MSI GS32 Shadow 6QE w/ Gaming Dock

Looks like MSI has updated the GS30 with a GS32.

https://www.msi.com/Laptop/GS32-6QE-Shadow.html#hero-overview

• Windows 10 Home/Windows 10 Pro
• 6th Gen. Intel® Core™ i7 processor
• 13.3" THIN STEALTH TECHNOLOGY
• NVIDIA® GeForce GTX 950M graphics with higher performance
• Shift performance to a higher level by connecting to the GamingDock Mini
• 2 x NVMe M.2 SSD by PCIe Gen3 X2 up to 1600MB/s speed(optional)
• Exclusive SHIFT technology boosts performance under controlled noise & temperature
• Exclusive ESS SABRE HiFi DAC for lossless, high-quality audio
• Nahimic 2 Sound Technology delivering 360⁰ immersive audio experience
• True Color Technology for increased color contrast and greater image detail
• Ergonomic Keyboard with White Backlighting
• Upgraded Killer Gigabit LAN Controller + Killer Shield + 802.11 ac
• Xsplit Gamcaster free premium license for 1 year
• Nvidia surround mode and 4K output up to 3 external monitors (when connecting to GamingDock Mini)

I don't know of any 13.3", ~2 lbs. laptop with a discrete card like this one. One of the biggest criticisms of the GS30 was heat and battery life. I wonder if that gets addressed by moving to the dual-core i7, rather than the quad-core. Looks like Amazon and several other stores are selling this, but no reviews are up yet, as far as I can tell. The gaming dock it comes with can be used with the GS40, I believe.

If anyone finds more info on this, I'd be interested to see it.

 

Nice find!

Edit: Puzzled as to why they didn't wait for the GTX10**m series.

 

I haven't had a chance to review this as of yet, but hopefully moving to the dual core will help with lower temps and better battery life. Hopefully some reviews might start coming out on this soon though. This would be one of the lightest models with a dedicated graphics that I can think of.

 

Get a review up! Very intrigued by this system...

 

It's on my short list for models to look at right now. Not sure when I'll get a chance, but definitely want to check it out and the dock.

 

Well I will chime in once on this as an owner of the old system, I have a 24 watt quiet profile for the CPU which I use when others are in the room with me, the system can run very quiet on this level so this will fix complaints of a noisy system while docked (notebook PSU for dock, no 92mm fan making noise), there is of course a performance sacrifice for such a power change. While running the dedicated GPU I suspect it will be similar to the GS30 being loaded, though I am interested to see what they do to the cooling system, there is room for a third heatpipe in my opinion, I wonder if they added it or diverted from the CPU one of them since the CPU is only a fraction as hungry as the old one.

 

Can anyone please confirm whether there will be a full quad and/or iris pro version? I was thrilled to see that the msi gs30 is getting an update but a dual core proc isnt even good for a lot of games nowadays.

Please post any updates regarding different CPU options in SKUs.

 

I have no information on that but be aware a quad core version would need a totally different motherboard as the CPUs use different pinouts.

 

This isn't a true successor to the MSI GS30 nor is the GS40. Atleast one good thing is that they mention the gaming dock mini with this instead of the large dock. Though it is disappointing that they would gimp a product meant for the hardcore gamer (since it is sold with a dock) and not take into account that a great deal of games and productivity software now benefit from and even require a quad core.

They are even giving away licenses for streaming software free with this and a quad is absolutely needed for livestreaming and gameplay recording.

 

I wonder if the GS32 and GS40 together are the successor to the GS30. Both GS32 and GS40 use the Gaming Dock (just like the GS30), but the dual-core, 950M GS32 appeals more to the ultrabook group, whereas the quad-core, 970M GS40 will suit the more hardcore gamers.

 

I was under the impression that the GS40 does not have the proprietary port that supports the dock. It has TB3 for *potential* support by the Razer dock, but not the MSI dock. Or maybe I am not well informed? Is there any version of the GS40 which supports the MSI dock?

 

I don't have a GS40, so I can't verify, but a quick Google search for "GS40 gaming dock" turns up a number of results. For example,

http://www.notebookreview.com/feature/first-look-at-msis-new-gaming-notebooks/

GS40 Phantom and new Gaming Dock
MSI revealed the 13.3-inch GS30 Shadow and Gaming Dock last year as the company’s first notebook with externaldesktop graphics. This year, the 14-inch GS40 Phantom features completely new (and optional) gaming dock for a desktop-class graphics card.

The GS40 features a sixth-generation Intel Core i7-6700HQ processor and 16GB of DDR4 RAM. Unlike the old GS30 which only included Intel integrated graphics inside the notebook, the GS40 features the Nvidia GeForce GTX 970M GPU for mobile gaming.

