Get up to $90 with purchase on Costco.com with purchase using Chase Freedom Flex card - see below
Net effective cost is either $1140 ($1200 - $60), or $1226 ($1200 - $74), or $1210 ($1200 - $90)
YOU NEED TO ACTIVATE THE 5% BY MARCH 14 (AND I BELIEVE IT APPLIES ALSO TO RETROACTIVE PURCHASES ). WHILE CHASE FREEDOM FLEX, WHICH IS A MASTERCARD ISN'T ACCEPTED AT COSTCO STORE, IT IS ACCEPTED AT COSTO.COM!
Assuming you signed up for the 5X Chase Freedom Flex categories this quarter, you will get 5X points for your purchase on Costco.com. That's worth enough points to get $60 ($1200 times 5%) cash back. Subsequently, if you transfer these points earned to Chase Sapphire Reserve it becomes worth 50% more (i.e., $60 times 1.5 = $90) when claimed as reimbursement for travel or groceries on the the Reserve card. If you have the Chase Sapphire Preferred rather than Reserve, its worth 25% more or $74 ($60 times 1.25).
https://www.creditcards
II. BOOST YOUR PERFORMANCE
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from rruff
I'll say it again. You can undervolt the processor a good amount: I boosted my 6 core performance 29%, and it runs cooler. You can basically make it as good as a Ryzen (or better) with no risk to hardware. You have total freedom to manipulate power, temperature, and noise to your liking. For instance it runs just as fast at 35W as it did at 45W stock. If I max out the fans and CPU I can run at ~68W and 91C and 4.3MHz on all cores forever. 
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Undervolting is locked out of most 10th gen CPUs, but MSI allows it. You need to enable it in the bios, and then use Throttlestop. Ryzen processors can't be undervolted. 4th time I've linked in this thread? https://www.techpowerup I'd never done anything like this before. It wasn't hard. |
ASUS ROG Strix G17 Laptop: i7-10750H, 17.3" 1080p 144Hz, 16GB , "RTX 2070 Super" ($1,500 at Walmart; was previously on sale in Dec 2020 for $1,300)
VS
MSI GE75 Laptop: i7-10750H, 17.3" 1080p 144Hz, 16GB , "RTX 2070" (non-super) [The one in this deal for $1,200]
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from netscorer
I'm probably going to stick with MSI. Asus is faster and runs cooler, so it's a win, right? But MSI has more premium finish, brighter display, better keyboard, full RGB keyboard compared to zone RGB in ASUS, way more powerful speakers with added subwoofers, more ports, webcam, SD card slot, better management software ( I prefer MSI Dragon to Asus ROG center), smaller, lighter, cheaper and extra year of warranty.
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Plus MSI BIOS allows undervolting and ASUS locked this in the July BIOS upgrade. What ASUS does have in its favor is ability to set Nvidia GPU as the primary card, which adds another 2% to performance. MSI only has Optimus, which means video signal to laptop display always goes through Intel GPU even if Nvidia is running the show. I'd say if you want raw graphics power, go with ASUS, no question. But if you want a better overall laptop, MSI GE75 Costco deal is the winner. |
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from iGeorge
I just played with this at my local Costco. I didn't pull the trigger on the spot, but it seemed like they had plenty of them in stock in my store. My quick 5-10 minute impressions are below, but note, my Costco apparently doesn't connect any of their laptops to their internal wifi, so I couldn't even open google images or watch youtube to determine picture quality.
