MSI Crosshair 16 HX AI (Core Ultra 9 275HX + RTX 5070) Gaming Laptop Review

TweakTown Rating: 91%

Our Verdict

The MSI Crosshair 16 HX AI gaming laptop with its Core Ultra 9 275HX + RTX 5070 Laptop GPU combo is a fantastic choice for gamers wanting to play at 1440p. It's got everything you need, and stunning thermal performance, oh and great RGB lighting to boot!

Pros

• Intel Core Ultra 9 275HX CPU (24C/24T)
• GeForce RTX 5070 Laptop GPU
• 16-inch 2560 x 1600 (1600p) @ 240Hz display
• Gen4 SSD @ 7GB/sec
• Excellent thermal performance

Cons

• No Mini-LED or OLED display option
• Only 8GB of VRAM

Should you buy it?

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Introduction, Specifications, and Pricing

Introduction

MSI reached out asking if we'd like to take a look at their new Crosshair 16 HX AI gaming laptop, powered by the desktop-class Intel Core Ultra 9 275HX processor, and of course, I agreed. I'm coming in off reviewing a few flagship gaming laptops powered by the RTX 5090, so it was great to get some RTX 5070 Laptop GPU-powered systems into the office.

The new MSI Crosshair 16 HX AI (D2XW) is a culmination of a 24-core, 24-thread Core Ultra 9 275HX processor, GeForce RTX 5070 Laptop GPU with 8GB of GDDR7, 32GB of RAM, and a 2TB Gen4 SSD. It arrives with a 16-inch 2560 x 1600 (1600p) display with a super-smooth 240Hz refresh rate, a keyboard that is actually great to type on, Thunderbolt 4, and some of the best thermal performance we've seen so far.

As with all my gaming laptop reviews, I've transitioned from my desktop Aftershock Nimbus Gaming PC, which features an AMD Ryzen 7 7800X3D processor, 32GB of RAM, a 1TB Gen4 SSD, and a GeForce RTX 4070 SUPER graphics card.

The new MSI Crosshair 16 HX AI gaming laptop comes very close to it in performance, and in some ways it's better - the 24-core CPU inside has more cores/threads than the 8C/16T from the 7800X3D, and the RTX 50 series GPU has a little bit more magic inside than the RTX 40 series GPU inside of my desktop system. Let's dive in!

Specs Reviewed:

• CPU: Intel Core Ultra 9 275HX (24C/24T)
• GPU: NVIDIA GeForce RTX 5070 Laptop GPU + 8GB GDDR7
• RAM: 32GB
• Storage: 2TB Gen4
• Display: 16-inch 2.5K (2560 x 1600) @ 240Hz IPS

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Overview

MSI's new Crosshair 16 HX AI gaming laptop has a redesigned thermal system, which allows for multi-directional airflow outlets, which really does provide more efficient cooling... so much so that the same Core Ultra 9 275HX processor that is insane in this laptop was beating out flagship RTX 5090 gaming laptops with the same 275HX processor.

There's a shared-pipe design that features five heat pipes between the CPU and GPU, larger thermal pipe diameters, and MSI's exclusive thermal grease, culminating in a gaming laptop that ensures maximum thermal performance under the most stressful workloads.

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MSI has some vibrance coming from the keyboard with the 24-zone RGB keyboard featuring illuminated WASD keys and (very) uniquely designed keycaps that the company says were intended for an immersive gaming journey infused with style, and they're not wrong. I would've wished for more vibrancy from the keycaps, but it still looks fantastic in the flesh.

Another interesting feature of the MSI Crosshair 16 HX AI gaming laptop is its support for dual SSDs, which enables truly blazing-fast transfer speeds. MSI ships the system with a 2TB Gen4 SSD that pushes around 7GB/sec (7000MB/sec) read speeds, but with the dual M.2 SSD slots, you can use Super RAID to join a Gen5 + Gen4 SSD together for a bonker 14GB/sec (14,000MB/sec).

Not everyone will use that feature, but if you can find a Gen5 SSD at the right price, you've got the option to dump it into the MSI Crosshair HX 16 AI gaming laptop and double your SSD read speeds.

On the audio side of things, MSI supports Hi-Res Audio for lossless music so that you can enjoy premium sound quality through Hi-Res Audio. There's also next-level audio immersion with Nahimic in-game 3D surround and Sound Sharing through Bluetooth, if that's your thing.

Features + I/O

MSI provides a decent amount of I/O on its new Crosshair 16 HX AI gaming laptop, with a single Thunderbolt 4 port, three USB 3.2 Gen1 Type-A ports, RJ45 Ethernet, a 3.5mm audio combo jack, and HDMI 2.1, which supports both 8K 60Hz and 4K 120Hz display output.

I would've hoped for some additional USB-C ports on the side, which is disappointing to see, and a microSD card reader would've been a nice touch, considering the Crosshair 16 HX AI has enough CPU + RAM + SSD + GPU power for content creators to do all of their work on.

