This review is, if I can read a spreadsheet correctly, the first time this site has assessed a laptop containing the Ryzen 9 9955HX. So if you’ve ever wanted one of AMD’s thundering 16-core Zen 5 chips in your portable(ish) PC, this is your chance. It’s fast, though not 9950X3D fast. An unfair comparison considering the desktop chip doesn’t have to deal with the constrained thermal envelope and limited power draw of a laptop, and the 3D V-Cache really does make a difference.
Despite the rainbow keyboard and presence of an RTX 5080 GPU, you’ll be surprised to hear this this isn’t a gaming laptop. MSI positions it as “engineered for the demands of STEM professionals,” which probably doesn’t mean gardeners, and then takes a puff on some burning leaves to huskily exhale the phrase “it operates like a high-tech brain”.
Yeah, man.
The Vector A18 HX may well “deliver the performance and reliability engineers need to excel in every challenge,” but luckily for us it also delivers the kind of frame rates that make PC gamers very happy, and is so obviously a gaming laptop in an unconvincing disguise with its 240 Hz display, seven heat pipes, and two fans to keep it all cool. We’d be amazed if any actual work gets done if someone pulls it out at a meeting about building a bridge or some other towering concrete structure.
(Image credit: Future)
CPU: AMD Ryzen 9 9955HX
GPU: Nvidia GeForce RTX 5080
RAM: 32 GB DDR5-5600
Storage: 2 TB SSD
Screen: 18-inch IPS, 2560 x 1600
Networking: Wi-Fi 7
Connectivity: 2x USB 4, 1x USB 3.2 Type-A, 1x HDMI 2.1, 1x Ethernet
Dimensions: 404 x 307.5 x 32 mm
Weight: 3.6 kg
Price: $3,000/£3,199
Being an 18-inch laptop, the Vector A18 HX is a bit of a towering concrete structure itself. You’re not going to want to pass it one-handed to your engineering colleague, even if it is their turn to play Kerbal Space Program. At 3.6 kg it weighs the same as an adult sloth or about a dozen mangoes, and if you’ve ever tried lugging either of those around with you you’ll know how heavy they can get.
The enormous 400 W power brick only adds to the burden, though luckily it has a reasonably long cable attached, and the laptop can happily charge from one of its USB4 ports as long as you can feed it enough juice. Once it’s charged, however, you’ll only get about an hour of use out of it before you’re heading back to the plug socket.
It’s also very expensive, and there’s a version with a Mini-LED 4K-adjacent display that will probably push the price up to truly eye-watering levels. The one we’ve got here has a normal IPS attached, with a 16:10 WQXGA resolution.It’s capable of 500 nits of brightness, and the fact it’s relatively modest in pixel density allows the RTX 5080 to really stretch its legs.
(Image credit: Future)
(Image credit: Future)
At native resolution it doesn’t take much DLSS for Cyberpunk 2077 to hit 60 fps or higher in its Ray Tracing Ultra mode, and once you start messing with frame-gen you can push that much further. CPU-intensive games such as Baldur’s Gate III just love that 16-core chip, pumping out 90 fps without resorting to any upscaling.
It does all this without making too much noise, suggesting the extra size of an 18-incher is really helpful to cooling system engineers. You can use the MSI Center app to spin the fans up to full all the time, in which case you’ll definitely know it’s there, but in general use the system is intelligent enough to keep the noise down compared to some 16-inch or smaller machines. There’s no grinding or whining from the fans, and the peak temperatures from the Vector’s chips are very reasonable, hitting just 74 °C from the GPU after a gaming session, with the CPU a little higher.
(Image credit: Future)
(Image credit: Future)
(Image credit: Future)
(Image credit: Future)
(Image credit: Future)
A few laptops have scored higher than the Vector A18 in our CPU tests, and they all use the Core Ultra 9 275HX, a 24-core, 24-thread chip. The Ryzen’s 16 cores are all the equivalent of P-cores, plus it has Hyper-Threading, and it absolutely dominates in things like Zip file decompression and CPU rendering in Blender.
