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
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.
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]
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.
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. |
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.
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. |
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.
---- 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) |
Good information in this thread to compare RTX 2000/ 3000 GPUs. So the 2070S is the only 2000 gpu that rivals a full 3060.
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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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.
a) Return it when the $1100 2060 comes around
or
b) Keep the 2070, if it 2060 $1100 doesn't come around
Or, are you saying its too much trouble (and overthinking) for just $100?
I have no intent to crypto mine.
What bloatware comes with the laptop that you had to install?
A guy earlier in this forum linked to a website that stated a very impressive 450ish brightness level, while from reading / watching older YouTube videos, it's low 300.
Anyone have any accurate feedback, from this exact Costco model?
1) Review claiming "447 nits" that was linked earlier in this thread (linked originally regarding battery life question) -> https://www.anandtech.c
1) Review claiming "447 nits" that was linked earlier in this thread (linked originally regarding battery life question) -> https://www.anandtech.com/show/14...p-review/5 [anandtech.com]
I just purchased this laptop (delivers Friday), I can provide a short assessment for you since I'm a display guy. I like the color accuracy this laptop provides (per Anandtech) and have high hopes for the brightness.
EDIT: New link for good display review on MSI GE75; says can get pretty bright for a laptop
https://laptopmedia.com/us/review...ot-pretty/
"MSI has chosen a very well balanced panel for the GE75 Raider. By default Full HD display is bright, color accurate and incredibly fast in terms of response time (144Hz version). Additionally, it covers 95% of sRGB and with the help of the Gaming and Web design profile, it is able to fall under the standard for Web design colors."
Another link that is more critical of the display:
https://www.notebookche
I have no intent to crypto mine.
What bloatware comes with the laptop that you had to install?
I haven't yet, but will. It seems easy. Free money. It won't hurt the laptop unless you are stupid. Keep temps low and it will be fine. 2070 should be significantly better than 2060 in that regard.
I disabled a bunch of shit, but haven't uninstalled anything yet. At the very least... Norton, most of the MSI software, and a bunch of Windows 10 "features" need to go... I've never had that OS before so it will take some learning. I'm waiting until I've decided I really want to keep it before I do all that work.
I'm really curious to see how well your UV&OC improves the performance of the 2070 model.
1. At the very least... Norton, most of the MSI software, and a bunch of Windows 10 "features" need to go..
2. I'm really curious to see how well your UV&OC improves the performance of the 2070 model.
2. There was a time when I was into such stuff; not anymore.
I just purchased this laptop (delivers Friday), I can provide a short assessment for you since I'm a display guy. I like the color accuracy this laptop provides (per Anandtech) and have high hopes for the brightness.
Here is the last gaming laptop I bought (back in 2009): https://www.cnet.com/products/gat...ion/specs/
I am thrilled
1) Infinity Labs, claiming 315 nits at at the 3:15 minute mark (what a coincidence lol) -> https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=J9vFqC4
2) The goat of laptop reviews, Bob of all trade. "Low 300s" at the 4:13 minute mark -> https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ac76V3V
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1) Infinity Labs, claiming 315 nits at at the 3:15 minute mark (what a coincidence lol) -> https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=J9vFqC4
2) The goat of laptop reviews, Bob of all trade. "Low 300s" at the 4:13 minute mark -> https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ac76V3V
More food for thought, Anandtech doesn't tell if they are measuring brightness at 1% or 50%, 100% whatever.
Regardless, I'll get this thing Friday and answer any outstanding questions you may have!
One thing about the "crippled" GPU... if they have good cooling you also get quiet and lower temperatures. It's much nicer to have the ability to crank them up more and wear headphones though.
The Raiders is very loud with fans at max, but you can also max out the CPU (edit: only with UV) and GPU and it won't throttle.
I am not using any equipment or anything, just my personal (but anal) opinion. I use 2 LG OLEDs and bought the OnePlus 8 Pro phone strictly for display quality. My desktop uses an old Dell U2410 (best for color accuracy at the time, looking to upgrade!), prior to LG OLED I had an 8000 series Samsung plasma (around the best color accuracy in a TV in 2011). So I think (hope) people will value my judgement.
One thing about the "crippled" GPU... if they have good cooling you also get quiet and lower temperatures. It's much nicer to have the ability to crank them up more and wear headphones though.
The Raiders is very loud with fans at max, but you can also max out the CPU and GPU and it won't throttle.
I am not using any equipment or anything, just my personal (but anal) opinion. I use 2 LG OLEDs and bought the OnePlus 8 Pro phone strictly for display quality. My desktop uses an old Dell U2410 (best for color accuracy at the time, looking to upgrade!), prior to LG OLED I had an 8000 series Samsung plasma (around the best color accuracy in a TV in 2011). So I think (hope) people will value my judgement.
Do you have any recommendations for matt large screen (27" or larger) monitors? Mainly for office non-gaming stuff and browsing.
Called COSTCO at their main number1-800-955-2292 to inquire how many they have left in stock. Apparently, they only have 15 for online orders so this will sell out.
I called my local COSTCO store. They have 5. So, presumably, that's another option.
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