MSI GF63 Thin 9SC Laptop Review: Lightweight gamer for just under $1000

The competition of the GF63 9SC includes other 15-inch laptops that are equipped with a Core i5-9300H and a ("normal") GeForce GTX 1650 such as the Dell G5 15 5590, the Acer Aspire Nitro 5 AN515, the HP Omen 15 or the Lenovo IdeaPad L340-15IRH. These notebooks have been included in our review as comparison devices.

As the case is identical with that of its predecessor (Core i5-8300H & GeForce GTX 1050), we will not be discussing the case, connectivity and input devices in this review. Please refer to the predecessor's review or details on these aspects.

Like most budget gamers, the display has a Full-HD resolution and 60 Hz. Faster panels with 120 or 144 Hz are usually only available beyond the $1000 price point.

We will start with a series of system screenshots that display the most important components.

However, the GF63 9SC cannot make full use of the CPU turbo. While single core applications are completed at a constant 4.0 to 4.1 GHz, the clock rate quickly drops to 3.4 GHz in multi core scenarios in which all cores are under load (tested in the CineBench R15). This causes the performance to drop by around 10%, but thankfully does not have an impact on the frame rate in most 3D applications.

In order to save energy while idling or during less demanding tasks including office, video and browsing, the MSI has equipped the GF63 9SC with Nvidia's Optimus technology which dynamically switches between the processor's graphics chip (in this case the UHD Graphics 630) and the dedicated GeForce GPU. 

The system performance is very good. With a total score of 4889 points, the GF63 makes second place among its competitors in the PCMark 10. Only the Acer Nitro 5 manages an even better rating. The device boots quickly and is as fast as you would expect a $1000 notebook to be.

The operating system (Windows 10 Home 64 bit) is installed on an M.2 drive from Toshiba. The 512-GB model KBG30ZMV512G reaches over 1000 MB/s during sequential reading. The write rates remain below expectations for PCIe/NVMe technology. Competing SSDs such as the WDC PC SN520 or SN720 do a significantly better job (see comparison table). The GF63 might seem a little slower than other budget gamers during heavy multi-tasking with high write rates (transferring files, installing software, ...). Users can add a 2.5-inch drive using the frame that is included in the scope of delivery.

The Nvidia GeForce GTX 1650 is the successor of the popular GeForce GTX 1050. It is no longer based on Pascal architecture but uses the more efficient Turing system.

Compared to the "normal" GTX 1650, the Max-Q version that is used in the GF63 9SC manages to run on lower clock rates. It has a base clock rate of 1020 MHz instead of 1395 MHz. In practice, the chip reaches far higher clock rates thanks to its GPU boost (which works similarly to Intel's turbo boost). The GF63 reached 1440 MHz in the Unigine Heaven benchmark and 1400 MHz with very steady frame rates during our 60-minute test of "The Witcher 3". This shows that the cooling system must be very efficient. 

All specifications apart from the clock rate are identical with the standard version of the GTX 1650. This includes 1024 shader units and 4 GB of GDDR5 VRAM with a 128-bit interface.

We did not notice any peculiarities during the various benchmarks. The 3D performance of the GF63 9SC is on par with that of other laptops that are equipped with a GTX 1650 Max-Q. According to 3DMark 13 and 11, notebooks that are equipped with the standard GTX 1650 are faster by about 13 - 19 percent.

The Nvidia GPU is usually fast enough to play games at high details and 1920x1080 pixels smoothly. Only more demanding or badly optimized titles such as "Metro Exodus", "Anno 1800", "Control", "Borderlands 3" and "Red Dead Redemption 2" may have difficulties in these settings and users will have to reduce to medium details to play these games.

If you do not want to make any compromises when playing more demanding games, would like to connect an external QHD or 4K monitor, or would appreciate having some reserves for future games, you might want to look for a configuration with at least a GeForce GTX 1660 Ti. 

MSI might want to work on its fan control in future. The fact that the fans are permanently active while idling would not be a problem if they ran at low speed. As it is, they produce 35 to 37 dB(A), which is quite audible and louder than all comparison devices.

The noise emissions of the GF63 9SC are on par with the competition while idling. The 15-inch device is quieter than the Dell G5 5590 and the Acer Aspire Nitro 5 but louder than the HP Omen 15 and the Lenovo IdeaPad L340-15IRH at 41 to 44 dB(A). In general, its fan noise during 3D applications is fairly good for a gamer.

You don't need to worry about the components. While the CPU and GPU reached around 70 °C (~158 °F) during the Witcher 3 test, the cores heated up to around 80 °C (~176 °F) during our stress test with FurMark and Prime95. This is quite moderate for a gaming device.

The power consumption of our test unit while idling is a little higher than that of its competition. But 7 - 9 watts can still be considered good for a gaming notebook. The Max Q design of the GPU is not that noticeable under load. The consumption of 73 - 164 watts could have come from a normal GTX 1650 laptop.

Thanks to graphics switching, the GF63 9SC can boast a good battery life - although the 8.5 hours of runtime according to our Battery Eater Reader's test (minimum brightness) make our device second to last in our comparison field. The Dell G5 15, the Acer Nitro 5 and the HP Omen 15 all manage over 10 hours in this test. The 51-Wh battery in our test unit lasts around 4.5 hours during wireless browsing at medium brightness. Gaming sessions can be expected to last around 1 hour at maximum brightness. We were pleased that the 3D performance hardly dropped when the device was running on battery with the frame rate dropping from 31 to 29 FPS (1920x1080 pixels).