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Look a bit lower from the monitor hinge, you shall find a row of small round holes where the speaker lies underneath. There is a sticker on the upper-right corner, covering this section partially. I would personally suggest removing this sticker to the upper left-hand side. The size of this notebook is 45.6 x 33 x 4.9 cm with a weight of 4.5Kg (battery included). To compare with any other 18 notebooks, the weight of GT80 is pretty light and its slimness is surely above average. Partnering with the top audio brand Dynaudio, the famous Danish audio equipment brand, the speaker of GT80 2QE Titan SLI remains the top-notch ones. To compare the sensory experience created by the in-built notebook speaker and the Dyaudio one, here were my subjective / personal feelings: High frequency: No high pitch sound had ever occurred. Detailed sound performance was high quality above average. Medium frequency: The sound clarity was outstanding. But there was still room for improvement in terms of the vocal thickness. Low frequency: The best performance among the three. The woofer bass was perfect and clear. You shall get a great and outstanding sound experience when watching movies or playing games. When listening to the music, you may still have good sensory experience even though the sound quality in medium frequency is not top level. Different to Alienware 18, whose sound performance in medium and high frequencies are better, GT80 has outstanding and above average audio performance in low frequency. Both 18 notebooks have their own advantages in their audio performances and room for improvements. It is a pity that GT80s sound performance is not as good as that of GT72. But still, the overall performance remains a high-standard one. System Performance: CrystalMark 2004R3 => 436192 The total score was pretty much the same as that of GT72. This might result from the fact the software I used here didnt support 3D SLI mode. However, the score was 10-thousand points higher than performance of most of the notebook. Nuclearus Multi Core => 286416 Fritz Chess Benchmark => 27.73/13311 CINEBENCH R15 CPU => 671 cb CPU(Single Core) => 151 cb FRYRENDER Running Time => 5m 00s x264 FHD Benchmark => 21.1 PCMARK8 - 4959 Intel Core i7-4980HQ reaches 2.8~4.0GHz, a bit lower than 4940MXs 3.1~4.0GHz whereas the power consumption of the former chipset is 47W, a lot lower than the 57W of 4940MX. Moreover, Intel Core i7-4980HQ possesses the built-in Iris Pro Graphics 5200. CPUs on these two models both have their pros and cons, none can claim to possess an absolute advantage. All tests above were the overall system and extreme CPU performance of 4980HQ for your reference. The keyboard is also one of the unique feature of GT80. It is the worlds first notebook to equip a Cherry MX switch of mechanical keyboard. The LED backlit illuminates red light from the back of the cap and from the keyboard. There is a red LED liner on the upper-hand side of the keyboard, increasing a speedy sports cars tone and feeling. Replace the WASD and the ESC caps with the special golden metallic key caps to enhance the durability, improve the tactile feeling of the keyboard and to transform the GT80 into a cooler look. Red MX switch has been quite popular in the PC market in recent years. However, GT80 choose the brown MX switch instead of the red one. This decision might result from the fact that the tactile feeling of the brown switch is heavier than the red one, has a bit more tactile bump feeling, yet it is much quieter than the blue switch. I personally use the brown switch for years. I am highly fond of the Cherry MXs high durability. Moreover, its tactile feeling results in lower tiredness. As usual, MSI GT80 cooperates with SteelSeries for its SteelSeries Engine 3 special software, combining application setup software of the keyboard, the mouse and the headset all together. Users may quickly set up hotkeys through drag and drop small icons or by selecting functions from a menu. Keypress macro is a very useful software, allowing users to program unlimited sets of macros. 3D performance is the most wanted feature of GT80, the MXM module designed of the nVIDIA GTX 980M SLI, 8GB GDDR5 (single card). I have run some tests on the Intel integrated graphics - Iris Pro Graphics 5200 in the GT72 review. Therefore, I will focus on testing the most enthusiast level nVIDIA GTX 980M SLI in this article. 3DMark11 => P16806 Compared with GTX 980M single card, the total score on 3DMark11 improved only by 40%. But when we went back and checked the graphic score, SLI had 22235 points compared to the 12721 points with simply a single card. It proved that the performance had improved 74.8% under SLI mode, achieving the performance standard that the SLI mode should have reached.

Details on the right section of the C side Signal lights at this section are red. There are three short-cut bottoms, the power bottom, the GPU switch bottom and the Cooler Boost bottom. With the GPU switch bottom, users may switch the mode between the chipset integrated graphics and the discrete graphics card. GT80 is geared by Cooler Boost 3 technology. Users may switch between two different cooling modes. MSI combines the touch panel and the numeric keypad together. One touch on the upper left corner of the pad, the whole touch panel shall switch to the numeric keypad mode. The Rear I/O From the left to the right: 2 x mini-DisplayPort \ HDMI \ DC in \ RJ45 jack Large set of blood-red vents on both sides. Red touch here and on the cover lid increases the sense of speed of this gaming notebook. In fact, the case design of GT80 is quite similar to that of GT72, yet the shape and the look of GT80 is more upgraded and advanced with aerodynamic style. The Left I/O From the left to the right: BD-Writer \ a wide section of exhaust \ NB-Lock \ SD (XC/HC) \ 3 X USB 3.0 \ SPDIF-Out \ Mic-in \ Headphone-out The Right I/O From the left to right: 3 X USB 3.0 \ a wide section of exhaust GT80 offers up to 5 USB 3.0. The capability of expansion becomes one of GT80s advantages. The open angle of GT80 reaches around 120 degrees. Its not outstanding. The color and the viewing angle of the SAMSUNG PLS panel is a lot better than most of the TN panels. However, the major purpose of GT80 is for gaming. With the non-touch panel display, GT80s open angle is appropriate and suitable for gaming environment. Hardware Information GT80 2QE Titan SLI is powered by Intel Haswell platform. With 4x DDR3-1600L 8GB, total of 32GB. The CPU is Intel Core i7-4980HQ: 2.8GHz (100 x 28), L3 6MB, Quad Cores with HT technology, lithography: 22nm, TurboBoost permitting auto-OC up to 4GHz, chipset: HM87, the current highest class in Notebook CPU (4th generation Intel Core i7 processors), and the GPU is the latest Intel Iris Pro Graphics 5200. At the bottom right-hand side, you may see the app on the toolbar. It can show or you may setup some most commonly used functions conveniently. MSI DRAGON GAMING CENTER Users may monitor the system instantly. Moreover, it supports to add on utility shortcuts, instant play and device settings. XSplit Gamecaster supports video recording or live streaming up to 1080p. It is an extremely useful function to live streaming or recording your whole gaming process. The game running in the system only drops 2~3 fps when the Gamecaster is on, recording video or live streaming simultaneously. Sound Blaster Cinema2 software There are 5 different audio modes for setup. Under each mode, you may choose among five different sound effects.

In the past, DELL, was the one offering a wider range of gaming notebooks. Yet, more and more brands have emerged. MSI has stood out among these brands in recent two years and has launched notebooks in various sizes for more gaming or especially dedicated for workstations. Besides the GT Series which is a bit heavy yet with the optical drive embedded, MSI offers the light and thin model such as GS Series. The GS30, for example, is a 13.3-inch notebook. The look of the laptop is very similar to an Ultrabook, but the whole system is equipped with high performance GPU with Docking. The MSI gaming notebook series with the highest performance has always been the GT Series. As 17.3-inch notebook was once considered the notebook with the biggest screen size. The previous GT70 or the latest GT72 comes with a 17.3-inch display and many advanced hardware for ultimate efficiency and performance. In 2015, MSI further upgrades its panel and capacities, featuring the GT series a 18.4-inch display. The A side of GT80 remains similar of the GT72, metal brush and aesthetics lines inspired by matte black racing style. The streamline cover design, decorated by few red liners, creates the sense of speed of the overall look. The MSI logo and Dragon Gaming badge, illuminating white lights in the center of the cover, and the red liners at the two sides enhance the product quality and form the iconic look of the MSI gaming notebook. The backpack bundled with GT80 is the same as the one bundled with GT72. The backpack is very spacious and the thickness is ideal for notebook protection. The backpack is a bit too heavy and too thick for me when using with the GT72, however, it suit perfectly well with the GT80. Moreover, MSI applies the vacuum package on the backpack this time. The overall packing size has been reduced a lot. The bottom case design of GT80 is also similar to that of GT72, using one-piece large bottom plate. The battery is non-removable and offers a large capacity of 75.24Wh (8 cell), a bit lower than the 83Wh (9 cell) of GT72. The speaker of GT80 uses 2.1 channel sound systems, with 2 speakers at both channel of the notebook (one on each side). The red block in the photo is where the woofer cover placement. GT80 - bundled accessories Drivers and utilities disc, user quick guide, user manual, two-year warranty leaflet, MSI professional gaming mouse, MSI gaming mouse pad, professional wrist rest for the keyboard, MSI Dragon Doll. And the special MSI gold caps kit for mechanical keyboard. Inside the MSI gold caps kit, there are four WASD and one ESC special golden caps. Gamers can now playing games more fluently. Golden color of the key caps set and the dragon image imprinted on the ESC cap increase the overall quality. Moreover, these caps are made of metal, ensuring the endurance of the product. The Delta 330w adaptor and power cord. Even this adaptor is a slim model, but the overall look and size are still big. The GT80 is powered by so far the most powerful GTX980M SLI, therefore, demands an adaptor that provides wattage as high as 330W. The B side of the GT80 is a 18.4-inch FHD vivid display, with a Full HD of 1920 X 1080. The non-glare display provides a more comfortable environment for users eyes, permitting a longer usage whereas considerably reducing eye fatigue. The primary design of the GT80 on the C side. The upper side of this part is bigger and there is a dragon tattoo imprinted on it. The lower side embedded with a full size mechanic keyboard (the worlds first mechanic keyboard on a gaming notebook). There are also three blue indicator lights.

