***The MSI GT72 Dominator Pro (GTX-880M) Owner's Lounge***

Well, I unboxed it today....

To give you some context...I am coming from An XPS 15 with a 2630QM processor and a 540m gpu. At the time it certainly wasn't a gaming laptop but it had enough oomph to play most anything as long as I was willing to dial down some settings.

As for the new one... It definitely is big but I fan hold it in one hand (and my hands are pretty small) so the weight is fine. With the SSD setup it boots up completely in 5 seconds.

The finish is beautiful with the black brushed aluminum. A great keyboard and the fans are really quiet. I don't think I pushed it very hard yet but even when I changed the fan settings it wasn't horrible. At the stock setting I could barely hear it.

My only announce right now is with the backlighting. It doesn't turn on until after I log into the laptop so since I do work in bed that is in the dark. Once I log in the lights come on in all their glory.

Didn't install any FPS's yet. I did install my copy of Total War Shogun 2. On my old laptop I had to turn the detail way down to run it in the laptop's native resolution and it still lagged in large battles. Now all the bells and whistles were on and the gameplay was smooth.

Tomorrow for some shooters....

 

Nice and Enjoy! You'll love the gameplay, and to me it all feels very intuitive. During testing I installed and launched Sniper Elite 3..... only intending but to play an hour, and the experience was so enjoyable, 1 hour quickly became 3. Also, the large palm rest, keyboard, and seamless trackpad make it almost like playing on my DT...... very comfortable.

 

One question for the day...I suspect that keeping the laptop cool will require periodic cleaning using a can of compressed air to blow out dust. What would be the best way to do this? DO you have to remove the cover underneith (whwre the wonder warranty sticker sits :-( or can one blow the dist through the intake under the laptio and out (or the other way, of course...blow into the outtake.

How often do you all clean yours?

Also I need to pick up a new laptop bag. I would get a backpack but when I travel (I don't travel that much and probably won't do much travel with this machine, but sometimes when you go to visit family you need the distraction ) so a good laptop bag is a must...any recommendations would be a plus.

 

Since the gt is designed to be maintained, remove the cover, take the fans out and spray the heatsink from both directions. Clean the fans by hand.

 

Generally, I do not overly concern myself with cleaning, unless I begin to notice signs or indicators that it may be due...... such as changes in the fan profile (increased spinning-up or whirling), temps elevated beyond the norm (when ambient room temps are the same), or overall increased fan noise. Cleaning intervals will vary, and really depend on your environment. Does your environment require frequent AC filter changes, or frequent dusting? If so, and your notebook is used often, then naturally, cleaning will be more a priority. If you experience elevated temps, and a cleaning does not resolve the issue, then I would move further to repasting the CPU & GPU with a quality thermal compound. If you ever find this necessary, and you are uncomfortable doing this yourself, either exercise your MSI warranty, or seek out a local and competent MSI notebook specialist. And yes, MSI intentionally designed the GT72 for ease of maintenance access..... only 7 perimeter screws, and the entire bottom cover is easily removed.

As to other recommended gear for the GT72, such as backpacks, please review THIS POST, in the 'Other GT72 Thoughts' section.

Enjoy that awesome notebook!

 

FIY:

The new GT72 is now using the eDP-embedded Displayport cable instead of LVDS just like GS60 series. The connectors are much smaller than LVDS, therefore, we have removed the 90% NTSC color gamut screen upgrade options from our system configurator:

 

Thanks for the technical update Ken! Please keep us advised on other screen options.

 

hi striker, can you tell me, compared to asus and that although the GT70 series dominator had better features than the asus series g750js / z the reviews point winner asus for their solution ventilation and built quality can you tell me now if msi has surpassed asus fully? or asus is still a tough contender

 

The best way is to remove the bottom cover. As for the warranty sticker, I think multiple people have mentioned that MSi still honors it regardless if you take it off. They won't honor it if you take a jackhammer to it obviously but if a component failed they would. MSi makes the fans extremely accessible. I don't have the GT72 but on my GT60, all you have to do is remove the bottom cover and one screw inside. Then all you have to do is unplug the fan and voila, it's completely removed from the machine.

 

Yes having the eDP means there could be some interesting options in the future.

