTO DISK Benchmark, when exceeding 32k on the above test, can show the read speed equal to 3330Mb/s and the write speed equal to 1378MB/s WS72 includes MSI SUPER RAID4 technology which is when two M.2 SSD cards are run in Raid0 mode. With high-performance M.2 SSD you can boost the read/write performance speed while with SATA3 it’s hard to achieve such a bandwidth. It’s said that the read speed can be as high as 3300MB/s. It’s also certainly achievable according to ATTO. CrystalDiskMark also shows close number: 3200. MSI equipped with a conventional large-capacity HDD which is indeed good as it expands the storage space. If SSD price continues to decrease in the future, with the internal space of 512GB or higher it won’t be really necessary to embed HDD. The notebook will then be even lighter. With room temperature about 32 degrees, proceeding to CPU cooling capacity test. The CPU being at a preset value of 2.8~3.7GHz, GPU running with Quadro M2000M, with power supply on the turbo mode. With Cooler Boost 3 used as a cooling technology, the system’s idle temperature is about 39~42. AIDA64 System Stability Test - 81~89 WS72’s outer shell’s temperature feels a bit higher than the notebooks made from other materials. This is because thermal conduction on metal body is more direct and more evident. With embedded 4C8T Architecture’s Xeon which is the same Core i7 CPU’s, CPU temperature is only 42 degrees in standby mode thanks to outstanding cooling capacity. However, it doesn’t exceed 90 degrees when CPU is running at its full speed, which is comparable with many thick-body notebooks’ thermal modules. In fact, WS72’s cooling capacity is already at a high level. It involves up to 5 heat pipes to enhance heat dissipation. Also, the noise produced by the radiator can be considered to be partially muted. Moreover, at the low frequencies, the sound doesn’t feel uncomfortable either. Battery life endurance, Windows 10 at a balanced power. After playing DVD video on WS72 for 90 minutes, the battery will be at about 50%. After 120 minutes, there will be about 33% power left. Maximum usage can be for around 3 hours. With such a high-end hardware, 4K resolution screen consumes more power then FHD. WS72’s life endurance is therefore about average which is considered as a very good battery performance. Summary of WS72 6QJ’s advantages and disadvantages Pros of features and advantages: 1.Regarding the external ID design and the shell texture, the notebook’s thickness and weight are truly outstanding. 2.Equipped Intel Xeon CPU and ECC DDR4 enhance stability which is workstation’s requirement. 3.4K high resolution IPS matte panel features 100% NTSC color gamut and 100% Adobe RGB color correction. 4.True color correction technology and a variety of adaptive modes provide more accurate colors. 5.After the evolution of SteelSeries keyboards, the keys’ force feedback feeling is of a high standard among notebooks. 6.Single speaker sound level brings clear audio experience to users. 7.High-speed 256GB M.2 SSD and 1TB HDD provide both performance and capacity. 8.3-year factory warranty is higher than usual gaming notebook’s 2-year warranty. Cons for future improvements 1.Due to the thin metal body design, users in summer will feel that the laptop’s temperature is slightly higher. 2.Backpack looks like the one from Gaming series. 3.Although the front camera captures at a high level, there’s still a room for quality improvement. Performance ★★★★★★★★☆☆ 89/100 Material ★★★★★★★★★☆ 90/100 Specification ★★★★★★★★☆☆ 88/100 ID design ★★★★★★★★★☆ 92/100 C/P value ★★★★★★★☆☆☆ 77/100 WS72 workstation also includes MSI’ unique gaming technologies and specifications. It’s worth a credit since individuals used to use DELL or HP workstation. It terms of audio and keyboard, it’s still graded as a usual notebook, there’s nothing particular to highlight. Of course, graphics card or Xeon CPU with ECC RAM are workstation’s all requirements. MSI also has an advantage in its panel calibration. The default colors are bright yet accurate. It provides a great help and comfort for working or designing which sounds very impressive to people at first glance. WS72 also has some lower-price versions with Core i7, common DDR4 and 1080P panel. If there’s no demand for high-level hardware, then it also represents a good budget-based choice, even though 3D graphics machines are all in the high-end market. With every update MSI has been showing some progress or introducing new technology and of course there are some weaknesses or disadvantages. However, there’s an obvious significant progress comparing to GS70 from the previous generation. This is a good and a positive cycle. In terms of visuals and audio, WS72 looks very competitive to windwithme. After all, a combination of gaming background and workstation make it an excellent notebook. This article is also published in the younger brother’s blog: WIND3C 3D enthusiasts are welcome to visit.

FRYRENDER Running Time => 5m 06s x264 FHD Benchmark => 22.9 PCMARK8 – 3268 Intel Xeon E3-1505M v5 vs. Core i7 performance comparison The clock performance and SmartCache are higher than i7-6700HQ. Xeon CPU performance generally has a more stable high performance in consumers’ eyes. In addition, it can be equipped with ECC DRAM, which is a required option for workstation’s specifications. DRAM benchmark test DDR4 2132.2 CL15 15-15-36 2T AIDA64 Memory Read - 30154 MB/s Sandra Memory Bandwidth - 24576 MB/s Embedding DDR4 improves clock a lot. Moreover, the bandwidth also improves a lot, thanks to 6th Generation Skylake architecture. Xeon CPU can run with ECC DRAM, even though its bandwidth isn’t much different from the usual DDR4-2133 has. However, stability performance is still the main characteristics of ECC, especially for drawing or work environment. I believe that stability is the first required item, because a system cannot be the reason for business losses due to its crash. As for GPU, WS72 is carrying nVidia Quadro M2000M professional-level graphics card. It’s built-in with 4GB GDDR5. Even though not the highest-end graphics card, its thin shape already looks pretty good for WS72. If you a higher-end graphics card in the notebook, MSI has a thick-body WT72 which can be competent with GT72 version. Below are some testing software made specifically for 3D graphic design to refer to. SPECviewperf12 I saw in some discussions online that SPECviewpefr12 can support DX11. If comparing to 970M, the difference is relatively small. nVidia Quadro graphics card advertised that it has a double-precision floating point architecture. GeForce single precision has a better precision mechanism computing power. Therefore, nVidia Quadro is more suitable for professional more sophisticated computational design. TessMark => 24289 points Comparison with other two, workstation and gaming, notebooks HP HP Zbook Studio G3 with M1000M scores about 17655 points Dell Alienware 15 with GTX 970Mscores about 8834 points The information is misleading as it’s for the integrated GPU. Please, refer to GPU-Z M2000M for the actual information. FluidMark => 1598 points The software can correctly display the information about a dedicated M2000M graphics card. Since nVidia and AMD classify themselves into DirectX and OpenGL, they have their own area of expertise in 3D. Though above there aren’t many pages with benchmark tests, there could be 10-50 pages occupied with different examinations. Using M1000M and GTX 970M simultaneously for performance comparison it would be easier to analyze advantages. Remember how before we would compare a graphics card with a gaming card of the same-level chipset, the gaming card would only display single-digit fps in the testing software. In the regard, the gap was quite large. nVIDIA Quadro M2000M is also able to run such a 3D graphics software such as AutoCad. Certainly, some drawings are in 2D field. However, to use 3D graphics software, having 3D graphics card is a must. There might be quite many people interested in M2000M’s performance in general games. In fact, I’m no exception. 3DMark11 => P5600 3DMARK => 3942 M2000M’s performance is similar to one gaming card of GTX 960M shows. To be able to run heave 3D-level games, it’s just necessary not to set the highest resolution. Then the main work should be carried out by workstation or selected gaming notebooks. So, the performance in gaming should also be on a good level.