FAR CRY 4 FAR CRY 4 is one of the gaming heavyweights also requires high-end hardware. Testing was performed at 1920?1080 with Ultra in-game settings. Front scene - 141 FPS Other scene - 68FPS FAR CRY 4 is an extremely exquisite game , and even unhindered while full loading . At mobile platform, GTX 980M is much powerful than previous GTX 880M. Look up Desktop, GTX 980 and 980M are very close on the performance. It helps Notebook sphere a lot in 3D performance, shrinking the gap between these two platforms. nVIDIA GTX 980M could be suitable for most of 3D game series and own an advantageous position. GT72 2QE Dominator Pro features perfect storage devices. Since Super RAID 3 with 256GB SSD X4 + 1TB HDD 7200rpm , It transfer into M.2 , KINGSTONE RBU-SNS8100S3256GD1 256GB, C: 256GB M.2 SSD X 4，actual capacity : 952GB AS SSD Benchmark - 1875 Seq Read - 1360.28 MB/s Write - 1146.47 MB/s 4K - 64Thrd Read - 601.59 MB/s Write - 528.48 MB/s SSD Benchmark - 7139.09 ATTO DISK Benchmark above 64k , it will reach read speed : 1539Mb/s，load speed : 1322 MB/s CrystalDiskMark Seq Read - 1311 MB/s Write - 1132 MB/s GT72 designed with M.2 SSDs expandable 4 slots, and empty more space than mSATA . Although SATA3 SDD is better than M.2 SSD, M.S SSD still offers high bandwidth and expandability Super RAID 3 features SSD is extremely fast. You could refer the test results, it brings Gaming laptop into speeding-storage level. Temperature : 22℃ , CPU cooling testing GPU with nVIDIA GTX 980M, full loading . Turn off Cooler Boost 3 , standby mode : 42℃~45℃ Turn on Cooler Boost 3 , standby mode : 30℃~33℃ Turn off Cooler Boost 3，running LinX 0.6.5 with CPU full loading : 80℃~87℃ Turn on Cooler Boost 3，running LinX 0.6.5 with CPU full loading : 72℃~77℃ In past days, MSI GT70 is weaker than DELL Alienware in cooling system. However , we improve our cooling system in GT72 . The previous test result shows that dual-fan design with plenty of heat pipes not only cool the GPU or CPU , but much obvious when turning on Cooler Boost 3 -- 12℃ differ by standby mode , 8~10℃ differ by full loading . It is quit quiet during using GT72. As long as turning on cooler Boost 3 would come out some noise but it is below acceptance. With SteelSeries KINZU V2 gaming mouse, the look and feel are so excellent. DPI : 3200CPI、3600FPS、65IPS…etc . With SteelSeries SIBERIA V2 gaming headset, it’s high price in gaming headset market. Its provide MSI limited edition, specially a Dragon Gaming badge on earmuffs. Let’s see how the battery life goes, setting full power loading on Windwos 8.1. Playing DVD for two hours with nVIDIA GTX 980M, the battery life remains around 10%. Playing DVD for two hours and 40 minutes with processor graphics by Intel? Iris™ Pro Graphics 5200 , the battery life remains around 10% . Such high end Gaming battery life in GT72 is a lot satisfying. Summary of MSI GT72 2QE Dominator Pro Pros: 1.GT72 is better than before by its stylish ID and also by simplifying the weight and height. 2.Featuring nVIDIA GTX 980M GPU, the most powerful 3D GPU now. 3.Either wire or wireless features Killer Gaming chip, using Killer DoubleShot Pro technology. 4.Super RAID3 with M.2 SSD X 4 and 2.5” 1T HHD could make great balance between speed and capacity. 5.Featuring FullHD resolution LCD comforts eyes while playing games or videos. 6.Keyboard by SteelSeries with full color LED back light, KLM light management and four types of virtual function make itself a lot useful. 7.Cooler Boost3 with due fan design makes GT72 a cooling master in high end Gaming. 8.Audio Boost 2 by Dynaudio with 3 independent AMP makes best sound experience. 9.Matrix Display supports max 4 displays to expand the vision.(with up to 4K resolutions or multitask effectively by HDMI ) 10.Finest GT72 featuring Intel Core i7-4980HQ, the most powerful processor graphics now. Cons: 1.Pad / clicks usage is not clever. It needs time to get with it. 2.Recommend that the weight and size of backpack should optimize in order to get more portable and handy. 3.SteelSeries keyboard is a little soft, it could strength its solid feedback. 4.The trackpad and tray is made by plastic makes GT72 lower in quality, compares to GT70’s metal design. Performance ★★★★★★★★★☆ 92/100 Material ★★★★★★★★☆☆ 88/100 Specification ★★★★★★★★★☆ 92/100 ID design ★★★★★★★★☆☆ 88/100 C/P value ★★★★★★★☆☆☆ 72/100 You could see that there are two types of GT72 2QD Dominator on MSI website, they might use SSD,DDR3 or SKUs to distinction . That makes GT72’s price zone much wider. In my point of view, featuring GTX 970M might not be as better as GTX 980M in GT72, but it’s suitable in most conditions. Speaking to price, GT72 with GTX 970M is much cheaper than GT72 2QE Dominator Pro and better C/P value. Windwithme has used GT72 for 3 weeks, I feels that GT72 could be best in high end Gaming market, but GT72 still could improve in some aspects. GT72 is unbeatable on different aspects : CPU、GPU、DRAM、SSD、Cooling system . Hopes MSI would provide more editions of GT72 for consumers who could have more choice by their budget coditions. Above comments and test results came from windwithme, offer advanced users and enthusiast gamers a reference. At last , windwithme would like to share the Spyder color calibration file to any one bought GT72 . windwithme - MSI GT72 2QE Dominator Pro This article also posted on my personal blog WIND3C , welcome your visit.

CINEBENCH R15 CPU => 601 cb CPU(Single Core) => 141 cb Fritz Chess Benchmark => 27.25/13081 FRYRENDER Running Time => 5m 14s PCMARK7 - 6535 GT72 features Intel Core i7-4980HQ, the most powerful performance in Notebook CPU. It did test single core, multi core CPU previously, and the result is competitive as Desktop’s Plus nVIDIA GTX980M GPU, GT72 get remarkable comment by these two test software. 3DMark Vantage => P10929 Intel Iris Pro Graphics 5200 Another highlight of GT72 is 3D performance, MSI is the first one of the candidates who have nVIDIA GTX 980M products. Beside, this is my first time reaching Processor Graphics is Intel? Iris™ Pro Graphics 5200. Here are the shares of these two newest GPU 3D performances. 3DMark Vantage => P34172 nVIDIA GTX 980M 3DMark11 => P2639 Intel Iris Pro Graphics 5200 Some of you might be curious why test by this past software, 3DMark Vantage? From my point of view, due to the fact that there’s few games support DirectX 11, basic 3D performance is important. Through these test results, you would realize that nVIDIA GTX 980M is the best for sure while Intel Iris Pro Graphics 520 also does a great job in Processor Graphics. 3DMark11 => P2639 Intel Iris Pro Graphics 5200 3DMark11 => P12000 nVIDIA GTX 980M At 3DMARK11, nVIDIA GTX 980M got a nice P12000. Compare with N-15 nVIDIA GTX 880M SLI only got P15000. It could tell that N-16 nVIDIA increases 40~50% performance improvement than N-15. Even on Desktop, people discuss VGA of 970/980 graphics, notebook featuring newest GTX 970M/980M is beneficial in 3D performance boost. Next test is for nVIDIA GTX 980M GDDR5 8GB 3DMARK => 8139 / 19776 / 23021 / 144286 Heaven Benchmark 4.0 DX11 1920 X 1080 => FPS 82.8 GRID Autosport Ultra mode AVEGAGE FPS => 109.89

