MSI GT76 Titan DT 9SG Laptop Review – the 5GHz laptop

1. Introduction2. CPU/GPU Performance3. Thermals, Noise, Battery, Power4. Closing Thoughts5. View All Pages

Having put MSI's new GT76 Titan DT 9SG through its paces, it is clear that this is an absolute monster of a laptop – and we use the term ‘laptop‘ very loosely – designed to push mobile performance about as far as it can possibly go in 2019.

The downside to cramming an i9-9900K into a portable machine – one designed to run at 5GHz, no less – is made immediately apparent, as the GT76 is just huge. It weighs 4.2kg and the dual 330W power bricks add another 1.8kg to that, so considering the battery life is basically non-existent, you are realistically going to carry 6kg of hardware every time you want to move the GT76 around.

The cooling system is immense, however, with eleven copper heatpipes used to tame that desktop processor and RTX 2080 graphics. That, coupled with the fans which sound like a jumbo jet about to take off, means we did indeed see this i9-9900K running at 5GHz across all cores. Granted, the frequency would only stay that high while gaming – something like Cinebench R20 caused the speeds to throttle back pretty fast – but even so, that is mighty impressive.

To add some further context to those numbers, we found that with the CPU locked in at 4.8GHz across all cores, performance was actually slightly higher than with the 9900K set to 5GHz in CPU-only workloads. This was because the processor couldn't sustain 5GHz in such intensive workloads, throttling back as far as 4.4GHz, and while processor did still throttle back when set to 4.8GHz, it was able to maintain that clock speed a lot longer than when it was set to 5GHz.

When you factor in the RTX 2080 graphics, 64GB of DDR4 memory and 1TB of NVMe SSD storage, this is clearly just a performance monster. Whether or not is the kind of system you are looking for remains to be seen. I said as much on the first page, but the fact this system ships with a 4K/60Hz panel really says to me that it is designed just as much for work as it is for gaming – perhaps even designed primarily for work.

That's because you can get the same chassis, but with the mobile i7-9750H processor and 1080p/240Hz display, for almost £1000 cheaper than this model with the 9900K. As it is, if you want the 9900K in an MSI laptop, you can only get it with the 4K/60Hz panel. That's not necessarily a bad thing, though offering this CPU with a different panel option certainly wouldn't hurt, but to my mind it definitely aims this machine towards the kind of person who needs to get some serious work done as well as game, instead of just the pure gamer.

If that is you, you will also have to contend with paying the £4499 asking price for the MSI GT76 Titan DT 9SG. It's certainly not cheap and you are clearly paying a heck of a lot towards MSI's no-doubt extensive R&D into how to get an i9-9900K running at 5GHz in a laptop. If money is no object and you just want a balls-to-the-wall machine, this has to be up there as the fastest laptop we've ever tested.

You can buy the GT76 DT 9SG, with 9900K and 4K panel, for £4499 from Overclockers UK HERE. The same chassis, but with i7-9750H and a 1080p/240Hz display, will set you back £3599.

Pros

• 9900K can run at 5GHz in games.
• RTX 2080 performs at desktop 2080 levels.
• 64GB DDR4 memory with two spare SODIMM slots.
• Lovely display.
• Good trackpad with discrete buttons.
• Plenty of connectivity options.
• Sturdy chassis.

Cons

• Very, very loud.
• High price.
• Not exactly backpack-friendly.
• No high refresh-rate panel option with the 9900K.
• Keyboard layout is odd.

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