--> The Official BAREBONER's Lounge <---

Here are the two current offerings to the gaming world by Micro Star International!!! The 17.3 inch MS-1761 and the 15.6 inch MS-16F2.

Keep in mind these machines are very easily and heavily customizable.
Prices and Specs listed are for the base models and are subject to change and variation between retailers.

MS-1761 Photos and Specifications
Pricing from From : ~$1,015











Intel 2nd Generation Core i5-2430M, 2.4-3.0,32nm, 3MB, 35W
Operating System Optional
Mobile Intel® HM67 Express Chipset (Sandy Bridge)
8GB DDR3 1333 MHz SDRAM, 2 x 4GB SODIMM (up to 32GB )
17.3" 1920x1080 FHD Matte-Type (Antie-Glare, Matte-type)
nVidia GeForce GTX 570M 1.5GB GDDR5, DX11 or GTX580M 2GB GDDR5
640GB 5400rpm 2.5" 9.5mm SATA II, 16MB
8X DVDRW Super Multi
Card Reader SD/SDHC/SDXC/XD/MSPRO/MS/MMC (support SD 3.0)
Video Camera 720P HD web camera
Fax/Modem/LAN/WLAN Built-In Bluetooth 2.1 + EDR
Built-in Wireless ABGN
LAN: 10/100/1000Mb

Interface 1 x Microphone-in jack
1 x Headphone-out jack
1 x VGA port/Mini D-sub 15-pin for external monitor
2 x USB 3.0 ports
2 x USB 2.0 ports
1 x RJ45 LAN Jack for LAN insert
1 x HDMI 1.4
1X eSATA Port
Audio HD Audio

Keyboard 103 keys Chiclet or Optional Steelseries Backlit Gaming Keyboard
Battery Pack & Life 9 cells Apprx 3-3.5 hours
AC Adapter Output: 19V, 9.47A , 180W
Input: 100~240 V AC, 50/60 Hz universal
Dimension & Weight 8.6 lbs 16.85" (L) x 11.34” (W) x 2.17" (H)
1 Year Parts/Free Domestic Ground Shipping/Lifetime Toll-Free Technical Support

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MS-16F2 Photos and Specifications
Pricing from $965.00











Intel 2nd Generation Core i5-2430M, 2.4-3.0,32nm, 3MB, 35W
Operating System Optional
Chipset Mobile Intel® HM67 Express Chipset (Sandy Bridge)
8GB DDR3 1333 MHz SDRAM, 2 x 4GB SODIMM (up to 32GB )
15.6" 1920x1080 FHD Matte-Type (Antie-Glare, Matte-type)
nVidia GeForce GTX 570M 1.5GB GDDR5, DX11 or GTX580M 2GB GDDR5
640GB 5400rpm 2.5" 9.5mm SATA II, 16MB
8X DVDRW Super Multi
Card Reader SD/SDHC/SDXC/XD/MSPRO/MS/MMC (support SD 3.0)
Video Camera 720P HD web camera
Fax/Modem/LAN/WLAN Built-In Bluetooth 2.1 + EDR
Built-in Wireless ABGN
LAN: 10/100/1000Mb

Interface 1 x Microphone-in jack
1 x Headphone-out jack
1 x VGA port/Mini D-sub 15-pin for external monitor
2 x USB 3.0 ports
2 x USB 2.0 ports
1 x RJ45 LAN Jack for LAN insert
1 x HDMI 1.4
1X eSATA Port
Audio HD Audio

Keyboard 103 keys Chiclet
Numberic Keyboard
Battery Pack & Life 9 cells
AC Adapter Output: 19V, 9.47A , 180W
Input: 100~240 V AC, 50/60 Hz universal
7.7 lbs (9 cell) 14.97" (L) x 10.24” (W) x 1.77" (H)
1 Year Parts/Free Domestic Ground Shipping/Lifetime Toll-Free Technical Support

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MSI Drivers located HERE:MSI Global ? Notebook - GT783(GT783R) More Links and information to come soon...

Issues have arisen with the use of 296.10 - I have rolled back to 295.73.
The notebook would crash with a "pink screen of death" on youtube videos fullscreen (and some games according to others).

