The MSI HQ Tour: Design 101
by Ian Cutress on July 7, 2015 8:00 AM EST- Posted in
- Motherboards
- MSI
- Trade Shows
- Notebooks
- HQ
- Tour
- Computex 2015
No visit to a HQ would be complete with a look at the dedicated overclock testing facilities. The concept of an OC Lab has been brewing, especially in the motherboard industry, for a number of years and especially in companies that hold world-wide overclocking competitions. While our previous visits to these labs are usually separate rooms connected to a generic office structure, MSI’s is part of an open-cubicle office, just with higher walls and more ventilation for liquid nitrogen vapor.
At the time we visited, MSI had invited several high-profile overclockers who were present during Computex to come and test equipment. As shown above, Lucky_n00b (Alva Jonathan from Jagat Review) was testing a tray of CPUs with Cinebench. The testing being done at the time included Broadwell processors, MSI’s new X99A Gaming Godlike motherboard and other systems which we were not allowed to photograph. The OC Lab is still in construction, as the elements on the wall shown in the picture are meant to be connected and provide several stations of water cooling via a full-room water cooling set of apparatus, provided in conjunction with Bitspower.
The purpose of the OC Lab, aside from helping generate world record overclocking results for MSI, is two-fold – pushing hardware to the limit, and aiding the overclocking community. This means high frequency RAM kit QVL testing, among other things, as shown above. MSI has several high profile overclockers either employed full-time or acting in a consultancy capacity, and given my own background as an extreme overclocker and former world #2, we had some interesting discussions about the state of extreme overclocking.
The HQ Tour was ultimately short and sweet – there’s little to see beyond rows of cubicles of people designing and testing hardware or marketing/sales doing their normal things. As I mentioned at the top of the piece, spending time with MSI was also in part to discuss with the engineers and BIOS/software designers about the current state of the industry and what end-users might be looking forward to. As part of those discussions, we were able to do a combined interview with three of MSI’s VIPs – Charles Chiang (Executive VP & GM of DPS Business Unit), Ted Hung (VP of Motherboard Sales), and Andy Tung (President of MSI Pan America). This is still being transcribed and will be posted in a separate piece in the near future.
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BMNify - Tuesday, July 7, 2015 - link
Nice tour, MSI has stepped up in the gaming laptops arena and has developed a following and niche for itself in the gaming laptop forums. Intel has killed off CPU upgrades with BGA-only CPU's but hope they still keep innovating and producing products like GT80.ahtoh - Tuesday, July 7, 2015 - link
I bought MSI motherboard recently (MSI Z97M-G43). The fan headers were not able to start the fans even when set to full speed in BIOS. I had to rewire it to the PSU directly. Will never buy MSI again.vailr - Tuesday, July 7, 2015 - link
One of MSI's new Broadwell laptop models seems like a good choice, at this point in time.However: that would be assuming that you can get one configured with only a single 980m video card, and only a single boot SSD + one spinning drive for data; 3k IPS display & weight of 5 lbs. or less. Why don't they allow "build your own" options like Lenovo or Dell offer?
Jeffrey Bosboom - Tuesday, July 7, 2015 - link
I like the fabric-covered netbook. Netbooks themselves are mostly dead now, but given that tablets are designed to be held in hand for long periods of time, fabric seems like an obvious choice. Thermals might be a problem, though.smitty123 - Tuesday, July 7, 2015 - link
i just wish they'd come up with a silent fan design. its 2015, let's get quiet msi.keeepcool - Tuesday, July 7, 2015 - link
How about full on crazyness?Desktop CPU like some Clevo(Sagger/XMG/Xoptic) use and a 980TI, no spinning disks, some battery, removable keyboard with latches so it stays fixed, in 18" size, sort of like the GT80 but using the space used by HDD's and the ODD to throw in a watercooled loop, it seems to be pratical even in a dual GPU context, remove the second GPU, thrown in radiator, having a lower keyboard allows space for a bottom to top air flow circuit, for "mobile" use lock the GPU in the lowest possible P-State.
Hey MSI, I can help designing the pcb's.
Rvenger - Tuesday, July 7, 2015 - link
I like how one of the test beds have a PowerColor graphics card on it. Yellow QC sticker and fan logo gave it away.Etern205 - Wednesday, July 8, 2015 - link
The picture with the 3 test bench. Is that a USB port on the 3rd graphic card?royalcrown - Wednesday, July 8, 2015 - link
Ian, if the VGA port is an indication of the age of the fabric covered notebook, what does that mean for Gigabyte's P35 series ? People on here say that crusty old port is for business use, but I think businesses ought to just get HDMI already so that VGA can DIE off. Ruins an otherwise nice aesthetic and I bet the majority of business users don't even use it.Ian Cutress - Wednesday, July 8, 2015 - link
The problem is presentations. Many (think thousands, or 10000s worldwide or more) have VGA only projectors for meeting rooms. Hence the need for VGA still. Businesses (or universities) won't upgrade those for 10-20 years unless they have to. There are solutions, but they all cost money, time, and organization.