In our midst, a fully fledged gaming notebook with Intel Ivy Bridge, NVIDIA GTX 680M, 16GB DDR3 and SATA 3 SSD (RAID0). Can it get any better than this?
Product on Review: GT70 0NE
Manufacturer and Sponsor: MSI
Street Price: £2099 inc VAT
As LAN parties get bigger and popularity continues to grow the mobile gaming platform demand increases too. Although desktop gaming systems are becoming more flexible and portable, not everyone wants to transport their system to a gaming LAN. Gaming notebooks are certainly more portable as the user only has to drop the product into a satchel and away they go. To play games fluidly and at a competitive level, high-end hardware is essential and this is where most gaming notebooks tend to struggle. Today we will be taking a look at one of MSI’s top offerings within their gaming series – GT70 0NE.
GT70 0NE features some of the fastest hardware a gaming notebook can harbour. Intel’s Ivy Bridge is a significant addition as is the 16GB DDR3, NVIDIA GTX 680M and 128GB SATA 3 SSD in RAID0. GT70 has even more to offer and has the makings for a very powerful mobile solution so let’s waste no further time and begin our review.
MSI on the GT70
The first Super RAID design—one notebook with two SSD mSATA RAID0 units, is yet another world first courtesy of MSI. Two mSATA SSDs and one HDD can be installed in the same laptop without the need to expand the size of the laptop, increasing read, write, and saving speeds.
The GT70 represent the first time that MSI has incorporated Big foot Gaming LAN (Killer™ Gaming Networking)- Killer™ E2200 Intelligent Networking into its notebooks, endowing them awesome online speeds. The Advanced Game Detect™ technology recognizes online game data packs and processes them first, accelerating them in the process. The best weapon against stuttering characters, freeze-ups, and lagging, it vastly improves the prowess of online gamers. Now, whether FPS or MMO gaming is your cup of tea, you’ll have that extra edge you need to be victorious.
The MSI Audio Boost design enhances sound output by 30%. The gold flash audio jack provides stable sound transmission (reduced obstruction) and works in conjunction with the optimized AMP (Audio Power Amplifier) design, characterized by low noise and low distortion, to greatly enhance headphone performance and faithfully reproduce each acoustic detail.
MSI Turbo Drive Engine (TDE) technology brings more calculating speed to enhance the system performance. It benefits the video decoding/encoding, 3D gaming and art work designing. With MSI TDE Technology, you can experience faster response time and efficient real-time data processing.
Only one finger!! Exclusive Cooler Boost technology provides powerful cooling capabilities and receives real-time notification of the GT70’s core temperature variations and fan speed.
The GT70 represent the first time that MSI has incorporated Big foot Gaming LAN (Killer™ Gaming Networking)- Killer™ E2200 Intelligent Networking into its notebooks, endowing them awesome online speeds. The Advanced Game Detect™ technology recognizes online game data packs and processes them first, accelerating them in the process. The best weapon against stuttering characters, freeze-ups, and lagging, it vastly improves the prowess of online gamers. Now, whether FPS or MMO gaming is your cup of tea, you’ll have that extra edge you need to be victorious.
The MSI Audio Boost design enhances sound output by 30%. The gold flash audio jack provides stable sound transmission (reduced obstruction) and works in conjunction with the optimized AMP (Audio Power Amplifier) design, characterized by low noise and low distortion, to greatly enhance headphone performance and faithfully reproduce each acoustic detail.
MSI Turbo Drive Engine (TDE) technology brings more calculating speed to enhance the system performance. It benefits the video decoding/encoding, 3D gaming and art work designing. With MSI TDE Technology, you can experience faster response time and efficient real-time data processing.
Only one finger!! Exclusive Cooler Boost technology provides powerful cooling capabilities and receives real-time notification of the GT70’s core temperature variations and fan speed.