Here is 295.73
http://www.geforce.com/drivers/results/41704

Here is the thread about others having similar problems with 296.10
http://forums.guru3d.com/showthread.php?t=359963&page=6


Latest Nvidia Driver for GTX 570m and 580m

Here is the Official MSI Barebones/Whitebook SITE:
http://www.msiwhitebook.com/index.asp

HERE are the gaming tests for different GPU's.
GPU INFO / SPECS


HERE is a good place to start when comparing video cards.
GAMING TESTS / FPS

Screen size comparison between 17.3in vs 15.6in
http://www.displaywars.com/15,6-inch-16x9-vs-17,3-inch-16x9

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'Where To Buy' MSI GT780/GT783 Notebooks

Friendly, reputable, and highly respected resellers, who freely volunteer their support to forum members:

1.) GenTech PC | Website | MSI 17" notebook site page | Tel#: 1-800-990-7945 | email: [email protected] | Contact: Ken Lee

2.) PowerNotebooks | Website | MSI notebook site page | Tel#: 1-877-711-1777 | email: [email protected] | Contact: Donald Stratton

3.) Xotic PC | Website | MSI notebook site page | Tel#: 1-877-289-9684 | email: [email protected] | Contact: Justin Nolte

4.) RK Computers | Website | MSI notebook site page | Tel#: 1-866-760-4998 | email: [email protected] | Contact: Rob M

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Owners please stop by and post up some specs, benchmarks, words of wisdom, pictures or just to say hello.

Let's try and pay it forward and return what we can to the community for all of the amazing information we have all gotten in the past from these boards and it's outstanding members.

S>O>U>N>D> O>F>F> B>A>R>E>B>O>N>E>R>S>!>!>!>​

( All are welcome anytime! Hope this thread becomes of some use to someone someday...)

 

Nice thread title LOL! Will receive my 16F2 in May.

Sent from my Galaxy Nexus using Tapatalk

 

It's finally here! I am staring at it and touching it and fondling it.... OoooOooohhhhh SEXY BAREBONER! (wait, not what I meant to say, well not that way... you dirty minded people!)

I have had almost a week now to play with this machine and get a feel for it. I am not the least bit disappointed. I am a minimalist who abides by the principle of "function over form" and "all go" before any show. The Barebones options was a no-brainer for me.


This thing flies! My Windows user experience index.



Here is a shot of my 3dMark Vantage score with PPU disabled.



Here is a shot of vantage with clocks at 750 core/1700 memory/1500 shader.



Temps after 2 straight hours of BF3 without max fan boost:



A second after another 2 hour session:




I decided immediately upon the SSD, i7 2670m, second 750gb black drive upgrades as essential. The rest of the specs in my signature were after thoughts. I honestly felt I got such a great deal on this unit from Ken at GenTechPC that I decided to add more and more to it. For just around $1600 this is one HELL of a machine. You will not find anything like in your local best buy for sure... You will also be hard pressed to find anything that is configured like this for less than $2000 maybe $2500.

I ordered my machine through GenTech after pricing and talking with different retailers. Ken quickly and patiently answered my question after question with expert knowledge. He is an owner-operator who exudes customer service. You can tell he is invested in himself and his company completely. Did I mention he beat everyone else's price too?

The computer is sleek and simple yet youthful with the steelseries keyboard's color options. The keyboard works great and I haven't felt any flex unless I pound on this this thing like Kenshiro-chop style (VIDEO HERE). Just typing or gaming it feels solid as the keys have tactile click response. I haven't had any keystroke errors either. The computer hasn't crashed or frozen up on me. Everything is rolling smooth like greased lightning. So fast that I want to upgrade my internet package come monday!!! Always a bottleneck somewhere and for me at least it's my home internet not anywhere on my machine.

I think the thing that surprised me the most was how light the thing actually is. I expected it too be brick like. It's actually fairly light considering it's size. Surely glad I went for the 17.3 now as I was afraid it would fit in my bag or it would be too heavy to carry - but that's not the case.

It cold boots and loads all of my startup items in just under 30 seconds. It was about 24sec on day one. I haven't done any startup tweaking to it yet. Shuts down in about 7 seconds. After running BF3 on HIGH at 33-43 FPS and Ultra at 23-33 I decided to just leave the 570m at stock clocks for now.