It would be very interesting to see what this chip could do if paired with a 5090, but the 5080 does an excellent job. The GPU power measurement of 132 W is beaten by other 5080 laptops such as MSI’s own Vector 16 HX AI A2XW (with the Ultra 9 275HX), but the frame rates from the AMD-powered 18-incher are a smidgen higher.
Gaming benchmarks
Avg FPS
1% Low FPS
Baldur’s Gate 3 (1080p Ultra) Data ProductValue MSI Vector A18 HX | RTX 5080 | Ryzen 9 9955HX 91 Avg FPS, 55 1% Low FPS MSI Raider 18 HX AI A2XW | RTX 5080 | Core Ultra 9 285HX 101 Avg FPS, 46 1% Low FPS Lenovo Legion 9i Gen 10 | RTX 5080 | Core Ultra 9 275HX 76 Avg FPS, 41 1% Low FPS Asus ROG Zephyrus G16 (2025) | RTX 5080 | Core Ultra 9 285H 69 Avg FPS, 41 1% Low FPS
Avg FPS
1% Low FPS
Baldur’s Gate 3 (1440p Ultra) Data ProductValue MSI Vector A18 HX | RTX 5080 | Ryzen 9 9955HX 95 Avg FPS, 57 1% Low FPS MSI Raider 18 HX AI A2XW | RTX 5080 | Core Ultra 9 285HX 100 Avg FPS, 52 1% Low FPS Lenovo Legion 9i Gen 10 | RTX 5080 | Core Ultra 9 275HX 64 Avg FPS, 39 1% Low FPS Asus ROG Zephyrus G16 (2025) | RTX 5080 | Core Ultra 9 285H N/A
Avg FPS
1% Low FPS
Baldur’s Gate 3 (Native res. Ultra) Data ProductValue MSI Vector A18 HX | RTX 5080 | Ryzen 9 9955HX 91 Avg FPS, 49 1% Low FPS MSI Raider 18 HX AI A2XW | RTX 5080 | Core Ultra 9 285HX 71 Avg FPS, 59 1% Low FPS Lenovo Legion 9i Gen 10 | RTX 5080 | Core Ultra 9 275HX 39 Avg FPS, 27 1% Low FPS Asus ROG Zephyrus G16 (2025) | RTX 5080 | Core Ultra 9 285H 66 Avg FPS, 36 1% Low FPS
Avg FPS
1% Low FPS
Black Myth: Wukong benchmarking tool (1080p High) Data ProductValue MSI Vector A18 HX | RTX 5080 | Ryzen 9 9955HX 100 Avg FPS, 79 1% Low FPS MSI Raider 18 HX AI A2XW | RTX 5080 | Core Ultra 9 285HX 95 Avg FPS, 80 1% Low FPS Lenovo Legion 9i Gen 10 | RTX 5080 | Core Ultra 9 275HX 64 Avg FPS, 33 1% Low FPS Asus ROG Zephyrus G16 (2025) | RTX 5080 | Core Ultra 9 285H 88 Avg FPS, 64 1% Low FPS
Avg FPS
1% Low FPS
Black Myth: Wukong benchmarking tool (1440p High) Data ProductValue MSI Vector A18 HX | RTX 5080 | Ryzen 9 9955HX 71 Avg FPS, 42 1% Low FPS MSI Raider 18 HX AI A2XW | RTX 5080 | Core Ultra 9 285HX 71 Avg FPS, 61 1% Low FPS Lenovo Legion 9i Gen 10 | RTX 5080 | Core Ultra 9 275HX 62 Avg FPS, 50 1% Low FPS Asus ROG Zephyrus G16 (2025) | RTX 5080 | Core Ultra 9 285H N/A
Avg FPS
1% Low FPS
