MSI Titan GT77: Extreme performance, smaller then ever

Memory and storage tests

MSI’s Titans have always represented the absolute most you can get in a laptop. Over time, however, they’ve been shrinking in size (and hand-in-hand with that, weight) in a way that the new GT77 Titan is actually a fairly compact laptop already. Inside it, though, is the most powerful mobile graphics card, the GeForce RTX 3080 Ti, and a Core i9-12900HX processor. Loud noise and high temperatures?

Basic parameters

Details

As far as my memory goes, it was only fair to imagine a laptop the size of a small box filled with bricks under the Titan label from MSI. However, technologically, we’ve advanced significantly over the years, so the first surprise is that the new Titan has a surprisingly small and lightweight package, perhaps on par with the GE76 I last tested from MSI. The packaging design is surprisingly subtle and although it has a gaming theme, it doesn’t scream anything.

The prices of high-end laptops easily attack the 4–5k dollar mark, and in this price range, a richer package should be a given. However, when you unpack the laptop and find only a charger and a lot of paperwork, you might be a bit disappointed. This isn’t the case with the new Titan, however.

Therefore, the first praise I give is for the accessories that you get with the laptop. These are useful things, that is, except for the Lucky the dragon key ring.

There are never enough USB flash drives, and having one with you at all times is definitely a good idea. Especially if it has 128 GB and offers both the classic “A” and the new “C”.

Another thing that I would definitely welcome with expensive gaming laptops is a gaming mouse in the package. It’s not such a high investment for manufacturers that they’d go broke including it with a several thousand dollar laptop, and it’s practically a necessity for a new owner if they want to play games on the laptop. After all, playing on a touchpad is pointless. One could argue that a gamer certainly already has a mouse, but what if this is the first gaming laptop? And a backup mouse for travelling, which will always be in a backpack, will also come in handy…

So, for me, I rate the package of the new Titan as an A+ and other manufacturers should take a lesson from MSI.

As already mentioned, the Titan represents the absolute pinnacle of what MSI is doing even though we’ve been waiting for the new product for quite a while. The last time the Titan was available last with Intel’s 10th generation and RTX 20 Super series. Thus, we can say that the GT77 has skipped two cycles thanks to the 12th generation Intel and the RTX 3080 Ti, which is the latest addition to the graphics family. The GT77 offers the absolute ceiling of what you can currently buy in a laptop. At its heart is the 12900HX from 12th generation Intel with 16 P+E cores with Alder Lake architecture, which also gave the laptop DDR5 memory or PCIe 5.0 SSD support. The tested configuration received 64 GB of RAM and a 2 TB SSD, both of which you can further expand on your own, which we’ll look at later. Another important part of the laptop is undoubtedly the display, with the manufacturer reaching for a 17.3-inch panel with 4K resolution and 120Hz refresh rate. The tested configuration is priced around 5250 euros. There is also the 12UGS-016CZ model, which has 32 GB of RAM and an RTX 3070 Ti with a price tag of just over 4000 euros. The top model can dedicate a total of 250 W for CPU+GPU, the lower configuration will offer “only” 225 W.

In addition to the hardware upgrade, the new Titan also brings significant design and practical improvements. Its predecessors could be considered weapons due to their size and weight. Therefore, the design and dimensions that the GT77 brings are hard to believe. The thickness has been almost halved and a kilo less weight also makes a big difference. Out of the box, I almost didn’t want to believe that this is the new Titan? The difference in dimensions versus the GE76 is negligible, although the 3.3 kg weight is still felt. Overall though, this is a huge step forward and it’s safe to say that the Titan is no longer significantly different from other high end laptops, which is literally a miracle considering the performance and features. I also really like the subtle backlighting, and the glowing logo also catches the eye.