I feel confident now that I made a good choice having tried it. I also am confident that if any issues arise in the future that I will have the support of Dr. Ken Lee on my side and not some corporate telebank call center.

Please let me know if there is anything else you guys would like to know. I'm going to cut it short for now as this post is getting pretty long now. I will also be adding more to this review and to the main info post up above in the near future.

 

(awesome thoroughbred 'branded' bull just entered the thread.....)

Thoroughbred:
1.bred from pure stock
2.well-bred and properly educated


LOL! VERY NICE eelkered!

It is very nice to see I have brought inspiration and motivation in your life. Also, it is good to finally see you BONE-HEADS finally have your own Owner's Lounge, and that you BONERS now have a rightful place to hang.

I do have one tiny little suggestion however...... You may want to get with one of the Mod's, and add to the threads title, 'MS-1761 and MS-16F2', because MSI has had numerous barebones productions.

Oh and BTW.....

MS-1761 Barebones = A simple, yet powerful MSI notebook, encased with a condom, and powered by Viagra. Questionably considered sexy by some.

GT780/783 = Beautiful and elegant, yet the true GAMER's 'leading-edge' MSI notebook...... encased with stylish brushed aluminum, and powered by steroids. Awe-inspiring, it is guaranteed to impress and 'WOW' all by it's mere presence.

Also, you are more than welcome to hang with us cool GT780/783 kids..... occasionally!

Good Job eelkered, Nice thread & review!

 

A custom sleak barebones is far more refined than a stock flashy/gaudy retail model

 

Totally agree

 

I like em bare mm Hmmm

 

I'm trying to figure out one thing about these barebones. Xotic PC is offering this keyboard upgrade "Steelseries™ Backlit Keyboard". Is it an additional keyboard (USB), or does it replace the builtin one?

 

The MSI barebones site.

For all you boneheads!

MSI Notebook Website

 

@Striker: Good humoured and well written post, I laughed out loud

Kudos.

I will most likely be a bare-boner next week, just trying to decide whether to go for the 16F2 or the 1761. I'm leaning towards the smaller one, but... Is the 1761 so much bigger?

 

It is a replacement, backlit, gaming-brand keyboard. I like the one I have but have never had a stock to compare it to.

The size of the 16F2: Size & Weight Size:
Size:14.97" (w) x 10.24" (d) x 01.77" (h)
Weight: 7.6 lbs with 9-cell Battery

The size of the 1761: Size & Weight
Size:16.38" (w) x 11.25" (d) x 02.17" (h)
Weight: 8.6 lbs with 9-cell Battery

So it's 1.4 inches wider than the 16F2. check the photos for the differences compared to the same keyboards on each.

Here is a good link depicting the "screen" size differences:
http://www.displaywars.com/15,6-inch-16x9-vs-17,3-inch-16x9

 

Either way you go it's not a small machine. BIG barebones LOL.

 

That it is. But it won't break your back. She's just a lil chunky. But a fun ride.

 

Nice thread eelkered and I am sure it will help a lot of people.

 

Thanks a lot!

 

No condoms here - hence the name. Did you miss that?

Here is our mascot!

 

You know, there is a high chance of needing Viagra after using Steroids

 

I plan on getting one in order to play Starcraft II mostly. I wanna play on High Settings in 1v1 is this possible. I'm also going to take it to school. With the default configuration of the FORCE 16F2 model with NBR and School Discount how much do you think the base configuation will be as long as I can get OS myself.

Most likely getting it through Xoticpc

 

I'm not sure if they will combine discounts. Some places do and some don't. Just call em up on the phone for the fastest answer. Try the Big Four listed in post one. Talk to people and get a feel for who you will dealing with and what they have to offer - price and customer service wise.

I can't tell you anything personally about starcraft. But check the links below. It looks like it should get an easy 42fps on ULTRA settings.

Here are the gaming tests for different GPU's.
NVIDIA GeForce GTX 570M - Notebookcheck.net Tech


Here is a good place to start when comparing video cards.
NVIDIA GeForce GTX 570M - Notebookcheck.net Tech

I have added these links to the original post too.