On the right side, from left to right: USB3.0 X2 \ SD(XC/HC) \ DC power jack \ Kensington lock slot \ CPU cooling grid D-side also consists of metal-based materials. The number of pads supporting WS72’s button is quite big. The three pads above boost and strengthen the cooling function. The dark purple pad nearby isolates the heat and avoids user’s contact with the hardware design. The hardware warranty is up to 3 years. The built-in battery cannot be dismantled. It holds 5000mAh and is capable of 55.5Wh. The screen can be opened up to about 140 degrees. In terms of its own applications, MSI has increased their number comparing to the past. Apart from some previously existed and revised software, there are now also new applications with other features. In the lower right corner you can find a quick settings app – SYSTEM CONTROL MANAGER. Similarly to a quick selection on a mobile device, you can do relatively rapid adjustments for some commonly used features. KLM is software designed for setting keyboard LED backlighting. There are 6 modes: Normal, Gaming, Breathing, Wave, Dual, Color, Audio. Nowadays many Gaming keyboards have such features which make the keyboards recognizable and change their exterior design. Below is the description of the listening experience. This part is quite subjective, other notebooks built-in speakers are taken as a benchmark. Adjusting the volume to the maximum is considered fairly loud, so there is no need to worry that the speakers will be too quiet. High frequency: The sound isn’t too sharp. Good in deep details, the performance is above average. Middle frequency: Excellent overall clarity in details. The quality of human voice sound is one of the best among high-end models. Low frequency: the low frequency performance is good; bass doesn’t sound too hoarse, even though medium frequency in a too large volume can easily overwhelm the low frequency. The sound quality of WS72 does not reprise of the original feed line, unlike other high-end gaming notebooks with a sense of surround sound or field-based sound Listening to music or songs brings a very good feeling, watching movies or playing games also carries very good performance. In the past, the sound performance of WS72 wasn’t possible to see on a graph. Now the sound performance is even better than on most gaming models. True Color is also screen color calibration software. In the past, many laptops with non-IPS panels had unsatisfactory performance in color reproduction. But even in case of IPS-panels, there was still a room for improvement in color accuracy. MSI is among high-end laptops used by individuals and is brand with certain requirements for the screen colors. In the field of workstation or graphic design, color accuracy is the main condition. One of the modes is sRGB which provides the color correction with nearly 100% sRGB color gamut standard. In total, there are 6 modes: Gamerï¼Anti-Blueï¼sRGBï¼100%AdobeRGBï¼Officeï¼Movie. 100%AdobeRGB provides a function of a more detailed calibration which is even for helpful for professional graphics or image processing. Gamer and 100%AdobeRGB modes differ in details. MSI True Color has already adjusted the settings with adaptive colors. Of course, users can adjust the colors the way they want. Shortcut Manager is also exclusive keyboard software. It mainly allows to assign macro keys and to upload your own settings files. It supports setting shortcuts, text clips, 3 modes of quick start and also 4 features of key disabling function. The comparison of the right side of MSI WS72’s screen during Designer mode and the left side of HP Zbook Studio G3’s screen. When adjusting brightness, both screens look similar, but due to different tones brightness still looks a bit different. You can also see 4K vs 1080p difference in font details, especially if the difference is image size is big. The following are tests of the performance aspects. In this workstation, except for the common 6th Gen. Intel Core i7, there is also a Server-level version of CPU which uses Intel Xeon E3-1505M v5. The specs include: Intel’s latest Skylake architecture, with the base clock is 2.8 GHz, is quad-core and support HT technology, the latest 14 nm processor, TurboBoost automatic overclocking up to 3.7, CM236 chipset, SmartCache of up to 8MB and built-in GPU Intel HD Graphics P530. Hardware benchmark tests CINEBENCH R15 CPU => 664 cb CPU(Single Core) => 144 cb

In the past, it was more common for workstations to position themselves among computers on the PC market. Their built-in graphics card could significantly enhance the level of work efficiency for 3D CAD or video editors. Combining these two working environments’ demands, nearly three years later companies started to produce their workstations as a brand product line. After all, all workstations position themselves as high-end products with the specifications required by the professional users who prepare a certain budget for this kind of product. I’d like to share an overview of MSI WS72 6QJ. As you can see on the box, the logo is different from the Gaming Dragon logo as its light green and “workstation†highlights the product positioning. The large backpack also has the same logo. WS workstation series and the company’s GS series share a high degree of similarity in appearance. They both belong to the slim design product series. Even though the screen size ranges from 15.6†to 17.3â€, small weight and thickness still deliver extraordinary performance. The dimensions are 418.5mm x 287mm x 19.9mm, the weight is found to be about 2,630 gram. It’s lighter than GS72 (2.6 kg) and its thickness is below the one Intel 15-inch Ultrabook’s specifications state (21 mm). WS72 is a great combination of both an Ultrabook’s slim design and high-performance hardware. The backside of the backpack is made of very solid materials. The separator inside is also quite thick. In terms of overall creativity, some individuals may think that there’s still space for improvement and that GS70 looks better. Improved texture and fashionable design would let people like it more. WS72 6QJ Included accessories: CD drivers, Quick Start Guide, Product Features Guide, Two years warranty, DELTA 150W power adapter, power cable, Mini DisplayPort adapter, MSI dedicated mouse. A-side is covered with black brushed metal with a car hood design. Probably due to the materials change, WS72’s metal touch is obviously better than GS70’s. The main design of GS72 from Gaming Series is the same as WS72; the new generation of materials and design are now being introduced. When the laptop is on and in use, the logo illuminates light green enhancing appearance of the texture. B-side is a 17.3-inch screen which is UHD 4K with a resolution of 3840x2160. It features a wide view IPS panel and supports 100% Adobe RGB color gamut which enhances the color accuracy. WebCam with fixed focus lens is FHD 1920X1080p and is capable of recording video at 30fps. The frame is made of matte plastic material. The thickness is within the common scope and seems to be thinner than WS60. As for the internal mechanism these high-end hardware designs are necessary, C and D parts need to have a certain volume to in order to achieve high performance. As a concept of big length and width in the machine, if the length X width dimensions let the frame area be narrowed then it will definitely improve the thickness. WS72 can be this thin and there are no other competitive models which have the same length x width dimensions but are larger in weight. It’s therefore already considered to be a good level product. Most of the C-side is also covered with black brushed metal and is similar to A-side. The actual surface area and the body thickness are similar to Dell Alienware 17. The notebook is equipped with thin full-color Steelseries keyboard which is common for MSI high-end notebooks. The default color is blue. Using the software, users can choose the backlight color they want as well as display color mode. Individuals used to think that Steelseries had soft keys, however this time WS72 has improved the force feedback. In terms of high-end notebook market, WS72 has improved the feeling of typing on a keyboard quite a lot. The power button is in the top center and is illuminated with white during notebook’s use. It’s illuminated with orange or blue when dedicated or integrated graphics card is in use, respectively. The speakers are still by Dynaudio consisting of 2 channel- and 4 usual speakers. Four single speakers are located in the chassis area which is a more special location for the sound to come out. The following paragraph includes detailed comments regarding the sound. The grid above the keyboard is used for cooling, not for the audio. On the bottom left of the C-side there are 7 status indicators. The left are right buttons feel like scissors design. It will take some time to get used to the strength control. Line out \ Line in \ Headphone-out On the left side, from left to right: GPU cooling grid\ RJ45 Gigabit Ethernet \ HDMI \ Mini-DisplayPort X2 \ USB 3.1 X2 \ Line out \ Line in \ Headphone-out