Technical Specifications
CPU
The latest 3rd generation Intel® Core i7/i5 Processor
OS
Genuine Windows® 7 Home Premium (MSI recommends upgrade to Genuine Windows® 7 Professional)
Chipset
Intel HM77 Chipset
Memory
DDR3 1600MHz, 4 slots, Max: 32GB
LCD Size
17.3″ Anti glare full HD 1920×1080 LED backlight
Graphics
nVIDIA Geforce GTX680M 3D Graphic Card
Graphics VRAM
GDDR5 3GB
HDD (GB)
256GB SSD + 750GB SATA, 256GB SSD + 500GB SATA, 128GB SSD + 750GB SATA, 128GB SSD + 500GB SATA, 1.5TB SATA, 1TB SATA
Optical Drive
BD Writer / Blu-ray / DVD Super Multi
Audio
Audio Boost, 2 Speakers, 1 subwoofer
Webcam
HD Webcam(30fps@720p)
Card Reader
SD(XC/HC)/MMC/MS(PRO)/xD
LAN
10/100/1000 Bigfoot Killer E2200 series
Wireless LAN
802.11 b/g/n
Bluetooth
Bluetooth 4.0
D-Sub (VGA)
1
HDMI
1(v1.4)
USB 2.0 port
2
USB 3.0 port
3
eSATA
1
eSATA/USB Combo
1
Mic-in/Headphone-out
1/1
Express Card
N/A
Keyboard
102 keys
AC Adapter
180W
Battery
9 cells
Power Management
MSI execlusive ECO engine
Dimension
428 x 288 x 55mm
Weight (KG)
3.9
The latest 3rd generation Intel® Core i7/i5 Processor
OS
Genuine Windows® 7 Home Premium (MSI recommends upgrade to Genuine Windows® 7 Professional)
Chipset
Intel HM77 Chipset
Memory
DDR3 1600MHz, 4 slots, Max: 32GB
LCD Size
17.3″ Anti glare full HD 1920×1080 LED backlight
Graphics
nVIDIA Geforce GTX680M 3D Graphic Card
Graphics VRAM
GDDR5 3GB
HDD (GB)
256GB SSD + 750GB SATA, 256GB SSD + 500GB SATA, 128GB SSD + 750GB SATA, 128GB SSD + 500GB SATA, 1.5TB SATA, 1TB SATA
Optical Drive
BD Writer / Blu-ray / DVD Super Multi
Audio
Audio Boost, 2 Speakers, 1 subwoofer
Webcam
HD Webcam(30fps@720p)
Card Reader
SD(XC/HC)/MMC/MS(PRO)/xD
LAN
10/100/1000 Bigfoot Killer E2200 series
Wireless LAN
802.11 b/g/n
Bluetooth
Bluetooth 4.0
D-Sub (VGA)
1
HDMI
1(v1.4)
USB 2.0 port
2
USB 3.0 port
3
eSATA
1
eSATA/USB Combo
1
Mic-in/Headphone-out
1/1
Express Card
N/A
Keyboard
102 keys
AC Adapter
180W
Battery
9 cells
Power Management
MSI execlusive ECO engine
Dimension
428 x 288 x 55mm
Weight (KG)
3.9
Packaging & Bundle
GT70 arrives in a nicely decorated carry type box. The front has the MSI gaming series emblem right in the middle and there are logos for the supporting brands – SteelSeries and Dynaaudio. MSI have collaborated with these brands to provide the keyboard and audio devices. As is usual with most packaging, the back carries with it more details surrounding the feature-set.
Packaging for GT70
Inside the box the accessories are protected within a box whilst the laptop itself is covered in a fabric sheet and held in place with cardboard pillars.
Included within the bundle are the usual documentation – manual, warranty and drivers. GT70 comes with a hefty AC power adapter which is far bigger than heavier than a standard notebook/laptop charger.
Items included within the bundle
First Look – Externals
To start with we will have a look at the external aspect of GT70. The top of the notebook is covered in a layer of brushed aluminium, plastic has been integrated to the sides and the MSI metallic logo has been placed in the middle.
On the underside of GT70 are various covers which can be removed to gain access to different areas of the notebook. With this there are also ventilated sections to allow heat to dissipate from the notebook. Additionally there are four rubber pads on the underneath of GT70 to prevent the notebook from slipping around.
Brushed aluminium for the top of GT70
The underneath of GT70
Looking at the sides of GT70 there is further ventilation for the chipset and GPU to exhaust and dispel unwanted heat. MSI have integrated 3x USB 3.0 ports and a handy SD card reader which will allow functionality for SD(XC/HC)/MMC/MS(PRO)/xD. For those who frequently use this type of storage a card reader is very useful on a notebook as it removes the need to an external device to serve such a purpose. On this left side there are also audio jacks for surround sound.
Numerous USB 3.0 ports and handy card reader
Over on the other side of GT70 there are two more USB ports but these are USB 2.0. The only other aspect worth noting on this side is the optical drive which is a BD Writer / Blu-ray / DVD Super Multi. MSI do not specify the operating speeds of each type.