 

Thanks. So there is some difference, but not that much. I noticed that the 17.3 screen is much closer to the edges than the 15.4 screen, but I am leaning towards the 16F2.

 

I'd advise the 17.3" screen on the MS-1761, since starcraft2 will look a little cramped on just a 15.6" screen, so trust me you'll appreciate every bit of extra screen size. As an additional bonus you can get a backlit keyboard on it if that interests you. Lastly make sure not to gimp yourself with a mediocre Cpu, as RTS games are very Cpu intensive and demanding. I'd advise a 2760qm if you can get the upgrade for a reasonable price (some resellers are more expensive then others so have them price match or move on to another), but a 2670qm should suffice as the minimum.

 

I fired up SC2 the other day actually.. maxed everything out and didnt have a single slow down.. 570m OCd to 800core

 

What specs and which model did you use?

 

Thanks, slick.

I think I will go with GenTechPC, but let's see. I am not really an RTS player, I prefer turn based, but I guess I will try going for a better CPU. The 570 should suffice, though.

 

A 7200rpm hard disk is recommended also for better performance than the stock 5400rpm

 

Well, sadly the second HD price has gone up in GenTech and also the extra RAM, so XOTIC now have the best price. This is the probable spec that I am getting:

FORCE 16F2-012 / MSI 16F2
- 15.6” FHD 16:9 LED Backlit Wide screen (1920x1080) Super Clear Matte Type Screen (SKU - X1R354)
- NO Professional Monitor Color Calibration
- Contact us about our Significant Savings on our 30-Day No Dead Pixel Warranty. Heavily Discounted!
- 2nd Generation Intel® Core™ i7-2630QM, 2.0-2.8GHz, (32nm, 6MB L3 cache) (SKU - X2R205) - BACK-ORDER
- Stock OEM Thermal Compound ( IC Diamond Thermal Compound - CPU + GPU Provided FREE with Processor Upgrade!)
- nVidia GeForce GTX 570M 1,536MB PCI-Express GDDR5 DX11 (SKU - X3R454)
- No Video Adapter
- 8GB DDR3 1333MHz Dual Channel Memory (2x4GB SODIMMS) - Default (SKU - X4N340)
- Standard Finish
- 128GB Samsung 830 Series Solid State Drive (Up to Sequential Read 520MB/s - Write 320MB/s Serial-ATA III - 6GB/s) (SKU - X5R426)
- 500GB (w/ 4GB SSD Memory) Seagate XT 7200RPM NCQ Hybrid 32MB Cache (Serial-ATA II 3GB/s) (SKU - X5R429)
- HDD Raid Settings - OFF
- 500GB 7200RPM 16MB Cache Buffer (Serial-ATA II 3GB/s) in ODD Bay (SKU - X7R202)
- No Extra Optical Bay Hard Drive Caddy
- No Back Up Hard Drive
- External USB 2.0 Slim Blu-Ray Reader + 8X DVDRW/CDRW Super Multi Combo Drive
- No Floppy Drive
- Internal 7-in-1 Card Reader (MS/MS Pro/MS Duo/MS Pro Duo/SD/Mini-SD/MMC/RS)
- No Back Up Software
- Internal Bluetooth + EDR
- Bigfoot Networks Killer™ Wireless-N 1103 (3x3) (ETA: Mid-March) (SKU - X8R052)
- No Network Accessory
- Integrated Digital Video Camera
- No TV Tuner
- Sound Blaster Compatible 3D Audio - Included
- No Carrying Case
- Smart Li-ion Battery (9-Cell)
- No Car Adapter
- No Spare AC Adapter
- No Dock/Hub/Adapter
- No Fingerprint Reader
- No Headset
- No External Keyboard or Mouse
- No Notebook Cooler
- No Thanks, Please do not Overclock my system
- No Operating System Redline Boost
- No Operating System Standard - Drivers & Utility Software Only
- No Office Software
- No Software Bundle
- 1 Year Complete Care Warranty - 1 Year Parts with Ground Shipping, 24/7 Telephone Tech Support & Lifetime Labor Warranty (SKU - X9R000)
- Standard Production Time
- No Xotic PC Gear

I'm still not sure if I will get a 580 GTX, I don't know if the price jump justifies it, to be honest. I think the 570GTX will probably handle 95% games with good FPS at native 1080p resolution. 370 Obamas do seem like too big of a jump for extra 30% frame rates.