Rear I/O From left to right : Lock \ 2 X Mini-DisplayPort \ HDMI \ RJ45 jack \ DC in Large set of blood-red vents on two sides Right I/O From left to right: BD-RE BU20NODD \ 2 X USB 3.0 Left I/O From left to right : 4 X USB 3.0 \ Line-in \ Line-out \ Mic-in \ Headphone-out \ SD (XC/HC) The hinge design of GT70 is 2 small ones, on GT72 it became 2larger strong ones, it’s very stable when open up the monitor. And the open angle to 180 degree, really improved a lot. Windwithme did disassemble MSI GT72 Dominator Pro, there are two huge Cooler Boost 3 dual-fans on two sides in order to cooling both CPU and GPU. GT72 features an upgradable MXM design, easily to upgrade higher level GPU in future. On the middle, there are 4 RAM slots with 8GBX4 (32GB). And the right side has two 2.5” SATA3 HHD. It’s a little waste of the 2.5” space couldn’t use SATA3 interface. The left side is the 5W subwoofer of 2.1 channel sound system. There are four 256GB M.2 SSD on upon middle. It’s the interior placement of GT72. The dynamic design of subwoofer is not only to prevent vibration, but also stabilize the vibration from tables. GT72 2QE Dominator Pro features Intel Haswell platform CPU uses Intel Core i7-4980HQ (2.8GHz<up to 4.00 GHz>, L3 6MB, Lithography: 22nm), Chipset: HM87. 4th Generation Intel? Core™ i7 Processors is now the highest class in Notebook CPU, Processor Graphics is Intel? Iris™ Pro Graphics 5200. Sound Blaster Cinema2 software Five models setups and each model would have five different functions. MSI GT72 Dominator Pro’s speakers collaborate with Dynaudio, a well-established audio from Denmark. Here comes the experience of subjective feel about sound: High frequency: Never hear high pitch sound, above the average. Median frequency: The clarity is extremely great, but it should be little bit better. Low frequency: Low frequency is best above these three models, and also the XBS bass is perfect and clear. GT72 is much better than GT70 in HiFi sound quality. If you would like to watch videos, playing games or listening music, GT72 would serve you a great sound quality. SteelSeries Engine 2 SSE Software 85% of stylization in 74 keys, possessing: Keypress macro, Text macro, Launch and Disable functions. MSI DRAGON GAMING CENTER Showing the hardware status, supporting applications, and mouse speed …etc plenty function Premium with luxury Gamecaster software, you may use 1080P recording or live broadcast during gaming. After register in V2 edition, you may have superior software, Broadcaster. System Performance: CrystalMark 2004R3 => 436364 GT72 gets really high scores, over 10,000 points higher than other high end gaming competitors I tested before.

MSI Computers have shifted to Gaming market and gotten more and more attention in recent years. Couple years ago, I found out that expanding MSI product line not only enhance various products but also elevate MSI repute in users mind. Recently, MSI has published a high end 18” Gaming Laptop featuring mechanical backlit Keyboard which catches eyes . The original 17” GT70 has been replaced by whole new GT72 since last quarter, 2014. Today’s major character is new GT72, which separate into two editions due to market segmentation. Featuring nVIDIA GTX 970M along with 256GB SSD: GT72 2QD Dominator Featuring nVIDIA GTX 980M along with 512GB SSD: GT72 2QE Dominator Pro There are several editions of GT72 2QE Dominator Pro: GT72 2QE Dominator Pro using 512GB SSD; luxurious edition does not serve headset, mouse, backpack and more accessories. Today’s major character uses highest level limited edition of GT72, CPU uses much higher class than Intel Core i7-4710HQ. First of all, look up top of GT72, made by Mg-Li metal. With brush metal and aesthetics lines inspired by matte black racing cars .Of course, MSI logo and Dragon Gaming badge are indispensable. Compare to GT70, GT72 is much slim and light; dimensions the system is (WxDxH) 428 X 294 X 48mm and weighs 3.78KG. GT72 goes with 17.3″ screen .The exclusive backpack size is much larger than 14-15.6”s’. The appearances of backpack are: design with black, Dragon Gaming badge on front and two red line on broadside. Picture of backpack back side, there are many specifics design for more protected and so does the inside of backpack. It might seem a little heavy when carry it; however as long as being adjusted, you will feel better protection. Packaging and Bundle: Bundles with usual documentation – manual, two-year warranty and drivers software disc ; Delta Electronics 230w model ,power code , MSI gaming mouse pad, keyboard projector skin , SteelSeries KINZU V2 gaming mouse , SteelSeries SIBERIA V2 headset. Underneath of GT72 is a lot different than GT70, which laminar casing with huge area of red ventilation outlets. The battery of GT72 has been switched into irremovable and featuring 9-Cell, 87Wh Lithium-ion battery. Using a 2.1 sub system based around, and bottom right of red block is where the XBS bass place. B-side goes with a FHD (1920?1080) non-glare display and it is an 17.3″ screen with LED backlight technology which comforts your eyes while using in a long time. The webcam at the top of the screen is capable of 1080p at 30FPS and array mics on two sides with digital mic support. C-side is a place where usually be touched by hands. The above red-spot area of C-side is speakers – collaboration with Dynaudio(there would be details on following review). The trackpad and tray is made by plastic while other place is made by metals with texture, it great artistic temperament. The new design on left side is shot-cut function button. From top to down : Power Button , GPU manual switch Button , Cooler Boost Button , Gamercaster Live Streaming , and SteelSeries Engine . GPU manual switch Button: Users could manually switch from the describe GPU to the I-GP on processor. Cooler Boost Button: Cooler Boost 3 is used to manually kick up the fan speed to provide more cooling and performance potential. There are three modes can be easily switched to "Sport" (maximum power) – fan noise above 50dBA, "Comfort" (limited GPU clock), or "Green" (limited CPU & GPU power) – fan noise below 45dBA via FN + F7.

CPU Cooler height limitation is 9.5cm. However, 11.3cmJ-POWER JP-1366-S is still fittable. After measuring, you can use 13cm cooling fan. High end top-down blowing fan is also installable. If your budget is enough, water cooling is also a good option. The spec is supporting 29cm high end VGA. 30cm VGA is also fittable. However, it’s EOL version, so I don’t use it as reference. I saw 250D information since it’s just launched. I was very interested. After using, I do see its strengths. High texture and simple style is very impressive. I think the chassis can use for many years. It’s worth you buying a better quality chassis. After all, chassis is the appearance of your PC. The outlook and texture should fit your style. CORSAIR Obsidian Series emphasize texture, cooling and scalability. The Mini-ITX version is no exception. Even though, the dimension is bigger than the other Mini-ITX case, it still has many advantages. If you are looking for high performance ITX system, 250D is a right choice. Besides simplicity style, outstanding scalability and great texture, the cooling and silent design is also very good. The price is key loses for 250D, but the design and materials are much better than most competitors. If CORSAIR can launch a lighter ITX version in lower price, it also can expand the market to most ITX Case users. It will also post in my blog WIND3C, Any comments are welcome.

It’s 2.5” and 7mm thick. Sequential Read / Write can reach 550/520 MB/s. Random Read / Write max is 100K / 90K IOPS. It’s tested by CrystalDiskMark. Official performance almost makes SanDisk Extreme PRO as the best SATA3 SSD performance. Power Supply is ANTEC NeoECO Classic450W. It’s passed 80PLUS BRONZE certified. Single route +12V is34A and max output is 408W. The cooling fan is 12cm dual ball bearing silent fan. 100% Japanese made caps for better durability and official 3 years warranty. The C/P is good. Considering the inner cabling, modularized power supply or low watt models are recommended. System Configuration CPU: Intel Core i5-4690K MB: GIGABYTE Z97N-Gaming 5 DRAM: AVEXIR AVD3U16000904G-2CIR VGA: Intel HD Graphics 4600 SSD: SanDisk Extreme PRO 240GB POWER: ANTEC Neo ECO Classic 450W Cooler: J-POWER JP-1366-S OS: Windows 8.1 64bit Intel Core i5-4690K OC to 4.5GHz 1.26V CINEBENCH R15 CPU => 681 cb CPU(Single Core) => 176 cb FRYRENDER Running Time => 5m 49s Fritz Chess Benchmark => 29.58/14326 Just using entry CPU cooler also can OC 4690K to 4.5GHz. As ITX platform, the performance is really good. I also installed 12cm and 14cm system fan. 250D is also improving CPU cooling. AS SSD Benchmark - 1163 Seq Read - 524.44 MB/s Write - 490.30 MB/s. 4K - 64Thrd Read - 372.84 MB/s Write - 281.49 MB/s ATTO DISK Benchmark over 64KB, the max Read is 559.2 Mb/s and max Write is 523.7 MB/s. GIGABYTE old chipset board SATA3 SSD performance is lower than the others. This time, Z97N-Gaming 5 breaks my experience. The benchmark is better than MB. It’s really impressive. BTW, SanDisk Extreme PRO is top performance SATA3 SSD in the current market. Enable XMP mode, DDR3 1600 CL9 9-9-24 2T ADIA64 Memory Read - 22979 MB/s Sandra Memory Bandwidth - 18445 MB/s MaXXMEM Memory-Copy - 20520 MB/s OC to DDR3 2400 CL11 14-14-36 2T ADIA64 Memory Read - 33329 MB/s Sandra Memory Bandwidth - 26356 MB/s MaXXMEM Memory-Copy - 27321 MB/s AVEXIR DDR3 1600 OC capability is very good. DDR3 2600 can run stably, but the voltage must set as 1.6~1.65V. I don’t know if they will change IC in the future. It may impact the OC range. The reason I don’t use higher clock in this test is Haswell-EMemory Controller character. DDR3 2400 bandwidth is higher than DDR3 2600~2800 under some settings. If you require more DRAM bandwidth, you also can try to OC your DDR3 133~1600. New version Sound Blaster X-Fi MB3 audio software The interface has changed a lot. Some design changes to lateral mode. It provides saving, import and export functions for users to load own preferred setting. Finally, I would like to share complete system. Due to it’s bigger dimension Mini-ITX Case and well design, it’s easy to assembly.

