The GE75 has a 75Hz refresh rate, but the GS75 is 120Hz which theoretically provides smoother gameplay. The MSI also features NVIDIA G-Sync for reduced screen tearing and stuttering artifacts during gaming sessions. This means that it’s possible to see better framerates overall with this model of laptop than its closest competitor, the Asus ROG Zephyrus S (78Hz).
The MSI GS75 Stealth Pro is one of the most powerful gaming laptops on the market. Released in 2016, it has some modern upgrades like Nvidia GTX 1080 and Intel Skylake-X processors which make games look better than ever on this machine. The GE75 Raider was released in 2020 though, so how does it compare?
The “msi ge75 raider gaming laptop” is a new model released by MSI. It has been compared to the GE75 Raider, which was released in 2020.
In terms of gaming performance, battery life, display quality, price, portability, and more, we compared the MSI GS75 against the GE75.
The rankings with results can be seen above, while the in-depth reports on the two laptops can be found below.
MSI GE75 Raider is ranked first.
- GPU Performance at its Finest
- 144 Hz gaming display at its best
- Long-lasting battery
Is it possible to use the whole GPU? MSI also sells the GE75 Raider, which comes with the fast GeForce RTX 2080 but not the Max-Q version. We examined the performance to see if upgrading to Nvidia’s flagship is worthwhile.
Design
The MSI GE75 Raider is a gaming laptop with a 17.3-inch display that follows the trend of thin display borders and hence is relatively small. The gadget is now available with the faster RTX-2080 GPU, which offers a considerable performance gain over the original equipment with a GeForce GTX 1070.
Despite the tiny base unit, MSI did not include the Max-Q versions of the new graphics cards, which will shortly be utilized in the more costly GS series (GS75/65).
There are plenty of sleek and tiny 17.3-inch rivals on the market right now, but many of them use GPUs that aren’t quite as powerful. The MSI GE75 Raider will be pitted against the Asus Zephyrus S GX701GX and the Lenovo Legion Y740-17, among others, which are both equipped with the RTX 2080 Max-Q.
The Asus ROG Strix Scar II GL704W with the RTX 2070 is another comparable device. We also look at results from “thick” gaming laptops like the Eurocom Sky X7C and the Schenker XMG Ultra 17 to see whether the RTX 2080 can achieve its full potential.
The MSI casing is black with red accents on the screen cover and touchpad border. The GE75 Raider is therefore rather inconspicuous in comparison to certain other gaming laptops.
Although we enjoy the design, the flat metal surfaces are prone to grime and get bacony after a short period. You’ll have to clean them more often as a result.
We’re not persuaded of the stability since the top part of the base unit flexes visibly under pressure and makes cracking sounds. This also extends to the bottom cover, which, in compared to the rest of the laptop, has a considerably more fun appearance.
In regular usage, however, there are no limits. The screen cover makes a more favorable impression. It may be bent a little and visual distortions can be caused by timely pressure from behind, but given the thin design, the outcome is absolutely acceptable.
The two corner hinges are properly adjusted and only allow for a little amount of wobbling. With one hand, the lid may be opened.
There are probably better-quality gaming laptops on the market, but there are no major issues here, and the craftsmanship on our test computer is flawless.
The three contenders, the MSI GE75 Raider, Asus ROG Strix SCAR II, and Asus Zephyrus S, are almost identical in terms of footprint, albeit the Zephyrus is the thinnest.
All three types are 17-inch laptops that are incredibly portable. On the desk, the Lenovo Legion Y740 takes up much more room. With 5.73 lbs, the test device isn’t overly hefty, but you’ll need to account for the adapter’s almost 2.2 lbs during transit.
Ports
All conventional interfaces, including a current USB-C connector, are available on the MSI GE75 Raider. However, there is no Thunderbolt 3, which is a letdown for a $2500 laptop.
As soon as you turn on the keyboard lighting, you’ll see three lit USB-A connectors. As a result, you can navigate through dark situations without difficulty.
The HDMI output is compliant with the 2.0 standard, allowing it to broadcast 4K data at 60 frames per second.
MSI includes a full-featured SD card reader, which we tested using a Toshiba reference card (Exceria Pro SDXC 64 GB UHS-II).
Unfortunately, the reader is only linked through USB 2.0, resulting in extremely slow transfer rates of less than 30 MB/s, placing the test device significantly below the norm for gaming laptops (100 MB/s).
If you wish to copy significant quantities of data or photos from SD cards on a regular basis, you should utilize an external card reader.
MSI has fitted the GE75 Raider with Killer’s latest communication modules. The Killer 1550i handles WLAN connections in addition to the E2500 Gigabit Ethernet module for wired connections.