 

Yes, the dual-fan Asus G7x series had an edge with regard to cooling and fan noise..... but value, build, warranty, support, and customer service are also important when choosing a notebook. I'll take these any day, over a few extra decibels or degrees Celsius. To that end, I give MSI the edge..... and besides, with MSI's dual-fan GT72, there is now a new kid in town, isn't there?

Specifically, which Asus G750xx and MSI GT70 SKU's were you looking to compare?

 

Looks like MSI is preparing for 3K or 4K screens.

 

(10 char. count)

 

Ken do you remember how long did MSI take to launch the last variation of GT70 after the Dominator Pro version was released?

 

Sooo next GT72 SKU might have: a 3k-4k screen, a maxwell 9XXm card (along an updated 9 series chipset hopefully), M.2 PCIe (even a simple SuperRAID 2 slot is enough) and all the bells and whistles that a redesigned chasis brings. It would be awesome

 

Between asus g750js vs msi gt70 dominator 895 and g750jz vs gt70 dominator 890 im between this laptops i like more msi features but the single fan and ppl comments about heat issues worried me

 

It will be interesting to see how compatible the gt72 will be with other cards.

 

Im gonna buy this baby ASAP .

Just wondering if Gentech PC offers the option of removing a few sticks of RAM for a discount. I don't really need 24GB of it for my uses. Ken, can you clarify?

Thanks!

 

First 3k/4k display on a 17", definitely would be nice. Hopefully comes through instead of staying on the drawing board.

 

You mean the nVidia GTX7xx series? it was available on the date that nVidia officially announced their new 7xx series.

Send me PM.

 

New buyers all over the place! I want the new 980m from nvidia! I bet this Gt72 can keep things real cool with a new monster GPU!

 

This is a great site and thread! I think I'm almost finally finished After 10 months of researching for my first gaming laptop and place to buy. Always went with the massive power of desk top gaming but I need some mobility now. After reading all the posts in this informative thread it appears I've narrowed it down to the GT72. With a budget of around $2800+- I think I'm going with the MSI GT72 DominatorPro-010 from GenTechPC. The price point seems good with their back to school special of upping the two 128GB to four for less than $80. why spend more for the higher model when that practically gets me there? Any thoughts on this?

 

LOL! In my mind I see you there, bouncing up and down with excitement. ME TOO!

Considering the upcoming Maxwell, I bet COOLER! (Has it been officially designated the GTX-980M?)

Hmmmmm, the fact you are considering the GT70, tells me budget is an issue, and I need more info. Give me the full model designation for the Asus models again. For instance, when you say G750JZ, do you mean the G750JZ-DS71 @ $2499? Because if you have the budget, no question in my mind, get the GT72..... and better yet, if you have the patience, wait a couple more months and get the next-gen GT72. Also, I notice you are caught between the 870M and 880M. How important is this to you? Are you a serious gamer, wanting only the best? Because, if you are a casual gamer, just so you know, the 870M will game nicely. Anyhow, I understand that temps are a major concern for you. Try to narrow down the GPU of interest, and lets further narrow it down to 2 specific models for comparison. I'll then go over the specs, features, peek at the benchmarks, and temp data. Sound like a plan?

Thought on this? YES, Smart Consumer, and Welcome to the Party! As well as Ken's great M.2 SSD upgrade offer, did you see his DDR3 deal too? $38.99 to max-out the DRAM.... heck, I'd do that just for grins, LOL!

 

I'm unable to send PMs yet unfortunately. Should I contact you via email then?

 

[email protected]

 

ok if I'm honest I come from a asus G74SX and after that I sold both G55VW buy me a desktop with high characteristics. would like to return a laptop to use in my office to work and to play in my spare time at work. I have an affinity to asus since my asus laptops have been, and my pc video card and video card are asus. msi laptops call me or rather too much attention, the steelseries keyboard, horns, best features for example MSI GT70-895 Dominator; 9S7-1763A2-895 processor has i7-4800MQ G750JS-RS71 vs ASUS G750JS-RS71 Intel has i7- 4700HQ, and is also MQ, hq seems that when a repair is more complicated and expensive, the price is also better in msi also other features as the super killer n raid and only has the asus in his version jz . really all inclines me more toward computer msi there are only two things I do not like that I would like to clear it me, design and appearance, a cheap laptop seems very flimsy plastic and the other and more important overheating. do not know if this laptop with a single fan does the job well without affecting the operation of the laptop on which I had asus was never a problem.

the other thing is that since the GT70 series is practically moved to the new g72 the only thing I dislike is q the rest HQ processor seems my ideal laptop is unfortunately no leakage from my budget but it seems very expensive for I'm looking for already having a fairly expensive desktop pc.

so my dilemma is not whether to buy the GT70 series with msi 870m or wait for the asus g72 kick a cheaper version or you'll make a costly investment in g72 and as I'm not in a hurry wait a while to come out the new line of graphics cards nvidia 900m and make a little spending on current technology because almost 800m this series should go out that you do not think about it.

sorry for my English I use a translator because I am from Venezuela and not handling the language very well.