Black Myth: Wukong benchmarking tool (Native res. High + upscaling (quality, 67%)) Data ProductValue MSI Vector A18 HX | RTX 5080 | Ryzen 9 9955HX 73 Avg FPS, 51 1% Low FPS MSI Raider 18 HX AI A2XW | RTX 5080 | Core Ultra 9 285HX 39 Avg FPS, 24 1% Low FPS Lenovo Legion 9i Gen 10 | RTX 5080 | Core Ultra 9 275HX 23 Avg FPS, 11 1% Low FPS Asus ROG Zephyrus G16 (2025) | RTX 5080 | Core Ultra 9 285H 51 Avg FPS, 44 1% Low FPS
Avg FPS
1% Low FPS
Black Myth: Wukong benchmarking tool (Native res. High) Data ProductValue MSI Vector A18 HX | RTX 5080 | Ryzen 9 9955HX 110 Avg FPS, 86 1% Low FPS MSI Raider 18 HX AI A2XW | RTX 5080 | Core Ultra 9 285HX 67 Avg FPS, 58 1% Low FPS Lenovo Legion 9i Gen 10 | RTX 5080 | Core Ultra 9 275HX 44 Avg FPS, 28 1% Low FPS Asus ROG Zephyrus G16 (2025) | RTX 5080 | Core Ultra 9 285H 76 Avg FPS, 55 1% Low FPS
Avg FPS
1% Low FPS
Cyberpunk 2077 (1080p RT Ultra) Data ProductValue MSI Vector A18 HX | RTX 5080 | Ryzen 9 9955HX 70 Avg FPS, 50 1% Low FPS MSI Raider 18 HX AI A2XW | RTX 5080 | Core Ultra 9 285HX 66 Avg FPS, 35 1% Low FPS Lenovo Legion 9i Gen 10 | RTX 5080 | Core Ultra 9 275HX 39 Avg FPS, 22 1% Low FPS Asus ROG Zephyrus G16 (2025) | RTX 5080 | Core Ultra 9 285H 50 Avg FPS, 44 1% Low FPS
Avg FPS
1% Low FPS
Cyberpunk 2077 (1440p RT Ultra) Data ProductValue MSI Vector A18 HX | RTX 5080 | Ryzen 9 9955HX 45 Avg FPS, 34 1% Low FPS MSI Raider 18 HX AI A2XW | RTX 5080 | Core Ultra 9 285HX 42 Avg FPS, 33 1% Low FPS Lenovo Legion 9i Gen 10 | RTX 5080 | Core Ultra 9 275HX 24 Avg FPS, 16 1% Low FPS Asus ROG Zephyrus G16 (2025) | RTX 5080 | Core Ultra 9 285H N/A
Avg FPS
1% Low FPS
Cyberpunk 2077 (Native res. RT Ultra + upscaling (quality), 2x FG) Data ProductValue MSI Vector A18 HX | RTX 5080 | Ryzen 9 9955HX 125 Avg FPS, 48 1% Low FPS MSI Raider 18 HX AI A2XW | RTX 5080 | Core Ultra 9 285HX 61 Avg FPS, 47 1% Low FPS Lenovo Legion 9i Gen 10 | RTX 5080 | Core Ultra 9 275HX 58 Avg FPS, 34 1% Low FPS Asus ROG Zephyrus G16 (2025) | RTX 5080 | Core Ultra 9 285H 85 Avg FPS, 48 1% Low FPS
Avg FPS
1% Low FPS
Cyberpunk 2077 (Native res. RT Ultra) Data ProductValue MSI Vector A18 HX | RTX 5080 | Ryzen 9 9955HX 42 Avg FPS, 32 1% Low FPS MSI Raider 18 HX AI A2XW | RTX 5080 | Core Ultra 9 285HX 18 Avg FPS, 11 1% Low FPS Lenovo Legion 9i Gen 10 | RTX 5080 | Core Ultra 9 275HX 11 Avg FPS, 9 1% Low FPS Asus ROG Zephyrus G16 (2025) | RTX 5080 | Core Ultra 9 285H 28 Avg FPS, 21 1% Low FPS
Avg FPS
1% Low FPS
