MSI GE63 Raider review – the RTX graphics cards make it even better than before

MSI’s Raider line-up of gaming notebooks is probably the most refined of all the devices the company offers. They employ fast and powerful hardware, input devices which are of very good quality and also choice of very fast panels – a 120 Hz
TN Full HD one and a 144Hz IPS with the same resolution, while keeping the temperatures adequate inside a thin form factor. We certainly like where the gaming laptop industry is going and we are looking forward to introducing the MSI GE63 Raider to you.

Actually, some time ago we showed you the 17.3-inch version of this very laptop, which is similarly named as MSI GE73VR 7RF. This laptop has a wide gamut of processors you can choose from – the Core i7-9750H is the top option for the 9th Gen equipped devices, while the Core i7-8750H is for the 8th Gen-equipped laptops, respectively. At the same time, there are the RTX GPUs, which max out with the GeForce RTX 2080. In addition to the remarkable hardware, we have RGB backlight under Steelseries certificate. This device also bears a “VR” branding which, according to the company, verifies that the laptop is good for Virtual Reality content. We are going to directly compare it to its larger brother and more precisely, we are going to check how temperatures change, when you decrease the amount of available space inside the machine.

You can check the prices and configurations in our Specs System: http://laptopmedia.com/series/msi-ge63vr-raider/

Contents


Specs Sheet

MSI GE63 Raider RGB technical specifications table

Acer
Not available
Display
15.6”, Full HD (1920 x 1080), 144 Hz, IPS
HDD/SSD
512GB PCIe NVMe SSD + 1TB HDD, 7200 rpm
M.2 Slot
1x M.2 SSD slot (NVMe PCIe Gen3), 1x M.2 SSD Combo (NVMe PCIe Gen3 / SATA)
RAM
16GB DDR4, 2666 MHz
Dimensions
383 x 260 x 29.5 mm (15.08" x 10.24" x 1.16")
Weight
2.49 kg (5.5 lbs)
Ports and connectivity
  • 1x USB Type-C 3.2 Gen 2 (10 Gbps)
  • 2x USB Type-A 3.2 Gen 1 (5 Gbps)
  • 1x USB Type-A 3.2 Gen 2 (10 Gbps)
  • HDMI 4K@60Hz
  • Displayport mini
  • Card reader SD, SDHC, SDXC
  • Ethernet lan Killer Gigabit Ethernet
  • Wi-Fi Killer 802.11ac
  • Bluetooth 5.0
  • Audio jack 1x Mic-in, 1x Headphone-out (HiFi / SPDIF)
Features
  • Web camera 720p HD (30 fps)
  • Backlit keyboard
  • Microphone
  • Speakers 2x 3W speakers + 2x 3W subwoofers
  • Optical drive
  • Security Lock slot
  • 2x RAM slots

What’s in the box?

Inside the colorful box, there are two smaller boxes surrounding the device. Opening them reveals that one of them holds the cable that plugs into the wall, and the other one holds the charger itself. Beneath the laptop, which is put in a safety bag, there are a couple of the usual manuals and guides as well as a driver disk.


Design and construction

MSI has opted to use aluminum for the lid cover and the surface area of the GE63VR 7RF. Visually it is an almost complete copy of its larger brother although it’s smaller (obviously) and measures at 383 x 260 x 27 mm (15.08″ x 10.24″ x 1.06″) and weighs 2.2 kg, which while being heavier than the benchmark – MSI’s own Stealth Pro series, is pretty light for a GTX 1070-equipped notebook.

Thankfully, it lacks severe bending on the display when exposed to torsion load. The lid can be opened easily with one hand. Doing so reveals the keyboard and touchpad of the device. Here are also present the trio of buttons of which the northernmost one turns the device on/off. The second one is dedicated to the Dragon Center utility, while the last one pumps the fans to 100% to give you maximum cooling performance.

Once again, the keyboard is illuminated by RGB LEDs by SteelSeries, which are programmable by MSI’s application. Keystrokes are tactile and fast, making typing experience pleasant. The touchpad is good enough, supports Microsoft Precision drivers, although it has Synaptics engines on top of it. It also has its keys separate from the touch area.

