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

I think so too. And especially now that the hardware is nearly identical (except for couple of buttons and keyboard lights), I just don't see why we can't all collaborate in a place where we would have the most audience.. So far, Branded thread folks have been very friendly and helpful.

I hope you get yours soon! Waiting 4 days for Ken to send it to me was no fun Walking around all dazed and confused. This is a great laptop!

 

Thanks. Mine should arrive by Monday or Tuesday as Ken is all out of stock so i have to wait till Friday before it ships at the earliest from what he told me earlier today . I am very anxious to get it and take that 780m out for a spin .

Hopefully we can all come together to some extent and just make things work. I would like to use the MSI firmware etc on my machine as well. I think the main reason MSI does not want us using that on the non branded ones is because it has the Windows SLIC tables for Windows activation built into them so they do not have to activate Windows when installing and nor would we but the barebone machines do not come with a Windows license so it is all a little grey in that respect.

I am sure Meaker will chime in on that whole debacle because i know he mentioned the branded firmware works but your mileage may vary.

 

That's one beautiful machine

 

I guess Ken and crew went on special commando pickup and delivery today directly to MSI so he managed to get my machine shipped out 2 days earlier then expected .

You cannot possibly ask for much more then that from anyone :thumbsup:

Should be here by Saturday if all go's to plan so i went from excited to geeked in no time flat .


Gracias Ken

 

Congrats on the new system. Hope you enjoy it! I have loved my 2 MSI laptops that I've had. This one is better than my old GX660. Just feel more refined and higher quality.

 

Thank you


This is my first ever MSI and i have owned so many Alienware/Asus and other brands in between i lost count along time ago so it will be interesting to finally experience MSI first hand.

The price/performance ratio this time around was just crazy compared to the other machines i was looking at plus i had RAM and an SSD already so this was getting me the power i wanted without the price .

 

Congrats! you're gonna love it! :thumbsup:

 

Thank you! She's a beauty. Took me a day and half to set everything up just the way I want it. Win-7 + Office 2013 (outlook configured) clean (imaged)
Win-7 + Office 2013 (outlook configured) + all drivers (Imaged)

Same for Win8. Total of 4 different images created and backed up. Now it's time to tear so crap up!

First order of business: Crysis 3 (I never got to play it). Looking forward to it with this brand spanking new 780M machine!

During the opening sequence (Ship / container yard / rain) The cooling fan kicked in for the first time, but nothing like the full turbo mode. I'd say about medium. With the game sound, I can barely hear it.

If what others are sayng about the cooling fan is true (older crappy vs. new fans), I have the older one. But I think I got lucky with this machine. Everything is PERFECT!

 

Hyper-X 1866 1.5V KHX1866C11S3P1K2/8G (4GB sticks x 4 = Total 16GB) works fine on MS-1763 Buddy of mine has these in his laptop. He brought it over for a quick test. Popped it into my laptop and here what I got...

Bios Post










I believe Ken at GentechPC has tested the Vengence sticks, but did not work. Apparantly the hyper-x ones do, even at 1.5v. Too bad I can't keep these sticks..

 

Nice well you have something too look forward to eventually for an upgrade.

I am not chasing any numbers and i have a single 8gb stick of 1600mhz Kingston i will be using and probably will never invest in anything else . Its a budget thing and i know i dont need more then 8gigs even if i want more just for the sake of saying i have it. Dual channel will be better for me as well but again its for chasing numbers more then how my machine is going to be running.

I forgot to ask but does your machine have an Msata slot ?. My SSD is an Msata but thankfully i have a converter to 2.5 inch if i need to use it that way . I was pretty sure the barebone has 0 Msata though but since you have the machine you would already know.

 

Nope. Just plain ole sata slots. I have 3 hdds installed. 256GB Samsung 840 Pro on the main (2 partitions). 750GB 7200rpm on the second bay. And another 750GB 7200RPM drive on the HDD Caddy. I keep the HDDs 'offline' to save power and only activate them when I need something from those drives.

In the near future, I plan on acquiring Crucial M500 (960GB) x 2. Or Samsung brand if they do come out with a similar drive. Over 2TB of SSD storage / no moving parts except for the cooling fan will be sweet! Hopefully soon! I am also planning on maxing out the ram slots (32GB). I run lots of emulation, and need to have VM running during the day for work. So extra memory will used 'well' My, my... how time flies.. Goodnight!

 

AWESOME!!!

I am also hearing about this easter egg where you can hit the G key while hitting the power button for an overclock?

That work on the barebone as well? Is it just the G key on the keyboard + power??

Thanks all!

