The MSI GS75 is a powerful gaming laptop, but putting high end specs in a thin machine
results in more heat, so just how hot does it get? In this testing I’ll be taking a
detailed look at thermals and seeing how much we can improve performance with some simple
tweaks.
The MSI GS75 is available in different configurations, my 8SG model has the i7-8750H CPU, Nvidia
RTX 2080 Max-Q graphics, and 32gb of memory running in dual channel, so expect different
results with different specs. You can find updated pricing for different models linked
in the description.
On the bottom of the laptop there are a few air vents up the back over the intake fans,
and we’ll see how a cooling pad can utilize these soon. In terms of heatpipes I didn’t
actually get a look as the motherboard is flipped, and I didn’t want to go through
the process of disconnecting everything.
Thermal testing was completed in an ambient room temperature of 21 degrees Celsius, so
expect different results in different environments. I’ve tested idle down the bottom, and it
was a little warmer than average. The rest of the results are from combined CPU and GPU
workloads and are meant to represent worst case scenarios.
The gaming results towards the upper half of the graph were tested by playing Watch
Dogs 2, as I find it to use a good combination of processor and graphics. The stress test
results shown on the lower half of the graph are from running the Aida64 CPU stress test
and Heaven GPU benchmark at the same time to fully load the system. In all cases I’ve
used the Turbo profile for best results, and this does overclock the graphics by 100MHz
on the core and 200MHz on the memory.
Let’s start with the stress test results with the fan on automatic, the default. The
CPU was thermal throttling at 95 degrees Celsius, and once undervolted by -0.15v the temperature
doesn’t change. Once we max out the fans through the Dragon Center software, the constant
thermal throttling at 95 is removed, however there was still intermittent thermal throttling,
though the average is lower at 92 degrees now. When applying the CPU undervolt in combination
with the fans at maximum there was still some spikes in temperature that triggered thermal
throttling, however for the most part the CPU was constantly power limit throttling
instead with a 45 watt TDP. Once we add the Thermaltake Massive 20 cooling pad the thermal
throttling is finally removed, and we see the coolest results from the stress tests
yet.
The gaming results followed a similar trend, with intermittent thermal throttling with
the fans on auto, but this could be removed by maxing them out, so you could probably
find a middle ground by tweaking the speeds. In both cases the CPU undervolt doesn’t
affect the thermals here, however we’ll see in the next graph how it helped boost
clock speed. Finally up the top we get the best result in terms of temperatures with
the cooling pad in use, further lowering the CPU by 5 degrees and GPU by 7 degrees.
These are the average clock speeds for the same tests just shown. Down the bottom with
the stress tests running and fans at automatic we’re seeing the lowest clock speeds due
to the previously mentioned thermal throttling. The undervolt does allow us to boost CPU clock
speeds a fair bit, though thermal throttling was still taking place. We can see that simply
changing the fans from auto to maximum boosts the clock speed by 200MHz, not quite as much
when compared to the undervolt though. Combining the CPU undervolt with maximum fan speed gave
a nice improvement, then not really any change with the cooling pad to performance as we’re
power limited now and not thermal throttling.
Similar deal with the gaming tests, the biggest improvements to performance were from undervolting
the CPU to assist with the power limit throttling, as in general it wasn’t running as hot when
compared to the stress tests.
This is what the CPU TDP looked like in these same tests, basically any time it’s at 45
watts it’s power limit throttling, so only the two tests down the bottom with the fans
on auto avoided power limit throttling, and that’s simply because thermal throttling
was taking precedence. I wasn’t able to boost the TDP using Intel XTU, however I think
it would be nice to have the option if you’re willing to put some effort into cooling the
machine, as we saw earlier we could lower the temperatures a fair bit, so there’s
some room for possibly boosting the TDP to improve those clock speeds further.
So to summarise, the CPU hits power limits under combined CPU and GPU load, preventing
thermals from getting out of control. The best improvement we could make was by undervolting
the CPU, which improved performance, while additional cooling did seem to help in some
cases.
These are the average CPU clock speeds while under a CPU only workload. There’s no difference
with the fan on auto or maxed out, as thermal throttling is not taking place under this
workload. Once undervolted though there’s a performance improvement seen, with the larger
-0.2v undervolt allowing us to hit the full 3.9GHz all core turbo boost speed of the 8750H.
