MSI at CES 2018: Updated GT75VR Gaming Laptop Receives Killer (Wireless-AC 1550) Upgrade
by Joe Shields on January 11, 2018 8:30 PM EST- Posted in
- MSI
- Laptops
- Aquantia
- 10GbE
- Killer Wireless-AC 1550
LAS VEGAS, NV — MSI’s GT75VR Titan Pro, a more than capable premium gaming laptop, gets a notable update in the wireless department. Last year’s model used the Killer 1535 and was ‘limited’ to 867 Mbps. The latest GT75VR Titan Pro will soon begin shipping with the recently announced Killer 1550 that is capable of transfer rates to 1.73 Gbps for twice the throughput. The Killer 1550 is a conglomeration of Rivet and Intel to combine all the features that Rivet wanted to bring the table, but with Intel designing and manufacturing the chip.
Our Dr. Ian Cutress says this in our recent Killer Wireless-AC 1550 article: “The end result is that the AC 1550 should have the stability of Intel (in fact, the AC9260 has been on sale for several months already), but the additional features of Killer. The driver for both is pretty much the same, being a combined effort between Intel and Killer, while the Killer version will have a specific version of the driver for Killer-features, as well as a Rivet designed service and OS application. At the high-level, the 1550 shares all the features of the AC9260. It is a 2x2 Wi-Fi module with full 802.11ac Wave 2 functionality for 160 Mhz channels, including MU-MIMO, and with the right router is good for up to 1.73 Gbps peak throughput…. Bluetooth 5.x is also supported.”
Some of the additional features include the prioritization software. Now, the Killer chip is able to create six levels of priority with the first level considered as the express lane and prioritized for low latency. The hardware includes a pre-prepared traffic whitelist where Rivet has provided 1000 of the most commonly used network traffic configurations and applications. If an app is not on the whitelist, users are able to select their own options, or use Advanced Stream Detection which looks into the way the network traffic to figure out if it is a game, VOIP, a browser, streaming video, or a download and prioritizes that way.
The GT75VR Titan Pro’s updates only reach as far as its wireless adapter and don’t receive the Coffee Lake treatment at this time. The current version still has plenty of horsepower using a 7th Generation Intel Core i7-7820HK processor, up to 64GB of DDR4 2400 RAM, with single graphics card options up to a GTX 1080 8GB GDDR5X, and an SLI option with two GTX 1070’s 8GB GDDR5. Plenty to drive is 120 Hz FHD panel or the optional 4K UHD panel. Just about everything about this laptop is over the edge including its wicked fast Aquantia 10 GbE wired LAN port.
We should see the updated GT75VR for sale soon.
| MSI GT75VR Titan Pro (w/ Killer AC1550) | |||||
| CPU | 7th Gen. Intel Core i7 Processor | ||||
| Display Options | 17.3" FHD (1920x1080) 120 Hz, 3ms 94% NTSC 17.3" 4K UHD (3840x2160), IPS-Level 100% Adobe RGB |
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| GPU Options | Geforce GTX 1080 8GB GDDR5X 2 x Geforce GTX 1070 8GB GDDR5 (SLI) Geforce GTX 1070 8GB GDDR5 |
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| Memory | DDR4 2400, 4 slots, up to 64GB | ||||
| Storage | 2 x NVMe M.2 SSDs PCIe 3.0 x4 in RAID0 + 1 2.5" HDD | ||||
| WLAN | Killer Wireless-AC 1550 | ||||
| LAN | Aquantia 10GbE | ||||
| Dimensions | 16.85" x 12.36" x 2.28" / 9.92 lbs. | ||||
| USB | 1 x USB 3.1 (10 Gbps) DP/ TB3 5 x USB 3.0 |
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| Speakers | 2 x 3W | ||||
| Battery | 8-Cell 75Wh Li-ion | ||||
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Source: MSI
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13 Comments
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CrazyElf - Thursday, January 11, 2018 - link
Having used Killer LAN before, I would strongly prefer to use Intel wifi cards like the 8265. I find overall Intel LAN tends to give me fewer problems.Ian Cutress - Friday, January 12, 2018 - link
This one is built by Intel.yeeeeman - Friday, January 12, 2018 - link
Ian Cutress You should add from now on a TLDR after the article for users who are too lazy to read the entire articleWithoutWeakness - Friday, January 12, 2018 - link
Those people just read the headline and scroll straight to the comments section anyway.CrazyElf - Saturday, January 13, 2018 - link
My concern is that the "additional features" cause issues.See the following:
http://www.pcgamer.com/motherboards-with-killer-ne...
Yes it is built by Intel - but why this and not the Intel one directly?
PeachNCream - Friday, January 12, 2018 - link
This basically amounts to an admission by Rivet Networks that Intel had faster wireless available in the AC9260 and that it can't compete so the company is now selling rebranded Intel WiFi with a reskinned driver and resource wasting value-added application. If so, what was the point of a Killer NIC to begin with? Why do we _need_ a wireless adapter with so-called premium features that's just a marked up Intel NIC? Wouldn't it make more sense for us to just buy Intel wireless and cut out Rivet Networks from the equation? I just can't understand why Rivet even exists at this point beyond putting a few random people on a payroll someplace so they can make their mortgage and car loan payments.Ian Cutress - Friday, January 12, 2018 - link
Intel reached out to Rivet and asked what was needed in hardware to enable Killer features. It's not Rivet repurposing an Intel chip, it's a collaboration, so one chip and two solutions (which saves FCC costs and validation).PeachNCream - Friday, January 12, 2018 - link
The flow direction of contact between companies doesn't change the fact that Rivet isn't selling its own solution, but a product developed by its nearest competitor plus their software.Why not benchmark Killer NICs? I'm curious to see if there really are situations where they can offer an improvement that supports the idea that Killer WiFi is an upgrade over other wireless solutions.
.bgrim - Friday, January 12, 2018 - link
Hi - I am from Rivet Networks, makers of Killer. Just wanted to jump into the conversation - we are super up front with Ian, and all editors and journalists, that with Killer. Historically we have used chipsets from Qualcomm (who used to own Killer), and have always been up front about that. The promise of Killer is getting the best hardware and the best software that is designed to give you an optimal computing experience.We test everybody's hardware all the time, and choose to base our products on the hardware we feel is best in the industry. We work with the chipset vendor to ensure they have built in the controls we need to shape traffic for an optimal online experience. Intel is the only vendor with 160MHz channel support - it is a cool feature that delivers a lot of throughput and it made sense to go with it for our latest product. So while I understand you may prefer the generic Intel chip - which is fine - it just means that you will be passing latency optimizations and traffic shaping that we do with Killer.
CoreLogicCom - Thursday, January 11, 2018 - link
Seriously? A premium product Wi-Fi in a desktop replacement type laptop and is only 2x2?? WTF. Should be 3x3. MacBook Pros from 5 years ago were 3x3. Go 3x3 and all that Killer crap is pointless.