***The Official MSI GT72 Dominator Pro (GTX-980M) Owner?s Lounge***

Thanks for the input. Ended up getting it right before finding a photo of it fitting a Asus ROG g750 haha (guess that confirms that I have to see it to believe it lol)

Thanks for the help though; I DID buy it based off of your recommendation

Now I'm on the hunt for a cheap but good sturdy headset that's preferably wireless

 

SteelSeries H Wireless Gaming Headset

 

Asus VG248qe.

 

Thanks! I read a review of that screen which said there were some slight issues with the colors ( Asus VG248QE : Test complet), but that it had great reactivity, and that generally it was a great screen for gaming. If I end up opting for an external monitor I'll be seriously considering it

 

So its possible to upgrade the gpu after years but what about the cpu?
I ve read on some forums that 4710haswell will bottleneck the 980m.
Is it possible to make that ok with a little bit overclocking the cpu? Or just upgrading cpu to broadwell later on?

 

The GT72 Cpu is not upgradeable

 

The GPU is designed to be upgradable as long as future models are compatible. As mentioned the CPU is not but there are models expected within 3-4 weeks which will have the i7-4980HQ.

 

Was wondering if this was the correct size (physically) ssd:

Amazon.com: Crucial M550 512GB SATA M.2 Type 2280 Internal Solid State Drive CT512M550SSD4: Computers & Accessories

I think it is, but just making sure.

 

for the curious i ran crystal mark for the stock 1 128gb hynix drive and also the crucial 512gb m550 i bought:






dragonwolf8504 - yes thats exactly the drive i benchmarked in the screenshot Crucial M550 512GB SATA M.2 Type 2280 Internal Solid State Drive CT512M550SSD4

here is the data for it and the stock hynix:

1 crucial m550 m.2 http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00ITFZTHC/ref=ox_sc_act_title_4?ie=UTF8&psc=1&smid=ATVPDKIKX0DER

CrystalDiskMark 3.0.3 x64 (C) 2007-2013 hiyohiyo
Crystal Dew World : Crystal Dew World
-----------------------------------------------------------------------
* MB/s = 1,000,000 byte/s [SATA/300 = 300,000,000 byte/s]

Sequential Read : 503.075 MB/s
Sequential Write : 482.252 MB/s
Random Read 512KB : 459.167 MB/s
Random Write 512KB : 466.150 MB/s
Random Read 4KB (QD=1) : 30.667 MB/s [ 7487.1 IOPS]
Random Write 4KB (QD=1) : 103.800 MB/s [ 25341.8 IOPS]
Random Read 4KB (QD=32) : 365.779 MB/s [ 89301.4 IOPS]
Random Write 4KB (QD=32) : 346.864 MB/s [ 84683.6 IOPS]

Test : 1000 MB [C: 50.9% (242.4/476.4 GB)] (x2)
Date : 2014/10/12 20:45:48
OS : Windows 8.1 Pro [6.3 Build 9600] (x64)
crucialm550 m.2




stock (for the 211 model) 1 hynix 128gb m.2
-----------------------------------------------------------------------
CrystalDiskMark 3.0.3 x64 (C) 2007-2013 hiyohiyo
Crystal Dew World : Crystal Dew World
-----------------------------------------------------------------------
* MB/s = 1,000,000 byte/s [SATA/300 = 300,000,000 byte/s]

Sequential Read : 479.021 MB/s
Sequential Write : 322.044 MB/s
Random Read 512KB : 371.378 MB/s
Random Write 512KB : 324.749 MB/s
Random Read 4KB (QD=1) : 25.047 MB/s [ 6115.0 IOPS]
Random Write 4KB (QD=1) : 89.725 MB/s [ 21905.4 IOPS]
Random Read 4KB (QD=32) : 330.861 MB/s [ 80776.7 IOPS]
Random Write 4KB (QD=32) : 277.752 MB/s [ 67810.6 IOPS]

Test : 1000 MB [D: 61.1% (72.3/118.2 GB)] (x2)
Date : 2014/10/12 20:49:27
OS : Windows 8.1 Pro [6.3 Build 9600] (x64)
hynix 128gb m.2

EDIT: i found a post where the guy benchmarked the samsung pm851 and sm841 m.2 drives here:

http://forum.notebookreview.com/dell-xps-studio-xps/735403-xps-15-haswell-owner-s-lounge-427.html

 

Yea i ve heard about that but i guess those ones will have horrible prices..