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1STPLAYER Mechanical Keyboard X-SOUND BLUETOOTH SPEAKER Computex Show Girl

C7Z170-OCE CZH170-M CORSAIR DDR4 DONIMATOR PLATINUM. VENGEANCE Series Gaming Mice. Keyboards. Headsets Acer ChromeBook Hello Kitty PC World Tour 2016 HWBOT ASIA Workshop Belgium HWBOT & Taiwan Coolaler Intel Extreme Tuning Utility LN2 OC ASUS Zenfone3 Ultra

X99-Ultra Gaming BIOSTAR PACING P1 129 x 82 x 29.6mm CPU Intel Z8350 Quad Core 1.92G Storage 64GB / Power 20W / RGB LED Controll RACING Z170GT8 RACING H170GTN PHISON SSD Controller IC SATA3 Controller IC PS31109-S9. PS3111-S11T PS3110-S10 support 2TB SSD M.2 Controller IC PS5007-E7 Controller IC support PCI-E GEN3 x4 SSD SuperMicro C7X99-OCE

Computex 2016 MSI GS63 15.6 1.89KG / 17.7mm GS73 Backpack PC& HTC VIVE VR WorkStation WT72 GT73S 17.3 3.95KG / nVIDIA GTX980M SLI GIGABYTE GA-Z170X-Ultra Gaming GA-N3160TN X99-Designare EX BRIX Gaming UHD - GB-BNi7HG4-950

Tom Clancy's Rainbow Six Siege 1920 x 1080, GRAPHICS: Ultra The frame rate right after entering the game - 76FPS When choosing 4K resolution, the frame rate is about 23 FPS. 970M also demonstrates a good performance with 4K resolution, though 3D effects should be reduced to the medium level beforehand. The new GPU generations of GTX 970M or 980M, brings a big improvement in 3D gaming performance. They make the 3D performance gap between Notebook and DeskTop PC is much closer. Even nVIDIA’s newly released Desktop GPU GTX 980 (from the same product line) can be perfectly used by GT72S. According to the performance test data, GTX 970M is more powerful than GTX 780M from the previous generation. First, the price of GT 970N is much lower than 980M; second, its performance is strong enough to support a vast majority of high-end 3D games. This is also the main reason why 970M has been so popular on PC or notebook market since its release in the market. With room temperature about 18 degrees, proceeding to CPU cooling capacity test. The CPU being at a preset value of 2.6~3.5GHz, GPU running with nVIDIA GTX 970M, with power supply on the balance mode, Cooler Boost 3 off, the system’s temperature on standby mode is about 42~44 degrees. Set Cooler Boost 3 on, the system’s idle temperature is about - 31~33. The temperature difference on the standby mode with Cooler Boost 3 off or on is about 11 degrees. Set the Cooler Boost 3 off, LinX 0.6.5 discovers CPU temperature to be 66~71 degrees. With the Cooler Boost 3 on, LinX 0.6.5 discovers CPU temperature to be 58~62 degrees. With the system running at a full speed and the Cooler Boost 3 off or on, the temperature difference is about 8~9 C. It provides a crucial help to lower the system’s heating. When the Cooler Boost 3 is off, the radiator runs quietly. After turning Cooler Boost 3 on, since the radiator fan by itself is small, it will produce a high-frequency noise. When you use GE62 in a noisy environment, turning Cooler Boost 3 on is a good choice for cooling your machine. windwithme opened GE62 6QF Apache Pro’s bottom case to share the internal hardware and the layout design. The central area is occupied with 2x DDR4-2133 slots; to the left is M.2 SSD, to the right is 2.5-inch SATA3 HDD. On the left side are ODD and a subwoofer; below both sides each have 2 stereo speakers for the volume enhancement. Cooler Boost 3 dual fan design occupies both left and right side. It provides efficient cooling for CPU and GPU separately You can see copper pipes made using thick bold materials; they also carry great cooling capacity for GE62. At the same time you can see 2 cooling fans which leave less space for the battery, also reduces the battery power. As a 15.6-inch notebook with a limited space like this, GE62 with high performance and efficient heat dissipation system is a must for first consideration. Battery life endurance, Windows 10 at a balanced power. With GTX 970M you can play DVD movie up to 1 hour 40 minutes. Talking about such high-end hardware, it would be even better if the battery would handle more than 2 hours. However, there are 2 types of hardware limitations which reduce the battery performance. First of all, the 4K resolution will consume more power than the FHD. Second, the battery capacity is smaller due to the notebook’s space design. If there would be a GPU switching function, then the endurance could be further increased. The summary of GE62 6QF Apache Pro limited edition Pros of features and advantages 1. GE62 6QF Apache Pro Heroes version exterior design is attractive for the Blizzard games fans. 2. The hardware design with limited space still fits nVIDIA GTX 970M which significantly gives great 3D performance. 3. Wireless and wired internet usage Killer Gaming feature supports Killer Shield technology. 4. 4K UHD bright PLS panel with high viewing angle provides True Color 100%sRGB color correction. 5. The Steelseries Engine 3, lighting management, rich macro keys set and 4 sets of virtual keyboard functionalities. 6. Cooler Boost 3 with double fan and powerful cooling design deliver an extraordinary heat dissipation for this gaming notebook level. 7. Dynaudio technology featuring Audio Boost 2 with gold-plated connectors and 3 independent amplifiers gives an excellent sound experience. 8. Matrix Display technology, HDMI with a highest resolution of 4Kx2K, ability to have 3+1 screens used at the same time. 9. Built-in DVD –Multi drive with high-end hardware specifications, the15.6-inch with only 2.4kg - relatively lighter than comparable notebooks. Cons for future improvements 1. Suggestion to add GT72S-like switchable GPU function which may enhance the battery life comparing to its current relatively short endurance. 2. SteelSeries keyboard feels a bit soft, making feedback stronger would be better for hand feeling. 3. The 4K resolution glossy screen would be better if as a touch screen. 4. 8GBX2 dual RAM could be a factory specification, a more complete DDR4 performance could be achieved. Performance ★★★★★★★★★☆ 90/100 Material ★★★★★★★★☆☆ 88/100 Specification ★★★★★★★★★☆ 90/100 ID design ★★★★★★★★☆☆ 82/100 C/P value ★★★★★★★★☆☆ 82/100 Personal preference would be standard GE62 black color metallic, if the standard edition would earn about 88 points in the ID design score. Of course, the limited edition collaborating with a well-known game also has its own market where it’s attractive, especially for the Heroes of the storm gamers or fans. GE62 already has many improvements comparing to GE60, such as the entire case and the hardware design. Also panel, keyboard, sound, cooling system and software are all significantly outstanding from GE60. It’s more in line for modern games’ requirements. Even that some of GT72S’s power is 70% higher, high-end characteristics let GE62 got more value with better performance on a high level. GE62 currently has a few models on the Taiwan market, all use the same CPU i7-6700HQ GPU includes GTX 960M, 965M and 970M，with the price range from 40 to more than 50 thousand NT$ dollars. If there would be a Core i5 version, the price could drop to 30+ thousand, which would also give consumers a more affordable choice. GE62, from the entry up to the high-end gaming market, has a very good advantage, I believe that the real gaming notebook should cost at least more than 30 thousand NT$ dollors. Like the models ranging between 20 and 30 thousand, if update the machine to GTX 960M or higher, can you immediately call it a “Gaming notebook�! I don’t think so. For gaming, the components such as sound system, internet connection, keyboard, display, cooling, casing area, more than just 3D performance, and others require special design for better gaming experience. The GE62 has been having very good gamer’s value on the gaming market. If the drawbacks described above could be improved, then the notebook will be perfect and even more competitive. Finally, on MSI website I found other models also cooperating with Heroes of the storm, the GT72S and GT80, both of which are more high-end notebooks. The design is printed up using laser engraving technology, which makes the casing area very special and outstanding, though the prices are much higher than GE62. For Heroes of the storm fans who want high-end gaming machines so bad, this both limited editions will look like a more attractive choice This article is also published in the younger brother’s blog: WIND3C, 3D enthusiasts are welcome to visit.