On the manufacturer’s website, Titan boasts desktop-like connectivity, which is not an entirely untrue statement. On the left side we have a power connector, a pair of 10 Gb USB A, an SD card reader and an audio jack. On the right is another 10 Gb USB A, a pair of Thunderbolt 4 USB-C, mini Displayport 1.4, HDMI 2.1, and RJ-45 2.5 Gb Ethernet. I really can’t think of what else you could ask for, as the laptop offers everything you need. Perhaps the only thing that bothered me a bit is the relocation of the ports to the sides, due to the massive cooling in the back. I’ve come to love the ports on the back of notebooks, and even more so on gaming models where the cables on the right side will get in the way when you’re using the mouse.

The display lid is pushed further forward, giving more space for cooling. At the bottom we see a large ventilation grille.

Removal of the bottom cover is easy thanks to the use of classic Phillips head screws, which are the same length. For this, again, I give praise and it is evident that the manufacturer takes care to make the notebook easily accessible and serviceable.

After removing the bottom cover, you get to the components. The internal layout is the absolute pinnacle of what we’ve been able to look at so far. We’ll have to see the cooling system in more detail, apart from that we can see plenty of space in the middle for the drives and a large battery at the bottom.

Titan Cooling, as the manufacturer calls the cooling system, consists of 4 fans, 7 heatpipes and up to 6 exhausts that are all over the back. In total, the GT77 is said to offer up to 250 W for the CPU + GPU and 175 W for the GPU or 150 W for the CPU separately. We’ll see if the cooling can handle these extreme parameters, especially after the drastic weight loss against its predecessors.

Let’s move on to the expansion options. In the middle we see a large silver cover, under which you will find the SO-DIMM slots for RAM. On the right is a 2TB PCIe 4.0 SSD installed.

Interestingly, the slot for memory has two “layers”, so a total of four modules can be installed for a total of 128 GB.

On the left side is another trio of M.2 slots, with the first offering support for the new PCIe Gen 5.0, the rest are Gen 4.0. In addition to the M.2 slots, we also find the Killer AX1675i WiFi 6E card, which is also removable.

The forward offset of the hinges is more pronounced than on the GE76, their firmness is good.

The lid can only be opened to an obtuse angle, a straight opening is not possible due to the cooling design.

Another gem that the Titan offers is the MX Cherry mechanical keyboard. I adore the low profile mechanical switches and typing on the GT77 is a joy. The overall impression is somewhat spoiled by the fact that only the main part is mechanical without the function keys, numeric part and directional arrow keys. The transition from mechanical to classic membrane is thus quite noticeable and not pleasant. This is a strange compromise that simply should not be present in this price range. And as you already know me, I miss the Big-ass Enter.

The touchpad is less used on gaming laptops than on ultrabooks or professional models, but it’s still an important part of the user experience. The new Titan brings a fairly large touchpad with integrated right and left buttons, gestures and common finger movements were recorded by the touchpad without any problems, so I have no complaints about it.

The weak side of gaming laptops is usually biometric security, but this is not the case with the new Titan, which has taken it from the completely opposite side. In fact, it offers an AJ fingerprint reader and an infrared camera with Windows Hello support. I’d kiss the engineers at MSI’s hands for this, and yet it didn’t even hurt did it? I really don’t understand why this combination is so rare, although I would expect it in every other laptop. As for the camera itself, it’s a standard 720p HD version that doesn’t surprise with anything.

The laptop is equipped with a 99.9 Wh battery, which is the legal limit for being on board an aircraft. Although the inside of the laptop could handle a larger battery, the regulations are the reason why we have never seen a 100+ Wh battery.

You will get a 330 W charger with the laptop, which is huge and heavy. So add an extra kilo to your laptop for travel and USB-C won’t really save you, as the Titan doesn’t support USB-C charging. Charging is surprisingly slow and it takes over 3 hours to reach 100 %. But after an hour and a half, the battery is already showing over 80 %, so it’s not that tragic. The battery life doesn’t impress in our tough YouTube test, but the Titan is definitely not an ultrabook for travel. I clocked 3 hours and 47 minutes in Balanced mode, and a slightly better 4 hours and 23 minutes in Super Battery. So it’s definitely not a record breaker and AMD platform laptops continue to dominate in this area, yet the measured endurance is surprisingly good for DTR (Desktop Replacement) standards.