 

Not trying to get totally off subject of the lounge here, but I suppose it is a lounge. Yes the monitor definitely leaves something to be desired with colors. I knew this going into the purchase though, because like you I read reviews. With the use of an ICC profile the monitor does look much better than out of the box, and my eyes quickly adjusted to its colors.

Gaming is where it shines and what it was made for though. The screen is super fluid and amazing response time. It literally felt like I had upgraded my GPU. Being able to see the enemy quicker and aim makes a huge difference in games. This monitor was made for FPS games.


I still hope to see some owners posting maybe some of their own unboxing and youtube videos of this beast gaming. I really haven't been able to find any 970m or 980m gaming videos on youtube.

 

How is the backpack included in the "superpack" for carrying GT72?

On the other note, when I eventually buy the GT72 I'd like to config. the 3 M.2 SSD in RAID 5, is it done in BIOS or in Windows OS?

Regards

 

DILLIGAFF has fitted that same model and has it all up and running....

 

Cool, I was reading more of the forum and saw that, but just wanted to make double sure before I ordered. Planning on ordering today sometime.

 

Anyone know the refresh rateof the stock screen? 60Hz ?
Are there options to go higher?

 

I really want to get this bad boy but the only thing stopping me is the display compared to the G751. And I don't feel like paying $800 more for the IPS version.

Striker, did you calibrate your display?

Also, any comments and/or benchmarks for the battery? I'm gonna use this at school sometimes.

 

i calibrated my display using my old spyder 4 elite results attached.

if you are considering purchasing a display calibrator, my spyder has worked well for several years, and i also have heard good things about the Xrite i1 Display Pro . the xrite is a slightly more advanced meter/software so a bit more involved to use than my spyder but it should also give slightly better results than my spyder.

 

60Hz, in dedicated mode it can be overclocked. It's a 30 pin edp connector so IPS options should open up but I doubt 120hz options will since that would require more lanes.

 

Reading the MSI GT72 Notebook Review - NotebookCheck.net Reviews review, they got 73% sRGB and you got 96% so you must have done some real good calibration. Any who, I have never calibrated any display and don't think spending ~$200 on something I will only use once is worth it. Unless I can use it on my desktop as well.

Also, isn't it possible for you to share you profile for the display? I don't know how that works but that would be great for us people who don't have display calibration hardware.

I will buy this through XoticPC and might end up purchasing their display calibration services aswell, does anyone know if they use a Spyder or any other device for the calibration?

PS: Are you a photographer or something? Or did you just buy a Spyder for the heck of it?

 

@DILLIGAFF

Yes, sharing the Spyder 4 ICC profile would be helpful, but please specify all data regarding your panel, to include it's version number.

 

Darkinster- dude not hatin, but your post is completely backwards.

the purpose of buying a color calibrator is to use it with multiple machines and/or monitors. this does not break the software license, this is how all the vendors all here charge for calibration- they buy a spider elite (or xrite which is a bit newer and more advanced) for 250 then charge a customer 50 bux to calibrate their laptop before shipping. please dont give people the wrong impression if you are unsure how this works. i have used my spyder elite to calibrate 5+ monitors and machines (laptop screens, desktop monitors, and desktops hooked up to large flat screen tvs) all while usign my valid software serial number and activating/registering with spyder on each install. if this was illegal they would not allow it. do check- cheaper versions of the spyder kit may not allow this so elite or premium maybe needed.
and there is no other way to get it othern than to calibrate it. Contrary to popular belief just like most TN, most IPS monitors are not calibrated from the factory, so just because you bought an ips doesnt mean you are seeing accurate color. It means IPS is capable of displaying more accurate colors than TN, but you still have to either buy precalibrated or calibrate yourself to get that accuracy. IPS viewing angles are irrelevant to me ( 17" laptop is impossible to open in an airplane seat for me who is 6' tall, which is the only place the improved IPS angles would matter to me).

so to me a 1 time purchase of 250 gives me accurate colors on every monitor ever, which seems like a better deal than paying 250-1000 bux for an ips monitor with every purchase of a laptop or stand alone monitor.

