- Joined
- Aug 8, 2010
- Messages
- 545 (0.11/day)
- Location
- TX
System Name | MSI GF63 Thin |
---|---|
Processor | Intel® Core™ i5-10300H @4.50GHz |
Motherboard | MSI GF63 Thin System Board |
Cooling | MSI GF63 Thin Stock Cooling |
Memory | 8GB (1x 8GB) Hynix DDR4 2666MHz |
Video Card(s) | NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1650 Max-Q 4GB GDDR6 @1740MHz |
Storage | KIOXIA 256GB NVMe SSD |
Display(s) | MSI Optix G24C165Hz 1ms |
Software | Windows 10 Pro 64bit |
Hello fellow TPU friends!
I have not posted in a VERY VERY long time.
On my adventure to find the best bang for the buck gaming netbook, I stumbled across the 11.6" Lenovo ThinkPad X140e on sale brand new for $300 from "antonline".
Sadly the price is back to the normal $400+ but this model goes on sale all the time across online stores so keep your eyes open.
Stock Specs:
--------------
CPU: AMD A4-5000 Quad Core @ 1.50GHz
GPU: AMD Radeon HD8330 @500MHz Core
RAM: 4GB PC12800 1600MHz DDR3L ***UPGRADED TO 8GB***
HDD: 500GB 7200RPM SATA III ***REPLACED WITH 128GB SSD***
OS: Windows 7 Pro
I spent $90 total for the above listed upgrades.
The SSD has to have a 7mm elevation to fit and the model comes with 2 ram slots, which is GREAT.
The chipset limitation limits memory OFFICIALLY to 8GB total, but 32GB have been tested and found to be working.
As soon as I received the laptop, I fresh installed Win7 Home and updated all drivers.
I was very VERY pleased, with the snappiness of the Quad Core AMD.
I felt like I was on my i7 4710!
Together with the 8GB RAM and SSD everything ran lightning fast.
CPU:
The A4-5000 quad core clocked @ 1.5GHz in this high end model (a slower 1.4GHz dual core model for $100 cheaper is available) is full of life. It handles multi tasking great. Surprisingly even single threaded applications are handled decently. AMD claims the new design gives an extra %15 performance per clock rate V.S. the previous generation.
CPU heavy games like Resident Evil 5 and GTA IV are handled with ease. Resident Evil 5 for example can utilize all 4 cores very effectively. At maximum resolution and texture quality and whopping average of 55FPS are achieved. GTA 4 on the other hand ran great only on all low settings with a great average of 41FPS. 1080p and flash is also no problem for the APU.
GPU:
Packed on the APU comes an AMD Radeon HD8330.
Clocked at 500MHz and 128 shader cores it is a real rocket for such a small netbook.
Scoring higher on benchmarks than the fast Intel HD 4000 (which is rarely found on a netbook under $500) makes this one of the fastest, if not the fastest GPU available for netbooks under the $500 price tag.
The new AMD APU chipset now allows faster PC12800 DDR3 ram to be utilized, allowing much faster transfer rates between the GPU and the main memory. (new 1600Mz v.s. 1066MHz DDR3 used on the previous netbook APU's)
GPU heavy games were also tested:
Tomb Raider ran on max resolution and texture and everything else set to minimum at an amazing average of 43 FPS.
All the call of duty games from 2013 and before run at 60+ FPS with max res and texture.
Skyrim also runs on all low except resolution @ an average 38FPS.
The GPU performance can be easily crippled if slower than PC12800 DDR3L RAM is used.
RAM:
Since most modern games are going to be running on very low settings, the 8GB RAM limit will not be an issue. I had company of heroes 2 and war thunder running at the same time and was able to switch back and forth with ease. Sadly no dual channel controller is offered with this AMD model, which could have given an even greater GPU performance. The faster PC12800 alone gives a noticeable boost in GPU performance.
Internet browsing and office is childs play for this hardware.
