The MSI Prestige 15 is a thin and light laptop that uses Intel’s newest 10th gen CPUs,
so let’s find out just how hot this gets, see what the limitations are and see what
can be done to improve performance.
For the specs it’s got the Intel i7-10710U CPU, which is the first time we’ve had a
U series chip with 6 cores and 12 threads. For the graphics there’s an Nvidia 1650
Max-Q and it’s got 16gb of memory in dual channel. You can find other configurations
and updated prices linked in the description.
Air is pulled in underneath the machine through the holes towards the back, it then gets exhausted
through the vents below the screen. Inside there are a couple of fans, and a single heatpipe
is shared between processor and graphics.
The laptop comes with MSI’s Creator Center software installed which is basically the
control panel to manage it. We can use this to swap between three performance modes, which
from lowest to highest are ECO, Comfort and Sport. We’ve also got the option of leaving
fans on auto speed or enabling cooler boost for max speed, and I’ve tested all of these
options.
Thermal testing was completed in an ambient room temperature of 21 degrees Celsius, so
expect different results in different environments.
At idle both the CPU and GPU were looking fine.
The rest of the results are from combined CPU and GPU workloads, and are meant to represent
worst case scenarios as I ran them for extended periods of time.
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
with only the stress CPU option checked, and the Heaven GPU benchmark at max settings at
the same time to fully load the system.
Whether gaming or under combined CPU and GPU stress test, thermals were the lowest with
ECO mode enabled, as this caps the power limits and performance. While actually playing this
game in ECO mode it wasn’t very playable due to the limits, we’ll see some FPS benchmarks
soon. This is why temperatures rise when we step up to comfort mode, and then again to
the highest performance mode, sport mode. By simply setting the fan to max speed from
automatic the CPU temperature lowers by 10 degrees, a nice improvement. Applying an undervolt
to the CPU didn’t change thermals in the stress test, but it did help slightly with
this particular game.
These are the average clock speeds for the same tests just shown. ECO mode had the lowest
performance due to the power limit caps in place, again comfort mode stepped up the performance,
then sport mode offered the best experience. Although we saw the CPU temperature drop by
10 degrees in the last graph with the fan at maximum, there wasn’t actually any clock
speed difference as there was no thermal throttling taking place, the limitation was power. This
is why undervolting helped improve clock speed, however it still wasn’t possible to reach
the full 3.9GHz all core turbo speed of the i7 chip in either of these workloads.
These are the average TDP values during these same tests. In most cases the GPU was hitting
its max 35 watt limit, and the CPU seemed to be doing well considering this is a 15
watt chip, however the laptop manufacturer does have the option of configuring a 25 watt
TDP which seems to be the case here based on these results.
HWInfo reported total system power draw with the stress tests running at 86 watts, and
using an external power meter showed the laptop was consuming 88.7 watts. The Prestige 15
comes with a 90 watt power brick, so under these worst case combined CPU and GPU loads
it seems that we’re hitting the limits of the power brick, and this is why the 3.9GHz
all core turbo boost wasn’t being hit. Both thermal and power limits were fine, but the
power brick just couldn’t give it any more.
Here are the CPU clock speeds while under a CPU only stress test, the results are higher
as the Nvidia graphics are now idle, so there’s more power available and less heat. Sport
mode allowed us to hit the full 3.9GHz all core turbo speed with this workload. We can
see that the temperature dropped back 11 degrees by undervolting the CPU, despite no difference
in actual performance in this workload. When in a CPU only workload like this the average
TDP was actually sitting on 36 watts sustained, quite impressive for a U series chip and well
above the 15 watt base spec.
To demonstrate how this translates into performance I’ve got some Cinebench CPU benchmarks from
these different modes. The results were quite surprising, in sport mode the multicore score
is actually in line with the i7-9750H, due to that higher power limit that’s possible
in CPU only workloads. Due to these results I’ll compare this 10th gen chip with the
9750H in a future video, so make sure you’re subscribed for that one.
So how do these different changes actually affect game performance? I’ve tested a couple
of games to find out.
Shadow of the Tomb Raider was tested with the built in benchmark at highest settings.
As this test tends to be more GPU bound, especially at max settings, undervolting the CPU changed
nothing, comfort mode performed a little behind, with a larger difference seen in ECO mode.
Far Cry 5 was tested with the built in benchmark at ultra settings. There wasn’t much difference
between comfort and sport, a little boost to 1% low mostly, and then a bit extra to
1% low once undervolted. ECO mode meanwhile was significantly lower.
If you want to see more gaming benchmarks on this machine, check the card in the top
right where I’ve tested 18 games at all setting levels.
As for the external temperatures where you’ll actually be putting your hands, at idle it
was quite cool, around the typical 30 degrees I usually see. With the stress tests in ECO
mode it’s a bit warm in the center around the mid 40s towards the back. In comfort mode
it’s now a bit warmer, despite the fan speed increasing the internals are now hotter. Here’s
the highest option, sport mode, which gets to the 50s in the center, and mid 50s up the
back which was hot to the touch, granted you won’t be touching there. When playing an
actual game it was similar, the WASD keys and wrist rest was fine but the middle was
quite warm. By setting the fans to max speed the temperatures drop a fair bit.
Here’s what the fans sound like during these different tests.
At idle in ECO mode it was completely silent, no fan noise or coil whine at all. With the
stress tests going in ECO mode it was still fairly quiet. Playing games in this mode was
hit or miss, some worked ok while others were unplayable. Comfort mode only rose fan speed
a bit, and then they rose further in sport mode. In sport mode the fan speed did gradually
change between 44 and 47 decibels despite the same consistent workload. With the fan
at max speed it was quite loud, or at least it sounded higher pitch than usual.
Overall I thought the performance was fair considering it’s clearly designed as a thinner
and lighter machine, which is exactly what the Intel U series CPUs are for. With that
said though, the power limit of my i7-10710U did seem quite high, and despite this the
thermals didn’t get too bad. Thermal throttling was almost hit in sport mode, but as shown
we could improve this substantially by boosting fan speed. Undervolting the CPU did allow
us to claw back some more performance, however the 90 watt power brick seems to be the limiting
factor here. It does charge with USB Type-C so in theory you could probably use a different
power source.
While under CPU only workloads where there was adequate power, the results were impressive
and not what I was expecting, you’ll definitely want to keep an eye out for my upcoming comparison
between the i7-9750H and i7-10710U - that’s a great name.
Despite this being a 10th gen laptop, I wasn’t expecting amazing thermals. As this is a Comet
Lake chip it’s still based on Intel’s classic 14nm architecture, it’s not 10nm
like Ice Lake, but for some reason both are classified as 10th gen which is fun. Anyway
despite 6 cores now being available in the U series, at least in the Prestige 15, it
doesn’t seem to get too hot. This will of course vary between machines though.
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.
Raising fan speed and undervolting are much easier for most people to do than changing
paste anyway, and as we’ve seen these tweaks did help improve performance and temperatures
with the Prestige 15.
Let me know what you thought about the thermals from the MSI Prestige 15 laptop down in the
comments, and if you’re new to the channel you’ll definitely want to get subscribed
for the upcoming full review to see everything this machine has to offer.