also note high refresh monitors (100+) are TN including G-sync monitors which in theory we can use since we dont have optimus.


hate to say it but this is where Apple usually shines since AFAIK every single device they make with a screen is color calibrated from the factory. including mobile devices....so even tho their display may not be as high technically as androids, the claibration makes them look much better then most androids. i know nexus 5 is calibrated out of factory but not sure about any others...anyway too OT

i am not sure where you got the 72% after calibration number-- to be clear i believe that reviewer uses the color calibrator to MEASURE the monitor settings from the factory ( at what i assume is 100% brightness), not Calibrate the monitor. calibrating the built in panel would defeat the purpose since most people want to find out what they are getting out of the box, not what they will see after they buy a color calibrator. mine was about 72 before i ran through the calibration. note that calibration and achieving color accuracy can reduce brightness and other precalibrated numbers, so calibrated and uncalibrated numbers are not directly related.

the other thing the color calibrator will do is if you have 2 monitors side by side..by calibrating both... they will show same colors so the images dont get radically different when you move em from one screen to the other....each monitor can have its own profile with the spyder so each can have its own granular adjustment. this is more more photo buffs but i personally find it very eye pleasing.

NOTE: color profiles are affected by desired GAMMA and the rooms Ambient Light. if your room is very dark my profile may be too dark for you. just fyi. also the color accuracy is only guaranteed at 100% panel brightness. EDIT: profile was made with 980M i am not sure if it would apply to running on intel 4600 gpu, but you can try.

anyway you guys should read on this topic instead of asking for IPS...most monitors are uncalibrated so being ips or tn by itself does not make it color accurate in any way.

here is the profile. in theory you can have it anywhere but i put mine with the stock ones into windows/system32/spool/drivers/color

make it work in Control Panel>Color management app.

set as default and get rid of any other profiles for that display (notice all settings are per display if you have monitor plugged in or similar.



EDIT: forum upload thingy wont let me upload ICM, so i put it on another site:
http://d01.megashares.com/index.php?d01=w5dj1sj


side note: the windows profile thingy sometimes wont switch profiles, so i had to pick another profile then switch back to it. when the profiles change you should see a contrast/gamma change on your monitor.

xotic pc has a generic screnshot from another laptop that shows what type of change to expect visually:

http://www.xoticpc.com/customization/monitor_calibration_side_by_side.jpg


2nd EDIT: that review on notebookcheck also provides the .icm profile at url http://www.notebookcheck.net/uploads/tx_nbc2/GT72.icm

you can try that one too.

of course remember- do not use this profile for monitors other than the built in panel....or colors will be wrong

EDIT 3: chimei panel info :

 

Meh, you are right..... without knowing the ambient light, and your screen's precise Mfg. data, your ICC profile would be somewhat pointless. I haven't looked into it yet, but no telling how many different revisions of this screen, that Innolux has manufactured. I'll do it myself, but thanks for being of assistance.



EDIT: I see you just added the screen info, but it's not enough...... can you find the version or revision? Perhaps the Device Manager or AIDA64.

 

Since u got this far striker u should just try it- set as default but don't delete the other profiles. U can always go back I'll check on Aida64 then update post

 

Ok, and the info may also be in the screen's DM properties, in the drop-down menu..... and of course I wouldn't delete the other profiles..... who ya talk'in to here? LOL!

 

that profile i uploaded of mine is for:

my gamma is 2.2 (default)
my ambient light is described as "medium" by spyder, after sensor measurement. in human terms : 30 watt fluro lightbulb is on in another corner of the room. room is not dark, but not super bright. i can read paper books where i sit in front of pc ok, but for long hours of reading a desklamp is needed or my eys hurt. there is no direct light reflections from my monitor.
brightness =100% of monitor (set windows power options brightness to 100%)

ok i ran aida, but not much more new info:



ran another monitor util, but only got a bit more info:

Monitor
Manufacturer............. CMN
Plug and Play ID......... CMN1735
Data string.............. N173HGE-E11
Serial number............ n/a
Manufacture date......... 2012, ISO week 50
Filter driver............ None
-------------------------
EDID revision............ 1.4
Input signal type........ Digital (DisplayPort)
Color bit depth.......... 6 bits per primary color
Color encoding formats... RGB 4:4:4
Screen size.............. 380 x 210 mm (17.1 in)
Power management......... Not supported
Extension blocs.......... None
-------------------------
DDC/CI................... Not supported