A BD Writer / Blu-ray / DVD Super Multi drive
The rear of GT70 features a Gigabit LAN port, with HDMI and VGA ports and eSATA connectivity. On this back panel of ports the AC power connects and has the added capability of being locked to the notebook.
The rear of GT70
We’ve taken a look at the external aspect of GT70 and now we will open the notebook up and take a look under the lid.
Closer Look
Due to its size (428 x 288 x 55mm) and calibre the GT70 is a weighty product (just under 4KG) but a very sturdy one also. Opening the lid reveals the screen, keyboard and speakers. The screen used on GT70 is a whopping 17.3″ and is anti-glare, offering full HD 1920×1080. Furthermore the screen is also LED backlit. MSI have also integrated a webcam at the top of the screen to increase functionality even more, this webcam is capable of 720p at 30FPS.
The layout of GT70 is tailored towards the gamer and the overall quality is very good indeed.
GT70 in all its glory
Upon closer observation the keyboard is branded SteelSeries. SteelSeries are a well-established gaming brand and although the keyboard remains fairly nondescript there is the reassurance that it is robust and has anti-ghosting support, meaning multiple keys can be pressed simultaneously. Gamers have the added bonus of this particular device being backlit and these colours can be modified at will. As you can see from the below picture, this enhances the keyboard somewhat in darkness and exudes vibrancy.
Above the keyboard is another collaboration – Dynaudio. Again, another well-established brand, this time a giant from within the professional audio scene. GT70 uses a 2.1 sub system based around Dynaudio for superior, crystal clear audio fidelity. In between the speakers are a variety of touch buttons providing Turbo (on the fly overclock), 100% fan speed. Additional to these functions there is also WiFi on/off and BluRay functionality and the capability to change the colour of the keyboard. These options are interesting and useful to have at your finger-tips, when GT70 is used for gaming – especially when using a headset, it would be useful to use 100% fan speed to give the system full cooling capabilities. Of course this will result in plenty of noise but with a headset on it may not be much of a hindrance.
Keyboard provided by SteelSeries, audio by Dynaudio
Customisable backlit keyboard
The battery for GT70 is secured to the unit with lockable latches. Upon removing we can identify that our notebook uses a rather large 7800mAh 87Wh Lithium-ion battery. MSI claim this can hold up to around 4 hours whilst being loaded with movies, games and other burdensome task, quite impressive indeed.
7800mAh 87Wh Lithium-ion battery
The touchpad which may not be a device that will be heavily used by the gamer since the dedicated mouse is a given, has a large smooth surface and two large button for left/right mouse clicks. Just below this region are a series of LEDs to signify Bluetooth, WiFi, Battery, Sleep and HDD usage.
Touchpad and activity LEDs
Test Systems & Methodologies
MSI GT70 Notebook
CPU Intel 3610QM
Motherboard MSI-1762
Memory 16GB DDR3 – 1600MHZ CL11
Graphics 4GB NVIDIA GTX 680M
HDD 2x 128GB SSD (RAID0) 1x Hitachi Deskstar 750GB
CPU Intel 3610QM
Motherboard MSI-1762
Memory 16GB DDR3 – 1600MHZ CL11
Graphics 4GB NVIDIA GTX 680M
HDD 2x 128GB SSD (RAID0) 1x Hitachi Deskstar 750GB
Eclipse Stealth Extreme
CPU AMD Bulldozer FX-8120 3.1GHz AM3+ Black Ed Processor-Retail
Motherboard Asus Sabertooth 990FX AM3+
Memory Corsair Vengeance 8Gb DDR3 1600 (2x4Gb) CL9 Dual-Chan Kit
Cooling Corsair Hydro H40 High Performance Water Cooling Kit
Graphics XFX 3Gb AMD Radeon HD 7950 DD Ed. PCI-e 3.0
PSU XFX 1000W P1-1000-BL Black Edition 80+ Platinum Modular
Storage
1TB Seagate Barracuda 7200rpm SATA3 32mb Cache
120Gb Corsair Force3 SATA3 SSD