Beside front panel, you can install one 12cm or 14cm fan. It’s using CORSAIR AF140L silent fan and dust filter. Back left side can install two 2.5” SSD or HDD. Mostly like it will be SSD. There are also 2 bays for 3.5”. Most users install 3.5” HDD. 250DMini-ITX scalability is very high. Even you need 3 storages, it’s still enough. Bottom Right side is Power Supply fan rear hole. It also equips with dust filter. Four solid rubber mat can make 250D more stable and anti-shock. Accessories are multi-languages installation guide, three kinds of screws and tie-wrap. The screws are only for MB and PSU. Other hardware can all install without it. After this, I will also share the other parts in this review. The Mini-ITX MB is GIGABYTE Z97N-Gaming 5. G1 series changed the new symbol this year. It’s more recognizable. The color also changes to black and red. It bundles Intelwifi module, supports Wi-Fi 802.11 a/b/g/n/ac. It also supports Bluetooth 4.0, 3.0+HS and 2.1+EDR. The applications are very wide. LAN chip is Qualcomm Atheros Killer E2201. It’s very common in Gaming networking design. Audio is the key feature. The chip is Realtek ALC1150. Yellow caps are JapaneNichicon audio caps. It places in between left and right channels PCB. It integrates amplifier which can reach 600Ω load to support high end headset. It also supports Sound Blaster X-Fi MB3 software. DRAM is AVEXIRDDR3 1600. This brand just launched several high frequency DDR3 products. Currently, DDR3 1333 and 1600 price gap is small. I recommend DDR3 1600 for better C/P. AVEXIR Core heat sinks have many color editions. It’s red in the pictue. The capacity is 4GBX2, dual channel. The clock is DDR3 1600. Main CL is CL9. Voltage is 1.5V. SSD is SanDisk Extreme PRO. It’s 10 years official warranty. 240GB for system drive is more than enough. Nowadays, it’s popular to use HHD as data drive.

In the past couple year, ITX market became more and more popular. Many MB makers launched related products. Some of my friends choose ITX due to space concern. For small room or preferring small PC, ITX is the best option for you. The ITX Case I share today is CORSAIR high texture Obsidian Series. Obsidian Series majority is ATX full-tower chassis. It’s simple, texture and scalability. Recently, it also has Micro ATX350D and Mini ITX250D. For who requires high performance and small size, these two are just perfect. Let’s look at CORSAIR Obsidian Series 250D box first. It’s thicker carton with detail features. Corrugated paper with less painting is more environment saving. From here, CORSAIR Obsidian Series 250D will be named as 250D. The size is 351x 277 x 290mm, and weight is 4.42 kg. The major material is steel and aluminum front panel. There are some parts using plastic. Front panel has one 5.25” for DVD or BD-ROM. Right side has 2 front USB3.0 and headset, mic jacks. The 5 white round dots on both sides can open bottom panel. Left side has Power and HDD/SSD LED. Bottom round button is Reset. The light LED is light white. It won’t impact your vision at dark site during the night. Front panel is black anodized brushed aluminum fascia and a brushed aluminum fascia with the company logo imprinted on it. It’s not anti-fingerprint, but still acceptable. If the white CORSAIR logo is nameplate, the texture will be better. Top panel is partial transparent window design. Users can see through it. No matter water cooling, air cooling, MB orRAM, if it’s Luminous, the visual effect is better. Left side It has large openings with integrated fan filters. It enhances air flow, also lower dust. Right side It also has large openings with integrated fan filters. Back Side Top can add two 8csm fans. Right side can install high end VGA panel. Center is Mini-ITX MB IO panel. Lower-left is 2.5” and 3.5” storage trays. Lower-right is Power Supply. It supports max 18cm high watt ATX PSU. Uninstall 3 side panels Left side can install two 12cm fans. It bundles with one CORSAIR AF120L silent fan. If you are using CORSAIR water cooling system, you can install H55, H60 or H100i for better air flow. Inner top side Front is 5.25” bay. It’s convenient but also makes ITX Case bigger. Back is for Mini-ITX MB. Below is Power Supply. Front is for PSU cables.

Iometer 5 minutes - 100% Write / 100% Random 4KB Total I/Os per Second => 86380.81 5minutes - 100% Write / 100% Random 4KB Total I/Os per Second => 86356.60 5minutes - 100% Read / 100% Random 4KB Total I/Os per Second => 96403.27 5minutes - 100% Read / 100% Random 4KB Total I/Os per Second => 97599.02 You can see the Random Read / Write 4KB in IOMETER 2008 are really high. The key is after 20 mins repeating test, there is no decline as SanForce controller. Marvell 88SS9187 controller performance wont decline. Its standard technology for current high end SSD. Comparing to former Extreme II, Extreme PRO performance doesnt improve much. However, using same Marvell Controller and own latest NAND Flash, official specs show power consumption is 30% lower. In such low power consumption, the Extreme PRO performance is really outstanding. Second part is NoteBook test. I use DELL New!Alienware 17. As high end Gaming Notebook in the market, the performance and hardward specs are all top level. AlienFX lighting is DELL New!Alienware body surrounding many LEDs. The shell is coating aluminumand soft touch rubberized finish. Its magnesium-alloy frame for better quality, texture and durability. Its 17.3 antiglare FHD monitor. The speaker is the best I have ever used in Notebook. It supports one mSATA and two 2.5 SATA3. I change to Sandisk Extreme PRO SSD. Sandisk Extreme PRO 480GB SSD install at SATA3 port as system drive. OS installs Windows7 Ultimate 64bit, all drivers and Intel Smart Response Technology. AS SSD Benchmark - 1095 Seq Read - 512.79 MB/s Write - 485.38 MB/s 4K - 64Thrd Read - 362.11 MB/s Write - 283.22 MB/s ATTO DISK Benchmark over 128KB can reach max Read 560.5 Mb/s and Write 526.3 MB/s CrystalDiskMark Seq Read - 547.8 MB/s Write - 512.5 MB/s Comparing to Desktop PC numbers, most benchmark in Notebook is similar. It means even Sandisk Extreme PRO SSD set as system drive, the performance is still good. Of course, DELL New!Alienware SATA3 optimization is high, also enhance Extreme PRO scores. BootRacer Boot Result => 14.142 seconds In BootRacer, it needs only 14.142 seconds. The speed is really fast. Of course, if you only install drivers without any software, the booting time will be less than 12 seconds. However, I think this kind of test is no reference value. Complete installation is more close to reality using environment. If I change to Windows 8.1, the booting time will be faster. But its not popular yet. After consideration, I still use Windows 7 as OS. Recently many Z97 MB supports M.2(N.G.F.F.) spec up to 1000MB/s bandwidth. Some high end M.2 SSD can reach more than 700 MB/s bandwidth. Most is 500MB/s. Also, MB only support one M.2 SSD, the price and RAID application still far away to be mainstream. SATA is main specs for years. If you want to upgrade your system performance, SATA3 SSD is first choice. Now, SSD is also divided into parity and high performance. SanDisk Extreme PRO strength in SSD market is Random4K Read/Write can reach 100K/90K IOPS. SequentialRead/Write can be up to 550/515~520 MB/s. Its almost the best SSD specs in the market now. SanDisk performance tuning is outstanding to make 240/480/960GB have same performance. Extreme PRO provides 10 years conditional warranty. Its also the longest in the market. After service cost is high, of course it impacts the product price segment. As cost/performance, SAMSUNG 840PRO should be the opposing force, next is Intel 730 Series. If you want to pick high end SATA3 SSD, for max performance and warranty, Extreme PRO is a good option. Its windwithme review test about SanDisk latest Extreme PRO SSD. It will also post in my blog WIND3C, Any comments are welcome.