This laptop’s I/O includes an RJ-45 connector, HDMI and Mini DisplayPort, one USB 3.1 Type-C and one of three USB 3.0 Type-A on the left, accompanied by two 3.5 mm audio jacks. On the other side are located the other two USB 3.0 Type-A ports as well as the SD card reader. On both sides as well as the rear there are exhaust vents for a total of four heatsinks.


Disassembly and maintenance

As you can see from the picture of the bottom of the device we shared with you earlier, you can peek inside through the huge vents. If you want to upgrade RAM or storage you need to open the MSI GE63VR 7RF, as the manufacturer has not provided a service cover. To do so, you have to unscrew 11 Phillips head screws and than carefully unclip the bottom cover with the help of a plastic tool.

You can see the complex cooling solution, which comprises a total of seven heat pipes and four heatsinks. Apart from the processor and the graphics card those heat pipes also cool their respective VRMs and memory modules. On top of this photo, you can see a simple configuration of cells inside the 51Wh battery.

In the following image, you can see the Hard drive as well as the Wi-Fi adapter and one pair of speaker and woofer combo.

Here you can see a total of two RAM DIMMs currently taken by 16 GB of DDR4-2400 modules. There is also the same amount of M.2 slots, which support PCIe NVMe drives in RAID 0. They are located underneath a PCB that controls the RGB array of LEDs beneath the keyboard.


Display quality

MSI GE63 Raider has the same display that the company put on their 15.6-inch GS63VR 7RF Stealth Pro notebook – the Chi Mei N156HHE-GA1. It has a 1920 x 1080 resolution and runs at 120 Hz. However, you can also get it with a 144Hz IPS display. The pixel density of the screen is 142 ppi with a pitch of 0.18 x 0.18 mm. This means that the screen can be considered as “Retina” when viewed from further than 60 cm.

Viewing angles are quite uncomfortable.

We’ve recorded a peak brightness of 351 nits in the center of the screen and 328 nits as an average across the surface with an unacceptably high maximum deviation of 21% in the lower right corner (falling to 280 nits). The correlated color temperature at maximum brightness is quite cold – 7650K and it goes even further away from the optimal 6500K as we go along the grayscale – 14000K – rather bluish light, which is fixed by our profiles. You can see how these values change at 140 nits (42% brightness) in the image below.

The maximum color deviation dE2000 compared to the center of the screen should be no more than 4.0 and if you are planning to do color-sensitive work, it should be lower than 2.0. We measured a surprisingly high contrast ratio of 1280:1 (1080:1 after calibration)

Color reproduction

To make sure we are on the same page, we would like to give you a little introduction of the sRGB color gamut and the Adobe RGB. To start, there’s the CIE 1976 Uniform Chromaticity Diagram that represents the visible specter of colors by the human eye, giving you a better perception of the color gamut coverage and the color accuracy.

Inside the black triangle, you will see the standard color gamut (sRGB) that is being used by millions of people in HDTV and on the web. As for the Adobe RGB, this is used in professional cameras, monitors etc for printing. Basically, colors inside the black triangle are used by everyone and this is the essential part of the color quality and color accuracy of a mainstream notebook.
Still, we’ve included other color spaces like the famous DCI-P3 standard used by movie studios, as well as the digital UHD Rec.2020 standard. Rec.2020, however, is still a thing of the future and it’s difficult for today’s displays to cover that well. We’ve also included the so-called Michael Pointer gamut, or Pointer’s gamut, which represents the colors that naturally occur around us every day.

The new TN panels that MSI puts on their devices are exceptional. They provide super vibrant colors that cover completely the sRGB color gamut and spread further into the DCI-P3 to cover 96% of it.

Our “Design and Gaming” profile delivers optimal color temperature (6500K) at 140 nits luminance and sRGB gamma mode.
We tested the accuracy of the display with 24 commonly used colors like light and dark human skin, blue sky, green grass, orange etc. You can check out the results at factory condition and also, with the “Design and Gaming” profile.

The next figure shows how well the display is able to reproduce really dark parts of an image, which is essential when watching movies or playing games in low ambient light.

The left side of the image represents the display with stock settings, while the right one is with the “Gaming and Web Design” profile activated. On the horizontal axis, you will find the grayscale and on the vertical axis – the luminance of the display. On the two graphs below you can easily check for yourself how your display handles the darkest nuances but keep in mind that this also depends on the settings of your current display, the calibration, the viewing angle, and the surrounding light conditions.

