Presenting the All-New Intel 10th Gen MSI "GS66"!

I'm not interested in performance as much as I am in the build quality, USB-C charging, bigger battery, and no more tacky gold.

 

So I’ve been reading conflicting reports about Gsync , does anyone know if it’s a definite Yes or No?

 

Yep, MSI hits all those points with the GS66 redesign, so it's just that much more unfortunate that Intel and Nvidia couldn't deliver at the same time to make it an easy purchase.

I'll mention that if undervolting is locked, then it was an odd move for MSI to make people pay more for the 10980HK option instead of the cheaper 8 core 10875H, since there's no way you're going to be able to squeeze out any more performance due to thermal/power throttling.

 

Has anyone received a shipping notification etc yet? Just wondering since the laptop was supposed to be released officially yesterday.

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Inside GS66:

 

No G-Sync.

 

That's a real bummer. I heard that it had both G-sync and optimus as well.

Or was that the GE66?

 

Both does not have G-Sync unfortunately. Maybe they think 300hz screen is good enough.

 

And that's where Asus has them beat.

I like MSI laptops for their beefy cooling and their advanced bios but sometimes they just lack awareness and overlook feedback it seems.

Reviews all state that having G-sync in gaming laptops is a big plus especially when it comes to more demanding titles.
Do they not have PR staff monitoring what reviewers say?

 

Do you have them in stock now for shipment?

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I want the 10980HK and 2080 please.
The government is subsidizing it by $1200

 

Crikey, that's a huge amount.

Reminds me of the time my university subsidised student laptops purchases by half and people were just buying 3k+ laptops. The program was closed after just a week (it was supposed to be a continuous program).

 

Just saw this vid with some test on the GS66 2080 max-q

 

Got some GS66 037 and the rest will be about 1 to 2 weeks.

 

Not sure who makes decision on that.

 

Tempted to purchase just so I don't have to wait lol, but the 037 is unfortunately out of budget

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There will be more SKU coming since production is recovering. They were 2 months behind and trying to catch up.

 

Can you confirm if the portion of the cooler that contacts the CPU/GPU is bare copper and not nickel plated, so any LM application would need to be applied quite frequently? Per the MSI teardown, it does look like bear copper:



Also, I haven't seen one of those (what looks like metal) coverings around a CPU chip before, anyone know it's purpose? It looks like it could help prevent LM spilling over... or make it that much harder to cleanup if you had a mishap:

 

Hi all,

i have received a GS-66 today and thought it makes sense to share my entirely unprofessional, usperficial initial (and unfortunately final) impressions:

Specs:

• i7 10750H , 2060, 16gb 2133mhz ram, 1tb ssd, 240hz display

Chassis and build quality:

• Looks ok, very subtle and thank god they got rid of the tacky gold accents (that were the reason why i returned the GS65 last year)
• Very nice to touch,
• sturdy, feels a bit heavier than similar laptops i had im my hands over the last year i would think,
• No noticable keyboard flex,
• a bit of touchpad flex and wobble, no big deal though
• opens well with one hand

Keyboard and Trackpad

• Keyboard feels ok, nothing special. The letters do look a bit weird, not really a professional impression. Key size is good, tactile feedback ok for me
• trackpad is huge and feels very nice, tracks well, absolutely greatfor me

Screen:

• Very nice, hardly any backlight bleed, seems great in every aspects (response, uniformity, viewing angles, colors, brightness,...) but what do I know about screens.

Fan noise

• Fans sound pretty good, rather low pitched, no annoying high pitched whine even under load
• Fans do get very loud though under load,
• Fans never stop even at idle, which is a bit unfortunate
• Unfortunately my device produces weird rattling noises similar to an HDD on the right side, I suppose it is related to one of the fans. Maybe that explains my high temperatures but I am afraid I will never find out.

Performance:

• pretty splendid, i did not run any benchmarks as i really do not care about those, performs as expected given the components

Thermals

• MSi reworked the cooling system, increased thickness of the device and yet it seems not to be enough. The I7 10750h produces a lot of heat and runs at crazy high turbo speeds (4ghz) basically all the time, temps exceed 90° celsius in all performance modes under load which is really unfortunate
• The CPU cannot be undervolted via Bios (at least i did not find any advanced settings that would allow me to do so), XTU and Throttlestop were without effect. Unfortunately I could not even reduce the core multipliers using throttlestop to keep the CPU in check a bit.
• Playing some games with a frame rate limiter seems to keep thermals in check and fan noise acceptable, but for that i could also buy just a weaker machine I suppose

All in all I would recommend the laptop If it was possible to tame the CPU, the look is reasonable grown up, performance is fine and fan noise could be best in class I guess. I will return my unit due to the heat issues that i see and because of the strange noise I get on the right side of the device.

Given the price point of 1900 EUR I think there are alternatives to consider, especially the new tongfang models, I guess I will order one of those as my next try.

Hope that helps some of you and have a nice weekend!

 

What happens if you go into your BIOS and press this key combination at the same time?
Left alt, right control, right shift, F2 ? Press F2 at the end.

Does it bring up the advanced menus?
If it does, go to Overclocking Performance Menu.
You should be able to undervolt there. You can either try offset mode with a negative - value and undervolt, or you can do override mode and enter a direct voltage in millivolts.

Then check TS or HWinfo64 and look at CPU VID to see if it took effect.
Protip: Go to CPU Power and Performance, Internal VR settings, Core I/A domain and set AC Loadline to 1. Leave DC Loadline at the default value (0). Note you CAN set DC Loadline to 1 also--that will make CPU VID equal your "Override" voltage setting, but this voltage will not be accurate at full load because of vdroop (vdroop cannot be removed, but DC Loadline sets a custom level of "VID Reporting" droop but does NOT affect voltages. Only AC Loadline affects voltages).

