Deutsch
Español
Français
Italiano
Nederlands
Polski
Português
Русский
Türkçe
Svenska
Chinese
MagyarMSI Titan 18 HX A14VIG laptop review: Year of the dragon
At CES 2023, we questioned MSI about why they had no 18-inch gaming laptop in the works when Asus, Alienware, and Razer were all launching their own respective 18-inch offerings. It wasn't until CES 2024 that we finally saw a proper 18-inch MSI model in the form of the Titan 18 HX. It may be a bit late to the party, but its specifications and hardware are just as competitive.
Our review configuration comes equipped with the new 14th gen Intel Raptor Lake Core i9-14900HX CPU, 175 W GeForce RTX 4090 GPU, and 120 Hz Mini-LED 4K (2400p) display for approximately $4999 USD. There are no lesser configurations available with different CPUs, GPUs, or displays at the time of writing meaning.
Alternatives to the Titan 18 HX include other 18-inch gaming laptops like the Asus ROG Strix G18, Alienware m18, Razer Blade 18, or the Acer Predator Helios 18.
More MSI reviews:
Potential Competitors in Comparison
Rating | Date | Model | Weight | Height | Size | Resolution | Best Price |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 88.8 % | 01/2024 | MSI Titan 18 HX A14VIG i9-14900HX, NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4090 Laptop GPU | 3.6 kg | 32.1 mm | 18.00" | 3840x2400 | |
| 89 % | 02/2023 | MSI Titan GT77 HX 13VI i9-13950HX, NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4090 Laptop GPU | 3.5 kg | 23 mm | 17.30" | 3840x2160 | |
| 90.7 % | 04/2023 | Alienware m18 R1 i9-13980HX, NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4090 Laptop GPU | 3.9 kg | 26.7 mm | 18.00" | 1920x1200 | |
| 87.4 % | 03/2023 | Asus ROG Strix G18 G814JI i7-13650HX, NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4070 Laptop GPU | 3 kg | 31 mm | 18.00" | 2560x1600 | |
| 88.3 % | 10/2023 | Acer Predator Helios 18 N23Q2 i9-13900HX, NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4080 Laptop GPU | 3.2 kg | 29.15 mm | 18.00" | 2560x1600 | |
| 91.4 % | 02/2023 | Razer Blade 18 RTX 4070 i9-13950HX, NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4070 Laptop GPU | 3 kg | 21.9 mm | 18.00" | 2560x1600 |
Case — Fewer RGB LEDs
The new chassis is an evolution of the Titan GT77 rather than the flashier and retro-inspired GE78. When compared to the GT77, the Titan 18 adds two-tone silver and blue colors to complement the otherwise jet black exterior. MSI is also shying away from "unnecessary" RGB lighting by removing the LED bar along the rear.
Perhaps the most recognizable aspect of the Titan 18 is the flat glass extending across the palm rests and clickpad. The clickpad is thus flush with the palm rests and it is illuminated with RGB effects. The end result is a sleeker and smoother design while still retaining the high-end gamer aesthetic.
Chassis rigidity from the magnesium-aluminum alloy chassis is excellent with only minor warping when pushing down on the keyboard center. It certainly feels more luxurious than the usual plastic surfaces of cheaper MSI models like the Cyborg or Katana. However, the hinges could have been firmer for a better sense of longevity and the entire system is one huge fingerprint magnet.
Notably, the 16:10 18-inch Titan 18 HX has a smaller footprint than the 16:9 17.3-inch Titan GT77 because of its shorter rear end. In turn, however, the newer model is noticeably thicker by almost 10 mm to be one of the thickest 18-inch gaming laptops available. It's not necessarily the heaviest as that crown goes to the Alienware m18 R1, but it's still noticeably heavier than the Asus ROG Strix G18 or Razer Blade 18 by over 500 g each.
Connectivity
MSI has brought back all the ports from last year's GT77 except for the dedicated mini-DisplayPort. Ports have also been rearranged most noticeably along the rear to reduce clutter. In comparison, the ports on the GT77 were tightly packed along the left and right edges.
SD Card Reader
While the chassis has been revamped, the slow card reader has not. Moving 1 GB of images from our UHS-II test card to desktop takes around 12 seconds to be 2x slower than the card readers on the Razer Blade 18 or Alienware m18 R1.
| SD Card Reader | |
| average JPG Copy Test (av. of 3 runs) | |
| Razer Blade 18 RTX 4070 (Angelibird AV Pro V60) | |
| Alienware m18 R1 (Angelibird AV Pro V60) | |
| MSI Titan 18 HX A14VIG (Toshiba Exceria Pro SDXC 64 GB UHS-II) | |
| MSI Titan GT77 HX 13VI (Angelibird AV Pro V60) | |
| Acer Predator Helios 18 N23Q2 | |
| maximum AS SSD Seq Read Test (1GB) | |
| Alienware m18 R1 (Angelibird AV Pro V60) | |
| Razer Blade 18 RTX 4070 (Angelibird AV Pro V60) | |
| MSI Titan 18 HX A14VIG (Toshiba Exceria Pro SDXC 64 GB UHS-II) | |
| MSI Titan GT77 HX 13VI (Angelibird AV Pro V60) | |
| Acer Predator Helios 18 N23Q2 | |
Communication
WLAN is provided by the Killer BE1750x which is the gaming variant of the BE1750W. The module supports Wi-Fi 7 even though Wi-Fi 7 routers are not yet mainstream. We experienced no connectivity issues when paired to our Wi-Fi 6E test router.
| Networking | |
| iperf3 transmit AXE11000 | |
| Asus ROG Strix G18 G814JI | |
| MSI Titan GT77 HX 13VI | |
| Alienware m18 R1 | |
| Razer Blade 18 RTX 4070 | |
| MSI Titan 18 HX A14VIG | |
| Acer Predator Helios 18 N23Q2 | |
| iperf3 receive AXE11000 | |
| Asus ROG Strix G18 G814JI | |
| MSI Titan GT77 HX 13VI | |
| Razer Blade 18 RTX 4070 | |
| Alienware m18 R1 | |
| MSI Titan 18 HX A14VIG | |
| Acer Predator Helios 18 N23Q2 | |
| iperf3 transmit AXE11000 6GHz | |
| Acer Predator Helios 18 N23Q2 | |
| Alienware m18 R1 | |
| Razer Blade 18 RTX 4070 | |
| MSI Titan 18 HX A14VIG | |
| iperf3 receive AXE11000 6GHz | |
| Razer Blade 18 RTX 4070 | |
| Acer Predator Helios 18 N23Q2 | |
| MSI Titan 18 HX A14VIG | |
| Alienware m18 R1 | |
Webcam
A 2 MP webcam wit physical privacy shutter and IR sensor come standard. The camera can have brightness issues as shown by our shot below.
Maintenance
The bottom panel is secured by 12 Phillips screws for relatively easy servicing. However, keep in mind that a factory seal sticker must be broken to do so.
Once inside, users have direct access to 4x SODIMM slots, 3x M.2 2280 SSD slots (2x PCIe4 x4, 1x PCIe5 x4), and the removable WLAN module. Last year's GT77 could support up to four SSDs in comparison and so storage options are slightly more limited this time around.
Accessories And Warranty
The retail box includes a USB mouse (M99 Pro), velvet cleaning cloth, 256 GB USB flash drive, and a Lucky the Dragon keychain. Strangely enough, the keychain is black instead of red which is how the mascot is usually depicted.
A one-year limited manufacturer warranty comes standard if purchased in the US.
Input Devices — Comfortable And Clicky Keys
Keyboard
The per-key RGB Cherry ultra-low profile mechanical keyboard comes standard on all configurations similar to what is available on certain Alienware models. The typing experience is one of the best we've had on any laptop in terms of travel and feedback as the differences are immediately noticeable when compared to standard membrane-based keys. The main drawback, of course, is the louder and high-pitch clatter especially when pressing the Enter and Space keys. This is definitely not a keyboard you want to be using in classrooms or libraries.
Unfortunately, not every key is mechanical on the Titan 18 HX. The numpad and arrow keys are membrane-based instead and so they feel softer and quieter when pressed.
Touchpad
The 13 x 8.2 cm clickpad is RGB illuminated just like on some Alienware models. The difference here, however, is that the MSI clickpad is completely flush with the surrounding palm rests for a smooth and transition-free edge-to-edge surface. This approach is sleek and sexy, but it's less practical than a traditional clickpad with tactile edges and corners. Pressing down to input mouse clicks is also made more difficult and unreliable especially for multi-touch inputs like dragging and dropping. The standard packaging includes a free USB mouse and so it's clear that MSI was leaning towards form over function when designing the clickpad.
Display — Easily The Most Defining Feature Of The Titan 18 HX
The Titan 18 HX is one of the first 18-inch laptops to ship this year with a 120 Hz 4K mini-LED display. When compared to IPS and OLED, mini-LED panels can be much brighter while still offering similar DCI-P3 colors and black levels as OLED for better HDR support. In this case, the Titan 18 HX display can reach up to 1155 nits on HDR mode according to our colorimeter to support HDR1000 playback. If on SDR mode, the display is limited to about 470 nits which is similar to many IPS panels.