64K - Write - Average 443.9 MB/s Access Time 0.026ms 8MB - Write - Average 490.1 MB/s Access Time 0.036ms 64K - Write - Average 429.7 MB/s Access Time 0.027ms 8MB - Write - Average 486.9 MB/s Access Time 0.038ms SanDisk Extreme PRO is excellent in HD Tune Pro Write. The seeking time is around 0.026~0.038ms. The key is writing curve starting above 400 MB/s. I used to test some high end SSD. The 64K Writetransmission speed is significant upand down, or average speed below 200 MB/s. SanDisk Extreme PRO is close to 430 MB/s during test. File Benchmark Sequential 4KB randon Read - 97383 IOPS / Write - 86810 IOPS ATTO DISK Benchmark over 128KB starts to reach max Read 560.5 Mb/s and Write 526.3 MB/s Sequential 4KB randon Read - 97403 IOPS / Write - 85818 IOPS ATTO DISK Benchmark over 64KB starts to reach max Read523.7 Mb/sand Write 526.3 MB/s ATTO DISK Benchmark over 64K starts to reach max Read /Write 500 MB/s. The 0.5~2K data transfer rate is even better. It leads Intel 730 Series 480GB a lot. CrystalDiskMark Seq Read - 547.8 MB/s Write - 514.3 MB/s <All 0xFF, 0Fill> Read - 550.9 MB/s Write - 516.8 MB/s <All 0x00, 1Fill> Read - 548.0 MB/s Write - 514.3 MB/s Seq Read - 548.3 MB/s Write - 515.4 MB/s <All 0xFF, 0Fill> Read - 548.0 MB/s Write - 514.9MB/s <All 0x00, 1Fill> Read - 548.8 MB/s Write - 515.2 MB/s CrystalDiskMark random test and 2 sequential mode speed are the same. This is one of the main advantage of Marvell Controller. Seq performance is close to official specs. 4K QD32 Write and Read are top level of current SATA3 SSD. AS SSD Benchmark - 1118 Seq Read - 526.51 MB/s Write - 494.30 MB/s 4K - 64Thrd Read - 357.62 MB/s Write - 247.29 MB/s AS SSD Benchmark - 1175 Seq Read - 525.94 MB/s Write - 492.08 MB/s 4K - 64Thrd Read - 367.33 MB/s Write - 292.44 MB/s Current top level SATA3 SSD can reach more than 1100 in AS SSD Benchmark. 4K-64Thrd Read can reach 357~367MB/s. This is new key factor for SSD performance. Compression Benchmark is also consisntent. Seq Read is 525MB/s and Seq Write is 494MB/s. PCMark Vantage - HDD Score : 78950 SSD Benchmark TOTAL => 5127.39 PCMark Vantage - HDD Score : 78162 SSD Benchmark TOTAL => 5093.71 It?s a pity that PCMark Vantage HDD doesn?t reach 81000, which official claim. The performance gap is around 2.6~3.5%. It?s still acceptable. I also upgrade G1.Sniper Z97 BIOS to F6. F6 is marked improving SSD performance. In the past, GIGABYTE MBSSD performance is lower. It might be MB tuning issue. I hope GIGABYTE can enhance BIOS to complete the SSD performance.

Users’ impression of SanDisk mostly is memory card brand. Actually, they have been working for high speed SSD for long time. The main product line is Extreme series. Two years ago, I have test the first generation SanDisk Extreme 240GB. Last year, they unveil Extreme II and this year is Extreme PRO during Computex. It’s the product this review. SanDisk Extreme PRO has 3 capacities. There are 240, 480 and 960GB. This review will test 240 and 480GB. As SSD using experience, SandForce240GB performance is higher than 480GB a little. Recently, more products use Marvell controller. Some 480GB performance is higher than 240GB official spec. The key difference of Extreme PRO and other SSD is it has the same performance for 3 capacities. First of all, let’s check the appearance of SanDisk Extreme PRO SSD. It’s same design pattern with own memory card. Black as main tone with red linear . 240GB product code is SDSSDXPS-240G-G25. It’s 2.5”. The height is 7mm. Sequential Read / Write up to 550/520 MB/s. Random Read / Write up to 100K / 90K IOPS. The numbers are based on CrystalDiskMark. Official specs make SanDisk Extreme PRO as best SATA3 SSD performance in current market. 480GB product code is SDSSDXPS-480G-G25 Sequential Read / Write up to 550/515 MB/s Random Read / Write up to 100K / 90K IOPS. Tested by CrystalDiskMark. 480GB and 240GB main difference is Sequential Write from 520 MB/s to 515 MB/s. Durability is Terabyte Written>80 TBW for 3 models. Extreme PRO provides 10 years conditional warranty. Internet shows 10 years warranty for remarked regions. I would like to remind you, the warranty will be void if SSD warranty sticker broken. Please don’t try it. SanDisk Extreme PRO series uses Marvell 88SS9187 controller. It is self-owned SanDisk latest 1Ynm, eX2 ABL MLC, oggle Flash. NAND Flash IC is very special. Currently, Marvell 88SS9187 mostly build with Toshiba NAND Flash. DRAM Cache in 240GB is 512MB and 480/960GB is 1GB. The detail performance will show you in following result. First platform is Intel DeskTop, using GIGABYTE latest G1.Sniper Z97. It builds in Qualcomm Atheros Killer E2201 LAN controller and Creative Sound Core 3D audio processor. As G1.Sniper Z97 design and components, the C/P is quite good in Gaming MB market. GIGABYTE G1 series has big change since Z97/H97 chipset. The design moves to popular black and red. Logo changes to robot eye which is better than the past. Audio is the key feature. It owns AMP-UP Audio technology and market only swappable OP-AMP chip design. Intel Z97 is Intel latest mid-high end chipset. It’s popular in the market now. Usually, Intel chipset IOtransmission is better. Since Z87, it supports 6 native SATA3 ports. I believe it’s good for SATA3 SSD and RAID performance. System Configuration CPU: Intel Core i5-4690K MB: GIGABYTE G1.Sniper Z97 DRAM: CORSAIR DOMINATOR-GT DDR3 2800 4GX2 VGA: SAPPHIRE Raden HD 6970 CrossFire HD: SanDisk Extreme PRO 240-480GB POWER: ANTEC TRUEPOWER Classic 850W Cooler: XIGMATEK HDT-S1283 OS: Windows7 Ultimate 64bit System setting Intel Core i5-4690K OC 4.5GHz CORSAIR DOMINATOR-GT enable XMP as DDR3 2800. Single SanDisk Extreme PRO 240GB or 480GB at SATA3 port Non-OS drive without data installs in Intel Z97 platform. Each software has two pictures. The above one is 240GB and below one is 480GB. HD Tune Pro 5.50 Black Size is the special one. The default is 64K on the left and 8MB on the right. 64K - Read - Average 436.7 MB/s Access Time 0.036ms 8MB - Read - Average 527.4 MB/s Access Time 0.036ms 64K - Read - Average 473.8 MB/s Access Time 0.024ms 8MB - Read - Average 528.7 MB/s Access Time 0.036ms

CINEBENCH R15 CPU => 679 cb CPU(Single Core) => 176 cb FRYRENDER Running Time => 5m 28s x264 FHD Benchmark => 25.6 PCMARK7 - 5208 These are 4690K stable performance capabilities of Intel code-named Devil's Canyon in the air-cooled ultra frequency. Using mid-level tower-type cooler, and ultra frequency to 4.5GHz can pass by the above various heavyweight test software. If using a high-order air-cooled or water-cooled radiator, you will have the opportunity to achieve more stable ultra frequency environment 4.6GHz If for the only limit to pursue the case, that is, into the desktop stroll, ultra frequency to 4.7Ghz or more is not a problem. Intel Core i5-4690K ultra frequency ability should be even better than the majority of 4670K, but still have to follow the constitution and the radiator. DRAM Bandwidth Test ADIA64 Memory Read - 34232 MB/s Sandra Memory Bandwidth - 31461 MB/s DDR3 bandwidth performance and ultra frequency ability is still the architectural advantages of this generation Intel Haswell. The last generation Ivy Bridge architecture enables stable operation of only about 2666 to about 2400. With the Haswell Refresh platform, you can also have high bandwidth like the last generation. DDR3 ultra frequency ability with physique if strong enough, you have a great opportunity to overclock to 2800 to 3000. Meanwhile pulse bandwidth DDR3 LGA 1155 platform is also much higher than about 13 to 27%. Whether Haswell or Haswell Refresh is better in DDR3 table, if you want to pursue higher clock or bandwidth performance, you may have to wait until next year a new platform for the next generation DDR4 Temperature performance (temperature about 30 degrees) 4670K operates IntelBurn Test to allow CPU to full speed operation time - 75 to 86 4790K operates IntelBurn Test to allow CPU to full speed operation time - 68~76 Rumored on the Internet earlier the new codes in Devil's Canyon CPU cooling material aspects have made changes These two 4670K and 4690K above full test pattern appears telling the truth. 4690K 4670K minimum temperature lower than 7 degrees, the maximum temperature is low. About 10 degrees For those who prefer a lower temperature or extreme overclocking users, it will be profitable. BIOSTAR Hi-Fi Z97WE Advantages 1 price a little higher than the entry Z97, , specifications of materials are close to the other brands of Z97 MB on the market 2 In addition to audio capacitors, all are using solid capacitors, with built-in Power / Reset buttons and debug LED lights 3 With good visual sense of the new UEFI interface, boot and set are very quick. 4 With built-in audio using better nonpolarized capacitors, headset also has exclusive Amplifier 5 major power reached 10, most of only 4 to 6 powered in this price Z97 design 6.Dual GbE network chip, supports Teaming technology, and the highest network bandwidth is up to 2G Disadvantages 1 At present, Taiwan has not yet BIOSTAR sales channels 2 built-in audio hole is better to use gold-plated material 3 If we can support SLI technology, that will contribute to the effectiveness of Gaming Environment Performance ratio ★★★★★★★★ ☆☆ 80/100 Material than ★★★★★★★★ ☆☆ 82/100 Specifications than ★★★★★★★★ ☆☆ 82/100 Appearance than ★★★★★★★★ ☆☆ 83/100 Cost ★★★★★★★★★ ☆ 86/100 We experienced one of Intel's two Devil's Canyon CPU which is Core i5-4690K. It has a satisfactory performance in temperature, and then in the future we will use more higher-level radiator to test the limit for the higher Devil's This time for Canyon, Intel also introduced the new product Logo, it looks nice and with very distinctive features. I think consumers should be very interested. with Intel 20 anniversary's Pentium G3258 CPU with no locked frequency. I remember in 2010, I madel air-cooled ultra frequency of the Core i5-661 2C4T to 5G I hope Inte Pentium G3258 will have better performance in windwithme's ulta frequency tests in the future ! BIOSTAR Hi-Fi Z97WE's price in the United States is about 125 dollars, converted into NT about 3700 yuan. And WE is the abbreviation for Wonderful Enhanced, which looks pretty good in one-sided meaning But if changing it into the abbreviation WWE World League, I think consumers will be even more impressive. In this price and specifications, Hi-Fi Z97WE really quite values, and performance and materials are all above average But it is better that another version of the Z97 version can be launched using gold-plated audio jack, to support Samrt Ear 3D software. And it can support dual SLI technology, or equipped with ALC 1150 sound chip, to reduce 5-phase power and supply network with a single chip.. . The price can be reduce in less 150 US dollars, That will be good. And it also provides another affordable choices with high specifications. Finally, i still hope to launch Gaming MB BIOSTAR for market competition like other MB brands This review is also in my blog. WIND3C, any comments are welcome.