 

Thanks MSI_Lover share the new Haswell generation barbone (model number is 1763, right?)

the laptop build this time much closer to the branded MSI one, with capslock/numlock indicator, similar trimming touchpad and hardware key for disable touchpad, we (the 1762 owner) miss all these function

 

If MSI can adapt the SLI display card function, they will become a king of gaming laptop

 

imo i think 1762 looks cool aswell, only some features as you stated num and caps lock indicator and physical button for disabling touchpad is surely some features we will miss, but i like the looks of 1762's touchpanel and touchpad more then branded MSI

One thing we really will miss is 780m card, its truly powerful

 

I've successfully flashed MSI MS-1763 Whitebook / Barebone laptop using MSI's branded Dragon Edition 2 bios / EC firmware. All tests have passed so far, except for something I don't understand. The function / behavior of " P1 " button, vs. Branded MSI's "Cinema" button. Once I understand how that cinema button is supposed to behave, I'll post exactly what I did as my final post on this MSI section. Then I'm leaving.. I'll reserve this spot and edit the post once testing is done... I know many were eagerly waiting for someone to take the leap of faith. That what I did... But I had no doubt in my mind that it wouldn't work. Hardware is identical, except the keyboard model (steel series full LED, vs. standard blue led), and couple of touch panel button icons (labels). Even the keyboard layout (keys) are exactly the same (confirmed only based on downloaded users manual of GT70 Dragon Edition 2. Stay tuned...

Update:

If you're thinking about re-flashing the bios and ec, via 'Forced' mode, you should be technically competent and I assume you understand the consequences, should something goes wrong, but here's the general "Warning" note:

******* WARNING!!! *************
Flashing bios / firmware could result in bricking your system.
If you opt to follow what I did, you need to understand and accept the consequences
I am not responsible for any loss of data, or damages to hardware regarding this process
I am simply sharing what I've done, and how I did it.
And it goes without saying, if you do this, you WILL void your warranty for flashig the bios / EC which MSI never intended for you
MSI website clearly states that you DO NOT use the branded MSI bios / EC onto other MS-1763 variations (whitebooks, fangbook, ibuypower, etc...,
******* WARNING!!! ************


First of all, why I did it:

MS-1763 whitebook laptop is a great laptop. I love this beast. Bought it from Ken at GentechPC. I seriouly recommend GentechPC. Ken is just simply GREAT to deal with. They've won another 'lifer'
The laptop is powerful, smooth and quite. My paticular laptop had no issues what so ever (including the loud fan noise which some are suffering from based on the older NSTech cooling fan.
The original bios and EC worked just fine, and there was no specific, "Immediate" need for me to change the bios / ec what so ever. So why did I do it?

This is a very new machine with very new HM87 express chipset. There's barely any drivers out there for this specific chipset (except for an old chipset created back in January for Windows 8 (Intel's Engineering version code named: Lynx Point).

And because this chipset and bios is so new, there's bound to be some issues down the road regarding additional hardware compatibility, bug fixes, as well as "Systems Optimization". So new and improved versions of the bios release is not a matter of "If", but "When".

Although, it's a great laptop (barebone), you get what you pay for. Virtually no support where a user can simply logon download fixes, and be done with it. In the case of barebones / whitebooks, one must call or write MSI directly and request a newer bios if you run into a problem. If you simply want a new bios, I understand that MSI tries to talk you out of it, unless you need to update the bios to resolve a known issues / fixes.

For me this is a no-no. For a chip-set so new, I want to be in a position where I can self-serve my needs at MSI's site and also to take advantage of any new / improved drivers and software which MSI will offer for the next couple of years. And it is for this very reason, I've decided to take the plunge / leap of faith to update the Bios and EC firmware, using the link proded from the Dragon Edition 2 downloads page --> http://www.msi.com/product/nb/GT70-Dragon-Edition-2.html


Sequence:

1. Update the system bios first using EFI boot instructions provided by MSI --> http://www.msi.com/files/pdf/Win8_UEFI_BIOS_Update_auto_en.pdf
( I've used w8_E1783IMS.507.zip file. (AHCI) ) I haven't tried the raid version, NOR am I going to. So please don't ask)

2. Update the EC firmware Using this instruction for the EC firmware update provided by MSI --> http://www.msi.com/files/pdf/Win8_EC_Update_Step_by_Step_Guide.pdf
( I've used w8_1763EMS1.502.zip file "Full-color Backlight Keyboard" version)
In case I deicde to swap out the keyboard to the full LED in the future.
I haven't tried the "Non Backlight Keyboard" version, NOR am I going to. So please don't ask.


Now that we have the 2 sequences laid out (very simple). We need to make a slight modification, to the process. As they will both fail on 'default' attempt when the flasher checks the current bios / ec versions. When it detects that you have a "non-compatible" / "quaified" bios / or EC already installed (and it will), the flashing process will fail. So here's what I did.