All major standards are supported, including Bluetooth 5.0, and the results of our standardized WLAN test with the Linksys EA8500 router were excellent.
In practice, we couldn’t identify any restrictions. In compared to existing Intel modules, the killer software provides gaming enhancements.
Upgradability
In our test gadget, opening the case proved to be difficult. The cover was glued on in the region of the USB ports on the side, despite the fact that we had released all screws. We halted the test at this point to prevent causing harm to the laptop.
As a result, we’ve included the GE75 Raider 8SF as an example. However, the upgrade options are excellent in concept, since three hard drives (2x M2-2280 + 1x 2.5′′) and two RAM bars may be inserted, albeit our model currently has two of them.
The maximum amount of DDR4 RAM that may be installed is 32 GB.
Touchpad and Keyboard
The lighting, which can be altered individually for each key, is the keyboard’s major emphasis. There are also pre-programmed settings and a “party mode” where the illumination changes constantly.
The presets, on the other hand, aren’t really useful since who wants continuously changing colors or color gradients while playing? Although there is a lot of material for the performance, you may also tweak the lighting independently.
Tinkering is the correct term here, since the software’s operation isn’t always straightforward.
We don’t need to go into much into regarding the keyboard’s mechanics since MSI continues to employ SteelSeries input.
Once you’ve gotten acclimated to the layout’s quirks, you’ll appreciate how accurate the keystrokes are, as well as how quiet they are.
The touchpad contains two specialized mouse keys, which, like the keyboard, provide a precise and silent stroke.
During testing, we had no issues with the touchpad, and it performs well. In any case, most gamers will utilize an external mouse.
Display
The GE75 Raider is equipped with a fast 144 Hz panel from Chi Mei, which is unique to MSI. Nothing comes in the way of a seamless gaming experience thanks to the Full-HD panel’s excellent reaction times.
However, Nvidia’s G-Sync technology isn’t supported. The data sheet from MSI says “Wide View (IPS-Level),” indicating that it is an AHVA panel. Despite the matt surface, the picture quality is great and there is no grainy image impression.
Some screen characteristics can be modified and presets can be found in the TrueColor program that comes pre-installed. We utilized the “Gamer” setting for the following metrics.
Many gaming laptops’ displays often attain a brightness of about 300 cd/m2, which is also seen in a competitive comparison. The MSI, on the other hand, glows a little brighter with 340 cd/m2 while keeping the black level quite low.
The resultant contrast ratio is quite high, contributing to the picture’s first-class appearance. At low brightness levels, we noticed a flickering of the backlighting, however the frequency is quite high at 26 kHz and shouldn’t cause any problems.
The other measures confirm that this is a high-quality panel. The variations of the gray scales and colors are already within the goal in the factory condition, thus no calibration is required.
Although there is a little color cast in the direction of blue/green in the greyscales, it is hardly evident in practice without a direct comparison to a calibrated monitor.
We can enhance the results even further with a calibration, and the relevant profile is accessible for free download higher up in the box.
The color space coverage is in par with industry standards and is more than enough for gaming. Only those who wish to use the device to edit images/videos in the AdobeRGB color space will be unable to do so without an external display.
The combination of a matt panel and good brightness is, of course, beneficial in bright environments. The content may be properly identified as long as direct reflections of light sources on the panel are avoided.
In terms of viewing angle stability, there are no significant issues. At greater angles, there is a small brightening, although this isn’t noticeable in practice.
Performance
MSI now provides three GE75 Raider models, each with the identical Core i7 processor. There are variances in RAM and graphics card since the test device offers the RTX 2060, RTX 2070, and RTX 2080.
We couldn’t discover any issues with latency. The integrated UHD Graphics 630 operates at a low load since G-Sync isn’t supported.
The Intel Core i7-8750H is a well-known processor that can be found in practically all fast multimedia and gaming laptops. It provides more than adequate speed for current and future games thanks to its six cores.
At this point, we direct you to our technology section for further technical information about the processor.
In theory, the performance development under load is acceptable, but it must concede defeat to its opponents. The CPU cores only function at 2.8 GHz when all cores are loaded.
The output is comparable to the GE75 when using the RTX 2070. In battery mode, performance reduces even worse, with just 712 points in the Cinebench R15 multi-test.
The GE75 Raider performs well in simulated PCMarks as well as in normal usage, which is unsurprising given the strong components. There are no bottlenecks, and the system is responsive.
Our test equipment has two mass storage devices: a 512 GB M.2 NVMe SSD and a 2.5 inch HDD (1 TB). The SSD from Kingston is clearly not sluggish, but the Samsung SSDs offer benefits, particularly in 4K values.