CPU AMD Bulldozer FX-8120 3.1GHz AM3+ Black Ed Processor-Retail
Motherboard Asus Sabertooth 990FX AM3+
Memory Corsair Vengeance 8Gb DDR3 1600 (2x4Gb) CL9 Dual-Chan Kit
Cooling Corsair Hydro H40 High Performance Water Cooling Kit
Graphics XFX 3Gb AMD Radeon HD 7950 DD Ed. PCI-e 3.0
PSU XFX 1000W P1-1000-BL Black Edition 80+ Platinum Modular
Storage
1TB Seagate Barracuda 7200rpm SATA3 32mb Cache
120Gb Corsair Force3 SATA3 SSD
Scan 3XS FT03
CPU Intel Core i5 2500K (Overclocked to 4.7GHz)
Memory 8GB Corsair Vengeance LP 1600MHz CL9 DDR3
Graphics 2x ASUS NVIDIA GTX560Ti DirectCU II 1GB
HDD 1x 120GB Corsair Force 3 SSD 1x Seagate Barracuda 7200.12 1TB
PSU Corsair TX850M V2
CPU Intel Core i5 2500K (Overclocked to 4.7GHz)
Memory 8GB Corsair Vengeance LP 1600MHz CL9 DDR3
Graphics 2x ASUS NVIDIA GTX560Ti DirectCU II 1GB
HDD 1x 120GB Corsair Force 3 SSD 1x Seagate Barracuda 7200.12 1TB
PSU Corsair TX850M V2
Custom PC – Intel Core i5 2500K, ASUS P8P67
CPU Intel Core i5 2500K (Quad-Core 3.3GHz)
Motherboards ASUS P8P67
Memory 4GB Kingston HyperX Genesis CL9 1600MHz
CPU Cooler Noctua NH-D14
Graphics ZOTAC GTX 460
HDD Samsung Spinpoint 500GB SATA 2
PSU OCZ Fatal1ty 750W
CPU Intel Core i5 2500K (Quad-Core 3.3GHz)
Motherboards ASUS P8P67
Memory 4GB Kingston HyperX Genesis CL9 1600MHz
CPU Cooler Noctua NH-D14
Graphics ZOTAC GTX 460
HDD Samsung Spinpoint 500GB SATA 2
PSU OCZ Fatal1ty 750W
Benchmarks
Windows 7 Boot Time – Measuring with digital stopclock
x264 HD 4.0 – 1st and 2nd pass encoding
CrystalDiskMark 3 – Sequential Read/Write
Cinebench 11.5 – CPU Score
AIDA64 – Disk/Cache benchmarks
SiSoftware SANDRA 2011 – CPU benchmarks
3DMark 11 – Performance and Extreme preset
Gaming – DIRT 3 and Skyrim (Average FPS)
The above benchmarks will be run on all systems and compared. The Stealth Extreme delivers high-end performance and will be compared to a series of previously reviewed systems.
GT70 takes advantage of Intel Ivy Bridge’s mobile desktop CPU – 3610QM which uses 6MB of L3 cache and has a frequency of 2.3GHz, this of course boosts from 1GHz when not loaded to 3GHz.
GT70 also uses a huge 16GB of DDR3 operating at 1600MHz and CL11. Combined with a 4GB GTX 680M and you can well imagine this notebook is very powerful indeed. Furthermore MSI have maximised storage acceleration by dropping in dual 128GB SATA 3 SSDs in RAID0 configuration to push for close on 1000MB/s for read/write transfer speeds. It will be very interesting to see what results we get from such a burly notebook.
Real World Performance – Windows 7 Boot Time
Synthetic testing is valuable in the examination of systems, but some of the tests may not mean all that much to some readers so this real world test will show the Windows 7 boot time. A digital stopclock is used to record time duration.
Real World Performance – x264 HD 4.0
Simply put, this test measures how fast your machine can encode a short, DVD quality MPEG-2 video clip into a high-quality x264 video clip. What’s x264, you ask? It’s more or less the next-generation Xvid/DivX codec. I think it’s ideal for a benchmark because the application (x264.exe) reports fairly accurate compression results (in frames per second) for each pass of the video encoding process, and it uses multi-core processors very efficiently.
HDD Performance – CrystalDiskMark 3
CrystalDiskMark is a disk benchmark software that analyses different types of hard drive. Giving sequential benchmark write and read statistics in MB/s. A simple program that is very useful. Sequential read/write performance is monitored.
For this benchmark the SATA 3 SSD (RAID0) was tested.
HDD Performance – AIDA64
Benchmark pages of AIDA64 Extreme Edition provide several methods to measure system performance. These benchmarks are synthetic, so their results show only the theoretical (maximum) performance of the system.