Before you get started, be warned, there is 1 issue with this flashing. Your Keyboard LED will not automatically light up after re-boot. You'll have to manually turn it on, or use KLM to start up. Just fyi... (read very bottom / final update section)

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Step / sequence 1. BIOS flashing process in more detail

Once you follow the instructions (step 1 (bios)), and get to the end of the instructions, you'll see that after everything is done (USB prep, EF files copy, etc..), and you've successfully entered into the EFI mode, and navigate to the USB stick directory, it tells you to simply type in: "flash" then press enter (without the quotation marks)

As soon as you do this, your system fan will jump to 100% (big Whooosh!). It then attempts to write, but it will fail. I forget the error message, but I believe it has to do with the version checking routine.
At this stage, look at the error message carefully. Right above it, you can see the command entered by the batch flash program, and subsequent error messages. The first line you should see is something like this..

AfuEfix64.efi E1763IMS.507 /p /b /n /k /r /shutdown

That's exactly what the flash batch file did. Execute those commands. No thing more. There are 2 ways to go around this problem.

Option1: Prior to booting into the EFI, under windows (if you have an accessbile windows machine at this point), open up the FLASH.nsh file using notepad. Then modify the command line to include 1 additional command: "/X" That's capitol X.
If you did this, your entire command should look like this:
"AfuEfix64.efi E1763IMS.507 /p /b /n /k /r /X /shutdown" Without the quotation marks of course..

Option2: Just let it fail, and as soon as it fails, at the EFI command prompt, manually type in the flash command. So instead of just typing "Flash" (without the quotation marks), simply type in the entire command manually: AfuEfix64.efi E1763IMS.507 /p /b /n /k /r /X /shutdown

Voilla! your bios should now flash. Once done, your machine will shut down. Just to be safe, I'd let it shutdown for about 1 minute or more. Then turn the machine back on, and as soon as it does, press and hold 'del' key to enter the system bios menu. Look over it, and verify that bios does show the correct version (the one you've just flashed). Then Press F9 to restore the bios to default settings. Save and exit. As soon as it re-boot, and when MSI splash screen shows up again, press and hold del key once again to re-enter the bios screen. Depending on your HDD configuration, and other settings you may need, you can now make those changes. Save & Exit. You're done with step one!

Step / sequence 2. EC Firmware flashing.

This is very easy. Simply download the EC firmware file and follow the instructions w/ 1 modification to the config.ini file. You'll find this file in the zip file (ec firmware). You may or may not be able to see this file (not sure) depending on how you've set up your file explorer under windows. In case you don't see this file, make sure you have configured yoru windows file explorer so that you are able to see the 'hidden' files. May not be an issue..

Back to step 2. Once you open up the config.ini file using notepad, you'll see the following entry on the 3rd row from the bottom: "CheckProjectID= 1"
If you leave that as it is / default, then the EC flashing will fail. Complaining about "Wrong Project" or something... Simply change the the '1' to '0' so that it looks like this: CheckProjectID= 0
By setting this to "0" you're basically telling the flasher to skip the 'check' routine to ensure that you have the proper hardware that is 'qualified' to use this firmware. AKA: "force"

Save the file, now launch (double click) winflash.exe from windows. Click / check on the 'Shutdown' check box (so that it shuts down automatically after the flash), then click on the "start" button within the winflash application. Let it finish, shutdown. Once the machine has shutdoww, do the following:
1. Unplug the power cord from the laptop
2. Remove the laptop battery
3. Let it sit for at least 1 minute. (I've let it sit for about 10 minutes just to be sure)

Replace the battery, plug in the power cable. Turn the machine on. Everythig should work. Double check the bios menu to make sure that your new EC firmware has properly flashed and its version showing on the System Info section within the main bios.

I WILL NOT be testing this using the original windows installation I had on there. That image is now wiped out. I'm a bit anal that way... I'm now installing a fresh copy of Windows 8 Pro X64 (bought / downloaded from Microsoft when it was first released).

So, if you're running your OS which you've installed prior to updating the bios or EC. Don't ask me, I can't help you. As a rule of thumb, I don't leave old OS installed under differnt bios hang around. It opens up way too many unknown variables in case the system doesn't function properly.

I've tested the following:

1. Check to make sure all hardware ports are working (USBs, ESATA, HDMI, and all other ports, including the memory card reader. (for me they are all working flawlessly)
2. opened up a notepad, and manually typed in every single key. All work fine.
3. Launch SCM and test the touch panel keys. (eject button will now bring up the SCM (like the "G" button on the branded MSI) All working properly.
4. Tested / verified all LEDs are working (system status orange LEDs below the touch pad, upper right num-lock, and CAPS led work fine.
5. I've tested all of the function keys including numeric function keys that control keyboard LED brightness up and down, and the function + arrow keys (voluem and LCD birhgtness control) All work just fine.


Only 1 unknown. When I press the " P1 " touch panel button, it lights up then fades. This behavior is same as before using original whitebook EC. On the Branded MSIs, that P1 is a 'Cinema' button. I'm not sure how it's supposed to behave, so I cannot this thoroughly.

Also, the main Power button works fine as well. When Intel IGP is in use, the button is lit of "White", when Discrete NVIDIA kicks in, it turns red. Just as it did before.