Color characteristics
Default color space...... Non-sRGB
Display gamma............ 2.20
Red chromaticity......... Rx 0.640 - Ry 0.333
Green chromaticity....... Gx 0.313 - Gy 0.613
Blue chromaticity........ Bx 0.154 - By 0.060
White point (default).... Wx 0.313 - Wy 0.329
Additional descriptors... None

Timing characteristics
Range limits............. Not available
GTF standard............. Not supported
Additional descriptors... None
Preferred timing......... Yes
Native/preferred timing.. 1920x1080p at 60Hz (16:9)
Modeline............... "1920x1080" 152.840 1920 1968 2000 2250 1080 1083 1088 1132 -hsync -vsync

Standard timings supported

Report information
Date generated........... 10/13/2014
Software revision........ 2.90.0.1000
Data source.............. Real-time 0xB700
Operating system......... 6.2.9200.2

 

Grrrrrrrrrr....... ok, I'll locate the info on mine, so I can give you a source. If this panel is like the previous CMO-1720, it will probably have more revisions..... some manufactured in Korea, some in China..... some were excellent, others horrible. Before I change the ICC, I'd like to know we have the exact same panel.

Lemme git back to you........

 

no worries, the panel is old..made week 50 2012 is like december 2012 so 26 months ago.

i even tried pc wizard...same info:

General Information :
Manufacturer : N173HGE-E
Product ID : CMN1735

Manufacture : Week 50 of
Video Input Type : Digit
Connected with DVI : No
Connected with HDMI-a :
Connected with HDMI-b :
Connected with MDDI : No
Connected with DisplayPo
Support HDMI : Yes

Support Audio : Yes

Max. Horiz./Vert. Size :
Monitor Size : 17.1 inch
Aspect Ratio : 16:10

Gamma Factor : 2.2

DPMS Active-Off : No

DPMS Suspend : No

DPMS Standby : No

EDID Version : 1.4



Features :

Maximum Resolution : 192


i guess net/net what i'm tryin to say is that if yer panel is:

Manufacturer : N173HGE-E
Product ID : CMN1735


and you only need standard gamma (2.2) , and your room is medium light you shuld try the profile either mine or the notebookcheck file, and it should work better than stock and will get you 80% there..mind you i dont change my profile at night when its super dark. during those times the dark/black games in areas get really black, but i usually just bump gamma within the game and dont change my icm profile. the alternative is you have to create a icm profile for every lighting situation which only a pro (photographer, camera guy, artist, etc) would do in a pro situation.

EDIT: this may help to set it up.:

http://www.laszlopusztai.net/2009/08/23/stop-losing-display-calibration-with-windows-7/

 

Ok, I am on my DT..... let me go fire-up the beast.



Nope, I couldn't find a direct source for the info either, but based on the panel's data sheet 'revision history', I am almost certain we have the same screen.

Thanks!

 

I can't believe on how much current high end single gpu laptop cost nowadays
$2299 USD for a single GTX 980M :O
add another 200$ USD and you will get an SLI GTX 980M with roughly equal cooling and the same exact specifications for the others except for windows 8
Sager NP9377 is what i am talking about

 

Yep, the Sager is a fair buy in SLI, but your math is a bit fuzzy, and hardware specifications are NOT the exact same. Your SLI Sager system, most closely equipped, comes to $2733.99, or plus $433.98.

 

I'm thinking of buying a Spyder 4Pro now, use it on my desktop which has 2 monitors. And my upcoming new laptop. Still confused, had my mind set on GT72 but now looking at Aorus X7 Pro benchmarks I am confused once again.

Oh and @DILLIGAF: I am sorry for being such a noob when it comes to display calibration

 

Here is a question how does one upgrade the ram like under the keyboard does it require a full strip down to do so?

 

You'll need to remove the motherboard to have access to those.

Regards

 

Like gaming desktops, if you're gaming on a single monitor (i.e. 24") the question would come up of whether or not you'd really need at GTX 980 instead of a GTX 970.

Does this apply to gaming laptops?