MSI’s Titans have always represented the absolute most you can get in a laptop. Over time, however, they’ve been shrinking in size (and hand-in-hand with that, weight) in a way that the new GT77 Titan is actually a fairly compact laptop already. Inside it, though, is the most powerful mobile graphics card, the GeForce RTX 3080 Ti, and a Core i9-12900HX processor. Loud noise and high temperatures?

Testing methodology

We tested the notebook at home, not in a laboratory environment. Nevertheless, the effort was made for the most accurate results. These are therefore the average of the measured values from repeated tests.

The tests include synthetic benchmarks to compare the performance of both the processor and the graphics card. We also measure storage speed, battery life, charging speed and in-game performance. The goal is to test laptops and desktops in various scenarios and get a comprehensive overview of their performance and operating characteristics.

MSI’s Titans have always represented the absolute most you can get in a laptop. Over time, however, they’ve been shrinking in size (and hand-in-hand with that, weight) in a way that the new GT77 Titan is actually a fairly compact laptop already. Inside it, though, is the most powerful mobile graphics card, the GeForce RTX 3080 Ti, and a Core i9-12900HX processor. Loud noise and high temperatures?

>Gamut, brightness and color difference

We measured the image properties of the display using the Datacolor Spyder5Elite color analyzer. The display is one of the key features of gaming laptops for a full travel experience. The new Titan features a large 17.3″ 4K display with 120Hz refresh rate. The manufacturer is rather skimpy on any other details on the product page, so it’s kind of safe to assume that we won’t get any more premium features like HDR.

We measured 100 % sRGB, 89 % AdobeRGB, 94 % DCI-P3 and 86 % NTSC coverage, which are definitely above average. Gamma is at 2.2 with zero deviation, and the 375 nits brightness doesn’t disappoint but doesn’t impress either. The average Delta E colour deviation is also very good at 1.81.

The panel of the test piece suffered from edge ligh bleed, which was also reflected in the uniformity tests. Unfortunately, that’s the price of LCD panels, and I would kind of expect OLED at the price of the laptop, which MSI itself already offers in other models.

MSI’s Titans have always represented the absolute most you can get in a laptop. Over time, however, they’ve been shrinking in size (and hand-in-hand with that, weight) in a way that the new GT77 Titan is actually a fairly compact laptop already. Inside it, though, is the most powerful mobile graphics card, the GeForce RTX 3080 Ti, and a Core i9-12900HX processor. Loud noise and high temperatures?

Rendering, Geekbench

MSI’s Titans have always represented the absolute most you can get in a laptop. Over time, however, they’ve been shrinking in size (and hand-in-hand with that, weight) in a way that the new GT77 Titan is actually a fairly compact laptop already. Inside it, though, is the most powerful mobile graphics card, the GeForce RTX 3080 Ti, and a Core i9-12900HX processor. Loud noise and high temperatures?

3D/PC Mark ang Unigine Heaven/Superposition

MSI’s Titans have always represented the absolute most you can get in a laptop. Over time, however, they’ve been shrinking in size (and hand-in-hand with that, weight) in a way that the new GT77 Titan is actually a fairly compact laptop already. Inside it, though, is the most powerful mobile graphics card, the GeForce RTX 3080 Ti, and a Core i9-12900HX processor. Loud noise and high temperatures?

Gaming tests – dedicated GPU

MSI’s Titans have always represented the absolute most you can get in a laptop. Over time, however, they’ve been shrinking in size (and hand-in-hand with that, weight) in a way that the new GT77 Titan is actually a fairly compact laptop already. Inside it, though, is the most powerful mobile graphics card, the GeForce RTX 3080 Ti, and a Core i9-12900HX processor. Loud noise and high temperatures?

