MSI VS ASUS. Need some Help!

[tommyturner12]

As the title suggests, I'm stuck. I'm deciding between the MSI GT70 Dominator Pro 890 and the ASUS G750JS DS71. Here is the link to the MSI:

http/www.amazon.com/MSI-GT70-DOMINATORPRO-890-9S7-1763A2-890-17-3-Inch/dp/B00IMTQ7MQ/ref=pd_sim_sbs_pc_5?ie=UTF8&refRID=04TC4NN9XZQH8J26YJ4Y#productDetails

Here is the link to the ASUS:

http/www.amazon.com/G750JS-DS71-17-3-inch-Gaming-GeForce-Graphics/dp/B00IEV85OU

Now, the MSI costs about the same as the ASUS, but has better CPU (Intel i7 4800MQ) and GPU (GTX 880m), is 1.3 pounds lighter, and very customizable. However, the ASUS has 4GB more RAM, better cooling, and a 250GB SSD. But, with the MSI, I can add a 250GB SSD, can add 2 more sticks of RAM, can add a cooling pad and re-paste the CPU and GPU with IC thermal compound, and I can go to XoticPC and get the copper cooling upgrade, which will make the system 20~35C° cooler. The ASUS cannot upgrade a GPU, has limited customization, can't be made lighter, and if you upgrade the CPU it voids your warranty. So right now, I'm leaning towards the MSI.

I want the laptop that can max any game out, as in, ANY GAME, at 30+ FPS, with all settings up. Also, I forgot to mention, the MSI 880m has 8GB VRAM, which the ASUS 870m has 3GB VRAM. This is important, as I'll be nodding Skyrim with a lot of ENB mods, and that 8GB is very appealing. Overkill maybe, but appealing. What do you guys think? What should I get? Any help is appreciated!

 

[freeracercolin]

I would go with the MSI one.

 

[Dblkk]

Haha, this is a bigger debate than the intel vs amd processor.

I was in same boat, and since then have also replied to over 50 threads on just this.

Simple way to put it,
Msi has edge on performance
Asus has edge on quality

But that said, asus will game just as good, and msi's quality is still top notch

the 8gb vram is useless, by the time its able to be used will be so long from now theres no way you'll have that laptop still.

Biggest con on msi is its single fan. It'll run warmer yes, the fan will be louder yes.
Biggest con on asus, you only get an 870m vs msi's 880m. But you do get a 256gb ssd with asus, that's nice, yet at $130 for a Samsung 256gb evo ssd, that's no where near a deal breaker.

Gaming wise, msi, expect fan to be noticeably loud, and exhaust out left side to be hot. Internal temps gpu/gpu around 80-90c. No thermal throttling.
Gaming wise, Asus, expect fan noise to be noticeable, not loud, just noticeable. Exhaust out the rear, cpu fan will be warm, gpu youll notice fan is on and that's about it.

Rendering, 3d work, ect.
Msi, temps 100+, will thermal throttle like a beast, fan noise will be loudest thing you've heard coming from a pc/laptop
Asus, fan noice will be noticeably loud (almost like msi while gaming), temps around 90-93c.

For solely gaming, either one is personal preference. Do you want the best performance you can possibly get? (msi)
Or, do you want great performance, and an excellent laptop in general?

For rendering, pretty much a given that asus wins. Msi is great, but it just cant handle 100% cpu/gpu loads.

I render, I went asus, I love it.
I'd say of everyone I talked to its almost a 50/50 split. And everyone that has messaged me after getting theirs loves it.

 

[tommyturner12]

Wow, that's a great thought, dblkk! With that in mind, hmm, I think I'll go ASUS. I completely forgot about fan noise. And I have heard that ASUS quality is amazing. I would pick your answer as solution, but I'll leave this thread open for a little longer. Nevertheless, Thank you for the help, I appreciate it!

 

[Dblkk]

Wow, that's a great thought, dblkk! With that in mind, hmm, I think I'll go ASUS. I completely forgot about fan noise. And I have heard that ASUS quality is amazing. I would pick your answer as solution, but I'll leave this thread open for a little longer. Nevertheless, Thank you for the help, I appreciate it!

Thanks, I spent over 6 months worth of buying and returning at/through best buy. Tried everything from MacBook pro retina at $2400, Samsung ativ book 8, asus g750 jx/jh, msi gs ghost, gigabyte pk34, sony flip. (all with dedicated graphics). All but the msi actually overheated to point that caused thermal 'failure', resulting in loss of laptop. Msi ghost held up, albeit very loud and throttled, but still held its own. Realy wish I could've first hand had the gt70, but I have talked with others that have it, last gens mainly, while making my final decision.