For example, if I were to purchase a GS60 Ghost Pro with a GTX 970M (6GB) on a 15.6" laptop over a Sager with a GTX 980M (8GB), would there be a noticeable difference in gaming at 1920 X 1080? Meaning, would a GTX 980M on a 15.6" laptop be considered overkill?

 

DarkinStar- no worries dude, no reason to apologize. its just hard to get one bit of truth about anything, so not surprised the conflicting information got you confused. i was confused too till i read a ton on the subject, and then just bought the calibrator, and setup a bunch of monitors and looked at them myself.

the aorus is SLI, and SLI is a world of it's own

hackttrix2006- you dont have to strip the machine down to the keyboard unless you want to swap out the modules which are already installed. Remember max RAM supported by Intel 4710 processor is 32GB. there are only 2 sku, ram-wise: 16gb and 32gb. if you got a 16gb sku to increase ammount from 16gb to 32, just pop the back panel off, and use the 2 slots you see there.

since the only other sku's i see are 32GB there is no way to get more ram than that since it already maxes processor capability.

i guess you could "upgrade" the existing Cas11 ram for Cas9, but i am not sure the risk of the more complex disassembly and additional cost of ~170$ per 16gb is worth the small (academic?) performance increase and increased risk of breaking something in there while disassembling.. if anyone has/knows benchmarks showing performance of cas9 versus cas11 that could be helpful to make the decision.

To be Clear: there is no way to pop off the keyboard from the top like you could with gt60/gt70. under-the-keyboard slots are much much harder to get to on the gt72- you have to literally disassemble 95% of the laptop thru the back to get to these.

BUT most folks will never do this... stock the 16GB SKU populates those slots with 2*8gb Kingston ram chips (Kingston, DDR3L 1600MHz, MSI16D3LS1KFG/8G) . so that leaves 2 easily accessible slots directly underneath the back cover.

the stock ram is for OEM, but it should be compatible with other kingston ddr3L like Kingston Technology 8GB 1600MHz DDR3L (PC3-12800) 1.35V Non-ECC CL11 SODIMM Intel Laptop Memory KVR16LS11/8 at Amazon.com i have NOT yet tried this retail ram, but i think it would work.


Striker has this link to disassembly video on page 1 of our thread, its- https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=StpQACk8aN0 the ram slots in question under the KB can be seen at 6:05 in that video and later.


JDawggS316 --- as you noted the question is more than relevant for noteoboks since the 980m is roughly 75-80%% of the performance of a desktop 970. a 970M is around half the speed of a desktop 970. difference between 970m and 980m is around 30%.

 

Is there an advantage by going with the GT72 Dominator Pro-011 over an Alienware 17 (when they release the GTX 980M)?

I'm a noob as you can tell.

 

Take a look at the X-Rite i1 Display Pro
Free ColorTRUE mobile app for calibrating Apple® iOS and Android® mobile devices
i1Display Pro – Monitor Calibration & Profiled Display | X-Rite

I've been using the discontinued i1 Disdisplay 2 colorimeter with ColorEyesDisplay software for years calibrating and creating icc profiles for desktop and notebooks.X-Rite and the previous Gretag McBeth

ColEyes Display Pro Free Demo
ColorEyes Display Pro Product Demo

i1Display Pro review

 

Heads up, we met with MSI prior to the launch and they wanted our feedback on the new models. This is one of the concerns we brought up and how it requires a full teardown to be able to access the modules. They've taken this under advisement for future models and sounds like they're going to revise the design a bit in the future to make this easier. The current GT72 lineup won't be affected by this, but an example of why MSI is pretty cool. They take the feedback we provide them and try to make the best product they possibly can.

 

Derek- thanks dude.it is cool that msi is gona do this, although i think this is a bigger deal for Repairs and consequently vendors, rather than consumers only consumers that care are gona be the ones that own a cas9 kit already and want to swap.

WhatsThepoint- i have checked into the xrite i1 display and i agree with you-- it is a slightly newer, technically superior solution compared to the spyder ( incidentally xrite and spyder solutions are owned by same parent company, with spyder being consumer product line,and x-rite being pro-sumer and professional product line).

if i was buying today i would consider the Xrite my #1 pick as well.

