Aorus X7V2 VS MSI GT72 DOM

I'm ready to pull the trigger on one of these (will be my work and gaming laptop until new Haswell Nvidia GPU refresh), but I'm kind of torn.

I love the slim profile of the Aorus, and as I'll be taking it to the office a few times a week the weight and non-garishness of it are appealing.
I know that the SLI 860m's are technically more powerful than a single 880m, but there are so many games that do not utilize SLI.

On the other hand I know the GT72 stays nice and cool, I won't have GPU compatibility issues, and the default speakers and keyboard are superior...

Which would you pick and why?

Posted this here and on the MSI board for maximum responses

 

The games that don't utilize SLI are really rare and mostly old games that a single 860m will max out, when Sli works "most games now" you will get more than 880m performance in a slim laptop that doesn't weight 6KG
G72 is a beast but for me not interested until 980m Maxwell is out

 

WOOT!
Went ahead and ordered the Aorus!

 

I'd always take the faster single card solution, the 860M SLI may win in raw frame rate but not in average frame time smoothness.

 

I was mulling similar things and voted on the GT72.

1) it is 6.5 lb vs 8.5 lb I.e 3.85 kilos. Yes it weighs more but the footprint is the real issue and they aren't that far off, except for width.

2) the Aorus runs HOT so the fans are running a lot louder all the time. Also the surface of the laptop can get steamy. I have never gotten the MSI to be hot enough that the fans have to rev up.

3) if you are actually using this for the office too then battery life might be an issue. Neither has Optimus. However the MSI can run on Intel graphics with the push of a button. When that happens I can get more that 3 hrs on the battery. This is not an option on the Aorus.

4) the video is upgradeable on the MSI

Both are nice systems but you see where I was leaning...and I was doing the research for a while.....

Good luck with your choice

 

DOMINATOR.... sorry just had to do that, I would personally go with the Aorus x7v2 due to the SLI and increased graphical capabilities due to this, also the slim form factor is a huge plus especially if you will be taking it with you occasionally.

 

My final decision was made on the fact that I'm only planning as using this as a "main" gaming laptop for a few months.

I'm probably going to be buying (again) an AW18 when the new Nvidia chips drop.
At that point either sell the Aorus, or more than likely keep it as my backup/office laptop while still being able to game during breaks or downtime

 

you will most likely be waiting another 8 months or so, I don't think this cloud guy is serious

 

cloudfire sorry yea I don't think he is entirely legitimate

 

If that's true it's even BETTER news!

I'll have a *very* nice laptop to enjoy for several months, and then WHENEVER a refresh happens I'll be ready!!

I have the $$$ put aside (approx. $5600), for that beast of an AW 18, but even for me, it's easier to justify that kind of expense after this one (which was not cheap at $2300), if there is more time between them

 

Sorry, didnt see this thread until now:

- GTX 880M and GTX 860M SLI should be just about equal in performance.
- GTX 860M SLI you find on the Aorus is Kepler and not Maxwell
- Aorus X7 runs very hot. The casing hits about 60C (too hot to have on lap). The CPU hits high 90s and the GPU hits around 90C.
- Aorus X7 is very noisy. It output just about 53dB during gaming, extremely loud compared to other gaming machines.
- GT72 runs very cool, in the 70-80C for the GPU and the CPU and you can barely hear it during gaming. Big difference.
- You can swap out GPUs in the GT72. You cant with Aorus since they are soldered.

I`d pick the GT72 without any doubts

 

Who are you trying to kid? 8 months?
Face it, Kepler is dead. Maxwell is being announced early next month.

GTX 880M is nothing but a placeholder, a milking cow just to have some income while they are prepping up for launch

 

Cloud, just let em' get the Aorus..... that'll teach em'.

 

Oh crap...Mine will be here on Tuesday...is it really that much of a turd!
Newegg has a restocking fee!!! Arrrgh!

 

Why did you order it?! New GPUs and designs all over the placeeeee, waiting will prove to be the best bet for now

 

I had an Aorus, great device but had to return it for a refund because I wasn't happy with the dead pixels and well, dead pixels don't equal replacement.

Anyways I actually went with an MSI GT70. One MAJOR drawback of the Aorus is the lack of official driver support. Coming from an M18x I hate modding drivers to make sure they install on my device. And with the Aorus I couldn't figure out how to mod the drivers to install so basically I was stuck with their drivers and was not able to install the latest nvidia drivers. I really really hate that and I consider that a major drawback of not just the Aorus but all SLI notebook systems.

 

Hmmm... I wonder if Newegg charges a restocking fee if I literally do not open the box and send it back brand new?

Also, for what it's worth, I'm planning on buying a fully maxed out AW 18 with all the new chipset refreshes when they drop.

So it's NOT one or the other, I'd have both. The Aorus would be my 'portable" and the AW 18 would 99% stay at home.

Are you saying that Gigabyte doesn't update the GPU drivers ever?
What kind of company producing gaming-centic devices don't update drivers??

Oh, and dead pixels don't qualify for a refund? I think they would. Maybe not one or two, but enough of them should!

 

They obviously will update but the question is the frequency, you might not see an update every major release and I tend to keep the latest installed including beta drivers. I am not willing to sacrifice the ability to update to the latest especially when there are performance increases and such.

And regarding the dead pixel issue that was my case, the amount didn't qualify a replacement but I was still in the return window so I returned it. I can't stand dead pixels and the unit I received had a couple of black ones in the center of the screen but the amount didn't warrant a replacement.

 

Not really sure what you mean by modding the drivers. As in the official nvidia drivers do not install on your system? I remember that being the case way back when I first got my m17xr3 but that is a really old school problem.

Sent from my Nexus 5 using Tapatalk

 

Yes official drivers don't detect the system as having compatible gpus. It happened with my old m18x as well. The first thing I did when I got it was trying to install official drivers.