Keep in mind that HDR mode is not available if running on battery power. Maximum brightness drops to just 323 nits when running on batteries even if the display power saver feature is disabled. We're not sure if the latter is a bug, but the dip in brightness is certainly noticeable between battery and mains.
Unfortunately, the major drawback to the display is that it does not support G-Sync or variable refresh rate (VRR). It can also be very power demanding because of its high brightness ceiling as demonstrated in our Power Consumption section below. The display is still nonetheless one of the best we've seen on any laptop for both gaming and multimedia purposes.
| |||||||||||||||||||||||||
Brightness Distribution: 90 %
Center on Battery: 323 cd/m²
Contrast: ∞:1 (Black: 0 cd/m²)
ΔE Color 3.77 | 0.5-29.43 Ø5, calibrated: 2.94
ΔE Greyscale 3.2 | 0.57-98 Ø5.3
86.2% AdobeRGB 1998 (Argyll 2.2.0 3D)
99.8% sRGB (Argyll 2.2.0 3D)
98.1% Display P3 (Argyll 2.2.0 3D)
Gamma: 2.43
| MSI Titan 18 HX A14VIG AU Optronics B180ZAN01.0, Mini-LED, 3840x2400, 18.00 | MSI Titan GT77 HX 13VI B173ZAN06.C, Mini-LED, 3840x2160, 17.30 | Alienware m18 R1 Chi Mei 180JME, IPS, 1920x1200, 18.00 | Asus ROG Strix G18 G814JI NE180QDM-NZ2 (BOE0B35), IPS, 2560x1600, 18.00 | Acer Predator Helios 18 N23Q2 AUO45A8 (B180QAN01.2), IPS, 2560x1600, 18.00 | Razer Blade 18 RTX 4070 AU Optronics B180QAN01.0, IPS, 2560x1600, 18.00 | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Display | 1% | 1% | -0% | 3% | -1% | |
| Display P3 Coverage | 98.1 | 94.9 -3% | 97.7 0% | 98.1 0% | 99.8 2% | 96.9 -1% |
| sRGB Coverage | 99.8 | 99.9 0% | 100 0% | 99.9 0% | 100 0% | 99.8 0% |
| AdobeRGB 1998 Coverage | 86.2 | 92.4 7% | 89.8 4% | 85.6 -1% | 91.8 6% | 85.3 -1% |
| Response Times | -96% | 77% | 62% | 29% | 71% | |
| Response Time Grey 50% / Grey 80% * | 8.6 ? | 38.4 ? -347% | 3 ? 65% | 5.6 ? 35% | 7.6 ? 12% | 4.2 ? 51% |
| Response Time Black / White * | 81.8 ? | 26.6 ? 67% | 9.9 ? 88% | 9 ? 89% | 17.8 ? 78% | 8 ? 90% |
| PWM Frequency | 2592 ? | 2380 ? -8% | 2509 -3% | |||
| Screen | -9% | 28% | 21% | -14% | 11% | |
| Brightness middle | 467.5 | 606 30% | 372.8 -20% | 471 1% | 360 -23% | 549.6 18% |
| Brightness | 459 | 602 31% | 367 -20% | 422 -8% | 355 -23% | 524 14% |
| Brightness Distribution | 90 | 93 3% | 97 8% | 83 -8% | 92 2% | 89 -1% |
| Black Level * | 0.0001 | 0.32 | 0.47 | 0.21 | 0.53 | |
| Colorchecker dE 2000 * | 3.77 | 4.8 -27% | 1.92 49% | 2.05 46% | 3.82 -1% | 3.32 12% |
| Colorchecker dE 2000 max. * | 6.12 | 8.2 -34% | 3.65 40% | 4.15 32% | 7.38 -21% | 6.63 -8% |
| Colorchecker dE 2000 calibrated * | 2.94 | 1.8 39% | 0.51 83% | 0.8 73% | 2.24 24% | 2.7 8% |
| Greyscale dE 2000 * | 3.2 | 6.5 -103% | 1.5 53% | 2.8 12% | 5.06 -58% | 2 37% |
| Gamma | 2.43 91% | 2.63 84% | 2.34 94% | 2.204 100% | 2.52 87% | 2.29 96% |
| CCT | 6478 100% | 6596 99% | 6607 98% | 7122 91% | 5657 115% | 6319 103% |
| Contrast | 6060000 | 1165 | 1002 | 1714 | 1037 | |
| Total Average (Program / Settings) | -35% /
-27% | 35% /
29% | 28% /
23% | 6% /
-0% | 27% /
18% |
* ... smaller is better
MSI advertises no Pantone calibration efforts despite the high asking price of the Titan. Average grayscale and color deltaE values are nonetheless still very good out of the box at 3.2 and 3.77, respectively.
Display Response Times
| ↔ Response Time Black to White | ||
|---|---|---|
| 81.8 ms ... rise ↗ and fall ↘ combined | ↗ 76 ms rise |  |
| ↘ 5.8 ms fall | ||
| The screen shows slow response rates in our tests and will be unsatisfactory for gamers. In comparison, all tested devices range from 0.1 (minimum) to 240 (maximum) ms. » 100 % of all devices are better. This means that the measured response time is worse than the average of all tested devices (21.5 ms). | ||
| ↔ Response Time 50% Grey to 80% Grey | ||
| 8.6 ms ... rise ↗ and fall ↘ combined | ↗ 4.2 ms rise |  |
| ↘ 4.4 ms fall | ||
| The screen shows fast response rates in our tests and should be suited for gaming. In comparison, all tested devices range from 0.2 (minimum) to 636 (maximum) ms. » 17 % of all devices are better. This means that the measured response time is better than the average of all tested devices (33.7 ms). | ||
Screen Flickering / PWM (Pulse-Width Modulation)
| Screen flickering / PWM detected | 2592 Hz | ≤ 100 % brightness setting |  |
The display backlight flickers at 2592 Hz (worst case, e.g., utilizing PWM) Flickering detected at a brightness setting of 100 % and below. There should be no flickering or PWM above this brightness setting. The frequency of 2592 Hz is quite high, so most users sensitive to PWM should not notice any flickering. In comparison: 53 % of all tested devices do not use PWM to dim the display. If PWM was detected, an average of 17900 (minimum: 5 - maximum: 3846000) Hz was measured. | |||
Black-white and gray-gray response times for mini-LED are difficult to measure through traditional means. However, we can say subjectively that ghosting is a non-issue when gaming. Quick motions appear smooth and with no smearing for an experience that's closer to OLED or an IPS display with very fast response times.
Flickering is present at a constant frequency on all brightness levels including the maximum.
Outdoor visibility is acceptable if under shade, but anything brighter and the screen becomes washed out. The ultra-bright backlight is unattainable if running on battery power as mentioned above.
Performance — 14th Gen Raptor Lake-HX
Testing Conditions
We set MSI Center to discrete GPU mode and Extreme Performance mode with Cooler Boost active prior to running the benchmarks below. Cooler Boost is MSI's brand name for maximum fan speed mode. Owners should become familiar with MSI Center as it is the control hub for monitoring system vitals, installing MSI-specific updates, and toggling most features.
Keyboard lighting is controlled by a separate pre-installed app called SteelSeries GG.
(January 31, 2024 update: MSI Center currently has a bug where the Nvidia GPU driver version would be listed as newest even if it is old. We recommend updating the GPU driver via GeForce Experience instead.)
Processor
Raw performance from our Core i9-14900HX is essentially neck-to-neck with the Core i9-13950HX in last year's GT77. Thus, don't expect any noticeable performance gains when running traditional CPU-heavy applications. The 14th gen Raptor Lake-HX CPU does not have new AI capabilities either unlike on the Meteor Lake series which integrates an NPU.
MSI is preparing to launch its AI Artist app in February for laptops equipped with 14th gen Intel CPUs. The program leverages Intel's AI acceleration to generate art based on prompts at a local level instead of relying on cloud services for a faster user experience. If you have no interest in AI-enhanced applications, then an older 13th gen Intel CPU can serve you just as well.