Just for fun, I've installed KLM, installing the MSI bios / ec doesn't magically convert your keyboard to full color keyboard. But wave, breathing, sectional dimming / on / off all work. I would probably never install this again, unless I swap out the keyboard to the Steel Series full colored ones.

There you have it folks. I wish you best of luck. I've learned a lot from this forum, but sadly, this is my final post. I've annoyed some people and have been labeled as that annoying "Geico Pig" I don't wanna be anyone's Geico Pig. I hate that friggin Pig!

Take care, and be good. See ya'll in couple of year!


After the bios and EC update (picture)


Bios Screen "System Info" tab (shows EC firmware version)


First Boot (MSI logo / splash screen)


After the MSI spalsh, goes straight to the Boot Agent


And finally, boots into windows just fine.



Update: Final update...

Installed fresh copy of Windows 8, all registers / activates fine, and all of the ports (hardware) and keys work fine. No problems what so ever. Playing Crysis 3 now just to test out the sound and graphics. Flawless.. (fans idle up and down as same as before when needed)

Update: Final / Final update w/ close to 48 hours of use... (felt obligated to update and warn of 1 issue which I've found / noticed)
I've found 1 annoying issue, but something I can live with... It has to do with the back-lit keyboard lighting. If I recall (using the original bios / ec), If you have the keyboard LEDs lit up, then reboot the machine the keyboard LEDs will briefly turns off, but turns on again after windows has rebooted (perhaps someone can confirm this (I don't remember).

But wiht the EC re-flashed, the keyboard LEDs will always shut off, and stay off if you do a shutdown / or reboot. It does not automatically restore it's previous state. The only way to get it back on is to manually press the keyboard LED key on the touch panel next to the power button (left side).

However, there is a workaround. If you install KLM (Keyboard LED Manager), and have it set to auto start (it autostarts by default / check task manager / startup), then KLM will turn the LEDs on automatically based on your prior settings. For me, this isn't worth it. I don't like to have too many things running in the background eating my precious system resources Pushing the keyboard light 'key' is do-able for me. (if someone knows another workaround, I'd be very interested.)

Update: Thanks to the test report from @Quadzilla, this is 'confirmed' side effect. The only one I've encountered so far. Either use as is, or use the KLM for autostart. If not, just simply press the keyboard light button after every shutdown / reboot.

Only other way I can think of (If it's even possible), is to find the a dos prompt command to turn on the keyboard lights at every startup. I could be wrong, but I doubt the keyboard lights are applied within the registry. I wouldn't even know where to look. If someone knows how to do this (turn on the keyboard lights via registry or dos command, please enlighten us.)

That's it. There are no issues I can see with the flash. I'm very happy with it.

Take care everyone.

 

very interesting mate!!!!we are waiting......:thumbsup:

 

Updated. I understand you have the same laptop. Enjoy!

 

Good job MSI_lover and for taking the risk. As we all know there is still some inherent risk involved in that process just like updating a BIOS on any machine and maybe a little more in this case because it is a force flash designed for another machine or rather so called other machine.

I will certainly keep this in mind if the time comes and i need it or as you said they add new features that the Barebone BIOS does not offer and they are not offering those features in an Updated BIOS.

I like the MSI splash screen at boot though .

 

Nice post, that had to take a fair bit of work! Glad it worked, I was curious why the bios was different to begin with, and figured it would work as well.

I believe the cinema button you are referring to is suppose to launch Power DVD 10. Thats what it does on my GT60 and I'm sure it does the same on the GT70. So, without the MSI provided version of Power DVD that buttom does nothing.

You should stick around the boards, I wouldn't let a couple of comments run ya off. There's always more new fun stuff to try or update on these machines.

 

MSI_Lover stick around for sure.

On forums you cannot let people scare you off with a couple snide remarks because the internet and forums are filled more with that kind of talk then without sadly.

 

damn nice job MSI Lover well done. that MSI splash screen looks cool :thumbsup: wish i could have that on my blank screen when i turn this 1762 on, By the way is there a way to remove that bigfoot agent message from startup? i pressed shift f10 and changed settings to 1 second and dont know but somehow they reverse back to default whenever i shut down my notebook

 

Thank you very much for testing MSI_Lover, nice job.

 

Just so everyone knows...... GUILTY...... I am the one who made the offending Geico Pig comment. (Seen HERE)

First of all, when I made that comment, I did so very delicately, pulling punches, but to drive a point home...... and I certainly did not expect this would drive you away from the forum. If you honestly examine your post prior to this event, I think you will agree, there was some credence and method to my madness (pun intended). This began HERE, and you immediately replied in a way that I assumed you understood...... but the double, triple, and quadruple posting continued..... and not only in the GT70 2OD thread, but each thread you participated in. Quadzilla then warned you, which prompted my arguably offensive post.

