Is the MSI GX660 notebook a good buy?

[ghosthunter]

Is the MSI GX660 notebook a good buy? (gaming notebook)

Price: P40K

Intel i5 M430
2gb ram (expandable to 8gb)
320gb hdd
15.6 LED screen
Ati Radeon HD 5870 1gb
eSATA
USB 3.0
etc

[voltscastillo]

i was going to start a thread with this same subject...

what's the overall reliability of these MSI brand laptops? went to octagon kahapon and for the price, ok ang features nila.

an even cheaper brand would be gateway laptops... same specs as above but cheaper by 5K or so (online research, online sellers... do check out laptopking.com). saw an i5 parang 35k lang.

and what's the deal with the satellite indicator sa ibang msi laptops? yung indicator icon nya parang satellite icon sa nokia mobile gps phones eh. satnav chip ba ito, as in pwede mo installan ng garmin mobile pc and then do satnav na? tinanong ko sa salesman sabi nya for internet daw yun eh (duh, labo... may separate wifi and bt indicators naman).

[2gud4u]

ok ang msi laptop but the processor is only i5m430 which is already old because of the sandy bridge processor, better look a laptop with a i5-2410k processor and 4gb memory(kung pang gaming talga) like this http://www.canadacomputers.com/produ...item_id=038446 or this http://www.canadacomputers.com/produ...item_id=037835


or this http://www.canadacomputers.com/produ...item_id=037751 hindi siya pang gaming pero ang ganda naman

[cityfolk]

i was going to start a thread with this same subject...

what's the overall reliability of these MSI brand laptops? went to octagon kahapon and for the price, ok ang features nila.

an even cheaper brand would be gateway laptops... same specs as above but cheaper by 5K or so (online research, online sellers... do check out laptopking.com). saw an i5 parang 35k lang.

and what's the deal with the satellite indicator sa ibang msi laptops? yung indicator icon nya parang satellite icon sa nokia mobile gps phones eh. satnav chip ba ito, as in pwede mo installan ng garmin mobile pc and then do satnav na? tinanong ko sa salesman sabi nya for internet daw yun eh (duh, labo... may separate wifi and bt indicators naman).

Wifi indicator yun. Yun parang signal icon ng celfone ang para sa 3G internet. Ganyan yung sa MSI Wind U230 netbook ng anak ko.Nalito din ako nung una. Almost two years old na yung netbook ok pa rin.

[ghosthunter]

i was going to start a thread with this same subject...

what's the overall reliability of these MSI brand laptops? went to octagon kahapon and for the price, ok ang features nila.

So far so good with my MSi netbooks. I have a U210x and my previous netbook (MSi Wind U100) is with my brother. All of them are running well.

[ghosthunter]

ok ang msi laptop but the processor is only i5m430 which is already old because of the sandy bridge processor, better look a laptop with a i5-2410k processor and 4gb memory(kung pang gaming talga) like this http://www.canadacomputers.com/produ...item_id=038446 or this http://www.canadacomputers.com/produ...item_id=037835

or this http://www.canadacomputers.com/produ...item_id=037751 hindi siya pang gaming pero ang ganda naman

Unfortunately I am buying in the PHILIPPINES.

If you are willing to give me free-shipping, I would gladly buy from over there.

Even considering the Sandy-Bridge Processor advantage, since I am choosing a gaming notebook, low power consumption is not really a primary concern. Also since the GX660 has it's own high power video chipset, having a fast on-chip integrated graphics is not an issue.

In the end, I don't think having a 5 to 10% processor performance difference is a big issue given that heavier games these days are more GPU intensive.

[voltscastillo]

Unfortunately I am buying in the PHILIPPINES.

If you are willing to give me free-shipping, I would gladly buy from over there.

Even considering the Sandy-Bridge Processor advantage, since I am choosing a gaming notebook, low power consumption is not really a primary concern. Also since the GX660 has it's own high power video chipset, having a fast on-chip integrated graphics is not an issue.

In the end, I don't think having a 5 to 10% processor performance difference is a big issue given that heavier games these days are more GPU intensive.

speaking of high power video chipsets... are the video chips of the somewhat newer HP DV7s (17 inch lcd) better than the older amd turion x2 HP DV2000-6000?

better designed for heat i mean... bought a used DV2000 off tpc last year, seller didnt mention na nasusunog yung nvidia gpu ng model na yun... used it for a couple times then boom, ayaw na mag boot, no display. sabi nung tech replace board na daw... badtrip sayang pera, should have done my research first.

[thejonchoi]

40k for a notebook with an i5 and an HD5870? Hell yes, it's a good buy! The normal SRP for the GX660 is 40k for the i3 variant with the same graphics chip. You should up the RAM to at least 4GB though, especially if you intend to use a 64-bit OS.

All in all, MSI makes solid notebooks. Not as physically sleek as the Apples and Sammies, but this one is crammed with goodies for a fraction of the price. My only gripe about that model is the.. almost-ricey exterior. Too loud for my tastes.

[RakataK]

you can't go wrong with MSI that's for sure.

[ghosthunter]

I found a better deal:

MSI FX420x - i5185+ with Sandy Bridge Processor
8GB DDR3
ATI Radeon HD6470 1GB DDR3 VRAM
500GB SATA
14” HD LED Display(1366x768)
etc
No OS

SRP = 35,995 (card price 0% 12 months)

SRP = 34,000 (cash)


Wow! ... can't believe a game performance notebook PC can be this low.

