This article is abbreviated and created more or less as a sample of several gaming laptops and new games that I will use in reviews. Because I decided to update some CPU, GPU tests and also game tests. But I only have an old Acer Predator Helios 500 in my stock, and the hardware from 2018 is already very good compared to the new laptops that are currently on the market.
So I asked several laptop manufacturers if they had any current and previous models in stock that I could test. Unfortunately, most of these machines have gone away, but MSI, GIGABYTE and ASUS have still loaned out some machines, and it’s quite possible that a few more will be acquired before the first laptop reviews with the new processors and graphics cards appear.
Of these borrowed laptops, the MSI Titan GT77 was the most interesting, so I decided to give it a separate and shortened mini-review, we are primarily looking only at performance. So sorry for the smaller number of laptops in some new tests, I worked with what I managed to quickly get for tests.
An interesting question also arises, are readers interested in such abbreviated mini-reviews? There is a non-zero chance that I could write shorter articles like this a bit faster and they could come out more often. Please share your opinion in the discussion below the article.
MSI has provided two notebooks in a row, we will take a quick look at the smaller and weaker model. This is the MSI Prestige 15 A12UC. I see the Temtp model as something similar to DELL XPS laptops. The MSI Prestige 15 offers several configurations, the tested one is sold for CZK 41,990 including VAT, while the more expensive configuration offers 32GB soldered RAM and a better UHD 160 Hz display. The MSI Prestige 15 is an interesting laptop also in the sense that it uses LPDDR4X-4266 memory, so we will have a comparison with different laptops that have an Alder Lake processor, DDR4, DDR5 and LPDDR4X RAM.
The MSI Prestige 15 is not an asphalt ripper, but it has a fairly decent processor, the Intel Core i7-1280P has six P-Cores with HT and 8 E-Cores, it has a total of fourteen physical cores and is thus very similar to the Core i7-12700H, MSI for this notebook, the power limit for the CPU allows up to 50 Watts. The graphics card is rather weaker, the GeForce RTX 3050 4GB is primarily hampered by the low power limit, but it is at least a better GPU than, for example, the MX series. In addition, it is an interesting piece for comparing weaker graphics cards. The graphics card is connected to the processor via four PCIe lanes of the fourth generation, which corresponds to eight lanes of Gen3, which I consider sufficient for this level of GPU.
MSI Prestige unfortunately has soldered RAM, personally I would go for a model with 32GB RAM, 16GB is not enough these days and can be harmful in some situations. On the other hand, LPDDR4X-4266 memories typically have better performance than the slower DDR4-3200, which are in another tested notebook, and therefore the Prestige can sometimes turn out surprisingly better. On the plus side, the cooler has two fans and it’s possible to add a second PCIe M.2 2280 SSD, which is nice. A replaceable WiFi card will also please you. I tested the laptop with Windows 11 Home v22621.1105 and the latest drivers from MSI, for the RTX 3050 I used the driver directly from NVIDIA in version 528.24.
And now to the Titan.
The MSI Titan GT77 12UHS was MSI’s highest model in the field of gaming laptops until the day before yesterday. There is currently a new version with a thirteenth generation Intel processor and RTX 4080/4090, but this does not mean that the GT77 is past its zenith, it is still a very fast laptop.
For the test, I had available the highest configuration with a price tag of CZK 129,990 including VAT.
- Intel Core i9-12900HX 16C/24T – 2,5GHz, Turbo až 5GHz, 30MB L3 cache, 135W TDP, 10nm
- 2x32GB RAM DDR5-4000 CL-32-32-32-63 2T
- Intel UHD Graphics
- NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3080 Ti Laptop 16GB – 175W TGP
- 17,3“ 3840×2160, IPS-level, 120 Hz, 100% DCI-P3
- Samsung PM9A1 2TB M.2 2280 PCIe NVMe Gen4 x4′
- Intel Killer AX1675i WiFi 6E (802.11ax + Bluetooth 5.2)
- 4 cell 99h baterie
- 330W adapter
- Windows 11 Pro, build 22000.1516
The notebook arrived in its standard sales packaging, and I was not the first to unpack the notebook, as it had been circulating around various newsrooms for some time. Inside the fancy cardboard box, apart from the laptop itself, we find a pile of accessories.
Cute accessories include a key chain with a Lucky dragon, I was surprised that it is not red but black.
I also found a box with a 128GB USB flash drive, which is again a pleasant surprise, because the flash drive has both a USB-C and a USB-A connector. MSI further claims that it can handle up to 110MB/s read and 40MB/s write, which isn’t bad, it’s definitely a useful accessory.
Also in the box is the MSI Gaming Mouse RGB. The mouse is comfortable in the hand and has back/forward buttons on the side, which is again a nice bonus for a laptop.
In the bubble envelope with the MSI logo we find a bunch of manuals and a warranty card.
The laptop also comes with a power adapter, which is quite huge, as it can supply up to 330 Watts and weighs about one kilogram. Interestingly, this is practically the same adapter that I have on my 2018 Acer, only the end on the cable is different.
The MSI Titan GT77 itself is a rather massive piece, the shape is more square, as the notebook is extended to accommodate a more powerful cooling. Even so, the notebook has been slightly thinner, the dimensions are 397 x 329 x 23 millimeters and the weight is a respectable 3.3 kilograms. It is therefore rather a heavier laptop, but it is not quite the heaviest in the test, as I indicate in the title.
