MSI GT627: Bringing Balance to the Force?
by Jarred Walton on April 29, 2009 4:00 AM EST- Posted in
- Laptops
Application Workloads: Overclocking FTW
Wrapping things up with our performance testing, we have results from the Futuremark PCMark suites as well as some of our own application benchmarking. When it comes to running your office, multimedia, and Internet tasks, most modern laptops are more than fast enough. What follows are a few of the more strenuous application benchmarks - 3D rendering and video encoding - that put more of an emphasis on high CPU speeds. If you don't do that sort of thing on your computer, you will probably find that just about any current dual-core processor is sufficient.
PCMark Vantage and CINEBENCH have 32-bit and 64-bit versions of the test suite available, with performance typically being 10% higher in CINEBENCH and 5% higher in PCMark Vantage. We have pulled the 64-bit results out of the graphs to clean things up, and since this is a 32-bit system we won't bother reporting the 64-bit results. You can find them in our last review, if you're interested. The Alienware m15x using the integrated X3100 is once again shown in gold on the PCMark tests, where the GPU still has an impact.
Stock performance places the GT627 near the bottom of the PCMark Vantage results (though admittedly only 16% behind the Gateway P-7808u), while it does better in the PCMark05 tests. PCMark05 represents a more "typical" usage scenario for most people, while Vantage stresses the system quite a bit more. Also note that the Toshiba X305-Q725 includes an SSD, which improves performance substantially in PCMark Vantage.
In the video encoding and 3D rendering tests, the GT627 places near the middle of the pack in performance, which you would expect from the P8400 processor. Not surprisingly, for all but the most demanding users the MSI GT627 is plenty fast - in fact, if you don't play games it's probably overkill. For CPU intensive tasks, the stock clocked GT627 is 22% to 23% slower in QuickTime and DivX encoding, but a far more substantial 75% slower in x264 encoding (the second pass, which is far more time consuming) and 64% slower in multi-core CINEBENCH.
Where things get interesting is in the overclocked results, where performance scales almost linearly in some applications with the 15% overclock. It's not enough to get the GT627 past quad-core options in highly threaded workloads, but it does surpass all but the fastest dual-core laptops. The P8400 is quite possibly the perfect CPU for such a laptop, coming in at a low price of around $210 for just the CPU but matching the performance of the T9400 when overclocked, a CPU that costs about $340. The final clock speeds and heat output at the overclocked speed of ~2.6GHz also appear to be well within the cooling capabilities of the chassis, as we never experienced any instability when utilizing the Turbo mode.
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B3an - Wednesday, April 29, 2009 - link
I'm not buying a new laptop until i can get one with a decent display. I agree with this review about the poor displays in most of them. I've been waiting 2 years so far to upgrade to something like a LED backlit laptop with a good screen res and image quality, or just one with a good IPS and normal backlighting even. But they're taking there time!!Hrel - Wednesday, April 29, 2009 - link
The review laptop needs to be $900 or less, simply look at this one: http://www.bestbuy.com/site/olspage.jsp?skuId=9050...">http://www.bestbuy.com/site/olspage.jsp...&typ...The MSI Model with the faster CPU and higher resolution screen should be about $1100.
Finally, crappy keyboard and cracking chassis' WHILE IN A BAG is just completely unacceptable. I think right now the Asus is still the way to go; though I really would like to see a higher resolution screen. 1520x855 or 1600x900 like Sony offers would be GREAT!!!
Hrel - Wednesday, April 29, 2009 - link
That's amazing, the MSI is at the top of the list every single time; it even manages to beat out the Clevo at least once; then it's second the other times. Simply awesome! Can't believe that small overclock makes that big of a difference.Hrel - Wednesday, April 29, 2009 - link
I'm referring to the gaming test in the above comment; just to be clear.Mikey - Wednesday, April 29, 2009 - link
I think this is a great review for a great notebook. Never is there anything that is ever perfect when it comes to new tech in the market, but this MSI notebook can do it all. I don't know why these companies don't have the brains to use common sense and fix these little "issues" that people have with it. Don't they know that they could make a better product using better material? So what if it costs $100 more. I think that is worth the improvements that most people within this market segment is looking for.http://www.dumpsternationwide.com/">roll off dumpsters and containers>
crimson117 - Wednesday, April 29, 2009 - link
How do you think the screen will be on this one? 17", 1680x1050, and claims to include "MSI vivid image enhancement technology"http://www.msimobile.com/level3_productpage.aspx?c...">http://www.msimobile.com/level3_productpage.aspx?c...
JarredWalton - Wednesday, April 29, 2009 - link
Well, I can't say without testing in person, but take http://www.samsung.com/global/business/lcdpanel/pr...">Samsung's current laptop LCDs as a starting point. Their 17" option with WSXGA+ resolution lists a 45% color gamut (blech!), 300 nit brightness, and no contrast ration. There's a good chance that it will be a 500:1 contrast or higher, but no guarantee. If you walk down the aisles at Best Buy, Office Depot, or a similar store and look at the displays, you will likely notice that around 60-75% have poor contrast ratios, and all of them are TN panels.crimson117 - Wednesday, April 29, 2009 - link
I guess what I really want is a Dell Studio XPS 16 with a better graphics card (such as a AMD Mobile 4850).IlllI - Wednesday, April 29, 2009 - link
i'd be careful with dell. they've been known in the past to do 'panel lottery' so you might not get the same kind of lcd panel that they have in it nowJarredWalton - Wednesday, April 29, 2009 - link
I'm pretty sure if you get one of the Dell laptops with a high color gamut RGB LED backlit LCD, the panels will all come from the same source (i.e. no lottery). I only know of one manufacturer doing RGB LEDs right now, at least (Seiko Epson).