Game tests :

To keep the comparisons going we could not include titles alike Battlefield 2/3 and such, as we no longer have the GT780 in our possession. So you have to be happy with Far Cry 2, Crysis II and Mafia II.

Let's start with Far Cry 2. We tested the game with the DirectX10 setting and at 1366 x 768 resolution and at the full HD resolution of 1920 x 1080, both with high detail settings. Both laptops sporting the same GPU , but a different CPU and amount of ram. We tested bot laptops with the Turbo function too, the extra fan speed was selected for all tests to keep the vital components cooler.

The extra cores, extra ram give the GT780 a little edge over the far cheaper GT683 in FarCry 2. But even at 1920 x 1080 this older game remains uber fluid. How does Mafia II perform at the high detail preset ? We opted to leave any filtering out of the game as mobile GPUs are not a performant as similar named desktop variants.

Still pretty decent showing of the sub 1000 euro GT683R. To keep everything rolling smoothly over your screen best to opt straight for the 1366 resolution to stay in the vicinity of them 60FPS.

Nice to see that Crysis II at the Gamer preset is playable on a gaming notebook. Again same remark as with the GT780 review, the GTX560M is a mainstream GPU. It's best in general to turn down the resolution to keep things fluid (sorry for sounding repetitive). The Turbo function, with all games gives only a few FPS gain, depending on the opted resolution. We really start to push the enveloppe with the Hardcore preset.  Not really recommended...

The cooling performance of a laptop is always just above minimal, sorry I'm a desktop guy and usually overcool my components. But the GT780 MSI already gave me a nice surprise, as the hot CPU and GPU got adequately cooled. The Extra fan speed option is also very nice to have onboard.

You can clearly see the MSI's heatpipe and fan are making fun of the stock assembly of the Acer Aspire. Over 18°C difference with the Turbo fan is amasing. The dual core 2410M runs cooler then the quad core 2630QM. Equipped with similar cooling we have about a 5°C difference between the two.

The lower temps of the CPU have a slight influence on the GPU temps too. Logic as the heatpipe has got less heat from the CPU so it can cool the GPU a bit better. The cooling of these MSI laptops is well designed and seems ready to handle hours of gaming endavours.

Battery duration :

Battery life was tested again via the DVD playback of the movie "Der untergang". Running lenght is 159 minutes which is already a challenge for some laptops to complete. While the GT780R failed to complete the movie, the GT683 had no issues. We had about 25 minutes left on the windows battery meter. This probably due to the lower power consumption of the used 2410M CPU. Testing via Battery Mark, generated an output file that the laptop should be able to cope with over 3 hours 30 minutes of normal daily usage. Pretty decent in my book.