For this benchmark the SATA 3 SSD (RAID0) was tested.
CPU Performance – Cinebench 11.5
CINEBENCH can measure systems with up to 64 processor threads. This test scene contains approximately 2,000 objects which in turn contain more than 300,000 polygons in total, and uses sharp and blurred reflections, area lights, shadows, procedural shaders, antialiasing, and much more. The result is displayed in points (pts). The higher the number, the faster your processor. CPU score is monitored.
CPU Performance – SiSoftware SANDRA 2012
SiSoftware Sandra (the System ANalyser, Diagnostic and Reporting Assistant) is an information & diagnostic utility. It should provide most of the information (including undocumented) you need to know about your hardware, software and other devices whether hardware or software.
Sandra is a (girl) name of Greek origin that means “defender”, “helper of mankind”. We think that’s quite fitting.
It works along the lines of other Windows utilities, however it tries to go beyond them and show you more of what’s really going on. Giving the user the ability to draw comparisons at both a high and low-level. You can get information about the CPU, chipset, video adapter, ports, printers, sound card, memory, network, Windows internals, AGP, PCI, PCI-X, PCIe (PCI Express), database, USB, USB2, 1394/Firewire, etc.
Sandra is a (girl) name of Greek origin that means “defender”, “helper of mankind”. We think that’s quite fitting.
It works along the lines of other Windows utilities, however it tries to go beyond them and show you more of what’s really going on. Giving the user the ability to draw comparisons at both a high and low-level. You can get information about the CPU, chipset, video adapter, ports, printers, sound card, memory, network, Windows internals, AGP, PCI, PCI-X, PCIe (PCI Express), database, USB, USB2, 1394/Firewire, etc.
3D Performance – 3DMark 11
Designed to measure your PC’s gaming performance 3DMark 11 makes extensive use of all the new features in DirectX 11 including tessellation, compute shaders and multi-threading. Trusted by gamers worldwide to give accurate and unbiased results, 3DMark 11 is the best way to consistently and reliably test DirectX 11 under game-like loads.
3D Performance – DIRT 3 & Skyrim
It’s important for us to perform a number of game benchmarks as well as the synthetic tests because it allows us to test the 3D performance. So here we have some popular titles, critically acclaimed and action-packed. FRAPS and in-house benchmarking tools were used to capture average FPS.
Conclusion
GT70 is a certified powerhouse, of that there is no doubt. High-end gaming meets the notebook form factor rather aggressively.
In terms of specification; GT70 features one of Intel’s top Ivy Bridge models and memory has an astounding 16GB of DDR3. Combine this with NVIDIA’s GTX 680M and 128GB SATA 3 SSD in Raid0 and the recipe for victory is well within reach. Having all this hardware makes for very impressive results in an assortment of environments as our benchmark results on the preceding pages have demonstrated.
Audio is an area that GT70 excels in also, having a Dynaudio 2.1 system separates GT70 from every other gaming notebook on the market. First-hand experience is a requirement to fully understand the quality given by the integrated sound system. Audio is crystal clear and the bass is adequately punchy resulting in excellent audio for gaming, movies and music.
From a gaming perspective the SteelSeries keyboard works well throughout different gaming genres. The backlight helps considerably during late-night gaming and It’s good that users have the choice of customising and adjusting the colour configuration.
GT70’s short comings appear in the form of shape, size, weight and noise. The size and weight could probably be forgiven due to the sheer power of the system. Compromises are sometimes needed and to harbour such power is nigh on impossible in a thinner chassis. During normal operation the notebook is audibly noticeable but this can of course be avoided by using a headset, which most gamers will be using anyway to obtain precise audio directly into the ear.
Priced at £2099 the GT70 is a costly investment and its hard to fully recommend. Due to GT70 being portable it can remain on the office desk as a regularly used item and can easily be taken to a friend’s house or LAN party for some thrilling gaming sessions.
GT70 is a great solution for mobile gamers wanting the best performance. Thanks to extra features this notebook is also ideal for other uses too
Pros
+ Robust, good quality
+ High-end specifications
+ Large, crystal clear screen
+ Superior Dynaudio system
+ Long battery life
Cons
– Cost
– Heavy
+ Robust, good quality
+ High-end specifications
+ Large, crystal clear screen
+ Superior Dynaudio system
+ Long battery life
Cons
– Cost
– Heavy
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