Encryption, encoding

MSI’s Titans have always represented the absolute most you can get in a laptop. Over time, however, they’ve been shrinking in size (and hand-in-hand with that, weight) in a way that the new GT77 Titan is actually a fairly compact laptop already. Inside it, though, is the most powerful mobile graphics card, the GeForce RTX 3080 Ti, and a Core i9-12900HX processor. Loud noise and high temperatures?

Memory and storage tests

MSI’s Titans have always represented the absolute most you can get in a laptop. Over time, however, they’ve been shrinking in size (and hand-in-hand with that, weight) in a way that the new GT77 Titan is actually a fairly compact laptop already. Inside it, though, is the most powerful mobile graphics card, the GeForce RTX 3080 Ti, and a Core i9-12900HX processor. Loud noise and high temperatures?

Temperature and battery life

MSI’s Titans have always represented the absolute most you can get in a laptop. Over time, however, they’ve been shrinking in size (and hand-in-hand with that, weight) in a way that the new GT77 Titan is actually a fairly compact laptop already. Inside it, though, is the most powerful mobile graphics card, the GeForce RTX 3080 Ti, and a Core i9-12900HX processor. Loud noise and high temperatures?

Blender – CPU and GPU comparison

We are introducing a new type of test in which we want to show you the differences between CPU and GPU rendering and at the same time take a closer look at thermal management, clock speed and power draw in practice and not just the maximum or average values as in the previous pages.

So we compare the course of the BMW test in the latest version of Blender, where in addition to the classic CPU and GPU render using CUDA, we also have the opportunity to use the new Nvidia OptiX, which uses new hardware resources for RTX graphics cards. While CUDA works with shaders, OptiX also uses RT cores and tensor cores for acceleration. Such a more complex involvement of computing units brings higher performance and efficiency is at a better level. At the same time, the application support is already quite decent and comprehensive. For an overview of the editors supported by the Optix API, see the Nvidia website. Nvidia is serious about this interface and has been developing “studio” drivers in addition to game-ready drivers for some time now, which are better and faster optimized for changes in supported applications.

In the first graph is a look at the development of CPU clock speeds over the course of the render. The classic CPU mode gradually decreases from 4 to 3.6 GHz. For the combined workload in CUDA mode, we see quite a big drop, which will continue to be of interest to us. In OptiX the clock speeds jump all over the place, but in this mode the CPU isn’t even being used, so this result needn’t worry us.

CPU Package power draw shows that CPU mode under full load can take up to 180 W, but this value drops to 140 W during the test. CUDA also reaches a similar threshold but then drops very quickly to 80 W, from which it then increases slightly but not significantly. OptiX hovers at the 30 W level.

The CPU temperature graph is very important. The maximum load on the processor is reflected in temperatures around 95 °C, which is not low, but the drop in clock speeds was only slight. The combined load is again presented by a large drop to 70 degrees, and a subsequent rise to 95 °C. The OptiX bounces around 60 degrees, which is just a side effect of the interconnected cooling with the graphics.

GPU load in CPU mode is practically minimal, on the contrary, in CUDA and OptiX you can see full load. Note that there is only one high jump in CUDA, which will be the cause of the dips we saw in the CPU graphs.

CPU clock speeds are of course at a minimum, as dedicated graphics are not used. With OptiX again we see a straight line at 2000, CUDA is also fluctuating between 1400-2000 MHz. The OptiX graph shows us excellent stability at high GPU clock speeds.

We see interesting differences in graphics power draw, where OptiX hovers around 145 W and CUDA has a maximum of 168 W. In CPU mode, power draw is practically zero. The measured values are the highest we have seen so far and by a wide margin.

