MSI Stealth GS77 Review

The 2022 MSI Stealth GS77 is a portable laptop built for business and gaming. It comes with new and beefy Intel Core i9-12900H Processor and NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3070 Ti GPU in a compact and 20.mm chassis weighing 2.8 kg.

Our review unit is the GS77-12UX variant. The display is a 17.3″ FHD (1920×1080), 360Hz, IPS-Level panel. The new hardware offers good performance with the 14-core/20-thread Intel Core i9-12900H CPU, Nvidia RTX 3070 Ti with 8GB GDDR6 VRAM, 32GB DDR5 4800MHz and a 1TB M.2 NVMe PCIe Gen4  SSD.

The Stealth GS77 offers plenty of ports including support for dedicated LAN, Thunderbolt 4, DisplayPort 1.4 and PD charging. There’s also an included SD card slot. Wireless connectivity is powered by Wi-Fi 6E and Bluetooth 5.2.

Highlights:

• 12th Gen Intel Core i9-12900H processor
• GeForce GTX 3070 Ti
• Sleek and compact
• 17.3″ FHD (1920×1080), 360Hz, IPS-Level
• Support for DP/PD/Thunderbolt 4

Specifications

Packaging

The MSI Stealth GS77 arrives in a cardboard box with the below:

• MSI Stealth GS77 laptop
• 240W power adapter
• Manuals

Design & Build Quality

The MSI Stealth GS77 looks and feels premium with its all-metal chassis, however the lid is prone to fingerprints. The laptop comes in a single back color option. The logo is all-black, staying away from traditional red, similar to the recent line up from MSI. The hinges hold the lid firmly and the lid can be opened with a single hand without any issues. The 17” matte display has thin bezels and houses a HD webcam and microphones.

The MSI Stealth GS77 is equipped with a plenty of ports. The rear body features two large openings for cooling. At the base are wide ventilation grills. The chassis is quite rigid and feels solid.

With dimensions of 397.6 x 283.5 x 20.8 mm and a weight of 2.8kg, the Stealth GS77 is a bit bulky for today’s standards but considering the hardware, the size makes up for it. This is a laptop with the most modern hardware built for both extreme productivity and hardcore gaming.

Ports

MSI Stealth GS77 comes with quite a good number of ports on either sides and also at the back. On the left side are the ports for 2x Type-A USB3.2 Gen2, headphone/mic combo jack and a Webcam Lock Switch.

On the right are 1x Type-C (USB3.2 Gen2 / DP), 1x Type-C (USB / DP / Thunderbolt 4) with PD charging and the SD Express Card Reader slot.

At the rear are the ports of 1x RJ45, 1x (8K@60Hz / 4K@120Hz) HDMI, and DC-in.

For wireless connectivity, the Stealth GS77 comes with a Intel Killer AX Wi-Fi 6E wireless network card and Bluetooth 5.2.

Display

The FullHD (1920 x 1080) 17.3″ screen uses an IPS panel with a refresh rate of 360 Hz. The display features thin bezels and on the top bezel is a 720p webcam capable of recording at 30 FPS. Although there is noise in poorly lit environments, the camera quality is generally good.

The screen displays good colors and the maximum brightness works for indoor. The viewing angles are glare-free and comfortable. But the display is difficult in bright outdoor environments. And there is no advanced technology such as AMOLED or improved HDR.

Keyboard & Trackpad

The MSI Stealth GS77 features per-key RGB gaming keyboard by Steelseries.  The keyboard layout is standard with dedicated shortcut buttons and a dedicated numpad. The typing experience is good and the keys are soft, responsive and offer decent feedback. There’s a good amount of travel and it offers a very quiet typing experience when working in office spaces or cafes. The top row of function keys can be used for additional shortcuts with combinations of the Fn keys.

Coming to the touchpad, it’s easy to navigate, multi-touch gestures are recognized and handled properly.

The MSI Stealth GS77 also features a fingerprint scanner next to the touchpad that can be used instead of the IR webcam for Windows Hello, making signing-in the laptop as simple as unlocking your phone.

Performance

In terms of performance, our test model is equipped with the latest 12th Gen Intel Core i9-12800H processor with 14 cores and 20 threads and a maximum clock frequency of 5GHz, NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3070 Ti graphics with 8GB GDDR6 VRAM and 32GB DDR4 4800MHz RAM which can be further upgraded to 64GB. For storage, there is 1TB of M.2 NVMe PCIe Gen4 SSD onboard.

