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On the left side. From left to right: Headphone-out Mic in USB 3.1(USB Type-C) USB 3.0 Mini-DisplayPort HDMI USB3.0 RJ45 ethernet jack Kensington lock slot A contrasting point about the GE62’s external appearance is that the display can be opened as wide as up to 130 degrees. If the user enjoys playing Heroes of the storm or wants a 4K screen, they will definitely love with this limited Heroes Edition notebook. Personally, I prefer the standard version because of the appearance of a good texture with where A & C sides have black metal groove design. Of course, the appearance preference differs among people and everyone has his or her own taste. GE62’s dimensions are 383(W) x 260(D) x 27~29(H) mm, with 2.4 kg in weight. Among the 15.6-inch high-performance models with optical drives, GE62 is indeed one of the easiest to carry. The casing area is also thinner. Lightweight and shell thickness is often difficult to choose as most of the users would be more concerned about the weight performance. GE62 offers many versions, with a price range from the entry to mid-level on the gaming notebooks market. Below is the hardware information on the most high-end GE62 6QF Apache Pro. Latest 6th Gen. Intel Core i7 6700HQ processor with 2.6GHz, Quad-core support HT technology 14nm processor, TurboBoost with automatic overclocking reaching up to 3.5GHz, and Intel HM170 chipset. L3 Cache is 6MB, even though it’s lower than the special i7-6820HK overclocking edition’s specifications, still the i7-6700HQ is also present among a few most recent laptop architectures with high-end i7 position. A new version sound software of Nahimic is also used by MSI in its GT72S configuration. It offers four different sound effects, which includes 5 sound settings with detailed adjustments. Below is the description of the listening experience. This part is quite subjective, other notebooks built-in speakers are taken as a benchmark. Adjusting the volume to the maximum is considered fairly loud, so there is no need to worry that the speakers will be too quiet. High frequency: The sound isn’t too sharp. Good in deep details, the performance is above average. Middle frequency: The sound has excellent detailed clarity; vocal fullness is also above average. Low frequency: The performance is also good, the bass is clean, not like others, however an increased mid or high frequency will easily put pressure on the low frequency. MSI GE62’s left and right speakers positioned in the front as Alienware, which delivers direct sound to the user. Listening to music or songs is also at a very good level, watching movies and playing games with 3D sound is outstanding at this price range of the sound. Simply speaking: excellent sound clarity, good sound absorption, only sound stage still could be better. HD Audio Recorder Nahimic provides an anti-noise function for both microphone and HD Audio Recorder. Heroes of the Storm version of MSI wallpaper Below is the TRUE COLOR PROFILE mode selection software interface, Press Fn+A to turn on TRUE COLOR PROFILE selection mode. High-end GT72S also has this function. You can select 1 out of 6 color effect modes to apply them to different usage environments. Exclusive software SteelSeries Engine 3 lets the user configure his/her own Steelseries keyboard and mouse. GE62 of SteelSeries keyboard is mounted with lighting effects and includes a feature of rich color adjustment. The exclusive software MSI DRAGON GAMING CENTER Main features include detailed hardware status, Quick App, Instant Play and Device Setting. Device Setting includes 3 Shift Mode with different functions which allow the user to adjust the desired performance mode. The following is the Sport mode testing which puts GE62’s performance on the highest level. Because the factory configuration only included a single DDR4 8GB RAM, I make it become 8GBX2 memory as dual channel mode. When you get a new laptop, if there is a single RAM module, it’s recommended to upgrade it to dual channel RAM combination. A little more spending will be worth a significant improvement over the overall performance. When turning Cooler Boost 3 on, the fan operating at full performance greatly decreases the operating temperature. System benchmark test CINEBENCH R15 CPU => 678 cb CPU(Single Core) => 138 cb Make the i7-6700HQ 2.6~3.5GHz in comparison with the previous generation i7-4720HQ 2.6~3.6GHz Single-core CPU performance increases by about 4.5%, multitasking performance increases by about 9.7% 6700HQ has a 100MHz lower clock setup, however the single and multi-core performance is even higher than the previous generation Core i7.

During the past 2 years, laptops positioning as Gaming products became almost major brands on a battleground. Along with PC gaming having global prevalence, gaming products also possesses a very important position on the notebook market. Dell considered an early-entry gaming brand, however MSI has already been dedicating itself to gaming notebooks market for years. In pursuit of high performance, MSI featured product line includes GT series and more affordable GE series, also slim and lightweight of GS series, and the recent new GP series which is more affordable than GE as a mainstream gaming. Each price range offered at a different product segment, which lets user consider and choose from a wider selection. The product we are testing today is GE62 6QF Apache Pro In cooperation with a famous game from Blizzard, MSI launched limited Heroes of The Storm Edition, which is presented in a special edition carton sleeve. To the right of GE62 is a special backpack, it packed in a vacuum for a size reduction purpose and looks ever more attractive than the previous review of GT72 backpack. GE62 6QF Apache Pro Heroes Edition included accessories CD drivers, quick start guide, product features guide. two years warranty card, MSI gaming mouse. slim type DELTA 150W adapter and a power cable. At first, you can see the HEROES OF THE STORM game characters design on the A-side of the notebook. The standard edition has a metal aluminum cover with racing shapes, and comparing to the previous GE60 generation with a piano paint, this shell is more attractive. Because the Heroes of the storm edition has full-color IMR painting design, so both A and C sides had to be replaced with plastic material. The dimensions are 383(W) x 260(D) x 27~29(H) mm with a 2.4 kg in weight. Since the 15.6-inch is equipped with high-specification hardware, it feels light when lifting the notebook up. Although notebooks with embedded CD-ROM usually created additional thickness, the thickness of the GE62 design is fairly moderate. B side is 15.6-inch glare 4K screen of 3840x2160 resolution, as Samsung currently offers only glare version for this type of a screen. The general GE62 version includes 1920 X 1080 matte display, but this GE62 version has a different panel. The black border around the screen is matte and is covered with glitter embellishment to enhance the visual quality. The WebCam above the screen is 720P and is capable of 30FPS. Built-in microphones are on both sides with stereo mic support. Though C-side is also made of metal on the standard edition, in the Heroes Edition, due to IMR printed design, it had to be modified became ABS plastic material. SteelSeries keyboard consists of 3 lighting zones providing a rich choice of full color selection switch through SteelSeries Engine. The trackpad with the left and right buttons, has sensitivity level better than GT72S There are 3 matte-textured buttons on the top right. On the right is the power button, the indicating LED will turn blue when the notebook power on. In the middle is the SteelSeries keyboard button which lets you switch between different lighting modes with different Macro keys. On the left is the cooler boost button, which represents Cooler Boost 3 cooling technology and provides higher fan speed with excellent thermal environment. Underneath is a non-removable battery, 6-Cell Lithium Ion with the power of 51wHr. 2.1 Sound System is based around the surface while an woofer is located at the bottom left black netted area. In the center of the bottom there are 3 blue LED status lights indicating of hard drive, power and WIFI. The speakers are on the left and right sides of the bottom, which bring a more direct sound to the user thanks to the special design. IO area on the right side. From left to right: DC power jack SD(XC/HC) USB 2.0 HD-DT-ST DVDRAM