Cinebench R15 Multi Loop
Cinebench R23: Multi Core | Single Core
Cinebench R20: CPU (Multi Core) | CPU (Single Core)
Cinebench R15: CPU Multi 64Bit | CPU Single 64Bit
Blender: v2.79 BMW27 CPU
7-Zip 18.03: 7z b 4 | 7z b 4 -mmt1
Geekbench 6.2: Multi-Core | Single-Core
Geekbench 5.5: Multi-Core | Single-Core
HWBOT x265 Benchmark v2.2: 4k Preset
LibreOffice : 20 Documents To PDF
R Benchmark 2.5: Overall mean
| CPU Performance Rating | |
| Asus ROG Strix Scar 17 G733PYV-LL053X | |
| Asus ROG Strix Scar 17 G733PY-XS96 -2! | |
| Alienware m18 R1 -2! | |
| MSI Titan GT77 HX 13VI -2! | |
| MSI Titan 18 HX A14VIG | |
| Acer Predator Helios 18 N23Q2 | |
| Average Intel Core i9-14900HX | |
| Razer Blade 18 RTX 4070 -2! | |
| Alienware m16 R1 AMD | |
| MSI Raider GE68 HX 13VG, i7-13700HX | |
| NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4070 Super Founders Edition -15! | |
| Asus TUF Gaming A17 FA707XI-NS94 | |
| Asus ROG Strix G18 G814JI -2! | |
| MSI Stealth 16 Studio A13VG -2! | |
| Dell G16 7620 -2! | |
| Alienware m17 R5 (R9 6900HX, RX 6850M XT) -2! | |
| Cinebench R23 / Multi Core | |
| Asus ROG Strix Scar 17 G733PY-XS96 | |
| MSI Titan GT77 HX 13VI | |
| Asus ROG Strix Scar 17 G733PYV-LL053X | |
| Alienware m18 R1 | |
| MSI Titan 18 HX A14VIG | |
| Acer Predator Helios 18 N23Q2 | |
| Average Intel Core i9-14900HX (20702 - 32996, n=22) | |
| Razer Blade 18 RTX 4070 | |
| Alienware m16 R1 AMD | |
| MSI Raider GE68 HX 13VG, i7-13700HX | |
| Asus ROG Strix G18 G814JI | |
| MSI Stealth 16 Studio A13VG | |
| Asus TUF Gaming A17 FA707XI-NS94 | |
| Dell G16 7620 | |
| Alienware m17 R5 (R9 6900HX, RX 6850M XT) | |
| Cinebench R23 / Single Core | |
| Average Intel Core i9-14900HX (2043 - 2235, n=22) | |
| MSI Titan 18 HX A14VIG | |
| Alienware m18 R1 | |
| MSI Titan GT77 HX 13VI | |
| Acer Predator Helios 18 N23Q2 | |
| Razer Blade 18 RTX 4070 | |
| Asus ROG Strix Scar 17 G733PYV-LL053X | |
| Asus ROG Strix G18 G814JI | |
| MSI Raider GE68 HX 13VG, i7-13700HX | |
| Asus ROG Strix Scar 17 G733PY-XS96 | |
| MSI Stealth 16 Studio A13VG | |
| Alienware m16 R1 AMD | |
| Asus TUF Gaming A17 FA707XI-NS94 | |
| Dell G16 7620 | |
| Alienware m17 R5 (R9 6900HX, RX 6850M XT) | |
| Cinebench R20 / CPU (Multi Core) | |
| Asus ROG Strix Scar 17 G733PY-XS96 | |
| Asus ROG Strix Scar 17 G733PYV-LL053X | |
| MSI Titan GT77 HX 13VI | |
| Alienware m18 R1 | |
| MSI Titan 18 HX A14VIG | |
| Acer Predator Helios 18 N23Q2 | |
| Average Intel Core i9-14900HX (8427 - 12419, n=22) | |
| Razer Blade 18 RTX 4070 | |
| Alienware m16 R1 AMD | |
| MSI Raider GE68 HX 13VG, i7-13700HX | |
| Asus ROG Strix G18 G814JI | |
| MSI Stealth 16 Studio A13VG | |
| Asus TUF Gaming A17 FA707XI-NS94 | |
| Dell G16 7620 | |
| Alienware m17 R5 (R9 6900HX, RX 6850M XT) | |
| Cinebench R20 / CPU (Single Core) | |
| Average Intel Core i9-14900HX (779 - 859, n=22) | |
| MSI Titan 18 HX A14VIG | |
| Alienware m18 R1 | |
| Acer Predator Helios 18 N23Q2 | |
| MSI Titan GT77 HX 13VI | |
| Razer Blade 18 RTX 4070 | |
| Asus ROG Strix Scar 17 G733PYV-LL053X | |
| Asus ROG Strix G18 G814JI | |
| MSI Raider GE68 HX 13VG, i7-13700HX | |
| Asus ROG Strix Scar 17 G733PY-XS96 | |
| MSI Stealth 16 Studio A13VG | |
| Alienware m16 R1 AMD | |
| Asus TUF Gaming A17 FA707XI-NS94 | |
| Dell G16 7620 | |
| Alienware m17 R5 (R9 6900HX, RX 6850M XT) | |
| Cinebench R15 / CPU Multi 64Bit | |
| Asus ROG Strix Scar 17 G733PYV-LL053X | |
| Asus ROG Strix Scar 17 G733PY-XS96 | |
| MSI Titan GT77 HX 13VI | |
| Alienware m18 R1 | |
| MSI Titan 18 HX A14VIG | |
| Acer Predator Helios 18 N23Q2 | |
| Razer Blade 18 RTX 4070 | |
| Average Intel Core i9-14900HX (3263 - 4875, n=23) | |
| Alienware m16 R1 AMD | |
| MSI Raider GE68 HX 13VG, i7-13700HX | |
| Asus ROG Strix G18 G814JI | |
| MSI Stealth 16 Studio A13VG | |
| Asus TUF Gaming A17 FA707XI-NS94 | |
| Dell G16 7620 | |
| Alienware m17 R5 (R9 6900HX, RX 6850M XT) | |
| Cinebench R15 / CPU Single 64Bit | |
| Asus ROG Strix Scar 17 G733PYV-LL053X | |
| Asus ROG Strix Scar 17 G733PY-XS96 | |
| Average Intel Core i9-14900HX (287 - 320, n=23) | |
| Alienware m18 R1 | |
| MSI Titan GT77 HX 13VI | |
| MSI Titan 18 HX A14VIG | |
| Razer Blade 18 RTX 4070 | |
| Alienware m16 R1 AMD | |
| Acer Predator Helios 18 N23Q2 | |
| Asus TUF Gaming A17 FA707XI-NS94 | |
| Asus ROG Strix G18 G814JI | |
| MSI Stealth 16 Studio A13VG | |
| MSI Raider GE68 HX 13VG, i7-13700HX | |
| Alienware m17 R5 (R9 6900HX, RX 6850M XT) | |
| Dell G16 7620 | |
| 7-Zip 18.03 / 7z b 4 -mmt1 | |
| Asus ROG Strix Scar 17 G733PY-XS96 | |
| Asus ROG Strix Scar 17 G733PYV-LL053X | |
| Average Intel Core i9-14900HX (6206 - 7508, n=22) | |
| Alienware m16 R1 AMD | |
| Acer Predator Helios 18 N23Q2 | |
| MSI Titan GT77 HX 13VI | |
| Alienware m18 R1 | |
| Razer Blade 18 RTX 4070 | |
| Asus TUF Gaming A17 FA707XI-NS94 | |
| MSI Titan 18 HX A14VIG | |
| MSI Raider GE68 HX 13VG, i7-13700HX | |
| Asus ROG Strix G18 G814JI | |
| MSI Stealth 16 Studio A13VG | |
| Alienware m17 R5 (R9 6900HX, RX 6850M XT) | |
| Dell G16 7620 | |
| Geekbench 6.2 / Multi-Core | |
| Acer Predator Helios 18 N23Q2 | |
| Average Intel Core i9-14900HX (15849 - 18643, n=22) | |
| Asus ROG Strix Scar 17 G733PYV-LL053X | |
| MSI Titan 18 HX A14VIG | |
| MSI Raider GE68 HX 13VG, i7-13700HX | |
| Alienware m16 R1 AMD | |
| Asus TUF Gaming A17 FA707XI-NS94 | |
| Geekbench 6.2 / Single-Core | |
| Average Intel Core i9-14900HX (2800 - 3095, n=22) | |
| Asus ROG Strix Scar 17 G733PYV-LL053X | |
| Acer Predator Helios 18 N23Q2 | |
| MSI Titan 18 HX A14VIG | |
| Asus TUF Gaming A17 FA707XI-NS94 | |
| Alienware m16 R1 AMD | |
| MSI Raider GE68 HX 13VG, i7-13700HX | |
| Geekbench 5.5 / Multi-Core | |
| Alienware m18 R1 | |
| MSI Titan GT77 HX 13VI | |
| Acer Predator Helios 18 N23Q2 | |
| Razer Blade 18 RTX 4070 | |
| Asus ROG Strix Scar 17 G733PYV-LL053X | |
| Average Intel Core i9-14900HX (8618 - 21606, n=22) | |
| Asus ROG Strix Scar 17 G733PY-XS96 | |
| MSI Titan 18 HX A14VIG | |
| MSI Raider GE68 HX 13VG, i7-13700HX | |
| Alienware m16 R1 AMD | |
| Asus ROG Strix G18 G814JI | |
| MSI Stealth 16 Studio A13VG | |
| Dell G16 7620 | |
| Asus TUF Gaming A17 FA707XI-NS94 | |
