MSI GS60 Ghost 850m vs 860m/870m

[Sebastian Garrubbo]

Hey guys,

So Ive been in the market for a laptop for quite a while now, and naturally, my opinion has shifted from complete conviction that I want one laptop to conviction of another in just two days. Needless to say, Ive considered basically every option available. After about 6 months, Ive decided on the MSI GS60 Ghost, and heres why:

For confirmation, I went out to my local microcenter to have a look at it myself, but I intend to purchase and Configure it through XoticPC. Let me just start out by stating the obvious, this thing is SEXY. The unibody aluminum chassis is stunning, and the SteelSeries RGB keyboard adds a whole new element of customization that isnt found on most laptops. Both Physically and Aesthetically, its just plain built well. For a while, I was considering the Asus G750, but i realized how much of a behemoth it is, and decided a ten pound laptop wouldnt be great for lugging around in a backpack with all my heavy books. On the other hand, the GS60 is incredibly portable and I could really see myself carrying it around.

All thats fine and dandy, until we address the elephant in the room: cooling. Ive heard many mixed reports on how the small chassis does to expel heat under heavy load, some saying that they cant even touch it and others saying its perfectly fine. Ive come to the conclusion that both the 860m/870m variants have the same flawed cooling, which was what originally made me stop considering this. Obviously the answer would be to simply get the 970m version, as it has significantly better cooling and power efficiency, but to my dismay, the lowest priced one is 1800 dollars, which brings me to my next point, my budget

Here is what I intend to fit under a 2000 dollar budget in combination with the laptop: ASUS VX279Q 27 inch monitor ($279), Ogio rebel backpack ($60), Cooler Master Slim Cooling pad ($17)

I was looking through MSIs website when I discovered that there was a configuration option that included the 850m for only $1350! This would fit under my budget, and my overall configuration would end up costing around $1600, which is still very adequate for my budget. The GTX 850m is obviously a lower end chip, but Im not concerned about performance in games at all, as my friend owns a laptop with a mere GT765m and everything runs great on high settings on wall power. The 860m/870m chips are said to use too much power, and therefore cause more heating issues. But the 850m presumably uses less power, therefore heating better.

Here's my final question. Does the 850m actually have better cooling than the 860/870m variants? I do intend to have IC diamond installed by XoticPC no matter what, and I also intend to buy a cooling pad, so a few heating issues isn't a problem, but people have been saying that the 860/870m variants are just TOO hot for even that.

Thanks in advance,
Sebastian

 

[velo3100]

I would get the gtx 850m version as it is better for the laptop for cooling reasons and battery life. The laptop should last a lot longer as the battery is not damaged by the high end gpu.

 

[ragztem]

Hey Sebastian. I have a Sager Np7338 with a GTX 860m , I7-4710mq and a Crucial MX100 512gb SSD. Absolutely awesome machine! $1300.00 TOTAL OUT THE DOOR!!! (LPC DIGITAL) GTX 860m is a great compromise between performance and quality when it comes to power consumption and manageable temps. Enough of that, lets get to the point. I run Crysis 3, Bioshock Infinite, Metro Last Light, Far Cry 3 and Borderlands Pre-Sequel all butter smooth! But the catch is, they all tax the CPU and GPU differently! Crysis 3, Metro Last Light and Far Cry3 can be demanding and really crank up the temps, while Bioshock Infinite and Borderlands Pre-Sequel run relatively cool maxed out. I run all games around 75c for CPU and GPU. I don't use cooling pads, under-volting etc... Here's the breakdown for keeping a grip on temps. (1) Install Core Temp and Tech Power Up GPU-Z. Set GPU-Z to "Max Temperature" so you can see how high your GPU gets during the course of gaming. Core Temp has that listed automatically. (2) Disable Turbo Boost for the CPU. NO game needs the full power of a Quad Core CPU and then a Turbo Boost! Control panel>power options>set Balanced (recommended)>change plan settings>change advanced power settings>processor power management>maximum processor state>set both "on battery" and "plugged in" to 99%> Apply>OK. (3)Set all games to V-SYNC. This will cap your frames to your refresh rate of 60. You don't need any more than that! (4) Check temps after 15-20 mins of gameplay. (5) If temps are a little high adjust in game settings to high or medium and then possibly Resolution to 1600x900.( Play around til you find a combination that works.) This will take a lot of stress of the GPU. All of these tips will keep your temps down! The Maximum temp for the I-74710mq is 100c and the GTX 860m is 120c. I never let the CPU or GPU get to 80c. That's a safe zone for avoiding any damage or shortening the life of the components. Always remember these are thin notebooks packed with a ton of power and sometimes irresponsibly and unpractical! The Sager NP7338 and the MSI GS60 are BEASTS!!!! They can pretty much gobble up anything you can throw at it. We know these are powerful notebooks, but you don't always have to prove it! " Don't bury yourself alive just to prove you can use a shovel"!!!

 

[Sebastian Garrubbo]

Hey Sebastian. I have a Sager Np7338 with a GTX 860m , I7-4710mq and a Crucial MX100 512gb SSD. Absolutely awesome machine! $1300.00 TOTAL OUT THE DOOR!!! (LPC DIGITAL) GTX 860m is a great compromise between performance and quality when it comes to power consumption and manageable temps. Enough of that, lets get to the point. I run Crysis 3, Bioshock Infinite, Metro Last Light, Far Cry 3 and Borderlands Pre-Sequel all butter smooth! But the catch is, they all tax the CPU and GPU differently! Crysis 3, Metro Last Light and Far Cry3 can be demanding and really crank up the temps, while Bioshock Infinite and Borderlands Pre-Sequel run relatively cool maxed out. I run all games around 75c for CPU and GPU. I don't use cooling pads, under-volting etc... Here's the breakdown for keeping a grip on temps. (1) Install Core Temp and Tech Power Up GPU-Z. Set GPU-Z to "Max Temperature" so you can see how high your GPU gets during the course of gaming. Core Temp has that listed automatically. (2) Disable Turbo Boost for the CPU. NO game needs the full power of a Quad Core CPU and then a Turbo Boost! Control panel>power options>set Balanced (recommended)>change plan settings>change advanced power settings>processor power management>maximum processor state>set both "on battery" and "plugged in" to 99%> Apply>OK. (3)Set all games to V-SYNC. This will cap your frames to your refresh rate of 60. You don't need any more than that! (4) Check temps after 15-20 mins of gameplay. (5) If temps are a little high adjust in game settings to high or medium and then possibly Resolution to 1600x900.( Play around til you find a combination that works.) This will take a lot of stress of the GPU. All of these tips will keep your temps down! The Maximum temp for the I-74710mq is 100c and the GTX 860m is 120c. I never let the CPU or GPU get to 80c. That's a safe zone for avoiding any damage or shortening the life of the components. Always remember these are thin notebooks packed with a ton of power and sometimes irresponsibly and unpractical! The Sager NP7338 and the MSI GS60 are BEASTS!!!! They can pretty much gobble up anything you can throw at it. We know these are powerful notebooks, but you don't always have to prove it! " Don't bury yourself alive just to prove you can use a shovel"!!!

So youre saying the MSI is the way to go? Youre sure heating wont be an issue? I just really want to make sure..