Elder Scrolls Online on the GE60

We often focus on higher-end material when we present our technical articles, but as Christmas nears, we’re getting a bit lazy. Instead, we produce things like in-game videos of Far Cry 4 on those high-end machines, but we also have Elder Scrolls Online bundled in lots of regions around the world.

ESO runs just fine with quite high settings even on lower spec machines, such as the GE60 with the modest GTX 850M. We had a little game session at the office, averaging over 60 FPS in the Wailing Prison, while hitting way over 30 FPS when we got out of the prison, into the more demanding scenery.



Being an online-only game, we can’t run any benchmarks, but even our lower-end offerings will run ESO without any sign of trouble, in case you are interested in picking up a G series with the free game and 30-day subscription.

Stay tuned for our in-game video of Elder Scrolls Online – we promise it’ll be played as badly as the Far Cry 4 one.

Matrix Display – setup and model chart

This time, it’s time for a little repetition – we’ve been noticing a bunch of questions on how to set up Matrix Display (the ability to use several monitors on MSI Gaming notebooks) lately, and we’d like to show you all once more. Basically, it is very simple, but there are differences in how to enable this on different models.

The procedure for the GT series can be found here:
Link

GS and GE:
Link

Worth noting is that different models have different capabilities when it comes to outputting video. Below, you can see which model is capable of what.

GT72/GT70/GT60: Built-in display + 3 external monitors
GS70 + GX series: Built-in display + 2 external monitors OR 3 external monitors
GS60, GE60, GP series: Built-in display + 2 external monitors


Matrix Display is yet another MSI feature that not only helps you with your gaming experience, but also boost your productivity, with a minimum of three monitors supported across the range.

Super RAID 3 performance

Super RAID 3 is MSI’s name for a 4-SSD RAID 0 solution used in the GT72. You may know that traditional mechanical hard drives are going out of fashion like… Uhh, I don’t know fashion, but their only upsides have been storage density as well as price. Until very recently, that is, now SSDs have actually surpassed hard drives in storage density on 2.5” drives. Also, SSD controller manufacturer Phison, claims that SSDs will basically replace traditional hard drives in notebooks as soon as 2015 or 2016. The future, therefore is SSDs.

While we have absolutely no doubt that our Super RAID solution is the ultimate, we want to demonstrate to you exactly how massive the gap is. With the help of benchmarks, obviously, and an unfair one at that. What we did, was find a GE40 with a relic of a mechanical hard drive in it. A 7200 RPM one, so not the slowest we could find – and compared it to the GT72 Dragon Edition and its Super RAID 3 solution of 4 256GB SSDs in Crystal Diskmark. Extreme differences? You bet.


First up the HDD:



A typical hard drive result – easily surpassed by even USB 3.0 memory nowadays. Peaks of just over 60MB in sequential read and nearly grinding to a standstill in the 4K tests.



Super RAID 3 though – it monsters the HDD (and, to be fair, everything else on the market). Not surprisingly, exactly, but with 1.5GB/s (not Gb, GB, Gigabyte) sequential read speed it is what you call fast. Windows 8 loads quickly with one SSD, but with four in RAID0, you’re barely given time to blink.


Best of all, with a 4x256GB SSD, there’s plenty of room for your games on the RAID array, meaning you can always be the first onto the battlefield in games, as your maps will load so much faster than the opposition’s.

WS60 2OJ 4K Edition

A lot of you out there have been asking for 4K resolution for added productivity. Of course, it has always been possible to connect external monitors to your MSI notebook, whether it’s a workstation or a gaming notebook, but what if you need more on the go?


We’ve heard your prayers, and gone on to complement the 3K (2880x1620) panel in the WS60 lineup with a 4K Ultra-HD one with a 3840x2160 panel. A resolution this high (as large as 4x Full HD panels clustered together) will of course increase productivity and do more even if you’re stuck with “only” one screen.



The WS60 2OJ 4K edition will be available world-wide starting January, but if you look closely, you might be able to find this in stores already, in select regions.

[NEW!]Boost Your Performance



Purchase a GE60 2PE or GE70 2PE and you are entitled to 'Boost Your Performance' by purchasing one 128GB SSD (mSATA) for only RM99.

Promotion Date - 8th December 2014 to 31st January 2015
*Offer Valid at all MSI Authorised Resellers (http://bit.ly/mymsinb_wheretobuy) in Malaysia

Terms & Conditions
*Promotion valid while stocks last. Limited to maximum of one SSD per notebook.
*For Installation and Transfer of Operating System to SSD, an additional charge of RM99 will apply.

**BONUS!** This promotion is also eligible for MSI Year End Promo:http://event.msi.com/mb/2014/beatitpromo/

120Hz output on MSI Notebooks

If you haven’t been living under a rock lately, you’ve noticed that not only is higher resolution monitors in extreme demand, but also 120Hz ones. As you might know, in case your panel has a refresh rate of 60Hz (which is standard for PC monitors), you will not notice any difference in framerate above 60 FPS. This is because 1Hz = 1 oscillation per second, meaning a 60Hz panel refreshes 60 times per second, and subsequently a 120Hz panel does this twice as often. Even screens with refresh rates as high as 240Hz exist.



Slightly exaggerated picture courtesy of Eizo

All notebook screen panels are unfortunately 60Hz panels, effectively capping what you see at 60 FPS (even if your measured framerate actually might be higher), and if your (non-MSI) notebook comes with NVIDIA Optimus (a technology that automatically switches between the CPU graphics and the dedicated NVIDIA one), you’re even capped at 60Hz on any external monitors connected to your notebook. This is why MSI has chosen to not use Optimus, because we believe that with our high-performance hardware, you should be given the choice to run at higher frequencies, such as 120Hz.

All MSI Gaming notebooks equipped with DisplayPort supports output of refresh rates higher than 60Hz, in case you’re a 120Hz-connaisseur and worried about maybe not being able to use it on your MSI Notebook.