Today I came up with MSI GE66 Raider Gaming Laptop Review that features 1th Gen Intel Core i9-11980HK 2.60GHz Processor (up to 4.9 GHz, 24MB Cache, 8-Cores); NVIDIA RTX 3080 16GB GDDR6 Dual (Integrated+Dedicated) Graphics, VR Ready.
MSI GE66 Raider gaming laptop comes with a lot of power, a bright display, and a striking design. Everything you could want from a gaming laptop.,While fan noise and battery life could use some improvement, we have no major complaints.
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MSI GE66 3080
MSI GE66 Raider Review
It has the following Features:
Mystic Light
GE66 Raider lets you achieve your ultimate RGB gaming theme with its new mystic light with a panoramic aurora lighting design that now spans the whole front of the chassis. This enables granular control of the lighting, and nearly endless combinations in 16.8 million colors can be created.
Wi-Fi 6E
The latest Wi-Fi 6E delivers superb performance while keeping the network smooth and stable, even when sharing it with a large number of users. The competition simply lags behind with its outstanding throughput and low latency.
Gaming LAN
Killer Gaming LAN will ensure that you can always play at your best by protecting and prioritizing network traffic while preventing lag spikes. With the intuitive Killer Control Center, gamers can easily control the bandwidth for each application.
Ray Tracing
Ray tracing is the holy grail of gaming graphics, as it stimulates the physical behavior of light to allow for real-time, cinematic rendering in even the most visually challenging games.
DLSS AI Acceleration
NVIDIA DLSS is a revolutionary AI rendering engine that exploits the dedicated AI processing Tensor Cores on GeForce RTX to deliver amazingly high frame rates with uncompromising image quality. The AI revolution has finally entered the gaming arena.
Dynamic Boost 2.0
For a bigger performance boost than ever before, the AI networks in Dynamic Boost 2.0 manage power per frame, so your laptop is always optimized for maximum performance while you’re gaming and creating.
MSI GE66 3080 Review
The MSI GE76 Raider is our fastest gaming laptop to date, and it’s still one of the fastest currently on the market. This laptop’s top configuration features a 155W 3080 and an i9 processor inside, which goes hand in hand with an appropriate thermal solution, a MUX switch, and a fast display. This looks like a difficult-to-match performance laptop when you throw in premium design and craftsmanship, good inputs and IO, and the big battery. But the devil is in the details, and you’ll find out in this review that you need to take care before taking the leap.
Design
The GE76 is a much stronger and better-polished laptop, but it’s also slightly heavier now with all the metals for the exterior and a larger 99.9 Wh battery inside. It weighs about 3 kilograms, plus one more for the chunky power brick, which I wish MSI had revised to bring it into line with the competitors’ size and weight. The GE76 Raider series is also larger than the previous GE75 series, largely because there is now a hump behind the screen to make room for the thermal design and IO, as most of the ports are located back there.
As a result, the GE76 Raider series is best suited for desk-based use and less for travel or commuting. For the main deck and the lid cover, thick pieces of metal are used that feel strong and barely bulge when pressed harder. MSI has also used strong hinges and designed the screen to not warp or bend when picked up from the sides. It does not go back to the center until about 145 degrees.
Speaking of which, the plastic used for the screen bezel is of good quality, and I like that they have inserted a rubber grommet around the entire screen frame on this laptop, which will protect the panel when you carry it in a backpack. Although the GE76 Raider has an overall solid feel, I still observed the slight creaks that were also present on the GE66 when you tapped the laptop or placed your hands on the palm-rest; they aren’t as annoying as they were on earlier MSI products, but they do get in the way of the otherwise premium feel of the notebook.
The updated Raider series has been enhanced with MSI, with a clean silver exterior and a slightly dark blue interior. I like the new Dragon Shield badge on the lid, it looks stunning. After a while, the interior finish shows a few spots, but not as bad as other dark laptops. I’ve deliberately taken a photograph of the interior after using this GE76 for the last two days without washing it in any way, so you know what to expect.
