Review MSI GX70H-A108972811B Notebook

Except for the missing Dynaudio branding, the case is identical to the 17-inch sibling GT70.

Once again, the manufacturer uses the unusual gamer-design with sensitive glossy surfaces (keyboard frame) and a somewhat chaotic mixture of shapes or materials respectively. Some people might even call it the typical Asia-look. We will see if the manufacturer is going to design a device for European and American customers in the future. But MSI can also produce simpler notebooks, for example the GS70 Stealth (GeForce GTX 765M). 

Apart from the design, the GX70 is a really bulky notebook. A chassis height of six centimeters is far above average and will certainly scare off some customers. The situation is similar in terms of weight: 3,740 grams is not very comfortable to carry around. You can find more information about the case here.

We are already familiar with the input devices from older notebooks. Except for the unusual layout (single-row Return + some shifted keys), the keyboard leaves a good impression. We especially liked the adjustable keyboard illumination with three different zones; it significantly improves gaming sessions in dark environments.  

The touchpad is also useable, although you should not expect any wonders. We had a closer look at the input devices in our review of the GT70.

Although the designation would suggest it, the Radeon HD 8970M is not a completely new graphics card, but in simple terms just a higher clocked version of the Radeon HD 7970M. While the former is clocked at 900-950 MHz (core) and 1,250 MHz (memory), the latter only works with 850 or 1,200 MHz respectively. 

Contrary to Clevo (see review), MSI does not choose an exaggerated size for the video memory (4,096 MB) and uses sufficiently dimensioned 2,048 MB GDDR5 and a 256-bit memory interface. The other specifications are not too bad either. 2.8 billion transistors and 1,280 unified shaders are very respectable. The Radeon 8970M is produced in a 28 nm manufacturing process (GCN architecture). 

The DirectX-11 GPU is currently competing against the GeForce GTX 770M (811/1,000 MHz, 960 shaders, 3 GB GDDR5 VRAM) and the GeForce GTX 780M (823/1,250 MHz, 1,536 shaders, 4 GB GDDR5 VRAM).

The small mSATA SSD with 128 GB differs from the recently reviewed GT70H-80M4811B. MSI does not equip the GX70 with a SanDisk X100 but with the similarly convincing Toshiba THNSNF128GMCS (faster with large files, slower with smaller files).

More than 500 MB/s for sequential reading and more than 400 MB/s for sequential writing (with considerable fluctuations) are not reached by every Solid State Drive. The AS SSD benchmark indicates an excellent access time of 0.18-0.20 ms.  

Large files can be stored on the 1,000 GB Western Digital WD10JPVX-22JC3T0. The performance of the large drive is good despite the 5,400 rpm; around 100 MB/s (sequential test @ CrystalDiskMark) is not surpassed by many hard drives. 

The gaming performance leaves a mixed impression. While the GX70 can compete with more expensive high-end notebooks in GPU demanding titles like Tomb Raider, BioShock: Infinite or Crysis 3, the frame rate cannot keep up with a GeForce GTX 765M in CPU demanding games. Among others this includes: Dirt: Showdown, Counter Strike: Global Offensive, Need for Speed: Most Wanted, Dishonored, Guild Wars 2 and Borderlands 2.

According to our database, the combination of a Radeon HD 8970M and a quad-core processor from Intel gets 60% more frames on average, a combination of a GeForce GTX 780M and a Core i7-4x00MQ is almost 80% faster. Due to some bad results, the GX70 cannot even keep up with a GTX 770M equipped notebook (compare table after the verdict). It is tragic that the HD 8970M is extremely limited by the CPU.  

The adjective modest also fits in terms of surface temperatures. Despite an ambient temperature of 28 °C (measurements on a sultry summer day), most surface temperatures of the GX70 were below 30 °C during idle. 

The palm rest especially attracts attention under load - but in a positive manner. Even after one hour of our stress test with Furmark and Prime, the anterior third of the notebook did not exceed 31 °C. The only uncomfortable area is around the fan exhaust with a maximum temperature of 49 °C; however, the WASD area reaches up to 40 °C - a reasonable result. 

The components get significantly warmer. According to the tool GPU-Z, the Radeon HD 8970M breaks the 90 °C mark and we better ignore the results for the CPU. 100-130 °C, which is indicated by CPUID HWMonitor, clearly suggest a measurement error.

Our review unit had problems with temporary CPU and GPU throttling. While the clock of the A10-5750M was occasionally reduced to 1.4 GHz, the Radeon HD 8970M only ran with 300 MHz (core) and 150 MHz (memory) at times. However, we could not determine any throttling in more realistic scenarios.    

We did not use the Cooler Boost feature, which increases the fan speed in favor of the temperatures, because we had bad experiences with it in the past (MSI notebooks become extremely loud with this feature).

We already mentioned that the notebook does not have a Dynaudio certification, but this does not change the fact that the GX70 sounds better than many competitors. 

Beside the high maximum volume and the good bass we also like the Sound Blaster Cinema technology. Creative's sound optimization improves the 2.1 sound system and creates a richer and more powerful sound experience. Games, movies and music sound very precise and well-balanced as long as you do not use the highest volumes settings.

There are not many notebooks that can keep up with this performance, hardly any manufacturer puts so much effort into the sound playback. 

Contrary to other manufacturers MSI does not equip the GX70 with a smaller 6-cell battery but with a large 9-cell version (87 Wh, 7,800 mAh) instead. Combined with the switchable graphics, the GX70 manages surprisingly good battery runtimes.  

Almost 4.5 hours wireless web browsing and 3 hours DVD playback (high brightness, average energy saving settings) rather suggest a multimedia or office notebook. 

The battery of the GX70 even lasts 7 hours during idle with activated energy saving settings and minimum display brightness. The minimum runtime is around 1.5 hours (maximum display brightness and high system load). 

Our review indicates that the GX70 cannot use its full potential. You cannot really call it a well-balanced system when a high-end graphics card loses about 50% performance because of the processor. Intel's Core i processors are significantly faster than the AMD A10-5750M, not even the fastest GPU can change that.  

MSI should definitely reconsider this concept and use Intel processors. Combining a Radeon HD 8970M with such a weak processor does not really make sense in our opinion. A look at some games (Assassin's Creed III, Hitman: Absolution, Guild Wars 2) creates doubts that the device is really future-proof; even reduced graphics settings (high) do not result in playable frame rates because of the CPU. Nvidia's GTX 765M, for instance, does not have these problems in combination with an Intel quad-core CPU. You get advantages in some games at the expense of other current titles.  

Otherwise MSI does a good job. Besides the port equipment and the battery runtime we have to praise the good picture and sound quality. Other positive aspects are the keyboard illumination, the Blu-ray drive and the large storage capacity (mSATA SSD & 1,000 GB HDD). The temperatures and the noise development are still reasonable and the large case with the bling-bling look is certainly a matter of taste.

All things considered, we cannot give a recommendation for the GX70. Passionate gamers should invest a few bucks more and get the GT70 or a competitor (see right column under Shortcut). Price-conscious gamers will be happy with an Intel notebook and a GeForce GTX 765M (constant performance, lower price).