| Alienware m17 R5 (R9 6900HX, RX 6850M XT) | |
| Geekbench 5.5 / Single-Core | |
| Asus ROG Strix Scar 17 G733PYV-LL053X | |
| Average Intel Core i9-14900HX (1669 - 2210, n=22) | |
| MSI Titan 18 HX A14VIG | |
| Alienware m18 R1 | |
| Acer Predator Helios 18 N23Q2 | |
| Asus ROG Strix Scar 17 G733PY-XS96 | |
| MSI Titan GT77 HX 13VI | |
| Razer Blade 18 RTX 4070 | |
| Asus TUF Gaming A17 FA707XI-NS94 | |
| Alienware m16 R1 AMD | |
| MSI Raider GE68 HX 13VG, i7-13700HX | |
| Asus ROG Strix G18 G814JI | |
| MSI Stealth 16 Studio A13VG | |
| Dell G16 7620 | |
| Alienware m17 R5 (R9 6900HX, RX 6850M XT) | |
| HWBOT x265 Benchmark v2.2 / 4k Preset | |
| Asus ROG Strix Scar 17 G733PY-XS96 | |
| Asus ROG Strix Scar 17 G733PYV-LL053X | |
| Alienware m18 R1 | |
| MSI Titan GT77 HX 13VI | |
| Razer Blade 18 RTX 4070 | |
| MSI Titan 18 HX A14VIG | |
| Acer Predator Helios 18 N23Q2 | |
| Alienware m16 R1 AMD | |
| Average Intel Core i9-14900HX (22.7 - 34.4, n=22) | |
| MSI Raider GE68 HX 13VG, i7-13700HX | |
| Asus ROG Strix G18 G814JI | |
| Asus TUF Gaming A17 FA707XI-NS94 | |
| MSI Stealth 16 Studio A13VG | |
| Dell G16 7620 | |
| Alienware m17 R5 (R9 6900HX, RX 6850M XT) | |
| LibreOffice / 20 Documents To PDF | |
| Asus ROG Strix G18 G814JI | |
| Alienware m17 R5 (R9 6900HX, RX 6850M XT) | |
| MSI Stealth 16 Studio A13VG | |
| Dell G16 7620 | |
| MSI Raider GE68 HX 13VG, i7-13700HX | |
| Acer Predator Helios 18 N23Q2 | |
| Asus TUF Gaming A17 FA707XI-NS94 | |
| Alienware m18 R1 | |
| MSI Titan GT77 HX 13VI | |
| MSI Titan 18 HX A14VIG | |
| Average Intel Core i9-14900HX (33.9 - 85.1, n=22) | |
| Razer Blade 18 RTX 4070 | |
| Alienware m16 R1 AMD | |
| Asus ROG Strix Scar 17 G733PYV-LL053X | |
| Asus ROG Strix Scar 17 G733PY-XS96 | |
| R Benchmark 2.5 / Overall mean | |
| Dell G16 7620 | |
| Alienware m17 R5 (R9 6900HX, RX 6850M XT) | |
| MSI Stealth 16 Studio A13VG | |
| Asus ROG Strix G18 G814JI | |
| MSI Raider GE68 HX 13VG, i7-13700HX | |
| Asus TUF Gaming A17 FA707XI-NS94 | |
| Alienware m16 R1 AMD | |
| Asus ROG Strix Scar 17 G733PYV-LL053X | |
| Asus ROG Strix Scar 17 G733PY-XS96 | |
| MSI Titan GT77 HX 13VI | |
| Acer Predator Helios 18 N23Q2 | |
| Razer Blade 18 RTX 4070 | |
| Alienware m18 R1 | |
| MSI Titan 18 HX A14VIG | |
| Average Intel Core i9-14900HX (0.3609 - 0.4225, n=22) | |
Cinebench R23: Multi Core | Single Core
Cinebench R20: CPU (Multi Core) | CPU (Single Core)
Cinebench R15: CPU Multi 64Bit | CPU Single 64Bit
Blender: v2.79 BMW27 CPU
7-Zip 18.03: 7z b 4 | 7z b 4 -mmt1
Geekbench 6.2: Multi-Core | Single-Core
Geekbench 5.5: Multi-Core | Single-Core
HWBOT x265 Benchmark v2.2: 4k Preset
LibreOffice : 20 Documents To PDF
R Benchmark 2.5: Overall mean
* ... smaller is better
AIDA64: FP32 Ray-Trace | FPU Julia | CPU SHA3 | CPU Queen | FPU SinJulia | FPU Mandel | CPU AES | CPU ZLib | FP64 Ray-Trace | CPU PhotoWorxx
| Performance Rating | |
| Alienware m18 R1 | |
| Acer Predator Helios 18 N23Q2 | |
| MSI Titan 18 HX A14VIG | |
| MSI Titan GT77 HX 13VI | |
| Razer Blade 18 RTX 4070 | |
| Average Intel Core i9-14900HX | |
| Asus ROG Strix G18 G814JI | |
| AIDA64 / FP32 Ray-Trace | |
| Alienware m18 R1 | |
| MSI Titan 18 HX A14VIG | |
| MSI Titan GT77 HX 13VI | |
| Acer Predator Helios 18 N23Q2 | |
| Razer Blade 18 RTX 4070 | |
| Average Intel Core i9-14900HX (17244 - 29351, n=21) | |
| Asus ROG Strix G18 G814JI | |
| AIDA64 / FPU Julia | |
| MSI Titan 18 HX A14VIG | |
| Alienware m18 R1 | |
| MSI Titan GT77 HX 13VI | |
| Acer Predator Helios 18 N23Q2 | |
| Razer Blade 18 RTX 4070 | |
| Average Intel Core i9-14900HX (88537 - 148888, n=21) | |
| Asus ROG Strix G18 G814JI | |
| AIDA64 / CPU SHA3 | |
| MSI Titan 18 HX A14VIG | |
| Alienware m18 R1 | |
| MSI Titan GT77 HX 13VI | |
| Acer Predator Helios 18 N23Q2 | |
| Razer Blade 18 RTX 4070 | |
| Average Intel Core i9-14900HX (4267 - 7229, n=21) | |
| Asus ROG Strix G18 G814JI | |
| AIDA64 / CPU Queen | |
| MSI Titan 18 HX A14VIG | |
| Alienware m18 R1 | |
| MSI Titan GT77 HX 13VI | |
| Average Intel Core i9-14900HX (118405 - 148773, n=21) | |
| Razer Blade 18 RTX 4070 | |
| Acer Predator Helios 18 N23Q2 | |
| Asus ROG Strix G18 G814JI | |
| AIDA64 / FPU SinJulia | |
| MSI Titan 18 HX A14VIG | |
| MSI Titan GT77 HX 13VI | |
| Alienware m18 R1 | |
| Razer Blade 18 RTX 4070 | |
| Acer Predator Helios 18 N23Q2 | |
| Average Intel Core i9-14900HX (12217 - 18256, n=21) | |
| Asus ROG Strix G18 G814JI | |
| AIDA64 / FPU Mandel | |
| Alienware m18 R1 | |
| MSI Titan 18 HX A14VIG | |
| MSI Titan GT77 HX 13VI | |
| Acer Predator Helios 18 N23Q2 | |
| Razer Blade 18 RTX 4070 | |
| Average Intel Core i9-14900HX (43302 - 72594, n=21) | |
| Asus ROG Strix G18 G814JI | |
| AIDA64 / CPU AES | |
| Acer Predator Helios 18 N23Q2 | |
| MSI Titan 18 HX A14VIG | |
| MSI Titan GT77 HX 13VI | |
| Alienware m18 R1 | |
| Average Intel Core i9-14900HX (86964 - 241777, n=21) | |
| Razer Blade 18 RTX 4070 | |
| Asus ROG Strix G18 G814JI | |
| AIDA64 / CPU ZLib | |
| MSI Titan 18 HX A14VIG | |
| MSI Titan GT77 HX 13VI | |
| Alienware m18 R1 | |
| Acer Predator Helios 18 N23Q2 | |
| Razer Blade 18 RTX 4070 | |
| Average Intel Core i9-14900HX (1265 - 2149, n=21) | |
| Asus ROG Strix G18 G814JI | |
| AIDA64 / FP64 Ray-Trace | |
| Alienware m18 R1 | |
| MSI Titan 18 HX A14VIG | |
| MSI Titan GT77 HX 13VI | |
| Acer Predator Helios 18 N23Q2 | |
| Razer Blade 18 RTX 4070 | |
| Average Intel Core i9-14900HX (9170 - 16128, n=21) | |
| Asus ROG Strix G18 G814JI | |
| AIDA64 / CPU PhotoWorxx | |
| Alienware m18 R1 | |
| Acer Predator Helios 18 N23Q2 | |
| Razer Blade 18 RTX 4070 | |
| Average Intel Core i9-14900HX (33960 - 51118, n=21) | |
| Asus ROG Strix G18 G814JI | |
| MSI Titan GT77 HX 13VI | |
| MSI Titan 18 HX A14VIG | |
System Performance
PCMark results are within just a few percentage points of last year's GT77 to suggest no major performance differences between their CPUs and GPUs when running everyday tasks.
Note that RAM performance is slower from our 128 GB configuration by up to 30 to 40 percent when compared to the 32 GB configuration of the Alienware m18 R1. This is to be expected as RAM performance at higher capacities is limited by the aging SODIMM interface.
