Bye-bye CPU limitation: The MSI Crosshair A17 HX rocks thanks to AMD's Ryzen 9 8940HX
The MSI Crosshair A17 HX was the first laptop that we tested and featured the rather rare AMD Ryzen 9 8940HX. The processor doesn’t have to shy away from the current CPU competition from Intel. In our benchmarks, the 16 cores (and 32 threads via SMT) even go head-to-head with the extremely powerful Intel Core Ultra 9 275HX.
Otherwise, the 17-inch gaming laptop scores points with its very fast SSD, a decent IPS panel and two M.2 and SO-DIMM slots. A privacy shutter for the webcam is also onboard. The fact that the MSI Crosshair A17 HX only gets a final rating of 80% in our comprehensive review is due to the mediocre speakers, poorly optimized fans and high power consumption, the latter of which also leads to a short battery life.
MSI could also work on the port selection (USB4). At roughly €2,000 for a laptop with an Nvidia GeForce RTX 5070 and just 8GB VRAM, the Crosshair A17 HX is certainly not a bargain in 2025, which is why prospective buyers should check out our review before spending their money.
