MSI GX60 (AMD 7970 + A10) questions

Dumb questions about the MSI GX60 that comes with a Radeon 7970 + A10 CPU. I'm intrigued by this system I think both because it's all AMD, and it has a low $1200 price point...

-I've heard that this has a second drive bay, AND that MSI includes the caddy you need to use it free in the package, even though the system ships with a single drive. Is that true?

-Does this use Enduro/switchable graphics? I'd really prefer it didn't, as I don't want the extra headache involved with that!

-My understanding is that this, and all MSI gaming notebooks have good cooling?

-where do you buy a spare MSI power supply for it? MSI's site is out...

-Is this totally stupid, buying a high end GPU with what's unfortunately at best I guess a mid range CPU? (Wish they'd dedicated the integrated GPU transistors to 2x the Piledriver modules!)

 

- Yes you get the bracket for the second drive and screws in the accessories box.
- Yes it does use enduro.
- Yes it has very good cooling.
- Any 180W 19V 5.5mm*2.5mm tipped PSU will work (I recommend delta power supplies)
- This is a perfect machine if it's at your budget, if you can spend more then you may want to think about getting a core i7 notebook. But this will beat any i7 + 660M machine.

 

Does that mean the the GX60 will outperform the Asus G55VW? Is it worth the price difference? I have read on some forums that the AMD A10 4600 performance is just comparable to that of an i5 and it will bottleneck the AMD 7970 so you end up not getting the most out of the GPU. Is that true? And if it is true does that mean youre better off with an i7+7970 instead of an AMD A10+7970?

 

I have a first gen. i7 (820QM) in my laptop, paired with a 7970M. I can do some benchmarks for comparison.
Mind You, 2nd and 3rd gen. i7s are WAY more powerful than mine.

 

It will, yes, in games.

In relation to what? In games the GX60 will have a significant advantage over the Asus.

Yes, it's true. An i7+7970m combo will beat an A10+7970m combo. Maybe not by a huge amount, and the difference might vary from game to game, but in the end the i7 will give better performance.

The question of a bottleneck was actually discussed in this thread

In the end, it boils down to what the GX60 is. It's a strong budget gaming machine. For the price of a nicely loaded GX60, you're getting an i7+660M combo, which the A10+7970m will easily beat.

Are there stronger systems out there? You bet. Are they going to cost significanly more? Yes.

 

It's trying to fill the huge gulf that lies between an i7 + 660M and an i7 + 7970M.

 

I would actually go for the clevo chassis.

 

can you tell me ONE thing that you actually like from MSI notebooks

 

I like the gx60 when it costs 1200, not when it forgets to compete in price

Im not a fan of their consumer line (had one and the chassis of it is still the basis of the ge60, and yes the quality of the chassis is what i dont like, not the guts), their gaming line is quite fine on the other hand.

 

Apparently the new CX line (consumer line) seems like it is still based on the GE line =\ guess that's not a good thing.. But I think that for the price it beats a lot of their competitors, I7+decentGPU, where most company doesn't even include a GPU for that price

 

it was actually one of the reasons that attracted me to this model, it was an ex625. I hope the ge60 is built better, the guts are good and the cooling on mine was average, but the power was very good for the price.

you are actually confusing my argument that there is a very clear niche for the gx60 and the performance that the a10 delivers. To have a very similar price to a clevo chassis with a 7970m is a sure way to not get things right

 

so you're saying the Clevo's chassis is better than the GT or GX's chassis? I'm sorry I never owned a Clevo, I have no idea how theirs are like, I do know they have dual fans tho... alot of people seems to like that, but other than that not sure what else are good.

 

The gt series is sturdy, it won't fall apart if you take care of it, but it wont be up to toughbook standards.

I had been spoiled by the keyboard and speakers when trying to go from the 16f2 to p150em.

 

I bought it here in holland and i did not get rhe second bracket. I needed to cut the only bracket in half to attach both hdd and ssd in the machine. Its holding

 

That's very odd, I got mine from a retailer in the UK (who don't offer any customisation) and it was in the machine, it sounds to me it was actually taken out.

 

exactly what I said before, and what meaker said, the gt i.e. their gaming line is good, their consumer is not from my experience with them.

 

The barebone allows you to get the best of both worlds in my opinion.

Also as for things I love, that would be the speakers and keyboard

 

if you were to choose between an ASUS G75VX (Non 3D) and MSI GX60. Which one would you get?

 

GX60 any time of the day

 

Why? I still see the A10 makes a huge bottleneck..

 

Take a stroll down 3dmark search page and check the coresponding results. You will see that a i7 3630+gtx670m clocks in the range of 4k where an a10+7970 clocks higher scores. It comes down to what you will use the laptop for more, gaming tends to use gpu processing more @ high resolutions and that's where the gx60 shines.

 

Primary use will be for work using Autocad, REVIT, Sketchup, 3D Max & Photoshop while I also plan to use it for games (RTS) Company of heoroes and (FPS) BF3. My friends told me that the Asus G75vx is sufficient enough to handle those programs but Im really drawn towards the 7970 on the GX60. My only concern is if the CPU do really bottlenecks the GPU so much that its no longer worth it.

 

What little I've found the the gx60 doesn't handle BF3 very well. Most reviews have said they couldn't even recommend it as a gaming laptop because the CPU is so weak. Which stinks because this would be such an awesome machine for the price.

 

A friend of mine, who is into heavy photography editing and such, will get himself a g75 for what it's worth as a lot of colleagues of his use the same machine and all of them are extremely happy with it. He uses a lot of photoshop and some other stuff for photo editing, video montage and such.

 

Thats great to hear. =). Any of your friends used 3D modelling & rendering programs on the G75?

 

I have the same issue, im using all the programs you listed, but power is my main concern besides gaming.

Any cad ps rvt skp user using an A10 experience here?

 

If you have other uses than gaming it's probably best to look at other machines as the GX60 is really focused on that.