MSI Sword 17 (A12UD) review – does the low price justify the compromises?
Temperatures and comfort, Battery Life
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 P-core frequency; Average E-core frequency; CPU temp.; Package Power
| Intel Core i7-12700H (45W TDP) | 0:02 – 0:10 sec | 0:15 – 0:30 sec | 10:00 – 15:00 min |
|---|---|---|---|
| MSI Sword 17 (A12UD) | 3.03 GHz @ 2.60 GHz @ 87°C @ 89W | 2.80 GHz @ 2.46 GHz @ 88°C @ 75W | 2.94 GHz @ 2.52 GHz @ 88°C @ 79W |
| ASUS Vivobook Pro 15 OLED (K6502) | 3.08 GHz @ 2.69 GHz @ 89°C @ 85W | 2.65 GHz @ 2.43 GHz @ 90°C @ 63W | 2.34 GHz @ 2.22 GHz @ 74°C @ 50W |
| ASUS Vivobook Pro 14X OLED (N7401) | 3.00 GHz @ 2.61 GHz @ 76°C @ 80W | 2.99 GHz @ 2.59 GHz @ 84°C @ 80W | 2.60 GHz @ 2.37 GHz @ 72°C @ 60W |
| HP Envy 16 (16-h0000) | 3.40 GHz @ 2.63 GHz @ 74°C @ 115W | 2.36 GHz @ 1.96 GHz @ 62°C @ 61W | 2.29 GHz @ 1.91 GHz @ 67°C @ 55W |
| Dell G15 5520 | 3.62 GHz @ 2.78 GHz @ 90°C @ 111W | 3.41 GHz @ 2.68 GHz @ 91°C @ 98W | 3.18 GHz @ 2.49 GHz @ 83°C @ 87W |
| Lenovo Yoga Slim 7i Pro X (14″) | 2.26 GHz @ 2.05 GHz @ 68°C @ 60W | 0.97 GHz @ 1.29 GHz @ 60°C @ 21W | 1.48 GHz @ 1.33 GHz @ 66°C @ 34W |
| HP Victus 16 (16-d1000) | 3.72 GHz @ 2.85 GHz @ 76°C @ 115W | 3.33 GHz @ 2.58 GHz @ 78°C @ 96W | 2.37 GHz @ 1.89 GHz @ 65°C @ 45W |
| Dell Vostro 16 7620 | 2.83 GHz @ 2.38 GHz @ 64°C @ 71W | 2.73 GHz @ 2.24 GHz @ 70°C @ 66W | 2.42 GHz @ 1.80 GHz @ 72°C @ 52W |
| Dell XPS 15 9520 | 3.18 GHz @ 2.56 GHz @ 95°C @ 87W | 2.52 GHz @ 2.10 GHz @ 92°C @ 57W | 2.11 GHz @ 1.70 GHz @ 81°C @ 45W |
| Dell Precision 17 5770 | 3.34 GHz @ 2.69 GHz @ 78°C @ 95W | 3.30 GHz @ 2.66 GHz @ 87°C @ 92W | 2.54 GHz @ 2.10 GHz @ 75°C @ 55W |
| MSI Pulse GL76 (12Ux) | 3.29 GHz @ 2.76 GHz @ 77°C @ 97W | 3.27 GHz @ 2.75 GHz @ 83°C @ 95W | 3.14 GHz @ 2.68 GHz @ 86°C @ 85W |
| MSI Crosshair 15 (B12Ux) | 3.27 GHz @ 2.67 GHz @ 84°C @ 97W | 3.19 GHz @ 2.65 GHz @ 91°C @ 94W | 3.05 GHz @ 2.47 GHz @ 88°C @ 80W |
| Acer Predator Helios 300 (PH317-56) | 3.39 GHz @ 2.84 GHz @ 64°C @ 103W | 3.53 GHz @ 2.76 GHz @ 71°C @ 100W | 2.66 GHz @ 2.86 GHz @ 87°C @ 102W |
| MSI Stealth GS66 (12Ux) | 3.84 GHz @ 2.82 GHz @ 83°C @ 124W | 3.55 GHz @ 2.67 GHz @ 85°C @ 107W | 3.19 GHz @ 2.42 GHz @ 83°C @ 85W |
| MSI Vector GP66 (12Ux) | 3.81 GHz @ 2.91 GHz @ 81°C @ 116W | 3.54 GHz @ 2.72 GHz @ 83°C @ 98W | 3.30 GHz @ 2.57 GHz @ 79°C @ 86W |
| Acer Predator Triton 500 SE (PT516-52s) | 3.25 GHz @ 2.52 GHz @ 89°C @ 80W | 3.10 GHz @ 2.46 GHz @ 90°C @ 73W | 2.93 GHz @ 2.38 GHz @ 91°C @ 66W |
The Sword 17 (A12UD) is definitely not the best-performing laptop with this CPU, but the cooling doesn’t do a bad job in the long run.
