The GE65 9SE is a gaming laptop from MSI which has got some powerful specs on offer, but
how well does it actually perform in games? I’ve tested 21 different games at all setting
levels and also compared it with other laptops to help you decide if it’s worth it.
I’ve got the 9SE version of the GE65, so there’s an Intel i7-9750H CPU, Nvidia RTX
2060 graphics, 32gb of memory in dual channel, and a 144Hz 1080p screen. It’s also available
with RTX 2070 though, you can find different options and updated prices linked in the description.
The MSI Dragon Center software allows us to set different performance profiles. I’ve
tested with turbo mode enabled for best performance which basically overclocks the graphics. I’ve
also performed all testing with the fans set to cooler boost mode, and this increases the
fan speed.
We’ll only be covering gaming performance in this video, so if you’re new to the channel,
you'll definitely want to get subscribed for the upcoming thermal testing and full review.
Let’s start out by going through all games at all setting levels, then afterwards we’ll
see how the GE65 compares with some other laptops.
Battlefield 5 was tested in campaign mode, and I’ve got RTX on shown by the green bars,
and RTX off shown by the purple bars. With RTX on it was kind of playable at high but
for a first person shooter you’ll probably want medium settings or below, and in my opinion
RTX off with ultra both looks better than RTX on at lower settings and performs better
anyway.
Control was also tested with and without RTX on. I’ve used ray tracing with high settings
and it wasn’t really too playable, but with RTX off it was still possible to average 60
FPS even with the highest setting preset.
Borderlands 3 was tested using the game’s built in benchmark tool, and the ultra setting
preset was only just slightly below a 60 FPS average, with low settings able to score over
100 FPS in this test.
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. With minimum settings it
was averaging on the 144 FPS frame cap, and even at max settings it was still playing
smoothly.
Shadow of the Tomb Raider was tested with the built in benchmark, and the results were
quite impressive, but we’ll take a look at how this laptop compares with some others
in this game shortly.
Ghost Recon Breakpoint was also tested with the benchmark tool, and the highest ultimate
settings was still able to score above 60 FPS averages, granted the 1% low results are
a fair bit lower compared to very high settings and below.
Wolfenstein Youngblood was tested using Vulkan, and there were minimal differences in performance
between the different setting levels. Even with all settings set to maximum it was still
playing perfectly smoothly and taking advantage of the high refresh rate screen, so might
as well just play with it looking good at the same time.
Far Cry New Dawn was tested with the built in benchmark, and as this is more of a CPU
heavy test and we’ve got an i7, the results weren’t too different compared to other
machines with higher tier graphics.
Fortnite was tested with the replay feature, and as a less demanding game even epic settings
was playing well with above 120 FPS averages, high settings averaged above the refresh rate
of the screen, and low settings was almost double this.
Overwatch is another well optimized game and was tested in the practice range, again it
was still playing well with max settings, with averages above the screen’s refresh
rate, and even the 1% low result at ultra was able to surpass this too.
CS:GO was tested using the Ulletical FPS benchmark, and as a game that depends primarily on CPU
power the results aren’t really that much lower compared to other laptops I’ve tested
with the same i7 CPU and different graphics.
Dota 2 was tested playing in the middle lane, and as another primarily CPU heavy game the
results at lower settings aren’t really that much different compared to other laptops
with the same CPU. Even at ultra settings it’s working extremely well.
Rainbow Six Siege was tested with the built in benchmark. Even the maximum ultra setting
preset was able to average the refresh rate of the 144Hz screen that I’m using, and
that’s with a 100% render scale too.
Metro Exodus was 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.
The Division 2 was also tested with the built in benchmark, and above 60 FPS averages were
possible with the ultra setting preset, although we could almost double this with medium settings.
PUBG was tested using the replay feature, and ultra settings was still able to run over
100 FPS, with around medium hitting close to the refresh rate of the laptop’s screen.
Assassin’s Creed Odyssey was tested with the built in benchmark, and as more of a CPU
heavy test the results aren’t too different compared to other laptops with the same i7
CPU but lower graphics.
Watch Dogs 2 is a resource heavy game, but I think it still plays fine with a stable
30 FPS, so absolutely no issues playing it even with the highest ultra setting preset
as this was averaging over 60 FPS.
The Witcher 3 was playing fine with ultra settings. The 1% low result was a fair bit
lower compared to high settings, and given high settings still looks quite nice I’d
just stick to that for a good mixture of performance and looks.
F1 2019 was tested using the game’s benchmark tool, the highest setting preset was close
to 100 FPS averages with nearly 60 for the 1% low, so not too bad in isolation, although
the 1% low from high settings was even higher than the average of max settings.
Strange Brigade was tested with Vulkan, again with the built in benchmark. At ultra settings
over 120 FPS averages were reached, with high settings averaging close to the refresh rate
of the screen, while the 1% low from low settings is higher than this.
Let’s also take a look at how this config of the MSI GE65 compares with other laptops,
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 GE65 highlighted in red near similarly specced machines. This
is only the second time I’ve tested the RTX 2060 with a 9750H CPU, and it’s beating
the Clevo machine underneath it by a fair amount. The results are actually ahead of
most of the 2070 Max-Q machines too, both in terms of average FPS and 1% low, so great
results from the GE65 here.
These are the results from Far Cry 5 with ultra settings in the built in benchmark.
Again the GE65 was a fair amount ahead of the competition, even higher specced machines
like MSI’s own GP75 with RTX 2070 graphics.
These are the results from Shadow of the Tomb raider with the built in benchmark at highest
settings. Again the results are above average and in front of most of the RTX 2070 Max-Q
laptops above it, granted not by much, but it’s still winning with lower specs.
Overall we’re seeing excellent results from this level of hardware with the MSI GE65 gaming
laptop. The i7-9750H, overclocked RTX 2060 and dual channel memory are offering good
performance which was higher than most other similarly specced laptops that I’ve tested.
I’ve only tested one other RTX 2060 machine with the 9th gen i7 but this one was noticeably
ahead, though again it is overclocked in turbo mode by default, which seems to be helping.
The GE65 is also available with a 240Hz screen or RTX 2070 graphics, so if you want even
more power then that is available.
Let me know what you thought of the gaming performance from the MSI GE65 gaming laptop
down in the comments, I’ll test out thermals in depth in an upcoming video and the full
review is still to come, so if you’re new to the channel consider getting subscribed
for those as well as future tech videos like this one.