Response time (Gaming capabilities)

We test the reaction time of the pixels with the usual “black-to-white” and “white-to-black” method from 10% to 90% and reverse.
We recorded Fall Time + Rise Time = 8 ms – super fast panel, surely going to appeal to the gamers.


PWM (Screen flickering)

Pulse-width modulation (PWM) is an easy way to control monitor brightness. When you lower the brightness, the light intensity of the backlight is not lowered, but instead turned off and on by the electronics with a frequency indistinguishable to the human eye. In these light impulses, the light/no-light time ratio varies, while brightness remains unchanged, which is harmful to your eyes.
You can read more about that in our dedicated article on PWM.

MSI GE63 Raider’s display uses PWM to adjust the brightness of the screen up until 95 nits. However, this is done with a very high frequency that doesn’t particularly affect the eyesight in that aspect.

Blue light emissions

Installing of our Health-Guard profile not only eliminates PWM but also reduces the harmful Blue Light emissions while keeping the colors of the screen perceptually accurate. If you’re not familiar with the Blue light, the TL;DR version is – emissions that negatively affect your eyes, skin and your whole body. You can find more information about that in our dedicated article on Blue Light.
You can see the levels of emitted blue light on the spectral power distribution (SPD) graph.

Conclusion

This display is definitely meant for gamers. It boasts with 100% sRGB coverage, extending even into the DCI-P3 gamut, which means that you get a super colorful and vibrant image, very rarely achievable by a laptop screen. Also, there is no harmful PWM in use here, being easy on the eyes. In addition, the panel is one of the fastest on the market and the high contrast and brightness make it a jewel. The only drawback of this screen is the poor viewing angles, which is inevitable due to the TN nature of the panel.

Buy our profiles

MSI GE63 Raider configurations with 15.6″ Chi Mei N156HHE-GA1 (FHD, 1920 × 1080) TN screen and the laptop can be found at: Buy from Amazon.com (#CommissionsEarned)

*Should you have problems with downloading the purchased file, try using a different browser to open the link you’ll receive via e-mail. If the download target is a .php file instead of an archive, change the file extension to .zip or contact us at [email protected].

Read more about the profiles HERE.

In addition to receiving efficient and health-friendly profiles, by buying LaptopMedia's products you also support the development of our labs, where we test devices in order to produce the most objective reviews possible.

Office Work

Office Work should be used mostly by users who spend most of the time looking at pieces of text, tables or just surfing. This profile aims to deliver better distinctness and clarity by keeping a flat gamma curve (2.20), native color temperature and perceptually accurate colors.

Design and Gaming

This profile is aimed at designers who work with colors professionally, and for games and movies as well. Design and Gaming takes display panels to their limits, making them as accurate as possible in the sRGB IEC61966-2-1 standard for Web and HDTV, at white point D65.

Health-Guard

Health-Guard eliminates the harmful Pulse-Width Modulation (PWM) and reduces the negative Blue Light which affects our eyes and body. Since it’s custom tailored for every panel, it manages to keep the colors perceptually accurate. Health-Guard simulates paper so the pressure on the eyes is greatly reduced.

Get all 3 profiles with 33% discount


Sound

MSI GE63 Raider sounds really well. Its two regular speakers and two woofers pump loud crisp sound (for a laptop), which is clean in low, mid and high-frequency ranges.


Software

MSI keeps the trend of providing a disk with the necessary drivers, although their device lacks an optical drive. However, you can find all drivers and utilities on MSI’s official website: https://www.msi.com/Laptop/support/GE63VR-7RF-Raider

Battery

As always, the battery tests were run with Windows power saving setting and Wi-Fi turned on, and the screen brightness adjusted to 120 nits. MSI GE63 Raider shares the same battery style as its larger brother, featuring 6 cells and a total capacity of 51Wh. This was enough for just three hours and 44 minutes of web browsing and 3 hours and 20 minutes of video playback. The 120 Hz screen drains the battery so fast, that you’ll get just over an hour of gaming experience if you actually try gaming away from the plug.


Storage performance

MSI GE63 Raider is equipped with a 1 TB HDD and 256 GB Samsung PM871A SATA SSD. Since it is a SATA device, it won’t be the fastest device on the market, but with 541.7 MB/s Read and 511.3 MB/s Write speeds it proves to be on par with the supply on the market.


