Performance and Battery Life
Many a gaming laptop comes armed with the 3.4GHz Core i7-4700HQ. It is one of Intel's best mobile processors and delivers excellent single- and multi-threaded performance.
PCMark 7 takes overall system performance into account by testing an array of components including CPU, RAM and storage. A score of 5,600 is very strong, though we suspect the use of single-channel memory is preventing the laptop from approaching the 6,000-mark.
Memory benchmark AIDA64 reveals system RAM bandwidth to be at around the 12,000MB/s mark - upgrading to dual-channel would typically return closer to 20,000MB/s on an Intel Haswell platform.
The Toshiba M.2 SSD, meanwhile, scores favourably by returning sequential read and write speeds of 506MB/s and 465MB/s, respectively.
But what about the Kepler-based GeForce GTX 860M? 3DMark 11 suggests that the discrete Nvidia GPU has plenty under the hood, as it allows MSI's GS60 to creep ahead of the GTX 770M-based Gigabyte P25W.
Our basic gaming benchmark is to run Just Cause 2 at 1,366x768 with medium quality settings. This is a light 3D test that can often trip-up some of the premium Ultrabooks, however it poses absolutely no challenge to today's high-end gaming laptops.
1080p Gaming Performance (Average FPS) |
|||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Game | Quality Settings | MSI GS60 2PC-005UK |
|||||
GeForce GTX 860M |
2x GeForce GTX 765M |
GeForce GTX 780M |
GeForce GTX 770M |
GeForce GTX 765M |
GeForce GTX 760M |
||
| BioShock Infinite | Medium Quality | 73.1 |
108.4 |
112.0 |
72.1 |
55.8 |
51.9 |
| High Quality | 61.4 |
93.0 |
99.8 |
63.3 |
48.3 |
45.4 |
|
| Max Quality | 35.6 |
57.3 |
58.3 |
34.9 |
28.8 |
26.4 |
|
| DiRT Showdown | Medium Quality | 105.5 |
120.5 |
113.3 |
104.4 |
92.6 |
82.5 |
| High Quality | 93.4 |
117.9 |
111.1 |
87.2 |
76.4 |
69.5 |
|
| Ultra Quality | 40.3 |
47.3 |
55.2 |
35.7 |
29.4 |
25.6 |
|
To get a true feel for what these machines can do, we've benchmarked a selection of graphics configurations against two modern games - BioShock Infinite and DiRT Showdown - with varying degrees of image quality at a full-HD 1,920x1,080 resolution.
The results show that the Kepler-based GTX 860M offers a slight increase in performance over Nvidia's 75W, 700-series solution, the GTX 770M. In-game frame rates are very respectable for a sub-20mm 15.6in machine, and the GS60 has no problem playing modern titles at a full-HD 1080p resolution with generous helpings of image quality.
Performance from a CPU, GPU and storage perspective is strong, however battery life isn't anywhere near as impressive.
To gauge real-world longevity, we loop a 720p movie clip with 50 per cent screen brightness and all wireless radios disabled. In this scenario, the MSI GS60 managed to keep going for three hours and 40 minutes, while relying on the Intel IGP for video playback duties. Not a terrible run time, but we've now come to expect a minimum of five hours from a Haswell-generation laptop, and the GS60 will always struggle to get you through a full working day.