Also, there does not seem to be any difference between the 2670 and the 2630 CPU except for a few MHz more. So I think I'll stick with the 2630.

 

@mtrein

Consistent price changes are a chore for resellers, so you should keep in mind..... most all the resellers here 'Price Match' (including GentTech), and all are equally competitive in pricing. If you see pricing different from one reseller to another, all you need do is contact your reseller of choice, and they will gladly adjust pricing in kind.

 

Thanks Striker, that is what I am hoping for. Come next week I will surely be haggling as hell.

Any thoughts on my doubts, though?

 

Keep in mind there will not be alot of room for haggling, but 'Price Matching', Yes!

The 580M is a considerable boost, and considering the extra wattage, runs amazingly cool...... about the same temps as the 570M. BUT, the 570M will aptly game most any game available. If you are looking to keep cost down, I think you are making a good choice in the 570M. I was very pleased with it's performance, and I really don't think you'll be disappointed.

 

So I DID read that correctly... You guys are creepier than the Desktop freaks over at OCN. XD

 

Ummmmm, and THIS coming from a guy with that creepy clown AVATAR?

BTW, all in fun amongst friends, and I was pretty much done with it...... UNTIL YOUR POST!

LOL!

 

Latest Nvidia Driver added to initial post and located HERE.

I just finished updating.

I also gained back about 5-6 GB of space by disabling hibernation on my SSD.

Here is a video explaining how to and why.

Using space sniffer I see paging file is using quite a bit. Anyone have it disabled?

You can disable the paging file to free up space that would have otherwise been set aside on your SSD by the operating system. But bear in mind this move isn't without risks. Should your system run out of physical memory, the fact that there is no virtual memory available to allocate means that subsequent crashes are quite likely. Really, this mostly makes sense if you have a ton of RAM and aren't worried about the potential for data loss should an application crater in the event your system exceed what is installed.


Any other tips to contribute for a new SSD / system?

 

Very Nice! Good video find eelkered! The WIN 7 hibernation file can be somewhat problematic anyhow.

 

Well, from what I've heard - pagefile and SSD doesn't mix well (will wear the SSD out faster). I'd recommend moving the swap to HDD.

 

SSD Optimization Guides:

Optimization Guides - The SSD Review

 

Nice thread here guys! I've got a script which will do the SSD optimisation for you. I'll dig it up when I'm home. Still LOL'ing at the thread tittle... Surprised the 17" owners haven't rolled in with 'my bareboner is bigger than yours'... Well yeah let me be the first

 

Yes hibernation can be problematic especially with SSD.

 

Hahahah, good one

Fortunately I'm at the age where bareboner size does not worry me anymore

 

LOL! Are we still talking about laptops?

Sent from my Galaxy Nexus using Tapatalk

 

So I'm new and I just got my new Force 1761 from GenTech yesterday and I'm loving it so far. It flies and so far plays pretty much everything I've thrown at it on max. Its even handling visual studio nicely.

But as much as I love it, I am curious if anyone can recommend a smaller psu. The delta one that came with mine from GenTech is literally a brick, which is fine for when I use it at home, but I will be commuting and the brick weighs pretty much as much as my laptop it seems.

I've read that it can use a 180w PSU, I'm just curious if anyone has used a specific one with luck that is smaller then the Delta one.

 

Ransim, if I may ask: Care to share your CPU and GPU temperatures when idle and when at load? And what CPU and GPU did you get?

 

Happily, I haven't done extensive load testing yet, but I have one game that when running at max puts a load on the GPU, so these are numbers while that game was running. I was planning to run load testing tonight. I did notice the GPU seems to run a bit warm, but hadnt yet fully researched the normal numbers to know whether I should pull it apart and apply thermal paste myself.

