Thursday, September 28th 2017

MSI's Vortex G25 Squeezes Desktop Coffee Lake Performance in 2.5 L Enclosure

MSI has recently added a new member to their Vortex family of gaming solutions with the minuscule Vortex G25. Unlike its predecessor, the Vortex G65, the G25 has abandoned the cylinder shape in favor of a sleek console design. The specifications are nothing short of impressive for a system crammed into a 2.5-liter enclosure weighing in at just 2.5 kilograms. Based on Intel's latest Z370 platform, the Vortex G25 is powered by a 8th Generation Core i7-8700 processor with six cores, 12 threads, and a boost clock up to 4.3 GHz. MSI's Cooler Boost Titan solution, consisting of eight heatpipes and dual Whirlwind Blade fans, provides adequate cooling for the Coffee Lake processor and Pascal graphics card.

According to the manufacturer, the Vortex G25 was designed with focus on expandability. It's equipped with four DDR4 SO-DIMM slots to house DDR4 2400 MHz modules and support up to 64 GB of memory. In terms of storage, two PCIe 3.0 M.2 slots are available for creating high-speed RAID arrays with NVMe drives. Another 2.5" slot is present to provide additional storage if need be. Performing upgrades to the Vortex G25 is a walk in the park thanks to a rapid disassembly design that employs slotted screws.
Not only is the Vortex G25 easy to upgrade, it's also very VR-friendly. The front panel incorporates a 12V DC power jack, a HDMI 2.0 port and two USB 3.0 ports to power VR headsets. MSI also provided one push VR Ready and Nahimic VR buttons for optimizing the Vortex G25's performance and enabling the virtual surround sound effect. On the audio front, MSI implemented an ESS SABRE HiFi audio DAC into the Vortex G25 to give users with the best audio experience possible.

MSI plans to release two different models: the Vortex G25 8RE and the Vortex G25 8RD. The 8RE variant is the high-end model and comes equipped with a GeForce GTX 1070 8 GB graphics card and Killer DoubleShot Pro networking, while the 8RD model utilizes a 3 GB or 6 GB version of a GeForce GTX 1060 and Intel GbE LAN. There's no official statement on pricing and availability yet though.
Source: MSI
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10 Comments on MSI's Vortex G25 Squeezes Desktop Coffee Lake Performance in 2.5 L Enclosure

#1
P4-630
Not bad but I'm worried about the cooling performance of that "Whirlwind".....This i7 8700 CPU with a GTX1070 or even with a 1060 in it....
Posted on Reply
#2
Hood
ChinoThere's an official statement on pricing and availability yet though.
This should read "There's no official statement on pricing and availability yet".
Posted on Reply
#3
VSG
Editor, Reviews & News
HoodThis should read "There's no official statement on pricing and availability yet".
Thanks, corrected.
Posted on Reply
#4
Manu_PT
I'm really interested on this one. 8700 tdp is 65w, no overclock, I guess it wont be that hard to keep things under control, keeping in mind you can always repaste. As for the gpu I have 0 concerns. Tested several on msi laptops and never reached more than 80°.

This form factor is lovely, something not even a tiny itx build can achieve. Perfect machine to carry on a bag to the studio etc. 4,3ghz on 6 cores is plenty for 144hz gaming aswell :)

Now the worst part, pricing. Expecting 1200 to 1500, wich is when you go back to your cheaper itx option.
Posted on Reply
#5
yotano211
I think it will be closer to 2k for the 1070 version.
Posted on Reply
#6
damric
I really dig that case. Did MSI design that or is it available from a manufacturer?
Posted on Reply
#7
Prima.Vera
A nice 1080p playing machine... Why did they need the latest 6 Core CPU when they could have used the previous i5 CPU for half the price and almost same performance....
Posted on Reply
#8
Manu_PT
Because i5 is too short for 144hz gaming nowadays. Most modern games will make it sruggle. 6 core @ 4,3ghz is a good buy for that kind of e-sports gaming
Posted on Reply
#9
PLAfiller
Smexy, but it will cost an arm and a leg though.
Posted on Reply
#10
lexluthermiester
Manu_PTBecause i5 is too short for 144hz gaming nowadays. Most modern games will make it sruggle. 6 core @ 4,3ghz is a good buy for that kind of e-sports gaming
I think people are too spoiled. 144hz is nice, but it's not a huge improvement over 120hz and when players keep the AA at or under 8x and the AF the same, GPU/CPU bottle-necking just isn't an issue for modern quad core CPU's. I have a high end system with dual 1600p/120hz displays and games rarely dip below 120fps. An i5 might struggle at 4k, but 1080p gaming is what most people aim for ATM and with a 1060 or 1070 120hz 1080p or even 1440p should be no problem for an i5.
Posted on Reply
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