Lastly, a look at the GPU temperatures. For the CPU, there is a visible rising line to 38 °C. A large part of the chip is working in OptiX, yet the temperature only attacks 60 degrees Celsius, which is also the maximum that was reached in CUDA combined mode, while it is CUDA that usually has worse results. Therefore, the laptop handles the load in the test with ease.

As always, we can see the differences between the different rendering modes in Blender. We’ll start with the slowest one, which is CPU mode. It should be noted that this is the fastest result we’ve seen so far in this mode. The Legion 7 16 AMD loses up to 46 seconds on the Titan, so it is almost 2 times slower. In CUDA mode, however, the Titan is already only two seconds faster, and in OptiX the lead grows to three seconds.

MSI’s Titans have always represented the absolute most you can get in a laptop. Over time, however, they’ve been shrinking in size (and hand-in-hand with that, weight) in a way that the new GT77 Titan is actually a fairly compact laptop already. Inside it, though, is the most powerful mobile graphics card, the GeForce RTX 3080 Ti, and a Core i9-12900HX processor. Loud noise and high temperatures?

Performance modes

The notebook offers a choice of Extreme Performance, Balanced, Silent and Super Battery performance modes in the MSI Center app.

All tests were done in Extreme Performance mode, but it’s worth taking a look at the differences each mode offers. We therefore compare the performance curves under combined load using 3DMark in the Fire Strike benchmark.

Processor clock speeds during the test show that Balanced and Extreme Performance do not differ significantly and on the contrary, Silent does not reach such high clock speeds and Super Battery significantly limits the processor to about half the clock speeds of the remaining modes.

Power draw shows us the differences between the modes in even more detail. Extreme Performance and Balanced are still almost identical, but Silent is already more obviously different, mainly because it doesn’t have such high peaks. Super Battery draws a horizontal line with minimal deviations, clearly showing the limiting of CPU performance.

The first slight difference between Extreme Performance and Balanced is seen in temperatures, where Performance shows a few units higher temperatures. Silent again has slightly lower peaks and Super Battery just slowly rises and has no peaks.

How are the graphics? Again, we can see that Extreme Performance and Balanced are very similar, and even Silent doesn’t really deviate under load. Only Super Battery has more significant deviations.

The graphics clock speeds indicate another difference between Extreme Performance and Balanced. While the former hovers around 1800 MHz, Balanced reduces this value to 1600 MHz. Silent drops even lower, to 1400 MHz, and Super Battery has very similar numbers.

An even clearer difference between the modes is seen in GPU power draw, where Extreme Performance reaches the 175 W limit, but is usually at 165 W. Balanced just barely under the 150 W limit, and Silent with Super Battery drops even lower, to 120 or 115 W. It will be interesting to see how throttling of the GPU performance affects the overall result.

For GPU temperatures, due to the higher power draw in Extreme Performance, we see about 4–5 °C higher temperatures in the peaks compared to Balanced. The peaks hover around 70–75 °C. Silent has about 10 °C lower temperatures than EP and Super Battery already shifts the curve to the right and exceeds even Balanced in the peaks, which is probably due to limited cooling.

Expectations according to the graphs are as follows: the difference between Extreme Performance and Balanced will be minimal, on the contrary Silent will lose about 30 % and Super Battery will have maybe only 30 % of the Extreme Performance performance. This was more or less confirmed in the final score. Only 3 % difference between Balanced and Extreme Performance is negligible, on the other hand Silent really loses 30 % on EP and Super Battery only reaches 26 % of EP, so my guesses were confirmed.

MSI’s Titans have always represented the absolute most you can get in a laptop. Over time, however, they’ve been shrinking in size (and hand-in-hand with that, weight) in a way that the new GT77 Titan is actually a fairly compact laptop already. Inside it, though, is the most powerful mobile graphics card, the GeForce RTX 3080 Ti, and a Core i9-12900HX processor. Loud noise and high temperatures?

MSI Center

The MSI Center app is used to control the settings.

Here you’ll find basic information about the laptop, options for customising settings, performance modes and driver updates.