Specs -
17.3" 1920x1080 Full HD (Matte-type) Anti-Glare
nVidia GeForce GTX 570M 1.5GB GDDR5, DX1
2nd Gen Intel Core i7-2670QM, 2.2-3.1GHz,32nm, 6MB, 45W
IC Diamond 24 Carat Thermal Compound on both CPU/GPU (Free with CPU Upgrade)
16GB DDR3 1333 Dual-Channel (4G X 4)
120GB Intel Solid-State Drive 520 Series SATA III 6Gb/s
750GB 7200rpm SATA II 16MB 3GB/s
Bigfoot networks Killer™ Wireless-N 1103 with two antenna
4X Blu-Ray Read/8X DVDRW Super Multi Combo Drive
Steelseries Backlit Keyboard w/24 Programmable Color Variations Kinzu Gaming Mouse
Dynaudio Premium Sound Technology

Load - City of Heroes Max graphic settings


Here are my numbers right now with just chrome and steam chat running (Aside from the monitoring software)

 

Hey, those are really good temperatures. If you will do more extensive testing later, please share the results. I think a good one would be to play some 3d demanding game for about 2h and then take the temps.

 

Get a power meter, should be about $15 from your local electronics store, and actually have a look at the power draw under load. I've got the 580m in my system, and I can see it going to 180w easily during gaming with a relatively small overclock. Without actually looking up the specs right this instant, I remember hearing that the 570m and 580m were pretty similar with regards to power consumption. Therefore I would probably not recommend anything smaller than 180w supply. I've seen my system pull over 200w from the wall. The supplies arent 100% efficient though of course so the real number is maybe 20w to 30w lower, but my 180w has cut out a number of time because I've exceeded the max power of the adapter.

 

Doing some of the Special Ops Survival Missions in COD MW3 I maxed out the 180W AC Power and cut out on my GT780DX

One of the 1st questions I asked when the GT783 was coming out was the size of the adapter.

Maybe the GT70 will have a 220W or higher AC Adapter besides the 90 degree plug and I can buy one if it will be plug size and output compatible.

 

I have read through that guide. There a few things that are controversial and offer neglible to negative effects.

Have you personally used all of the tweaks listed there?

So far I have only used the Hibernation disabling. I also tried the "full cores" maximum memory boot and saw no discernible difference. The no GUI boot seems to gain a second at the most on start up. Trim is already auto-enabled, decided to keep my system restore as some claim it isn't as intrusive / problematic as this site claims.

Superfetch / prefetch were automatically disabled on my windows.

Although, I did re-order my boot options to ssd as #1 vs ODD first. Doesn't seem to have done much either.

Not much else I can see of much use in that in that guide.

The main thing limiting my boot up times is the damn bios. It takes 16 seconds on it's own just to start loading windows which takes another 14 seconds at the most. It is definately FAST and nothing to complain about but when windows is loading faster than bios it's kind of annoying...

Here are my idle temps next to "ransim's". Room temp is about 74f.

 

With a modern SSD and Windows 7, most of those tweaks are unnecessary.

I just leave the pagefile, hibernation, indexing, the recycle bin, system restore, and the temp folder as-is; Windows 7 does the necessary ones automatically.

Those tweaks are best for pre-TRIM SSD's and first-gen TRIM SSD's, or systems with older OS's.

 

Wow,you're really putting my old eyes to the test with that temperature comparison picture.

Maybe better to use something like Screenshot Captor and then post an attachment.
http://www.donationcoder.com/

I've used and done probably all of the optimizations at one time or another.

The ones that recoup space used for things like hibernation and restore are ones I always use.

I have Windows 8 Consumer Preview on a mechanical hard drive that I've been using exclusively for 2 weeks now.

I'll buy another 240Gb SSD to put W8CP on once I get to the electronics center this weekend and then try out the optimizations in the guide again.

Some folks have kept a minimum size page file claiming some apps they use need it.I always did away with it.

I may not go back to Windows 7 x64 at all!

 

Oh wow, didn't realize it would be that small. My eyes ain't that old yet though... lol

I did pinch to zoom with the trackpad to read it. I will surely look into that software though. thanks WTP.

 

I bought an HP 230w smart adapter, and wired a 90
Degree plug to it I bought from my electronics shop. Works a treat so far.