CPU options

From a CPU stand point, the device can be bought with the 9th Gen. Core i5-9300H and Core i7-9750H and their respective 8th Gen. predecessors – the Core i5-8300H and Core i7-8750H. If you enjoy old school hardware – you can still get it with the 7th Gen. processors as well.

You can browse through our top CPUs ranking: http://laptopmedia.com/top-laptop-cpu-ranking/

MSI GE63 Raider RGB 8Rx / 8Sx CPU variants

Here you can see an approximate comparison between the CPUs that can be found in the MSI GE63 Raider RGB 8Rx / 8Sx models on the market. This way you can decide for yourself which MSI GE63 Raider RGB 8Rx / 8Sx model is the best bang for your buck.

Note: The chart shows the cheapest different CPU configurations so you should check what the other specifications of these laptops are by clicking on the laptop’s name / CPU.

Results are from the Cinebench 20 CPU test (the higher the score, the better)

Results are from our Photoshop benchmark test (the lower the score, the better)

Results are from the Fritz chess benchmark (the higher the score, the better)


GPU options

On the GPU side, you have a choice starting from NVIDIA GeForce RTX 2060 with 6GB of GDDR6 VRAM, going through the GeForce RTX 2070, equipped with 8GB of GDDR6 VRAM and maxing out with the GeForce RTX 2080 with the same amount of memory as the RTX 2070.

You can browse through our top GPUs ranking: http://laptopmedia.com/top-laptop-graphics-ranking/

MSI GE63 Raider RGB 8Rx / 8Sx GPU variants

Here you can see an approximate comparison between the GPUs that can be found in the MSI GE63 Raider RGB 8Rx / 8Sx models on the market. This way you can decide for yourself which MSI GE63 Raider RGB 8Rx / 8Sx model is the best bang for your buck.

Note: The chart shows the cheapest different GPU configurations so you should check what the other specifications of these laptops are by clicking on the laptop’s name / GPU.


Gaming tests Core i7-8750H + RTX 2060

Testing this laptop, showed us one of the best performing RTX 2060 – equipped devices on the market. Beating the likes of Lenovo Legion Y740 and Dell G5 15 5590 in terms of framerates.

GTA-V-benchmarks

Grand Theft Auto V (GTA 5)Full HD, High (Check settings)Full HD, Very High (Check settings)Full HD, MAX (Check settings)
Average135 fps79 fps51 fps

Far Cry 5Full HD, Normal (Check settings)Full HD, High (Check settings)Full HD, Ultra (Check settings)
Average104 fps97 fps92 fps

rise-of-the-tomb-raider

Rise of the Tomb Raider (2016)Full HD, Medium (Check settings)Full HD, Very High (Check settings)Full HD, MAX (Check settings)
Average129 fps69 fps46 fps

Tom Clancy’s Ghost Recon WildlandsFull HD, High (Check settings)Full HD, Very High (Check settings)Full HD, Ultra (Check settings)
Average87 fps77 fps51 fps

Shadow of the Tomb Raider (2018)Full HD, Medium (Check settings)Full HD, High (Check settings)Full HD, Highest (Check settings)
Average84 fps79 fps51 fps

Gaming tests Core i7-7700HQ + GTX 1070

While being smaller and housing a lot less space than the GE73VR (the big brother), GE63VR managed to even slightly outperform it. The performance was typical for a GTX 1070 unit – nothing short of brilliant, especially for a 1080p gaming. Experience is further enhanced by the 120 Hz screen, which utilizes the high framerates to deliver a super smooth image.