Real-life gaming
| NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3050 Ti | GPU frequency/ Core temp (after 2 min) | GPU frequency/ Core temp (after 30 min) | GPU frequency/ Core temp (Max fan) |
|---|---|---|---|
| MSI Sword 17 (A12UD) | 1699 MHz @ 74°C @ 60W | 1669 MHz @ 81°C @ 60W | 1723 MHz @ 66°C @ 60W |
| ASUS Vivobook Pro 16X OLED (M7600) | 1630 MHz @ 82°C @ 59W | 1598 MHz @ 86°C @ 59W | – |
| ASUS Vivobook Pro 14X OLED (N7401) | 1577 MHz @ 69°C @ 50W | 1586 MHz @ 66°C @ 50W | – |
| Dell G15 5520 | 1802 MHz @ 73°C @ 90W | 1800 MHz @ 74°C @ 90W | – |
| Dell Vostro 16 7620 | 1631 MHz @ 76°C @ 63W | 1602 MHz @ 84°C @ 63W | – |
| ASUS Zenbook Pro 14 Duo OLED (UX8402) | 1701 MHz @ 80°C @ 64W | 1694 MHz @ 82°C @ 63W | – |
| Dell XPS 15 9520 | 1168 MHz @ 74°C @ 30W | 1380 MHz @ 75°C @ 38W | – |
| Dell XPS 15 9510 | 1187 MHz @ 74°C @ 40W | 1293 MHz @ 75°C @ 44W | – |
| Microsoft Surface Laptop Studio | 1610 MHz @ 73°C @ 49W | 1629 MHz @ 70°C @ 50W | – |
| ASUS ROG Flow Z13 (GZ301) | 1299 MHz @ 62°C @ 40W | 1285 MHz @ 62°C @ 40W | – |
| Lenovo ThinkBook 15p Gen 2 | 1539 MHz @ 69°C @ 50W | 1536 MHz @ 69°C @ 50W | – |
| HP Omen 16 (16-b0000) | 1781 MHz @ 68°C @ 80W | 1767 MHz @ 71°C @ 80W | – |
| HP Envy 15 (15-ep1000) | 1681 MHz @ 87°C @ 75W | 1376 MHz @ 74°C @ 48W | – |
| ASUS ZenBook Pro 15 OLED (UM535) | 1530 MHz @ 66°C @ 50W | 1529 MHz @ 68°C @ 50W | – |
| HP Pavilion Gaming 15 (15-dk2000) | 1613 MHz @ 65°C @ 60W | 1576 MHz @ 73°C @ 60W | – |
| MSI Sword 15 | 1633 MHz @ 73°C @ 60W | 1605 MHz @ 79°C @ 60W | 1644 MHz @ 69°C @ 60W |
| Dell G15 5511 | 1882 MHz @ 71°C @ 88W | 1878 MHz @ 72°C @ 89W | – |
| Dell G15 5515 | 1857 MHz @ 76°C @ 80W | 1850 MHz @ 77°C @ 80W | – |
| Acer Nitro 5 (AN515-57) | 1616 MHz @ 70°C @ 66W | 1607 MHz @ 72°C @ 65W | 1632 MHz @ 69°C @ 66W |
| MSI Katana GF76 | 1619 MHz @ 76°C @ 60W | 1594 MHz @ 82°C @ 60W | 1632 MHz @ 70°C @ 60W |
It is extremely interesting to see the cooling policy during gaming. Your laptop will never become too loud unless you want it to. As you can see, maxing out the fans equaled a frequency raise of about 50MHz and a temperature drop of 15°C.
Gaming comfort
Unfortunately, even after 30 minutes of gaming, the keyboard gets extremely warm.
Battery
Now, we conduct the battery tests with the Windows Better performance setting turned on, screen brightness adjusted to 120 nits and all other programs turned off except for the one we are testing the notebook with. Here, the 53.5Wh battery pack lasts for 4 hours and 3 minutes of Web browsing, or 4 hours and 1 minute of video playback.
Brightness: 180 nits; Display Mode: SDR
Time to Full Discharge: Higher is Better
In order to simulate real-life conditions, we used our own script for automatic web browsing through over 70 websites.
Author: Alex Iliev
Author: eng. Kroum NikolovHead of Engineering at LaptopMedia.com, inventor and innovator with 40+ years of experience in electronics and high technology.
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How much would you sell me the motherboard of that MSI Sword 17. Mine seems to be dead.