Benchmarks: Gaming
Now on to the interesting bit - how do those dual GTX 1080s shape up? We start with the popular 3DMark Fire Strike test and almost smash through the 20,000-mark barrier. This is new territory for laptop gaming.
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We've run all the relevant 3DMark tests and the synthetic benchmark scores are impressive. For reference's sake, even a desktop Titan X, on an overclocked PC, manages only 7,899 in DX12 Time Spy. MSI's SLI laptop sails past with a mighty score of 10,072.
There's a lot of power on tap, yet expectations are tempered by the Time Spy Stress Test. A score of 97 per cent or above is considered a pass, yet the use of a hot-running CPU, two hot-running GPUs and SLI introduces more variables than laptops are typically accustomed to. The end result is inconsistency and a below-average Stress Test score of 87.4 per cent.
What about performance in real-world games? Well, inconsistent is the word of the day. At a native 1080p resolution, the GT83VR 6RF is clearly showing signs of a CPU bottleneck - the framerates are barely any quicker than those managed by the GTX 1070-powered Asus ROG G752VS, and indeed in some cases the MSI is slower.
In order to make sense of the dual GTX 1080s, you need to attach a higher-resolution external display. We've used a 4K panel to run benchmarks at QHD and UHD resolutions, and we again see inconsistency rear its ugly head. Performance at the highest resolution in Dirt Rally and Rise of the Tomb Raider is strong, with both titles demonstrating good SLI scaling.
But what's happened in Hitman and Total War: Warhammer? Both games highlight the foibles of SLI in DX12, as the onus is now on the developer to optimise for multiple GPUs, and said optimisations don't always happen. Neither of these titles benefit from SLI and for the sake of confirmation, we re-ran the 4K tests with one GPU disabled. Hitman returned 56.6 (yes, it's actually quicker with a single GPU) and Warhammer managed 45.8 frames per second. SLI has always been hit or miss, and that won't change overnight.
