MSI GT75 Titan 9SG/9SF

In just a few years, the ‘thin-and-light’ gaming laptop category has gone from a very rare phenomenon to what’s practically considered mainstream. MSI’s GT75 Titan goes against the grain by making no such promises. This is an old-school desktop replacement that doesn’t make any compromises whatsoever.

MSI GT75 Configurations

Unlike Dell, for example, which allows you to configure your laptop online, MSI is an ODM (original design manufacturer) that allows third parties to build and sell its laptops under a different brand. In other words, the GT75 Titan may also be known under different names and be configurable and purchased from other third-party gaming brands.

It still has some limitations, of course, based on available slots on the motherboard and in the chassis. The Titan can be equipped with Intel 9th-generation Core CPUs up to the unlocked and overclockable Core i9-9980HK. 

What’s more important is that the most powerful graphics card is the GeForce RTX 2080 without the Max-Q Design designation, meaning that it will perform much closer to the desktop version of the RTX 2080. 

The GT75 has four RAM slots, so unlike most competitors in the same size category, it can be equipped with up to 128 GB of RAM. Using two slots, the RAM will run in speeds up to 2666 Mhz, and with four slots up to 2400 MHz. There is plenty of room for storage, including several PCIe/NVMe (and SATA)-compatible M.2 slots as well as one 2.5″ SATA hard drive (or SSD) compartment.

Considering the unrestricted hardware, users should have restricted battery life expectations. At 90 Wh, the battery is as large as in, for example, the larger battery for the Alienware m17 and m15, but likely won’t last as long on average.

There are two display options and both are IPS-type panels with either 4K/UHD (3840×2160) or Full HD (1920×1080) resolution. The latter is a 144Hz. 

GT75 Performance

The GT75 Titan 9SG and 9SF can be equipped with a GeForce RTX 2080 (9SG) or an RT 2070 (9SF) – and these are not the Max-Q models, meaning that they offer higher performance at the cost of additional heat and a higher power draw.

The above scores are averages of a range of benchmark runs (user-submitted and/or professional) on representative systems. Exact scores will vary between systems and individual runs.

Due to the Titan’s size and capable cooling solution, the GPUs used are not Nvidia’s power-optimized Max-Q models, but the standard laptop versions. Thanks to (mainly) the higher clock rates, there’s a quite large performance bump from the Max-Q cards, with the RTX 2070 providing approximately the same performance as the RTX 2080 Max-Q. However, the laptop RTX cards still have slightly lower default clocks than their full-size desktop counterparts.

The full-featured Nvidia RTX cards will provide very high and stable frame rates on the 144Hz, 1080p panel option. Both the RTX 2080 and 2070 should also be fully adequate or 4K gaming on the 2160p panel. An added bonus with the 4K panel is full Adobe RGB coverage.

Other Features

Being a zero-compromise desktop replacement, the GT75 Titan has ample room for desktop-level connectivity and functionality. MSI has made the most of it by including one Thunderbolt 3 Type-C port, five USB 3.2 Gen2 Type-A, RJ45, an SD card slot, as well as HDMI ([email protected]) and Mini-DisplayPort connections.

There’s also a full-size mechanical keyboard with individually lit keys (RGB) on the Titan.

Reviews

Video review, GenTechPC (Core i9-8950HK + RTX 2080, 4K panel)

Video review, Bob of All Trades (Core i9-8750H + RTX 2080 Max-Q, 144Hz 1080p panel)