MSI GF75 Thin 10SDR Laptop Review: For Budget Gamers

The GF-series is MSI’s series of affordable gaming laptops with an upper mid-range performance rating. At just 2.3 cm (0.9 inches) the GF75, a 17-inch laptop, is not just comparatively thin but of surprisingly high quality (metal surfaces) for a budget gaming laptop.
Several months ago, we already had the chance to review the entry-level model 10SCXR, equipped with a Core i5-10300H, 8 GB of RAM, and a GeForce GTX 1650. In this review, we want to take a closer look at the significantly more powerful yet not much more expensive 10DR-253 SKU. It comes with a Core i7-10750H, 16 GB of dual-channel RAM, a GeForce GTX 1660 Ti, and a 512 GB large PCIe SSD. Keep in mind that this particular SKU is only available with FreeDOS in some countries. Thankfully, MSI sent us a review unit with Windows 10 Home preloaded.
Given that the chassis is identical to the previously reviewed 2019 model we are not going to discuss case, connectivity, and input devices in this review. Please refer to our previous GF75 8RD review should you be interested to find out more.
Rating | Date | Model | Weight | Height | Size | Resolution | Best Price |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
80 % | 10/2020 | MSI GF75 Thin 10SDR i7-10750H, GeForce GTX 1660 Ti Mobile | 2.2 kg | 23 mm | 17.30" | 1920x1080 | |
79 % | 04/2020 | MSI GF75 Thin 10SCXR i5-10300H, GeForce GTX 1650 Mobile | 2.2 kg | 23.1 mm | 17.30" | 1920x1080 | |
83 % | 05/2020 | Asus TUF A17 FA706IU-AS76 R7 4800H, GeForce GTX 1660 Ti Mobile | 2.6 kg | 26 mm | 17.30" | 1920x1080 | |
81 % | 06/2020 | Acer Nitro 5 AN517-52-77DS i7-10750H, GeForce RTX 2060 Mobile | 2.2 kg | 24.9 mm | 17.30" | 1920x1080 | |
85 % | 07/2020 | MSI GE75 Raider 10SE-008US i7-10750H, GeForce RTX 2060 Mobile | 2.6 kg | 27.5 mm | 17.30" | 1920x1080 |
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Size Comparison
Communication
Networking | |
iperf3 Client (receive) TCP 1 m 4M x10 | |
MSI GE75 Raider 10SE-008US | |
MSI GF75 Thin 10SCXR | |
Average Intel Wi-Fi 6 AX201 (289 - 1722, n=170) | |
MSI GF75 Thin 10SDR | |
Acer Nitro 5 AN517-52-77DS | |
Average of class Gaming (141 - 1670, n=378) | |
Asus TUF A17 FA706IU-AS76 | |
iperf3 Client (transmit) TCP 1 m 4M x10 | |
MSI GE75 Raider 10SE-008US | |
Average Intel Wi-Fi 6 AX201 (49.8 - 1775, n=170) | |
MSI GF75 Thin 10SDR | |
MSI GF75 Thin 10SCXR | |
Average of class Gaming (144 - 1645, n=378) | |
Acer Nitro 5 AN517-52-77DS | |
Asus TUF A17 FA706IU-AS76 |
Webcam

Display
Despite their similar model numbers, the GF75 10SDR-253 comes with a different panel than the GF75 10SCXR. Instead of a 120 Hz display the new device is equipped with a 144 Hz display with similar specs. This means that in addition to comparatively high response times its maximum brightness was also mediocre at best. An average of 250 nits is barely good enough for indoor use and certainly not meant to be used outdoors.
