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MagyarReview MSI GS70-65M21621 Notebook
For the original German review, see here.
The thin gaming notebook MSI GS70 Stealth was already an eye-catcher back at Gamescom 2013 where we could see and try it at the booth of Caseking. Our review unit is from the online shop Notebooksbilliger. You will like the MSI GS70 Stealth if gaming notebooks are usually too big and heavy for you. It is based on Intel's latest Haswell architecture and is equipped with an Nvidia GPU and a fast mSATA-RAID system.
Contrary to the MSI GE70, there is only one configuration of the GS70 Stealth at the time of this review. MSI combines an Intel Core i7-4700HQ processor with a high-end GeForce GTX 765M GPU. It is a common combination that can be found in many gaming notebooks. The highlight however is certainly the two 128 GB mSATA SSDs with incredibly high performance in a RAID-0 system. This hardware equipment is accompanied by a matte Full HD display, a backlit chiclet keyboard and an extensive port variety for a price of around 1,700 Euros (~$2296).
Case
A matte case? We did not really expect that from MSI but the result is actually convincing. Even though the GS70 Stealth is a high-end gaming notebook, the new barebones does not have any similarities with its thicker siblings. The display cover is now simpler and more distinguished with its black color and a brushed aluminum look. The familiar MSI branding is accompanied by a red Gaming-Series branding with a dragon.
The display frame of the GS70 is matte black and does not reflect any light even under direct sunlight. The surface of the base unit is also matte black and fits perfectly into the new design. One criticism of the predecessors was always the susceptibility to fingerprints, which is not the case with the GS70. Contrary to the GT70, not only the palm rest but also the keyboard bezel is made of aluminum. Only the bottom cover, which is also the maintenance cover at the same time, is made of plastic. We got a retail unit so we could not open the device (warranty sticker).
Unfortunately, the GS70 only has two memory slots instead of four because of the limited space. The gaming notebook is already well equipped with 16 GB ex-works, which is also the maximum amount of memory. The fans of the GS70 Stealth are in the upper corners and dissipate the heat from the GPU and CPU separately to the outside.
You can easily close the cover thanks to some rubberized elements at the display. The large display hinge, which is fixed by pins on both sides, is very stiff and keeps the display well in position. You do not have to hold the base unit down when you open the display. The quality of the new case is very good, but the stability is limited by the slim profile and cannot quite keep up with other gaming notebooks.
Connectivity
The MSI GS70 Stealth is the right choice if you are looking for many ports. Four USB 3.0 ports, two mini DisplayPorts, HDMI, 5.1 audio, card reader and a Gbit Ethernet port are an excellent port selection. Unfortunately, the two USB 3.0 ports on the right side are very far toward the front, so there might be some problems with attached peripherals. A few centimeters behind them is the power connector. Similar to ultrabooks there is no DVD or Blu-ray drive. This is not because of the thin profile but rather the hardware and the cooling solution occupy a lot of space. There are no ports at the front or at the back.
Communication
MSI integrated a Qualcomm Killer 1202 Wireless-LAN network card for wireless networks. The performance of the WLAN module is average and we cannot see any advantages compared to other modules. 2-3 bars at a distance of 8-10 meters (~26-33 feet) from the router are a normal result for the GS70 and we determined download rates between 500-700 KB/s with a 32 Mbit/s connection. There is no signal with a distance of 15-20 meters (~49-66 feet); other modules (for example Atheros AR5BWB222) are better in this regard.
Gaming enthusiasts will be happy about the additional Qualcomm Killer 2200 Gigabit Ethernet card. You can optimize the latency and download speed with the preinstalled software. You can, for instance, assign priorities for certain applications. This should stabilize or optimize latency and the response time. Video calls are handled by the integrated HD webcam that records videos with 30 fps at 720p according to MSI.
Accessories
The time of extensive accessories and goodies is unfortunately gone, so we were really surprised when we found a nice notebook bag in the box of the GS70 Stealth. It is very thin and made of fabric, which is not very high-end but functional. Similar to the display cover we found a Gaming-Series branding on the bag. The bag itself is gray on the outside and black on the inside. Besides this bag, there is only a user guide, a driver DVD and a quick start guide with first steps.
Software
Music and video enthusiasts get a very extensive software package from Magix preinstalled on the GS70. You can edit videos and add effects with Magix Video SE and manage your music collection or create your own songs with Music Maker Silver. Besides the Magix software there is also a 30-day trial of Microsoft Office 365. You will have to buy the software if you want to use it after that period.
Warranty
Similar to other MSI notebooks the warranty period is 24 months, which can be extended to 36 months for 139 Euros (~$188).