Anyhow, I will not apologize for the warnings, but I will apologize if you really feel I offended your sensibilities. I believe I had merit, and again, my intent was to make a point...... NOT to drive you from the forum. Should you decide to not participate further in the forum, you do this to yourself, because this is YOUR choice...... and this would be a shame, because clearly you have something to contribute...... as demonstrated here! Very nice job! :thumbsup:

AND, again if you can be honest about it, your exuberant multi-posting DID have an awful lot of 'WEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE' going on. I hate that darn piggy too, and one day he'll be on my grill!

Don't run away! Let's see some more great contributions! Hopefully you can laugh, and be done with this.

 

the cinema button in my 1762 (win8) will trigger the internal media player

 

Very brave for testing it, though it's still not officially supported of course

 

Thanks Ken!!! I appreciate your great service and help. I love this laptop. Now that it's done, I'm sure many bareboners are smelling the blood. Better stock up on more whitebooks! LOL!

I did find 1 issue with the keyboard (LED lights not turning on automatically after reboot). I did update the previous post to warn + workaround.

I wonder if this is just an issue based on the difference of the keyboard (fully color, vs. blue lit vs. keyboard model?) Anyhoo, I'm happy with this. All set and ready to enjoy. Perhaps you experts over there at Gentech can shed some light / theories on this...

Take care yourself. I'll be calling again in the future for my next "GentechPC laptop" :thumbsup: Ciao! :hi2::hi2::hi2:

 

Stick around buddy, don't let one guy drive you away, your post's are very informative. I've learned a great deal.

 

Got my machine today and overall enjoying it alot . Was never big at all on MSI's styling and i wont lie about my feelings though in person this machine (17incher) is much nicer then i thought it would and certainly looks better then i thought it would. Build quality is fine and everything feels good from the keyboard to the tiny touchpad. Yeah its tiny lol.

Now on to the temps. The stock fan profiles are just too hot period.. Like everyone maybe knows already but needs to be said again. First of my testing today is Vantage and the GPU hit 92/CPU similar and just too hot. So it is a hot potato and i would never run it that way all the time . Its actually a little freaky when you see the temps go up that high, well at least for me it is/was.

With the Turbo fan on my GPU never went past 76 in Vantage so that is a 16 degree difference and the CPU was similar but not as much maybe 8-10 degrees less.

With Ryzekis profile and Phereins fan profiler it will make the fans spin up and down much more agressively and too me at least use the fans the way they should be used. Its noisier no doubt but compared to 92c ill take the noise, and its not Turbo noise loud but loud enough for maybe others around you to take notice so you're YMMV.

Only had the machine a few hours and thanks Ken to from GentechPC getting it too me so fast and sooner then expected and also thanks to USPS for Saturday delivery at not extra charge .

 

i guess i should post this here as no one on MSI forum is even replying.

'Hello, i have this MSI 1762 barebone that supports THX TruStudio but im unable to get it to work, I Installed Realtek drivers and they are working good, now i downloaded 2 THX Drivers, EQ and AP.
I have windows 7 64bit, I opened THX EQ and it just wont open, there is alot of disk activity for a minute after opening it but nothing shows up ultimately, although i then ran THX AP and everything installed fine but when i open THX TruStuido a pop up occurs something like No Supported audio device available... and everything is greyed out.

What am i doing wrong?'

even my subwoofer is not giving any minor bass.

 

Hi Quad.

Congratz on the new notebook!

As to temps, at 92C, I can understand why you were concerned prior to receiving the notebook. What were your ambient room temps?

This is not Vantage, but in 3DMark11 I'm seeing a max temp of 75C on the CPU, and 68C on the GPU. I'll do the same for a Vantage run later on. but I'd be surprised if I hit 92C.



Enjoy that new notebook, and it's great to have you in our midst!

 

That was without turbo ? My first run was without Turbo but if your not using the fanboost then that would be very wild. I see pretty much everyone across the board hitting 90s without extra fan help though.


Ambient temp is like 76f

 

I have to assume that was with turbo fan turned on, otherwise something is way different than mine and most others I read about! As a comparison, while playing BF3 full server with 99% utilization for a full hour long match, without turbo fan GPU hits 93C, with turbo fan ON it maxes in the low 70's. I have repasted with MX3 but haven't noticed much of a difference.

I agree completely, we need to get the stock fan profile tweaked, but it is good to know at least the cooling system is more than capable, just noisy!

 

Well i was playing Crysis 2 and even with the fans going full bore i was like 85 after about 20 minutes. So yours is doing a good job of getting it cooled down way below what even mine is.

Also short short burst benchmarks can't really tell the whole tale. You gotta game on it for awhile with a demanding game to get a better idea.

 

Interesting to read, I didn't do much gaming before I repasted, just a couple benchmarks and getting windows setup... but it appears it must have helped more than I thought based on your temps. At stock clocks, running Crysis 3 or BF3 @ Ultra (ie 99% utilization) with turbo fan the GPU maxes at 73C. Was playing a bit yesterday afternoon with a 135+core/415+memory OC after some 3Dmark11 runs so left OC active, and with turbo fan temps never passed 81C.... I did eventually get a bit of glitching after 45 minutes, I'm assuming memory/voltage but haven't investigated further.... was also OCing the CPU for the first time at the same time as well, basically a torture run ha, so no idea what was the weak link, but temps with turbo fan were fine.