F1 24 (1080p Ultra High) Data ProductValue MSI Vector A18 HX | RTX 5080 | Ryzen 9 9955HX 122 Avg FPS, 46 1% Low FPS MSI Raider 18 HX AI A2XW | RTX 5080 | Core Ultra 9 285HX 120 Avg FPS, 73 1% Low FPS Lenovo Legion 9i Gen 10 | RTX 5080 | Core Ultra 9 275HX 77 Avg FPS, 52 1% Low FPS Asus ROG Zephyrus G16 (2025) | RTX 5080 | Core Ultra 9 285H 93 Avg FPS, 60 1% Low FPS
Avg FPS
1% Low FPS
F1 24 (1440p Ultra High) Data ProductValue MSI Vector A18 HX | RTX 5080 | Ryzen 9 9955HX 80 Avg FPS, 38 1% Low FPS MSI Raider 18 HX AI A2XW | RTX 5080 | Core Ultra 9 285HX 76 Avg FPS, 60 1% Low FPS Lenovo Legion 9i Gen 10 | RTX 5080 | Core Ultra 9 275HX 51 Avg FPS, 31 1% Low FPS Asus ROG Zephyrus G16 (2025) | RTX 5080 | Core Ultra 9 285H N/A
Avg FPS
1% Low FPS
F1 24 (Native res. Ultra High + upscaling Quality, 2x FG) Data ProductValue MSI Vector A18 HX | RTX 5080 | Ryzen 9 9955HX 180 Avg FPS, 75 1% Low FPS MSI Raider 18 HX AI A2XW | RTX 5080 | Core Ultra 9 285HX 89 Avg FPS, 63 1% Low FPS Lenovo Legion 9i Gen 10 | RTX 5080 | Core Ultra 9 275HX 41 Avg FPS, 27 1% Low FPS Asus ROG Zephyrus G16 (2025) | RTX 5080 | Core Ultra 9 285H 130 Avg FPS, 66 1% Low FPS
Avg FPS
1% Low FPS
F1 24 (Native res. Ultra High) Data ProductValue MSI Vector A18 HX | RTX 5080 | Ryzen 9 9955HX 72 Avg FPS, 35 1% Low FPS MSI Raider 18 HX AI A2XW | RTX 5080 | Core Ultra 9 285HX 35 Avg FPS, 27 1% Low FPS Lenovo Legion 9i Gen 10 | RTX 5080 | Core Ultra 9 275HX 23 Avg FPS, 19 1% Low FPS Asus ROG Zephyrus G16 (2025) | RTX 5080 | Core Ultra 9 285H 57 Avg FPS, 44 1% Low FPS
Avg GPU freq. (MHz)
Avg GPU power (W)
GPU stats Data ProductValue MSI Vector A18 HX | RTX 5080 | Ryzen 9 9955HX 2335 Avg GPU freq. (MHz), 132 Avg GPU power (W) MSI Raider 18 HX AI A2XW | RTX 5080 | Core Ultra 9 285HX 2236 Avg GPU freq. (MHz), 131 Avg GPU power (W) Lenovo Legion 9i Gen 10 | RTX 5080 | Core Ultra 9 275HX 1306 Avg GPU freq. (MHz), 71 Avg GPU power (W) Asus ROG Zephyrus G16 (2025) | RTX 5080 | Core Ultra 9 285H 1670 Avg GPU freq. (MHz), 98 Avg GPU power (W)
Avg CPU (°C)
Max CPU (°C)
Gaming temperatures Data ProductValue MSI Vector A18 HX | RTX 5080 | Ryzen 9 9955HX 81 Avg CPU (°C), 91 Max CPU (°C) MSI Raider 18 HX AI A2XW | RTX 5080 | Core Ultra 9 285HX 82 Avg CPU (°C), 94 Max CPU (°C) Lenovo Legion 9i Gen 10 | RTX 5080 | Core Ultra 9 275HX 59 Avg CPU (°C), 82 Max CPU (°C) Asus ROG Zephyrus G16 (2025) | RTX 5080 | Core Ultra 9 285H 74 Avg CPU (°C), 81 Max CPU (°C)
Avg FPS
1% Low FPS
