The GV62 8RE is just one gaming laptop to be revamped in MSI’s lineup – armed with Intel’s new 8th Generation Coffee Lake architecture via the Core i5-8300H.
Product on Review: GV62 8RE Laptop
Manufacturer & Sponsor: MSI
Street Price: UK £1299 (with i7) – AU $1996 @ Harvey Norman
Mobile gaming has gained significant traction in recent years as more of us use our mobiles, tablets and laptops while on the move. Gaming laptops are by far the easiest solution for gamers wanting to load up their triple-A title and engage in extended gaming sessions. Although some desktop computers are easy to transport to events the laptop still retains a strong grip in portable gaming. MSI are renowned for their diligence in the gaming laptop arena, refreshing their product lines regularly and furnishing etailers with the largest selection of solutions to choose from.
In the spotlight today is a new gaming laptop which sits within MSI’s newly created GV Series. GV tackles the lower end of the market and seeks to offer users with entry-level to mid-level options for those on a tighter budget. Today we’ll be looking specifically at the GV62 8RE which takes advantage of Intel’s 8th Generation Coffee Lake Core i5-8300H CPU.
About MSI
As a world leading gaming brand, MSI’s goal is to become the most trusted name in gaming and e-sport. We’ve dedicated countless hours and committed numerous resources to the eSports community to support the world’s most aspiring and best gamers and use their knowledge and expertise in our products in return. The insistence on 100% in-house design and manufacturing gives MSI the solid capability to implement innovative ideas and optimized design in our products.
Technical Specifications
Below are the technical details surrounding GV62 8RE from MSI:
OS
Windows 10
Display
15.6″ (1920×1080) TN 60Hz
CPU
Intel Core i5-8300H
Chipset
Intel® HM370
Graphics
NVIDAI GTX 1060 6GB
Memory
8GB DDR4 (2400MHz)
SSD
1x 128GB M.2 SSD (SATA 6Gbps)
HDD
1x 1TB 2.5″ SATA HDD
Webcam
720p / 30fps
Communication
LAN – Killer Gigabit Ethernet
WiFi – 802.11ac
Bluetooth – v5
Audio Jack
1x Mic-in 1x Headphone-out (HiFi / SPDIF) 1x Line-in 1x Line-out
USB 3.1 Gen2
2x
USB 3.1 Gen1
2x
Card Reader
1x SD (XC/HC) Card Reader
Video Out
1 x HDMI 2.0 (4K @ 60Hz)
1 x Mini DisplayPort 1.4
Battery (Cell)
6-Cell
Battery (Type)
Li-Ion
AC Adapter
180W adapter
Dimension (WxDxH) mm
383 x 260 x 22~29
Weight (kg w/ Battery)
2.2 KG
Battery (Whr)
41
Windows 10
Display
15.6″ (1920×1080) TN 60Hz
CPU
Intel Core i5-8300H
Chipset
Intel® HM370
Graphics
NVIDAI GTX 1060 6GB
Memory
8GB DDR4 (2400MHz)
SSD
1x 128GB M.2 SSD (SATA 6Gbps)
HDD
1x 1TB 2.5″ SATA HDD
Webcam
720p / 30fps
Communication
LAN – Killer Gigabit Ethernet
WiFi – 802.11ac
Bluetooth – v5
Audio Jack
1x Mic-in 1x Headphone-out (HiFi / SPDIF) 1x Line-in 1x Line-out
USB 3.1 Gen2
2x
USB 3.1 Gen1
2x
Card Reader
1x SD (XC/HC) Card Reader
Video Out
1 x HDMI 2.0 (4K @ 60Hz)
1 x Mini DisplayPort 1.4
Battery (Cell)
6-Cell
Battery (Type)
Li-Ion
AC Adapter
180W adapter
Dimension (WxDxH) mm
383 x 260 x 22~29
Weight (kg w/ Battery)
2.2 KG
Battery (Whr)
41
Unboxing & Closer Look Video
For this review we’ve produced a video which reveals the packaging, bundle and a close, detailed overview of GV62 8RE. Please check out the video below for a comprehensive look at this new product:
Benchmarks: Temperatures
For our first benchmark test we observe the max. CPU/GPU temperatures of the system while allowing Unigine Heaven 4.0 to run on a 30 minute loop. To report back on the temperatures we use RealTemp and GPU-Z which provide the peak figures.