The SSD has considerable storage capacity at 512 GB, and the Seagate hard drive may be used for more games.
This is a fast drive with 7,200 rpm that produces a test average transfer rate of about 190 MB/s. The running noise, on the other hand, is a disadvantage, but we’ll get to that later.
MSI only employs the regular laptop versions of Nvidia’s latest RTX processors and skips the Max-Q ones. We’ve previously put the GE75 Raider to the test with the RTX 2070, and the results were excellent.
The GE75 Raider likewise has the RTX 2080 under control, with a performance boost of 25 to 30% in the benchmarks. Turbo usage is excellent, with a high of 1,920 MHz and an average of 1,605 MHz significantly exceeding the base clock of 1,380 MHz.
The 3DMark stress tests have also passed, indicating that the performance is stable. This is an excellent accomplishment, especially considering the small design.
The GPU’s performance is drastically decreased away from the socket, as predicted; in 3DMark 11, the GPU score lowers from 33,741 to 16,027 points.
Gaming Capabilities
The gaming benchmarks are likewise excellent, and all current games can be played at maximum settings without difficulty. Given the processor’s less-than-optimal performance, one could wonder how much gaming performance is impacted.
Most modern games, on the other hand, are mostly GPU-intensive, as we can see in Witcher 3. GPU performance is critical in ultra-setting, and the GE75 Raider is almost on level with two “thick” gaming PCs that employ a considerably faster desktop CPU.
The test gadget falls more behind in comparison when the graphical details and resolution are reduced. Currently, there are no issues, and the slightly decreased CPU performance has no noticeable influence, particularly on high settings.
The performance in our Witcher 3 loop remained consistent, similar to the 3DMark stress testing. If you want to play on the move, you’ll have to make some compromises since performance suffers dramatically while you’re away from the socket.
For example, in Witcher 3, the frame rate dips from 96 to barely 38 FPS. More gaming benchmarks for the RTX 2080 can be found here.
Temperature and volume of noise
In an ideal world, the MSI GE75 Raider would be completely quiet, but this isn’t always the case. Under stress, the fans come on rapidly, and you immediately realize the downside of the fast 7.200 HDD, whose running noise is audible.
When the HDD is not in use, we suggest changing the power settings here so that it is deactivated as fast as possible.
When you require the graphics card, it becomes very loud, reaching a maximum of 54 decibels (A). This value varies depending on how difficult a game is, but the notepad stays plainly audible in any scenario.
Despite the high level, we think it’s a positive thing that pulsing isn’t possible under stress. For extended game sessions, however, we still suggest using a headset. In our test gadget, we could hear a very faint coil beeping, but it wasn’t distracting.
The Lenovo Legion Y740 with the RTX 2080 Max-Q performed much better than the rest of the test group. The previous MSI GS73 Stealth was likewise quieter, but with the old GTX 1070 Max-Q, it offered less performance.
Despite the tiny base unit, the surface temperatures remain uncritical even under load, which explains the high noise level. On the top half of the keyboard, we detected a high of 46 °C, which is noticeable, but the rates are still acceptable.
However, the competition often manages to keep the wrist-rest colder. The GE75 Raider can also reach temperatures of up to 40 degrees Celsius in this environment. There are no issues at idle or low load, and there are no hotspots.
Our stress test, which comprises of the two tools Prime95 and FurMark, simulates an extreme situation. The GE75 Raider, on the other hand, has no such issues. Similar to pure CPU testing, the turbo with 2.7-2.8 GHz is seldom utilized, but no throttling is seen.
It looks much better with the graphics card, which runs at more than 1,600 MHz all the time, far over the 1,380 MHz base speed.
As a result, MSI is able to adequately cool the components. By the way, manually activating the highest fan speed has just a little impact on performance.
Speakers
The GE75 Raider’s Dynaudio sound system consists of two stereo speakers at the front of the bottom panel, each with two modules (speakers + subwoofer).
Our tests reveal an excellent maximum loudness and linear reproduction, particularly in the mid and high frequency regions.
If you like listening to music or watching movies, you’ll get your money’s worth, but there’s still space for improvement, particularly in terms of bass reproduction. Unfortunately, you don’t get as much excellent quality while playing games because of the noisy fans.
Aside from USB, two jack connections are provided for connecting external loudspeakers or headsets.
Life of the Batteries
Of course, the low consumption measures are reflected in the battery life. In the best situation, the 65 Wh battery lasts approximately 8 hours, and when browsing the internet, it lasts almost 5 hours.
These outcomes are better than the competition’s, but the opponents don’t put up much of a fight under pressure.