Archiving and leaving the page The top is the BIOS setup options, the central is for selecting the hardware boot option, and the below is for the user to set the archive feature. BIOSTAUEFI BIOS offers a wealth of options which are quite sufficient for the general setting or energy adjustment efficiency. There are no built-in features with too many fancy, and no high-resolution pictures or large files of BIOS Figures. For BIOSTAR UEFI BIOS, the response at boot set speed is very quickly, which can be considered as one of the advantages. These are to set up the 4690K with adjustment multiple frequency and voltage ultra frequency, making CPU and DDR3 set for 4500 / 2800MHz. For software, there are SmartSpeedLAN, appearing to be with the use of dual network chip. Four automatic modes such as games, streaming, and browser are available. Click into the applicationon on the left to monitor the program status opened in use currently. On the advanced page you can enter the desired network speed, which is limited by the maximum download or upload function. On the below there are also two functions to accelerate the reaction time and without delay of TCP, providind the use of closing or opening. Smart EAR GUI Hi-Fi Zone Sound chip and associated capacitance are with gold lines around them, making the separatio of digital / analog, which can reduce EMI Nosie. Non-Polarized Electrolysis Electric audio capacitors Metal oxide resistors of metal-oxide film resistors, and then equipped with front headphone to expand audio chip, using a lot of sound-level design. Just above Sound Chip, a metal shield printed with BIOSTAR Logo will glow red when in the power. The devices for the actual listening equipped with entry for USHER S-520 stereo amplifier with Mic. LF - drums still acceptable, bass do not go too heavy feeling If the details more clear, it is better. IF - In songs or videos, vocal performance is clear, and a solid sense of sound is also quite good presentation. HF - some music and sound details have a good ductility, and not too sharp condition occurs. With Z97WE main materials used in Hi-Fi, sound quality is even better than the normal built-in Realtek sound chip of MB. Perhaps many people feel Realtek audio performance is moderate, but the sound quality performance in the acquired materials and design also take up a very important part. Unfortunately, this did not haze supports like before by Creative THX software or Samrt Ear 3D software Otherwise, the sound field or low-frequency performance will further improve, and games or movies will have a significant environmental benefit. Testing platform CPU: Intel Core i5-4690K MB: BIOSTAR Hi-Fi Z97WE DRAM: CORSAIR Dominator Platinum CMD16GX3M4A2800C11 VGA: SAPPHIRE Raden HD 6970 CrossFire SSD: Intel 730 Series 480GB POWER: ANTEC High Current Pro 850W Cooler: XIGMATEK HDT-S1283 OS: Windows 8.1 64bit CPU 100 X 45 => 4523MHz 1.230V DDR3 2814 CL11 14-14-35 2T 1.650V Nuclearus Multi Core => 29222 Fritz Chess Benchmark => 29.97/14387 CrystalMark 2004R3 => 425599 CINEBENCH R11.5 CPU => 7.65 pts CPU(Single Core) => 1.96 pts

The left upper of Motherboard Both sides of the CPU power has strengthened passive cooling module Z97WE is designed for 10 phase power , the top is for the power input for 8PIN IO 1 X PS / 2 keyboard 1 X D-Sub / DVI-D / HDMI 2 X USB 2.0 (Black) 4 X USB 3.0 (blue) 2 X RJ-45 network hole 6 X Audio sound jack The heat sink shape and design of Z97WE in Z97 chipset are quite nice For M.2 new specifications with a lot of exposure in the next generation Z97 of the board area, its advantage is the maximum bandwidth can reach up to 1000 MB / s. PCI-Express M.2 is also much higher than SATA3's current maximum bandwidth of 600 MB / s. M.2's drawback is that the price will be relatively high, which will take up PCI-E bandwidth, and if there is only one device, Raid can not be done. As for in the future what position for M.2 SSD to play in the market, let the consumer to make a decision! Two kinds of language available in English and Simplified Chinese can be switched, and in the figure are many hardware Advanced Options pages. CPU adjustment efficiency for the home page Fix the multiplier on 45 4690K, which is 4500M Then close the CPU C stats energy-saving technology, and the below is the built-in GPU's clock and Options. DDR3 uses CORSAIR Dominator Platinum 2800C11. After opening XMP technology, you can easily achieve a stable high-performance DDR3 2800. The lower half of the page is for more advanced DRAM Options. Voltage page The CPU Apaptive Voltage Target designated as 1.23V. After providing stable voltage 4.5GHz, CPU voltage becomes 1.248V on the left to display. The bottom of the voltage page is for DRAM voltage because of opening XMP automatic ultra frequency technology DDR3 is automatically set in 2800 CL11, DRAM voltage of 1.65V, and the left detected as 1.668V.

Earlier this year, Intel released a new generation of high-level platform, using the same pin LGA 1150 chipset name to raise to nine series, and the highest level Z97 is as the current each MB brand's main product. The CPU followed Haswell Refresh version of the chipset launched by Haswell architecture and the CPU looks like seemingly small change, which may be doing to prepare for the second half of Haswell-E. Otherwise Extreme positioning of LGA 2011 CPU will be slower one generation than higher-level LGA 1150 structure, with the feeling of a little strange when matching, but also to indirectly make LGA 2011 market more narrow. The MB new R & D is very slowly, and it is expected that the future platform for Intel dual consumption can catch the latest architecture, allowing the Intel Extreme platform more competitive. Back to one of these dual protagonists in this test is BIOSTAR Hi-Fi Z97WE which carton packaging is changed to black, red and yellow color-based, and flagship Hi-Fi design is quite conspicuous. Personal recommendations are further to reduce the number of board carton volume, and you can increase exquisite sense and can also reduce some freight. For another protagonist Intel Core i5-4690K in the architecture of code-named Devil's Canyon Haswell Refresh, with K behind the code for the highest level version of Core i5, it has the adjustment function of the multiplier. 4690K total clock is 3.5GHz, to support Turbo Boost Technology, up to 3.90GHz performance. Physical 4 Cores is four threads, referred 4C4T, and built-in HD Graphics 4600 GPU which is as 22nm process as Ivy Bridge, with the power higher than 88W, and 6MB of total L3 Cache. The Overview of the Back The left for the Haswell Refresh architecture Core i5-4690K The right for the Haswell architecture Core i5-4670K In addition, different Revision can be seen from the back, and the cooling material has been changed according to information on the Internet, The following will do detailed testing, so users can better understand the performance of Devil's Canyon. Not as in the past with black and blue color, this back Hi-Fi Z97WE two color instead of black and yellow Size is 30.5cm x 24.4cm, general ATX common specifications Most PCI-E and DDR3 DIMM sockets using yellow appearance Mosfet area with Z97 chipset cooling module is the use of golden yellow, it seems the overall appearance is good Included in the English manual, driver software CD, IO tailgate, black SATA cables and Hi-Fi Description Paper The left bottom of Motherboard 2 X PCI-E X16 3.0, the highest support for AMD CrossFireX technology, bandwidth of X8 + X8 2 X PCI-E X1 2.0 2 X PCI Dual-network chip is Realtek RTL8111G, supporting dual network Teaming Technology Sound chip is Realtek ALC892, up to 8-channel Blu-ray Audio, equipped BIOSTAR Hi-Fi technology The right bottom of motherboard 6 X Black SATA, Z97 chipset provided, SATA3 specifications The above can be mixed build RAID 0, RAID 1, RAID 5, and RAID 10, the highest performance decided in accordance with SATA devices The right upper of Motherboard 4 X DIMM DDR3, supporting DDR3 1066 ~ 1600/1866 ~ 2800 (OC) DDR3 capacity can support up to 32GB, supporting Extreme Memory Profile technology The left Black is for the front USB 3.0, and the below is 24-PIN power input