I thought of sharing my experience so far, incase there is some body else out there looking for budget entertainment. Lets not forget that this is not some cheap acer netbook either! It is a legendary ThinkPad with uncommon netbook features like Power-USB, USB 3.0, HDMI+VGA, touchpad + thinkpad trackpoint, a rubber bumper all around to protect from scratches and falls, a high resolution screen for its size that is matte (1366x768) and a world class keyboard.
Can't find a better bang for the buck
I have not posted in a VERY VERY long time.
On my adventure to find the best bang for the buck gaming netbook, I stumbled across the 11.6" Lenovo ThinkPad X140e on sale brand new for $300 from "antonline".
Sadly the price is back to the normal $400+ but this model goes on sale all the time across online stores so keep your eyes open.
Stock Specs:
--------------
CPU: AMD A4-5000 Quad Core @ 1.50GHz
GPU: AMD Radeon HD8330 @500MHz Core
RAM: 4GB PC12800 1600MHz DDR3L ***UPGRADED TO 8GB***
HDD: 500GB 7200RPM SATA III ***REPLACED WITH 128GB SSD***
OS: Windows 7 Pro
I spent $90 total for the above listed upgrades.
The SSD has to have a 7mm elevation to fit and the model comes with 2 ram slots, which is GREAT.
The chipset limitation limits memory OFFICIALLY to 8GB total, but 32GB have been tested and found to be working.
As soon as I received the laptop, I fresh installed Win7 Home and updated all drivers.
I was very VERY pleased, with the snappiness of the Quad Core AMD.
I felt like I was on my i7 4710!
Together with the 8GB RAM and SSD everything ran lightning fast.
CPU:
The A4-5000 quad core clocked @ 1.5GHz in this high end model (a slower 1.4GHz dual core model for $100 cheaper is available) is full of life. It handles multi tasking great. Surprisingly even single threaded applications are handled decently. AMD claims the new design gives an extra %15 performance per clock rate V.S. the previous generation.
CPU heavy games like Resident Evil 5 and GTA IV are handled with ease. Resident Evil 5 for example can utilize all 4 cores very effectively. At maximum resolution and texture quality and whopping average of 55FPS are achieved. GTA 4 on the other hand ran great only on all low settings with a great average of 41FPS. 1080p and flash is also no problem for the APU.
GPU:
Packed on the APU comes an AMD Radeon HD8330.
Clocked at 500MHz and 128 shader cores it is a real rocket for such a small netbook.
Scoring higher on benchmarks than the fast Intel HD 4000 (which is rarely found on a netbook under $500) makes this one of the fastest, if not the fastest GPU available for netbooks under the $500 price tag.
The new AMD APU chipset now allows faster PC12800 DDR3 ram to be utilized, allowing much faster transfer rates between the GPU and the main memory. (new 1600Mz v.s. 1066MHz DDR3 used on the previous netbook APU's)
GPU heavy games were also tested:
Tomb Raider ran on max resolution and texture and everything else set to minimum at an amazing average of 43 FPS.
All the call of duty games from 2013 and before run at 60+ FPS with max res and texture.
Skyrim also runs on all low except resolution @ an average 38FPS.
The GPU performance can be easily crippled if slower than PC12800 DDR3L RAM is used.
RAM:
Since most modern games are going to be running on very low settings, the 8GB RAM limit will not be an issue. I had company of heroes 2 and war thunder running at the same time and was able to switch back and forth with ease. Sadly no dual channel controller is offered with this AMD model, which could have given an even greater GPU performance. The faster PC12800 alone gives a noticeable boost in GPU performance.
Internet browsing and office is childs play for this hardware.
I thought of sharing my experience so far, incase there is some body else out there looking for budget entertainment. Lets not forget that this is not some cheap acer netbook either! It is a legendary ThinkPad with uncommon netbook features like Power-USB, USB 3.0, HDMI+VGA, touchpad + thinkpad trackpoint, a rubber bumper all around to protect from scratches and falls, a high resolution screen for its size that is matte (1366x768) and a world class keyboard.
Can't find a better bang for the buck
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