Benchmarks: System and Gaming
Here's where things get really interesting. Factor the GeForce GTX 980M into the equation and all of a sudden the GT72 is propelled into a whole new league. This is the first time we've seen a laptop return a score of over 8,000 in the 3DMark Fire Strike test, and the result blurs the line between laptop and desktop.
There's a huge amount of performance on offer. So much so that the MSI laptop makes a mockery of our standard Aliens vs. Predator benchmark by churning out an average of 120 frames per second.
1080p Gaming Performance (Average FPS) |
||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Game | Quality Settings | MSI GT72 2QE-207UK |
||||
(Nvidia GeForce GTX 980M 8GB) |
(2x Nvidia GeForce GTX 860M 4GB) |
(Nvidia GeForce GTX 870M 6GB) |
(Nvidia GeForce GTX 870M 6GB) |
(Nvidia GeForce GTX 860M 2GB) |
||
| BioShock Infinite | Very Low Quality | 224.2 |
198.4 |
168.6 |
155.8 |
121.6 |
| Low Quality | 184.2 |
153.0 |
124.7 |
120.9 |
90.0 |
|
| Medium Quality | 156.2 |
127.2 |
101.0 |
100.1 |
73.1 |
|
| High Quality | 142.4 |
106.9 |
86.1 |
85.6 |
61.4 |
|
| Max Quality | 86.7 |
63.5 |
51.4 |
52.2 |
35.6 |
|
| Total War: Rome II | Low | 229.1 |
102.8 |
127.5 |
120.7 |
90.3 |
| Medium Quality | 210.0 |
96.7 |
121.9 |
115.0 |
85.3 |
|
| High Quality | 173.5 |
81.9 |
104.3 |
99.4 |
72.5 |
|
| Very High Quality | 110.1 |
46.0 |
60.3 |
60.4 |
44.0 |
|
| Extreme Quality | 57.4 |
22.1 |
29.4 |
30.6 |
21.6 |
|
To get a better feel for the GTX 980M's gaming capabilities, we've run a couple of games at the native 1080p resolution. The numbers are the best we've seen from a laptop, and in some cases the GT72 delivers better performance than an overclocked desktop outfitted with a GeForce GTX 780.
Cranking settings up to maximum won't be a problem in most titles and the proposition is clear: the GTX 980M brings desktop-like gaming performance to laptop PCs. Heck, the GT72 Dominator Pro scores 2,234 in the 3DMark's new 4K Fire Strike Ultra test - that's almost on par with what our desktop test platform managed with a GTX Titan (2,421). The result suggests that a higher-res display would do the laptop's gaming credentials no harm.