Power consumption tests With Windows desktop idle mode - 12W CPU full loading with LinX - 77W Running FurMarkXtreme Burning Mode, make NVIDIA GeForce GTX870M full loading - 112W The power setup in control panel set to balanced, the idle more power is really low with only 12W. i7-4700HQ with full loading only used of 77W power consumption, it improved a lot compare with previous version of Core i7 architecture. The NVIDIA GeForce GTX870M graphics was Kepler core architecture, same process as last generation graphics, so the power consumption did not improve, but 112W is acceptable with a higher 150W adaptor, also the 3D performance improved a lot as well. Battery life for video playback, it left 10% after 2 hours and 28 minutes. Its not a really good presents, might because of the slim type design and dual fan thermal solution. It will be better if its over 4 hours. Sound effect with Sound Blaster Cinema 2 It comes with 5 functions for better surround and sound stage, each audio scenario setup also comes with 5 different functions to enable as well. Below are the setups. We could enable human vocal setup with songs. GS70 speakers still co-brand with Dynaudio, the high-end speakers brand from Denmark. Below is the sound experience, its more about independent personal feeling, compared with notebooks built in speakers. When adjust the volume to maxima its loud, dont need to think about if the volume is small or not. High Frequency - No overload noise, detail is good above average. Mid Frequency - Very clear sound stage, and rich sound detail with voice. Low Frequency - Its better than expected, not strong but very clear. I tried more than 10 Ultrabooksbefore, the sound quality always was weakness and worse than traditional notebooks, might because of the real slim design space limitation. When first time saw GS70 also worry about the sound quality will get big gap compared with previous review on GT70. But after listening the sound quality is really amazing, especially it presents really good on mid-high level frequency to over my expected. Maybe subwoofer and overall sound was still weaker than GT70, but GS70 already breakthrough the limitation and make the sound quality as good as possible, this is really hard and took lots of efforts in the back. Summary on GS702PE Stealth Pro Pros: 1.Gaming notebook with Ultrabook concept is not easy, 3 side with metallic design and very high quality material and design looks. 2.Internet comes with Killer Gaming LAN,Audio Boost with AMP supports better headset sound quality with gold jack. 3.3 mSATASSDs become Super RAID 2 with 1 2.5 1TB HDD make this platform very fast and good storage capacity with balance. 4.With Full HD matted monitor, its good quality and comfortable for eyes for long time watching. 5.Designed with SteelSeries slim type keyboards, SteelSeries Engine software could manage KLM and macro keys with 4 layer keyboard is really useful. 6.Cooler Boost 2 dual cooling design, this makes the slim notebook with good thermal quality. 7.2 channel audio with 4 speakers with 1 subwoofer did brings better sound quality and better sound stage. 8.Matrix Display supports 3 monitors output, HDMI and Mini DisplayPort all supports 4K output. Cons: 1.The single plate touch pad sometimes will zoom or enlarge, its not convenient. 2.Accessories comes with a gaming mouse, got the compatibility issue with right side USB port. 3.User is not able to switch battery themselves, and the battery life still have some room to improve. 4.GS70sacrificedthe upgrade or DIY possibility compared with GT70. Performance ★★★★★★★★★☆ 88/100 Materials ★★★★★★★★★☆ 89/100 Specifications ★★★★★★★★★☆ 90/100 ID Design ★★★★★★★★★☆ 92/100 Cost/Value ★★★★★★★★☆☆ 75/100 GS series comes with 2 types with different size, GS70 comes with 17.3 monitor, and GS60 comes with 15.6 monitor, and GS70 got 2 version, higher version with NVIDIA GeForce GTX870M is 2PE Stealth Pro, lower version withGTX860M is 2PC Stealth. And Super RAID 2 supports 1~3 mSATASSDs for optional models. MSI GS70 is a gaming notebook designed with high quality ID and better performance, its different with traditional Gaming notebook design, more close to the concept of Ultrabook with slim and lighter design. For the users who need to bring notebook out often or business trip but still need high gaming performance, its really better choice. But every product comes with advantage and weakness, GS70 is less expansion and upgrade possibility, its the most advantage from GT70. In the end personally prefer more about the slim design and stylish ID of GS series, its very good advantage on high end gaming notebook market. If you are interested with high level Gaming Notebook, this article from windwithme should be good reference for you. If you are interested in MSI GS70, I believe you could know lots of detail in this article about GS70. At last, I attached the color correction file with Spyder kit, share to the GS70 users. This article also post on my personal blog, welcome to take a look and encourage it. windwithme - MSI GS702PE Stealth Pro This review is also in my blog. WIND3C, any comments are welcome.

GS702PE Stealth Pro comes with 2 type of Graphics. One is the HD4600 Graphics built in Intel Core i7-4700HQ. The other one is NVIDIA GeForce GTX870M3GBGDDR5. We saw lots of GS70 information of GS702PE with GTX870M since April, MSI is really fast on the graphics refresh this time. 3DMark11 =>P7024 3DMARK => 4171 / 16351 / 108705 Heaven Benchmark 4.0 DX11 1920 X 1080 => FPS 42.5 Monster Hunter => 11081 Metro Last Light The NVIDIA GeForce GTX870M got higher improvement than previous version of GTX770M. GTX870M is 33.6% faster on 3DMark11, the 3 iteams is 21.3% / 5% / 64.9% improvement. Heaven Benchmark 4.0 also got 18.4% faster then. GTX870M is more than enough to play most of heavy loading 3D games, its really smooth on Full HD resolution. There were only seldom games critical on GPU force demands, that might let gamers not to set to the highest detail to play games smoother. On the 3D gaming fileld, MSI GS702PE Stealth Pro already got outstanding 3D performance Temperature presents (ambient 25 degree C ) System Idle - 36~41 Full CPU loading with LinX - 84~89. GS70 designed with now thermal technology of Cooler Boost 2, the mechanical design also totally different from GT or GE series. It separately designed of CPU cooling and GPU cooling, with better heat pipes and thermal modules, with better air flow input and exhaust design. So the higher interior temperature problem did not happened on GS70 with this slim metallic design, and it even presents better than previous GE or GT series. This is the outstanding presents on GS70 thermal solution, and hope the new GT series could use this kinds of design. SteelSeries Engine SSE application Its good software for programmable with Macro keys, it supported over 85% more of the keyboard keys, support Keypress macro, Text macro, Launch program key and Disable keys. KLM keyboard backlit management, could set keyboard lights with 3 zones, that change colors easily. FN plus number keys 1~4 could switch the Layer 1~4 keyboards, not only change the backlit colors but also set different Macro keys users preset on different layers. SteelSeries keyboard backlit effects The anti-ghost keys could make input faster and smoother, move the Windows button to right side could prevent the touch when user are playing games. The power button light also means something, it will be white light when use UMA HD4600 graphics, and with orange light when use GTX870M graphics.

Setup the mouse function page. System performance tests CrystalMark2004R3 => 338137 Nuclearus Multi Core => 22867 Fritz Chess Benchmark => 25.45/12214 CINEBENCH 11.5 OpenGL => 51.04 fps CPU => 6.89 pts CPU (Single Core) => 1.47 pts CINEBENCHR15 CPU => 634 cb CPU(Single Core) => 132 cb PCMARK7 - 6268 For the notebooks, with slim architecture with limited space, the thermal capability is very critical part design. In before we saw Ultrabook or slim type notebooks, usually designed with Core i7but 2C4T low voltage U version. But GS70 comes with slim design and powerful Intel Core i74700HQ, we could believe the thermal design did enhanced a lot. Intel Core i7-4700HQ is high performance in notebook CPU field, it comes with 4C/8T architecture with TurboBoost. In many benchmarks above, for single core or multi cores performance scores, Core i7-7400HQ is capable to working great with many heavy loading calculations. It got high scores on system performance as well, this also because ofGS70 built in with SSDs and GTX870Menthusiast graphics. GS70 designed with new generation Super RAID 2, supports 3 SSD by RAID 0 combinations. GS702PE Stealth Pro built in 3 mSATA3SSDRAID0 architecture to become Drive C: for system usage, Drive D: is a SATA2 interface 1TB HDD at 7200rpm for data storage, this design combined with faster access performance and better storage capacities. The type of SSD is TOSHIBA THNSNJ128GMCU, HDD is HGSTHTS721010A9E630, Drive C: is 384GB capacities for system storage. ATTO Disk Benchmark over 16k tests could up to 1635MB/s reading speed, and 1290MB/s writing speed. CrystalDiskMark Seq Read - 1509 MB/s Write - 989 MB/s AS SSD Benchmark - 1928 Seq Read - 1504.78 MB/s Write - 1097.97 MB/s 4K - 64Thrd Read - 661.81 MB/s Write - 538.09 MB/s BootRacer Time to Logon 4 seconds Time to Desktop 17 seconds Boot Result 21.687 seconds In recent 2 years, TOSHIBA SSDs often brings high performance and stable images for end users. The price range is a bit higher in the market, but GS70 built in with this good SSD will brings faster storage performance. The SSDs is really good performance on reading, writing and 4K-64Thrd access, really reduced the time for open up programs. With lots of software in the tray icons, the boot up time to OS is about 22 seconds, this is quick. D: drive is data storage at 1TB capacity, a 2.5 HDD with 7200rpm. ATTO DISK Benchmark over 8k tests could reach to 133.5MB/s. the writing is 132.6MB/s. CrystalDiskMark Seq Read - 132.6 MB/s Write - 127.6 MB/s This 1TB7200rpm HDD is good performance as well as a big capacity storage. Although HDD could get highest score about 130MB/s from top, but to the lowest speed will be lower, and SSD is much faster on 4K access and seek time over 100x, so its still the best solution to use SSDs for drive C:.