Nuclearus Multi Core => 27380 Fritz Chess Benchmark => 25.30/12142 Fritz Chess Benchmark: increase by about 20.7% It’s a feeling that the original test of ASUS N551JB with 4720HQ on this software is not good, so the apparent performance gap is big between the two models. The GE62 is much higher. FRYRENDER Running Time => 5m 20s x264 FHD Benchmark => 22.5 x264 FHD Benchmark: increase by about 17.8% 6700HQ in overall looks faster than the previous 4720HQ generation. The main advantages of the Skylake architecture are 14nm processor, better UMA 3D performance boost and higher PCI-E Gen 3.0 bandwidth. PCMARK8 - 3266 DRAM performance test DDR4 2132.2 CL15 15-15-36 2T ADIA64 Memory Read - 29325 MB/s Sandra Memory Bandwidth - 23489 MB/s MaXXMEM Memory-Copy - 25130 MB/s Skylake architecture designed with DDR4, in addition to higher clocking speed, also enjoys a significant bandwidth improvement. Fortunately, DDR4’s market price, expect for the first year after entering the market, now is much closer to the DDR3 modules. For the users who need to switch to a new platform, DDR4 won’t cause extra cost. This GE62’s storage includes: Drive C: TOSHIBA THNSNJ128G8NU 128GB M.2 SSD Drive D: HGST HGST HTS721010A9E630, 7200 rpm with a total storage capacity of up to 1TB. Below is the local disk C 128GB M.2 SSD benchmark test AS SSD Benchmark - 878 Seq Read - 516.64 MB/s Write - 498.89 MB/s 4K - 64Thrd Read - 1181.42 MB/s Write - 430.96 MB/s GE62 comes with M.2 SSD and 2.5-inch SATA3 SSD, the performance level is same as SATA3 SSDs. Although this model isn’t equipped with high-end NVMe M.2 SSD technology as in case of GT72S, GT72S demonstrates an ultra-high storage performance. However, the prices range of the two notebooks are different; nonetheless, the price of GE62 with its SSD and the IO transmission capacities is more than enough. Two types of GPU are included. The first one is Intel Core i7-6700HQ with HD Graphics 530 The second one is nVIDIA GeForce GTX 970M with 3GB GDDR5 capacity, below benchmarks is all based on the GTX 970M graphics. 3DMark11 => P9606 With Cooler Boost 3 off, the heat sink running on a low speed and a silent mode scores about P9200 points For the radiating purpose, MSI has produced a hardware switch button which lets the users choose a cooling mode they prefer. 3DMARK => 5878 / 13841 / 12909 / 26262 More than ten times of performance tested by this software aren’t very different: A average FHD resolution with Fire Strike score of about 6500, which is lower a bit. It looks like some of 3D items can automatically run up to 4K resolution and carry on the test. Heaven Benchmark 4.0 DX11 1920 X 1080 => FPS 97.3 FAR CRY 4 Far Cry 4 is currently one of the most demanding 3D games with a resolution of 1920 X 1080, set the 3D to run at an Ultra mode with 111 FPS at start, when at the beginning of the game it’s around 48 FPS. Assassin's Creed Syndicate 1920 x 1080，GRAPHIC PRESET: VERY HIGH The frame rate right after entering the game - 37FPS

On the left side. From left to right: Headphone-out \ Mic in \ USB 3.1(USB Type-C) \ USB 3.0 Mini-DisplayPort \ HDMI \ USB3.0 \ RJ45 ethernet jack \ Kensington lock slot A contrasting point about the GE62’s external appearance is that the display can be opened as wide as up to 130 degrees. If the user enjoys playing Heroes of the storm or wants a 4K screen, they will definitely love with this limited Heroes Edition notebook. Personally, I prefer the standard version because of the appearance of a good texture with where A & C sides have black metal groove design. Of course, the appearance preference differs among people and everyone has his or her own taste. GE62’s dimensions are 383(W) x 260(D) x 27~29(H) mm, with 2.4 kg in weight. Among the 15.6-inch high-performance models with optical drives, GE62 is indeed one of the easiest to carry. The casing area is also thinner. Lightweight and shell thickness is often difficult to choose as most of the users would be more concerned about the weight performance. GE62 offers many versions, with a price range from the entry to mid-level on the gaming notebooks market. Below is the hardware information on the most high-end GE62 6QF Apache Pro. Latest 6th Gen. Intel Core i7 6700HQ processor with 2.6GHz, Quad-core support HT technology 14nm processor, TurboBoost with automatic overclocking reaching up to 3.5GHz, and Intel HM170 chipset. L3 Cache is 6MB, even though it’s lower than the special i7-6820HK overclocking edition’s specifications, still the i7-6700HQ is also present among a few most recent laptop architectures with high-end i7 position. A new version sound software of Nahimic is also used by MSI in its GT72S configuration. It offers four different sound effects, which includes 5 sound settings with detailed adjustments. Below is the description of the listening experience. This part is quite subjective, other notebooks built-in speakers are taken as a benchmark. Adjusting the volume to the maximum is considered fairly loud, so there is no need to worry that the speakers will be too quiet. High frequency: The sound isn’t too sharp. Good in deep details, the performance is above average. Middle frequency: The sound has excellent detailed clarity; vocal fullness is also above average. Low frequency: The performance is also good, the bass is clean, not like others, however an increased mid or high frequency will easily put pressure on the low frequency. MSI GE62’s left and right speakers positioned in the front as Alienware, which delivers direct sound to the user. Listening to music or songs is also at a very good level, watching movies and playing games with 3D sound is outstanding at this price range of the sound. Simply speaking: excellent sound clarity, good sound absorption, only sound stage still could be better. HD Audio Recorder Nahimic provides an anti-noise function for both microphone and HD Audio Recorder. Heroes of the Storm version of MSI wallpaper Below is the TRUE COLOR PROFILE mode selection software interface, Press Fn+A to turn on TRUE COLOR PROFILE selection mode. High-end GT72S also has this function. You can select 1 out of 6 color effect modes to apply them to different usage environments. Exclusive software SteelSeries Engine 3 lets the user configure his/her own Steelseries keyboard and mouse. GE62 of SteelSeries keyboard is mounted with lighting effects and includes a feature of rich color adjustment. The exclusive software MSI DRAGON GAMING CENTER Main features include detailed hardware status, Quick App, Instant Play and Device Setting. Device Setting includes 3 Shift Mode with different functions which allow the user to adjust the desired performance mode. The following is the Sport mode testing which puts GE62’s performance on the highest level. Because the factory configuration only included a single DDR4 8GB RAM, I make it become 8GBX2 memory as dual channel mode. When you get a new laptop, if there is a single RAM module, it’s recommended to upgrade it to dual channel RAM combination. A little more spending will be worth a significant improvement over the overall performance. When turning Cooler Boost 3 on, the fan operating at full performance greatly decreases the operating temperature. System benchmark test CINEBENCH R15 CPU => 678 cb CPU(Single Core) => 138 cb Make the i7-6700HQ 2.6~3.5GHz in comparison with the previous generation i7-4720HQ 2.6~3.6GHz Single-core CPU performance increases by about 4.5%, multitasking performance increases by about 9.7% 6700HQ has a 100MHz lower clock setup, however the single and multi-core performance is even higher than the previous generation Core i7.