Curious, is this with a Gentech free IC diamond upgrade or stock paste? With turbo fan temps shouldn't leave the 70's at stock at least from what I've seen. We're just trying to find the balance of temps vs. noise without turbo fan....

EDIT: What is encouraging and does show me there is excess cooling capability, and hope for our noise/fan frustrations, is that even when it reaches 93C GPU temps at normal cooling, tapping the turbo fan button still cools things down to low 70's while still staying at 99% utilization.... so even heat soaked it can still cool everything down.

 

That was with IC diamond from Gentech. i already repasted and i did knock a few degrees more off. Propping up the machine probably provides the biggest benefit to the temps so far from everything i have tested.

When i repaste i always test once too see if the GPU heatsink is making proper contact by taking some paste and screwing it down then removing it and i noticed the side near the CPU was making far less contact so my heatsink might be slighty borked from the get go but based on Ryzeki's temps among many others it seems the temps are fairly normal. Ryzecki hits 88 using a 75% fan profile for example . I played Crysis 2 some more with it propped up on a table and my average temps were 75-80 with the fan at 90 percent using the app but nothing remotely even close to yours so you have one magical machine. Already repasted 3 times trying different methods then finally closed it up and just said that is that its going to be hot like everyone elses well except yours lol. I would never dream of overclocking this thing based on my current status.

Its a nice computer and i do wish my temps were abit lower though but i might take a crack at it again when i am in the mood to tinker or get some thinner thermal pads. One of my pads was pretty mangled up on the GPU.

When i am in the 90s of the temps and i hit turbo my fan will bring the temps down to maybe 84 if i am lucky so again something very different about your computer being able to drop the temps 20 degrees after the heatsink is totally saturated with heat.. That is beyond words.

 

How are you ambient temps? When I bench without Turbo fan my CPU is around 70C and GPU 75C max on 3dmark 11. If I try and play BF3 without turbo fan I will have mid 80sC on CPU and 88-92C GPU, and the GPU will downclock to stock clocks temp and then reclock backup and usually stabilizes around 88C.

BF3 with turbo fan is a different story though. I will never downclock or throttle. And CPU stays around 70C with GPU around 70-72C max. I have a 20 minute video recorded with afterburner and OSD showing this to be 100% true. I am repasted with IC Diamond on CPU, and Shin-Etsu on GPU because I ran out.

I am also sitting on top of my a Zalman NC2000. Might make a tad bit difference.

 

Yeah so many variables involved indeed. I am not using a cooler and just propping it up now that is all. My temps in my place are about 74-76 based on the thermostat on the wall. I used MX4 this time as i hate ICD personally it just scratches everything and i have never noticed a difference in temps no matter how many times i repasted with the 2 pastes but i know people love it so i am not going to bash it either.

When i ran Vantage without turbo, on the second GPU bench is when it will hit 92 . I have not tried 11 without turbo i just cant handle seeing those high temps so i wont even bother running anything now without the fan profiler or turbo on.

You 2 guys seem to be an exception though cause i have read every single page of the 15inch and 17inch and everyone it seems has high temps and while you guys do as well without the fan going once you kick the fan on the temps come back down as where mine do not, well at least to that degree .

With these machines i guess you just have to accept some hot temps i really dont know what else to say cause i have exhausted all my ideas and i have improved mine so it certainly is better then it was just not perfect.

I really would rather run it without blasting the fans like ill bet 99% of the owners are doing and not even thinking about it lol. You have to think how many will never want to play with Turbo on or mess with a fan profiler.

The expression "Run it till the wheels fall off" comes to mind

 

Hey Quad,

Ok, here ya go...... for comparison, I just ran Vantage and 3DMark11 again, no Turbofan, stock fan profile, SCM in ECO Gaming mode, ICD paste of CPU & GPU (including GDDR5), and ambient room temp of 75F. Yes, temps are warm, but my GPU Vantage temp is 10C less.

Vantage
Max CPU Temp = 88C
Max GPU Temp = 82C

3DMark11
Max CPU Temp = 85C
Max GPU Temp = 80C





I hope this helps....... also, yes the fan spun up a bit, but not excessively...... only minimally. At idle, I barely notice the fan at all..... very quiet.

 

It does help and makes me feel worse then i already did lol.... Your GPU score in Vantage is about 2k higher then mine as well . CPU should not come into play on the GPU score so that is very interesting.

Nice temps and it seems Ken really nailed yours down when he pasted it. He rushed mine out the door to make sure i got it as fast as possible but honestly having pasted so many machines over the years sometimes it is a matter of luck to get the perfect job and its not always the first time so will probably have to revisit my paste job one or 10 more times till im satisfied . It was a long day since i have been messing with this thing for 13 hours already and that is in between taking care of my son who has his own special needs shall we say . So yeah i am spent and my mind feels like a fried tomato.