There is also the possibility of installing additional extensions and functions or resetting the device.

The app offers everything you need to control your laptop and customise it to your needs.

MSI’s Titans have always represented the absolute most you can get in a laptop. Over time, however, they’ve been shrinking in size (and hand-in-hand with that, weight) in a way that the new GT77 Titan is actually a fairly compact laptop already. Inside it, though, is the most powerful mobile graphics card, the GeForce RTX 3080 Ti, and a Core i9-12900HX processor. Loud noise and high temperatures?

Evaluation

The MSI GT77 Titan 12UHS-014CZ is the new king of DTR (Desktop replacement) laptops. We had to wait two years, but it was worth it. The Titan is no longer that big, thick, heavy clunky piece of laptop that’s hell to travel with and won’t fit anywhere. Two years on a diet have done their work, and half the thickness and a kilo less weight have made him an athlete. It’s safe to say that the difference from the 17″ inch Raider (e.g. GE76) is already minimal. On the design side, it is also a significant improvement, the notebook looks decent, but retains its gaming spirit. I don’t know if it was intentional, but the pair of backlit lines behind the display are strongly reminiscent of the brake lights of the Porsche 911 992. I praise both the connectivity and the dual biometric security, which is very rare, especially on a gaming laptop. The port selection is also excellent and there is nothing to complain about on the outside.

After the exterior, the insides have not avoided changes either, and they are literally packed with the best that is currently available and with 250 W of total power it really is a monster, as evidenced by the 330 W power adapter. The main question in the test was how the cooling would cope with such power and whether the Titan would stand up to the high expectations. VThe performance of the processor is literally overwhelming, in single core performance, it beats AMD Ryzen 5900HX by 15 to 30 % and in multicore by 50 %. When compared to the aforementioned GE76 sibling with the last-generation Core i9-11980HK, the difference of performance is even more abysmal, with the Titan averaging up to 120 % more performance in multicore. The new platform has also enabled a significant acceleration of operating memory on a high-performance platform, which until recently was the prerogative of low-voltage models in ultrabooks, and even here we see a 30 % improvement. Brutal performance is also confirmed in synthetic tests, where the Titan is the most powerful notebook we’ve tested. Differences from the competition are not so big and the winner of the Top notch award from last year the Legion 7 16 AMD is only 10 % behind. In real games, however, the difference increased again, up to 30 %.

The very good news is that MSI has managed to keep temperatures at bay despite the significant slimming of the body, so components are not significantly limited or throttled, which was confirmed in Blender tests and mode comparisons. The laptop is even surprisingly quiet, I have tested much noisier models, so the cooling system deserves praise. Although battery life is not a priority with DTR, the Titan performed surprisingly well, lasting around 4 hours depending on the mode, which until recently was quite common.

The new Titan is really a job well done, and if you’re looking for a no-compromise on-the-go performance, port and memory expansion options are important to you, you’ll be hard-pressed to find anything better. Criticisms are hard to find, of course the price tag will be breathtaking for most mortals, but for those who will use such a laptop for work, the return is a matter of a few months. In conclusion, let me daydream just a little about a successor, where I would welcome a full-mechanical keyboard, an OLED display and if the next generation of processors and graphics allow it, slightly better battery life would be nice, and if a few hundred grams of weight could still be dropped, it would be a tasty treat.

Due to the unmatched test results and the absence of any major flaws, I’m awarding the MSI GT77 Titan our highest editorial award of “Top Notch“.

English translation and edit by Jozef Dudáš

Test games are from Jama levova

• Contents
• Parameters and details
• Testing methodology
• Display tests
• Rendering and Geekbench
• 3D/PC Mark ang Unigine Heaven/Superposition
• Gaming tests – dedicated GPU
• Encryption, encoding
• Memory and storage tests
• Temperature and battery life
• Blender – CPU, CUDA and Optix tests
• Performance modes
• Utility app
• Evaluation