During the past 2 years, laptops positioning as Gaming products became almost major brands on a battleground. Along with PC gaming having global prevalence, gaming products also possesses a very important position on the notebook market. Dell considered an early-entry gaming brand, however MSI has already been dedicating itself to gaming notebooks market for years. In pursuit of high performance, MSI featured product line includes GT series and more affordable GE series, also slim and lightweight of GS series, and the recent new GP series which is more affordable than GE as a mainstream gaming. Each price range offered at a different product segment, which lets user consider and choose from a wider selection. The product we are testing today is GE62 6QF Apache Pro In cooperation with a famous game from Blizzard, MSI launched limited Heroes of The Storm Edition, which is presented in a special edition carton sleeve. To the right of GE62 is a special backpack, it packed in a vacuum for a size reduction purpose and looks ever more attractive than the previous review of GT72 backpack. GE62 6QF Apache Pro Heroes Edition included accessories CD drivers, quick start guide, product features guide. two years warranty card, MSI gaming mouse. slim type DELTA 150W adapter and a power cable. At first, you can see the HEROES OF THE STORM game characters design on the A-side of the notebook. The standard edition has a metal aluminum cover with racing shapes, and comparing to the previous GE60 generation with a piano paint, this shell is more attractive. Because the Heroes of the storm edition has full-color IMR painting design, so both A and C sides had to be replaced with plastic material. The dimensions are 383(W) x 260(D) x 27~29(H) mm with a 2.4 kg in weight. Since the 15.6-inch is equipped with high-specification hardware, it feels light when lifting the notebook up. Although notebooks with embedded CD-ROM usually created additional thickness, the thickness of the GE62 design is fairly moderate. B side is 15.6-inch glare 4K screen of 3840x2160 resolution, as Samsung currently offers only glare version for this type of a screen. The general GE62 version includes 1920 X 1080 matte display, but this GE62 version has a different panel. The black border around the screen is matte and is covered with glitter embellishment to enhance the visual quality. The WebCam above the screen is 720P and is capable of 30FPS. Built-in microphones are on both sides with stereo mic support. Though C-side is also made of metal on the standard edition, in the Heroes Edition, due to IMR printed design, it had to be modified became ABS plastic material. SteelSeries keyboard consists of 3 lighting zones providing a rich choice of full color selection switch through SteelSeries Engine. The trackpad with the left and right buttons, has sensitivity level better than GT72S There are 3 matte-textured buttons on the top right. On the right is the power button, the indicating LED will turn blue when the notebook power on. In the middle is the SteelSeries keyboard button which lets you switch between different lighting modes with different Macro keys. On the left is the cooler boost button, which represents Cooler Boost 3 cooling technology and provides higher fan speed with excellent thermal environment. Underneath is a non-removable battery, 6-Cell Lithium Ion with the power of 51wHr. 2.1 Sound System is based around the surface while an woofer is located at the bottom left black netted area. In the center of the bottom there are 3 blue LED status lights indicating of hard drive, power and WIFI. The speakers are on the left and right sides of the bottom, which bring a more direct sound to the user thanks to the special design. IO area on the right side. From left to right: DC power jack \ SD(XC/HC) \ USB 2.0 \ HD-DT-ST DVDRAM

When enable nVIDIA GTX 980 GPU and runs at the high-performance mode with overclocking up to 3.7GHz Set Cooler Boost 3 on, the system’s idle temperature is about 27~31. With the Cooler Boost 3 on, LinX 0.6.5 discovers CPU temperature to be 67~75 at its full running speed. Cooler Boost 3 low-frequency noise increased, which though will be overshadowed by the game sound. However, even when the overclocking is at a low mode, in addition to full speed burn-in at 3.2GHz the temperature is 12~14 degree C lower. While overclocking, 3DMark or other software can show the CPU speed to be 3.7GHz. The burn test AIDA64 shows the results of 3.2~3.3GHz. LinX 0.6.5 shows 3.2GHz. Because of the cooling module limitation, with a high level of heat, 6820HKmight look like it can’t achieve overclocking speed at 100%p performance. However, in most of the environments it is possible to overclock effectively. Most of the other high-end notebooks are thinner than GT72S. They are less likely to perform overclocking, and much harder to install GTX 980... Battery life endurance, Windows 10 at balanced power. When running GTX 980 and playing DVD video, approximately 2 hours 08 minutes，battery performance is similar to GT72 one. With CPU Intel HD Graphics 530, after playing DVD video for 3 hours, the battery life is about 15%. The performance is similar to GT72. The summary of GT72S 6QF Dominator Pro limited edition. Most features and advantages. 1. High-end model GT72S includes Intel Core i7-6820HK and has high overclocking capabilities. 2. Currently on the top of the market with nVIDIA GTX 980 graphics card with the strongest 3D GPU. 3. Wireless and wired internet usage Killer Gaming feature supports Killer DoubleShot Pro technology. 4. 2-slot M.2 interface PCI-E Gen3 x4 of SSDx2 RAID combination and 2-slot M.2 interface SATA3 RAID0 combination. 5. High-quality colors and wide-viewing angle IPS panel is supported by True Color correction technology 6. The combination Steelseries Engine 2, lighting management, rich macro keys set and 4 sets of virtual keyboard functionalities 7. Cooler Boost3 double fan allows GT72S to have a strong cooling performance in a high-end gaming market. 8. Dynaudio technology featuring Audio Boost 2 with gold-plated connectors and 3 independent amplifiers gives an excellent sound experience. 9. Matrix Display technology, HDMI with a highest resolution of 4Kx2K, ability to have 3+1 screens used at the same time. 10. Nahimic 3D professional audio software and featuring ESS SABRE HiFi DAC audio technology effectively enhances the sound quality in the headphones. 11. MXM upgradable design also supports nVIDIA’s newest G-SYNC technology. Potential for future improvements 1. Touchpad sometimes skips the function rows or not sensitive, which makes it require more effort while use. 2. Backpack weight and dimensions could be optimized smaller, so could be more convenient to lift and carry. 3. SteelSeries keyboard touch feeling is sometimes soft; the feedback for the hand use could be better. 4. The palm rest area and D side are both plastic material, which could be substituted with metal or carbon for the better texture improvement. 5. Although better than G751 and many other notebooks, the camera could also be improved. Performance ★★★★★★★★★☆ 95/100 Material ★★★★★★★★★☆ 90/100 Specification ★★★★★★★★★☆ 93/100 ID design ★★★★★★★★☆☆ 82/100 C/P value ★★★★★★★☆☆☆ 75/100 GT72S launched many models, recently with 4K display or lower GTX 980M version. No matter whether talking about CPU or GPU performance, GT72S is undoubtedly one of the best than most of others. 6820HK has an overclocking feature, moreover GTX 980 GPU is now only equipped on GT72S and runs at a batter thermal design of heating capacity. Isn’t there an extra value of overclocking when singing, dancing or playing games? Where else could you find such a good overclocking notebook on the notebook market now? As previously mentioned, only change of the product’s exterior color or the printing or logo can certainly be called as Gaming. Apart from the basic 3D performance, remarkable appearanceã€comfortable screen or keyboard touching sense, the sound is on a high level as the speakers and the headphones sound quality is one of the key features of the notebook. Compared 3 top level gaming notebooks of their sound quality. GT72S had almost caught up with Alienware. This is what GT70 can’t catch up away from those. Moreover, G751 notebook in these 2 aspects is far behind. GT72S 6QF, except for being a top in efficiency performance, is also one of the leaders in other hardware. Of course it still has few points could be better. Outer texture could be improved as plastic surface could be better, no matter what the market price will be, cost still be the biggest disadvantage for the budget consumers. Material quality and extra product features always better at higher price range products. On the other hand, hardware and design will have fewer disadvantages because of the cost increased a lot as well. I am hoping to provide users with the most reliable and necessary information as a product reference. GT72S overview is shared by windwithme. This article also post on my own blog WIND3C, welcome to visit and feedback!