7 type of signal light on the down left side, will have white light when works. The touch pad got bigger size, right side it the black label by Intel Core i7. GS70 also used the sound by Dynaudio speakers design, its 2 channel but 4 speakers to make the sound with higher level. The speakers is in the hinge parts, very special design. The holes on the top of keyboard is for airflow in, its not for speakers. The 17.3 inch non-touch matte panel with Full HD 1920x1080 resolution. Used better TN panel, the brightness and contrast is about 20% better than regular TN panel, the viewing angle close to 85 degree, so its similar as IPS panel quality, but not so vivid as IPS panels color style. WebCam with fixed lens by Full HD 1920x1080 resolution and 30FPS recording. The screen angle could open up to 130 degree. Right side of the notebook From left to right, its CPU exhaust holes, Kensington lock, AC in, SDHC/XC reader, USB3.0x2 GS70 comes with many stand pads in the bottom, the 3 pad on the top side supports the GS70 stands higher with better heat spread capability, the big piece of the dark cotton pad could prevent heat to have direct contact with users. Headphone-out\Line in\Line out Right side of notebook From left to right, GPU exhaust holes, RJ45 LAN port, HDMI, Mini DisplayPortx2, USB3.0x2, Headphone Out, Line in, Line out. MSI GS702PE Stealth Pro built in Intel Haswell platform. CPU is Intel Core i7-4700HQ, 100x24=>2.4GHz, L36MB, Quad Core with HT technology, 22nm process, TurboBoost could overclock up to 3.4GHz, chipset is HM87. Used the latest Windows 8.1 OS With MSI style DRAGON GAMING CENTER software Could see the real time Hardware status. Could apply many applications for quick launch. Gamecaster is the unique Live Stream software for MSI only, supports up to 1080p recording or live streaming upload to twitch channel. Enable the Gamecaster for recording or live streaming will only reduce 2~3 in game FPS rate, its light loading.

Recent years, MSI really focus on Gaming market of their Notebook product line, MSI Gaming series notebook already launched 5 type of products, the GT series comes with Top Level performance and gaming features, the Ultra-thin but powerful gaming notebook is GS series, the only pure AMD platform gaming notebook is GX series, good cost/performance value of GE series, and entry gaming of GP series. MSI offered more different level of Gaming product line for more consumers to choose. This time I want to share MSI latest mechanical design product, it belongs to Ultra-thin style GS series. High-end Gaming Notebook always gives people feel its heavy on both performance and weight, but thats because of Highest CPU and Graphics makes these notebook needs higher thermal solution capability, so the size always bigger and much heavier. This time MSI brought high level Gaming hardware into Ultra-thin style become GSseries, that brings different choice to the gaming notebook market. First we take a look on GS70 box design, its real different from GT and GE series box design. Used gift box case style with black cover, the gaming feeling red line across the box, that gives fine works quality. Inside the box the GS70 and accessories placement is good, use cotton cover and foam rubber to enhance the protection. Obviously we could see the foam rubber inside the top case to protect GS70 as well. The gray color type of GS70 notebook backpack comes with different style compared with GT/GE series backpack. This backpack looks more simple style, metallic material is more high quality, and comes with 1 more interior bag for easier to carry and protection. GS702PE Stealth Pro notebook The dimension of GS70 is 418.5x287x21.8mm, weight is around 2.66Kg, Intel ruled the Ultrabook should be under 21mm, GS70 17.3 notebook only got 21.8mm, the weight is 46% lighter than GT70 which is around 3.9Kg, these 2 points are the biggest advantage of GS70 dimensions. A side and whole cover comes with matte black color, the black will change to metallic gray with lights, and with a little purple under sunshine. The shield used Mg-Al metallic design,its 50% lighter and 10% more solid. The Logo design looks better than before, with a dragon tattoo inside the red shield, come out white light when power on. D side bottom design The 2 parts of exhaust holes for airflow out designed for CPU anGPU cooling, the holes aside the sticker designed with subwoofer. Accessories The Driver DVD, Quick manual, product feature intro, optical gaming mouse and 2 years warranty license. Slim type adaptor made by Delta, its stable good quality traditional brand. Supports up to 150W power, 25mm thin. GS70 built in battery is non-changeable, the spec. is 5400mAh60Wh. C side is the most touched place with keyboard, the size is same as other 17 notebooks, did not make it bigger because of the slim type design, the square measure is similar as Alienware 17. SteelSeries slim type full color gaming keyboard got new features, will introduce this later.

Back View There are also 4 soft pads on corner to fix the keyboard on table. There are 2 stands on upper side. Below is fixed holes for wrist rest. Soft touch and detachable wrist rest enhance the comfort. For hours use, you can relief the wrist fatigue. K95 Side View after Installing Wrist Rest For users have more table space, K95 design and quality can offer you a high standard experience. CORSIR K95 Gaming Software Playback Options Delay Options Advanced Options You can find the latest CORSAIRK95 Firmware in official website. The latest is 1.3. After taking out the key, you can see German Cherry MX Red Switch. Above transparent dot is LED light. Enable LED, it light White which really improve the quality and identification. K95 design position is different with K65. It?s for heave gaming users. If you don?t mind the space and play game hours, you need more function keys and comfortable feels. Or you need good quality keyboard and larger size, K95 is an outstanding pick for you. K95 still gets some room to improve. Like left side 18 macro keys can be separatedfor more efficient space use. Above USB ports can upgrade to USB3.0 for faster speed. Basically, K95 focus on Gaming, so the total score is very high. There are 2 CORSAIRdifferent sizes Gaming Red Switch share. They are both frameless and aluminumchassis. It?s big different with my Cherry keyboard?s simple look. Even though K65 and K95 are positioning for high-end market, comparing to same price segment products, CORSAIR Vengeance look, materials, design and features are surely leading. I really pay attention to keyboard, mouse, monitor and speakers. These parts are not about performance but human touch. It impacts personal feel, comfort and fatigue. Of course Cherry MX Switch price is higher than most rubber dome keyboards. If you consider the durability, and human fatigue, this is worth to invest. Nowadays, many vendors use Cherry MX Switch. I believe users can easier to find your favorite one in your budget. This review is also in my blog. WIND3C, any comments are welcome.

H87 chipset provides 4SATA3 ports, supporting RAID 0, RAID 1, RAID 5 and RAID 10. Comparing to most H61 ITX for entry market, Haswell platform has more options. H87N-WIFI is mid-end market in ITX pricing. The C/P value is good in both materials and specs. Test Configuration CPU: Intel Core i3-4130 MB: GIGABYTE H87N-WIFI DRAM: CORSAIR DOMINATOR-GT DDR3 2400 8GX2 VGA: Intel HD Graphics 4400 HDD: Samsung 830 Series 128GB SSD POWER: ANTEC TRUEPOWER Classic 550W Cooler: XIGMATEK HDT-S1283 Keyboard: CORSAIR Vengeance K65 / Vengeance K95 OS: Windows7 Ultimate 64bit CORSAIR Vengeance K65 feedback is clear. The sound is not as loud as Green, but a little louder than Brown. The life cycle is 50 million clicks, that?s the main reason I change to Cherry MX Brown.. K65 is design and quality is good. Cherry MX Red is durable, tactile feedback and less fatigue. Vengeance K65 design is frameless, compact, easy to carry and removable USB cable. It is suitable for small table space or small PC users, like MATX or Mini-ITX system. If you need to carry your keyboard very often, the compact K65 and removable USB cable is very convenient. The other model is CORSAIR most high-end Gaming keyboard, Vengeance K95. It looks similar to previous Vengeance K90. It should be revision. The dimension is 502 x 166mm and the weight is 1.34kg. It?s quite heavy when you hold it. Center and right side is Black anodized brushed aluminum chassismakes better quality and looks. K95 only this area keys are matted surface plastic. G1~G18 are macro keys. Combining with M1~M3, you can have 54 customize definitions. It is 100% anti-ghosting with full key rollover on USB. You can press 20 keys at the same time without ghosting. Every key has diode to avoid current reflux. Center View K95 bundle White LED. The light reflectsdirectly on black aluminum back board. It is all Cherry MX Red Switch. The long pond is satellite switch. K95 key is different material with K65, the touch feeling is softer. Right-side View Large size keyboard with number keys and more function keys on above side. Key-by-key customizable backlighting, you can press any of M1~M3 for 3 seconds, then you can set the key lights. MR combines with M1~M3, you can set up G1~G18 macro keys. From leftmost is LED light switch, luminance button, Window key and lock key. From right most is 6 multimedia keys, play/pause, stop, next, forward, mute and volume wheel. Upper left is BIOS Switch, 4 steps. The response time is 1, 2, 4 and 8 ms. Next is USB Port for USB drives and devices. K65USB cable is very thick already. K95 is 3 times thicker than it. There are 2 USB connectors. Normally, you just need to plug the major one. If you plug USB devices in it, you may need to plug 2 connectors for more power.