HOWEVER one thing that i have NOT been able to confirm is how xrite handles Extended display conigurations. as-in i am using my 17" laptop monitor and a 27" desktop in windows using Extend mode. Spyder allows each monitor to have a Separate different profile loaded at the same time. i have heard older xrite software ( it is a software limit and not the calibrator itself) could not do this, they could only handle 1 profile and 1 monitor at a time. this would be a deal-breaker for some folks including me. do you know if the newest xrite can handle 2 or more profiles/monitors at the same time?

EDIT: it appears YES the newer xrite i1 Display pro (it has to be pro, the non pro does not support dualies) supports dual displays http://www.americanframe.com/monitor-calibration-review.aspx . i'd still like a confirm if this supports 2+ displays at the same time, but it appears yes.

 

I'm no expert but since all of you are recommending the x-rite i1, that is what I might end up going with. However in the x-rite can I see the graph that can be seen in the Spyder to compare to sRGB and Adobe RGB

This

 

Free Color Checker Software
CalMAN ColorChecker Download - SpectraCal

Best Notebook Displays?
The Best Notebook Displays As Reviewed By Notebookcheck - NotebookCheck.net Reviews

From Notebookcheck G72 review.
While IPS displays are getting more popular for 15-inch notebooks, the majority of 17-inch devices still use a TN panel. Not only do they have smaller viewing angles, but also less color accuracy.

The CMN N173HGE-E11 of the MSI GT72 suffers from some drawbacks as well. Subjectively, it is not as grainy as the N173HGE-L11, but it has, similar to its sibling, a visible blue cast. Skin tones in particular appear unnatural as a result.

The colors are much more authentic and accurate after our calibration with the X-Rite i1 Pro 2 (compare screenshots). The grayscale performance and the RGB balance are also quite poor without a calibration.

http://www.notebookcheck.net/MSI-GT72-Notebook-Review.125916.0.html

 

Hey all, I got a question, I hear a rumor that the GT72's m.2 slot could only support 4x256GB SSD's, Is there a capacity limit or something? I ordered a 512GB SSD that is supposed to be coming today and noticed that it seems someone else already ordered and is running a 512GB SSD. Would we be limited on capacity or would we be able to put it 4x512GB (or larger) in the future? I was just wondering this as it was brought to my attention and wondered if anyone has heard. I know that stock configurations have upto 4x 256GB and wouldn't think capacity would be a problem.

Also I plan on putting in the 512GB and using it as my main drive with the stock 128GB being for whatever. Will the laptop automatically try to RAID this setup or will it show up as another drive?

 

From what I know (told by a MSI representative in the forum), the capacity for m.2 slots are virtually limitless.

As for the raid, I think only drives with same capacity can be RAID, what do you say, Striker?

Regards

 

If you go to the Gentech site and click on customize the G72 you will be able to choose 4x512GB.Crucial M.2 M550 SSDs

That's the largest size they currently offer.

GenTech PC - Systems

 

not to go too OT from our quest for better monitor colors , but all the games run f'in spectacular on this thing at max everything at high speeds. way better than my old 680m, which got about 2/3 of the fps with 2/3 visual setting enabled.


tested at 1920*1200. 1080P performance should be ~10% faster than the below numbers:

alien isolation- max settings on everything butter smooth never hitched or slow down. not sure of fps.

nba2k13 - max everything 8xaa ~120fps, runs smooth as butter.

bf4 - max settings (blur off). 4x aa, hbao enabled. ~75 fps most of the time. 45 low, 75+ high, on stacked servers. no perceptible hitches, stutter or slowdowns.i capped my fps at 75 so the highpoint is likely much higher in triple digits. built in benchmark gives me 70 fps result, but that benchmark sux. any drops to 45 fps are very rare in game, less than 1 time per minute and are not easily perceived unless i stare at fps.

titanfall- max everything, 60fps solid (game locked at 60 even with vsync off).

mordor - ultra preset, built in benchmark 54fps average 23/105 min/max (objective comparison possible if you have this game)

ryse- max everything no super sampling ~60fps. with 1.5 Supersampling ~30fps. 2x*2x super sampling r~15fps. (this one is interesting for xbone parity sake)

dota/counterstrike/tf2/diablo3/fifa is not even worth mentioning really with frames in excess off 120fps at max everything.

evil within - i duno cause it costs 90$ for the game with dlc.

borderlands pre seq- i duno cause it costs 90$ for the game with dlc.

those last 2 games....for 180+tax$ one has to consider strippers and blow instead imho. at least consider SSD upgrade and some hash, if strippers and blow are not available.