Thanks to its low black level of just 0.23 nits the 17-inch device offers a decent contrast ratio of 1100:1. As is common in budget gaming laptops color space coverage is very low at just 59 and 41 % for sRGB and AdobeRGB, respectively. Compare that to the more expensive 17-inch GE75 Raider 10SE with almost 100 % sRGB coverage. As expected of an IPS panel we found no faults with the display’s viewing angles.
|
Brightness Distribution: 92 %
Center on Battery: 252 cd/m²
Contrast: 1096:1 (Black: 0.23 cd/m²)
ΔE Color 4.24 | 0.6-29.43 Ø5.7, calibrated: 3.64
ΔE Greyscale 2.8 | 0.64-98 Ø5.9
59% sRGB (Argyll 3D) 41% AdobeRGB 1998 (Argyll 3D)
Gamma: 2.196
MSI GF75 Thin 10SDR B173HAN04.9 (AUO978F), IPS, 1920x1080, 17.30 | MSI GF75 Thin 10SCXR AU Optronics B173HAN04.7, IPS, 1920x1080, 17.30 | Asus TUF A17 FA706IU-AS76 BOE NV173FHM-NX1, IPS, 1920x1080, 17.30 | Acer Nitro 5 AN517-52-77DS AU Optronics B173HAN04.7, IPS, 1920x1080, 17.30 | MSI GE75 Raider 10SE-008US Chi Mei N173HCE-G33, IPS, 1920x1080, 17.30 | |
---|---|---|---|---|---|
Response Times | 8% | 36% | 8% | 75% | |
Response Time Grey 50% / Grey 80% * | 38.4 (18, 20.4) | 34 (18, 16) 11% | 22.4 (11.6, 10.8) 42% | 35 (17, 18) 9% | 6.8 (3.4, 3.4) 82% |
Response Time Black / White * | 27.6 (14.8, 12.8) | 26.4 (15.6, 10.8) 4% | 19.2 (9.6, 9.6) 30% | 26 (14, 12) 6% | 8.8 (4.4, 4.4) 68% |
PWM Frequency | 25000 (18) | ||||
Screen | -13% | -3% | -19% | 31% | |
Brightness middle | 252 | 251.2 0% | 264.8 5% | 263 4% | 337.9 34% |
Brightness | 253 | 242 -4% | 253 0% | 246 -3% | 305 21% |
Brightness Distribution | 92 | 92 0% | 90 -2% | 85 -8% | 81 -12% |
Black Level * | 0.23 | 0.34 -48% | 0.31 -35% | 0.47 -104% | 0.29 -26% |
Contrast | 1096 | 739 -33% | 854 -22% | 560 -49% | 1165 6% |
Colorchecker DeltaE2000 * | 4.24 | 4.5 -6% | 4.73 -12% | 5.07 -20% | 2.18 49% |
Colorchecker DeltaE2000 max. * | 21.4 | 20 7% | 18.89 12% | 20.5 4% | 3.9 82% |
Colorchecker DeltaE2000 calibrated * | 3.64 | 3.91 -7% | 4.64 -27% | 4.9 -35% | 0.69 81% |
Greyscale DeltaE2000 * | 2.8 | 4 -43% | 1.4 50% | 2.55 9% | 3.1 -11% |
Gamma | 2.196 100% | 2.25 98% | 2.16 102% | 2.37 93% | 2.07 106% |
CCT | 7027 93% | 5882 111% | 6641 98% | 6446 101% | 6882 94% |
Color Space (Percent of AdobeRGB 1998) | 41 | 37.3 -9% | 38.4 -6% | 37 -10% | 62 51% |
Color Space (Percent of sRGB) | 59 | 58.1 -2% | 59.3 1% | 59 0% | 98.2 66% |
Total Average (Program / Settings) | -3% /
-10% | 17% /
3% | -6% /
-15% | 53% /
38% |
* ... smaller is better
Display Response Times
↔ Response Time Black to White | ||
---|---|---|
27.6 ms ... rise ↗ and fall ↘ combined | ↗ 14.8 ms rise | |
↘ 12.8 ms fall | ||
The screen shows relatively slow response rates in our tests and may be too slow for gamers. In comparison, all tested devices range from 0.8 (minimum) to 240 (maximum) ms. » 59 % of all devices are better. This means that the measured response time is worse than the average of all tested devices (24.3 ms). | ||
↔ Response Time 50% Grey to 80% Grey | ||
38.4 ms ... rise ↗ and fall ↘ combined | ↗ 18 ms rise | |
↘ 20.4 ms fall | ||
The screen shows slow response rates in our tests and will be unsatisfactory for gamers. In comparison, all tested devices range from 0.8 (minimum) to 636 (maximum) ms. » 42 % of all devices are better. This means that the measured response time is similar to the average of all tested devices (38.5 ms). |
Screen Flickering / PWM (Pulse-Width Modulation)
Screen flickering / PWM not detected | |||
In comparison: 51 % of all tested devices do not use PWM to dim the display. If PWM was detected, an average of 9686 (minimum: 5 - maximum: 142900) Hz was measured. |
Test Parameters
Performance
Despite the fact that the GTX 1660 Ti lacks its bigger brother’s hardware ray tracing capabilities the GF75 10SDR is a full-fledged gaming notebook capable of running almost all current games smoothly at the display’s native resolution of 1920 x 1080 and maximum details. Its hexa-core CPU and 16 GB of RAM should be more than plenty for the foreseeable future. Should you require additional storage there is an empty 2.5-inch slot for an extra drive in addition to the M.2 SSD.