[thejonchoi]

That's a better notebook in all aspects - except the graphics chip.

The HD6470 is newer tech, but it's entry-level tech. Comparing it to the HD5xxx series, it's slightly slower than an HD5650 (midrange). The HD5870 in the GX660 though is still a monster by today's standards.

The FX420 will outperform the GX660 in everything BUT games. And we're not talking a handful of single-digit frame rates here. It's the newest budget graphics chipset against the past generation's king.

If the notebook's primarily for gaming, the GX660 still smokes all the local competition in the sub-40k segment.

[ghosthunter]

rats! ... I thought meron na akong nakita na bargain gaming performance notebook PC.

[ghosthunter]

That's a better notebook in all aspects - except the graphics chip.

The HD6470 is newer tech, but it's entry-level tech. Comparing it to the HD5xxx series, it's slightly slower than an HD5650 (midrange). The HD5870 in the GX660 though is still a monster by today's standards.

The FX420 will outperform the GX660 in everything BUT games. And we're not talking a handful of single-digit frame rates here. It's the newest budget graphics chipset against the past generation's king.

If the notebook's primarily for gaming, the GX660 still smokes all the local competition in the sub-40k segment.

You're right about the video chipsets. I checked the Gigaflop rating for both GPUs and the older HD5870 does roughly twice the performance of the newer HD6470.

In that sense, the GX660 notebook is still much better.

[Horsepower]

The specs sound good esp the 8gb. Been looking for a sandy bridge myself. I'm probably okay with 6470 (mine is 5470 1GB). But I'd wait for an ASUS. Can't seem to trust MSI's build quality again after some horrors I've had with their products back then.

I've been hoping that a computer company (even Apple) would do a dual storage setup. SSD (like 64gb 800MB/s direct to mini-PCIe) + 500gb HDD. I'd be happy with that. I'm currently using a Core i3 K42jr (<1y) but I'd be happy to move to N series as long as it has this wonderful keyboard.

[170kphlang]

The specs sound good esp the 8gb. Been looking for a sandy bridge myself. I'm probably okay with 6470 (mine is 5470 1GB). But I'd wait for an ASUS. Can't seem to trust MSI's build quality again after some horrors I've had with their products back then.

I've been hoping that a computer company (even Apple) would do a dual storage setup. SSD (like 64gb 800MB/s direct to mini-PCIe) + 500gb HDD. I'd be happy with that. I'm currently using a Core i3 K42jr (<1y) but I'd be happy to move to N series as long as it has this wonderful keyboard.

just a little OT pero related to laptops:

http://www.msi.com/product/nb/GX780....=Specification

i like how unassuming the laptop looks from the exterior, pero halimaw sa performance. i guess halimaw din sa price ito. oh well, kailangan ulit maghintay till xmas para bumabab sa 50k ang price nito hehehe..

[thejonchoi]

just a little OT pero related to laptops:

http://www.msi.com/product/nb/GX780....=Specification

i like how unassuming the laptop looks from the exterior, pero halimaw sa performance. i guess halimaw din sa price ito. oh well, kailangan ulit maghintay till xmas para bumabab sa 50k ang price nito hehehe..

That's like a Porsche GT3 RS3 with a turbocharged 2.0L engine.

Flashy? Yes. Drives like a dream? Of course. Good engine? Sure, but not at this price range.

An i7, 8GB of RAM, USB3.0 support - good specs, for the most part. And I'm a sucker for back-lit keyboards! But why'd they use the GT555 as the graphics chip? The HD5870 in the much-cheaper GX660 has it beat in all but a couple of Nvidia-optimised games. Since they're probably charging a premium for this model, they should've used a mobile dual-chip (SLI/XFire) solution instead. That would've given a much-needed H6/V6-level boost to an otherwise godly notebook.

[Horsepower]

Dual HDD setup, nice.

Would've had me if they used a PCIe SSD instead though. No SATA bottleneck! (for now ).

check out asus G series too

[Flip]

im also considering buying gx660 i3-380, any other reviews from owners? im specifically concerned about build quality. TIA

let me share na din something i read from a forum about how to readily compare HD GPUs thru their model numbers. the first number only indicates the series of the unit while the second number is the one that tells us how powerful the unit is. Thus HD5145<HD6250<HD6470<HD5730<HD5870

[birdpoop]

Is the MSI GX660 notebook a good buy? (gaming notebook)

Price: P40K

Intel i5 M430
2gb ram (expandable to 8gb)
320gb hdd
15.6 LED screen
Ati Radeon HD 5870 1gb
eSATA
USB 3.0
etc

what kind of games, GH? Heavy FPS ba?

[thejonchoi]

im also considering buying gx660 i3-380, any other reviews from owners? im specifically concerned about build quality. TIA

let me share na din something i read from a forum about how to readily compare HD GPUs thru their model numbers. the first number only indicates the series of the unit while the second number is the one that tells us how powerful the unit is. Thus HD5145<HD6250<HD6470<HD5730<HD5870

Yep, this is correct. The same is true for Geforce cards. GT420 < GT240 < GTS250 < GTX260 < GTX460 < GTX570. In ATi cards though, the third number further expands the lineup for that particular card family. HD5830 < HD5850 < HD5870. RAM almost always means nothing in the realm of graphics cards.