GTA-V-benchmarks

Grand Theft Auto V (GTA 5)Full HD, Medium (Check settings)Full HD, Very High (Check settings)Full HD, MAX (Check settings)
Average FPS117 fps72 fps54 fps
Min FPS64 fps44 fps25 fps

Far Cry PrimalFull HD, High (Check settings)Full HD, Very High (Check settings)Full HD, MAX (Check settings)
Average FPS87 fps79 fps77 fps

rise-of-the-tomb-raider

Rise of the Tomb Raider (2016)Full HD, Medium (Check settings)Full HD, Very High (Check settings)Full HD, MAX (Check settings)
Average FPS119 fps73 fps48 fps

Tom Clancy’s Ghost Recon WildlandsFull HD, High (Check settings)Full HD, Very High (Check settings)Full HD, Ultra (Check settings)
Average FPS89 fps78 fps50 fps
Min FPS75 fps67 fps44 fps

Temperatures Core i7-8750H + RTX 2060

Max CPU load

In this test we use 100% on the CPU cores, monitoring their frequencies and chip temperature. The first column shows a computer’s reaction to a short load (2-10 seconds), the second column simulates a serious task (between 15 and 30 seconds), and the third column is a good indicator of how good the laptop is for long loads such as video rendering.

Average core temperature (base frequency + X); CPU temp.

Intel Core i7-8750H (45W TDP)0:02 – 0:10 sec0:15 – 0:30 sec10:00 – 15:00 min
MSI GE63 Raider3.24 GHz (B+47%) @ 86°C2.56 GHz (B+16%) @ 77°C2.55 GHz (B+16%) @ 81°C
Dell G5 15 55902.86 GHz (B+30%) @ 79°C2.91 GHz (B+32%) @ 85°C2.99 GHz (B+36%) @ 90°C
Lenovo Legion Y7403.39 GHz (B+54%) @ 75°C3.24 GHz (B+47%) @ 81°C2.89 GHz (B+31%) @ 72°C
Alienware 15 R42.86 GHz (B+30%) @ 93°C2.32 GHz (B+5%) @ 74°C2.31 GHz (B+5%) @ 66°C
ASUS ROG GL503GE2.89 GHz (B+31%) @ 66°C2.89 GHz (B+31%) @ 69°C2.53 GHz (B+15%) @ 71°C

As with the latest MSI gaming devices, that are equipped with this processor we saw a familiar trend – the Core i7-8750H is most powerful in the first seconds of a full stress load. After that, the drops the frequency to a managable number, while the same time leaving enough thermal headroom for the graphics card to perform at its best – Gamers will definitely be more happy than content creators.

Real gameplay

NVIDIA GeForce RTX 2060GPU frequency/ Core temp (after 2 min)GPU frequency/ Core temp (after 30 min)GPU frequency/ Core temp (after 30 min + fan boost)
MSI GE63 Raider1471 MHz @ 70°C1464 MHz @ 72°C1482 MHz @ 67°C
Dell G5 15 55901400 MHz @ 72°C1438 MHz @ 70°C
Lenovo Legion Y7401526 MHz @ 70°C1499 MHz @ 74°C

MSI GE63 Raider was able to handle its GeForce RTX 2060 with ease. At the end of the test, we measured 72C on the die and a rather high frequency – a lot higher than the maximum Boost set by NVIDIA, actually. Given the fact, that this device is equipped with its own “Emergency” button, or know with its official name CoolerBoost – we decided to test it. Believe it or not, it works – it was able to drop the temperature down to 67C, while there was a minor increase in the clock speed as well. Yes, the device becomes crazy loud, but we’ve never seen an RTX 2060 that cool before.

Gaming comfort

Incredibly, the maximum temperature we measured on this laptop was just 43.3C. Keep in mind that this is without the CoolerBoost button being in use. Either way, the hottest point of the device was beneath the “0” key, while the “WASD” keys were relatively cool to the touch.


Temperatures Core i7-7700HQ + GTX 1070

The temperature tests go this way. We use Prime95 and FurMark to torture the CPU and the GPU respectively. This won’t give real-life representation but with our methodology, we try to give you the most optimal results.

The first values from the test are from the 30th second of running the Prime95 stress test, which simulates a heavy task run on your computer (usually lighter tasks take from a part of the second up to a couple of seconds). Next, we take the ones from the 2nd-minute mark, which imitates a very heavy task, run on the CPU. The last values we give you are the ones at the end of the test, which is 15 minutes, simulating the CPU load when it renders a video, for example.

0-15 min. CPU torture test

Prior to beginning our torture test the Intel Core i7-7700HQ inside this unit was idling at 42C. In the first 30 seconds, the frequencies were kept steadily at 3.4 GHz, while CPU temperature climbed gradually to 92C.

Cores frequency (0 – 00:30 sec.)
CPU Temperature (0 – 00:30 sec.)