Processor
Intel’s Core i7-10750H is a member of the Comet Lake generation of CPUs and supports up to 12 threads simultaneously thanks to Hyperthreading. Its base clock speed of 2.6 GHz can turbo boost up to 5 GHz under load.
As our CineBench results showed the CPU does not fully utilize its turbo boost potential, at least with Balanced mode enabled. In the single-thread test it ran at between 4.2 to 4.7 GHz, and dropped from its initial 4.2 GHz to 3.5 to 3.6 GHz in the multi-thread test. Its scores placed the GF75 10SDR behind its 10750H-equipped competitors, such as the Acer Nitro 5 or the MSI GE75, albeit the differences were so minor they should be negligible, especially when running games.
Cinebench R15 | |
CPU Single 64Bit | |
MSI GF75 Thin 10SDR | |
Average Intel Core i7-10750H (184 - 213, n=41) | |
Acer Nitro 5 AN517-52-77DS | |
Asus TUF A17 FA706IU-AS76 | |
MSI GE75 Raider 10SE-008US | |
MSI GF75 Thin 10SCXR | |
Average of class Gaming (77 - 238, n=657) | |
CPU Multi 64Bit | |
Asus TUF A17 FA706IU-AS76 | |
MSI GE75 Raider 10SE-008US | |
Acer Nitro 5 AN517-52-77DS | |
Average Intel Core i7-10750H (804 - 1418, n=44) | |
MSI GF75 Thin 10SDR | |
Average of class Gaming (196 - 2804, n=665) | |
MSI GF75 Thin 10SCXR |
Blender 2.79 - BMW27 CPU | |
MSI GF75 Thin 10SCXR | |
MSI GF75 Thin 10SDR | |
Acer Nitro 5 AN517-52-77DS | |
Average Intel Core i7-10750H (322 - 531, n=37) | |
Average of class Gaming (179 - 901, n=122) | |
MSI GE75 Raider 10SE-008US | |
Asus TUF A17 FA706IU-AS76 |
7-Zip 18.03 | |
7z b 4 | |
Asus TUF A17 FA706IU-AS76 | |
Average of class Gaming (3034 - 75612, n=123) | |
MSI GE75 Raider 10SE-008US | |
Average Intel Core i7-10750H (26040 - 37345, n=37) | |
MSI GF75 Thin 10SDR | |
Acer Nitro 5 AN517-52-77DS | |
MSI GF75 Thin 10SCXR | |
7z b 4 -mmt1 | |
Average Intel Core i7-10750H (4504 - 5470, n=37) | |
Acer Nitro 5 AN517-52-77DS | |
MSI GF75 Thin 10SDR | |
MSI GE75 Raider 10SE-008US | |
Average of class Gaming (2480 - 5811, n=123) | |
Asus TUF A17 FA706IU-AS76 | |
MSI GF75 Thin 10SCXR |
Cinebench R20 | |
CPU (Single Core) | |
Acer Nitro 5 AN517-52-77DS | |
Asus TUF A17 FA706IU-AS76 | |
Average Intel Core i7-10750H (431 - 504, n=37) | |
MSI GF75 Thin 10SDR | |
Average of class Gaming (312 - 577, n=170) | |
MSI GE75 Raider 10SE-008US | |
MSI GF75 Thin 10SCXR | |
CPU (Multi Core) | |
Asus TUF A17 FA706IU-AS76 | |
MSI GE75 Raider 10SE-008US | |
Average of class Gaming (1397 - 6321, n=171) | |
Average Intel Core i7-10750H (2088 - 3325, n=37) | |
