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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I checked DELL XPS 15 9500 - I7, 16 GB ( $1464 +Tax)...
For me I guess this would be little extra weight .. any suggestions or any other laptop around $1200 price range..
I appreciate your inputs .. Thanks in advance..
I checked DELL XPS 15 9500 - I7, 16 GB ( $1464 +Tax)...
For me I guess this would be little extra weight .. any suggestions or any other laptop around $1200 price range..
I appreciate your inputs .. Thanks in advance..
But probably won't happen until end of year, Nov/BF/ Dec holiday sales. (maybe July/Aug earliest)
IMO, this deal is fine @1200 if you are on the fence and cannot wait 6-9 months.
Deals to keep an eye on:
-Any laptop deal with RTX 2070 Super.(since it's close to RTX 3060) eg. Asus Strix from WM>>https://slickdeals.net/e/14683787-asus-rog-strix-g712lws-17-3-144-hz-ips-i7-10750h-16gb-ddr4-512gb-pcie-ssd-rtx-2070-super-win10h-1299-f-s?v=1
-Costco GF75 could drop to $1100 to 1200 on BF (or just spend +$100 right now) >>https://slickdeals.net/f/14887384-msi-gf75-thin-gaming-laptop-10th-gen-intel-core-i7-10750h-geforce-rtx-3060-144hz-1080p-1299-99?v=1
-or newegg might drop this RGB kb version of this laptop to $1299 after rebates. (currently way too high)
https://www.newegg.com/core-black...34-155-715
-Bestbuy Asus Strix models Ryzen 7 5800H- maybe wait for open box discounts. ~ $1300-1600(currently way too high)
(this model is not available yet & only showing on Canada site so far.)
https://www.bestbuy.ca/en-ca/prod...0/15263757
-----------------------
Or spend up to $1600-$1800 for RTX 3070 Asus Strix model Ryzen 9 5900H (maybe $1499 for RTX 3060?)
https://slickdeals.net/f/14774995-asus-rog-strix-g17-17-3-300mhz-rtx-3070-with-amd-ryzen-9-5900hx-1799-99?v=1
-Gigabyte max-P 15.6" models at the odd GenTech site also gets attention (but 17.3" models are $1350+, unknown wait time for shipping.)
https://www.gentechpc.c
https://www.gentechpc.c
But probably won't happen until end of year, Nov/BF/ Dec holiday sales. (maybe July/Aug earliest)
IMO, this deal is fine @1200 if you are on the fence and cannot wait 6-9 months.
Deals to keep an eye on:
-Any laptop deal with RTX 2070 Super.(since it's close to RTX 3060) eg. Asus Strix from WM>>https://slickdeals.net/e/14683787-asus-rog-strix-g712lws-17-3-144-hz-ips-i7-10750h-16gb-ddr4-512gb-pcie-ssd-rtx-2070-super-win10h-1299-f-s?v=1
-Costco GF75 could drop to $1100 to 1200 on BF (or just spend +$100 right now) >>https://slickdeals.net/f/14887384-msi-gf75-thin-gaming-laptop-10th-gen-intel-core-i7-10750h-geforce-rtx-3060-144hz-1080p-1299-99?v=1
-or newegg might drop this RGB kb version of this laptop to $1299 after rebates. (currently way too high)
https://www.newegg.com/core-black...34-155-715
-Bestbuy Asus Strix models Ryzen 7 5800H- maybe wait for open box discounts. ~ $1300-1600(currently way too high)
(this model is not available yet & only showing on Canada site so far.)
https://www.bestbuy.ca/en-ca/prod...0/15263757
-----------------------
Or spend up to $1600-$1800 for RTX 3070 Asus Strix model Ryzen 9 5900H (maybe $1499 for RTX 3060?)
https://slickdeals.net/f/14774995-asus-rog-strix-g17-17-3-300mhz-rtx-3070-with-amd-ryzen-9-5900hx-1799-99?v=1
-Gigabyte max-P 15.6" models at the odd GenTech site also gets attention (but 17.3" models are $1350+, unknown wait time for shipping.)
https://www.gentechpc.c
https://www.gentechpc.c
Of all your predictions, I think the most likely one to come up first is the specific Asus laptop you mentioned (and copied and pasted below). I guess a strategy would be be bookmark all your web links and check when the price changes. I can definitely visualize the Asus Strix 2070 Super coming back at $1300 (within 90 days?)........the question I have though, is whether it will hit $1200 which will presumably make it a much better deal than the laptop in this thread.