3D specifications remain GT72S’ biggest advantage. MSI was the fastest to release nVIDIA GTX 980 graphics product, not like others still stay on GTX 980M only. The fact that mobile GTX 980 with 8GB GDDR5 is new and works great, same CUDA Cores as 3D Desktop PC GTX 980, it’s a currently the market peak for this extreme level graphics card. 3DMark11 => P14901，comparing to 980M, the performance has increased big by about 24% higher. Last June at ComputeX 2015 you could see that nVIDIA released G-SYNC technology. Coordinating with the 75Hz IPS panel on GT72S, it can synchronize GPU 3D frame and the screen refresh rate dynamically. Even though running the PC will let 3D performance decrease a bit, as shown below, 3DMark11 => P13392. G-SYNC will let high-speed movement FPS games have smoother visual effects and complete image quality, decrease jitter and input lag effectively. Below is a 3D Benchmark test also disabled nVIDIA G-SYNC, which shows the bigger performance gap compared with GTX 980M 3DMARK => 11353 / 28115 / 28419 / 14659 3DMARK FIRE STRIKE compared with 980M increases by about 39.49% in performance improvement Heaven Benchmark 4.0 DX11 1920 X 1080 => FPS 130.0 GTX 980 on average is 130 pages while previous GTX 980M test showed 82.8 pages. There is a 57% performance improvement when playing FAR CRY 4. Far Cry 4 is currently one of the most demanding 3D games with a resolution of 1920 X 1080 75MHz, allowing 3D to run at an Ultra mode with 200 FPS, when at the beginning of the game it’s 83FPS. The performance of 980, comparing to 980M, increases by 41.8% on the start and by about 22% while entering the game. Assassin's Creed Syndicate 1920 x 1080 75MHz, GRAPHIC PRESET: VERY HIGH The frame rate right after entering the game - 69FPS Tom Clancy's Rainbow Six® Siege 1920 x 1080 75MHz, graphics setup: Ultra The frame rate is right after entering the game - 112FPS Mobile nVIDIA GTX 980 is currently the best at GPU performance on the notebook market. After supporting 3D Game FAR CRY 4 using Ultra mode it’s also possible to enable furthermore 3D special effects. When playing the latest on the market game Rainbow Six® Siege, it’s also possible to turn on all 3D effects. When playing Assassin's Creed, the higher demand for 3D graphics. However 69FPS is already a great performance indicator. Press Fn+A to turn on TRUE COLOR PROFILE selection mode for IPS panel whose color accuracy is already very high. After switching Spyder color feature, the color difference is really small. You can select 1 out of 6 color effect modes. Excellent color accuracy provides different environments for the user. With room temperature about 24 degrees, proceeding to CPU cooling capacity test and CPU being at a preset value of 2.7~3.6GHz, GPU running with nVIDIA GTX 980, with power supply on the balance mode, Cooler Boost 3 off, the system’s temperature on standby mode is about 31~35 degrees. With Cooler Boost 3 off, LinX 0.6.5 discovers CPU temperature to be 79~89 at its full running speed. LinX 0.6.5 is currently the strictest burn test software. The fan is fairly quiet at a low running speed. The temperature indicator is outstanding during stand-by and burn-in mode. It doesn’t exceed 90 degrees C during the burn-in mode. With the sound muted, the system’s temperature and performance are at a balanced setup.

The headphones output is equipped with ESS SABRE HiFi DAC, which will give a more in-depth sound. The feeling perceived by an ear is similar to the one by professional headphones SENNHEISER HD6 MIX. Compared the difference of 24Bits-192KHz audio quality by trying more on ASUS ROG G751. When using Realtek sound solution G751 model, High and low frequencies are less satisfying in sound performing. When using Alienware 17 with Creative Sound Core 3D, low and high frequencies are at very good level, especially greater in midrange sound details. MSI GT72S is equipped ESS SABRE HiFi DAC to export the headset sound, the performance is great at both high and low frequencies, also good at midrange frequency. The grading for the sound quality: Alienware 17 – 92 points; GT72S: 90 points. But where is the last one? MSI GT72S Dominator Pro speakers are still in collaboration with the Danish brand Dynaudio. Below is the description of the listening experience. This part is quite subjective, Notebook built-in speakers are taken as a benchmark. When adjusting to the maximum volume, the Maxima volume is very loud, which makes you not to worry about a problem of quite speakers. At the high frequency, the sound isn’t sharp. Going deep into details, the performance is above average. At the middle frequency, the sound is quite clear, vocals sound solid though there is a room for improvement. At the low frequency, it wins among the three frequency range, with a shocking good bass, with blooming sound experience. If you want to watch a video or play a game, GT72S in overall proves to have a higher level sound quality. When listening to the music, even though the middle frequency isn’t top-class, there are only a few which are excellent in this area. As a high-performance gaming notebook, GT72S is also quite competent in terms of sound. Comparing to Alienware 17, GT72S high and low frequencies sound great, only middle frequency still could make improvement. GT72S storage design is its major feature. It includes the newest Super RAID 4 technology. You can install PCI-E Gen 3.0 SSDx2 and M.2 SATA3 SSDx2 at same time, This model comes with NVMe PCI-E interface of 256GB SSDx2 at Raid 0 SSD. Installed TOSHIBA THNSN5256GPU7 using 16nm MLC IC AS SSD Benchmark - 3348 Seq Read - 2816.64 MB/s Write - 1502.44 MB/s 4K - 64Thrd Read - 1181.42 MB/s Write - 876.30 MB/s ATTO DISK Benchmark, when exceeding128k, achieves maximum Read speed of 3221Mb/s and maximum Write speed of 1926 MB/s CrystalDiskMark Seq Read - 3208 MB/s Write - 1949 MB/s The performance of NVMe M.2 SSD is quite excellent, it only requires 2 M.2 slots of Raid 0 is faster than the one applied on GT80 half a year earlier of 4 MSATA slots. In addition to the design, more bandwidth is provided with PCI-E Gen 3.0. The new NVMe protocol of M.2 SSD sharply increased the access speed. In order to achieve above-high bandwidth transmission, 4K efficiency has also improved significantly with the greater performance. And one more HGST HTS721010A9E630 1TB 2.5-inch HDD for data storage. System benchmark test PCMARK8 - 5503 PCMARK8 score also very high in the entire system performance. The bottom picture shows GT72S already exceeding of 99% of the overall PC performance. CrystalMark 2004R3 => 435959 Fritz Chess Benchmark => 29.92/14360 CrystalMark 2004R3 score was also high. Even though Skylake and Haswell have a little design difference, below are Fritz Chess Benchmark test results. Since 6820HK has an overclocking ability and set to 3.7GHz, the CPU multitask effectiveness also obviously enhanced a lot. CPU Benchmark test (Sport mode setting: CPU by 37x) FRYRENDER Running Time => 4m 27s x264 FHD Benchmark => 27.2 CINEBENCH R15 CPU => 798 cb CPU(Single Core) => 158 cb If comparing Intel Core i7-6820HK’s preset clock to the previous generation, 4980HQ, it only has a small enhancement. But when turning on GT72S overclocking mode, the performance increased about 32.78%, which is outstanding. Using Sport mode for overclocking, could enable Cooler Boost 3 with push a button on left side, which will let the fan operate at its full throttle. To boost on the 6820HK and GTX 980, it will be a great help with performance and temperature. However the fan noise will also be increased. Recommend to use Cooler Boost mode when ultra-loading usage, normally use the standard mode with silence. The 6820HK at this GT72S is powerful running at 40x, overclocking CPU reach 4GHz, and it’s also completed all the critical tests. Fritz Chess Benchmark => 32.57/15635 x264 FHD Benchmark => 29.4 Overclocking up to 4GHz in comparison to 3.7GHz Fritz Chess Benchmark increases by about 8.9%; x264 FHD Benchmark increases by about 8% Of course if setting only 3.2GHz with 6820HK, the 4.0GHz performance will increase by about 14% DRAM Benchmark test DDR4 2132.2 CL15 15-15-36 2T ADIA64 Memory Read - 30308 MB/s Sandra Memory Bandwidth - 25789 MB/s MaXXMEM Memory-Copy - 28139 MB/s Using DDR4 memory is also Skylake’s highlight on new PCs, lower voltage and higher frequency are improvement. Moreover, bandwidth is also become higher. Of course, there will be single 16GB DRAM with better capabilities soon.