Thanks for running those and now i have a baseline and a goal to work towards hopefully lol..

 

I have no idea what the difference could be... my temps without turbo fan are hot IMHO, but once I hit that button, it's loud (relatively speaking of course) but every time cools the GPU down into the low 70's while sitting flat on the table. Curious, have you looked at what fan you have? I do have the NStech, and it does have a slight grumble at slow speeds, which I read the T (forget the actual name) fan does not... maybe turbo fan isn't quite as fast?

As a side note, all temps mentioned above are sitting flat on a table, but I do have a Zalman 2000 cooler from years ago I have pulled out curious if it might help me from having to use turbo fan for comfortable temps: sitting on the cooler with the cooler fans on high (still quiet), while playing BF3 without turbo fan the GPU temps stabilize 89-92C, and the clocks remains at 850mhz. This is compared to flat on a table no cooler, no turbo fan the gpu drops boost clocks down into the 700's and runs at 93C.

Ambient temps in my house are ~73F.

EDIT: And to comment on your previous post, I too was shocked to see the difference turbo fan made; I had read 7-8C, but literally it's 92C down to 73C on my machine. And yes it spools up like a turbine!

 

Hey, no problem Quad...... and yeah, I know how it is. If anyone can get that machine purring, I know it will be you...... so don't despair.

I am curious..... I notice my 4900MQ is running warmer than the GPU in these benchmarks. so I am wondering what temps are seen from the 4700MQ in Vantage. I didn't run HW Mon before getting my upgrades. Is the 4700MQ running cooler?

 

I do have the Nstech fan not the T&T one i think others have mentioned. Like all things mass manufactured there are degrees of variance for better and worse and you two guys with the 15s got some unusual stuff going to drop 20 degrees after the machine is burning up. When i was playing Crysis 2 earlier for probably an hour and i saw between 75 and 81 i was pretty satisfied though so its not the end of the world because those temps are pretty darn good even if people have better to much better .

I would prefer to run my machine flat on a table vs propped up but maybe that is the difference between the 15 and 17 as well. One guy runs a cooler, the other guy runs it flat, they both cool down equally yet also hit 93 if they dont use turbo lol.


As for the CPU temps mine are between 78-81 i think but with the fans kicked up so i cant really say but i think mine would be hotter then yours Striker if i didnt run Turbo. So again you got a great paste job or some great plumbing on that thing .

The heatsink design is kinda whacky anyhow because the way the CPU and GPU are strapped together so you have to decide when you paste which do you tighten down first the CPU or the GPU ?. I guess there could be some trick to the way its all put back together to achieve better temps and maybe you guys can chime in on how you bolted it all back together CPU or GPU first ?.

I got a great price on my Barebone so i have little to complain about and i really like the machine so i dont want to spoil the fun for anyone else . I would just say like i had originally said that these run hot-er then some of the competing brands and if you can get over that idea you will be very happy cause its a darn nice machine .

 

A GT60 owner found a new fan profile, maybe it will work with the bareboner model.

All thanks go to Juliant for finding it:

Direct link. http://www.msi.com/service/download/firmware-20947.html

 

Yeah i have been tinkering with that all day yesterday and actually right now as well. You can find a happy medium of extreme noise and temps. The fan is still going to be loud though just not as much as SUPER ULTRA TURBO MODE.. .

 

With the bios and EC flashed to branded MSI versions I guess I owe it to you all to close the loop and provide some benchmarking tests. I also promised @Quadzilla that I would provide some benchmarks as basis of comparison, since we have the same exact laptop w/ only difference in the size of ram (probably) and the fact that I no longer have the stock whitebook / barebone bios / firmware. But nevertheless, I am guessing our laptops are pretty similar.

Also note: When I received the machine, I was able to successfully insert the memory modules WITHOUT removing the heat-sinks, thereby eliminating the need to potentially re-paste after the heatsinks were removed. The thermal grease was applied by GentechPC (IC 24k), I have never touched, the heat sinks / pipes. Just had to fiddle around with the rubber support / bumper which was lightly glued to the motherboard and insert the memory modules.

I have not touched the clocks on these machines. All tests were performed at default clocks (never even attempted to overclock).
My next project is to flash the VBios with an unlocked version. Only then will I attempt to overclock it. I want to make sure that the GPU is getting enough juice.
Also, if and when I do this (unlocked vbios), it will be done with a modified PSU with minimum of 240watts, potentially 330W (just to have some more room).