"Any laptop deal with RTX 2070 Super.(since it's close to RTX 3060) eg. Asus Strix from WM>>https://slickdeals.net/e/14683787-asus-rog-strix-g712lws-17-3-144-hz-ips-i7-10750h-16gb-ddr4-512gb-pcie-ssd-rtx-2070-super-win10h-1299-f-s?v=1 "
-Any laptop deal with RTX 2070 Super.(since it's close to RTX 3060) eg. Asus Strix from WM>>https://slickdeals.net/e/14683787-asus-rog-strix-g712lws-17-3-144-hz-ips-i7-10750h-16gb-ddr4-512gb-pcie-ssd-rtx-2070-super-win10h-1299-f-s?v=1
1. Costco GF75 could drop to $1100 to 1200 on BF (or just spend +$100 right now) >>https://slickdeals.net/f/14887384-msi-gf75-thin-gaming-laptop-10th-gen-intel-core-i7-10750h-geforce-rtx-3060-144hz-1080p-1299-99?v=1
or
2. newegg might drop this RGB kb version of this laptop to $1299 after rebates. (currently way too high)
https://www.newegg.com/core-black...34-155-715
The only laptop that can potentially challenge the one in this thread (within 90 days) is the 2070 SUPER ASUS, if it comes back on sale at $1300.
https://slickdeals.net/e/14683787-asus-rog-strix-g712lws-17-3-144-hz-ips-i7-10750h-16gb-ddr4-512gb-pcie-ssd-rtx-2070-super-win10h-1299-f-s?v=1
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And don't forget the value of a 90 day return policy.
IMO the 2060 @115W is the sweet spot for value and gaming in the 2000 series. At this time, increments above that tend to be poor performance/$ propositions. Only if you need to play the newest demanding games at high settings would it make sense. And in the 3000 series value just doesn't seem to be there yet (vs 2000 series). If you can wait, the future almost always looks better! But you can also just buy a new one every year or two.
https://www.bestbuy.com/site/sear...Categori
(I also don't have a Costco nearby my town, so would have been nice if BB was an option for us. MSI deals always seem to sell out fast, so seeing them in stock like this is a big deal.)
IMO the 2060 @115W is the sweet spot for value and gaming in the 2000 series. At this time, increments above that tend to be poor performance/$ propositions. Only if you need to play the newest demanding games at high settings would it make sense. And in the 3000 series value just doesn't seem to be there yet (vs 2000 series). If you can wait, the future almost always looks better! But you can also just buy a new one every year or two.
https://www.costco.com/msi-ge75-r...68605.html
So yes that's #1 only if a) you don't have a chase Freedom Flex card and b) you buy it at $1100 (likely in 30 days or less when it's on sale again)
#2 is the one in this thread. HOWEVER, it automatically becomes #1 if you have the Chase Freedom Flex credit card (see the wiki) because you can recover $60 to $90 of the current $1200 cost as long as you register with Chase before March 14 and buy at Costco.com before March 31. (Unlike the Costco retail store (which only accepts Visa credit cards), Costco.com accepts the Chase Freedom Flex "Mastercard"). By the way, that's a great credit card that not only providers and extra year of warranty, meaning the laptop will have 2 + 1 year warranty) but also offers other free features such as cellphone insurance (includes covering cracked screens), trip cancellation insurance, etc.
This machine no doubt has all the bells and whistles with power, but reading reviews shows it gets super hot, has questionable quality issues and has fans as loud as Niagara Falls even with noise cancelling headphones on.
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This machine no doubt has all the bells and whistles with power, but reading reviews shows it gets super hot, has questionable quality issues and has fans as loud as Niagara Falls even with noise cancelling headphones on.
2) I thought it had good cooling systems. Is it getting hot because MSI activated the full 115 watts on the 2070?
3) It seems your need for games is less and more for productivity. Do you intend for this to be a desktop replacement or need it to be mobile (as in take it to school)? If you need it for mobility, the good thing is it isn't heavy heavy, but the bad part is it has TERRIBLE battery life. So, if mobility is the key, I would avoid it because of the battery.
Presumably the Lenovo Legion 5 runs cooler and has better battery life. But it is heavier and the video card is shacked by a lower allocation of power.
SEPARATELY, the MSI 2060 on Costco has like a 4.7 star rating while the 2070 has only like a 4.3 star rating. I wonder why. Does the 2070 run hotter than the 2060 even though they both draw 115 watts?
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