CrossMark: Overall | Productivity | Creativity | Responsiveness
WebXPRT 3: Overall
WebXPRT 4: Overall
Mozilla Kraken 1.1: Total
| PCMark 10 / Score | |
| MSI Titan 18 HX A14VIG | |
| MSI Titan GT77 HX 13VI | |
| Alienware m18 R1 | |
| Average Intel Core i9-14900HX, NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4090 Laptop GPU (8201 - 9234, n=8) | |
| Acer Predator Helios 18 N23Q2 | |
| Razer Blade 18 RTX 4070 | |
| Asus ROG Strix G18 G814JI | |
| PCMark 10 / Essentials | |
| MSI Titan GT77 HX 13VI | |
| Razer Blade 18 RTX 4070 | |
| MSI Titan 18 HX A14VIG | |
| Alienware m18 R1 | |
| Average Intel Core i9-14900HX, NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4090 Laptop GPU (10871 - 11628, n=8) | |
| Acer Predator Helios 18 N23Q2 | |
| Asus ROG Strix G18 G814JI | |
| PCMark 10 / Productivity | |
| Average Intel Core i9-14900HX, NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4090 Laptop GPU (9951 - 11759, n=8) | |
| Acer Predator Helios 18 N23Q2 | |
| MSI Titan 18 HX A14VIG | |
| Alienware m18 R1 | |
| MSI Titan GT77 HX 13VI | |
| Razer Blade 18 RTX 4070 | |
| Asus ROG Strix G18 G814JI | |
| PCMark 10 / Digital Content Creation | |
| MSI Titan 18 HX A14VIG | |
| MSI Titan GT77 HX 13VI | |
| Alienware m18 R1 | |
| Average Intel Core i9-14900HX, NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4090 Laptop GPU (13219 - 16462, n=8) | |
| Acer Predator Helios 18 N23Q2 | |
| Razer Blade 18 RTX 4070 | |
| Asus ROG Strix G18 G814JI | |
| CrossMark / Overall | |
| Acer Predator Helios 18 N23Q2 | |
| Alienware m18 R1 | |
| MSI Titan GT77 HX 13VI | |
| Razer Blade 18 RTX 4070 | |
| Average Intel Core i9-14900HX, NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4090 Laptop GPU (1877 - 2238, n=7) | |
| MSI Titan 18 HX A14VIG | |
| CrossMark / Productivity | |
| Acer Predator Helios 18 N23Q2 | |
| Alienware m18 R1 | |
| Average Intel Core i9-14900HX, NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4090 Laptop GPU (1738 - 2113, n=7) | |
| MSI Titan GT77 HX 13VI | |
| Razer Blade 18 RTX 4070 | |
| MSI Titan 18 HX A14VIG | |
| CrossMark / Creativity | |
| Alienware m18 R1 | |
| MSI Titan GT77 HX 13VI | |
| Acer Predator Helios 18 N23Q2 | |
| Razer Blade 18 RTX 4070 | |
| Average Intel Core i9-14900HX, NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4090 Laptop GPU (2195 - 2543, n=7) | |
| MSI Titan 18 HX A14VIG | |
| CrossMark / Responsiveness | |
| Acer Predator Helios 18 N23Q2 | |
| Alienware m18 R1 | |
| Razer Blade 18 RTX 4070 | |
| Average Intel Core i9-14900HX, NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4090 Laptop GPU (1478 - 2327, n=7) | |
| MSI Titan GT77 HX 13VI | |
| MSI Titan 18 HX A14VIG | |
| WebXPRT 3 / Overall | |
| Razer Blade 18 RTX 4070 | |
| Alienware m18 R1 | |
| Average Intel Core i9-14900HX, NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4090 Laptop GPU (322 - 339, n=7) | |
| MSI Titan 18 HX A14VIG | |
| MSI Titan GT77 HX 13VI | |
| Acer Predator Helios 18 N23Q2 | |
| Asus ROG Strix G18 G814JI | |
| Asus ROG Strix G18 G814JI | |
| WebXPRT 4 / Overall | |
| Alienware m18 R1 | |
| Razer Blade 18 RTX 4070 | |
| Average Intel Core i9-14900HX, NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4090 Laptop GPU (287 - 309, n=5) | |
| MSI Titan GT77 HX 13VI | |
| MSI Titan 18 HX A14VIG | |
| Asus ROG Strix G18 G814JI | |
| Asus ROG Strix G18 G814JI | |
| Mozilla Kraken 1.1 / Total | |
| Asus ROG Strix G18 G814JI | |
| Asus ROG Strix G18 G814JI | |
| MSI Titan GT77 HX 13VI | |
| Razer Blade 18 RTX 4070 | |
| Alienware m18 R1 | |
| Acer Predator Helios 18 N23Q2 | |
| MSI Titan 18 HX A14VIG | |
| Average Intel Core i9-14900HX, NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4090 Laptop GPU (430 - 467, n=8) | |
* ... smaller is better
| PCMark 10 Score | 8968 points | |
Help | ||
| AIDA64 / Memory Copy | |
| Alienware m18 R1 | |
| Acer Predator Helios 18 N23Q2 | |
| Average Intel Core i9-14900HX (56992 - 83392, n=21) | |
| Razer Blade 18 RTX 4070 | |
| Asus ROG Strix G18 G814JI | |
| MSI Titan GT77 HX 13VI | |
| MSI Titan 18 HX A14VIG | |
| AIDA64 / Memory Read | |
| Alienware m18 R1 | |
| Acer Predator Helios 18 N23Q2 | |
| Razer Blade 18 RTX 4070 | |
| Average Intel Core i9-14900HX (54443 - 87507, n=21) | |
| Asus ROG Strix G18 G814JI | |
| MSI Titan GT77 HX 13VI | |
| MSI Titan 18 HX A14VIG | |
| AIDA64 / Memory Write | |
| Alienware m18 R1 | |
| Razer Blade 18 RTX 4070 | |
| Acer Predator Helios 18 N23Q2 | |
| Average Intel Core i9-14900HX (51387 - 78199, n=21) | |
| MSI Titan GT77 HX 13VI | |
| Asus ROG Strix G18 G814JI | |
| MSI Titan 18 HX A14VIG | |
| AIDA64 / Memory Latency | |
| MSI Titan 18 HX A14VIG | |
| MSI Titan GT77 HX 13VI | |
| Razer Blade 18 RTX 4070 | |
| Average Intel Core i9-14900HX (79.7 - 105, n=21) | |
| Asus ROG Strix G18 G814JI | |
| Acer Predator Helios 18 N23Q2 | |
| Alienware m18 R1 | |
* ... smaller is better
DPC Latency
LatencyMon shows DPC issues when opening multiple browser tabs of our homepage. 4K video playback at 60 FPS on iGPU mode is otherwise perfect with no dropped frames recorded.
| DPC Latencies / LatencyMon - interrupt to process latency (max), Web, Youtube, Prime95 | |
| Acer Predator Helios 18 N23Q2 | |
| MSI Titan GT77 HX 13VI | |
| Alienware m18 R1 | |
| MSI Titan 18 HX A14VIG | |
| Razer Blade 18 RTX 4070 | |
| Asus ROG Strix G18 G814JI | |
* ... smaller is better
Storage Devices
Our unit comes with two Samsung MZVL22T0HDLB PM9A1a PCIe4 x4 NVMe SSDs in RAID 0 configuration for transfer rates approaching 13000 MB/s instead of the usual ~7000 MB/s for most single PCIe4 x4 SSDs. The drives would exhibit no throttling issues when stressed under DiskSpd for several minutes.
The Titan 18 HX can support a single PCIe5 M.2 SSD as well, but such drives continue to be limited in stock and so most configurations at the moment ship with PCIe4 x4 drives instead.
| Drive Performance Rating - Percent | |
| Alienware m18 R1 | |
| Acer Predator Helios 18 N23Q2 | |
| Razer Blade 18 RTX 4070 | |
| MSI Titan GT77 HX 13VI | |
| MSI Titan 18 HX A14VIG | |
| Asus ROG Strix G18 G814JI | |
* ... smaller is better
Disk Throttling: DiskSpd Read Loop, Queue Depth 8
GPU Performance — 175 W Graphics + 95 W Processor
The 175 W mobile GeForce RTX 4090 GPU in our Titan 18 HX would return nearly identical 3DMark scores to last year's GT77 equipped with the same GPU. In other words, don't expect the new MSI system to perform any faster than before despite the new fancy external design. It's nonetheless one of the fastest gaming laptops in the market with performance levels most similar to the desktop GeForce RTX 4070 Super.