Input Devices
Keyboard
Many gamers do not only know SteelSeries as a manufacturer of high-quality gaming peripherals but also from current MSI notebooks. The GS70 Stealth is also equipped with a SteelSeries keyboard, and is branded so below the Ctrl key. Chiclet keyboards from MSI are notorious for their unusual layout.
We had a problem with the GE70 that we did not always hit the right key and the whole typing experience was not very precise. The Windows button is not on the left but on the right side of the Space bar. Another aspect concerns fans of racing games because the arrow keys are very close to each other and they are not really separated between the standard keyboard and the numeric keypad. However, the convenient background illumination helps separate them from the rest of the keys. We also want to praise the low noise development and the soft stroke. Key travel is rather limited so long typing sessions should not be a problem.
The surface of the keys is made of plastic and is not rubberized but they still have some grip and slipping is no problem. We really like the three-zone illumination that gives the GS70 a kind of disco look. You can choose if you want to split the LED illumination or use one or all three zones, your imagination is the limit. The standard color gradient starts with red over yellow and green up to a blue numeric keypad. It is very convenient that you can choose different modes in the preinstalled software.
Touchpad
The touchpad of the GS70 Stealth is very similar to the GE70 but cannot quite keep up with the i547W7H. Despite a slightly textured surface, the mouse replacement is very smooth and can become very sticky on warm summer days. There are no separate mouse buttons; they are integrated into the touchpad (= ClickPad). Considering the Full HD display we would have liked a higher sensitivity since the cursor is somewhat sluggish. The touch functionality is automatically deactivated as soon as you attach a USB mouse. The smart pad supports several multi-touch gestures like zooming or scrolling.
Display
MSI uses the popular and frequently used Chi Mei N173HGE-L11 panel for the GS70 Stealth. This model is known for its high luminance and very good contrast ratio. The same applies for the GS70 Stealth with an average brightness of 330 cd/m². The luminance does not drop below 300 cd/m² in any of the nine measurement areas, which is an excellent result.
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Brightness Distribution: 88 %
Contrast: 971:1 (Black: 0.35 cd/m²)
ΔE Color 10.57 | 0.55-29.43 Ø5.2
ΔE Greyscale 10.67 | 0.57-98 Ø5.4
57.6% AdobeRGB 1998 (Argyll 1.6.3 3D)
62.5% AdobeRGB 1998 (Argyll 2.2.0 3D)
85.4% sRGB (Argyll 2.2.0 3D)
61.8% Display P3 (Argyll 2.2.0 3D)
Gamma: 2.85
The available color space of the GS70 is quite good with 84% sRGB and around 58% AdobeRGB and clearly stands out from cheaper panels. However, even the GS70 is not suited for professional picture editing since the determined AdobeRGB coverage is clearly below the ideal value.
Because of the suboptimal color temperature (~7,300K), you can see a slight blue cast with very bright and white backgrounds; the determined gamma value also deviates from the ideal value (2.85 vs. 2.2).
Gaming enthusiasts will like the contrast ratio of 970:1; colors are rich and crisp. Pictures and movies also benefit from this; a black value of 0.35 cd/m² results in dark blacks and not some washed-out gray.
The GS70 is finally a gaming notebook that can also be used on the road. The high luminance of the display and the high contrast ratio enable working and gaming outdoors and you can recognize the desktop content under direct sunlight. The situation is even better with indirect light, where you can even see very dark areas.
You can also use the GS70 for a movie night with multiple persons because the picture is very stable from the side. The screen content is still natural even though the colors get a bit pale with vertical angles. Only IPS displays offer better viewing angle stability.
Performance
After the display, we get to the most interesting part for gaming enthusiasts: The performance. The heart of the MSI GS70 Stealth is Intel's Core i7-4700HQ processor, which is based on the new Haswell architecture. The CPU has four physical cores and can execute up to eight threads simultaneously thanks to the Hyperthreading technology.
MSI equips the GS70 with an Nvidia GeForce GTX 765M GPU, which is one of the smallest models of Nvidia’s high-end GTX-series. The notebook automatically switches to the integrated Intel HD Graphics 4600 for light workloads via Optimus technology. A real highlight is the RAID-0 system of two mSATA SSDs, which are accompanied by a 1,000 GB hard drive and 16 GB DDR3 RAM clocked at 1,600 MHz.
Processor
Intel’s Core i7-4700HQ is the successor of the Core i7-3630QM and has been significantly improved. Both processors have the same Turbo and nominal clock but the whole architecture of the Core i7-4700HQ has been optimized.
Cinebench R11.5 shows a score of 6.65 points, which results in a 4% advantage over the older 3630QM (6.39 points @ HP dv7-7202eg). Compared to the Asus G750JH (6.96 points) we can see a deficit of around 5%. The situation is similar in the Single Core Test of Cinebench R11.5, where the GS70 is around 6% faster than the Lenovo IdeaPad Y500 with a Core i7-3610QM (1.49 vs. 1.41 points).