5 shortcut buttons, On the other side of the power button downã€UMA/GTX 980 GPU manual switch button. Cooler Boost Button: Cooler Boost 3 cooling technology with 2 cooling modes. GameCaster Live Streaming switch button, SteelSeries3 lighting zones, hot key and micro key setup button. IO area is on the left side. From left to right: 4 X USB 3.0 \ Line-in \ Line-out \ Mic-in \ Headphone-out \ SD (XC/HC) Rear I/O: From left to right : DC power jack \ RJ45 ethernet jack \ HDMI \ Thunderbolt3 including USB 3.1 \ Mini-DisplayPort \ Kensington Lock slot. Large set of blood-red vents on both sides Right I/O From left to right: MAT****A BD-MLT UJ272 ODD \ 2 X USB 3.0 SteelSeries keyboard, with a multi-colorful backlighting and attractive print design, gives a soft feeling while using. GT72S size and weight are 428(W) x 294(D)x 48(H)mm and 3.78Kg. Display opened angle is high up to 180 degrees, which is going to have a better utility ratio for some applications. Even though GT72S and GT72 are similar, there is less difference in the exterior design, Thunderbolt 3 with Type-C interface, LED keyboard and internal hardware multi-upgrade option are the main parts to notice. Below will have detailed performance test. There are 2 red light-bars in the front for increasing the sense of speed, whose light color which is possible to change through SSE software. When wearing headphones, audio jack will turn to use ESS SABRE HiFi DAC sound. Thanks to 9016K2M capability of the Lossless Hi-Res Audio Playback, and it isn’t in charge by Realtek ALC898. GT72S has more versions, depending on the price and hardware configuration. Below is GT72S 6QF Dominator Pro hardware information CPU uses Intel Skylake Core i7-6820HK 2.7GHz, Quad-core support HT technology 14nm processor, TurboBoost with automatic overclocking reaching up to 3.6GHz，Intel CM236 chipset. Due to an introduction of K series, it is possible to change the design of the frequency multiplier. Also, L3 is up to 8MB, almost the same as Desktop specifications. These stunning characteristics give people new expectations regarding the overclocking performance. The company’s exclusive software MSI DRAGON GAMING CENTER has new features. Except for the main hardware status, quick applications, Instant Play and Device Setting items, Device Setting with Shift Mode, you can easily select a suitable mode. The following is the Sport mode testing which could set CPU Ratio 37x and its clock speed 3.7GHz. Switching to the new sound software - Nahimic with Audio setup including Music, Gaming and Movie modes which let you adjust the settings according to your needs. Below are sound settings for individual’s comfort zone. Adjusting microphone settings is helpful whether you want to play a game or chat online. HD Audio Recorder Nahimic provides an anti-noise function for both microphone and HD Audio Recorder.

In pace with the growth of the gaming laptop market and major brands releasing more types of products due to the competition, MSI took an early start on the market. Releasing many product lines after 2011, today MSI already had 4 main gaming notebook segmentations, from low-end to high-end, respectively: GP, GE, GS and GT. Differing by design and positioning, its gaming laptops offer a much richer choice comparing to the company’s competitors. Performing at the highest level GT series, the first model was a 17-inch GT72, designed at the end of the last year, which was then first followed by an introduction GT80 18-inch featuring Cherry mechanical keyboard, with an SLI high-efficiency models created just a year after GT72. Recently MSI introduced a GT72S refresh, with a strengthening improvement becoming GT72S 6QF Dominator Pro, this time we tested the GT72S Dragon Edition of 29th year Anniversary model, compared general GT72 or GT72S Series models are black and consist of different exterior designs. The top of the notebook A side, same as GT72, has a car shape appearance. Brush metal and aesthetic lines with a laser dragon engraving are certain angles really dragon-looking. After turning the machine on, dragon’s right eye glows LED-white. Moreover, the word “msi†is without lightening. In addition to MSI 29 Anniversary Edition, there is a carton sleeve included in the bundle, which differentiates this notebook from others. Looking back into 2003 and MSI overclocking motherboard, 2006 and MSI netbooks and GX600 notebook. Hard to believe how fast the time flies. Recent years MSI has a solid share on the high-end gaming notebooks market. GT72S 6QF Dominator Pro accessories include CD drivers, Quick Start Guide, Product Features Guide, special MSI mouse with a 2-year warranty, keychain with a dragon doll, 230W adapter and a power cable. GT72S backpack is of the same style GT72 or GT80, though its vacuum package is significantly reduced in size due to its special design. The backpack’s main color is black, with a dragon-like red line on the front side. Underneath is the same as GT72. It is a laminar casing area with red ventilation outlets. There is a GT72S built-in non-removable battery, 9-Cell Lithium-Ion with the power of 83wHr. 2.1 Subwoofer System is based around the surface while an XBS bass is located at the bottom right red area. B-side goes with a FHD (1920×1080) non-glare 17.3†display which comforts your eyes while using in a long time. Support NVIDIA G-SYNC up to 75Hz refresh rate and over 72%NTSC color gamut IPS panel. The webcam at the top of the screen is capable of 1080p at 30FPS. Built-in microphones are on both sides with digital mic support. C-side: the palm rest part below the keyboard for the user’s hands designed with special glasses, this feels plastic and easy to attach more finger prints; there is a room for improvement. The difference of GT72S’ special edition is a unique image of the MSI Gaming dragon, which contributes as a greater visual effect. Other C side parts represent an excellent shell texture due to a matte metal design. The dot-hole row above the keyboard, from the left to the right, contains Sound by Dynaudio speakers from Denmark. SteelSeries keyboard consists of 3 lighting zones providing a rich choice of full color selection switch through SteelSeries Engine.