When enable nVIDIA GTX 980 GPU and runs at the high-performance mode with overclocking up to 3.7GHz Set Cooler Boost 3 on, the system’s idle temperature is about 27~31. With the Cooler Boost 3 on, LinX 0.6.5 discovers CPU temperature to be 67~75 at its full running speed. Cooler Boost 3 low-frequency noise increased, which though will be overshadowed by the game sound. However, even when the overclocking is at a low mode, in addition to full speed burn-in at 3.2GHz the temperature is 12~14 degree C lower. While overclocking, 3DMark or other software can show the CPU speed to be 3.7GHz. The burn test AIDA64 shows the results of 3.2~3.3GHz. LinX 0.6.5 shows 3.2GHz. Because of the cooling module limitation, with a high level of heat, 6820HKmight look like it can’t achieve overclocking speed at 100%p performance. However, in most of the environments it is possible to overclock effectively. Most of the other high-end notebooks are thinner than GT72S. They are less likely to perform overclocking, and much harder to install GTX 980... Battery life endurance, Windows 10 at balanced power. When running GTX 980 and playing DVD video, approximately 2 hours 08 minutes?battery performance is similar to GT72 one. With CPU Intel HD Graphics 530, after playing DVD video for 3 hours, the battery life is about 15%. The performance is similar to GT72. The summary of GT72S 6QF Dominator Pro limited edition. Most features and advantages. 1. High-end model GT72S includes Intel Core i7-6820HK and has high overclocking capabilities. 2. Currently on the top of the market with nVIDIA GTX 980 graphics card with the strongest 3D GPU. 3. Wireless and wired internet usage Killer Gaming feature supports Killer DoubleShot Pro technology. 4. 2-slot M.2 interface PCI-E Gen3 x4 of SSDx2 RAID combination and 2-slot M.2 interface SATA3 RAID0 combination. 5. High-quality colors and wide-viewing angle IPS panel is supported by True Color correction technology 6. The combination Steelseries Engine 2, lighting management, rich macro keys set and 4 sets of virtual keyboard functionalities 7. Cooler Boost3 double fan allows GT72S to have a strong cooling performance in a high-end gaming market. 8. Dynaudio technology featuring Audio Boost 2 with gold-plated connectors and 3 independent amplifiers gives an excellent sound experience. 9. Matrix Display technology, HDMI with a highest resolution of 4Kx2K, ability to have 3+1 screens used at the same time. 10. Nahimic 3D professional audio software and featuring ESS SABRE HiFi DAC audio technology effectively enhances the sound quality in the headphones. 11. MXM upgradable design also supports nVIDIA’s newest G-SYNC technology. Potential for future improvements 1. Touchpad sometimes skips the function rows or not sensitive, which makes it require more effort while use. 2. Backpack weight and dimensions could be optimized smaller, so could be more convenient to lift and carry. 3. SteelSeries keyboard touch feeling is sometimes soft; the feedback for the hand use could be better. 4. The palm rest area and D side are both plastic material, which could be substituted with metal or carbon for the better texture improvement. 5. Although better than G751 and many other notebooks, the camera could also be improved. Performance ?????????? 95/100 Material ?????????? 90/100 Specification ?????????? 93/100 ID design ?????????? 82/100 C/P value ?????????? 75/100 GT72S launched many models, recently with 4K display or lower GTX 980M version. No matter whether talking about CPU or GPU performance, GT72S is undoubtedly one of the best than most of others. 6820HK has an overclocking feature, moreover GTX 980 GPU is now only equipped on GT72S and runs at a batter thermal design of heating capacity. Isn’t there an extra value of overclocking when singing, dancing or playing games? Where else could you find such a good overclocking notebook on the notebook market now? As previously mentioned, only change of the product’s exterior color or the printing or logo can certainly be called as Gaming. Apart from the basic 3D performance, remarkable appearance?comfortable screen or keyboard touching sense, the sound is on a high level as the speakers and the headphones sound quality is one of the key features of the notebook. Compared 3 top level gaming notebooks of their sound quality. GT72S had almost caught up with Alienware. This is what GT70 can’t catch up away from those. Moreover, G751 notebook in these 2 aspects is far behind. GT72S 6QF, except for being a top in efficiency performance, is also one of the leaders in other hardware. Of course it still has few points could be better. Outer texture could be improved as plastic surface could be better, no matter what the market price will be, cost still be the biggest disadvantage for the budget consumers. Material quality and extra product features always better at higher price range products. On the other hand, hardware and design will have fewer disadvantages because of the cost increased a lot as well. I am hoping to provide users with the most reliable and necessary information as a product reference. GT72S overview is shared by windwithme. This article also post on my own blog WIND3C, welcome to visit and feedback!

3D specifications remain GT72S’ biggest advantage. MSI was the fastest to release nVIDIA GTX 980 graphics product, not like others still stay on GTX 980M only. The fact that mobile GTX 980 with 8GB GDDR5 is new and works great, same CUDA Cores as 3D Desktop PC GTX 980, it’s a currently the market peak for this extreme level graphics card. 3DMark11 => P14901?comparing to 980M, the performance has increased big by about 24% higher. Last June at ComputeX 2015 you could see that nVIDIA released G-SYNC technology. Coordinating with the 75Hz IPS panel on GT72S, it can synchronize GPU 3D frame and the screen refresh rate dynamically. Even though running the PC will let 3D performance decrease a bit, as shown below, 3DMark11 => P13392. G-SYNC will let high-speed movement FPS games have smoother visual effects and complete image quality, decrease jitter and input lag effectively. Below is a 3D Benchmark test also disabled nVIDIA G-SYNC, which shows the bigger performance gap compared with GTX 980M 3DMARK => 11353 / 28115 / 28419 / 14659 3DMARK FIRE STRIKE compared with 980M increases by about 39.49% in performance improvement Heaven Benchmark 4.0 DX11 1920 X 1080 => FPS 130.0 GTX 980 on average is 130 pages while previous GTX 980M test showed 82.8 pages. There is a 57% performance improvement when playing FAR CRY 4. Far Cry 4 is currently one of the most demanding 3D games with a resolution of 1920 X 1080 75MHz, allowing 3D to run at an Ultra mode with 200 FPS, when at the beginning of the game it’s 83FPS. The performance of 980, comparing to 980M, increases by 41.8% on the start and by about 22% while entering the game. Assassin's Creed Syndicate 1920 x 1080 75MHz, GRAPHIC PRESET: VERY HIGH The frame rate right after entering the game - 69FPS Tom Clancy's Rainbow Six® Siege 1920 x 1080 75MHz, graphics setup: Ultra The frame rate is right after entering the game - 112FPS Mobile nVIDIA GTX 980 is currently the best at GPU performance on the notebook market. After supporting 3D Game FAR CRY 4 using Ultra mode it’s also possible to enable furthermore 3D special effects. When playing the latest on the market game Rainbow Six® Siege, it’s also possible to turn on all 3D effects. When playing Assassin's Creed, the higher demand for 3D graphics. However 69FPS is already a great performance indicator. Press Fn+A to turn on TRUE COLOR PROFILE selection mode for IPS panel whose color accuracy is already very high. After switching Spyder color feature, the color difference is really small. You can select 1 out of 6 color effect modes. Excellent color accuracy provides different environments for the user. With room temperature about 24 degrees, proceeding to CPU cooling capacity test and CPU being at a preset value of 2.7~3.6GHz, GPU running with nVIDIA GTX 980, with power supply on the balance mode, Cooler Boost 3 off, the system’s temperature on standby mode is about 31~35 degrees. With Cooler Boost 3 off, LinX 0.6.5 discovers CPU temperature to be 79~89 at its full running speed. LinX 0.6.5 is currently the strictest burn test software. The fan is fairly quiet at a low running speed. The temperature indicator is outstanding during stand-by and burn-in mode. It doesn’t exceed 90 degrees C during the burn-in mode. With the sound muted, the system’s temperature and performance are at a balanced setup.

