Cooling, audio, battery

One advantage of using a lower spec, 25W TDP CPU is in cooling. The cooling subsystem implemented on the GX630 is rather simple. MSI uses long aluminum heatpipes to cool the GPU and CPU on the GX630. These heatpipes are then connected to a large copper heatsink+fan unit. Supplying the cooler with fresh, cool air are a number of vents located on the underside of the system. This air is then exhausted out the right side of the chassis.

MSI employs a blower-style fan for cooling these components. Blower-style fans are becoming increasingly popular because they can push a large amount of air without generating a lot of noise. The GX630 is whisper quiet under normal operation. Crank it up to Turbo mode though and the fan will spin faster to compensate for the OC’ed CPU. The system also runs cool for the most part. Heat only becomes noticeable after extended gaming sessions, although this is typical of any gaming notebook.

Audio and videoconferencing

Audio duties are handled by Realtek’s ALC888 CODEC. The ALC888 is a 7.1-channel HD audio CODEC and is used on a number of MSI’s desktop motherboards, including the 790FX-based K9A2 Platinum. It’s no longer Realtek’s flagship audio offering, but it does deliver good audio quality and respectable specs (97dB DAC signal-to-noise ratio, support for Dolby Digital Live, DTS, etc).

Recycling it for use on the GX630 (and other notebooks) certainly helps MSI save money.

MSI pairs the ALC888 with a conventional 2-speaker setup. The sound quality of the speakers is more than good enough for basic Windows duties, although for gaming, you may want to use the provided audio jacks to pair the system up to a dedicated speaker system or headphones. In our opinion, the highs on these speakers are a bit on the tinny side, while the lows lack bass, resulting in flat explosions and shotgun blasts in games.

Considering the $800 price tag of this notebook though you can’t really expect MSI to deliver a high-end 2.1 speaker setup like the ones found on pricier gaming notebooks.

The webcam delivered surprisingly good video quality for Skype. MSI uses a 2.0 megapixel unit, which obviously contributes to their performance here.

The mic is located on the GX630’s palm rest. While this sounds like a less than ideal location (as obviously you may rest your hand on the palm rest), we didn’t have any problems with mic reception.

Battery life

Considering this is a gaming notebook, we weren’t expecting miracles in the battery life department, as discrete graphics can take a huge chunk out of the battery’s available power, however we were surprised to see the GX630 system run out of juice at the 1:34 mark after basic desktop use. Gaming shaved this figure down to just 46 minutes.

This is definitely less than we expected, and quite frankly, we’re really not sure why the system performed so poorly in this regard.

Software

MSI ships the GX630 with a copy of Windows Vista Home Premium x86 (32-bit), as well as 60-day trial versions of Office and Norton Antivirus. That’s it. There’s really no bloatware or other annoying software programs that load up upon system bootup.

MSI also includes their own software for the webcam, but this is an optional program that you’ll have to manually install yourself; MSI doesn’t force it on you.

Honestly we were a little surprised to see MSI ship the GX630 with 32-bit Vista, as this will limit you to 4GB of memory. If you want to upgrade to 8GB or more memory at some point in the future, you’ll have to purchase a 64-bit OS.