Despite the drastically lower performance, you should plan on spending less than an hour playing games. In the end, that’s just enough to connect two plugs for brief periods of time.
Despite the strong adaptor, you’ll need patience throughout the charging procedure. When the gadget is switched on, it takes 182 minutes for the battery to charge completely.
However, after a little more than an hour, the first 70% go quicker and are already accessible again.
Verdict
The new MSI GE75 Raider is substantially smaller than its predecessor, but the GPU performance, in particular, has increased dramatically.
Whoever is willing to spend the extra money for the GeForce RTX 2080 does not make a mistake, since the extra performance compared to the two smaller models with the RTX 2070 and/or RTX 2060 may be put to good use.
Although there is still room for improvement in terms of CPU performance, this does not yet impose any restrictions on gaming.
Smaller, thinner, and quicker – cooling is a challenging challenge. MSI is able to adequately drain heat from the components without needing to drastically sacrifice performance.
However, you must put up with obviously loud fans in exchange. Under low stress, the fast HDD with 7,200 rpm makes itself felt.
Overall, the MSI GE75 Raider understands how to persuade, and as a result, it is ranked top due to its outstanding gaming performance.
MSI GS75 Stealth comes in second.
- Gaming performance is still excellent.
- Better Value
- Lightweight
- Thunderbolt 3 (Thunderbolt 3) Ports
- Below GE75 in gaming performance
- In the future, it may not be suited for 4K / VR gaming.
Despite its 17.3-inch screen, the MSI GS75 Stealth is one of the “Thin & Light” gaming laptops.
The tiny and light design delivers tremendous performance thanks to the i7 CPU and RTX graphics card. Find out how the MSI GS75 Stealth fares in comparison to the RTX 2080 Max-Q in this video.
Design
Despite its 17.3-inch display, the MSI GS75 Stealth gaming laptop is just 1.9 cm thick and weighs only 5.07 pounds. Because of the thin display frame, the proportions are likewise tiny, and the gadget is virtually a 15-inch laptop with a 17-inch display.
Even if the MSI GS75 Stealth were an office laptop, it would be great, but it’s a gaming laptop with an Intel Core i7 CPU and an RTX graphics card.
Because the casing is composed of metal, the notebook is fairly sturdy despite its small size. Unfortunately, the brushed metal attracts fingerprints like crazy.
The laptop has gold accents in numerous locations, such as the edge of the touchpad and the hinges, and even the dragon emblem on the rear of the lid makes a statement.
While the screen is agitated, it teeters somewhat, which might be bothersome when traveling by train. In certain spots, the base, which houses the keyboard and touchpad, might be damaged.
However, in order to trigger erroneous entries, you would have to use greater force, which would cause disruption in ordinary life.
Each key on the Steelseries keyboard is individually illuminated with RGB lighting. This may be configured via the pre-installed software and customized for different games.
The keys on the touchpad can only be pushed harder on the top side, but if you press them farther down, the input is quite nice.
Some users may mistakenly initiate input with the palm of their hand when writing since the touchpad is protruding and situated right under the keyboard. With my large hands, though, this was not an issue.
The multi-touch touchpad replaces the mouse and enables for enjoyable internet browsing as well as operation of business applications.
Even though it isn’t a ThinkPad keyboard, I get along fine with it as a frequent typist. A tall bar above the keyboard houses the “Dynaudio” dual speakers. To show how well they do, look at the table below.
Conclusion design and craftsmanship: The MSI GS75 Stealth impresses with its lightweight and compact design.
Despite the fact that the metal casing is not a solid, solid block, as is the case with Razer-Blade-Laptops, there are no stability issues in reality. Also pleasing are the input devices.
Ports and hardware
MSI, thankfully, did not preserve any connections. The power supply input, a Killer Ethernet port, a USB 3.1 type A connector, a microSD card slot, a microphone port, and a headphone jack are all located on the left side.
A Hi-Fi DAC is in charge of this — more on that later. An HDMI 2.0 port, a Thunderbolt 3 connector (with 4 lanes, suitable for external graphics cards), two USB 3.1 ports, and a USB C 3.1 Gen 1 port are all found on the right side.
The configuration determines which technology is installed. The 17.3-inch 144-Hz IPS display with full HD resolution, the Intel Core i7-8750H processor, and an 82-watt-hour battery are shared by both variants.
There is support for up to 32 GB of DDR4-2666 RAM, as well as an M.2 SSD interface and an M.2 SSD combination port.
Our test system was the “8SG” model with the highest configuration, which included the Nvidia GeForce RTX 2080 Max-Q graphics card (more on that later).