When turning back on the Cooler Boost 3 function, running LinX 0.6.5 and setting the CPU at full speed, the system temperature was around 78~86C. Above tests were done to compare system temperature differences when the exclusive MSI Cooler Boost Technology was on and off. A 7~13C temperature difference was discovered when the system was under standby mode whereas a 2~3C temperature difference exited under full speed. Based on these test results, the Cooler Boost 3 function is very helpful under both circumstances. When system configurations were i7-4980HQand GTX 980M SLI, running at full speed, temperature difference was not as obvious as that of GT72, However, since the system temperature remained under 90C, it proved that the thermal design of GT80 was very efficient and powerful. Noise might became louder, emitting low frequency noise when spinning at full speed. Therefore, I suggest turn on Cooler Boost 3 function only when playing games at high or very high settings. There is no need to enhance this function when doing general word processing works or watching movies online. Finally, windwithme opened up the GT80s D side to inspect and share its interior designs and configurations. Doing so will damage the warranty sticker, please do not take this step unless necessary. Dual set of 3 heat pipes are designed for each GTX980M, located at both the right and the left hand side, whereas two heat pipes are dedicated to the central for CPU. These two heat pipes transmit heat generated from the central CPU to the two active fans. There are two SO-DIMM DDR3 slots. You can easily open the metal cover on the C side by removing two screws from the bottom D side, a great design for DIY users. Here you may see speakers, optical drive, SSD, HDD, DDR3, network card and etc. Battery life, set Windows 8.1 power settings at Balanced mode Turned on nVIDIA GTX 980M SLI and played DVD after 2 hours and 10 minutes, there remained around 10% battery left. Turned on CPU integrated Iris Pro Graphics 5200 and played DVD 3 hours and 10 minutes longer, there remained around 10% battery left. The battery performance of GT80 was very satisfying since it needed to power and run such advanced and high-end configurations. Conclusion MSI GT80 2QE Titan SLI Unique Features and Advantages 1.GT80 is more muscle and aerodynamic shape than GT72. Moreover, the GT80s ID quality also outstands that of GT72. 2.Equipped dual nVIDIA GTX 980M GPU with SLI, the highest level in the market in terms of its 3D performance 3.Killer DoubleShot Pro technology: both LAN and wifi are powered by Killer Gaming LAN/WiFi chipset 4.Perfect balance between data read/write speed and storage capacity: Super RAID 3 using four M.2 SSD and an 1TB 2.5 HDD 5.SHIFT: Switch among 3 modes, Sport for extreme performance, Comfort for balanced on performance and noise and Green for silent mode with using Fn+F7 6.Equipped with a mechanical keyboard using Cherry MX switches (the worlds first gaming laptop to do so) and the SteelSeries Engine 3 7.Distance between each key cap is 27mm. On the right-hand side of the keyboard, users may transform the touch panel into numeric keypad mode with just a simple touch 8.Full HD non-glare display reduces eye fatigue, permitting users to play games or watch movies for a longer period of time 9.Audio Boost 2 by Dynaudio with 3 independent AMP delivers best sound stage for all experience 10.Matrix Display Technology: HDMI supports up to 4kx2k resolution and up to 3+1 monitor outputs Points to Improve in the Future 1.The metal brush case design gives a high quality impression. However, it is much easier to leave finger prints on the laptop 2.There is still room for improvement for the audio quality in medium and high frequencies 3.If there is a SKU adopting a IPS panel on GT80, it would be more flexible for consumers 4.It is much better if the mouse in the bundled accessories pack is a SteelSeries Gaming version. The primary advantage for a notebook is the portability, a quality that cant be achieved by a PC. If you need to travel around a lot with a laptop and if you use only some basic word processing functions, then a 12.5~14 Ultrabook could be a good option. If you dont need to travel around with your laptop, yet you do need advanced configurations for gaming, a 15.6~17.3 notebook might suit you better. Some believe that both a general and an advanced notebooks cost a lot more than PCs with similar configurations. However, mobility is the trend in current market. Quite a few friends insist on buying laptops without considering whether the C/P value of PC is higher, simply for the potential yet comparably rare need to use the laptop outside home or to carry it around for a business trip. The MSI GT80 is an advanced gaming notebook with powerful performance and high portability. DELL launched 18.4 advanced gaming notebook, too. However, with similar configurations as the DELL one, the GT80 has a much better price, offering another 18 advanced gaming notebook option to end-users. In the end of article, windwithme would like to share the file (color adjusted by Spyder) to MSI GT80 users. windwithme - MSI GT80 2QE Titan SLI This article is also posted on my personal blogWIND3C. You are welcome to come and visit.

Heaven Benchmark 4.0 DX11 1920 X 1080 => FPS 176.1 The 3D performance of GTX980 SLI was 88.05% higher than that of a single card mode (GT72). GRID Autosport Ultra mode AVEGAGE FPS => 137.46 When playing GRID Autosport, the overall performance only improved 25%. It seems that this game does not fully support SLI. I hope there will be an upgrade version in the future since this would be a great help for both NB and PC gamers. FAR CRY 4 remains so far one of the heavyweight 3D games in the world, demanding the highest hardware configurations. The test was done at 1920 X 1080 resolutions and 3D effect was pushed all the way to Ultra mode. At the menu screen, there was 281 FPS. During the game opening cinematic, there was 117 FPS. When using only a single graphics card to play FAR CRY 4, the performance improved up to 99.3%. The overall test result did fulfill our expectation towards the latest heavyweight 3D game. There remained a 72% improvement when playing the game. 3D images were extremely exquisite and it highly supported by SLI. Here you may see that the overall performance shall have a roughly 70~88% improvement as long as the game fully supports SLI. This is exactly the advantage of GT80 with GTX980M or GTX970M SLI. Both GT80 and GT72 have the highest configurations on the storage device, featuring 256GB SSD X4 + 1TB HDD 7200rpm, powered by the MSI exclusive technology, the Super RAID 3. The SSD uses the latest M.2 interface, TOSHIBA THNSNJ256G8NU 256GBB The ATTO DISK Benchmark reached a maximum read speed at 1669Mb/s and a write speed at 1296 MB/s when the storage was above 256k. CrystalDiskMark Seq Read - 1610 MB/s Write - 857.3 MB/s AS SSD Benchmark - 2019 Seq Read - 1507.20 MB/s Write - 1109.20 MB/s 4K - 64Thrd Read - 691.13 MB/s Write - 562.12 MB/s Both GT80 and GT72 adopt Super RAID 3 Technology, equipped with the latest M.2 SSD up to 4 slots. The advantage of M.2 lies in a much smaller size than mSATA, moreover, its maximum bandwidth reaches to 1GB/s. For those who want to upgrade storage capacity or efficiency in the future, M.2 will be much more flexible than SATA 600B/s. The M.2 SSD brand on the GT80 is TOSHIBA, of which the efficiency performance was much higher than the KINGSTON one on GT72. The maximum read speed reached above 1600MB/s, a surprisingly powerful transmission capability. I also ran a temperature test on GT80s CPU, with an indoor temperature around 25 C, nVIDIA GTX 980M SLI mode ON, under Comfort power management mode. When shutting down the Cooler Boost 3 function, the system temperature was around 45~51C under standby mode. When turning back on the Cooler Boost 3 function, the system temperature was around 31~44C under standby mode. When shutting down the Cooler Boost 3 function, running LinX 0.6.5 and setting the CPU at full speed, the system temperature was around 80~89C.