Detailed Look

Right out of the box, the MSI Crosshair 16 HX AI gaming laptop looks great, feels great, and most of all, performs great. Let's scope it out:

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Right out of the gate, the MSI Crosshair 16 HX AI gaming laptop looks fantastic with its 16-inch display front and center, and its 24-zone RGB backlit keyboard. The

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The back of the laptop and its lid also look great, where I personally love the styling you can see here in the bottom right. It's a nice touch when there's light reflecting off of it. It's a small touch, but very welcome.

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Here's a quick look at MSI's in-house Cooler Boost 5 technology, which well and truly looks after the thermals on the Crosshair 16 HX AI gaming laptop... plus, it looks cool, too.

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On the rear, we've got a USB 3.2 Gen1 Type-A port, HDMI 2.1, RJ45 Ethernet, and DC-in.

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On the left, we've got a Thunderbolt 4 (USB-C) port and another USB 3.2 Gen1 Type-A port.

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On the right, we've got the 3.5mm combo audio jack and another USB 3.2 Gen1 Type-A port.

Benchmarks (Synthetic + CPU + SSD)

Cinebench R24

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MSI's new Crosshair 16 HX AI gaming laptop uses the same Intel Core Ultra 9 275HX processor as the last laptop I reviewed - the Acer Predator Helios 18 AI - and actually outperforms the higher-end, and more expensive laptop in Cinebench R24 runs.

We've got 1921 points in the multi-core test, versus 1794 points from the Acer laptop, while the MSI Raider A18 HX A9W with its Ryzen 9 9955HX3D (16C/32T) still reigns supreme with 2084 points in the multi-core run.

CrystalDiskMark

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MSI's new Crosshair 16 HX AI gaming laptop includes a 2TB Gen4 SSD inside, which is capable of 7GB/sec (6947MB/sec) reads and 6.3GB/sec writes (6296MB/sec), which is more than enough for any user... gaming, content creators, AI workloads, and more.

Remember, there's a Gen5 slot inside the MSI Crosshair 16 HX AI laptop in case you wanted to enjoy 14GB/sec+ speeds.

3DMark Speed Way + Steel Nomad

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3DMark Speed Way is the first benchmark with the RTX 5070 Laptop GPU inside the MSI Crosshair HX 16 AI gaming laptop, falling short of the desktop RTX 4070 SUPER graphics card, but beating out the RTX 4070 Laptop GPU. The RTX 5090 Laptop GPU is far out and ahead here, obviously.

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The same thing is seen with 3DMark Steel Nomad, except this time the RTX 5070 Laptop GPU just barely beats out the RTX 4070 Laptop GPU, while the RTX 5090 Laptop GPU screams ahead.

3DMark TimeSpy Extreme + TimeSpy

An interesting thing to note is that MSI's new Crosshair 16 HX AI gaming laptop and its Intel Core Ultra 9 275HX processor scream ahead in CPU testing with 3DMark TimeSpy Extreme, as it has the same 275HX as the higher-end Acer Predator Helios 18 AI gaming laptop (which sports the flagship RTX 5090 Laptop GPU).

Benchmarks (Gaming)

Note: Moving onto the gaming benchmarks, I re-ran the benchmarks on the systems that I had on hand at the time, running Cyberpunk 2077 twice. First, without RT and DLSS enabled to see the raw performance of the gaming laptop, and then once more with RT + DLSS + GF + RR enabled.

• RT = Ray Tracing
• DLSS = Deep Learning Super Sampling (AI upscaling)
• FG = Frame Generation
• RR = Ray Reconstruction

I plugged in an older Acer Predator X27 gaming monitor into the MSI Crosshair 16 HX AI gaming laptop over HDMI, so that I could run 4K tests, as the laptop itself only supports up to 1600p.

Cyberpunk 2077

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I wouldn't recommend running a game as graphically luscious as Cyberpunk 2077 without DLSS enabled, nor would I run it at 4K without a flagship GPU, but at 1440p, we've got the MSI Crosshair 16 HX AI gaming laptop and its RTX 5070 Laptop GPU spitting out 79FPS average.

This isn't bad, but you can see in the benchmark charts above how FAST the RTX 5090 Laptop GPU is in comparison at 120-134FPS average at 1440p. I've also got the results from the HP ZBook Ultra G1a 14 workstation laptop, which features AMD's new Strix Halo APU and the RDNA 3.5-powered Radeon 8050S GPU, which scores 44FPS average.

Cyberpunk 2077 + RT + DLSS

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This is where the 8GB of VRAM capacity on the RTX 5070 Laptop GPU makes it trip over itself, as we get only 10FPS more with DLSS enabled, RT + FG + RR all enabled. It's a shame, because there's a 240Hz display on the MSI Crosshair 16 HX AI gaming laptop, but you can't run Cyberpunk 2077 at the display's native resolution at anywhere near 240FPS.