The headphones output is equipped with ESS SABRE HiFi DAC, which will give a more in-depth sound. The feeling perceived by an ear is similar to the one by professional headphones SENNHEISER HD6 MIX. Compared the difference of 24Bits-192KHz audio quality by trying more on ASUS ROG G751. When using Realtek sound solution G751 model, High and low frequencies are less satisfying in sound performing. When using Alienware 17 with Creative Sound Core 3D, low and high frequencies are at very good level, especially greater in midrange sound details. MSI GT72S is equipped ESS SABRE HiFi DAC to export the headset sound, the performance is great at both high and low frequencies, also good at midrange frequency. The grading for the sound quality: Alienware 17 – 92 points; GT72S: 90 points. But where is the last one? MSI GT72S Dominator Pro speakers are still in collaboration with the Danish brand Dynaudio. Below is the description of the listening experience. This part is quite subjective, Notebook built-in speakers are taken as a benchmark. When adjusting to the maximum volume, the Maxima volume is very loud, which makes you not to worry about a problem of quite speakers. At the high frequency, the sound isn’t sharp. Going deep into details, the performance is above average. At the middle frequency, the sound is quite clear, vocals sound solid though there is a room for improvement. At the low frequency, it wins among the three frequency range, with a shocking good bass, with blooming sound experience. If you want to watch a video or play a game, GT72S in overall proves to have a higher level sound quality. When listening to the music, even though the middle frequency isn’t top-class, there are only a few which are excellent in this area. As a high-performance gaming notebook, GT72S is also quite competent in terms of sound. Comparing to Alienware 17, GT72S high and low frequencies sound great, only middle frequency still could make improvement. GT72S storage design is its major feature. It includes the newest Super RAID 4 technology. You can install PCI-E Gen 3.0 SSDx2 and M.2 SATA3 SSDx2 at same time, This model comes with NVMe PCI-E interface of 256GB SSDx2 at Raid 0 SSD. Installed TOSHIBA THNSN5256GPU7 using 16nm MLC IC AS SSD Benchmark - 3348 Seq Read - 2816.64 MB/s Write - 1502.44 MB/s 4K - 64Thrd Read - 1181.42 MB/s Write - 876.30 MB/s ATTO DISK Benchmark, when exceeding128k, achieves maximum Read speed of 3221Mb/s and maximum Write speed of 1926 MB/s CrystalDiskMark Seq Read - 3208 MB/s Write - 1949 MB/s The performance of NVMe M.2 SSD is quite excellent, it only requires 2 M.2 slots of Raid 0 is faster than the one applied on GT80 half a year earlier of 4 MSATA slots. In addition to the design, more bandwidth is provided with PCI-E Gen 3.0. The new NVMe protocol of M.2 SSD sharply increased the access speed. In order to achieve above-high bandwidth transmission, 4K efficiency has also improved significantly with the greater performance. And one more HGST HTS721010A9E630 1TB 2.5-inch HDD for data storage. System benchmark test PCMARK8 - 5503 PCMARK8 score also very high in the entire system performance. The bottom picture shows GT72S already exceeding of 99% of the overall PC performance. CrystalMark 2004R3 => 435959 Fritz Chess Benchmark => 29.92/14360 CrystalMark 2004R3 score was also high. Even though Skylake and Haswell have a little design difference, below are Fritz Chess Benchmark test results. Since 6820HK has an overclocking ability and set to 3.7GHz, the CPU multitask effectiveness also obviously enhanced a lot. CPU Benchmark test (Sport mode setting: CPU by 37x) FRYRENDER Running Time => 4m 27s x264 FHD Benchmark => 27.2 CINEBENCH R15 CPU => 798 cb CPU(Single Core) => 158 cb If comparing Intel Core i7-6820HK’s preset clock to the previous generation, 4980HQ, it only has a small enhancement. But when turning on GT72S overclocking mode, the performance increased about 32.78%, which is outstanding. Using Sport mode for overclocking, could enable Cooler Boost 3 with push a button on left side, which will let the fan operate at its full throttle. To boost on the 6820HK and GTX 980, it will be a great help with performance and temperature. However the fan noise will also be increased. Recommend to use Cooler Boost mode when ultra-loading usage, normally use the standard mode with silence. The 6820HK at this GT72S is powerful running at 40x, overclocking CPU reach 4GHz, and it’s also completed all the critical tests. Fritz Chess Benchmark => 32.57/15635 x264 FHD Benchmark => 29.4 Overclocking up to 4GHz in comparison to 3.7GHz Fritz Chess Benchmark increases by about 8.9%; x264 FHD Benchmark increases by about 8% Of course if setting only 3.2GHz with 6820HK, the 4.0GHz performance will increase by about 14% DRAM Benchmark test DDR4 2132.2 CL15 15-15-36 2T ADIA64 Memory Read - 30308 MB/s Sandra Memory Bandwidth - 25789 MB/s MaXXMEM Memory-Copy - 28139 MB/s Using DDR4 memory is also Skylake’s highlight on new PCs, lower voltage and higher frequency are improvement. Moreover, bandwidth is also become higher. Of course, there will be single 16GB DRAM with better capabilities soon.

5 shortcut buttons, On the other side of the power button down?UMA/GTX 980 GPU manual switch button. Cooler Boost Button: Cooler Boost 3 cooling technology with 2 cooling modes. GameCaster Live Streaming switch button, SteelSeries3 lighting zones, hot key and micro key setup button. IO area is on the left side. From left to right: 4 X USB 3.0 Line-in Line-out Mic-in Headphone-out SD (XC/HC) Rear I/O: From left to right : DC power jack RJ45 ethernet jack HDMI Thunderbolt3 including USB 3.1 Mini-DisplayPort Kensington Lock slot. Large set of blood-red vents on both sides Right I/O From left to right: MAT****A BD-MLT UJ272 ODD 2 X USB 3.0 SteelSeries keyboard, with a multi-colorful backlighting and attractive print design, gives a soft feeling while using. GT72S size and weight are 428(W) x 294(D)x 48(H)mm and 3.78Kg. Display opened angle is high up to 180 degrees, which is going to have a better utility ratio for some applications. Even though GT72S and GT72 are similar, there is less difference in the exterior design, Thunderbolt 3 with Type-C interface, LED keyboard and internal hardware multi-upgrade option are the main parts to notice. Below will have detailed performance test. There are 2 red light-bars in the front for increasing the sense of speed, whose light color which is possible to change through SSE software. When wearing headphones, audio jack will turn to use ESS SABRE HiFi DAC sound. Thanks to 9016K2M capability of the Lossless Hi-Res Audio Playback, and it isn’t in charge by Realtek ALC898. GT72S has more versions, depending on the price and hardware configuration. Below is GT72S 6QF Dominator Pro hardware information CPU uses Intel Skylake Core i7-6820HK 2.7GHz, Quad-core support HT technology 14nm processor, TurboBoost with automatic overclocking reaching up to 3.6GHz?Intel CM236 chipset. Due to an introduction of K series, it is possible to change the design of the frequency multiplier. Also, L3 is up to 8MB, almost the same as Desktop specifications. These stunning characteristics give people new expectations regarding the overclocking performance. The company’s exclusive software MSI DRAGON GAMING CENTER has new features. Except for the main hardware status, quick applications, Instant Play and Device Setting items, Device Setting with Shift Mode, you can easily select a suitable mode. The following is the Sport mode testing which could set CPU Ratio 37x and its clock speed 3.7GHz. Switching to the new sound software - Nahimic with Audio setup including Music, Gaming and Movie modes which let you adjust the settings according to your needs. Below are sound settings for individual’s comfort zone. Adjusting microphone settings is helpful whether you want to play a game or chat online. HD Audio Recorder Nahimic provides an anti-noise function for both microphone and HD Audio Recorder.

