MSI GX70 Gaming Notebook Review; AMD A10-5750M Tested

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Gaming Benchmarks (In-Game)

Gaming Benchmarks (In-Game)

The gaming tests seen below are relatively straightforward with a mix of DX11, DX10 and DX9 games being used in order to ensure full compatibility with every system. 3DMark06 and 3DMark 11 (for supporting systems) are used as well. They are all run in-game three times over so as to ensure accuracy with all settings as indicated in the charts below.

As with the synthetic benchmarks, we see the HD 8970M taking over in most games and dominating similarly priced Ivy Bridge competitors. However, in Street Fighter CPU limitations take over and while the GX70 is more than able to deliver playable framerates, its performance tends to lag behind.

In newer gaming titles, the GX70 is able to deliver playable performance at high detail settings, though the newest Company of Heroes 2 and metro Last Light may require some driver updates for optimal performance and resource allocation.

 

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Battery Life

Battery Life

Battery longevity is one of (if not THE) most important aspect of any mobile device which is why we are breaking this section down into three distinct tests. The “Standard Workload” represents relatively light usage with a Flash-enabled web page being refreshed every 30 seconds. Our “Heavy Workload” runs a looped 10 minute automatic script that reflects a professional usage pattern of photo manipulation (Photoshop CS5), word processing (Microsoft Word), drafting (AutoCAD 2011) and file compression (WinRAR). Finally, the “Gaming” test runs a timedemo loop of Far Cry 2 DX9.

All tests are run until the battery reaches 5% with the Balanced battery mode enabled and the screen at 75% brightness. Wireless is also turned on but any backlit keyboard functionality is turned off.

With AMD’s Enduro switchable graphics working in the background, the GX70 provides surprisingly decent battery life, even when gaming. Finding a gaming notebook that boasts nearly 5 hours of unplugged browsing time is a rarity these days and serves as proof that AMD is making huge strides in efficiency and power management.

 

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Temperatures & Acoustics

Temperatures

Temperature testing is quite straightforward: we load the system with a loop of Far Cry 2 in order to stress the dedicated GPU (if there is one) while the CPU load is handled by a loop of WPrime 32M. Battery power is used during these tests. Temperatures are recorded with HWInfo and GPU-Z. Remember that this is a worst case scenario test so typical usage patterns will result in slightly lower temperatures.

Meanwhile, exterior temperatures are taken with a calibrated Fluke infrared thermometer at various locations on the notebook chassis. For comparison’s sake, we consider exterior readings of under 35°C to be perfectly suitable for on-lap usage while temperatures between 35°C and 45°F will start to feel a bit toasty. Anything above 45°F is uncomfortable and care should be given before placing it on your lap.

Considering the amount of heat pumped out by AMD’s HD 8970M, we were pleasantly surprised to see that GX70 displaying such low internal temperatures. Neither the graphics processor nor APU was anywhere close to their thermal limits, proving that MSI’s heatsink design was more than up to the job.

Exterior chassis temperatures were also some of the lowest we’ve come across for a gaming notebook. There is a small hot spot where the heatsink compiles hot air before exhausting it out a vent next to the rear I/O ports but otherwise, the GX70 was cool enough to game with on your lap.

Acoustical Testing

No one likes a loud laptop so in order to objectively determine acoustical properties, we use a calibrated decibel meter which is placed 16” away from the keyboard. A loop of WPrime is used to load the system and replicate a high usage scenario.

Any result under 35dB can be considered no louder than general background noise and usually won’t be noticed. Between 35dB and 45dB is still perfectly acceptable for notebooks yet will be much more noticeable than lower frequencies and likely won’t be heard over the noise of typing. Finally, we consider any result above 45dB to be unacceptable for a mobile device.

Gaming notebooks aren’t the quietest mobile devices around but MSI has managed to keep things under control….to a certain extent. When used for extended periods of time, the GX70’s fans do become noticeable but it’s phenomenal speakers can easily drown them out.

 

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Conclusion

Conclusion

MSI’s GX70 has been parachuted into a market which is filled with notebooks sporting Intel’s latest processors and NVIDIA graphics chips but that hasn’t prevented it from becoming an enticing, affordable alternative. At just $1300 it has the ability to compete with notebooks that cost hundreds more while still attaining respectable battery life and an excellent feature set.

While the Richland architecture doesn’t bring phenomenal x86 processing to the table and it can only compete against Intel’s lower-end processors in some tasks, AMD’s pricing structure gives this gaming platform a chance to shine. Basically, a lower APU cost gave MSI some maneuvering room and because of this, they’ve included a beastly HD 8790M GPU. An approach like this allows the GX70 to be significantly less expensive than Intel-totting solutions yet still achieve phenomenal in-game performance.

Gamer are by and large the GX70’s target market and it does provide excellent framerates in most titles. However, within any CPU limited games, its performance plunges back to earth like an out of control meteor as the A10-5750M becomes a massive bottleneck.

If we step outside of the gaming umbrella for a few seconds, there is one key area where the GX70 seems to lag behind. AMD’s lack of a native SSD caching technology means there’s no way to augment the 7200RPM hard drive’s speed. In a market that demands snappy system responsiveness, the lack of quick-access solid state storage (even in cached form) or a simple RAID array makes MSI’s gaming notebook feel lethargic, especially when loading applications or installing updates in Windows 8. There’s no way to overcome this either since MSI prevents you from performing any updates under the threat of a voided warranty.

There’s no quick way to get around the GX70’s somewhat sluggish feel (other than opting for MSI’s RAID option) but this is still one of the best gaming notebooks available in the sub-$1500 price segment. It has awesome headphone and integrated speaker systems, houses a surprisingly capable 17.3” display, is well built and boasts decent battery life due to AMD’s excellent Enduro technology. We weren’t singing the praises of the SteelSeries keyboard but that’s a highly subjective area anyways and in all other things, the GX70 feels like a significantly more expensive notebook.

The larger question here is whether or not AMD's Richland APUs have a chance to survive in the notebook market. Even after this review, the answer to that really comes down to market acceptance. We're sure they will be phenomenal in mid-level ultra portables due to high level power saving features, particularly as more applications move towards a GPU compute ecosystem. However, in more expensive narrowly targeted products like the GX70 they need powerful graphics processors like the spectacular HD 8970M to prop up performance. This does lead to lower end-user costs but there are computational sacrifices built into the relative affordability of AMD's newest platform.

MSI’s GX70 may be focused on gaming but it still has the feel of a relatively well rounded yet affordable high end notebook. The A10-5750M APU tends to lag behind in some areas but that HD 8970M is what gamers will be most interested in and its performance is nothing short of spectacular. With this in mind, if you are in the market for a portable gaming platform and can’t justify the cost of alternatives, the MSI GX70 certainly deserves consideration.