Enabling or disabling Cooler Boost does not appear to significantly impact performance as shown by our Time Spy results table below even though there are significant fan noise differences between the two modes. Thus, Cooler Boost is only recommended if core temperatures are a concern or when overclocking. Running on Balanced mode instead of Extreme Performance mode, however, would reduce graphics performance by about 10 percent.
| Power Profile | Graphics Score | CPU Score | Total Score |
| Extreme Performance (Cooler Boost on) | 22256 | 17046 | 21280 |
| Extreme Performance (Cooler Boost off) | 22097 (-1%) | 16608 (-3%) | 21053 (-1%) |
| Balanced Mode | 20121 (-10%) | 16532 (-3%) | 19486 (-8%) |
| Battery Power | 6480 (-71%) | 6999 (-59%) | 6552 (-69%) |
| 3DMark Performance Rating - Percent | |
| AMD Ryzen 9 7900 -2! | |
| MSI Titan GT77 HX 13VI | |
| MSI Titan 18 HX A14VIG | |
| NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4070 Super Founders Edition | |
| Average NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4090 Laptop GPU | |
| Alienware m18 R1 AMD -1! | |
| Acer Predator Helios 18 N23Q2 -1! | |
| Asus ROG Strix Scar 17 SE G733CX-LL014W | |
| Alienware m17 R5 (R9 6900HX, RX 6850M XT) -1! | |
| Razer Blade 18 RTX 4070 | |
| MSI Raider GE68 HX 13VG, i7-13700HX -1! | |
| Asus ROG Strix G18 G814JI -1! | |
| Asus ROG Zephyrus M16 GU603Z -1! | |
| Dell G16 7620 -1! | |
| Lenovo ThinkPad Z16 Gen 2 -1! | |
| 3DMark 11 Performance | 46238 points | |
| 3DMark Fire Strike Score | 38959 points | |
| 3DMark Time Spy Score | 21280 points | |
Help | ||
* ... smaller is better
Gaming Performance
All current titles run smoothly on the mobile RTX 4090 even with most settings on maximum. However, the GPU begins to struggle a bit at 4K with F1 22 and Cyberpunk 2077 averaging only 44 FPS each. In these scenarios, it's recommended to enable DLSS especially since the display not does not support G-Sync. For example, running Cyberpunk 2077 at native 4K and Ultra RT settings would average just 21.6 FPS whereas enabling DLSS Auto and Frame Generation would boost the average to 89 FPS.
| Performance Rating - Percent | |
| Alienware m18 R1 | |
| MSI Titan GT77 HX 13VI | |
| MSI Titan 18 HX A14VIG | |
| Acer Predator Helios 18 N23Q2 | |
| Razer Blade 18 RTX 4070 | |
| Asus ROG Strix G18 G814JI | |
| The Witcher 3 - 1920x1080 Ultra Graphics & Postprocessing (HBAO+) | |
| Alienware m18 R1 | |
| MSI Titan 18 HX A14VIG | |
| MSI Titan GT77 HX 13VI | |
| Acer Predator Helios 18 N23Q2 | |
| Asus ROG Strix G18 G814JI | |
| Razer Blade 18 RTX 4070 | |
| GTA V - 1920x1080 Highest Settings possible AA:4xMSAA + FX AF:16x | |
| Acer Predator Helios 18 N23Q2 | |
| Alienware m18 R1 | |
| MSI Titan GT77 HX 13VI | |
| MSI Titan 18 HX A14VIG | |
| Razer Blade 18 RTX 4070 | |
| Asus ROG Strix G18 G814JI | |
| Final Fantasy XV Benchmark - 1920x1080 High Quality | |
| Alienware m18 R1 | |
| MSI Titan GT77 HX 13VI | |
| MSI Titan 18 HX A14VIG | |
| Acer Predator Helios 18 N23Q2 | |
| Asus ROG Strix G18 G814JI | |
| Razer Blade 18 RTX 4070 | |
| Strange Brigade - 1920x1080 ultra AA:ultra AF:16 | |
| MSI Titan 18 HX A14VIG | |
| MSI Titan GT77 HX 13VI | |
| Alienware m18 R1 | |
| Acer Predator Helios 18 N23Q2 | |
| Asus ROG Strix G18 G814JI | |
| Razer Blade 18 RTX 4070 | |
| Dota 2 Reborn - 1920x1080 ultra (3/3) best looking | |
| Alienware m18 R1 | |
| Acer Predator Helios 18 N23Q2 | |
| MSI Titan GT77 HX 13VI | |
| Razer Blade 18 RTX 4070 | |
| MSI Titan 18 HX A14VIG | |
| Asus ROG Strix G18 G814JI | |
| X-Plane 11.11 - 1920x1080 high (fps_test=3) | |
| Alienware m18 R1 | |
| Acer Predator Helios 18 N23Q2 | |
| Razer Blade 18 RTX 4070 | |
| MSI Titan GT77 HX 13VI | |
| MSI Titan GT77 HX 13VI | |
| MSI Titan 18 HX A14VIG | |
| Asus ROG Strix G18 G814JI | |
| The Witcher 3 | |
| 1920x1080 Ultra Graphics & Postprocessing (HBAO+) | |
| AMD Ryzen 9 7900 | |
| MSI Titan 18 HX A14VIG | |
| MSI Titan GT77 HX 13VI | |
| Average NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4090 Laptop GPU (139.2 - 216, n=32) | |
| NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4070 Super Founders Edition | |
| Acer Predator Helios 18 N23Q2 | |
| Alienware m18 R1 AMD | |
| Alienware m17 R5 (R9 6900HX, RX 6850M XT) | |
| MSI Raider GE68 HX 13VG, i7-13700HX | |
| Asus ROG Strix G18 G814JI | |
| Asus ROG Strix Scar 17 SE G733CX-LL014W | |
| Razer Blade 18 RTX 4070 | |
| Asus ROG Zephyrus M16 GU603Z | |
| Dell G16 7620 | |
| Lenovo ThinkPad Z16 Gen 2 | |
| 3840x2160 High Graphics & Postprocessing (Nvidia HairWorks Off) | |
| AMD Ryzen 9 7900 | |
| MSI Titan 18 HX A14VIG | |
| MSI Titan GT77 HX 13VI | |
| Average NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4090 Laptop GPU (96.3 - 167.6, n=18) | |
| NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4070 Super Founders Edition | |
| Alienware m18 R1 AMD | |
| Razer Blade 18 RTX 4070 | |
| Alienware m17 R5 (R9 6900HX, RX 6850M XT) | |
| Tiny Tina's Wonderlands | |
| 1920x1080 Badass Preset (DX12) | |
| MSI Titan GT77 HX 13VI | |
| MSI Titan 18 HX A14VIG | |
| Average NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4090 Laptop GPU (141.1 - 189.4, n=14) | |
| Alienware m18 R1 AMD | |
| Lenovo ThinkPad Z16 Gen 2 | |
| 2560x1440 Badass Preset (DX12) | |
| MSI Titan GT77 HX 13VI | |
| MSI Titan 18 HX A14VIG | |
| Average NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4090 Laptop GPU (103.4 - 137.8, n=14) | |
| Alienware m18 R1 AMD | |
| Lenovo ThinkPad Z16 Gen 2 | |
| 3840x2160 Badass Preset (DX12) | |
| MSI Titan 18 HX A14VIG | |
| MSI Titan GT77 HX 13VI | |
| Average NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4090 Laptop GPU (53.3 - 73.7, n=12) | |
| Alienware m18 R1 AMD | |
| Cyberpunk 2077 2.0 Phantom Liberty | |
| 1920x1080 Ultra Preset (FSR off) | |
| NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4070 Super Founders Edition | |
| MSI Titan 18 HX A14VIG | |
| Alienware m18 R1 AMD | |
| Acer Predator Helios 18 N23Q2 | |
| Average NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4090 Laptop GPU (95.4 - 144.7, n=13) | |
| Lenovo ThinkPad Z16 Gen 2 | |
| 2560x1440 Ultra Preset (FSR off) | |
| MSI Titan 18 HX A14VIG | |
| Average NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4090 Laptop GPU (83.4 - 103.9, n=13) | |
| Alienware m18 R1 AMD | |
| NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4070 Super Founders Edition | |
| Acer Predator Helios 18 N23Q2 | |
| Lenovo ThinkPad Z16 Gen 2 | |
| 3840x2160 Ultra Preset (FSR off) | |
| MSI Titan 18 HX A14VIG | |
| Average NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4090 Laptop GPU (37.4 - 50.6, n=7) | |
| NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4070 Super Founders Edition | |
| Alienware m18 R1 AMD | |
| 3840x2160 Ray Tracing Ultra Preset (DLSS off, no Path Tracing) | |
| Average NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4090 Laptop GPU (21.5 - 22.3, n=2) | |
| NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4070 Super Founders Edition | |
| F1 22 | |
| 1920x1080 Ultra High Preset AA:T AF:16x | |
| AMD Ryzen 9 7900 | |
| MSI Titan GT77 HX 13VI | |
| MSI Titan 18 HX A14VIG | |
| NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4070 Super Founders Edition | |
| Average NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4090 Laptop GPU (70.3 - 144.7, n=25) | |
| Alienware m18 R1 AMD | |
| MSI Raider GE68 HX 13VG, i7-13700HX | |
| Asus ROG Strix Scar 17 SE G733CX-LL014W | |
| Lenovo ThinkPad Z16 Gen 2 | |
| 2560x1440 Ultra High Preset AA:T AF:16x | |
| AMD Ryzen 9 7900 | |
| MSI Titan 18 HX A14VIG | |
| MSI Titan GT77 HX 13VI | |
| Average NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4090 Laptop GPU (65.9 - 92.2, n=25) | |
| NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4070 Super Founders Edition | |
| Alienware m18 R1 AMD | |
| Asus ROG Strix Scar 17 SE G733CX-LL014W | |
| MSI Raider GE68 HX 13VG, i7-13700HX | |
| Lenovo ThinkPad Z16 Gen 2 | |
| 3840x2160 Ultra High Preset AA:T AF:16x | |
| AMD Ryzen 9 7900 | |
| MSI Titan GT77 HX 13VI | |
| MSI Titan 18 HX A14VIG | |
| Average NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4090 Laptop GPU (36.8 - 46.1, n=18) | |
| NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4070 Super Founders Edition | |
| Alienware m18 R1 AMD | |
| MSI Raider GE68 HX 13VG, i7-13700HX | |
Witcher 3 FPS Chart
| low | med. | high | ultra | QHD | 4K | |
| GTA V (2015) | 139.2 | |||||
| The Witcher 3 (2015) | 595.3 | 506.6 | 412.2 | 211.2 | 160.7 | |
| Dota 2 Reborn (2015) | 218 | 196.3 | 186.5 | 174.5 | 168.3 | |
| Final Fantasy XV Benchmark (2018) | 229 | 216 | 184 | 158 | 93.6 | |
| X-Plane 11.11 (2018) | 184.9 | 161.8 | 126.1 | 106.5 | ||
| Far Cry 5 (2018) | 191 | 164 | 158 | 155 | 152 | 112 |
| Strange Brigade (2018) | 511 | 423 | 406 | 385 | 307 | 156.1 |
| Tiny Tina's Wonderlands (2022) | 324.7 | 279.8 | 223.7 | 182 | 130.8 | 71 |
| F1 22 (2022) | 307 | 297 | 280 | 132.7 | 90.5 | 44.6 |
| Baldur's Gate 3 (2023) | 246.7 | 226.9 | 208.6 | 207.7 | 155.2 | 80.8 |
| Cyberpunk 2077 2.0 Phantom Liberty (2023) | 155.7 | 145.4 | 135.9 | 129.8 | 94.5 | 43.9 |
| Avatar Frontiers of Pandora (2023) | 103 | 69 | 35 |
Emissions
System Noise
Fan noise and behavior are directly tied to the MSI Center power profiles: Extreme Performance with Cooler Boost on, Extreme Performance with Cooler Boost off, Balanced, and Silent. Gaming with Cooler Boost on can be as loud as 63 dB(A) vs. 57.3 dB(A) if Cooler Boost is off. However, since the performance differences between the two modes are very minor as noted above, it's recommended to game with Cooler Boost off to avoid the laptop sounding like a hair dryer.