In pace with the growth of the gaming laptop market and major brands releasing more types of products due to the competition, MSI took an early start on the market. Releasing many product lines after 2011, today MSI already had 4 main gaming notebook segmentations, from low-end to high-end, respectively: GP, GE, GS and GT. Differing by design and positioning, its gaming laptops offer a much richer choice comparing to the company’s competitors. Performing at the highest level GT series, the first model was a 17-inch GT72, designed at the end of the last year, which was then first followed by an introduction GT80 18-inch featuring Cherry mechanical keyboard, with an SLI high-efficiency models created just a year after GT72. Recently MSI introduced a GT72S refresh, with a strengthening improvement becoming GT72S 6QF Dominator Pro, this time we tested the GT72S Dragon Edition of 29th year Anniversary model, compared general GT72 or GT72S Series models are black and consist of different exterior designs. The top of the notebook A side, same as GT72, has a car shape appearance. Brush metal and aesthetic lines with a laser dragon engraving are certain angles really dragon-looking. After turning the machine on, dragon’s right eye glows LED-white. Moreover, the word “msi” is without lightening. In addition to MSI 29 Anniversary Edition, there is a carton sleeve included in the bundle, which differentiates this notebook from others. Looking back into 2003 and MSI overclocking motherboard, 2006 and MSI netbooks and GX600 notebook. Hard to believe how fast the time flies. Recent years MSI has a solid share on the high-end gaming notebooks market. GT72S 6QF Dominator Pro accessories include CD drivers, Quick Start Guide, Product Features Guide, special MSI mouse with a 2-year warranty, keychain with a dragon doll, 230W adapter and a power cable. GT72S backpack is of the same style GT72 or GT80, though its vacuum package is significantly reduced in size due to its special design. The backpack’s main color is black, with a dragon-like red line on the front side. Underneath is the same as GT72. It is a laminar casing area with red ventilation outlets. There is a GT72S built-in non-removable battery, 9-Cell Lithium-Ion with the power of 83wHr. 2.1 Subwoofer System is based around the surface while an XBS bass is located at the bottom right red area. B-side goes with a FHD (1920×1080) non-glare 17.3” display which comforts your eyes while using in a long time. Support NVIDIA G-SYNC up to 75Hz refresh rate and over 72%NTSC color gamut IPS panel. The webcam at the top of the screen is capable of 1080p at 30FPS. Built-in microphones are on both sides with digital mic support. C-side: the palm rest part below the keyboard for the user’s hands designed with special glasses, this feels plastic and easy to attach more finger prints; there is a room for improvement. The difference of GT72S’ special edition is a unique image of the MSI Gaming dragon, which contributes as a greater visual effect. Other C side parts represent an excellent shell texture due to a matte metal design. The dot-hole row above the keyboard, from the left to the right, contains Sound by Dynaudio speakers from Denmark. SteelSeries keyboard consists of 3 lighting zones providing a rich choice of full color selection switch through SteelSeries Engine.

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When turning back on the Cooler Boost 3 function, running LinX 0.6.5 and setting the CPU at full speed, the system temperature was around 78~86C. Above tests were done to compare system temperature differences when the exclusive MSI Cooler Boost Technology was on and off. A 7~13C temperature difference was discovered when the system was under standby mode whereas a 2~3C temperature difference exited under full speed. Based on these test results, the Cooler Boost 3 function is very helpful under both circumstances. When system configurations were i7-4980HQand GTX 980M SLI, running at full speed, temperature difference was not as obvious as that of GT72, However, since the system temperature remained under 90C, it proved that the thermal design of GT80 was very efficient and powerful. Noise might became louder, emitting low frequency noise when spinning at full speed. Therefore, I suggest turn on Cooler Boost 3 function only when playing games at high or very high settings. There is no need to enhance this function when doing general word processing works or watching movies online. Finally, windwithme opened up the GT80s D side to inspect and share its interior designs and configurations. Doing so will damage the warranty sticker, please do not take this step unless necessary. Dual set of 3 heat pipes are designed for each GTX980M, located at both the right and the left hand side, whereas two heat pipes are dedicated to the central for CPU. These two heat pipes transmit heat generated from the central CPU to the two active fans. There are two SO-DIMM DDR3 slots. You can easily open the metal cover on the C side by removing two screws from the bottom D side, a great design for DIY users. Here you may see speakers, optical drive, SSD, HDD, DDR3, network card and etc. Battery life, set Windows 8.1 power settings at Balanced mode Turned on nVIDIA GTX 980M SLI and played DVD after 2 hours and 10 minutes, there remained around 10% battery left. Turned on CPU integrated Iris Pro Graphics 5200 and played DVD 3 hours and 10 minutes longer, there remained around 10% battery left. The battery performance of GT80 was very satisfying since it needed to power and run such advanced and high-end configurations. Conclusion MSI GT80 2QE Titan SLI Unique Features and Advantages 1.GT80 is more muscle and aerodynamic shape than GT72. Moreover, the GT80s ID quality also outstands that of GT72. 2.Equipped dual nVIDIA GTX 980M GPU with SLI, the highest level in the market in terms of its 3D performance 3.Killer DoubleShot Pro technology: both LAN and wifi are powered by Killer Gaming LAN/WiFi chipset 4.Perfect balance between data read/write speed and storage capacity: Super RAID 3 using four M.2 SSD and an 1TB 2.5 HDD 5.SHIFT: Switch among 3 modes, Sport for extreme performance, Comfort for balanced on performance and noise and Green for silent mode with using Fn+F7 6.Equipped with a mechanical keyboard using Cherry MX switches (the worlds first gaming laptop to do so) and the SteelSeries Engine 3 7.Distance between each key cap is 27mm. On the right-hand side of the keyboard, users may transform the touch panel into numeric keypad mode with just a simple touch 8.Full HD non-glare display reduces eye fatigue, permitting users to play games or watch movies for a longer period of time 9.Audio Boost 2 by Dynaudio with 3 independent AMP delivers best sound stage for all experience 10.Matrix Display Technology: HDMI supports up to 4kx2k resolution and up to 3+1 monitor outputs Points to Improve in the Future 1.The metal brush case design gives a high quality impression. However, it is much easier to leave finger prints on the laptop 2.There is still room for improvement for the audio quality in medium and high frequencies 3.If there is a SKU adopting a IPS panel on GT80, it would be more flexible for consumers 4.It is much better if the mouse in the bundled accessories pack is a SteelSeries Gaming version. The primary advantage for a notebook is the portability, a quality that cant be achieved by a PC. If you need to travel around a lot with a laptop and if you use only some basic word processing functions, then a 12.5~14 Ultrabook could be a good option. If you dont need to travel around with your laptop, yet you do need advanced configurations for gaming, a 15.6~17.3 notebook might suit you better. Some believe that both a general and an advanced notebooks cost a lot more than PCs with similar configurations. However, mobility is the trend in current market. Quite a few friends insist on buying laptops without considering whether the C/P value of PC is higher, simply for the potential yet comparably rare need to use the laptop outside home or to carry it around for a business trip. The MSI GT80 is an advanced gaming notebook with powerful performance and high portability. DELL launched 18.4 advanced gaming notebook, too. However, with similar configurations as the DELL one, the GT80 has a much better price, offering another 18 advanced gaming notebook option to end-users. In the end of article, windwithme would like to share the file (color adjusted by Spyder) to MSI GT80 users. windwithme - MSI GT80 2QE Titan SLI This article is also posted on my personal blogWIND3C. You are welcome to come and visit.

