Review DevilTech Fragbook DTX (MS-1763) Notebook

Big, bigger, Fragbook DTX. DevilTech uses the same gigantic chassis as the MSI GT70H that we tested some months ago. With a height of approximately 6 centimeters (~2.3 inches) and a weight of approximately 3.6 kilograms (~7.9 pounds), this is one of the largest gaming notebooks in existence.

There are some minor optical differences, though. Instead of a brushed aluminum lid, the Fragbook DTX uses a surface layer with a brushed-metal look, but made of plastic. While this is rather fingerprint-proof, it does not yield the same premium look as for the MSI laptop. The matte display frame (the old MS-1762 barebones had a display frame with a black piano finish) works well in combination with the non-reflective display.

We are less happy about the upper side of the base unit. While the cool, brushed aluminum palm rest is a welcome addition, the area surrounding the keyboard is again made from plastic - highly reflective plastic with a black piano finish, which is extremely prone to accumulating fingerprints, dirt and dust.

Another disadvantage: The extremely bulky chassis. With a height of 6.1 cm, a width of 43.4 (~2.4” h, 17” w) and a weight of 3.65 kilograms (eight pounds including the battery), the Fragbook is no truly mobile device, but a colossus among gaming laptops. Even the gigantic power adapter (180 Watts) weighs another 858 grams (~1.9 pounds). Thus, like the MSI GT70, the Fragbook is better suited as a desktop replacement than as a mobile companion.

Still, the sturdy construction has its advantages: The chassis is very torsion- and pressure-resistant, even though it can barely be lifted by just one hand. The area beneath the keyboard is the only one where the base unit began to sag a bit when enough pressure was applied.

On the lower side, a surprisingly large maintenance hatch can be found which can easily be opened. Here, hardware components such as the hard drive disk or the RAM module can be accessed.

The Fragbook DTX sports the same Full HD Chi Mei N173HGE-L11 display as its 17-inch brethren, the MSI GT70 and the GE70. It sports a high peak brightness, a high contrast ratio and a resolution of 1920x1080 pixels.

Up to 342 cd/m² are reached in the lower center of the screen. The average brightness comes close to 300 cd/m² - a very decent value, which is approximately on par with that of Clevo's P170SM and P177SM barebones.

Its brightness homogeneity value of 79% is more of a problem. The right hand center is darkest, with just 271 cd/m². Luckily, thanks to the high overall brightness, these differences are not very noticeable. Plus, its black levels of around 0.31 cd/m² are extremely good, leading to vivid blacks.

Thanks to its high brightness, the Fragbook can be used outdoors as well. Both during actual work in the Windows UI as well as during gaming, all screen contents remain visible.

Its viewing angle stability is above average (comparing it to other TN displays). Colors do wash out when looked at from the sides, but this is typical for a TN panel. They are distorted when vertical deviations come into play.

The Fragbook DTX comes with a potent CPU, more than fast enough for all recent computer games. The Intel Core i7-4700MQ is approximately 5-10% faster than its direct predecessor, the Core i7-3630QM.

During the Cinebench R11.5 benchmark, the Core i7-4700MQ manages to retain a clock speed of at least 3.2 GHz, probably thanks to the bulky case with its large cooling system. Because of this, the Fragbook DTX beats other laptops with the same CPU, e.g. the smaller MSI GE70-i765M287 is slower by approximately 5%.

Quite remarkable: Even while running on battery, the laptop does not experience any throttling issues, yielding the same Cinebench R11.5 results as while connected to a power outlet. The battery might not last long under these conditions, but while it does, it offers the full gaming experience.

The Samsung 840 is the perfect bang for the buck when it comes to SSDs. Its great data transfer speeds (especially while reading data, the writing speeds are "just" average for an SSD) are crucial in reducing loading times. Those in need of higher read and write speeds might want to upgrade to a Samsung 840 Pro or a Crucial M500. A mechanical hard drive can also be added as a data storage device. A 1000 GB HDD costs approximately $100 (the exact price depends on its speed).