Forza Horizon 5

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Forza Horizon 5 screams along on the MSI Crosshair 16 HX AI gaming laptop with 241FPS average at 1440p on the High preset, and if you were outputting to your high-end gaming monitor or TV over HDMI 2.1, you'll be able to enjoy 4K @ 142FPS+ average. Not too shabby at all.

Shadow of the Tomb Raider

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Lastly, we've got Shadow of the Tomb Raider, with MSI's new Crosshair 16 HX AI gaming laptop pumping 174FPS average at 1440p on the High preset, losing by 70FPS to the RTX 5090 Laptop GPU. 174FPS average is more than enough performance here, and we've still got 94FPS at 4K, which is an impressive feat.

Performance + Thermals + Battery Life

MSI includes Wi-Fi 6E connectivity on its Crosshair 16 HX AI gaming laptop, with users missing out on the very latest Wi-Fi 7 standard, but Wi-Fi 6E is fast enough for MOST people, and most gamers. I had zero issues with wireless connectivity during my time reviewing it.

Performance Thoughts

I pumped numerous hours into playing Overwatch 2 on the MSI Crosshair 16 HX AI gaming laptop, configuring the game to its native 2560 x 1600 resolution and 240Hz refresh rate. I enabled DLSS and set it to Balanced mode, and was easily achieving (and very much enjoying) the 240FPS+ performance in OW2.

The MSI Crosshair 16 HX AI gaming laptop was my daily driver for the week or so that I used it for the purposes of this review, without a single hiccup. I was working daily on it, gaming almost daily, benchmarking it, editing photos through Adobe Photoshop, and everything in between. Not a single hiccup. Easily recommended for someone who wants a new laptop that's both fast for work/regular use, and hasn't got an issue with gaming.

However, if you're playing games that will use more than 8GB of VRAM... be careful, because the RTX 5070 Laptop GPU only has 8GB of VRAM. I might suggest looking at the RTX 5070 Ti Laptop GPU, which has 12GB, or the RTX 5080 Laptop GPU, which has 16GB, if the games you're playing (and the settings you're using, like ray tracing, DLSS, etc) will chew through 8-16GB.

Windows, regular workloads, gaming... 4K @ 120Hz on a Mini-LED panel = awesome. No regrets to be had.

Battery Life + Charging + Software

Most people don't use a gaming laptop unplugged; they're normally near a power outlet and have it plugged in for maximum performance. But, there are some users who won't be gaming all day and night long, even though this is a gaming laptop, and that matters.

Unplugged, the MSI Crosshair 16 HX AI gaming laptop has around 4.5 hours of battery life for regular web browsing and media consumption, with the brightness on the display at 70%. You could adjust this down a little more to 30-50% for more battery life, but you're not going to squeeze that much more out of it.

Final Thoughts

MSI has an impressive piece of kit with the Crosshair 16 HX AI gaming laptop: from its fantastic CPU performance, to one of the fastest mobile Blackwell GPUs, with one of its only downsides being that the RTX 5070 Laptop GPU sports just 8GB of VRAM. 8GB of VRAM is NOT much to play around with in 2025 (and we're close to 2026 now), which is something you need to consider.

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Other than that, if you're playing more esports-style games like I personally do - Overwatch 2 for me - then that 8GB is going to be enough. But if you're playing bleeding-edge AAA games and enabling RT and DLSS, you're going to be stretching the 8GB of VRAM capacity pretty quickly, and that's games of today, let alone tomorrow and beyond.

The 16-inch 1600p @ 240Hz IPS display is good to look at, but it's no Mini-LED or OLED. However, 1600p @ 240Hz looks beautiful when you're in the middle of a game, there's no denying that. It's super-smooth to play on when you're getting 200-240FPS, and impressively smooth for general Windows use like web browsing and working.

The 2TB Gen4 SSD will keep everyone who uses the MSI Crosshair 16 HX AI laptop happy, pumping away at 7GB/sec with expansion for another Gen4 or Gen5 SSD, too.

One of the most impressive things about the MSI Crosshair 16 HX AI gaming laptop is its thermal performance, powered by the MSI Cooler Boost thermal technology underneath. I found that the laptop didn't get anywhere near as hot as the previous laptop I used before this review, the Acer Predator Helios 18 AI, with the same CPU, but a faster RTX 5090 Laptop GPU.

The 24-zone RGB lighting also looks great in the flesh. In a world where RGB lighting on PC products matters, you'll enjoy the RGB-ness (if that's even a word) on the MSI Crosshair 16 HX AI gaming laptop.

Wrapping up, if you're in the market for a new laptop but don't need all of the power (or VRAM) of a high-end RTX 5080 / RTX 5090 Laptop GPU, then we have no problems recommending the MSI Crosshair 16 HX AI gaming laptop. Fantastic CPU performance, great GPU performance, a decent display, and upgradability to a Gen5 SSD make this a damn fine laptop.