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Screen - My biggest question is still how many nits does this goes up to. In store, it definitely felt more than 300 (my current laptop is around 250 nits, and I could tell this one was way brighter). Matte display on this was perfect to drown out the harsh factory lights in costco. Resolution of 1080p was fine, but I really wish it was 1440p. I have pretty good eye sight, and the text and icons felt a little too big for me (yes, I set the scaling to 100% on the demo unit). There were some stock pictures in the "photos" app that I looked at, and to be honest, colors looked pretty damn good, ESPECIALLY for viewing inside a damn harsh lit giant warehouse.Couldn't tell if there's backlight bleed on the demo unit, since you know, I can't request my costco to turn all lights off in the entire warehouse lol. I couldn't quite figure out how to view the LCD panel model number to google it once I got home (I tried device manager but couldn't see a specific model). Keyboard - pretty cool seeing the RGB in person. The demo unit wasn't allowed to open dragon center (I clicked the icon, wouldn't open), so I couldn't really play around with colors too much (other than the HARDWARE button on top right of keyboard that flips a couple color modes). Windows key on the right of the space bar kept throwing me off, just muscle memory for me to click it on the left. This was a major annoyance for me honestly. Keys actually felt good IMO, travel was very nice. Font is a little "gamery". Yes, I toggled the hardware "max fan" button while playing with the demo unit, had to rev up that engine lol Touchpad - Actually not bad, I was very surprised. I kept reading it's plastic (which it is), but it felt way smoother than my plastic Dell Inspiron one. Pretty smooth gliding, even on a germ infested demo unit that probably has been used and abused by people at Costco walking around eating the chicken bake rolls. Red accent around the touchpad is kind of wack, but in terms of touchpad, I was pleased. Physical keys under touchpad felt firm, solid clicking (unlike my dell latitude from work that's soft and mushy). Build - Deff a tank IMO. Not extremely "T H I C C", but deff aint a macbook. Felt very solid, especially when closed. It's quite heavy (I tried picking the demo unit up as much as it would allow with the security wire), and I could deff tell it's hefty. Granted, you guys are all aware of this... Physical size isn't what I'd consider the standard, giant 17 inch laptop. It actually appeared a little bigger than a 15 inch laptop, but not a "17 inch laptop" so that was nice. Hinges - I actually enjoyed the "stiff" feel of the hinge when opening and closing the laptop, it made the laptop feel sturdier to me. Don't know if that's squeezing the crap out of the LCD display or not, but the hinges being this "stiff" felt GOOD to me. OS "Snappiness" - Moot point, since this demo unit was literally tied to a demo setting where I couldn't even open dragon center. Also, I looked at task manager, it has been on for over 10 days straight... Plus, since it's not on wifi, I guarantee you it wasn't up to date with latest drivers AND windows updates. Kind of a shame really, I hate seeing this type of beastly hardware neglected like that. There was some constant demo playing on the laptop, that when I viewed task manager, was literally using the cpu at 45%. Overall feel - I didn't pull the trigger, but it's very tempting. I did confirm there's a "tamper seal" on the bottom of the laptop over a screw, so that's still something I'm concerned about (updating hardware aka breaking the seal, and god forbid having to return for a different issue and being given a hard time since you "opened" it). This would be my first "gamery" laptop, so I understand what comes with that. You can't expect macbook thinness and tolerance (tight seems, fit and finish), but I can't imagine how beastly this would be if you actually buy it, do all windows and driver updates, and even upgrade the RAM and SSD. Overall 5-10 minute demo in store, I'd say 4 out of 5 stars. Leaving out a star since I still don't know how the brightness and color of the display is in a normal bedroom setting and not a giant warehouse show floor. |
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from rruff
There is no such thing as "standard wattage" for 3000 series cards. 2000 series had MaxQ and "everything else" which narrowed it down a little.
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---- 3000 series cards have an optional feature whereby they can boost to a higher power level if the CPU demand is low. For instance the max on a 3060 is 115W-130W, where that extra 15W is the extra boost. When RTX 2060 115 watts is used as a base (100%) for comparison: 3060@60W= 94% 3060@75 W = 100% (inserted by RussianBytes for MSI "GF75 Thin Gaming Laptop" RTX 3060 GPU for $1300 at COSTCO) 2060@115W= 100% 3060@90 W = 105% (75 Base Watts+15 watts boost, (inserted by RussianBytes MSI "GF75 Thin Gaming Laptop" RTX 3060 GPU, $1300 COSTCO) 2070@115W= 110% (inserted by RussianBytes for MSI "GE75 Gaming Laptop" RTX 2070 for $1,200 at COSTCO) 2060@115 watts AND further undervolting and overclocking: 110% 3060@115W= 115% 3070@ 90W = 115% (per joon82) 2070S@115W= 120% ("S" stands for the "SUPER" version of the RTX 2070) |
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from atoneapone
Good information in this thread to compare RTX 2000/ 3000 GPUs. So the 2070S is the only 2000 gpu that rivals a full 3060.
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I also found this site that compares GPUs with TDP power. But they left out the lower powered 60w and 80w RTX 3060. I'm guessing they could range to anything between a RTX 2060 90w and RTX 2070, depending on a specific game/resolution, & benchmarks. https://laptopmedia.com/us/top-la...s-ranking/ |
GT > GS > GE > GP > GL > GF > GV
GT Titan Series
GS Stealth Series
GE Raider Series
GP Leopard Series
GL Leopard Series
GF Thin Series
VII: Guide to increasing your laptop's performance by 10% by undervolting and overclocking
The guide is based on this laptops' 2060 TRX cousin but you can use similar logic for the 2070.
https://www.techpowerup
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Undervolting is locked out of most 10th gen CPUs, but MSI allows it. You need to enable it in the bios, and then use Throttlestop. Ryzen processors can't be undervolted.
