The MSI GS75 gaming laptop has some powerful specs for a thinner machine, but just how
well does it perform in games? In this testing I’ve benchmarked 20 different games at all
setting levels to show you how well it runs, and compared it against some other gaming
laptops to see how it stacks up.
Just quickly before we jump into the benchmark results I’ll cover off the specs in my unit.
I’ve got the 8SG model, which means there’s an Intel i7-8750H CPU with Nvidia 80 watt
RTX 2080 Max-Q graphics and 32gb of memory running in dual channel. The GS75 is available
in different configurations though, you can check updated prices for different models
in the description.
I was running Windows 10 with the latest Nvidia drivers available, and just a reminder we’re
only looking at gaming performance here, if you’re new to the channel get subscribed
for the upcoming full review which covers everything. We’ll start off with the results
from all 20 games at all setting levels, then compare with some other laptops afterwards
to see how the GS75 8SG stacks up.
Battlefield 5 was tested in campaign mode and not in multiplayer mode, as it’s easier
to consistently reproduce the test run. The purple bars show the results with ray tracing
disabled, while the green bars show RTX on. The RTX results weren’t great at ultra but
it was still playable, but for this game I’d want higher FPS and stick to RTX off at ultra,
which both looks and performs better than RTX on at low.
Battlefield 1 was also tested in campaign mode, and was performing very well, with ultra
settings still able to reach 140 FPS, so even at maximum settings the 144Hz screen is getting
put to work.
Apex Legends was tested with either all settings at maximum, or all settings on the lowest
possible values, as it doesn’t have predefined setting presets. It played well even with
everything maxed out, averaging just below 100 FPS, although it was possible to improve
average FPS by 36% with all settings at minimum.
Far Cry New Dawn was tested with the built in benchmark. In this test almost 80 FPS averages
were possible at ultra, for comparison a 2060 laptop I just tested reached 75 FPS in that
same test.
Far Cry 5 was also tested with the built in benchmark, and the results were ahead of the
newer Far Cry New Dawn just covered, and we’ll see how this one compares to some other laptops
later.
Fortnite was tested with the replay feature, and while I have to regularly refresh the
replay due to updates I test in the same area. Even with max settings close to 150 FPS was
possible in this seemingly well optimized game, with above 100 for the 1% low, so it’s
running very nicely.
Overwatch is another well optimized game and was tested in the practice range, as other
players, bots and even different maps in actual gameplay affect the frame rate and this allows
for consistent testing. Even maxed out at epic settings was giving us 180FPS, with 137
for the 1% low, pretty impressive.
Shadow of the Tomb Raider was tested with the built in benchmark, the results from this
test were very good at higher settings. The 80 watt 2080 Max-Q is actually outperforming
other 90 watt 2080 Max-Q laptops I’ve tested, but we’ll compare this soon.
Metro Exodus was also tested using the built in benchmark, most parts of the game perform
a fair bit better than this, so don’t take these results as a good indication of what
to expect throughout the entire game, it’s more of a worst case but does let you perform
the same test to compare against.
CS:GO was tested using the Ulletical FPS benchmark, and like always high frame rates were coming
out of this test. That said the results weren’t much better than a 2060 laptop, a bit better
at higher settings likely due to being a bit more GPU bound, but for the most part I think
this is a pretty CPU heavy test.
Rainbow Six Siege was tested with the built in benchmark, and is a game I’ve found to
benefit from Nvidia’s new turing architecture. Even with ultra settings over 150 FPS was
achieved in this test.
PUBG was tested using the replay feature, and over 100 FPS was possible even with the
settings maxed out at ultra, however the results aren’t too different from other lower specced
machines I’ve tested.
Assassin’s Creed Odyssey was tested with the built in benchmark, the results are ok,
but at lower settings the averages are noticeably lower compared to other laptops with lower
specs, again as this is a CPU heavy test.
Dota 2 was tested playing in the middle lane with an average amount of action going on,
and it was running very smoothly without any problems at all. Even ultra settings were
capable of 140 FPS in this game, though again like CS:GO not that much better than a 2060
laptop, again likely due to CPU performance.
Watch Dogs 2 is a resource intensive game, although I still found it to play perfectly
fine even with ultra settings. With a stable 30 FPS to me it runs fine, and due to the
high end specs in this machine we’re averaging 60 FPS at ultra.
Ghost Recon is another demanding game and was tested using the built in benchmark. Unless
you’ve got a top of the line thick laptop, 60 FPS at ultra in this test is basically
not possible, though we are getting close with the 2080 Max-Q, and much higher was possible
with lower settings.
The Witcher 3 was running well with hairworks disabled, and played great with ultra settings
in my test at above 100 FPS. Personally I think that’s plenty for this game, so I’d
stick to higher settings and have it looking great, maybe high settings if you really want
to use the 144Hz display.
DOOM was tested using Vulkan, and this game runs very well on basically anything. Even
with max settings I was seeing very high frame rates, even the 1% low was at 125, so it’s
playing perfectly smoothly at ultra without issue.
Strange Brigade was another game that was tested with Vulkan, and this one was also
running well. At ultra settings even the 1% low was 110, with the average around 140,
with much higher possible at lower settings.
Shadow of War was tested with the built in benchmark, and is another game that I’ve
found to benefit from Nvidia’s new Turing architecture. The results look good, plenty
for playing the game in any case, with just below 100 FPS reached at ultra settings
Let’s also take a look at how this config of the MSI GS75 compares with other laptops
to see how it stacks up, use these results as a rough guide only as they were tested
at different times with different drivers.
In Battlefield 5 I’ve got the GS75 up the top in red, and it’s actually doing quite
well here, coming in at second place out of these laptops I’ve recently tested, despite
using the 80 watt variant of the 2080 Max-Q. The ASUS GX701 still has the lead, as I tested
with G-Sync enabled so it can bypass Optimus and perform better.
Here are the results from Far Cry 5 with ultra settings in the built in benchmark. In this
test the GS75 was behind all of the other 2080 Max-Q laptops, though keep in mind those
are the more powerful 90 watt versions, so they’re expected to go better, while again
the GX701 takes the lead due to G-Sync.
These are the results from Shadow of the Tomb raider with the built in benchmark at highest
settings, and in this one the GS75 was performing quite well again, ahead of both the Razer
Blade and Alienware m17 with 90 watt 2080 Max-Q’s, and only just barely behind the
GX701.
While the results here look good, these are at maximum settings where we’re more GPU
bound, as you’ll see in the upcoming thermal testing video there is performance loss due
to both thermal and power limit throttling on the CPU. This is why some games that are
more CPU bound weren’t performing too differently from other laptops with 2060 graphics. Otherwise
overall at higher settings, as we just saw, the GS75 does perform well, and to be fair
with top end specs like this you’d be more likely to use those higher settings anyway.
So how do you guys think the MSI GS75 gaming laptop did in these games? Let me know your
thoughts down in the comments, and get subscribed so you don’t miss the upcoming full review
which will include everything you need to know about this laptop.