The msi can handle gaming. It will be louder and hotter, but still well within operating at 100%. I would've went that route, except I bought to use on the go, and for when in bed. I have a great pc for rendering, but I lay down with wife at 8pm, she watches tv, I work on work, and Im on the right side of bed, shes on left. With massive heat being exhausted from the left, and the louder fan noise, I just had to go asus. After making my decision and talking more with people on both sides (via rog forums for specific laptop, and msi forum for specific laptop), it has come down to msi will game fine, be louder and hotter but be fine. But it will not handle rendering without throttling.

Since then, I try and help (not push at all either way) as many people as I can with these same two choices. Just to save them from the headache of picking the wrong one. at $2000, its not some light decision.

 

[Dblkk]

I really wish the msi would've done something better for cooling. For rendering, the 4800 vs 4700 yields 5-10% performance increase, 880m vs 870m yields 5-10% performance increase, and the 8gb vram vs 3gb vram yields a whopping 150% increase. With those specs, for rendering, its a just dream. Plus 3xmsata +1 2.5 drive slot, that's up to 4tb ssd space and bluray burner. I mean, COME ON! Like what aren't you getting!

But sadly for rendering, while throttled almost instantly even with cooler boost fan mode on (freakin hair dryer), you wont see more than 80% of full potential. They even make the gt70 with a k3100 firepro, great mobile workstation card, heavily thermally throttled, just kills it!

For gaming, sadly, the only thing that's usable noticeable difference is that the 880m will yield you higher fps on ultra quality/high quality on certain games. With some 880m being ultra and 870m being high. That's good don't get me wrong, but rendering difference with specs is unreal. And just f'n wasted!

Sorry for ranting!

 

[tommyturner12]

Hey, how about this. Would you recommend this over the ASUS, or no? Here is the link, it's a Sager notebook: http/www.xoticpc.com/shopping_cart_show.php?wconfigure=yes
It costs approximately 1967 USD, but 1900 USD with a 3% discount. I've heard great things about Sager, and that it's hard to pick a winner when comparing Sager and Asus. However, this comes with all of the ASUS materials AND more. Dual 256GB SSD's in Raid 0, 1 TB space, GTX 870m, Copper Cooling, IC Thermal Compound (best cooling thermal paste), 16GB RAM, Windows 8.1, Blue Ray Reader/ DVD/CD reader and writer, i7 4810MQ, with a 17.3" screen capable of 1080p with a matte display. What do you think I should do? I heard that Sager is amazing, and I've surprisingly never heard of any bad reviews of their laptops. It also has great cooling, which is a biggie for me. ASUS or Sager? Your call.

 

[Dblkk]

The sagers what what ive heard are good. Profesional reviews still put asus quality over sager. I don't know what temps they run compared to asus or msi. So sager is unknown to me. You do get same specs as asus well a bit better. But idk, perhaps someone can chime in with their knowledge of sager? Otherwise I am pretty much at a loss as to help with that question. I go with the majority and large companies, which is why ive never went sager, but that's just me.

 

[Dblkk]

Ill try and look into sager reviews more in depth, but last time I looked it was really slim and just user reviews. will repost if I find anything, otherwise let me know if you have any more questions, if you decide to go a certain way, and then please p.m. me once you get it and use it for a bit and let me know how you like it and your experiences with it.

 

[Tradesman1]

Sager's not bad, but not in the same league as Asus, I definitely go with the Asus for the Quality and the QC.

 

[tommyturner12]

Well, there it is, I'll purchase the ASUS G750JS-DS71. I'm shelling out $2000 for this, I honestly hope there will be no "complications". I'm tolerant the first time an occurrence happens, but I steam if the issue persists. However, I have made a decision, and I'll use XoticPC. I'll use that site as it offers great customization. I'll add 8GB more RAM, Copper Cooling, and Thermal Compound upgrades. The reason is that I'll be creating a RAMdisk, as it is over 14x faster than an SSD, and loads things incredibly fast. With the 24GB, I'll set up a 12GB RAMdisk. I'll tweak the settings to make the bootup/shutdown less of a hassle, and I'll still have a 1TB HDD along with the 256GB SSD. I'll be using the RAMdisk as a storage file for the current games I play, such as Skyrim, which loads at about 2~3 seconds with a RAMdisk over a 7200RPM HDD which loads areas at about 40~50 seconds. The RAMdisk is worth the extra $60 for RAM, and $20 for the program (which is free, but that version only allows up to 4GB RAMdisk at max). I also added the "No bloatware" for $15 and premium packaging for $40. It totals at $1994.32 USD. How is it? It offers better performance, incredibly faster speeds and way better cooling then the $1750 on Amazon. I think the extra $250 is worth it. What do you guys think?