Fan noise when gaming on Balanced mode tops out at 53 dB(A) to be noticeably quieter than either of the two Extreme Performance modes. However, be aware that the performance deficit is larger if running on Balanced mode as mentioned above. Be prepared for a very loud system regardless when gaming.
Noise Level
| Idle |
| 23.8 / 23.8 / 28 dB(A) |
| Load |
| 38 / 62.8 dB(A) |
 | ||
30 dB silent 40 dB(A) audible 50 dB(A) loud |
||
min:  , med:  , max:  Earthworks M23R, Arta (15 cm distance) environment noise: 22.8 dB(A) | ||
| MSI Titan 18 HX A14VIG NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4090 Laptop GPU, i9-14900HX, 2x Samsung PM9A1a MZVL22T0HDLB (RAID 0) | MSI Titan GT77 HX 13VI NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4090 Laptop GPU, i9-13950HX, Samsung PM9A1 MZVL22T0HBLB | Alienware m18 R1 NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4090 Laptop GPU, i9-13980HX, SK hynix PC801 HFS001TEJ9X101N | Asus ROG Strix G18 G814JI NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4070 Laptop GPU, i7-13650HX, Micron 2400 MTFDKBA1T0QFM | Acer Predator Helios 18 N23Q2 NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4080 Laptop GPU, i9-13900HX, Samsung PM9A1 MZVL22T0HBLB | Razer Blade 18 RTX 4070 NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4070 Laptop GPU, i9-13950HX, SSSTC CA6-8D1024 | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Noise | -12% | 7% | 0% | 1% | 5% | |
| off / environment * | 22.8 | 24.6 -8% | 22.8 -0% | 25 -10% | 23 -1% | 23.5 -3% |
| Idle Minimum * | 23.8 | 29.2 -23% | 23 3% | 26 -9% | 23 3% | 23.8 -0% |
| Idle Average * | 23.8 | 29.2 -23% | 23 3% | 28 -18% | 23 3% | 23.8 -0% |
| Idle Maximum * | 28 | 29.2 -4% | 23 18% | 29 -4% | 23 18% | 26.8 4% |
| Load Average * | 38 | 50.7 -33% | 35.6 6% | 41 -8% | 45.26 -19% | 37.3 2% |
| Witcher 3 ultra * | 57.3 | 53.3 7% | 51.3 10% | 44 23% | 59.82 -4% | 48 16% |
| Load Maximum * | 62.8 | 61 3% | 56.7 10% | 46 27% | 59.94 5% | 53.5 15% |
* ... smaller is better
Temperature
Surprisingly, surface temperatures here are slightly warmer than what we recorded on the unibody Razer Blade 18 despite the thicker design of the MSI. Hot spots would reach just over 41 C and 37 C with Cooler Boost active and inactive, respectively, compared to 35 C to 40 C on the Razer. The hot spots are thankfully towards the rear of the system where hands and fingers are unlikely to touch. We never found the palm rests or keys to be uncomfortably warm when gaming.
(+) The maximum temperature on the upper side is 37.8 °C / 100 F, compared to the average of 40.4 °C / 105 F, ranging from 21.2 to 68.8 °C for the class Gaming.
(+) The bottom heats up to a maximum of 37.6 °C / 100 F, compared to the average of 43.2 °C / 110 F
(+) In idle usage, the average temperature for the upper side is 29.8 °C / 86 F, compared to the device average of 33.8 °C / 93 F.
(±) Playing The Witcher 3, the average temperature for the upper side is 32.3 °C / 90 F, compared to the device average of 33.8 °C / 93 F.
(+) The palmrests and touchpad are cooler than skin temperature with a maximum of 25.6 °C / 78.1 F and are therefore cool to the touch.
(+) The average temperature of the palmrest area of similar devices was 28.9 °C / 84 F (+3.3 °C / 5.9 F).
| MSI Titan 18 HX A14VIG Intel Core i9-14900HX, NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4090 Laptop GPU | MSI Titan GT77 HX 13VI Intel Core i9-13950HX, NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4090 Laptop GPU | Alienware m18 R1 Intel Core i9-13980HX, NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4090 Laptop GPU | Asus ROG Strix G18 G814JI Intel Core i7-13650HX, NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4070 Laptop GPU | Acer Predator Helios 18 N23Q2 Intel Core i9-13900HX, NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4080 Laptop GPU | Razer Blade 18 RTX 4070 Intel Core i9-13950HX, NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4070 Laptop GPU | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Heat | 6% | 10% | -3% | -12% | 5% | |
| Maximum Upper Side * | 37.8 | 40.6 -7% | 39 -3% | 45 -19% | 35 7% | 39.2 -4% |
| Maximum Bottom * | 37.6 | 41.1 -9% | 36.4 3% | 47 -25% | 56 -49% | 35.6 5% |
| Idle Upper Side * | 34.8 | 26.2 25% | 29.2 16% | 28 20% | 34 2% | 31.8 9% |
| Idle Bottom * | 36 | 30.3 16% | 27.8 23% | 31 14% | 39 -8% | 33.2 8% |
* ... smaller is better
Stress Test
CPU temperature under load can become warmer than expected even if Cooler Boost is enabled. Running Witcher 3 to represent typical gaming loads, for example, would cause the CPU stabilize at 97 C and 90 C with Cooler Boost off and on, respectively. Meanwhile, the GPU would stabilize at the more reasonable 60 C range. Repeating this test on the Razer Blade 18 or Alienware m18 R1 would result in similar GPU temperatures but cooler CPU temperatures in the low 80 C range instead.