Heaven Benchmark 4.0 DX11 1920 X 1080 => FPS 176.1 The 3D performance of GTX980 SLI was 88.05% higher than that of a single card mode (GT72). GRID Autosport Ultra mode AVEGAGE FPS => 137.46 When playing GRID Autosport, the overall performance only improved 25%. It seems that this game does not fully support SLI. I hope there will be an upgrade version in the future since this would be a great help for both NB and PC gamers. FAR CRY 4 remains so far one of the heavyweight 3D games in the world, demanding the highest hardware configurations. The test was done at 1920 X 1080 resolutions and 3D effect was pushed all the way to Ultra mode. At the menu screen, there was 281 FPS. During the game opening cinematic, there was 117 FPS. When using only a single graphics card to play FAR CRY 4, the performance improved up to 99.3%. The overall test result did fulfill our expectation towards the latest heavyweight 3D game. There remained a 72% improvement when playing the game. 3D images were extremely exquisite and it highly supported by SLI. Here you may see that the overall performance shall have a roughly 70~88% improvement as long as the game fully supports SLI. This is exactly the advantage of GT80 with GTX980M or GTX970M SLI. Both GT80 and GT72 have the highest configurations on the storage device, featuring 256GB SSD X4 + 1TB HDD 7200rpm, powered by the MSI exclusive technology, the Super RAID 3. The SSD uses the latest M.2 interface, TOSHIBA THNSNJ256G8NU 256GBB The ATTO DISK Benchmark reached a maximum read speed at 1669Mb/s and a write speed at 1296 MB/s when the storage was above 256k. CrystalDiskMark Seq Read - 1610 MB/s Write - 857.3 MB/s AS SSD Benchmark - 2019 Seq Read - 1507.20 MB/s Write - 1109.20 MB/s 4K - 64Thrd Read - 691.13 MB/s Write - 562.12 MB/s Both GT80 and GT72 adopt Super RAID 3 Technology, equipped with the latest M.2 SSD up to 4 slots. The advantage of M.2 lies in a much smaller size than mSATA, moreover, its maximum bandwidth reaches to 1GB/s. For those who want to upgrade storage capacity or efficiency in the future, M.2 will be much more flexible than SATA 600B/s. The M.2 SSD brand on the GT80 is TOSHIBA, of which the efficiency performance was much higher than the KINGSTON one on GT72. The maximum read speed reached above 1600MB/s, a surprisingly powerful transmission capability. I also ran a temperature test on GT80s CPU, with an indoor temperature around 25 C, nVIDIA GTX 980M SLI mode ON, under Comfort power management mode. When shutting down the Cooler Boost 3 function, the system temperature was around 45~51C under standby mode. When turning back on the Cooler Boost 3 function, the system temperature was around 31~44C under standby mode. When shutting down the Cooler Boost 3 function, running LinX 0.6.5 and setting the CPU at full speed, the system temperature was around 80~89C.

Look a bit lower from the monitor hinge, you shall find a row of small round holes where the speaker lies underneath. There is a sticker on the upper-right corner, covering this section partially. I would personally suggest removing this sticker to the upper left-hand side. The size of this notebook is 45.6 x 33 x 4.9 cm with a weight of 4.5Kg (battery included). To compare with any other 18 notebooks, the weight of GT80 is pretty light and its slimness is surely above average. Partnering with the top audio brand Dynaudio, the famous Danish audio equipment brand, the speaker of GT80 2QE Titan SLI remains the top-notch ones. To compare the sensory experience created by the in-built notebook speaker and the Dyaudio one, here were my subjective / personal feelings: High frequency: No high pitch sound had ever occurred. Detailed sound performance was high quality above average. Medium frequency: The sound clarity was outstanding. But there was still room for improvement in terms of the vocal thickness. Low frequency: The best performance among the three. The woofer bass was perfect and clear. You shall get a great and outstanding sound experience when watching movies or playing games. When listening to the music, you may still have good sensory experience even though the sound quality in medium frequency is not top level. Different to Alienware 18, whose sound performance in medium and high frequencies are better, GT80 has outstanding and above average audio performance in low frequency. Both 18 notebooks have their own advantages in their audio performances and room for improvements. It is a pity that GT80s sound performance is not as good as that of GT72. But still, the overall performance remains a high-standard one. System Performance: CrystalMark 2004R3 => 436192 The total score was pretty much the same as that of GT72. This might result from the fact the software I used here didnt support 3D SLI mode. However, the score was 10-thousand points higher than performance of most of the notebook. Nuclearus Multi Core => 286416 Fritz Chess Benchmark => 27.73/13311 CINEBENCH R15 CPU => 671 cb CPU(Single Core) => 151 cb FRYRENDER Running Time => 5m 00s x264 FHD Benchmark => 21.1 PCMARK8 - 4959 Intel Core i7-4980HQ reaches 2.8~4.0GHz, a bit lower than 4940MXs 3.1~4.0GHz whereas the power consumption of the former chipset is 47W, a lot lower than the 57W of 4940MX. Moreover, Intel Core i7-4980HQ possesses the built-in Iris Pro Graphics 5200. CPUs on these two models both have their pros and cons, none can claim to possess an absolute advantage. All tests above were the overall system and extreme CPU performance of 4980HQ for your reference. The keyboard is also one of the unique feature of GT80. It is the worlds first notebook to equip a Cherry MX switch of mechanical keyboard. The LED backlit illuminates red light from the back of the cap and from the keyboard. There is a red LED liner on the upper-hand side of the keyboard, increasing a speedy sports cars tone and feeling. Replace the WASD and the ESC caps with the special golden metallic key caps to enhance the durability, improve the tactile feeling of the keyboard and to transform the GT80 into a cooler look. Red MX switch has been quite popular in the PC market in recent years. However, GT80 choose the brown MX switch instead of the red one. This decision might result from the fact that the tactile feeling of the brown switch is heavier than the red one, has a bit more tactile bump feeling, yet it is much quieter than the blue switch. I personally use the brown switch for years. I am highly fond of the Cherry MXs high durability. Moreover, its tactile feeling results in lower tiredness. As usual, MSI GT80 cooperates with SteelSeries for its SteelSeries Engine 3 special software, combining application setup software of the keyboard, the mouse and the headset all together. Users may quickly set up hotkeys through drag and drop small icons or by selecting functions from a menu. Keypress macro is a very useful software, allowing users to program unlimited sets of macros. 3D performance is the most wanted feature of GT80, the MXM module designed of the nVIDIA GTX 980M SLI, 8GB GDDR5 (single card). I have run some tests on the Intel integrated graphics - Iris Pro Graphics 5200 in the GT72 review. Therefore, I will focus on testing the most enthusiast level nVIDIA GTX 980M SLI in this article. 3DMark11 => P16806 Compared with GTX 980M single card, the total score on 3DMark11 improved only by 40%. But when we went back and checked the graphic score, SLI had 22235 points compared to the 12721 points with simply a single card. It proved that the performance had improved 74.8% under SLI mode, achieving the performance standard that the SLI mode should have reached.

Details on the right section of the C side Signal lights at this section are red. There are three short-cut bottoms, the power bottom, the GPU switch bottom and the Cooler Boost bottom. With the GPU switch bottom, users may switch the mode between the chipset integrated graphics and the discrete graphics card. GT80 is geared by Cooler Boost 3 technology. Users may switch between two different cooling modes. MSI combines the touch panel and the numeric keypad together. One touch on the upper left corner of the pad, the whole touch panel shall switch to the numeric keypad mode. The Rear I/O From the left to the right: 2 x mini-DisplayPort HDMI DC in RJ45 jack Large set of blood-red vents on both sides. Red touch here and on the cover lid increases the sense of speed of this gaming notebook. In fact, the case design of GT80 is quite similar to that of GT72, yet the shape and the look of GT80 is more upgraded and advanced with aerodynamic style. The Left I/O From the left to the right: BD-Writer a wide section of exhaust NB-Lock SD (XC/HC) 3 X USB 3.0 SPDIF-Out Mic-in Headphone-out The Right I/O From the left to right: 3 X USB 3.0 a wide section of exhaust GT80 offers up to 5 USB 3.0. The capability of expansion becomes one of GT80s advantages. The open angle of GT80 reaches around 120 degrees. Its not outstanding. The color and the viewing angle of the SAMSUNG PLS panel is a lot better than most of the TN panels. However, the major purpose of GT80 is for gaming. With the non-touch panel display, GT80s open angle is appropriate and suitable for gaming environment. Hardware Information GT80 2QE Titan SLI is powered by Intel Haswell platform. With 4x DDR3-1600L 8GB, total of 32GB. The CPU is Intel Core i7-4980HQ: 2.8GHz (100 x 28), L3 6MB, Quad Cores with HT technology, lithography: 22nm, TurboBoost permitting auto-OC up to 4GHz, chipset: HM87, the current highest class in Notebook CPU (4th generation Intel Core i7 processors), and the GPU is the latest Intel Iris Pro Graphics 5200. At the bottom right-hand side, you may see the app on the toolbar. It can show or you may setup some most commonly used functions conveniently. MSI DRAGON GAMING CENTER Users may monitor the system instantly. Moreover, it supports to add on utility shortcuts, instant play and device settings. XSplit Gamecaster supports video recording or live streaming up to 1080p. It is an extremely useful function to live streaming or recording your whole gaming process. The game running in the system only drops 2~3 fps when the Gamecaster is on, recording video or live streaming simultaneously. Sound Blaster Cinema2 software There are 5 different audio modes for setup. Under each mode, you may choose among five different sound effects.