Thank you !!

 

Ok..... that was a bit difficult for me to sort out, but I think the most important thing I read was you are not in a hurry. Honestly, if I were you I would wait. The new GT72 will provide all the feature you like, and cooling will not be a problem. If the 870M is not a problem, THIS GT72 will be available soon. Other new SKU's will arrive soon, with new technologies, and cheaper version are bound to appear.

I hope this helps.....

 

Exactly, if you are not in a hurry, take your time and watch the next batch of products come to life so you can make a better decision!

 

Ok thanks btw you know if a sus announced new gen of rog laptops?

 

Since nvidia is about to release new GPUs, and MSI and others are releasing updates all over the place, I am sure Asus will follow through. Also I think there were some rumors about a G760 but I am not sure at all.

 

There won't be a Asus G760 and their next-Gen G7xx are virtually the same as current G750 series and I've seen it already.

 

You can see the pics over in the Asus section and pretty identical.

 

Gigabyte confirms Nvidia GeForce GTX 880 September launch | bit-tech.net

Just few more months....

 

That's the desktop version....

 

I have high hopes for the upgradability of this machine so hopefully the new cards will be plug and play.

 

Yea but that's next month, so for mobile cards wait a few more months, perhaps 2-3 more

 

But I dont like how MSI is going for soldered CPUs now, if not GPUs on all its new releases.

 

The GPU is way more important to be fair, if the cpu had a 48xx option with +400MHz option only the most hardcore tweakers would notice.

 

and what about this laptop vs aorus x7 v2?

 

Probably due to 2 reasons.
1. Cost down.
2. Impractical, not many users that purchase a CPU upgrade after few years later, probably will just buy a new PC due to newer technologies available.

But they missed this one.
3. Users who want to shell out more money for the CPU upgrade during purchasing process.

 

Depends on what you want.
If you don't mind the enormous heat expelled by 2 keplar cards in such a compact chasis, then go for Aorus.
If you want a cool device that won't face throttling problems and could perform to its max, go for GT72.
If you are one of those who need a cool device with maxwell gpus, keep waiting like most of us.

 

Just a random question:
Do people send in their laptops for GPU upgrades to you guys?
Do you guys swap the GPUs and charge the remainder amount? or send back the older GPU back whilst charging for the new unit + service charges

 

But the aorus v2 had an 860m kpler or maxwell?

I'm still waiting too but keep seeing laptop and got sick. I would like to work in gentech or xoticpc to use them all and really differentiate ... was also watching the 880m alw17 Alienware amazon price drops 2250 but it still seems that even the previous GT70 has better characteristics to that alienware

 

Are you asking like upgrading for example a 870M to a 880M?
I would guess not unless there is something wrong with the original GPU, I believe it voids the warranty when you do it yourself upgrading (which most people do anyway if they get the urge but that's another story).
They way I understand it is a manufacturer will only cover the warranty with factory parts installed by a certified technician.

 

Guys and what about msi nightblade you think worth IT?

 

This, warranty will replace but not upgrade.

 

No, I meant like somebody with a 680m who would want to upgrade to 870m. I mean somebody meaning to upgrade his 2-3 years old graphics card. That way

 

680M to 870M? Not worth thinking, just 10 - 15% faster. At least I wouldn't.

 

Just got the MSI Gt72, impress with everything so far except that i can't update my Nividia graphics driver for some reason. I did it manually and through the Geforce experience and not new drivers are found. I currently have the forceware 333.11 and I know the latest version is 340.52. If i can't update my driver then there won't be any bug fixes or optimization for years to come.

 

Every new GPU faces that particular issue. When 780m came out it wouldnt update for a while, same for 680m et al.

Most likely in a month or two you will be up to speed