Intel secure chosen an enticing time to commence the Core i9-11980HK, their latest high-of-the-line CPU for gaming laptops. Their 12th-gen Alder Lake chips, finally, are launching in what’s seemingly a matter of weeks. Why, then, if you happen to tumble £4098 / $3400 on a pc esteem the MSI GE76 Raider, despite the undeniable fact that its 11th-gen chip is primo in the in the interim?
The respond lies in a combination between what the Core i9-11980HK has to provide, even when compared to earlier 11th-gen chips, and the sheer luxury of the GE76 Raider as a whole. This is a indignant machine for the madly monied, from its 360Hz show cowl cowl to its RTX 3080 GPU and PCIe 4.0 SSD storage.
The Core i9-11980HK, by the manner, is without a doubt one of Intel’s first octa-core pc CPUs that can take care of PCIe 4.0, and it permits assorted excessive-finish tech esteem Thunderbolt 4 (for show cowl output up to 8K) and Wi-Fi 6E (an very perfect faster/lower-latency give a enhance to to the Wi-Fi 6 wireless not fresh). Already, that’s a bunch of unprecedented mind stuff, so it’s reassuring that every thing is contained in a sturdy and largely grown-up steel body.
Rather than a teeny touch of flex to the show cowl cowl, the GE76 Raider is finely crafted at some stage in. Although the 17.3in show cowl cowl, high-finish substances and complete cooling scheme preclude a thin and gentle body, it’s not unreasonably beefy, and the most productive accurate gamerish facets of the manufacture are the RGB keyboard and gentle bar across the entrance edge. You might well customise these to be less showy, if you esteem.
There’s a genuine combine of ports as correctly, at the side of that Thunderbolt 4-ready USB-C port at the rear. One other perk of the Core i9-11980HK is that give a enhance to for Wi-Fi 6E, even though you’ll wish to pair the GE76 Raider with a 6E-correctly matched router to internet the most of its added speed. For what it’s worth, downloads had been composed as fleet as I’ve seen from my older, constructed-for-Wi-Fi-5 router.
Aid with regards to cooling, the keyboard – a non-mechanical however firm, responsive and properly-spaced manufacture from SteelSeries – most productive will get a tiny bit warmth below load. In step with my infrared thermometer, it doesn’t surpass a tolerable 38°c round WASD. It’s mainly the ribbon of aluminium perfect above that will get toasty to the touch, hitting 45°c below sustained rigidity.
The difficulty is fan noise, which the GE76 Raider is all too ecstatic to fragment. While operating video games, you would possibly well doubtless seek info from to take care of about 48dBA of whirring; so says the RPS decibel-o-meter. Peaceful, even a pc as bask in as the GE76 Raider can’t defy physics, and I’d reasonably perfect slap on a headset than risk the different of slower fans and worse cooling. It’s also worth noting that whereas there are exhaust vents on both side, it below no conditions felt esteem my mouse-operating hand changed into being air-fried.
The speakers are decent by pc requirements, too. Now to not the extent that headphones (or without a doubt doubtless the most most productive gaming headsets) aren’t preferable, however there’s ample clarity to no lower than atone for the inability of bass. The closing manufacture highlight, weirdly, is the webcam: its involving 1080p resolution and 30fps body rate make an strangely impressive listing. Lighting fixtures looks softened, which made me inspect a tiny bit esteem I changed into in a dream sequence – assuming anybody dreams of bald males hunched over gaming laptops – however I might dwell with that quirk in alternate for the camera’s assorted qualities.
Furthermore specced out at 1080p is the show cowl. This sounds esteem disappointingly not fresh show cowl res for a four unprecedented pc, however it makes extra sense at the side of the 360Hz refresh rate: it’s grand more straightforward to basically make ample frames to rep perfect thing in regards to the latter if you don’t secure the added GPU stress that 1440p or 4K brings.
Admittedly, outside of the rate-freak refresh rate, this might well stand to be a extra shining show cowl cowl. Difference ratio most productive measures in at 772:1, attempting the glorious 1,000:1, and alongside with the so-so high brightness of 184cd/m2 you’ll be left squinting at darker scenes.
It’s colourful ample, even though, being ready to cowl a genuine 90.4% of the sRGB gamut. And whereas I’ll admit to scoffing at 360Hz panels in the previous, the GE76 Raider does like faster-operating video games inspect completely lush in circulation. Although there are diminishing returns over 240Hz and 144Hz, Personnel Fortress 2 operating at shut to 300fps looks to be like very swish certainly. There’s no G-Sync, however it isn’t basically left out when the refresh rate naturally prevents show cowl cowl tearing.
Now not like with more affordable TN or VA screens, you’re also getting huge viewing angles from the IPS panel, and the matte like MSI which secure applied to this show cowl cowl is efficient ample to examine off reflections without adding a imperfect, grainy inspect.
One reason I’ve been down on 360Hz screens in the previous is that PC hardware, in not fresh, hasn’t been extremely efficient ample to consistently speed ample video games above 240fps – in assorted words, the point where this kind of show cowl give a enhance to would change into meaningful. Truth be informed, you doubtless will wish to persist with primitive shooters and numerous low-quiz video games if you would possibly well inspect the adaptation, even though that doesn’t alternate how the GE76 Raider in theoretically without a doubt doubtless the most henchest gaming laptops ever made. It’s got the most heroic CPU in Intel’s cell Core lineup, and a confirmed GPU class-leader in Nvidia’s GeForce RTX 3080, both backed up by a extra-than-you-want-let’s-be-dependable 32GB of DDR4 RAM. Out of the box, it’s not even maxing out its capability, as the Core i9-11980HK comes fully unlocked for overclocking.