 

[Tradesman1]

Keep us updated as you go

 

[tommyturner12]

Will do

 

[Dblkk]

Well, there it is, I'll purchase the ASUS G750JS-DS71. I'm shelling out $2000 for this, I honestly hope there will be no "complications". I'm tolerant the first time an occurrence happens, but I steam if the issue persists. However, I have made a decision, and I'll use XoticPC. I'll use that site as it offers great customization. I'll add 8GB more RAM, Copper Cooling, and Thermal Compound upgrades. The reason is that I'll be creating a RAMdisk, as it is over 14x faster than an SSD, and loads things incredibly fast. With the 24GB, I'll set up a 12GB RAMdisk. I'll tweak the settings to make the bootup/shutdown less of a hassle, and I'll still have a 1TB HDD along with the 256GB SSD. I'll be using the RAMdisk as a storage file for the current games I play, such as Skyrim, which loads at about 2~3 seconds with a RAMdisk over a 7200RPM HDD which loads areas at about 40~50 seconds. The RAMdisk is worth the extra $60 for RAM, and $20 for the program (which is free, but that version only allows up to 4GB RAMdisk at max). I also added the "No bloatware" for $15 and premium packaging for $40. It totals at $1994.32 USD. How is it? It offers better performance, incredibly faster speeds and way better cooling then the $1750 on Amazon. I think the extra $250 is worth it. What do you guys think?

Honestly, not worth it. The added copper, asus already adds onto the js and jz models. Not entirely sure how much more you can add. The ic thermal compound, yes probably better than stock but not as good as a $5 tube you can buy from newegg/amazon. If you buy through exotic, your then at exotics warranty and not asus's. Since they opened it up fully, it technically voids asus's warrenty. Asus gives you a 1 year, including 1 year accidental, with 30 days no dead pixle thing, and free 2 day shipping to and from for repair. That's really good. Plus temps on the asus are great, and after a year 2 tops you should replace the thermal paste on anything as it starts to dry up, then put the good stuff on. 8gb ram, I bought 2 sticks and just slid them into mine, at $45 a piece for really good high quality ram. and I believe you don't get the m.2 ssd 256 and 1tb hgst 7200rpm drive, I think you'll get the 256ssd but think xotic defaults options at 500gb hhd, and then you upgrade to get your drive back.

Plus amazon support is awesome, my first one overheated, I emailed them, they next dayed me a replacement, and I have 30 days to send back the first one, with a prepaid shipping label and box they provided. I mean come on that's awesome. LOL.

But since you went asus/same one as I. I will pm you with all my 'things to do first upon booting', things to check and run for first thing, and anything else I can think of to help you out right away. !!

Funny thing was yesterday after relying to you, I played some titanfall. And I have fully awesome pc, but enjoy laying in bed so I play on my laptop. Anyway, so I asked the titanfall community, just out of curiousity, who was all playing on a laptop, and if/so which ones. Out of only two replies, I got.......wait for it..........Asus g750 jz, and............asus g750 js!
I was like, awesome. haha.

 

[Dblkk]

OH, and don't do the no bloatware thing, really the only bloatware is avast internet crap. Which uninstall very easy. Everything else you pretty much need/want. You'll have Asus audio mixer which you need to run as it makes speaker like 100% better, and Asus backtracked/backpacker not sure which its called at moment, but that'll make you a bootable windows recovery USB with all your drivers, which is the very first thing I suggest you buy.

And for adding your own ram, its one Philips screw you take out, then open a bottom access panel (which doesn't void warranty). That panel gives you access to two ram slots and bot your 2.5" drive bays. Also has the screw that holds your DVD drive in, which if you take that screw out you can slide your DVD drive out, and for $80 you can buy a replacement pioneer blue ray burner drive and slide that it, or just get a bluray reader. Oh and on that note, the included DVD drivespins very loud. Not horrible horrible, but loudest dive I've ever heard in a laptop.

