MSI Raider A18 HX A9WJG-052US Review: The Nuclear Option for Gamers and Creators
There’s no mistaking the MSI Raider A18 HX A9WJG-052US. It’s not here to be subtle, sleek, or commuter-friendly. This machine is unapologetically large and aggressive, and every bit as powerful as it looks. MSI built this for people who need everything: creators rendering high-resolution video, developers compiling massive codebases, and gamers chasing triple-digit frame rates. The A18 HX is a desktop replacement, blurring the line between mobile and stationary computing.
What you get in return is a powerhouse that outperforms most laptops and even many desktops. It’s not portable in the traditional sense—it’s transportable—and that distinction matters.
Performance: Ryzen + Blackwell = Nuclear Fusion
Armed with AMD’s cutting-edge Ryzen 9 9955HX3D and NVIDIA’s monstrous GeForce RTX 5090, the Raider A18 is one of the fastest laptops ever made. With a 16-core Ryzen and NVIDIA’s flagship GPU, this system lands in rare air. The Procyon and SPEC workstation benchmarks show exactly what you’d expect: the mobile 9955HX3D may fall short of the 9950X3D desktop chip, but it handily outpaces my 9800X3D in heavily threaded workloads. Blender, Premiere Pro, and SPECviewperf demonstrate that this is a creator’s machine as much as a gamer’s.
We tested the MSI Raider A18 HX A9WJG-052US across our 15-game benchmark suite. At 1440p, it consistently hovered near 100 FPS, and at 4K, it delivered a solid 60 FPS average. While it doesn’t match the thermal and power freedom of a full desktop 5090, it often comes close to the performance of a desktop RTX 5080.
The charts below speak for themselves, but a few key takeaways stand out:
- 1440p High-Refresh Gaming: In games like Shadow of the Tomb Raider, the Raider A18 consistently delivered over 140 FPS, making it a true high-refresh-rate gaming machine.
- 4K Playability: Most modern titles like A Plague Tale: Requiem and Horizon Forbidden West were well over the 60 FPS mark at 4K, which is a remarkable feat for a laptop.
- DLSS/Frame Generation: For the most demanding games, like Cyberpunk 2077 with full ray tracing, DLSS 4 and Frame Generation are essential for fluid frame rates. With them enabled, the Raider A18 HX delivers an incredible 90 FPS at 4K. Without them, it can struggle to maintain a smooth experience.
The MSI Raider A18 HX isn’t just about raw power – it’s about pushing the limits of what a laptop can do. It’s a testament to how far mobile hardware has come, especially when paired with an aggressive cooling system.
Let’s take a look at performance in gaming on the next page.