MSI GP62 2QE Notebook Review

Communication

The Intel Wireless-AC 3160 M.2 module is a dual-band 1x1 card capable of transfer rates of up to 433 Mbps. It's an entry-level WLAN card compared to 2x2 modules that are capable of multiple streams for even faster speeds. The usual Bluetooth 4.0 and WiDi features are integrated.

The notebook provides no configuration options for WWAN or GPS.

Maintenance

The bottom panel takes some time to remove but is generally accessible as it uses regular Philips head screws. Note that the optical drive must be taken out first as it hides additional screws underneath.

The motherboard allows direct access to the optical drive SATA slot, 2.5-inch SATA III slot, M.2 slot, both SODIMM slots, WLAN card, and cooling system. Both the CPU and GPU are soldered onto the motherboard.

Accessories

Included extras outside of the AC adapter are the Quick Start guide and cleaning cloth. There are no proprietary accessories since the GP62 lacks a dedicated docking port. MSI sells branded mice, keyboards, and bags for its gaming G series.

Warranty

MSI offers two-year limited warranty as standard. Users can also receive one year of accidental damage protection at no extra cost if they register their purchase within 30 days of shipment.

Keyboard

The Chiclet keyboard (34.5 x 10.5 cm) is the same Steelseries model as found on the GE62. Thus, it provides the same satisfactory feedback and deep travel when typing. The keys feel firm as they do not waggle in place and are surprisingly quiet despite the firm pressure point.

However, the individual keys themselves are a bit small and the space between them are wider than normal. It can take some time to be accustomed to the layout of the keyboard. Also note that the GP62 offers no backlight lighting compared to its GE62 sibling.

Touchpad

The touchpad is again of similar size (10.9 x 6.1 cm) to the one on the GE62 even down to the chrome-cut perimeter. The slightly textured surface responds clearly to single and multi-touch commands with no cursor jumping or other issues. The two dedicated mouse keys are comfortable to use as well as they provide very firm feedback when pressed. The auditory click is quite loud, however, especially compared to the muted keyboard keys.

Color coverage is roughly 48 percent and 74 percent of AdobeRGB and sRGB, respectively. This is better than most TN panels on inexpensive and mainstream notebooks, though it still falls behind most IPS panels on more expensive gaming notebooks like the Alienware 15 or Asus G501. Fortunately, pinpoint color accuracy is not normally a priority over response times when gaming. The GP62 display is more than sufficient in this case.

Further analyses with a spectrophotometer reveal inaccurate grayscale and colors. Color temperature is also much too cool out-of-the-box with higher deviations than most other gaming notebooks. A quick calibration fixes many of these shortcomings for a much more accurate display. We strongly recommend a calibration for the GP62 more so than on other notebooks of its class.

The new Core i7-5700HQ is able to consistently outrun the older Core i7-4720HQ that was so popular on high-end notebooks of 2014. CineBench single-thread benchmarks are a few percentage points faster on the new Broadwell core while multi-threaded benchmarks show larger gaps. This is partly due to the higher multi-core Turbo Boost for the i7-5700HQ compared to the i7-4720HQ.

The desktop Core i7-4790K still outranks our MSI by at least 20 percent in all cases. This discrepancy has little significance when gaming since modern titles tend to be GPU-bound and the i7-5700HQ is already quite adept for gaming loads.

More benchmarks and technical data on the Core i7-5700HQ can be found on our dedicated CPU page here.

System Performance

PCMark benchmarks score our GP62 alongside top performers like the HP Omen Pro 15 and Aorus X5. At the same time, however, the results may not be an apples-to-apples comparison due to our test model running Windows 10. The Aorus, for example, carries RAID 0 SSDs and faster SLI graphics, yet it is scores roughly the same in PCMark 7. Nonetheless, navigation on the GP62 is smooth and apps launch almost instantaneously as expected from an SSD-based notebook.

Our test model had recurring DSP_WATCHDOG_VIOLATION errors towards the end of our testing. Fortunately, a quick System Restore was able to resolve the seemingly random BSOD issue.

The GTX 950M lies comfortably between the GTX 960M and GT 940M according to 3DMark benchmarks. Fortunately, raw performance is closer to the faster 960M than it is to the 940M. The much more powerful 970M and 980M GPUs still outperform our MSI by at least double in synthetic benchmarks.

Gaming Performance

Real-world performance in games is as expected from this class of Nvidia GPU. The GTX 950M is unable to play most games at 1080p on Ultra or Extreme graphics settings. Most 3D titles will run in the 20 FPS range with a few exceptions, so users will have to tune down the graphics to Medium or Medium-high if they wish to play on the native screen resolution. Jumping from the 950M to the 960M will see frame rates improve by at least 20 percent to as much as 50 percent depending on the title. For smoother 1080p30 playback on higher graphics settings, a system with the GTX 960M or 965M is preferred.

1080p gaming on the lower-end 940M would require very low settings that hardcore gamers might find unappealing. The GTX 950M is one step above this ground floor. Because of this, the GP62 will age quite quickly as new and more demanding games are released. Arkham Knight, for example, is already proving to be a bit too much for the 950M to handle.

We stress the notebook with synthetic benchmarks to identify any potential throttling or stability issues.

With just Prime95 active, the CPU operates at a constant 3.1 to 3.2 GHz and core temperature hovers in the low 90 C range. This is slower than the advertised maximum Turbo Boost of 3.5 GHz. On the other hand, the GPU operates at its maximum 1124 MHz core clock and 1001 MHz memory clock consistently when under FurMark stress. GPU temperature plateaus at 77 C.

Running both Prime95 and FurMark simultaneously will cause the CPU to throttle slightly to the 2.4 to 2.6 GHz range while the GPU runs unscathed at 1124/1001 MHz core/memory. CPU and GPU core temperatures peak at 90 C and 86 C, respectively, after half an hour of maximum load.

Performance under Unigine Heaven stress is much smoother for the CPU as it is able to maintain a steady 3.4 to 3.5 GHz Turbo Boost. CPU and GPU core temperatures remain steady at 75 C each. Activating the Turbo Fan feature on the GP62 will drop core temperatures by an extra 7 or 8 C, though actual performance remains the same. Users should see this feature as a tradeoff between fan noise and temperature instead of fan noise and performance.

Running on batteries will reduce both CPU and GPU performances. A 3DMark 11 run returns Physics and Graphics scores of 4071 points and 7437 points, respectively, versus 4624 points and 9024 points when running on mains.