4th time I've linked in this thread? https://www.techpowerup
I'd never done anything like this before. It wasn't hard.
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However, you can supposedly flash a VBIOS (from another model/manufacturer -- I seem to recall Asus but I'm not 100% sure) that'll let you use 115W for the GPU. You may have to undervolt the CPU to keep temps manageable though.
By the way, the laptop is for a gamer student not a professional, so that works in MSI's favor.
Between the Legion 5 and the MSI, how do the screens compare? The Legion also appears to have a bit more weight (1/2 lb) . Is it because of the battery?
I am assuming the reliability on the Legion is better
Thanks.
They are both matte 144hz screens. Not sure but MSI might have slightly faster response time (3ms vs 7-8 ms). Yes the battery is another sore spot for GE raider, only a 51wh, so probably won't last longer than 3 to 4 hrs non gaming, and 1hr gaming - Legion and most gaming laptops at this price won't be much better so keep it plugged in.
They are both matte 144hz screens. Not sure but MSI might have slightly faster response time (3ms vs 7-8 ms). Yes the battery is another sore spot for GE raider, only a 51wh, so probably won't last longer than 3 to 4 hrs non gaming, and 1hr gaming - Legion and most gaming laptops at this price won't be much better so keep it plugged in.
https://slickdeals.net/f/14887162-1099-lenovo-legion-5-17-3-intel-core-i7-10750h-geforce-rtx-2060-16-gb-ddr4-512-gb-ssd-gaming-laptop-notebook?v=1
The Lenovo has a 60Hz display, 85W 2060, is missing the 2.5" drive, and doesn't have easy UV&OC like MSI.
And most of all, it's from Newegg. I'd dock $100-$200 just for that. It might be worth $800-$900.
The Lenovo has a 60Hz display, 85W 2060, is missing the 2.5" drive, and doesn't have easy UV&OC like MSI.
And most of all, it's from Newegg. I'd dock $100-$200 just for that. It might be worth $800-$900.
Right now its among:
1. Waiting for the MSI 2060 to come back on sale at $1100
2. Getting the one in this deal for $1200
3. Waiting through May for a 115 watts 3060 Lenovo Legion or MSI Raider for $1200 to $1300.
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MSI Raider RGB Gaming 15.6" i7-9750H NVIDIA RTX 2060 32GB 512GB SSD 1TB HDD
-but realistically 3060 115 watt will be no cheaper than $1300, and most likely 15.6" instead of 17.3".
(but who knows, maybe lower watt 3060 17.3" will be found around same price as this, but I'd probably take this GE75 over that if same price...)
-I think MSI GE75 RTX 2060 has a higher chance of coming back than this RTX 2070. I was surprised this MSI GE75 config came back since it was a really great special Black Friday deal 4 months ago.
Here is a picture of the 2070 model. Looks like it's all lit to me...
https://c1.neweggimages
You want to buy from a place that lets you return it for a full refund for any reason for at least a month. Costco gives you 90 days! That is worth a decent amount of $$$ to me.
-but realistically 3060 115 watt will be no cheaper than $1300, and most likely 15.6" instead of 17.3".
(but who knows, maybe lower watt 3060 17.3" will be found around same price as this, but I'd probably take this GE75 over that if same price...)
-I think MSI GE75 RTX 2060 has a higher chance of coming back than this RTX 2070. I was surprised this MSI GE75 config came back since it was a really great special Black Friday deal 4 months ago.
I guess my options are:
1) Wait for 2060 MSI RTX to return at $1100
2) But this for $1200 now.
3). Buy this for 1200 now and return when 2060 MSI is back at $1100.
2) But this for $1200 now.
Just buy the 2070 and play with it for a few weeks. UV&OC, uninstall the bloatware, do some cryptomining. If something better like decent 3060s are available, then maybe get one. Otherwise if the 2070 is working fine, just keep it.
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When I inquired about the $1,300 MSI "GF75 Thin Gaming Laptop" RTX 3060 GPU in the link below, the MSI chat rep said that "It has a 75W TGP and a 45W TDP". Boy, do they cripple the thin laptops?!
MSI GF75 Thin Gaming Laptop - 10th Gen Intel Core i7-10750H - GeForce RTX 3060 - 144Hz 1080p
https://www.costco.com/msi-gf75-t...36982.html
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