In the past, DELL, was the one offering a wider range of gaming notebooks. Yet, more and more brands have emerged. MSI has stood out among these brands in recent two years and has launched notebooks in various sizes for more gaming or especially dedicated for workstations. Besides the GT Series which is a bit heavy yet with the optical drive embedded, MSI offers the light and thin model such as GS Series. The GS30, for example, is a 13.3-inch notebook. The look of the laptop is very similar to an Ultrabook, but the whole system is equipped with high performance GPU with Docking. The MSI gaming notebook series with the highest performance has always been the GT Series. As 17.3-inch notebook was once considered the notebook with the biggest screen size. The previous GT70 or the latest GT72 comes with a 17.3-inch display and many advanced hardware for ultimate efficiency and performance. In 2015, MSI further upgrades its panel and capacities, featuring the GT series a 18.4-inch display. The A side of GT80 remains similar of the GT72, metal brush and aesthetics lines inspired by matte black racing style. The streamline cover design, decorated by few red liners, creates the sense of speed of the overall look. The MSI logo and Dragon Gaming badge, illuminating white lights in the center of the cover, and the red liners at the two sides enhance the product quality and form the iconic look of the MSI gaming notebook. The backpack bundled with GT80 is the same as the one bundled with GT72. The backpack is very spacious and the thickness is ideal for notebook protection. The backpack is a bit too heavy and too thick for me when using with the GT72, however, it suit perfectly well with the GT80. Moreover, MSI applies the vacuum package on the backpack this time. The overall packing size has been reduced a lot. The bottom case design of GT80 is also similar to that of GT72, using one-piece large bottom plate. The battery is non-removable and offers a large capacity of 75.24Wh (8 cell), a bit lower than the 83Wh (9 cell) of GT72. The speaker of GT80 uses 2.1 channel sound systems, with 2 speakers at both channel of the notebook (one on each side). The red block in the photo is where the woofer cover placement. GT80 - bundled accessories Drivers and utilities disc, user quick guide, user manual, two-year warranty leaflet, MSI professional gaming mouse, MSI gaming mouse pad, professional wrist rest for the keyboard, MSI Dragon Doll. And the special MSI gold caps kit for mechanical keyboard. Inside the MSI gold caps kit, there are four WASD and one ESC special golden caps. Gamers can now playing games more fluently. Golden color of the key caps set and the dragon image imprinted on the ESC cap increase the overall quality. Moreover, these caps are made of metal, ensuring the endurance of the product. The Delta 330w adaptor and power cord. Even this adaptor is a slim model, but the overall look and size are still big. The GT80 is powered by so far the most powerful GTX980M SLI, therefore, demands an adaptor that provides wattage as high as 330W. The B side of the GT80 is a 18.4-inch FHD vivid display, with a Full HD of 1920 X 1080. The non-glare display provides a more comfortable environment for users eyes, permitting a longer usage whereas considerably reducing eye fatigue. The primary design of the GT80 on the C side. The upper side of this part is bigger and there is a dragon tattoo imprinted on it. The lower side embedded with a full size mechanic keyboard (the worlds first mechanic keyboard on a gaming notebook). There are also three blue indicator lights.

CPU Cooler height limitation is 9.5cm. However, 11.3cmJ-POWER JP-1366-S is still fittable. After measuring, you can use 13cm cooling fan. High end top-down blowing fan is also installable. If your budget is enough, water cooling is also a good option. The spec is supporting 29cm high end VGA. 30cm VGA is also fittable. However, it’s EOL version, so I don’t use it as reference. I saw 250D information since it’s just launched. I was very interested. After using, I do see its strengths. High texture and simple style is very impressive. I think the chassis can use for many years. It’s worth you buying a better quality chassis. After all, chassis is the appearance of your PC. The outlook and texture should fit your style. CORSAIR Obsidian Series emphasize texture, cooling and scalability. The Mini-ITX version is no exception. Even though, the dimension is bigger than the other Mini-ITX case, it still has many advantages. If you are looking for high performance ITX system, 250D is a right choice. Besides simplicity style, outstanding scalability and great texture, the cooling and silent design is also very good. The price is key loses for 250D, but the design and materials are much better than most competitors. If CORSAIR can launch a lighter ITX version in lower price, it also can expand the market to most ITX Case users. It will also post in my blog WIND3C, Any comments are welcome.

It’s 2.5” and 7mm thick. Sequential Read / Write can reach 550/520 MB/s. Random Read / Write max is 100K / 90K IOPS. It’s tested by CrystalDiskMark. Official performance almost makes SanDisk Extreme PRO as the best SATA3 SSD performance. Power Supply is ANTEC NeoECO Classic450W. It’s passed 80PLUS BRONZE certified. Single route +12V is34A and max output is 408W. The cooling fan is 12cm dual ball bearing silent fan. 100% Japanese made caps for better durability and official 3 years warranty. The C/P is good. Considering the inner cabling, modularized power supply or low watt models are recommended. System Configuration CPU: Intel Core i5-4690K MB: GIGABYTE Z97N-Gaming 5 DRAM: AVEXIR AVD3U16000904G-2CIR VGA: Intel HD Graphics 4600 SSD: SanDisk Extreme PRO 240GB POWER: ANTEC Neo ECO Classic 450W Cooler: J-POWER JP-1366-S OS: Windows 8.1 64bit Intel Core i5-4690K OC to 4.5GHz 1.26V CINEBENCH R15 CPU => 681 cb CPU(Single Core) => 176 cb FRYRENDER Running Time => 5m 49s Fritz Chess Benchmark => 29.58/14326 Just using entry CPU cooler also can OC 4690K to 4.5GHz. As ITX platform, the performance is really good. I also installed 12cm and 14cm system fan. 250D is also improving CPU cooling. AS SSD Benchmark - 1163 Seq Read - 524.44 MB/s Write - 490.30 MB/s. 4K - 64Thrd Read - 372.84 MB/s Write - 281.49 MB/s ATTO DISK Benchmark over 64KB, the max Read is 559.2 Mb/s and max Write is 523.7 MB/s. GIGABYTE old chipset board SATA3 SSD performance is lower than the others. This time, Z97N-Gaming 5 breaks my experience. The benchmark is better than MB. It’s really impressive. BTW, SanDisk Extreme PRO is top performance SATA3 SSD in the current market. Enable XMP mode, DDR3 1600 CL9 9-9-24 2T ADIA64 Memory Read - 22979 MB/s Sandra Memory Bandwidth - 18445 MB/s MaXXMEM Memory-Copy - 20520 MB/s OC to DDR3 2400 CL11 14-14-36 2T ADIA64 Memory Read - 33329 MB/s Sandra Memory Bandwidth - 26356 MB/s MaXXMEM Memory-Copy - 27321 MB/s AVEXIR DDR3 1600 OC capability is very good. DDR3 2600 can run stably, but the voltage must set as 1.6~1.65V. I don’t know if they will change IC in the future. It may impact the OC range. The reason I don’t use higher clock in this test is Haswell-EMemory Controller character. DDR3 2400 bandwidth is higher than DDR3 2600~2800 under some settings. If you require more DRAM bandwidth, you also can try to OC your DDR3 133~1600. New version Sound Blaster X-Fi MB3 audio software The interface has changed a lot. Some design changes to lateral mode. It provides saving, import and export functions for users to load own preferred setting. Finally, I would like to share complete system. Due to it’s bigger dimension Mini-ITX Case and well design, it’s easy to assembly.

