MSI Katana GF76 test: RTX 3070 Ti for less than 2000 Euros (~$2084)

In the various price comparison portals, besides the Acer Nitro 5 and the Asus TUF, the MSI Katana is always listed as one of the most affordable gaming laptops with RTX graphics. Our test model with an RTX 3070 Ti and Intel Core i7-12700H is already available from 1999.99 Euros (~$2084), but is it worth the purchase?

Of course, you cannot expect any quality wonders from an affordable laptop, so where are the disadvantages of the Katana? First in the graphics itself, since the RTX 3070 Ti was limited to only 100 watts, whereas the same GPU is able to consume up to 150 watts in the competitors. This also becomes noticeable in the gaming performance.

Even though you can play almost all the current games in FHD resolution and at maximum detail levels, if you use 4K or activate raytracing, the card, which should be really powerful, quickly reaches its limits. In Cyberpunk, the frame rate drops from about 48 to only 28 fps in FHD at maximum details, as soon as we activate raytracing effects (Ultra).

Why MSI limits the TGP becomes clear when taking a look at the cooling system, since this doesn't work optimally. The fans are already active most of the time even during idle operation, and they have a hard time to handle even the throttled RTX GPU under load.

You can find out about the other advantages and disadvantages revealed by the MSI Katana in our test lab and whether it is really worth its price in our extensive test.