The MSI GE63 Raider RGB 8RF has some pretty nice specs, but how well does it perform in
games?
I’ve benchmarked 16 different games at all setting levels to show you how well it runs
and help you decide if it’s worth it.
Just quickly before we jump into the benchmark results I’ll cover off the specs in my unit.
There’s an Intel i7-8750H CPU, Nvidia 1070 graphics, and 16GB of memory running at DDR4-2400
in dual channel.
It’s also got a 120Hz screen, so we’ll be able to see which games are actually able
to take advantage of the high refresh rate panel.
Other than that I was running Windows 10 with the latest Nvidia drivers, so let’s see
how well it runs!
Fortnite was tested with the replay feature, and even at epic settings we’re averaging
above 100 FPS, with lower settings getting the frame rate above the refresh rate of the
display, so it should run very smoothly.
Overwatch was tested playing in the practice range, and again even at epic settings we’re
seeing very high frame rates for this game, with 1% lows above the high refresh rate of
the panel so it played excellent.
Shadow of the Tomb Raider was tested with the built in benchmark, I’ve only tested
this game a few times but these results seem fairly good, above 60 FPS averages even at
max settings in this test.
PUBG was tested using the replay feature, and although this is a less optimized game
we’re actually getting pretty good frame rates regardless of setting level used, so
with this fairly high end hardware it’s actually running well.
CS:GO was tested using the Ulletical benchmark, and while maxed out we’re able to average
above 200 FPS, though not too much better than say a laptop with 1060 graphics, although
the 1% lows are noticeably improved.
Rainbow Six Siege was tested with the built in benchmark, there was almost no difference
in 1% lows between the setting levels in use, but despite this they’re quite high as is
with fairly high average frame rates, so this game should play pretty well with any settings.
Far Cry 5 was also tested with the built in benchmark, the results in this test are pretty
good, above 60 FPS even for the 1% low at ultra settings, and the 1% results aren’t
too far behind the average frame rates indicating the dips don’t seem too bad.
Assassin’s Creed Origins was another that was tested with the built in benchmark, and
again pretty good frame rates for this test, I don’t personally think you really need
that high of a frame rate to play it and it does seem to be a more demanding game.
Dota 2 was tested using a fairly intensive replay, so this should be a worst case scenario,
these results are not the same as actually playing the game.
The results are actually on the lower side, coming out worse than the lower specced Dell
G3 I recently tested, likely due to CPU throttling which I’ll investigate further in upcoming
videos.
Testing Battlefield 1 in the first campaign mission ran well at all setting levels.
The 1% lows were a fair bit behind the averages, but even at ultra settings still above 60
FPS, with the averages close to the refresh rate of the panel, overall it played nicely.
Watch Dogs 2 is a demanding game, although it doesn’t really need a high frame rate
to play, I could play it at ultra without many issues and we saw basically the same
frame rate at very high and high settings, both the CPU and GPU were 100% maxed out in
this test.
Ghost Recon is another demanding game and was tested using the built in benchmark and
it was running fairly well with basically all but ultra settings.
The Witcher 3 was running quite well, even at ultra settings the 1% low were above 60
FPS with high settings averaging around the refresh rate of the display, although I don’t
think the game necessarily needs a high frame rate to play.
DOOM was tested using Vulkan, and as usual this game is getting quite high frame rates,
well above 100 FPS for 1% lows even at ultra settings, it played really well with no problems
at all.
Shadow of War was tested with the built in benchmark, pretty good results for this test,
with medium settings getting us right on 120 frames per second, same as the refresh rate
of the laptop’s display.
Ashes of the Singularity was tested using the built in benchmark with Direct X 12, and
fairly decent results in this test as a result of the fairly powerful hardware.
In all games we’re seeing pretty nice results.
In my opinion while Nvidia 1060 graphics are a great match for 1080p gaming at high settings
at around the 60 FPS mark I think the 1070 is a good option to step things up to the
next level with a 120 or 144Hz refresh rate display, as we’ve seen in many games we’re
actually able to start achieving these higher frame rates, although it does of course depend
on the specific game and setting level in use.
I haven’t yet tested undervolting or overclocking, as this will vary between laptops based on
the hardware, but I’ll cover those in future videos along with detailed temperature testing,
this is just how the laptop performs out of the box in a number of different games, as
this is likely how most people will probably end up using it, don’t worry though I’ll
definitely cover the more advanced stuff too.
So how do you guys think the MSI GE63 RGB 8RF gaming laptop did in these games?
Despite some thermal and power limit throttling on the CPU being present which I’ll discuss
in the upcoming thermal testing video we were seeing pretty good results in all games tested
thanks to the 8750H and 1070 combination.
Let me know what you guys thought down in the comments, and don’t forget to subscribe
for the full review of the MSI GE63 8RF gaming laptop as well as future tech videos like
this one.