MSI GT80S 6QF Titan SLI Notebook Review

The software has improved as well: The True-Color technology optimizes the color reproduction of the display. MSI has also implemented new functions for the Dragon Gaming Center. If you select the Shift mode "Sport", you can increase the CPU multiplier from 37x to 41x (3.7 vs. 4.1 GHz). The benchmarks and all the other 3D tests (system noise, power consumption) were performed in the Sport mode with full overclocking and activated SLI. However, the Cooler Boost feature, which increases the fan speed in favor of the temperatures, has been deactivated.

More information about the sections Case, Connectivity and Input Devices is available in the review of the GT80 2QE.

As expected, the GT80S is equipped with the same FHD panel as its predecessors. The Samsung 184HL does not have to hide behind the 17-inch competition with a contrast ratio of around 850:1 and a black value of 0.35 cd/m².

The Samsung 184HL performs better than most IPS panels in terms of reaction times. 20 ms (black-white) and 35 ms (gray-to-gray) might be high on paper, but we could not determine tearing in our tests. Panel flickering at a reduced brightness level (0 to 80%) is a drawback. This is probably caused by PWM and might scare off sensitive users.

The MSI GT80 6QD is the perfect device for wealthy gamers that are looking for the maximum performance, but do not want a desktop or mini PC. It does not matter if you look at the memory, hard drive, CPU or GPU performance: The 18-inch system aims to be the fastest device in every category. Our benchmarks will show if this is true.

The CPU benchmarks determine an excellent performance for the 18-inch notebook that is on par with desktop systems. 888 points in the Multi-Core test of Cinebench R15 is just as huge as the 174 points in the Single-Core test (875 & 173 @Asus GX 700). A Core i7-6820HK without additional overclocking falls behind by 20%. The MSI GT72S 6QF, for example, managed only 703 and 138 points. The Core i7-4980HQ of the GT80 2QE is also up to 20% slower.

The GTX 980 rivals Schenker XMG U726 and XMG U716, which were equipped with a Core i7-6700, cannot keep up with the GT80S, either (see table). However, subjectively, there is not a big difference – at least in terms of gaming performance.

It is not really surprising that the 18-inch notebook manages top results in the system benchmarks. 7386 points in PCMark 7 only result in the second place behind the Asus GX700 (7933 points), but the GT80S can beat all the other rivals.

We also want to praise the switch to PCIe and NVMe, respectively. While typical SATA-III SSDs – as mentioned previously – are restricted to around 500 to 550 MB/s, modern solid-state drives can manage sequential speeds of more than 1000 MB/s even without RAID arrays.

MSI is still not satisfied with just one drive and has equipped the GT80S with two M.2 models from Samsung (SM951), which manage up to 2891 MB/s (read) and 2408 MB/s (write) in the AS SSD benchmark. These values are not just excellent, they are among the best we have ever come across. Only the much larger RAID array of the Asus GX700 (total capacity of 1024 instead of 512 GB) is slightly ahead. The SSD interface is not that important for smaller files, so the normal Windows operation does not always benefit from PCIe.

MSI has also integrated a conventional HDD to ensure sufficient storage capacity for the user. The 1000 GB version of the HGST Travelstar 7K1000 manages around 140 MB/s according to the sequential test of CrystalDiskMark – a great result for a 7200 rpm drive.

The amount of memory deserves respect as well: 2x 8GB GDDR5-VRAM (256-bit interface) ensure that even demanding games are not a problem. The dual-GPU operation on the other hand is not without its flaws. Micro stutters are not usually an issue for the GT80S due to the massive performance, but the second GPU has a big negative impact on the temperatures, the power consumption and the noise development. It is no accident that MSI puts the hardware in a 5 kg (~11 lb) chassis that is almost 5 centimeters (~2 in) high.

The performance of the SLI system is very impressive. 17165 points in the 3DMark 13 Fire Strike test is 50 to 60% ahead of a single GTX 980. Two GTX 980M, like in the GT80 2QE, are 20% slower. Unlike the predecessor, you cannot use the integrated GPU of the processor in the case of the GT80S 6QF. The previous GPU button is now used to turn off the display. There is no support for Optimus and Nvidia's G-Sync, either.

Even though the GT80S can take the gaming crown, we were a bit disappointed with the overall results. Yes, the performance can be 50 to 90% better compared to a single GTX 980 (“Battlefield 4”, “BF Hardline”, “Fallout 4”, “Call of Duty Black Ops 3”, “Mad Max”, “The Witcher 3”, “Dragon Age Inquisition”, “Evolve”, “Shadow of Mordor”, “Tomb Raider”, “Crysis 3”), but there are also games where the second chip does not help at all. These include “Rainbow Six Siege”, “Anno 2205”, “The Sims 4”, “GRID Autosport” or “Watch Dogs”. It is either the fault of the GPU driver (no suitable SLI profile yet) or the game cannot handle a secondary GPU very well.

Some games (“Just Cause 3”, “Batman Arkham Knight” & “FIFA 16”) even perform worse compared to a single GTX 980 notebook. Settings lower than 1920x1080 and (Ultra) High settings are not listed in the comparison table, because the CPU is often the limiting factor in these cases.

Unfortunately, we encountered several issues over the course of the tests. Despite the updated driver (ForceWare 358.87 has been replaced by ForceWare 359.23 on request from MSI), some games had issues in the 4K benchmarks. “Just Cause 3” (loading problems), “Mad Max” (crashed) and “Dirt rally” (fps-drops) did not really work on the external display Asus PB287Q.

The fact that the picture sometimes freezes for a fraction of a second (independent of the game, no micro stutters) is also annoying. Speaking of freezes: We cannot explain why, but the desktop background is sometimes temporarily burnt into the display. We had already noticed this problem during several notebook reviews in the past and the problem was usually fixed by a driver update.

Taking all FHD and 4K benchmarks into account, you get the following ranking:

The pre-predecessor GT80 2QE was also much quieter in some situations. The two 18-inch systems are only similarly loud in the stress test with the tools FurMark and Prime95. 60 dB(A) is deafeningly loud for a notebook and can hardly be tolerated without a headset. Note: Our review unit suffers from some kind of coil whining, which would annoy many users.

The 4.1 system from Dynaudio has a new software. The sound is now handled by the Nahimic Audio Enhancer instead of the Sound Blaster Cinema 2 (GT80 2QE). Subjectively, there is no difference between the two, so we refrain from any further comments at this point and refer to the old review instead.

Users that want to save power should stay well clear of the GT80S. With 44 to 62 watts, the 18-inch device consumes around 10 to 25% more power than the competition from Asus and Schenker while idling, although those devices are equipped with only one GPU (34 to 49 watts @MSI GT80 2QE). The differences are similar in 3D scenarios.

We are worried about the maximum consumption in particular. More than 400 watts suggest either a bad efficiency of the power adapter or that it is not powerful enough. 330 watts are borderline for such a fast system, especially since the battery discharges under higher loads, and even single GTX 980 notebooks are shipped with a 330-watt module. In short: in our opinion 400 watts would be better for the GT80S 6QF.

If you plan to use the 18-inch device on battery power: More than 2.5 hours are not possible with the activated SLI. However, we should mention that the competition also does not sell any runtime wonders. The two Schenker notebooks XMG U716 and XMG U726 do not last three hours, either. Only MSI's own GT72S 6QF is an option for longer road trips (up to 6.5 hours).