We have already criticized the MSI GE70 for being unable to use its Turbo Boost on battery power and the same applies for the GS70 Stealth. The processor maintains its nominal clock of 2.4 GHz and only gets a score of 4.46 points in Cinebench R11.5 (-33%).
| Cinebench R11.5 - CPU Multi 64Bit (sort by value) | |
| MSI GS70-65M21621 | |
| Asus G750JW | |
| MSI GE70-i765M287 | |
System Performance
Such a fast PCMark run is quite rare in our editorial office. The reason for this is the RAID-0 system with two Intel SSDs that improve the system performance significantly. The GS70 Stealth manages eighth place in PCMark 7 with 6,076 points and the top spot in the PCMark 8 Storage benchmark list with 4,966 points.
The subjective impression confirms these results. Not only working is very fast and responsive but also booting Windows. Gamers will be happy about short application starts and reduced loading times.
» No benchmarks for this notebook found!
| PCMark Vantage Result | 22141 points | |
| PCMark 7 Score | 6076 points | |
| PCMark 8 Home Score Accelerated | 3713 points | |
| PCMark 8 Creative Score Accelerated | 4322 points | |
| PCMark 8 Work Score Accelerated | 4785 points | |
Help | ||
Storage Devices
Besides the very fast RAID system of 2x 128 GB storage there is also a mechanical hard drive from Western Digital. The measurement results of the hard drive are in the upper performance area and are quite convincing. CrystalDiskMark determines transfer rates of 117 MB/s (sequential reading) and 116 MB/s (sequential writing). However, the real highlights are definitely the gigantic transfer rates of the RAID system with 965 MB/s (reading) and 820 MB/s (writing), respectively.
Graphics
The Intel Core i7-4700HQ has its own integrated GPU, the HD Graphics 4600. It can be used for light workloads. The system automatically switches to the more powerful dedicated GeForce GTX 765M for more complex applications or games via Optimus.
Because of the DirectX support, you can actually use the HD Graphics for older or current games with reduced details. According to our benchmarks, the application performance of the HD 4600 is good and also very energy efficient.
You will have to use the GeForce GTX 765M if you want to see the full performance of the GS70. The slightly higher clocks result in more frames compared to the GTX 760M and the GPU can even use a Turbo mode to overclock itself. Our stress test with FurMark and Prime95 showed that the GeForce GTX 765M was able to maintain a clock of around 900 MHz.
The 3DMark 11 performance is on the same level with the bulkier GE70 that uses the same graphics card. 4,044 points is a good result for the MSI GS70 Stealth and it can even beat the Asus G75VX-T4020H with a combination of a Core i7-3630QM and a GeForce GTX 670MX by around 7% (3,768 points).
| 3DMark Vantage P Result | 14525 points | |
| 3DMark 11 Performance | 4044 points | |
| 3DMark Ice Storm Standard Score | 86957 points | |
| 3DMark Cloud Gate Standard Score | 12170 points | |
| 3DMark Fire Strike Score | 2191 points | |
| 3DMark Fire Strike Extreme Score | 1065 points | |
Help | ||
Gaming Performance
We saw that the MSI GE70 had some problems using the full potential of the GPU/CPU combination and the GS70 Stealth cannot beat the similarly equipped competition, either. Bioshock: Infinite clearly suggests that the Turbo Boost is not working properly. 64.2 fps with high details and a resolution of 1366x768 pixels is decent but not overwhelming by any means. The One K33-3E manages 78.9 fps (+23%) despite the similar hardware equipment.
The difference is a bit smaller in Company of Heroes 2 because of the lower frame rates. 23.7 frames per second (1366x768, High) are not bad for the GS70 but it is still behind similarly equipped notebooks. MSI's own GE70 is around 7% faster (25.4 fps). However, both notebooks are almost identical in Metro: Last Light. Asus' G750JW has an advantage of almost 14% over the MSI GS70 Stealth (32.4 vs. 37 fps @ 1366x768, High) because of the newer GPU driver.
| BioShock Infinite - 1366x768 High Preset (sort by value) | |
| MSI GS70-65M21621 | |
| Asus G750JW | |
| Metro: Last Light - 1366x768 High (DX11) AF:16x (sort by value) | |
| MSI GS70-65M21621 | |
| Asus G750JW | |
| MSI GE70-i765M287 | |
| Company of Heroes 2 - 1366x768 High AA:Medium (sort by value) | |
| MSI GS70-65M21621 | |
| MSI GE70-i765M287 | |
| Alienware 14 | |
| low | med. | high | ultra | |
| BioShock Infinite (2013) | 81.9 | 68.2 | 64.2 | 21 |
| Metro: Last Light (2013) | 60.1 | 51.5 | 32.4 | 17.4 |
| Company of Heroes 2 (2013) | 37.9 | 30.7 | 23.7 | 10.6 |
Emissions
System Noise
The MSI GS70 is definitely not a silent notebook. It is even working quite hard to transport the high temperatures out of the thin case during idle; it is always perceptible with 34-35 dB(A).