BELOW ARE NOT MEASUREMENT AND NOT FACTS---- JUST MY OPINION of this notebook and game performance specifically:

so far i am super super pleased with game performance. all games run super well and much better than my old 680m. games look about twice as good ( i went from medium-high to max settings) and run about twice as smooth.

1080P---basically the 980m gets you 60fps+ average in any 99% of all games with visual settings maxed (some games are locked within their engine at 30fps etc). if the 980m doesn't quiet hit 60fps average at all maxed settings with 4x aa enabled, dropping to a lower aa would surely get you 60fps. so whoever is saying this card maybe "bottlenecked" by cpu or similar -i think yes faster cpu may get you a few more fps at 1080p but since you are getting over 60fps at 1080p consistently, this "bottleneck" is irrelevant.

observation: newer games seem to want alot more texture memory than old games. maybe there is something to this console "parity" and having 8gb vid card memory. pc cpu speed seems alot less relevant in new titles as well, while core count requirements have gone up to 4......this seems to make sense since consoles have slow, but many-core cpu's but each console has 8gb vid buffer.

i think if there is any "bottleneck", its at super high Antialiasing settings or super high resolution, it's less cpu bottleneck and more gpu memory bandwidth (memory clock speed in our case) bottlenck, which is 1250mhz (5ghz) versus 1750mhz (7ghz) for desktop 970/980, which is a 40% increase. but you also have to crank AA to 8x or higher at 1080p, or render games at 1440p or higher to find out. ryse is interesting example since it's supersampling options are somewhat similar to 1440p and 4k rendering respectively, when enabled at 1080p.

1440p at 60hz 60fps---- educated guestrapolating here: should be doable with some ultra settings changed to medium and some changed to high with AA at 2x or AA off. (roughly half performance of 1080p)

4k 60hz 60fps --- educated guestrapolating here: should be doable with low or medium settings and no aa. (1/4 performance of 1080p).


dragonwolf8504 -- it wont auto raid when you add the drive. the bios/uefi has drop down menu which is set to AHCI. You would have to get into bios/UEFI and manually change from AHCI to RAID.

 

I read through all 20 pages of this thread because DILLIGAFF mentioned the SATA2 concern. This was REALLY frustrating to find out after the fact. I've had my gt72 pro 211 for about a week and I noticed the SATA2 limitation on day 1. I have a 512gb Crucial mx100 from my previous lappy. I'm glad you guys put this information out there so I can finally go ahead and order two of the 256gb Crucial drives.

 

Do u guys think the 8gm vram is neccessary oin the MSI? Asus has only 4. I know shadow of mordor ultra asks for 8gb and nothing else, but i dunno if 4gb will be enough after a year as well.... Or aftertwo years... Msi is good because of the 8gb vram and i can upgrade the gpu later but asus has better built quality and the cooling is not that loud. Toughts?

 

Amount of VRAM won't help unless you game at high resolution. But most of configurations out there are based off 1080p thus it's rather less likely that you will be able to fully utilizing all of the VRAM.

 

New Test from MSI GT72 with the 980m.
Interesting are the benchmark values ​​for the games and the comparison with the desktop version of the GTX 970.

AnandTech | MSI GT72 Dominator Pro: Performance Preview

 

So next question is having to dismantle 95% of the laptop just to access them modules should I want to order matching pairs for ram should I save and wait for the next revision in hope that this changes? I like the new look of the GT72 and the performance it brings but I also like the access to the ram slots like my ms16f2. I can understand why MSI did what they did by making a basically bigger heatsink with their all in one chassis but they could of thought the layout a bit more. Prime example the laptop is able to take 2 x 2.5" drives plus the m.2 but they decided not to do so meaning for someone like me whom basically uses the laptop as a main computer I'd need to replace the ROM drive with a ODD caddy like in my current system. From what I have also read here they still have the ROM drive data controller at SATA2 rather then SATA3 not sure about the controller that houses the 1TB drive. Just ashamed that my current system can't be upgraded to a GTX970M let alone a GTX980M. Overal aside from what I have just said is it a worthy upgrade and is the MXM upgrades to the next gen GPU's aka the GTX1000 series going to happen?