Acer Nitro 5 AN517-52-77DS | |
MSI GF75 Thin 10SDR | |
MSI GF75 Thin 10SCXR |
Geekbench 5.3 | |
64 Bit Multi-Core Score | |
Asus TUF A17 FA706IU-AS76 | |
Average of class Gaming (2783 - 11393, n=107) | |
MSI GF75 Thin 10SDR | |
Acer Nitro 5 AN517-52-77DS | |
MSI GE75 Raider 10SE-008US | |
Average Intel Core i7-10750H (4775 - 6674, n=37) | |
MSI GF75 Thin 10SCXR | |
64 Bit Single-Core Score | |
MSI GF75 Thin 10SDR | |
Average Intel Core i7-10750H (1114 - 1333, n=37) | |
Average of class Gaming (703 - 1487, n=107) | |
Acer Nitro 5 AN517-52-77DS | |
MSI GE75 Raider 10SE-008US | |
Asus TUF A17 FA706IU-AS76 | |
MSI GF75 Thin 10SCXR |
HWBOT x265 Benchmark v2.2 - 4k Preset | |
Asus TUF A17 FA706IU-AS76 | |
Average of class Gaming (1.7 - 19.8, n=123) | |
MSI GE75 Raider 10SE-008US | |
Average Intel Core i7-10750H (7.11 - 11.6, n=37) | |
MSI GF75 Thin 10SDR | |
Acer Nitro 5 AN517-52-77DS | |
MSI GF75 Thin 10SCXR |
LibreOffice - 20 Documents To PDF | |
Asus TUF A17 FA706IU-AS76 | |
MSI GF75 Thin 10SCXR | |
Average of class Gaming (23.9 - 98.2, n=98) | |
MSI GE75 Raider 10SE-008US | |
MSI GF75 Thin 10SDR | |
Average Intel Core i7-10750H (43.1 - 99.2, n=37) | |
Acer Nitro 5 AN517-52-77DS |
R Benchmark 2.5 - Overall mean | |
MSI GF75 Thin 10SCXR | |
Acer Nitro 5 AN517-52-77DS | |
MSI GE75 Raider 10SE-008US | |
MSI GF75 Thin 10SDR | |
Average Intel Core i7-10750H (0.578 - 0.708, n=36) | |
Average of class Gaming (0.507 - 1.088, n=103) | |
Asus TUF A17 FA706IU-AS76 |
* ... smaller is better
System Performance
Our system performance benchmarks see the 17-inch device somewhere in the middle of its comparison group. Subjectively, it performed very smoothly and snappy, and should be usable for pretty much any and all use case scenarios.
PCMark 10 - Score | |
MSI GE75 Raider 10SE-008US | |
Asus TUF A17 FA706IU-AS76 | |
MSI GF75 Thin 10SDR | |
Average Intel Core i7-10750H, NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1660 Ti Mobile (5241 - 5594, n=3) | |
Average of class Gaming (2603 - 7511, n=335) | |
MSI GF75 Thin 10SCXR | |
Acer Nitro 5 AN517-52-77DS |
DPC Latencies
DPC Latencies / LatencyMon - interrupt to process latency (max), Web, Youtube, Prime95 | |
Asus TUF A17 FA706IU-AS76 | |
MSI GF75 Thin 10SCXR | |
MSI GE75 Raider 10SE-008US | |
MSI GF75 Thin 10SDR | |
Acer Nitro 5 AN517-52-77DS |
* ... smaller is better
Storage Devices
The storage device of MSI’s choosing is a 512 GB large Samsung PM991 M.2 SSD. It offers a decent performance and should be more than fast enough for most users.