When we look at the temperatures there’s an 8 degree improvement going from auto to
max fans, then no real change with the first undervolt, as it was still power limit throttling
there was no change to TDP, and therefore heat. The temperature drops 1 degree with
the bigger undervolt applied as it was just able to avoid power limit throttling. In most
tests we were hitting the 45 watt TDP limit, only the -0.2v undervolt down the bottom was
enough to avoid this, and I’ll also note that I wasn’t able to boost the TDP using
Intel XTU with the GS75.
To demonstrate how this translates into performance I’ve got some Cinebench CPU benchmarks here.
For reference an i7-8750H without any constraints should average around the 1230 mark for multicore,
so the power limit throttling that I noted in CPU only workloads was affecting the result,
though undervolting does help a bit. I’ve also got the results from the newer Cinebench
R20, and similar deal, full performance wasn’t reached due to power limit throttling. Even
if I take the undervolt further it was still over 300 points below other laptops tested,
demonstrating an overall lack of CPU performance.
So how do these performance boosts actually translate into games? I’ve tested with the
exact same Windows, Nvidia and game updates installed, the only changes were the ones
listed here.
Far Cry 5 was tested using the built in benchmark at 1080p. At ultra settings there was a 4.6%
improvement to average FPS with the changes in place, with a smaller 3.5% boost to 1%
low. This varies depending on the settings, but it does clearly show we can improve the
performance in games with some simple tweaks.
If you’re after more gaming benchmarks from the MSI GS75, check the card in the top right
where I’ve tested 20 different games.
As for the external temperatures where you’ll actually be putting your hands, at idle it
was a bit warmer than average in the middle, getting to the mid 30s. While gaming the center
of the keyboard gets to the mid 40s and is warm to the touch but not hot, and then similar
results with the stress tests running, with a slightly warmer spot in the middle up the
back where the power button is. While gaming on battery power the left hand wrist rest
area warms up, as the discharging battery is directly underneath.
As for the fan noise produced by the laptop, I’ll let you have a listen to some of these
tests.
At idle with the fans on auto it was only just audible. While gaming or with the stress
tests running and the fans still on auto there’s not much real difference, and at this point
it’s actually a bit quieter than most other gaming laptops I’ve tested, the compromise
as we saw earlier is of course thermal throttling in these same workloads. With the fan at maximum
speed it does get quite loud, however the fan can be adjusted at different levels through
the MSI Dragon Center software.
Overall the MSI GS75 runs hot out of the box with the fans on auto, resulting in thermal
throttling while under combined CPU and GPU stress test. This could easily be reduced
by raising the fan speed though, and to be fair I think it’s good to at least have
the option of running the machine quieter if you want to have the choice. Otherwise
once we boost fan speed and start undervolting to reduce the temperatures we start reaching
the 45 watt TDP limitation of the CPU. In some workloads, such as just by running Aida64,
it was possible to fully remove this as a constraint with a -0.2v undervolt, however
when I tested this in Cinebench R20 it was still about 300 points behind an unconstrained
8750H, so just goes to show it really depends on the specific workload.
While it would have been nice for MSI to allow us to boost the TDP if we have appropriate
cooling, I can understand why it’s not possible in a thinner machine like this. Considering
the performance and temperatures after my simple tweaks I think it’s performing fairly
given its size, however there is performance lost due to the power limit throttling. For
what it’s worth, at higher setting levels when we’re less CPU bound the GS75 does
perform quite well, in some cases beating out the 90 watt 2080 max-q competition.
The 230 watt power brick that MSI include with the GS75 appears to be adequate for these
specs, I wasn’t seeing any battery drain during any of my testing.
These differences in performance shown aren’t hard and fast rules, there are different factors
which will vary results, primarily the temperature of the room you’re running in, application
of thermal paste, and even the specific hardware which comes down to the silicon lottery. You
may not be able to undervolt or overclock your hardware the same as me, it depends on
the chip and its specific power requirements, so don’t just blindly copy my settings and
do some testing to find out where your stable point is for best results.
It may be possible to further improve temperatures by swapping the thermal paste, however as
this is a review unit that I have to send back I’m not able to change the paste, otherwise
the next reviewer will unknowingly report different results due to what I’ve done.
Undervolting, boosting fan speed, or using a cooling pad are much easier for most people
to do anyway, and as we’ve seen these tweaks did help improve performance of the MSI GS75
gaming laptop.
Let me know what sort of performance boosts you’ve found by undervolting your hardware
and what you thought of the improvements here, and course don’t forget to subscribe for
the full review of the MSI GS75 gaming laptop as well as future thermal testing videos like
this one.