Intel Alder Lake-H Core i9-12900HK Review: MSI's Raider GE76 Goes Hybrid
by Brett Howse on January 25, 2022 9:00 AM EST- Posted in
- CPUs
- Intel
- MSI
- Laptops
- Alder Lake
- GE76 Raider
- 12th Gen Core
- Alder Lake-H
The Test Platform: MSI's Raider GE76
For 2022, MSI has not updated the underlying chassis for the new Alder Lake product, and as such our review of the GE76 Raider from 2021 with Tiger Lake does not fundamentally change in terms of chassis design and cooling. This is still a big, relatively heavy desktop-replacement system. It features an aluminum surface where you will be touching it, and a polycarbonate base.
MSI generally builds a very solid product, and for 2022 they have upgraded the cooling with a new phase-change thermal pad which allows them to wick heat away from the processor and GPU quicker, without some of the negatives of a pure-liquid thermal compound and crystallization that can occur.
The system offers a per-key RGB backlit keyboard from SteelSeries. There is a 1080p webcam as well, and the system now offers an AI-based setting to let the system automatically switch the power levels for the user without having to manually do it, although the manual options are still there. MSI has updated their Silent mode to now leverage the microphones on the system to match the noise floor of the room, which lets them extract more power from the processor, and more fan speed, while still being inaudible.
The Raider GE76 offers lots of connectivity, including a single Thunderbolt 4 port, an additional USB Type-C port, and several USB Type-A ports. There is also a SD card reader which is still convenient when uploading from a camera.
The system offers Wi-Fi 6E support thanks to the Killer AX1675 Wi-Fi adapter, and also includes the Killer E3100G 2.5 Gbps Ethernet adapter.
MSI offers a range of display options, with a 1920x1080 144 Hz panel on their least expensive Raider GE76, a 1920x1080 360 Hz panel which is in the sampled unit, a 2560x1440 240 Hz panel, and a 3840x2160 120 Hz offering.
On our Tiger Lake sample we reviewed late last year, the display accuracy was not up to par with typical MSI offerings. Thankfully that appears to have been a one-off, which we do see from time to time even on devices that are hardware calibrated at the factory. MSI does allow you to use a built-in tool to calibrate the display, but you do need a supported colorimeter.
Thanks to Portrait Displays for the use of their Calman software so we can continue to accurately measure displays for our reviews.
As you can see, the color accuracy of this sample is much improved over the Tiger Lake model from last year that we received.
Brightness and Contrast
Grayscale
Gamut
Saturation
Gretag Macbeth
The MSI Raider GE76 is a fantastic test bed for Intel's Alder Lake system, with a powerful cooling system, and a great build quality.
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KPOM - Tuesday, January 25, 2022 - link
It would be interesting to throw in a few tests to see how this performs against the M1 Max in the MacBook Pro. Obviously the MacBook Pro isn't optimized for gaming, but I can think of some tests (video encoding, etc.) that would be suitable for a cross-platform comparison.Brett Howse - Tuesday, January 25, 2022 - link
I don't have one sadly. I think it would be a good comparison as well.IGTrading - Tuesday, January 25, 2022 - link
On of the worst Intel launches in recent history.Gone are the 300+ design wins from the time of Haswell. Intel barely has managed to get Alder Lake into 100 laptops, using all its clout, money & influence, while AMD ... unsurprisingly, has more than 200 design wins for Ryzen 6000 series.
Use a 330W power brick and the largest possible battery and call this "mobile" ? :) Pathetic.
I'm really eager to see Alder Lake performing at 25W and see the true performance and efficiency.
When getting down to earth, in the 15W~ 35W space, I think the competition with AMD will be tight, but definitely no "+30% performance for 200% more power consumption".
Looking forward to see normal Alder Lake laptops competing with AMD Ryzen 6000 series.
temps - Tuesday, January 25, 2022 - link
Again I'm flummoxed as to how anandtech, a very smart, extremely well written site staffed by highly educated people, has a comment section full of incredible dumb, poorly thought out and blatantly partisan fanboysm53 - Tuesday, January 25, 2022 - link
@temps: I second.Spunjji - Thursday, January 27, 2022 - link
Doctor, heal thyselfMeenimynimo - Tuesday, January 25, 2022 - link
There are >300 designs for alder lake laptop. Of these, 100 will be Alder Lake-H, and 100 will be Alder Lake Evo (overlap with H, P, and U).Ryzen 6000 is DOA
IGTrading - Wednesday, January 26, 2022 - link
@Meenimynimo could you please post a link to the source of the information ? Who said that Intel has more than 300 design winds for Alder-Lake at launch ?Spunjji - Thursday, January 27, 2022 - link
200 design wins, feature parity, and superior power efficiency in a power-constrained platform is "DOA"? Okay.Techtree101 - Tuesday, January 25, 2022 - link
When is it actually available? I missed that part.