CPU

The Core i9-12900H comes with 14 cores, 20 threads and 12 MB of cache. It comes with 6 performance cores and 8 efficient cores for a total of 14 cores, 20 threads and 24 MB of cache. The P-cores are clocked at 2.5 GHz base and 5 GHz boost, while the E-cores get a 1.8GHz base and 3.8 GHz boost clock with a default TDP of 35W. These new chips also support memory types up to DDR5 4800 and up to LPDDR5 5200.

GPU

Graphics is powered by a dedicated NVIDIA RTX 3070 Ti GPU for laptops so far with improved raytracing and tensor cores. Built on the 8 nm process, the RTX 3070 Ti offers 8 GB GDDR6 graphics memory with a 192 Bit memory bus and based on the GA104 core with 5880 shaders at a frequency ranging from 510 MHz to 1500 MHz

With the new Ampere cards, there is no more Max-Q variant (the energy-efficient version specially designed for thin and portable laptops for longer battery time) but every OEM can choose to implement Max-Q technologies such as Dynamic Boost, Whisper mode etc. The same 3070 Ti GPU can differ in performance on different laptops based on the thermal design offered.

RAM

The MSI Stealth GS77 is equipped with high-speed 32 GB of 4800MHz DDR5 RAM in dual channel in the SO-DIMM slots. It can be further upgraded to 64GB maximum.

STORAGE

Our review unit came with a 1TB M.2 NVMe Gen 4 SSD. However, depending on the region, there may be different SSDs. The SSD offers average performance at read speeds of up to 6,719MB per second and write of up to 4,563MB/s.

BENCHMARKS

The new 12th gen i9 CPUs along with the RTX 30 series GPUs raise the bar compared to the previous-gen. This is the fastest laptop we’ve tested in terms of raw performance.

In Cinebench R20 tests, the Intel Core i9-12900H scored 654 in single core benchmark and 6,348 in multi-core benchmark. In PCMark 10 Benchmark, the MSI Stealth GS77 scored 7,232. This makes it the fastest mobile CPU we’ve tested.

GAMING

Nvidia GeForce RTX 3070 Ti in combination with Intel Core i7-12900H provides a great gaming experience on FHD resolution at maximum quality settings in most games. It can run most modern games easily above 90fps on very high settings with zero stuttering or lagging. However, don’t expect the latest games to run at the native 360Hz offered by the display, this is only possible with esports titles such as Fortnite and Counter-Strike.

Temperature & Noise

In terms of cooling, MSI Stealth GS77 uses the most extensive version of the Cooler Boost 5 technology. There a total of 6 copper heatpipes that distribute the heat through the two fans. Two of the copper heat pipes focus on the CPU while four others on the GPU.

However, temperatures can get high on load and the laptop can get really warm when gaming. Fan noise is quiet on idle but audible on load.

Upgradability

In terms of upgradability, there are two RAM slots and two M.2 PCIe Gen4 drive. You can upgrade the RAM to a total of 64GB in dual-channel.

Software

Most of the performance and display settings can be controlled via the MSI Center. The app lets you monitor and optimize your system performance, change user profiles, switch between display color modes, adjust charging preferences and more.

There is also Nahimic software for audio settings and the Killer Control Center for Wi-Fi management

Battery & Audio

The MSI Stealth GS77 comes with a 99Whr battery. On a full charge, based on the usage and screen brightness, the laptop lasts about four hours. When browsing the internet, you can expect around four to six hours of battery time.

In terms of audio, there are 2x 2W Speakers and 4x 2W Woofers onboard. The sound is of good quality but as with most gaming laptops, we recommend using a headset.

Verdict

The MSI Stealth GS77 is fantastic laptop built for productivity and hardcore gaming at the same. In terms of raw power, it comes packed with a 365Hz screen, the latest i9-12800H CPU and RTX 3070 Ti GPU.The Stealth GS77 also offers plenty of ports and both RAM and storage upgradeability.

This is a solid recommendation if you are looking for a portable workstation that can play most modern games at the highest settings and at the same time can also be used for business. Some of the drawbacks are the mediocre battery life, display and the price. The size and weight also mean that this isn’t a laptop built for daily portability but instead should be considered as a desktop replacement.