Metro Exodus Enhanced Edition (1080p Ultra) Data ProductValue MSI Vector A18 HX | RTX 5080 | Ryzen 9 9955HX 132 Avg FPS, 38 1% Low FPS MSI Raider 18 HX AI A2XW | RTX 5080 | Core Ultra 9 285HX 130 Avg FPS, 76 1% Low FPS Lenovo Legion 9i Gen 10 | RTX 5080 | Core Ultra 9 275HX 83 Avg FPS, 46 1% Low FPS Asus ROG Zephyrus G16 (2025) | RTX 5080 | Core Ultra 9 285H 94 Avg FPS, 50 1% Low FPS
Avg FPS
1% Low FPS
Metro Exodus Enhanced Edition (1440p Ultra) Data ProductValue MSI Vector A18 HX | RTX 5080 | Ryzen 9 9955HX 100 Avg FPS, 20 1% Low FPS MSI Raider 18 HX AI A2XW | RTX 5080 | Core Ultra 9 285HX 96 Avg FPS, 59 1% Low FPS Lenovo Legion 9i Gen 10 | RTX 5080 | Core Ultra 9 275HX 63 Avg FPS, 40 1% Low FPS Asus ROG Zephyrus G16 (2025) | RTX 5080 | Core Ultra 9 285H N/A
Avg FPS
1% Low FPS
Metro Exodus Enhanced Edition (Native res. Ultra) Data ProductValue MSI Vector A18 HX | RTX 5080 | Ryzen 9 9955HX 93 Avg FPS, 21 1% Low FPS MSI Raider 18 HX AI A2XW | RTX 5080 | Core Ultra 9 285HX 52 Avg FPS, 39 1% Low FPS Lenovo Legion 9i Gen 10 | RTX 5080 | Core Ultra 9 275HX 33 Avg FPS, 24 1% Low FPS Asus ROG Zephyrus G16 (2025) | RTX 5080 | Core Ultra 9 285H 68 Avg FPS, 41 1% Low FPS
Overall index score
GPU index
3DMark Time Spy Extreme Data ProductValue MSI Vector A18 HX | RTX 5080 | Ryzen 9 9955HX 11134 Overall index score, 11004 GPU index MSI Raider 18 HX AI A2XW | RTX 5080 | Core Ultra 9 285HX 10668 Overall index score, 10334 GPU index Lenovo Legion 9i Gen 10 | RTX 5080 | Core Ultra 9 275HX 7042 Overall index score, 6973 GPU index Asus ROG Zephyrus G16 (2025) | RTX 5080 | Core Ultra 9 285H 8257 Overall index score, 8354 GPU index
3DMark Port Royal Data ProductValue MSI Vector A18 HX | RTX 5080 | Ryzen 9 9955HX 15168 MSI Raider 18 HX AI A2XW | RTX 5080 | Core Ultra 9 285HX 13773 Lenovo Legion 9i Gen 10 | RTX 5080 | Core Ultra 9 275HX 9245 Asus ROG Zephyrus G16 (2025) | RTX 5080 | Core Ultra 9 285H 11082
Performance-wise, you’re getting as much as a laptop at this price-point can possibly manage, and the only way to get more is to pay another $1,000 more for a 5090 in something like the Alienware 18 Area-51. I have no idea what engineers earn, but I hope it’s lots.
The Vector A18 HX is well supplied with ports. It’s good to see USB4 in a laptop rather than old-fashioned 3.2, even though the 10 Gbps speed of that connector still hasn’t been saturated by anything other than SSDs. It means you can plug whatever you like into it and expect to get great performance without having to worry about flavours of Thunderbolt, and the HDMI port is a 2.1 model so you can output VRR to a TV that supports it.
