The MSI GE76 Raider Review: Tiger Lake Plus Ampere Equals Framerate

GPU Performance

For a gaming system, while outright GPU performance is key, keeping the GPU cool and keeping the GPU fed with commands also requires a strong CPU. MSI offers the GE76 Raider with various graphics choices, such as the RTX 3060L, the RTX 3070L, and RTX 3080L, the latter of which can be had with either 8 or 16 GB of GDDR6, with our review unit having the larger 16 GB version. TDP is also variable among designs, and NVIDIA just specifies a TDP range for their laptop graphics processors. MSI supports up to 130 Watts on the RTX 3060L, up to 140 Watts on the RTX 3070L, and up to 165 Watts on the RTX 3080L, with all systems supporting dynamic boost.

With MSI sending us the GE76 Raider with the 360 Hz 1920x1080 display, CPU performance will be critical as well, as the RTX 3080L will be quite CPU limited at this resolution, even on demanding titles.

For this review, we’ve added some new games to the laptop suite. As such, we only have results for the ASUS G513QY and MSI GE76 Raider for those tests at the moment, and the results will expand as we test more devices in the future. So, for this review, the new games will be included with our older games to show a wider range of devices. We will also be adding some UHD resolution gaming results for certain titles to see how the big iron of gaming notebooks can handle 8 million pixels.

As usual, we’ll start with the synthetics, and here we’ve added 3DMark Time Spy, so similar to the games, we only have results for the latest systems we’ve tested.

3DMark

UL’s 3DMark suite shows that in the synthetic tests, AMD’s Radeon 6800M is quite competitive with the RTX 3080L. On the older Fire Strike test, there is a substantial jump, as expected, from RTX 2080 to RTX 3080L.

GFXBench

The DirectX 12-based GFXBench tests are cross-platform, and available all the way down to smartphones, so it is not too difficult for a proper gaming laptop. MSI’s GE76 Raider leads the way here against all other systems tested.

Rise of the Tomb Raider

In the second installment of the rebooted Tomb Raider franchise, the MSI GE76 Raider dominates. Although at 1920x1080 resolution large GPUs will be CPU limited, the extra performance from Tiger Lake elevates the GE76 Raider significantly above all other systems we’ve tested.

Shadow of the Tomb Raider

Again, with the excellent CPU gaming performance and RTX 3080L, the GE76 Raider is well ahead of any other system we’ve tested in this title.

Strange Brigade

This title is one that is included because it can run on low-powered systems all the way up to proper gaming notebooks. At 1920x1080, the MSI GE76 Raider is hilariously in front, but with the resolution set at UHD, the results are much closer.

Shadow of War

Again, as expected, the MSI GE76 Raider dominates here, well ahead of the other systems in what is again a CPU-bound test at 1920x1080.

Far Cry 5

Ubisoft’s Far Cry 5 engine is also one that is heavily influenced by CPU performance, and the MSI GE76 Raider rises to the occasion to surpass all other systems. When running in UHD resolution, the average framerate is just above 60 FPS even with the settings at Ultra. That is pretty impressive.

Assassin’s Creed: Valhalla

The first new game in our suite is the latest in the Assassin’s Creed franchise which is set in England, and even at 1920x1080 the game is very demanding at its highest detail settings. At UHD, even with the settings turned down somewhat, the MSI GE76 Raider is not quite able to hit 60 FPS.

Borderlands 3

The MSI GE76 Raider stretches its legs here, easily outpacing the AMD Radeon 6800M in both FHD and UHD resolutions.

F1 2021

The latest Codemaster simulation of Formula 1 increases the graphical fidelity again, but at FHD resolution is not very demanding and allows the MSI GE76 Raider to take advantage of its fast refresh display. Once the resolution is cranked up to UHD though, even with the settings reduced, the laptop is not quite able to hit 60 FPS on average.

Godfall

At the native resolution of the GE76 Raider, Godfall is incredibly smooth even at the “Epic” settings level. At UHD with the settings turned down to “High” it is just able to delivery 60 FPS average.

GPU Conclusion

There is little doubt that the 165-Watt RTX 3080L that MSI has outfitted in this GE76 Raider is plenty capable, and with 16 GB of GDDR6 RAM, will be future proof for quite some time. A big factor in gaming laptop performance though is the processor, especially with a lot of systems still shipping with relatively low-resolution FHD displays. The Intel Core i9-11980HK really delivers here, dragging the GE76 Raider to the top of pretty much every gaming test we can throw at it. It is very impressive.