 

[Dblkk]

http/rog.asus.com/forum/forumdisplay.php?157-G750-G550-and-G56-Gaming-Notebooks

here is the rog g750 forum. its very very busy forum with great guys to help out with any questions or anything. I'm also on there daily. But check it out, and see users problems, things you can do to your laptop like upgrade or overclock, just everything involving the g750 laptop is on there.

 

[tommyturner12]

WOW, sounds like they're trying to sucker me out of money The thing is, last night, I searched up IC Thermal Compound on Amazon, and BAM!... $5 for an entire tube! $30 less than XoticPC! What a rip off! Anyways, if the ASUS J750JS already comes with copper tubing, then that would've been $60 out of my pocket if you hadn't told me. And if XoticPC voids the warranty, then I'm out already. Warranty is most important to me. Thank you for all the info and the heads up! Usually I'll just say I made a "final" decision, but this is the last one, mow knowing that XoticPC just want money. Oh, and I knew I could add more RAM by opening up the thing, but I just thought having a "professional" would be easier. But, nevertheless, thanks. I'll also be sure to add a Blue Ray Reader/DVD/CD Reader and Writer after buying it. In fact, I'll do some PROPER research, and I'll order the extras (RAM, Blue Ray Drive, etc.) before ordering the actual system. Let's see how it fares. I'm excited!

I'm putting this on me, though. I clearly have to put time into researching before throwing money at everything that I don't need. Thanks for the proper heads up. That was another $200 out of my bank for stupid extra stuff. Thanks for everything, man!

Oh, and I'll definitely check out the ASUS ROG forums. Maybe they can help me with stuff like "what Ram to purchase" or "The best Blue Ray/DVD/CD Writer" and "How to do Color Calibration" etc. You were a huge help. Thanks for everything, guys. I'll close this thread!

 

[Dblkk]

WOW, sounds like they're trying to sucker me out of money The thing is, last night, I searched up IC Thermal Compound on Amazon, and BAM!... $5 for an entire tube! $30 less than XoticPC! What a rip off! Anyways, if the ASUS J750JS already comes with copper tubing, then that would've been $60 out of my pocket if you hadn't told me. And if XoticPC voids the warranty, then I'm out already. Warranty is most important to me. Thank you for all the info and the heads up! Usually I'll just say I made a "final" decision, but this is the last one, mow knowing that XoticPC just want money. Oh, and I knew I could add more RAM by opening up the thing, but I just thought having a "professional" would be easier. But, nevertheless, thanks. I'll also be sure to add a Blue Ray Reader/DVD/CD Reader and Writer after buying it. In fact, I'll do some PROPER research, and I'll order the extras (RAM, Blue Ray Drive, etc.) before ordering the actual system. Let's see how it fares. I'm excited!

I'm putting this on me, though. I clearly have to put time into researching before throwing money at everything that I don't need. Thanks for the proper heads up. That was another $200 out of my bank for stupid extra stuff. Thanks for everything, man!

Oh, and I'll definitely check out the ASUS ROG forums. Maybe they can help me with stuff like "what Ram to purchase" or "The best Blue Ray/DVD/CD Writer" and "How to do Color Calibration" etc. You were a huge help. Thanks for everything, guys. I'll close this thread!

Yes, artic silver best know and decent, theres also 2 other versions that work 1c better but at $25 a tube, and then theres liquid metal which I use on my pc, but no need for it on a laptop and it is a lot of work and if put on wrong at all will screw your entire system. But yes, asus cooling is great stock, adding better thermal paste will drop temps lower, but at great already not a deal breaker. Like I said after a year or two tops, you should replace it anyways as thermal paste slowly hardens and weakens. The warranty through xoitic is still good, just like a normal laptop, asus just throws out a great one.

But ill pm you with the rest of anything I can think of!

 

[tommyturner12]

Why so ankush28? MSI has awesome components but terrible cooling. It is a bad deal as it has powerful components that generate lots of heat but that heat can't be handled as it is single fanned. I've already made my choice, but thank you for the suggestion.

 

[Dblkk]

Actually, the alienware m18 is the best one. Tripple fan cooling solution one fore cpu and one for each gpu. i7 4800 - 4930, sli either 860m 870m or 880m. 32gb ram up to 64gb. 3 hhd bays, one of which is included with 3xmsata drives, blu ray slot loading drive, and exceptional speakers, with best in class keyboard lighting and macro assignment.

By far the best, at 14lbs, and startings around $2500 up to $6000

But that is just a beast, and nonsense unless you really have money to blow, need the absolute best and need ultra being pushed to multiple monitors. Just above and beyond what anyone needs.