Sleek and Powerful, the MSI GS70 is among the earliest to enter the market with Intel’s 6th Generation processor.
The MSI GS70 6QE is powerful not only because it has new processor but it has also the Nvidia GTX 970M GPU. The GS70 runs on Windows 10 Home edition, it has 16GB DDR4, 2565GB SSD and 1TB HDD.
The surface of the unit is of brushed metal and it is feels premium to the touch.
Being a 17.3″ notebook, the MSI GS70 isn’t something small and light. The TN LCD screen on the GS70 delivers crisp and clear visual experience, coupled with MSI’s color profile software for quick settings change. For those demanding best color accuracy, I recommend using hardware calibration tool such as DataColor’s Spyder, that ought to bring the best out of the panel on the GS70.
The Keyboard on the MSI GS70 is by SteelSeries and it comes with full color backlighting, now that doesn’t mean the keys are individually lit. The lighting on the MSI GS70 is based on section, the keyboard comes with 3 backlit sections of which you are able to configure via software.
MSI GS70 delivers one of the best audio experience on Notebooks with its Dyn-audio speakers and Nahimic Audio Software..
On the left side of the GS70 are placed the LAN port, HDMI 1.4 output, dual mini-DisplayPort 1.2, USB 3 and 3.1 ports and audio connector ports.
On the right side are USB 3 and 3.1 ports, SD Card reader and power port.
The ventilation grill is at the side of the notebook, allowing the LCD panel to open all the way to the back. The under side of the GS70 comes with sturdy feet and various openings for ventilation.
More details at the official product page.
For details regarding the screen and keyboard, do check out this video from goldfries.
Benchmarks
Here are the CPU-Z and GPU-Z capture for the MSI GS70.
The MSI GS70 shines when it comes to performance, let’s have a look.
x264 – 10bit to 8bit Video Conversion
In this test the i7-6700HQ mobile processor got the job done in 199 seconds which is slightly ahead of the i5-4670K but falls slightly behind the AMD FX-8350 and far from Intel’s i7-6700K desktop processor.
The source video is a 720p MKV file that is 90 seconds in duration. x264 settings at the slowest.
Procesor | Time Taken (seconds) |
Intel Core i7-6700HQ | 199 |
Intel Core i7-6700K | 141 |
Intel Core i5-4670K | 188 |
AMD FX-8350 | 188 |
Cinebench R15
On Cinebench R15 the i7-6700HQ shows the same trend of being being behind the AMD FX-8350 and far from Intel’s i7-6700K.
Intel Core i7-6700HQ | 533 |
Intel Core i7-6700K | 927 |
AMD FX-8350 | 633 |
Mobile processor are often quite far behind that of a desktop processor in this aspect but gap closes with Intel 6th generation Core i7 mobile processor.
In the graphics department the Nvidia GeForce GTX 970M GPU performs like the desktop GTX 960 GPU.
Unigine Heaven 4.0
*NOTE : Details are set to maximum.
*NOTE : AA disabled in 4K test.
Card | 1080p (avg) |
GTX 970M on MSI GS70 | 34 |
ASUS GTX 960 4GB STRIX | 33 |
Metro Last Light
Card | 1080p (avg) |
GTX 970M on MSI GS70 | 51 |
ASUS GTX 960 4GB STRIX | 55 |
Bioshock Infinite
Settings are at
2 – UltraDX11_DDOF | 2 – Custom | 1 – 16:9 | 4 – FullHD / 4K
Card | 1080p (avg) |
GTX 970M on MSI GS70 | 70 |
ASUS GTX 960 4GB STRIX | 73 |
Shadow of Mordor
Settings : Set to ULTRA, V-sync off.
Card | 1080p (avg) |
GTX 970M on MSI GS70 | 54 |
ASUS GTX 960 4GB STRIX | 52 |
Grand Theft Auto V
Settings : Every option to the MAX setting available.
Card | 1080p (avg) |
GTX 970M on MSI GS70 | 24 |
ASUS GTX 960 4GB STRIX | 25 |
Power Draw and Temperature
As for the power draw, the MSI GS70 PQE idles at around 37 watts wall draw and when the CPU and GPU are on Prime95 and Furmark stess it reaches around 150 watts wall draw. In actual gaming conditions like say Metro Last Light, the system power draw hovers at around 130 watts.
Both CPU and GPU tops at around mid 80 degrees celcius when on high load. The noise from the cooling system is pretty good, it takes a while before the noise reaches full scream but even that it’s far from being the loudest I’ve come across.
The Verdict
The MSI GS70 6QE Stealth Pro Gaming Notebook retails at RM 8,999. It’s power-packed, feature-rich and it comes with 2-years warranty.
What you get in this package is a system that’s build for work and play.