System benchmarks
Overall index score
Avg bandwidth (MB/s)
3DMark Storage Data ProductValue MSI Vector A18 HX 1946 Overall index score, 332.57 Avg bandwidth (MB/s) MSI Raider 18 HX AI A2XW 1589 Overall index score, 272.43 Avg bandwidth (MB/s) Lenovo Legion 9i Gen 10 (STOCK/QUIET Profile) 2070 Overall index score, 351.51 Avg bandwidth (MB/s) Asus ROG Zephyrus G16 (2025) 2162 Overall index score, 370.06 Avg bandwidth (MB/s)
Compressing (GIPS)
Decompressing (GIPS)
7zip 24.07 Data ProductValue MSI Vector A18 HX 181.257 Compressing (GIPS), 241.164 Decompressing (GIPS) MSI Raider 18 HX AI A2XW 176.834 Compressing (GIPS), 184.258 Decompressing (GIPS) Lenovo Legion 9i Gen 10 (STOCK/QUIET Profile) 120.68 Compressing (GIPS), 135.81 Decompressing (GIPS) Asus ROG Zephyrus G16 (2025) 108.39 Compressing (GIPS), 104.167 Decompressing (GIPS)
CPU (samples/min)
GPU (samples/min)
Blender 4.2.0 (junkshop) Data ProductValue MSI Vector A18 HX 176.7 CPU (samples/min), 1842.72 GPU (samples/min) MSI Raider 18 HX AI A2XW 154.35 CPU (samples/min), 1865.75 GPU (samples/min) Lenovo Legion 9i Gen 10 (STOCK/QUIET Profile) 109.3 CPU (samples/min), 1425.58 GPU (samples/min) Asus ROG Zephyrus G16 (2025) 73.56 CPU (samples/min), 1575.28 GPU (samples/min)
Multi-core index score
Single-core index score
Cinebench 2024 Data ProductValue MSI Vector A18 HX 1510 Multi-core index score, 129 Single-core index score MSI Raider 18 HX AI A2XW 2156 Multi-core index score, 130 Single-core index score Lenovo Legion 9i Gen 10 (STOCK/QUIET Profile) 1254 Multi-core index score, 79 Single-core index score Asus ROG Zephyrus G16 (2025) 1171 Multi-core index score, 125 Single-core index score
PCMark 10 Data ProductValue MSI Vector A18 HX 63 MSI Raider 18 HX AI A2XW 93 Lenovo Legion 9i Gen 10 (STOCK/QUIET Profile) 73 Asus ROG Zephyrus G16 (2025) 112
Max CPU temp (°C)
Max GPU temp (°C)
System temperatures Data ProductValue MSI Vector A18 HX 93 Max CPU temp (°C), 70 Max GPU temp (°C) MSI Raider 18 HX AI A2XW 102 Max CPU temp (°C), 72 Max GPU temp (°C) Lenovo Legion 9i Gen 10 (STOCK/QUIET Profile) 83 Max CPU temp (°C), 54 Max GPU temp (°C) Asus ROG Zephyrus G16 (2025) 104 Max CPU temp (°C), 76 Max GPU temp (°C)
✅ Size matters: An 18-inch laptop isn’t for the faint-hearted, and you’ll need a comparable wallet volume to even think about it, but it gives you fearsome power and fast frames at the highest graphical settings, which is BRILLLIANT.
❌ Literally anything else will do: Happy with a 14-incher? Merely ‘high’ graphics settings? A desktop PC? Get that instead, your bank manager will thank you and you can spend the difference on tuition fees at engineering school.
It’s also positioned next to the Ethernet and charging sockets on the back edge of the laptop casing, which is ideal in a desktop replacement machine (you’re not going to be throwing this into a bag to take to the coffee shop, but it’s perfect as a powerful machine that can be tidied out of the way into a cupboard) as it keeps the cables from snaking across the desk.
The 18-inch screen is probably good enough by itself for many uses, but being able to hook it up to something bigger, maybe an OLED or Mini-LED for extra vibrancy, is always going to be helpful if you’re spinning large models around in CAD (or maybe playing Battlefield 6). Elsewhere, the keyboard and trackpad are both a good size, and while the latter has a good amount of movement and a solid click when you press down on it, the keys themselves are nothing special.
This isn’t a bargain laptop, and it’s not the kind of thing you’ll buy hoping it will punch above its weight. Both its weight and its punch are considerable, but then so is the price, and so you’ll need to weigh up whether to get an 18-inch laptop or a desktop machine. They’re basically the same thing once you’ve added an external monitor into the equation. Pick this one from MSI, and you’ll have the warm fuzzy feeling of knowing you’ve got one of the best-performing RTX 5080 laptops (until the next one comes along) and you can cosplay as an engineer at the weekends too.