MSI GF75 Thin 10SDR Samsung PM991 MZVLQ512HALU | MSI GF75 Thin 10SCXR WDC PC SN530 SDBPNPZ-512G | Asus TUF A17 FA706IU-AS76 Intel SSD 660p 1TB SSDPEKNW010T8 | Acer Nitro 5 AN517-52-77DS WDC PC SN530 SDBPNPZ-1T00 | MSI GE75 Raider 10SE-008US Samsung SSD PM981 MZVLB512HAJQ | |
---|---|---|---|---|---|
CrystalDiskMark 5.2 / 6 | 9% | 23% | 16% | 36% | |
Write 4K | 138.8 | 140.7 1% | 189.7 37% | 140 1% | 139.2 0% |
Read 4K | 50.58 | 43.18 -15% | 62.25 23% | 49.04 -3% | 53.03 5% |
Write Seq | 1032 | 1829 77% | 1681 63% | 1963 90% | 1950 89% |
Read Seq | 1199 | 1095 -9% | 1608 34% | 1455 21% | 2328 94% |
Write 4K Q32T1 | 464.6 | 431.7 -7% | 468.6 1% | 398.2 -14% | 408.9 -12% |
Read 4K Q32T1 | 549.5 | 526.9 -4% | 540.6 -2% | 461.9 -16% | 550.9 0% |
Write Seq Q32T1 | 1216 | 1831 51% | 1770 46% | 1969 62% | 1938 59% |
Read Seq Q32T1 | 2275 | 1708 -25% | 1898 -17% | 1927 -15% | 3467 52% |
Sustained Read Speed: DiskSpd Read Loop, Queue Depth 8
GPU Performance
When looking at GPUs purely from a price-performance perspective the Nvidia GeForce GTX 1660 Ti is hard to beat. This particular DirectX 12 Turing-family GPU features 1,536 shaders and 6 GB of GDDR6 video RAM connected via a 192-bit interface.
In our 3DMark benchmarks the GF75 10SDR performed slightly slower than the similarly equipped Asus TUF A17. RTX 2060-equipped notebooks are between 10 to 20 % faster on average while those with GTX 1650 are around 30 % slower.
3DMark 11 - 1280x720 Performance GPU | |
MSI GE75 Raider 10SE-008US | |
Asus TUF A17 FA706IU-AS76 | |
Acer Nitro 5 AN517-52-77DS | |
Average NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1660 Ti Mobile (18610 - 22670, n=24) | |
MSI GF75 Thin 10SDR | |
Average of class Gaming (513 - 50983, n=746) | |
MSI GF75 Thin 10SCXR |
3DMark | |
2560x1440 Port Royal Graphics | |
Average of class Gaming (1097 - 6934, n=130) | |
MSI GE75 Raider 10SE-008US | |
Acer Nitro 5 AN517-52-77DS | |
MSI GF75 Thin 10SDR | |
Average NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1660 Ti Mobile (1097 - 1540, n=7) | |
2560x1440 Time Spy Graphics | |
MSI GE75 Raider 10SE-008US | |
Average of class Gaming (368 - 13013, n=291) | |
Asus TUF A17 FA706IU-AS76 | |
Acer Nitro 5 AN517-52-77DS | |
Average NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1660 Ti Mobile (5335 - 6123, n=22) | |
MSI GF75 Thin 10SDR | |
MSI GF75 Thin 10SCXR | |
1920x1080 Fire Strike Graphics | |
MSI GE75 Raider 10SE-008US | |
Acer Nitro 5 AN517-52-77DS | |
Asus TUF A17 FA706IU-AS76 | |
MSI GF75 Thin 10SDR | |
Average NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1660 Ti Mobile (14186 - 16488, n=24) | |
Average of class Gaming (385 - 40636, n=677) | |
MSI GF75 Thin 10SCXR |
3DMark 11 Performance | 17704 points | |
3DMark Fire Strike Score | 13396 points | |
3DMark Time Spy Score | 5677 points | |
Help |
We ran The Witcher 3 in a 60-minute loop in order to determine the GF75’s sustained 3D load capabilities and are able to report that its GPU clock speeds remained fairly consistent at around 1,600 MHz.