Benchmarks: Boot Time & Battery Uptime
In this test we observe how fast the boot into Windows 10 is by using a digital stopwatch. Battery uptime is another important observation, for this we charge the notebook up to 100% and then disconnect the charging unit and leave Heaven 4.0 running on a continuous loop until the notebook loses all power.
Benchmarks: Cinebench R15 & x264 HD
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 is.
Benchmarks: PCMark 8 & PCMark 10
PCMark 8 combines performance benchmarking with battery life measurement and includes tests based on popular Adobe and Microsoft applications. Whether you are looking for long battery life, or maximum power, PCMark 8 will help you find the devices that offer the perfect combination of efficiency and performance for your needs. It’s the complete PC performance benchmark for home and business.
Benchmarks: 3DMark TimeSpy & Heaven 4.0
Time Spy is a DirectX 12 benchmark test for gaming PCs running Windows 10. With its pure DirectX 12 engine, built from the ground up to support new API features like asynchronous compute, explicit multi-adapter, and multi-threading, Time Spy is the ideal benchmark for testing the DirectX 12 performance of the latest graphics cards.
Benchmarks: TW: WARHAMMER, Rise of the Tomb Raider, Dawn of War 3, DOOM
The MSI GV62 8RE uses the GTX 1060 for graphics delivery, in this section we test the latest gaming titles to see how effective the 3D capabilities are. We report on the average framerate using FRAPS or in-game benchmark tool.
Conclusion
As is customary for MSI, with the launch of next-gen products they are keen to revamp product lines and the MSI GV62 8RE is one such laptop which now benefits from Intel’s 8th Generation (Coffee Lake) CPUs.
Very little has changed between this year’s 8RE and last year’s 7RC models, but with the upgrade in platform/chipset, we now have access to more USB 3.1 connectivity, HDMI 2.0 over 1.4 and faster clock speeds. MSI has also redesigned their cooling solution inside this new model, now opting for a 6 copper heatpipe design with twin fan configuration – a vast upgrade from the 7RC’s 2 heatpipe and single fan solution. While this comes as an upgrade, temperatures are still difficult to stomach and noise is definitely on the louder side of the scale unfortunately.
Gaming performance from the GTX 1060 is as expected, very good. Choosing maximum detail on the native 1080p resolution does admittedly apply strain on the system with most games able to achieve up to 40-50fps, it’s therefore advisable to nudge down the detail to “high” in order to allow these figures to climb. Overall performance is great from GV62 8RE but it could be better – opting for single channel DDR4 rather than dual-channel DDR4 is likely to be a cost saving exercise but we regard it as an oversight as dual-channel will evitably deliver superior performance, even in games.
Another area which has seen a cut-back, (especially when we look at last year’s model) is the SSD solution, last time we were able to benefit from a PCIe drive, but this time we’re limited to a SATA-based M.2 SSD. There is quite a big performance difference between SATA and PCIe SSDs – SATA is limited to 500MB/s (and sometimes much lower write transfer rates) and PCIe SSDs can soar right up to 2000MB/s. We’d have liked to see the latter included.
It should be noted that GV62 8RE is available in a number of different configurations. The display is one area which has three options – all 1080p but TN, IPS or 120Hz. Our configuration with the i5 CPU, arrives with a price-tag of £1299 GBP – $1996 AUD (Harvey Norman are the exclusive sellers of this specification in Australia). To remain competitive, we feel this model should see a minor price-drop.
MSI’s new GV62 8RE is a stylish laptop which offers good overall performance. There are however a few areas which could be improved.
VIDEO REVIEW – VORTEZ TV
Pros
+ Classic, stylish design
+ LED backlit keyboard
+ Decent audio
+ Good overall performance
+ Offers 4K60 output port
+ Includes card slot reader
Cons
– CPU temperatures get rather high
– SATA-based SSD (500MB/s)
– Only single channel 8GB DDR4
– Only red backlighting available on keyboard
– Loud under load
+ Classic, stylish design
+ LED backlit keyboard
+ Decent audio
+ Good overall performance
+ Offers 4K60 output port
+ Includes card slot reader
Cons
– CPU temperatures get rather high
– SATA-based SSD (500MB/s)
– Only single channel 8GB DDR4
– Only red backlighting available on keyboard
– Loud under load
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