Our test device comes with a high-end Nvidia GeForce GTX 770M GPU based on the GK106 chip with Kepler architecture. It is manufactured by TSMC using a 28nm process. When the GTX 770M is compared to its predecessor, the clock speed is found to have been increased. Thanks to Nvidia's GPU boost, the graphics card can be overclocked to up to 862 GHz (according to GPU-Z) when this becomes necessary.

During lighter loads, the integrated HD Graphics 4600 GPU takes its place. It is even powerful enough to drive older games and more recent titles with low enough resolutions, reaching a decent value of 1181 points in 3DMark 11. Of course, the system switches back to the dedicated GPU once more demanding applications are run.

The actual gaming graphics card, the GeForce GTX 770M, yields a good 3DMark 11 result of 5187 points. While the competition may be a little bit faster (5389 points for the One K73-3N), this is well within the tolerance range. The GPU is capable of profiting from the same great cooling system and the same bulky chassis as the CPU: Even after several hours of stress tests, a core clock speed of around 800 MHz is retained, while the temperature barely exceeds 90 degrees Celsius (194 degrees Fahrenheit).

Despite its potent hardware, the DevilTech Fragbook DTX remains astonishingly quiet while idle. Thanks to its silent SSD and the smoothly running fan, it barely exceeds 30 dB(A). During DVD playback, decent 35 dB(A) are reached. Only when challenging 3D applications are run, does the Fragbook DTX show its full power, getting up to 47 dB(A) loud (just 35 dB(A) during 3DMark 06).

Once the Cooler Booster function is activated, more than 50 dB(A) can be reached. However, this is usually unnecessary since the internal temperatures never get exceedingly hot, even during gaming sessions or during our stress tests.

After we have had disappointing experiences with MSI barebones (DevilTech Fire DT14 and MSI GE70), we are pleased about our findings here.

The metal-made palm rest always stays comfortably cool, even under full load (31 degrees Celsius/87.8 Fahrenheit). Even the rest of the chassis fares well. During our stress tests, up to 49 degrees (120.2 Fahrenheit) were reached in the upper left corner, but during real-life gaming, even this area stays much cooler. There is no place warmer than 30 degrees (86 Fahrenheit) while the laptop is idle.

All of this is quite an astonishing feat given that the GPU and CPU got rather hot (96 degrees and 90 degrees (204.8 and 194 Fahrenheit) respectively during the stress tests).

Usually, such a bulky chassis should serve as more than enough resonance space, but unfortunately, the sound quality of the DevilTech Fragbook leaves quite a bit to be desired. While its audio quality is decent, offering sufficient bass as well, more potential would have been there.

It should be enough for games or some background music, but those fond of a great audio experience might want to invest in an external sound system. Thanks to its four audio jacks, the Fragbook DTX is perfectly capable of being hooked up to a full 7.1 surround system.

These moderate power consumption levels do of course help to increase the laptop's battery life. Thanks to its large 87 Wh battery, the Fragbook DTX offers a running time of 9.5 hours while idle.

These numbers dwindle, depending on the usage scenario. Still, 6.5 hours while browsing the web (medium display brightness) is very decent, as is 4 hours of DVD playback (maximum display brightness).

It is only the 3D applications that truly push the system to its limits, reducing the battery runtime down to around 1 hour - which is even less than what the MSI GT70 offers with its GeForce GTX 780M.

Gamers are in need of impeccable, stutter-free performance. Indeed, this is the strong suit of the DevilTech Fragbook DTX, a well-balanced gaming laptop with a bright high-contrast display. While a nominally inferior panel has been used (also with a small bluish tint), the image quality of the Fragbook DTX actually manages to come very close to its IPS-based competitors.

Even these minor shortcomings are quickly forgotten thanks to the potent hardware. Both the Intel Core i7-4700MQ and the dedicated GeForce GTX 770M are not only well balanced, but also powerful enough to be able to render any current 3D game. Besides, more expensive configuration options in the DevilTech shop yield even better performance levels. It might just take some time to get used to the unorthodox keyboard layout.

Luckily, not only the hardware is top-notch. The same holds true for the case temperatures, the near-perfect power consumption rate while idle and the battery life of the laptop. If it were not so enormously heavy, the Fragbook DTX might have been the perfect gaming companion.

Those who are in need of a powerful desktop replacement system should definitely have a closer look at the Fragbook DTX.