Mobile GeForce RTX 3070 with reduced power consumption was 30% slower than usual
On the YouTube channel, GenTechPC first appeared in the public domain, and then the first reviews on the platform of the MSI GS66 Stealth and GE66 Raider gaming laptops were closed. GenTechPC is one of the western retailers from which you can buy these laptops. Both laptops can be equipped with mobile versions of GeForce RTX 3070 video cards. Only in each case, these video cards are not alike.
Both MSI gaming laptops are powered by an Intel Core i7-10870H processor; both announced a discrete graphics accelerator GeForce RTX 3070 Laptop on the Ampere architecture. However, each of these laptops is intended for a different customer.
While the MSI GE66 Raider is aimed at those looking to get the most out of the laptop’s graphics system, the GS66 Stealth is aimed at those who are willing to sacrifice graphics performance in favor of a slimmer and more compact laptop design.
The first laptop is equipped with a GeForce RTX 3070 Max-P (maximum performance), and the second is equipped with a GeForce RTX 3070 Max-Q (maximum power). Only the manufacturer does not indicate this in the product description.
The MSI GE66 Raider has a graphics chip running at 1620 MHz and power consumption of 115 watts. The GPU used in the GS66 Stealth laptop has the frequency reduced to 1290 MHz, and the TGP level of the video card is reduced to 80 W.
Please note that these power consumption figures do not include Dynamic Boost, which increases the overall TGP level by another 15–20 W, depending on how much the system allows to redistribute power from the CPU.
The more powerful version of the GeForce RTX 3070 Max-P in the MSI GE66 Raider laptop scored 27,940 points in the 3DMark Fire Strike test, the Max-Q version in the MSI GS66 Stealth scored only 21,337 points. This means that the 115W version of the graphics card is 31% faster than the limited TGP version.
Previously, NVIDIA encouraged laptop manufacturers to specify the TGP of video cards and the frequency of the GPU. MSI did not add these indicators in the description of laptops (like many other laptop manufacturers with GeForce RTX 30 series graphics). Thus, now it is misleading potential buyers, who will end up with a 30% less productive GeForce RTX 3070 simply because they choose the GS66 Stealth laptop, not the GE66 Raider.
A good example of describing GeForce RTX 30 series video cards as part of laptops is a variant from the little-known company Schenker XMG on the Russian market.
The manufacturer indicates in the description of the video card its TGP level, including the Dynamic Boost indicator, but again for some reason does not indicate the frequency of the GPU. It is very strange that manufacturers indicate the frequency of the central processor, but constantly “forget” about the equally important indicator of the frequency of the GPU.