If this works and you can now undervolt fully, set DC Loadline back to auto (0), leave AC Loadline at 1 and use the bios undervolting controls or override mode.
This will make it more obvious if your voltage changes are taking effect.

**NOTE**: Look at temps also, not just VID after doing your changes.

 

You can also try to first uninstall Dragon Center and then undervolt. Maybe DC it's messing around.

 

Yes it's bare copper:

 

Guys we have been discussion this over the past week. Its plundervolt effecting the ability to undervolt the machine. No one wants to jump threw 20 steps to undervolt a brand new machine when the next machine can simply be undervolted with a one click of throttlestop. This is sad! Lets hope there is an easy fix for this that everyone can do, jesus C this is a gaming laptop, we cant have the CPU running at 100F constantly while we are doing what the intended purpose of the machine was in the first place, TO FRIGGIN GAME!!!!!!

 

Cool thanks, can you please share the make and model of the LCD panel? From device manager or Aida64 you can get this information.

We know the 300Hz variant is an AUO panel, which is great as these don't have PWM.

IIRC in Dragon Center in the GS65 you could set the fans to manual and then to completely OFF, is this option gone in the GS66?

The faulty fan should be easy to replace with the new design.

Can you not at least limit the multipliers using XTU?

 

Just noticed that bestbuy has the gs66 up on their website now, all of them say sold out for now, except for the base model, which interestingly, is the $1499 version with 144hz screen. First place I've seen advertising that model.

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Video review is up:

 

Chassis looks nice but I'm gonna hard pass and wait for the next next one lol maybe 3K Nvidia paired up with an AMD CPU.

The GPU looks good but the CPU is still toasty and if they take away all our control over tweaks then it'll be a hard sell especially around this time.

I already slapped on 32GB b-dies, LM (silver king), AX200, and a 1TB 970 EVO to be paired with the PM981 boot so I'll be good for now.

Prices don't look too appealing compared to last gen with the "better" stuff they added.

How does the heatsink compare to the GS65? any clue if it'll fit?

 

It'll fit if you're talking about length and width. Height is the unknown here as the GS66 is thicker than the GS65.

 

@GenTechPC any chance you're able to confirm whether the GS66 features both Nvidia's Advanced Optimus (and whether that's the same or different from the option in Dragon Center to change between the dedicated and integrated GPU) and Dynamic Boost? As it seems as though other laptops with the same specs (like the Aero and I believe Aorus laptops ) don't seem to have these features (and Nvidia did say it's on the manufacturer to enable them, and I don't see anything in the MSI GS66 specs/literature that mentions either).

 

@GenTechPC Could you confirm (or not) if its still possible to undervolt the 10th gen CPU's?
Given that you have a review unit, can you try either XTU or ThrottleStop and check if the undervolt works?

 

Pretty sure they just put it in the system, they probably don’t have em in stock yet

 

Yeah i agree, was just putting the info out in case someone was looking to put in an order at best buy for the base model

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Haven't get to that far yet but I'll try.

Yes will test.

Haven't get to that far yet but I'll try.

 

With LM re-paste CPU drops about 15~20 degress...LOL.

 

Damn!!

 

LM application good for mobility I’m thinking bout going with ICD

 

I’ve never used LM myself due to the fact that people say you need to apply it 3-4 times a year due to the fact it “dries” out.

@GenTechPC can you try repasting with a more traditional paste to see how much more effective it is like ICD/Kryonaught?

 

LM performing as expected then

 

Im worried about this, I really hope this is not the case. Not all of us want to risk LM applications.

 

Unfortunately its not looking promising, heres the latest with the 10th gen, skip to 1:42.

 

Factory paste always crap.

 

Sure I'll ask our tech to try.

 

But I'll expected the LM to perform the best.

 

Expected from stock paste.

 

You know, I was really surprised that the i7 10875H managed to get 4.2ghz on all 8 cores with just 75w and at 61w, it gets 3.9ghz on all 8 cores.

Thats the same clock the 6 core i7 8750h and 9750h get with 60w. So same clocks at about the same power use but with 2 more cores? That's quite an increase in efficiency.

Granted this is a sample size of 1 and we have not seen how the i7-10875H in other laptops fare yet.

 

@GenTechPC Could you try accessing the BIOS using the known 4 key combo, disable SGX extensions and check if undervolt works after that?

I'm really tempted on buying a new laptop, but I think I will just settle for a 9th gen i7-9750H+RTX2070 and not risk it on the 10th cpu's..

 

Im interested in the same info also.... My gs65 with all the tweaks and repasting and fujipoly pads plus 90w vbios is no slouch at this point......i do reckon id like a 2070 super and something that cools a tad better for my next one, but would like to keep close to the same form factor.

 

@GenTechPC

This is my top question as well. I simply want to know if it's still possible with the new MSI laptops, looks like they have updated/gave a face lift to the new BIOS. If this is still available it should still be possible to write a manual voltage to the BIOS and really shave down temps. 10 degrees C is what I'd expect from a properly tuned voltage for those CPUs. I also want to know if setting correct memory speeds with use of XMP is still possible since it seems MSI shipped these devices a bit neutered compared to their competition that are using 2933Mhz which is the new standard for CML-H. If this isn't possible anymore, that sux! Maybe Svet can fix the bios by completely unlocking it for a small fee though.

 

Thats true, not sure if the bios unlock code still works on the new gs66.

Memory can be overclocked on any laptop with rw everything though.

 

Go on..