Ports
On the back edge, most of the IO is conveniently placed to hide the cables when connecting peripherals, with only a few USB-As, USB-C, the audio jack, and a card reader on the sides. You can still obtain DP video through USB-C, but you won’t be able to connect TB3 peripherals or charge via USB-C.
Keyboard
MSI also has its flaws, such as the big left CTRL-key that sends Fn key to the right. The power button is also a key, and it includes an always-on orange light that doesn’t make sense to me. It’s tiny, but still noticeable in a dark room.
As a rubber dome keyboard, it’s still quiet and the keystroke is still pretty limited (1.5mm), but the feedback is still decent, neither too soft nor too soft. I think most of you will like this keyboard once you get used to the layout. The per-key RGB illumination is similar to previous generations, with averagely-bright LEDs, good uniformity, and almost no light leaking out of the keycaps. The design also includes a physical CapsLock indicator, and MSI notebooks use this neat trick to only illuminate the available functions when you press the Fn key. (msi ge66 raider review)
Performance
| i9-10980HK + RTX 3080 Laptop 155W | FHD Extreme | FHD Extreme Tweaked | FHD Silent | QHD Extreme Tweaked, external monitor |
| Battlefield V (DX 12, Ultra Preset, RTX OFF) | 154 fps (82 fps – 1% low) | 156 fps (84 fps – 1% low) | 121 fps (68 fps – 1% low) | 134 fps (38 fps – 1% low) |
| Cyberpunk 2077 (DX 12, Ultra Preset, RTX OFF) | 79 fps (62 fps – 1% low) | 88 fps (67 fps – 1% low) | 68 fps (55 fps – 1% low) | 58 fps (46 fps – 1% low) |
| Dota 2 (DX 11, Best Looking Preset) | 117 fps (64 fps – 1% low) | – | – | 117 fps (65 fps – 1% low) |
| Far Cry 5 (DX 11, Ultra Preset, SMAA) | 120 fps (86 fps – 1% low) | 125 fps (93 fps – 1% low) | 102 fps (74 fps – 1% low) | 112 fps (87 fps – 1% low) |
| Metro Exodus (DX 12, Ultra Preset, RTX OFF) | 87 fps (51 fps – 1% low) | 92 fps (52 fps – 1% low) | – | 82 fps (46 fps – 1% low) |
| Middle Earth: Shadow of Mordor (DX 11, Ultra Preset) | 220 fps (139 fps – 1% low) | 193 fps (132 fps – 1% low) | – | 176 fps (96 fps – 1% low) |
| Red Dead Redemption 2 (DX 12, Ultra Optimized, TAA) | 124 fps (82 fps – 1% low) | 136 fps (86 fps – 1% low) | – | 98 fps (68 fps – 1% low) |
| Rise of Tomb Raider (DX 12, Very High Preset, FXAA) | 125 fps (58 fps – 1% low) | 157 fps (78 fps – 1% low) | – | 132 fps (59 fps – 1% low) |
| Shadow of Tomb Raider (DX 12, Highest Preset, TAA) | 109 fps (62 fps – 1% low) | 122 fps (78 fps – 1% low) | 93 fps (56 fps – 1% low) | 101 fps (38 fps – 1% low) |
| Strange Brigade (Vulkan, Ultra Preset) | 238 fps (161 fps – 1% low) | 248 fps (164 fps – 1% low) | 222 fps (162 fps – 1% low) | 188 fps (163 fps – 1% low) |
| The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt (DX 11, Ultra Preset, Hairworks On 4) | 145 fps (86 fps – 1% low) | 147 fps (84 fps – 1% low) | 123 fps (76 fps – 1% low) | 123 fps (84 fps – 1% low) |
Conclusion
This may not be the right computer for you if you want a multi-purpose 17-inch performance laptop that you can occasionally leave unplugged or take to work, but as a gaming PC that should be plugged in most of the time, it is hard to beat. To combat the slowness and battery-hogging issues that have plagued the 3080 and a bit of the other models, I’d wait a few months and opt for the mid-year update. This is already quite expensive, and the screens would continue to add to it.
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