Beside front panel, you can install one 12cm or 14cm fan. It’s using CORSAIR AF140L silent fan and dust filter. Back left side can install two 2.5” SSD or HDD. Mostly like it will be SSD. There are also 2 bays for 3.5”. Most users install 3.5” HDD. 250DMini-ITX scalability is very high. Even you need 3 storages, it’s still enough. Bottom Right side is Power Supply fan rear hole. It also equips with dust filter. Four solid rubber mat can make 250D more stable and anti-shock. Accessories are multi-languages installation guide, three kinds of screws and tie-wrap. The screws are only for MB and PSU. Other hardware can all install without it. After this, I will also share the other parts in this review. The Mini-ITX MB is GIGABYTE Z97N-Gaming 5. G1 series changed the new symbol this year. It’s more recognizable. The color also changes to black and red. It bundles Intelwifi module, supports Wi-Fi 802.11 a/b/g/n/ac. It also supports Bluetooth 4.0, 3.0+HS and 2.1+EDR. The applications are very wide. LAN chip is Qualcomm Atheros Killer E2201. It’s very common in Gaming networking design. Audio is the key feature. The chip is Realtek ALC1150. Yellow caps are JapaneNichicon audio caps. It places in between left and right channels PCB. It integrates amplifier which can reach 600? load to support high end headset. It also supports Sound Blaster X-Fi MB3 software. DRAM is AVEXIRDDR3 1600. This brand just launched several high frequency DDR3 products. Currently, DDR3 1333 and 1600 price gap is small. I recommend DDR3 1600 for better C/P. AVEXIR Core heat sinks have many color editions. It’s red in the pictue. The capacity is 4GBX2, dual channel. The clock is DDR3 1600. Main CL is CL9. Voltage is 1.5V. SSD is SanDisk Extreme PRO. It’s 10 years official warranty. 240GB for system drive is more than enough. Nowadays, it’s popular to use HHD as data drive.

In the past couple year, ITX market became more and more popular. Many MB makers launched related products. Some of my friends choose ITX due to space concern. For small room or preferring small PC, ITX is the best option for you. The ITX Case I share today is CORSAIR high texture Obsidian Series. Obsidian Series majority is ATX full-tower chassis. It’s simple, texture and scalability. Recently, it also has Micro ATX350D and Mini ITX250D. For who requires high performance and small size, these two are just perfect. Let’s look at CORSAIR Obsidian Series 250D box first. It’s thicker carton with detail features. Corrugated paper with less painting is more environment saving. From here, CORSAIR Obsidian Series 250D will be named as 250D. The size is 351x 277 x 290mm, and weight is 4.42 kg. The major material is steel and aluminum front panel. There are some parts using plastic. Front panel has one 5.25” for DVD or BD-ROM. Right side has 2 front USB3.0 and headset, mic jacks. The 5 white round dots on both sides can open bottom panel. Left side has Power and HDD/SSD LED. Bottom round button is Reset. The light LED is light white. It won’t impact your vision at dark site during the night. Front panel is black anodized brushed aluminum fascia and a brushed aluminum fascia with the company logo imprinted on it. It’s not anti-fingerprint, but still acceptable. If the white CORSAIR logo is nameplate, the texture will be better. Top panel is partial transparent window design. Users can see through it. No matter water cooling, air cooling, MB orRAM, if it’s Luminous, the visual effect is better. Left side It has large openings with integrated fan filters. It enhances air flow, also lower dust. Right side It also has large openings with integrated fan filters. Back Side Top can add two 8csm fans. Right side can install high end VGA panel. Center is Mini-ITX MB IO panel. Lower-left is 2.5” and 3.5” storage trays. Lower-right is Power Supply. It supports max 18cm high watt ATX PSU. Uninstall 3 side panels Left side can install two 12cm fans. It bundles with one CORSAIR AF120L silent fan. If you are using CORSAIR water cooling system, you can install H55, H60 or H100i for better air flow. Inner top side Front is 5.25” bay. It’s convenient but also makes ITX Case bigger. Back is for Mini-ITX MB. Below is Power Supply. Front is for PSU cables.

Iometer 5 minutes - 100% Write / 100% Random 4KB Total I/Os per Second => 86380.81 5minutes - 100% Write / 100% Random 4KB Total I/Os per Second => 86356.60 5minutes - 100% Read / 100% Random 4KB Total I/Os per Second => 96403.27 5minutes - 100% Read / 100% Random 4KB Total I/Os per Second => 97599.02 You can see the Random Read / Write 4KB in IOMETER 2008 are really high. The key is after 20 mins repeating test, there is no decline as SanForce controller. Marvell 88SS9187 controller performance wont decline. Its standard technology for current high end SSD. Comparing to former Extreme II, Extreme PRO performance doesnt improve much. However, using same Marvell Controller and own latest NAND Flash, official specs show power consumption is 30% lower. In such low power consumption, the Extreme PRO performance is really outstanding. Second part is NoteBook test. I use DELL New!Alienware 17. As high end Gaming Notebook in the market, the performance and hardward specs are all top level. AlienFX lighting is DELL New!Alienware body surrounding many LEDs. The shell is coating aluminumand soft touch rubberized finish. Its magnesium-alloy frame for better quality, texture and durability. Its 17.3 antiglare FHD monitor. The speaker is the best I have ever used in Notebook. It supports one mSATA and two 2.5 SATA3. I change to Sandisk Extreme PRO SSD. Sandisk Extreme PRO 480GB SSD install at SATA3 port as system drive. OS installs Windows7 Ultimate 64bit, all drivers and Intel Smart Response Technology. AS SSD Benchmark - 1095 Seq Read - 512.79 MB/s Write - 485.38 MB/s 4K - 64Thrd Read - 362.11 MB/s Write - 283.22 MB/s ATTO DISK Benchmark over 128KB can reach max Read 560.5 Mb/s and Write 526.3 MB/s CrystalDiskMark Seq Read - 547.8 MB/s Write - 512.5 MB/s Comparing to Desktop PC numbers, most benchmark in Notebook is similar. It means even Sandisk Extreme PRO SSD set as system drive, the performance is still good. Of course, DELL New!Alienware SATA3 optimization is high, also enhance Extreme PRO scores. BootRacer Boot Result => 14.142 seconds In BootRacer, it needs only 14.142 seconds. The speed is really fast. Of course, if you only install drivers without any software, the booting time will be less than 12 seconds. However, I think this kind of test is no reference value. Complete installation is more close to reality using environment. If I change to Windows 8.1, the booting time will be faster. But its not popular yet. After consideration, I still use Windows 7 as OS. Recently many Z97 MB supports M.2(N.G.F.F.) spec up to 1000MB/s bandwidth. Some high end M.2 SSD can reach more than 700 MB/s bandwidth. Most is 500MB/s. Also, MB only support one M.2 SSD, the price and RAID application still far away to be mainstream. SATA is main specs for years. If you want to upgrade your system performance, SATA3 SSD is first choice. Now, SSD is also divided into parity and high performance. SanDisk Extreme PRO strength in SSD market is Random4K Read/Write can reach 100K/90K IOPS. SequentialRead/Write can be up to 550/515~520 MB/s. Its almost the best SSD specs in the market now. SanDisk performance tuning is outstanding to make 240/480/960GB have same performance. Extreme PRO provides 10 years conditional warranty. Its also the longest in the market. After service cost is high, of course it impacts the product price segment. As cost/performance, SAMSUNG 840PRO should be the opposing force, next is Intel 730 Series. If you want to pick high end SATA3 SSD, for max performance and warranty, Extreme PRO is a good option. Its windwithme review test about SanDisk latest Extreme PRO SSD. It will also post in my blog WIND3C, Any comments are welcome.