Note that there are no major performance differences between Cooler Boost on and Cooler Boost off similar to what we observed in our GPU Performance section above. Both GPU clock rates and board power draw when running Witcher 3 would remain relatively constant at 2370 MHz and 169 W, respectively.
| CPU Clock (GHz) | GPU Clock (MHz) | Average CPU Temperature (°C) | Average GPU Temperature (°C) | |
| System Idle | -- | -- | 52 | 41 |
| Prime95 Stress | ~3.8 | -- | 94 | 46 |
| Prime95 + FurMark Stress | ~2.6 - ~4.3 | 1300 - 2400 | 73 - 95 | 55 - 65 |
| Witcher 3 Stress (Balanced mode) | ~1.4 | 2130 | 85 | 68 |
| Witcher 3 Stress (Extreme Performance Cooler Boost off) | ~1.8 | 2370 | 97 | 68 |
| Witcher 3 Stress (Extreme Performance Cooler Boost on) | ~1.8 | 2325 | 90 | 64 |
Speakers
MSI Titan 18 HX A14VIG audio analysis
(+) | speakers can play relatively loud (89.2 dB)
Bass 100 - 315 Hz
(-) | nearly no bass - on average 17.6% lower than median
(±) | linearity of bass is average (8% delta to prev. frequency)
Mids 400 - 2000 Hz
(+) | balanced mids - only 1.8% away from median
(+) | mids are linear (3.7% delta to prev. frequency)
Highs 2 - 16 kHz
(+) | balanced highs - only 1.2% away from median
(+) | highs are linear (2% delta to prev. frequency)
Overall 100 - 16.000 Hz
(+) | overall sound is linear (9.9% difference to median)
Compared to same class
» 4% of all tested devices in this class were better, 2% similar, 94% worse
» The best had a delta of 6%, average was 18%, worst was 132%
Compared to all devices tested
» 3% of all tested devices were better, 1% similar, 96% worse
» The best had a delta of 4%, average was 25%, worst was 134%
Apple MacBook Pro 16 2021 M1 Pro audio analysis
(+) | speakers can play relatively loud (84.7 dB)
Bass 100 - 315 Hz
(+) | good bass - only 3.8% away from median
(+) | bass is linear (5.2% delta to prev. frequency)
Mids 400 - 2000 Hz
(+) | balanced mids - only 1.3% away from median
(+) | mids are linear (2.1% delta to prev. frequency)
Highs 2 - 16 kHz
(+) | balanced highs - only 1.9% away from median
(+) | highs are linear (2.7% delta to prev. frequency)
Overall 100 - 16.000 Hz
(+) | overall sound is linear (4.6% difference to median)
Compared to same class
» 0% of all tested devices in this class were better, 0% similar, 100% worse
» The best had a delta of 5%, average was 18%, worst was 45%
Compared to all devices tested
» 0% of all tested devices were better, 0% similar, 100% worse
» The best had a delta of 4%, average was 25%, worst was 134%
Energy Management
Power Consumption
Overall power consumption is generally higher than other 18-inch gaming laptops due to the demanding 95 W CPU, 175 W GPU, and ultrabright 4K 120 Hz mini-LED display. Simply idling on desktop would draw between 13 W and 54 W depending on the brightness setting and dGPU/iGPU setting which is a much wider range than on the Asus ROG Strix G18 or Acer Predator Helios 18 each with standard IPS panels.
If gaming, the MSI system continues to be one of the most demanding laptops. Running Witcher 3 would draw almost 340 W compared to just 265 W and 311 W from last year's GT77 or Alienware m18 R1, respectively, all with the same RTX 4090 GPU.
New to MSI laptops this year is the redesigned AC adapter which is now both slimmer and more powerful than before. Past AC adapters were quite large especially the 330 W version that would ship with powerful laptops like the Raider GE78. The Titan 16 HX utilizes a 400 W AC adapter (~18.8 x 8.8 x 3.2 cm) that's about 35 percent smaller for higher power-per-volume. The higher capacity adapter allows for more consistent performance and charging rates when running demanding loads. In comparison, most other high-performance gaming laptops continue to ship with only 330 W or smaller AC adapters.
| Off / Standby | 0.014 / 2.8 Watt |
| Idle | 13.2 / 25.4 / 53.5 Watt |
| Load |
151.4 / 395.2 Watt |
   
| |
| MSI Titan 18 HX A14VIG i9-14900HX, NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4090 Laptop GPU, 2x Samsung PM9A1a MZVL22T0HDLB (RAID 0), Mini-LED, 3840x2400, 18.00 | MSI Titan GT77 HX 13VI i9-13950HX, NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4090 Laptop GPU, Samsung PM9A1 MZVL22T0HBLB, Mini-LED, 3840x2160, 17.30 | Alienware m18 R1 i9-13980HX, NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4090 Laptop GPU, SK hynix PC801 HFS001TEJ9X101N, IPS, 1920x1200, 18.00 | Asus ROG Strix G18 G814JI i7-13650HX, NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4070 Laptop GPU, Micron 2400 MTFDKBA1T0QFM, IPS, 2560x1600, 18.00 | Acer Predator Helios 18 N23Q2 i9-13900HX, NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4080 Laptop GPU, Samsung PM9A1 MZVL22T0HBLB, IPS, 2560x1600, 18.00 | Razer Blade 18 RTX 4070 i9-13950HX, NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4070 Laptop GPU, SSSTC CA6-8D1024, IPS, 2560x1600, 18.00 | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Power Consumption | 16% | -9% | 41% | 19% | -5% | |
| Idle Minimum * | 13.2 | 14 -6% | 21.6 -64% | 8 39% | 16 -21% | 24.5 -86% |
| Idle Average * | 25.4 | 21.6 15% | 25.2 1% | 15 41% | 19 25% | 34.1 -34% |
| Idle Maximum * | 53.5 | 24.8 54% | 56.7 -6% | 26 51% | 21.3 60% | 47.7 11% |
| Load Average * | 151.4 | 122.5 19% | 164.1 -8% | 102 33% | 124 18% | 140 8% |
| Witcher 3 ultra * | 336 | 265 21% | 311 7% | 178.6 47% | 289 14% | 202 40% |
| Load Maximum * | 395.2 | 418 -6% | 338.9 14% | 267 32% | 319 19% | 261 34% |
* ... smaller is better
Power Consumption Witcher 3 / Stresstest
Power Consumption external Monitor
Battery Life
We're able to record just over 4 hours of real-world browsing use when set to Balanced mode with the dGPU inactive. It's not very long, but that is to be expected form an 18-inch powerhouse with a 120 Hz mini-LED display. Even idling on MSI's Battery Saver mode at the lowest brightness setting for a best scenario would last just under 6 hours. Results from the Alienware m18 R1 or Razer Blade 18 are similar.
Charging from empty to full capacity with the included AC adapter takes about 2 to 2.5 hours. The system can also be recharged with third-party USB-C adapters albeit much more slowly. Keep in mind that only one of the two USB-C ports supports USB-C Power Delivery.
| MSI Titan 18 HX A14VIG i9-14900HX, NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4090 Laptop GPU, 99.9 Wh | MSI Titan GT77 HX 13VI i9-13950HX, NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4090 Laptop GPU, 99.9 Wh | Alienware m18 R1 i9-13980HX, NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4090 Laptop GPU, 97 Wh | Asus ROG Strix G18 G814JI i7-13650HX, NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4070 Laptop GPU, 90 Wh | Acer Predator Helios 18 N23Q2 i9-13900HX, NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4080 Laptop GPU, 90 Wh | Razer Blade 18 RTX 4070 i9-13950HX, NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4070 Laptop GPU, 91.7 Wh | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Battery Runtime | 23% | -14% | 63% | 24% | 8% | |
| Reader / Idle | 353 | 334 -5% | 702 99% | 420 19% | ||
| WiFi v1.3 | 252 | 319 27% | 260 3% | 484 92% | 264 5% | 240 -5% |
| Load | 72 | 86 19% | 44 -39% | 71 -1% | 103 43% | 80 11% |
| H.264 | 358 | 290 |
Pros
Cons
Verdict — New External Design, Same Internal Performance
With no new Nvidia GPU this year for laptops, MSI had to refresh everything surrounding the graphics card to make up for it. Users are getting a new 18-inch chassis design, new 14th gen Intel HX CPU, new AC adapter, larger keys, and a new 120 Hz HDR1000 mini-LED 4K display to accompany the high price tag. Most of these changes are a step up from last year's GT77, but users are ultimately getting the same gaming performance out of both models.
Highlights of the Titan 18 include its mini-LED display and Core i9-14900HX CPU. The former is indubitably impressive and one of the best ways to watch HDR content on any laptop, but the lack of G-Sync support is hard to ignore especially on a flagship gaming model. Meanwhile, the new CPU performs almost identically to the 13th gen Core i9-13950HX as found on the GT77 which makes it feel like nothing more than a rebrand. The Titan 18 can therefore be considered a large leap forward against the GT77 due to all the external changes, but the Intel and Nvidia internals feel stagnant in comparison.
The MSI Titan 18 HX is one of the fastest gaming laptops of the year with an equally impressive 4K mini-LED display. However, it performs almost identically to last year's GT77.
If you're drawn to the large and ultra-bright 18-inch mini-LED display, then the Titan 18 HX is one of the only places where you can find one at the time of writing. If not, then alternatives like the Alienware m18 R1, Asus ROG Strix G18, or Razer Blade 18 all offer G-Sync, faster refresh rates, and the same GeForce RTX 4090 option in thinner and oftentimes lighter chassis designs.
Price and Availability
The Titan 18 HX as reviewed is now shipping on Amazon for $5800. MSI is also offering the model directly through its official website at lower starting prices.
MSI Titan 18 HX A14VIG
-
01/30/2024 v7
Allen Ngo
Transparency
The present review sample was made available to the author as a loan by the manufacturer or a shop for the purposes of review. The lender had no influence on this review, nor did the manufacturer receive a copy of this review before publication. There was no obligation to publish this review.
Pricecompare