Due to the Optimus graphics switching, the 80 watt battery delivers a respectable duration of roughly six hours while accessing the internet. The laptop should be capable of gaming – but this is true of all gaming laptops.
Conclusion: In terms of connectivity and technology, the majority of customers will not be disappointed.
In the tiny casing, even more powerful technologies like a Core i9 CPU or a mobile RTX graphics card without “Max-Q” wouldn’t fit.
Sound and visuals
The resolution of the 17.3-inch panel is 1920 by 1080 pixels. That may not seem like much, but on laptops, greater resolutions are seldom necessary, and all entertainment appears brilliant in Full HD.
The IPS display is very bright and appropriate for usage outside. The color representation seems to be correct; the panel covers the whole sRGB color gamut, so it should be adequate for picture and video editing.
When navigating across webpages, the 144 Hz frame rate is immediately visible. Because of the quicker visual build-up, surfing is more fluid than with 60 Hz displays.
When utilizing the internet or in office applications, however, a fast frame rate is more of an aesthetic luxury than a significant functional gain.
The 144 Hz display shines most while playing rapid and competitive games, where G-sync is sadly not available. Even at low FPS rates, this would have resulted in a faultless picture buildup.
Unfortunately, the stereo loudspeakers give a weak sound. It’s clean and doesn’t sound tinny, but it’s not particularly dynamic, and the bass isn’t very strong.
The loudspeakers wouldn’t have needed to be as large, but MSI should have extended the distance between the keyboard and touchpad. The ESS Sabre Hi-Fi DAC, on the other hand, offers a complete return on investment.
You don’t have to be an audiophile to hear the difference, as MSI accurately points out: The sound quality of the headset impresses with its depth of detail, clarity, and dynamics.
Under load, the fan is very noisy, as is typical of gaming laptops, but it whirrs pleasantly and doesn’t shriek like a hairdryer — it didn’t annoy me even with open headphones.
Conclusion (display and sound): The quick display is impressive, however it does not support G-Sync. The speakers have a thin sound. However, owing to the Hi-Fi DAC, the sound quality through headset is excellent.
Gaming Capabilities
The “Max-Q” series’ RTX 2080 is the lower-clocked variant for thinner gaming laptops. There’s also a “regular” RTX 2080 for laptops, as well as the series’ most powerful variant, the RTX 2080 for desktop PCs.
But it doesn’t end there; according to Techtestreport, there are two variants of the RTX 2080 Max Q on the market: An 80-watt version with a clock rate of 735–1095 MHz and a 90-watt version with a frequency rate of 990–1095 MHz are available.
Unfortunately, the MSI GS75 Stealth comes with the 80 watt version’s lesser RTX 2080 Max-Q. This implies up to 10 FPS less in games when compared to the 90 watt variant.
The laptop is also available with the RTX 2070 Max-Q and the RTX 2060 graphics cards, although the 2080 Max-Q is definitely the most powerful.
Due to a comparable FPS number, the 144 Hz may be effectively exploited at high settings in “Doom” (2016). “Bioshock Infinite” even runs at above 250 frames per second at extreme settings.
We’ve increased the difficulty of other games and connected the laptop to a 4K monitor. After all, “Shadow of the Tomb Raider” runs at roughly 30 FPS with the highest settings, including HDR.
That pushes the enjoyment factor to its utmost, but it’s still playable.
Meanwhile, in 4K, “Jurassic World Evolution” achieves above 40 frames per second. Only with the “walk simulator” “Everybody’s Gone to the Rapture” was the map a little overworked, with slowdowns in the 30 FPS region at 4K — who’d have guessed?
Throttling — a loss in performance under higher load – did not appear to be an issue, much to our surprise. To keep the card from overheating, just a few frames per second are sacrificed.
Conclusion: In terms of performance, the RTX 2080 Max-Q falls between between an RTX 2070 and an RTX 2080 for laptops.
It should only frustrate gamers who wish to play the newest games on an external 4K display at high settings.
It’s a shame MSI chose the lower-clocked 80 watt version of the Max-Q card over the 90 watt version, but throttling isn’t an issue.
Verdict
The MSI GS75 Stealth is a fantastic gaming laptop that crams a lot of power into a small and light package. The screen is brilliant, color-fast, and racy, and the Hi-Fi DAC produces excellent sound through headphones.
There are just minor flaws, such as the rather weak speakers. However, it is much less expensive than the GE75.
Overall, the MSI GS75 comes in second place to the GE75, but it is still a superb gaming laptop with a lower price tag than the GE75, so if you have a tight budget, you should consider purchasing this gaming machine instead of the GE75.
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