64K - Write - Average 443.9 MB/s Access Time 0.026ms 8MB - Write - Average 490.1 MB/s Access Time 0.036ms 64K - Write - Average 429.7 MB/s Access Time 0.027ms 8MB - Write - Average 486.9 MB/s Access Time 0.038ms SanDisk Extreme PRO is excellent in HD Tune Pro Write. The seeking time is around 0.026~0.038ms. The key is writing curve starting above 400 MB/s. I used to test some high end SSD. The 64K Writetransmission speed is significant upand down, or average speed below 200 MB/s. SanDisk Extreme PRO is close to 430 MB/s during test. File Benchmark Sequential 4KB randon Read - 97383 IOPS / Write - 86810 IOPS ATTO DISK Benchmark over 128KB starts to reach max Read 560.5 Mb/s and Write 526.3 MB/s Sequential 4KB randon Read - 97403 IOPS / Write - 85818 IOPS ATTO DISK Benchmark over 64KB starts to reach max Read523.7 Mb/sand Write 526.3 MB/s ATTO DISK Benchmark over 64K starts to reach max Read /Write 500 MB/s. The 0.5~2K data transfer rate is even better. It leads Intel 730 Series 480GB a lot. CrystalDiskMark Seq Read - 547.8 MB/s Write - 514.3 MB/s Read - 550.9 MB/s Write - 516.8 MB/s Read - 548.0 MB/s Write - 514.3 MB/s Seq Read - 548.3 MB/s Write - 515.4 MB/s Read - 548.0 MB/s Write - 514.9MB/s Read - 548.8 MB/s Write - 515.2 MB/s CrystalDiskMark random test and 2 sequential mode speed are the same. This is one of the main advantage of Marvell Controller. Seq performance is close to official specs. 4K QD32 Write and Read are top level of current SATA3 SSD. AS SSD Benchmark - 1118 Seq Read - 526.51 MB/s Write - 494.30 MB/s 4K - 64Thrd Read - 357.62 MB/s Write - 247.29 MB/s AS SSD Benchmark - 1175 Seq Read - 525.94 MB/s Write - 492.08 MB/s 4K - 64Thrd Read - 367.33 MB/s Write - 292.44 MB/s Current top level SATA3 SSD can reach more than 1100 in AS SSD Benchmark. 4K-64Thrd Read can reach 357~367MB/s. This is new key factor for SSD performance. Compression Benchmark is also consisntent. Seq Read is 525MB/s and Seq Write is 494MB/s. PCMark Vantage - HDD Score : 78950 SSD Benchmark TOTAL => 5127.39 PCMark Vantage - HDD Score : 78162 SSD Benchmark TOTAL => 5093.71 Its a pity that PCMark Vantage HDD doesnt reach 81000, which official claim. The performance gap is around 2.6~3.5%. Its still acceptable. I also upgrade G1.Sniper Z97 BIOS to F6. F6 is marked improving SSD performance. In the past, GIGABYTE MBSSD performance is lower. It might be MB tuning issue. I hope GIGABYTE can enhance BIOS to complete the SSD performance.

Users’ impression of SanDisk mostly is memory card brand. Actually, they have been working for high speed SSD for long time. The main product line is Extreme series. Two years ago, I have test the first generation SanDisk Extreme 240GB. Last year, they unveil Extreme II and this year is Extreme PRO during Computex. It’s the product this review. SanDisk Extreme PRO has 3 capacities. There are 240, 480 and 960GB. This review will test 240 and 480GB. As SSD using experience, SandForce240GB performance is higher than 480GB a little. Recently, more products use Marvell controller. Some 480GB performance is higher than 240GB official spec. The key difference of Extreme PRO and other SSD is it has the same performance for 3 capacities. First of all, let’s check the appearance of SanDisk Extreme PRO SSD. It’s same design pattern with own memory card. Black as main tone with red linear . 240GB product code is SDSSDXPS-240G-G25. It’s 2.5”. The height is 7mm. Sequential Read / Write up to 550/520 MB/s. Random Read / Write up to 100K / 90K IOPS. The numbers are based on CrystalDiskMark. Official specs make SanDisk Extreme PRO as best SATA3 SSD performance in current market. 480GB product code is SDSSDXPS-480G-G25 Sequential Read / Write up to 550/515 MB/s Random Read / Write up to 100K / 90K IOPS. Tested by CrystalDiskMark. 480GB and 240GB main difference is Sequential Write from 520 MB/s to 515 MB/s. Durability is Terabyte Written>80 TBW for 3 models. Extreme PRO provides 10 years conditional warranty. Internet shows 10 years warranty for remarked regions. I would like to remind you, the warranty will be void if SSD warranty sticker broken. Please don’t try it. SanDisk Extreme PRO series uses Marvell 88SS9187 controller. It is self-owned SanDisk latest 1Ynm, eX2 ABL MLC, oggle Flash. NAND Flash IC is very special. Currently, Marvell 88SS9187 mostly build with Toshiba NAND Flash. DRAM Cache in 240GB is 512MB and 480/960GB is 1GB. The detail performance will show you in following result. First platform is Intel DeskTop, using GIGABYTE latest G1.Sniper Z97. It builds in Qualcomm Atheros Killer E2201 LAN controller and Creative Sound Core 3D audio processor. As G1.Sniper Z97 design and components, the C/P is quite good in Gaming MB market. GIGABYTE G1 series has big change since Z97/H97 chipset. The design moves to popular black and red. Logo changes to robot eye which is better than the past. Audio is the key feature. It owns AMP-UP Audio technology and market only swappable OP-AMP chip design. Intel Z97 is Intel latest mid-high end chipset. It’s popular in the market now. Usually, Intel chipset IOtransmission is better. Since Z87, it supports 6 native SATA3 ports. I believe it’s good for SATA3 SSD and RAID performance. System Configuration CPU: Intel Core i5-4690K MB: GIGABYTE G1.Sniper Z97 DRAM: CORSAIR DOMINATOR-GT DDR3 2800 4GX2 VGA: SAPPHIRE Raden HD 6970 CrossFire HD: SanDisk Extreme PRO 240-480GB POWER: ANTEC TRUEPOWER Classic 850W Cooler: XIGMATEK HDT-S1283 OS: Windows7 Ultimate 64bit System setting Intel Core i5-4690K OC 4.5GHz CORSAIR DOMINATOR-GT enable XMP as DDR3 2800. Single SanDisk Extreme PRO 240GB or 480GB at SATA3 port Non-OS drive without data installs in Intel Z97 platform. Each software has two pictures. The above one is 240GB and below one is 480GB. HD Tune Pro 5.50 Black Size is the special one. The default is 64K on the left and 8MB on the right. 64K - Read - Average 436.7 MB/s Access Time 0.036ms 8MB - Read - Average 527.4 MB/s Access Time 0.036ms 64K - Read - Average 473.8 MB/s Access Time 0.024ms 8MB - Read - Average 528.7 MB/s Access Time 0.036ms