Even at inventory speeds, the GE76 Raider wass a consistent yarn-setter in our gaming benchmarks. In Shadow of the Tomb Raider, a combo of the Very best preset, Extremely-quality ray-tracing and SMAATx2 anti-aliasing noticed a mushy practical of 85fps. That beats the Gigabyte Aorus 15G, which has the identical RTX 3080 however an older Intel Core i7-10870H, as correctly as the AMD Ryzen 9 5900HX-equipped Asus ROG Strix Scar 15.
The GE76 Raider particularly thrashed these two in Total Warfare: Three Kingdoms’ Battle benchmark, averaging 96fps on Extremely quality and 127fps on Excessive. That’s about 20fps on high of Gigabyte and Asus’ efforts, suggesting the beefier Core i9 basically can just like the adaptation.
Or, no lower than, it is going to in clear video games, and with clear settings combos. With the Very best preset however all of its TurfEffects and HairWorks tricks disabled, Finest Memoir XV again ran most productive on the GE76 Raider: moseying around the verdant Alstor Slough plight produced a low of 83fps and a excessive of 120fps. The ROG Strix Scar 15 also bottomed out at 83fps, however might most productive reach as excessive as 104fps. Set off TurfEffects and Hairworks, even though, and the hole closes, with the GE76 Raider peaking at 80fps and the ROG Strix Scar 15 at 73fps.
The MSI pc’s income changed into even smaller in Metro Exodus, where a combination of Extremely quality, Extremely ray-tracing and DLSS produced a 65fps practical. That’s most productive a single body faster than the ROG Strix Scar 15, even though eager eyes might request the adaptation between this performance and the Aorus 15G’s 54fps.
Monster Hunter: World also gave the GE76 Raider a closer different to flex, planting itself in the 94-122fps differ whereas out in the sector. While this averaged out to about 110fps, per some very rough notepad arithmetic, you’re composed meaningful gains on the ROG Strix Scar 15 and Aorus 15G, neither of which peaked elevated than 100fps.
It’s exquisite to insist, then, that the i9-11980HK does a closer job of unlocking the RTX 3080 than the Ryzen 9 5900HX. It’s also a moderately better octa-core chip in not fresh, if Cinebench R20 is any indication: the GE76 Raider’s single-core rating of 619 and multicore rating of 5052 both beat out the ROG Strix Scar 15’s respective rankings of 570 and 4935.
I also ran CrossMark, a quite fresh scheme-huge benchmark that tests how correctly a PC handles productivity and ingenious tasks. The GE76 Raider scored 1446 total, and whereas I don’t currently secure any of its rival laptops to review, I did strive Crossmark on my very non-public desktop rig, which has a Core i9-10900K and an RTX 3090. My PC scored 1471 total, so brooding about GE76 Raider has to like like with lower-energy parts and cramped notebook cooling, I’d mumble it do in an especially strong displaying.
But is it strong ample for – yes, right here is going to withhold increasing – over £4000? When you’re completely desirous about in-sport performance, it doubtless stays tempting to eat the 1-20fps loss and internet the closest identical ROG Strix Scar 15 mannequin for £2,400. That’s a towering investment in its non-public dependable, however loose alternate when compared to the GE76 Raider.
You might well no lower than add faster storage to the latter’s checklist of strengths. The GE76 Raider mannequin I obtained for testing has 1TB of PCIe 4.0 storage plight, even though it looks to be like esteem the most productive available mannequin in the UK bumps this up this up to 2TB – that makes the worth reasonably extra appetizing. Whatever the capability, it’s bloomin’ swiftly, managing random learn and write speeds of 57MB/s and 169MB/s. That’s one other snatch over the ROG Strix Scar 15, which posted 48MB/s and 151MB/s respectively.
Finally, the most productive outright extinct point to the GE76 Raider’s hardware setup is the battery. This it sounds as if has the glorious capability a lithium oon battery can offer before it will get you kicked off commercial airliners, however all these excessive-finish substances are awfully thirsty. The end result? I might most productive speed Shadow of the Tomb Raider for an hour and 10 minutes before the battery known as time. I internet that right here is supposed as extra of a plight-saving desktop different than something if truth be told portable, however composed, that is not a bunch of uptime.
Even so, and indubitably despite the gargantuan riches required to non-public one, I very grand esteem the GE76 Raider. It’s the roughly gaming pc that goals for (and largely achieves) superlative performance, however is tidy ample to withhold far from the ludicrous excesses of notebooks esteem the Acer Predator Triton 900.
In fairness, it also looks esteem Core i9-11980HK laptops are perfect giga-luxe propositions as a matter for certain. The GE76 Raider is de facto about £300 more affordable than the latest Gigabyte Aero 17, which shares the identical CPU/GPU duo; this also has a 4K OLED show cowl cowl, even though no Wi-Fi 6E give a enhance to.
Of course there are assorted, better-value choices if you merely covet the RTX 3080, and it’s arguably worth waiting to examine if Alder Lake entails any pc chips that can equally unshackle Nvidia’s speediest cell GPU. If, however, you’d like and might give you the cash for to secure all of it, the GE76 Raider will give it to you dependable now.