The upper lid of the notebook is metal and has the MSI logo backlit using RGB LEDs.
Under the display is a plastic part with perforations, which are used for air access to the fans, there are four of them in the notebook.
In the back of the notebook, there is a cooling exhaust along the entire length, and it is backlit with the help of RGB LEDs.
The port equipment is quite decent, on the left side of the notebook we can see one cooling exhaust, a power connector for a 330 adapter, two USB-A 10Gb/s ports, a large SD card reader (connected via PCIe), a 3.5mm audio combo jack and also there is an LED indicating the battery charging status.
On the right side of the notebook is the rest of the port equipment, an RJ45 connector connected to an Intel Killer E3000 2.5 GbE chipset, an HDMI output (MSI does not state the version, only support for 8K @ 60Hz and 4K @ 120Hz, so I’m guessing HDMI 2.1), miniDisplayPort (again, I don’t know the version , but I’m guessing it’s 1.4), two USB-C ports connected to one ThunderBolt 4 controller (this means that both ports share four third-generation PCIe lanes and it’s not possible to use both at full speed at the same time).
One USB-A 10Gb/s port completes the equipment here.
After opening the laptop, we are greeted by a keyboard and a giant touchpad. Unfortunately, here, in my opinion, the engineers at MSI got a little off the mark. Although the keyboard is mechanical (SteelSeries is said to be the manufacturer) and uses Cherry MX switches, the layout is somewhat bizarre on a 17.3″ laptop. On the left side, we have a Control and Shift key of the same length, which is the smallest.
The right part, where the Fn key is hidden, is really strange, the numeric block is reduced to three columns, which I don’t understand for a 17.3″ laptop. In addition, there is an obligatory power button in the upper right corner. If I only play games on the laptop, it is probably OK, but when working, this resolution is not exactly pleasant, in addition, there is space for a larger keyboard in the laptop.
Of course, the notebook also has a display, MSI boasts that this 17.3″ panel is “IPS level” and looks quite nice, the 120 Hz refresh rate and 100% DCI-P3 coverage are also pleasing. However, I had to use 125% scaling, effectively losing screen space, at 100% scaling it was already too small, subjectively at least for me, I’d probably appreciate a 2560×1440 or 2880×1620 panel, but UHD is OK.
Above the display we also find a 720p webcam, microphones and an IR camera that can be used with Windows Hello, for example.
The bottom cover of the notebook is plastic with a metal part under the radiator. I removed the lid and we can see the insides of the laptop.
The upper part is occupied by quite robust cooling, which has to deal with up to 250 Watts of heat with the help of four fans and seven heatpipes, which is quite a high value for a laptop. Cooling can do it, but the laptop’s noise under load is very high, when I roughly measured the noise with my phone, I got 45-46 dB under load. The processor can consume up to 135 Watts long-term and the graphics card even up to 175 Watts.
Under the stack of coolers we find a total of five M.2 slots, the smallest M.2 2230 contains the WiFi card Intel Killer AX1675i WiFi 6E. The remaining four M.2 slots have a standard 80mm length and we can fit four NVMe SSDs. In theory, we can thus have a total storage capacity of 32TB, which is very interesting and I welcome the four NVMe slots.
Two slots are connected to the processor, while one of them even supports PCIe fifth generation, the second slot supports PCIe fourth generation and a Samsung SSD PM9A1 2TB was installed in it, unfortunately cooling in the notebook is solved with the help of a heat-conducting pad, which dissipates the heat to the motherboard .
The other two M.2 slots support four PCIe lanes of the fourth generation and are connected to the Intel HM670 chipset.
MSI hides a small surprise under the sheet metal cover. There are exactly four DDR5 SODIMM slots, two of which are installed. MSI installed two Samsung M425R4GGA3BB0 32GB 2Rx8 DDR5-4800 modules here. However, the modules ran in 4000 MT/s mode, I assume for stability reasons, which is probably mainly due to the four slots and support for up to 128GB of RAM. Thumbs up again for the four slots and the option to install up to 128GB of RAM.
With the guts out of the way, now it’s time to look at the software and more sauce. For your interest, I am attaching a screenshot from HWiNFO showing the connection of devices on PCIe buses.
As I mentioned earlier, the Intel Core i9-12900HX processor can use a power limit of 135 Watts for a long time, and it can easily take 150W+ for a short time, which is a brutal value for a laptop. Temperatures are thus very high in both long and short loads. The processor has a total of eight P-Cores that can boost up to 5GHz, while eight E-cores can tick up to 3.6GHz. The processor thus has a total of sixteen physical cores and twenty-four CPU threads thanks to HT. The paradigm shift is here.
The GeForce RTX 3080 Ti graphics card has 16GB of GDDR6 16Gbps VRAM available, which is interesting, most mobile GeForces have 14 Gbps of memory, this upgrade increased the VRAM throughput from 448GB/s to 512GB/s. Thanks to NVIDIA Dynamic Boost technology, the card can suck up to 175 Watts, although I have seen jumps over 180W in Furmark. The laptop has a MUX chip available, so I only switched to an RTX 3080 Ti to maximize performance.
In terms of pre-installed software, we won’t find anything special, just drivers, Norton and other utilities.
We can configure a bunch of things in MSI Center, including driver updates and configuring power modes. I enabled Extreme Performance mode and switched to dGPU only.
Windows 11 Pro v22000.1516 was used as the operating system and NVIDIA drivers were in version 528.20.