We were pretty impressed by the original MSI Gaming Dock last year because the proprietary docking station connector provides a full-bandwidth pass-through for the desktop PCIe 3.0×16 slot used for desktop graphics cards. Our only complaint about the old gaming dock was that it was too massive … almost like sticking your laptop on top of a full-size desktop PC.

The new MSI Gaming Dock is more streamlined but still has room for a desktop graphics card inside. Now our only quibble is that MSI hasn’t figured out a way to allow you to switch between the notebook graphics and the external desktop graphics card without restarting Windows.​

 

The 950m being included in the GS32 is really nice and will not make it completely necessary to always carry around the dock. You can still bring the laptop and go to a friend's house or something and play games--props to MSI on that. On the other hand, the 6500u is very disappointing IMO. There aren't any benchmarks for the Razer Blade Stealth (also includes the 6500u) + Razer Core but I don't expect anything impressive. There are currently no versions of the GS40 compatible with either gaming dock on any of MSI's websites, even the Global one. I hope somebody can benchmark the GS32/dock soon and I hope I'm wrong about the 6500u being disappointing. Either that or I hope a dock compatible version of the GS40 comes out soon. I'd be fine with the GS40 losing the 970m if it could keep the 6700HQ CPU. A 6700HQ would guarantee years of CPU-bottleneck-less gaming.

We shall wait and see.

 

It is disappointing to use a low voltage dual core CPU, but the machine will still be able to play. A core i3 is still more than enough for most games anyways, so this CPU shouldn't be too far behind. It will mostly be a bit limited when playing online multiplayer games.

I believe they did this because of the Razer announced machine that also uses that weak CPU. It's easier to cool, and will still game. This machine is not aimed for hardcore gamers, just people that want to game and don't care what's inside their machine as long as their games play.

 

Yes, exactly, and low voltage CPUs do indeed run cooler (important in small system with less room for a more robust cooling system).

 

4-Cell (47.36Whr) battery should be decent enough with a i7-6500u. That with an FHD display, unless it's horribly optimized, says 6 hours of real world use + to me.

If you got rid of the hideous dragon logo then it might be buyable.

 

Whats strange is how MSI thought in reverse. A couple of years ago, releasing the MSI gs30 with a fast dual core would have been almost alright since alienware also did the same and games were not nearly that CPU intensive.

This is a terrible decision now as with the node shrink on GPU's alongwith the 4k generation upon us, a weak dual core U CPU will be a terrible bottleneck. I would hate to have to the buy the gs30 now but it seems I have little choice.

 

I've seen some used good condition GS30's on sale for several hundreds off. Seems like this would be as good a time as any to pick one up...

 

Thank God I didn't wait for this crap with a U CPU. A happy owner of GS30.

 

Pretty sure that is the GS32. The current GS40s don't support the dock

 

If we leave out the gaming dock, would a quad-core i7 + Iris Pro 5200 outperform a dual-core i7 + 950M?

 

It depends on the generation. Intel's integrated graphics have been getting really impressive this generation. The Iris Pro 530 graphics that come with the 6700HQ may stay even or slightly below the 6500u with a 950M. But that's with gaming. The 6700HQ would eat more battery life and would produce higher temperatures which the latter is almost certainly why the 6500u is in the GS32 chassis.

All of that being said, however, if you take the dock into account--we don't have benchmarks of how well the 6500u does paired with high-tier GPUs yet. The Razer Core just started shipping out this week so we may see some benchmarks over the weekend. That being said, I'm expecting a 15-20% performance drop (compared to your standard desktop build) because of the 6500u. Even though the 4870HQ in the GS30 is two generations behind the 6500u, it'll almost definitely pair better with GPU's. Not to mention the performance difference between the two CPUs in normal multi-tasking and applications that can take advantage of multiple threads.

For people looking for the best possible eGPU performance, the GS30 (with either dock) is still most-likely the best bet even today. The Razer Core is nifty with a single TB3 connector but the process to convert PCI-E to TB3 for the notebook to read will certainly drop performance on it's own. With the MSI's dock's full PCI-E 3.0 slot, there's no loss in power.

 

Benchmarks on Reddit showing a RBS and 980ti getting 4100+ on fire strike ultra with an external monitor and about 3900 on internal. Nice

 

For comparison, what would be the score on fire strike ultra for a 2015 Razer Blade (970m)?

 

5379

http://www.3dmark.com/fs/7176468

What I was able to get with a titan-x on the gs30

 

Totally read it as 5309 and my mind immediately went to Tommy Tutone.

 

Unfortunately, I'm sure that proper in-game benchmarks will be available for the RBS long before the GS32. A result of ~4300 for a 6500u+GTX 1080 is a decent considering the setup but still pretty low compared to a good quad-core setup, right? Especially when you say that you were getting over 5000 with a Titan X.