During our stress test with Prime95 and FurMark results reached up to 49 dB(A), which is comparable to other gaming notebooks. This result is quite high for the combination of Core i7-4700HQ and GeForce GTX 765M but still reasonable if you consider the size of the chassis.
Noise Level
| Idle |
| 34.3 / 34.6 / 35 dB(A) |
| Load |
| 44.1 / 48.7 dB(A) |
 | ||
30 dB silent 40 dB(A) audible 50 dB(A) loud |
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min:  , med:  , max:  Voltcraft sl-320 (15 cm distance) | ||
Temperature
We can also see the consequences of the thin case when we have a look at the temperatures. The cooling solution consists of two fans, one for the CPU and one for the GPU at the upper left and right corner, that transport the heat out of the case. In other words, this means that they work individually. Both parts are in the center of the case and the heat pipes warm up a large area of the notebook.
We determined a maximum surface temperature of 48 °C (118.4 °F) at the top of the case. The palm rest warms up to a maximum of 40 °C (104 °F), which is not inconvenient but certainly noticeable. The situation can be more critical at the bottom where we can see temperatures of up to 59 °C (138.2 °F). The idle results are never problematic with 30 °C (86 °F) since the fans are always spinning.
CPU and GPU temperatures are not that great. 90-100 °C (194-212 °F) in our stress test are almost at the thermal limit of the components.
(-) The maximum temperature on the upper side is 47.6 °C / 118 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 58.8 °C / 138 F, compared to the average of 43.2 °C / 110 F
(+) In idle usage, the average temperature for the upper side is 25.2 °C / 77 F, compared to the device average of 33.8 °C / 93 F.
(-) The palmrests and touchpad can get very hot to the touch with a maximum of 40.2 °C / 104.4 F.
(-) The average temperature of the palmrest area of similar devices was 29 °C / 84.2 F (-11.2 °C / -20.2 F).
Speakers
The speakers of the GS70 are only at the top of the chassis and the sound experience was adjusted to the chassis size.
Deep tones are okay and result in a bass that is typical for notebooks. Medium and high tones could be better; there is some background noise during music playback.
We already know Creative's Sound Blaster Control Center from other MSI notebooks and you can also select different sound profiles for the GS70 with this software.
Energy Management
Power Consumption
We check the energy consumption with activated keyboard illumination. The GS70 Stealth consumes at least 9.2 Watts during idle, which is comparable to the GE70. The situation is similar with maximum display brightness and activated WLAN at around 28 Watts.
Our stress test with FurMark and Prime 95 shows that the notebook actually consumes slightly more than the 120-Watt power supply unit can provide. Our simulated gaming scenario with 3DMark 06 results in an average consumption of around 98 Watts (GE70: 97 Watts).
| Off / Standby | 0.1 / 0.3 Watt |
| Idle | 9.2 / 16.2 / 27.7 Watt |
| Load |
97.7 / 124.9 Watt |
   
| |
Battery Runtime
A gaming notebook with these dimensions is definitely an interesting device for use on the road. The GS70 manages a runtime of 6:13 hours with activated energy-saving mode, minimum display brightness and deactivated wireless connection. If you just want to browse the web you can squeeze around 3:30 hours out of the battery with an adjusted brightness and activated WLAN. A movie night lasts for 2:30 hours and a mobile gaming session is finished after one hour.
Verdict
The GS70 Stealth is an attractive and powerful device for gaming enthusiasts who want to use the 17.3-inch notebook on the road. The build quality is good, the design is appealing and the weight is not much higher than a standard multimedia notebook. All of this is combined with a high-contrast and bright display that is well suited for gaming and movie playback.
Even though the 3D performance of the GS70 Stealth cannot always keep up with the competition, it is still very good if you consider the size of the notebook.
MSI keeps using SteelSeries keyboards with their individual layout. It takes some time getting used to but the multi-zone illumination with different colors is very convenient.
One of the biggest drawbacks is the temperature development, but that is not really surprising with the thin case. Despite the slim profile, the GS70 is actually cooler than the GE70 in many situations.
Fans of LAN parties and mobile gaming will be happy with the MSI GS70 Stealth and we can recommend the notebook for these users.