Further, after around 10 seconds of the second checkpoint, the temperatures grew up to 94C. At this moment, the clock speeds went down to 3.1 GHz as temperatures also fell down to around 85C. Of course, the device became a little louder as fans sped up.

Cores frequency (0 – 2:00 min.)
CPU Temperature (0 – 2:00 min.)

While Prime95 was torturing the Core i7-7700HQ, the CPU was capable of 3.1 GHz and on some occasions up to 3.2 GHz. Temperature-wise, the device found its sweet spot at around 85C, balancing between fan and clock speeds to maintain it.

Cores frequency (0 – 15:00 min.)
CPU Temperature (0 – 15:00 min.)

0-30 min. GPU torture test

While also idling at 42C, the GeForce GTX 1070 reached a maximum of 76C at an average frequency of 1537 MHz. Strangely enough that frequency is higher than that on the 17.3-inch notebook, although the temperature is also higher. It’s worth noting that if you don’t mind the loud noise from the fans, you can press the dedicated button in the top right corner to get 100% cooling performance, which will help you utilize those extra 100 MHz from your GTX 1070.

Temperatures on the surface were warm but surely not hot. Due to the allocation of heat pipes, the top part is far warmer than the bottom, which ensures a cool wrist rest area. There is also a lot of heat dissipated from the center of the keyboard as there is a GTX 1070 underneath it.

45.4°C
48.7°C
49.2°C
38.8°C
48.6°C
38.1°C
28.2°C
30.4°C
28.6°C

Verdict

MSI GE63VR 7RF doesn’t fall short of its larger brother in any aspect. Despite the size difference, not only it matches the GE73VR 7RF completely but in some cases, it excels in performance. It has been a while since we’ve liked almost every aspect of a device we test, but today we are certainly impressed by what we saw.

Once again we encountered good build quality, reasonable dimensions, and relatively low weight. Most of our attention, though, fell upon the 120 Hz TN panel. Although it has poor viewing angles, the display pumps beautiful colors that with the help of our Gaming and Web design profiles become accurate enough for color sensitive work. This, combined with the super fast panel and PWM-adjustment only for low brightness levels at a high frequency (this can be completely fixed by the Health-Guard profile), make for amazing display quality. Moreover, when you connect a 120 Hz screen to a GeForce GTX 1070 or an RTX GPU- the magic starts to happen, as the display utilizes the higher frame rate and transforms it into an immersive gaming experience.

MSI GE63 Raider is more than capable of handling the hexa-core Core i7-9750H and Core i7-8750H, paired with an RTX graphics card. From our tests on the GeForce RTX 2060, we clearly saw that there is enough headroom for the more powerful RTX 2080. What is more important is that despite its dated design (its fat bezels, to be precise) the laptop is as efficient as its more modern looking bigger brother – the MSI GE75 Raider. We were very impressed with the framerates it was able to achieve, compared to one of the most polished laptops on the market – the Lenovo Legion Y740.

There is something in this notebook that disappointed us – the battery life. Well, okay – it is meant for gaming, so it is not expected to give you a lifetime on battery, but after all, this is a portable device. Take the Alienware 15 R3, for example – it is loaded with a huge 99Wh battery. We think that a portable computer should provide you with more than just 3 hours and 44 minutes of web browsing that you get with this notebook. Not only that but this unit may not go through an episode of Lord of the Rings on a single charge… shame.

Going back to reality, we really enjoyed the keyboard with its RGB backlight, and the touchpad, which is far more adequate than some of the laptops in this category. The good cooling solution and the ease of use of the Dragon Center utility, combined with the super useful fan boost button just add to the greatness of this device. If you’re ready to give battery life away for the immersive gaming experience provided by the 120 Hz screen, we can truly recommend the MSI GE63 Raider to you.

Pros

  • Good build quality and slender outfit
  • Support of RAID 0 (combining two storage drives virtually into one)
  • Super fast vibrant display
  • RGB keyboard
  • No aggressive PWM-adjustment (our Health-Guard profile completely bypasses PWM)
  • RAM and storage are easy to access and upgrade
  • Loud and crisp speakers
  • Very efficient cooling, capable of handling a hexa-core CPU and an RTX 2080


Cons

  • Unacceptable battery life
  • Poor viewing angles (120Hz model)

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