I'm interested in the GS32 because of the built in 950m but I want to have a dock with a 1070 or 1080 because I'd really like to run some games at 5760x1080 at home but I don't want to buy a brand new GPU if it's going to be that held back by the CPU. If the new MSI dock will be sold separately, I'm thinking a used GS30 and the new dock.

 

Why would you leave out the part of this setup that people buy it for. Most people wouldn't even look twice at these 2 laptops if not for the dock.

 

Why does it say core i7 6700K?

Here is my benchmark with 980Ti on the GS30
http://www.3dmark.com/3dm/12209363?

4538 on Fire Strike Ultra 1.1

 

MSI should sell the dock separately later as they did with the old one. I'mma buy one too.

 

Don't forget that the 950M will consume more power than the iGPU too.

 

Okay, so a quick Google search shows that a 980ti and a 5820k will be ~4700 or so. So 4538 isn't bad for the GS30.

Comparatively, the RBS and the 980ti seems to net around 4000 which...isn't bad. But how much of that is because of the 6500u and how much of it is because of the ~10% (Razer's number) loss of performance from the conversion of PCI-E to TB3? I wish someone would get the GS32 and do benchmarks. Or I wish someone that owns a GS40 can see if they can get the Core working on it.

 

Lemme get my hands on a GTX 1080 Strix. xD

 

http://vitor.io/razer-blade-stealth-core-gtx-1080-12h

That's a more in depth review of the RBS + 1080. Decent numbers but it looks like Core users are taking a very noticeable hit when using the laptop's display. I wonder if that's just because of bandwidth. If so, MSI dock users shouldn't have a problem since MSI uses a full PCI-E 3.0 x16 slot with the full bandwidth. I'm very excited to see someone get their hands on a GS32.

 

For some people, undocked performance is a big factor in the decision also.... it is a laptop after all

 

Also, when you upgrade the GS30 with OC'd RAM, you can notice improvement in FPS. And yes, except for gaming(and GPU intensive things), the undocked GS30 will beat(performance wise) the undocked GS32 everytime simply because of the faster processor.

 

Apologies I linked my desktop review score, here is the mobile one:

5234

http://www.3dmark.com/fs/6544590

Then my r9 nano water cooled in the dock:

4200

http://www.3dmark.com/fs/8278592

 

How are you able to squeeze so much performance out of your CPU?
What OC settings is your CPU at? and what thermal paste?

 

Custom BIOS via hardware mod socketed BIOS
Liquid metal thermal paste
103C throttle point
67W TDP
37x on all 4 cores
-55mV undervolt

Without a doubt bandwidth issues:

1. The 4x is shared by all devices on the system.
2. Optimus has to send the frame data to the GPU and all rendered frame back to the IGP for output to the monitor.

You are on the brink of what 4x can handle anyway so anything else that impacts that bandwidth will hurt performance.

 

That clears up everything.
What temps are you getting on the CPU?

 

I have it set to 35x to get 88-90C at the moment in games, 37x will sit around the 100C mark, I am getting a couple of devices to hopefully fix that.

I get 0 penalty running off the internal panel by the way. I have got it working for both AMD (Even zero core works on the Fury series lol) and the titan-x.

 

Mind showing a screenshot of Intel XTU Advanced Tuning-->Core tab? I am trying to match your specs. xD

 

A little pointless without a modded BIOS I am afraid

 

Still. Just wanna have a look.
Also, is there a way to increase the fan speed of the CPU fan?

 

Ok, you will have to give me a bit though to get back to the machine.

You can use Svet's EC editor to change the fan tables.

 

I'll say it once and I'll say it again; someone needs to get their hands on the GS32 to benchmark how the 6500u does paired with top-tier GPU's without the bandwidth bottleneck. Hopefully it doesn't take too long. While the RBS is absolutely gorgeous IMO, the 950m, additional memory options, and additional storage options make the GS32 a much more attractive package. I just want to see how the 6500u ultimately does. It's been impressive so far but I'm struggling to choose between that and the GS30 with the new dock.

 

I'm a bit confused by the full x16x slot the GS32 has. Isn't the i7-6500u limited to a maximum of 4 lanes to a device (and a maximum number of lanes being 12) or did MSI find a way to circumvent that?
At least it doesn't have to deal with the TB3 conversion performance drop, but if the GPU still only receives 4 lanes, then it's on par with the 13 R2 + GA.

 

Depends on the exact wiring of the chipset and PCI-E lanes. If the total bandwidth is not limited to 4x then you would have more room.

 

How did You increase throttle point to 103 C and TDP limit? With Throttlestop program or something else (through modded bios)?

 

I haven't heard anything about that. It would seem a bit odd if MSI chose to use the 6500u if it could only support 4 lanes when their dock(s) uses a PCI-E 3.0 x16 slot, but that's just me.