One complaint I have about this laptop is that I believe MSI 'skimmed' us with the 180watt PSU. Sure it has 'Hybrid' Power. But if the machine can be pushed to exceed the default PSU 180W threshold, and it needs to borrow power from the battery, just do the math: How many minutes, or hours of overclocked gaming can this "Hybrid-Power" possibly support? This doesn't make sense. They should've either just sucked it up and give us bigger PSU, or at least provide an option for bigger PSU w/ proper plug (if the weight of overall system or cost was an issue). My next side project is to purchase one of those 330W PSUs and attempt to solder the MSI plugs onto it. Aside from maxing out the ram to 32GB 1866 ( I run VM environments, so more ram the marrier). Enough venting... Onward to test results.

Laptop Specs: MSI MS-1763 Whitebook (flashed EC / Bios to MSI branded versions). Now, effectively converted to MSI GT70-20D
CPU: Intel Core I-7 4700MQ (default clock)
GPU: Nvidia GTX 780M (default clock)
Memory: was 12 GB sticks which I've scavanged from my old G74. DDR3 1600mhz. I think they're 'Corsair' Not sure, didn't pay attention when I inserted them in.
Fan Controller: Stock. MSI has released a new fan controller / profile. I have not applied them, nor plan to. I like the laptop exactly the way it is (quiet, and smooth)

Advanced Testing Environment: My Couch + Glass Coffee Table.
Supplemental: Coffe / Bagel / Cigarette
Ambient Temperature: Room Temperature (fluctuated in between 81.8 to 83 degrees in Ferinheight (about 28 degrees in Celcius)



All scenarios except the last one the bottom: Used laptop chiller, just for fun. Otherwise, the laptop was sitting directly on the coffee table (glass)

Here's the max temp after playing Crysis 3 for about an hour (laptop was sitting flat on the coffee table)
Fan Profile: normal
Power Profile: High Performance
Crysis 3 settings (everything cranked up to max w/ 1080P) (frame rate is very smooth)



3DMark 11 Stock Fan profile (max temp 80. Fan never cranks up more than 30% at best from what I can tell. My laptop is very quiete / smooth)
P Score= 7607



3DMark 11 with Turbo Fan Profile turned on (sitting flat on coffee table) (fan blasting full speed) Temperature stayed below 65 degrees. In this case 64 degrees.
P Score = 7612 (not much difference)


I believe given the ambient temperature these scores / temps are pretty respectable.

I did another test just for fun combining Turbo Fan and a laptop chill mat fan turn on simultaneous, just to see what I get
I have a Targus Laptop cooler / chiller (whatever you call these things) which I had for my old G74 laptop. Bought it at Marshalls for $5.00 (red stick clearance) (don't laugh). It has a USB plug which kicks up 3 fans. Until this day, I have never used this feature (fans). I've only used it to protect my laps from burning up when I was using the laptop on my couch or in bed... Well, today, just for fun, I decided to apply the fans from the laptop chiller and do another test using 3DMark 11 while Turbo Fan enabled. The fans on these chillers are controllable via a 'dial' on the right side. In this particular test, I had the laptop chiller fan set to lowest settings.

This is the laptop chiller I have which I bought for 5 bucks --> Best Cheap Targus HD3 Gaming Chill Mat for up to 18" Laptops AWE57US (Black) | Best Laptop Cooling Pad

Here's the test result (Just for fun, I would never use my laptop this way, unless I decide to do some serious Overclock Burn-In)
(Laptop chiller set to lowest + Turbo Fan on)
GPU Max temp: 64 degrees.


****************** Hybrid - Power Test Results ************************* "Gimmick" lol! (no difference, actually seeing some reduction, up to few points)


Fan profile: Normal
Location: Coffee Table
Hybrid-Power: ON
P Score: 7612
Max Temp: 80 degrees



Fan Profile: Turbo Fan ON
Location: Coffee Table
Hybrid-Power: ON
P Score: 7611 (No diference)
Max Temp: 67 Degrees




Fan Profile: Turbo Fan ON
Location: On targus laptop chiller w/ fan speed set to lowest
Hybrid-Power: ON
P Score 7622
Max Temp: 62 degrees



Interestingly enough, at least with this 3Dmark 11 tests, Hybrid-power actually reduced performance. Not much difference, but few points here and there.
I'm sure (hope) on an overlclock scenario, the things will change, but at stock setting, no difference when Hybrid-Power is applied, at least for 3DMark 11.

My laptop was purchased from GentechPC as you all probably know. I don't know who at GentechPC applied the grease on my laptop (doubt it was Ken as he was too busy taking orders and answering my stupid questions ) Whoever you are, thank you. Whatever you did, you did a great job! Laptop runs cool and fast!

I believe that closes the loop. Take care everyone!

 

Great to see you having fun with your laptop and thanks for posting these, great work man. Can't beleive the chillmat cooled so well.

 

Thanks! Almost done. I did forget to do 1 more set of tests: do the same with 'hybrid-power' on. Running it now. Will update soon... Then I am done / outta here!

 

Thanks MSI_Lover for running the tests and creating some different scenarios for temps.


I have my temps at a respectable level now and with the fan profile app i am able to keep my temps low at the cost of some noise which i am fine with. It is a great machine and i really do not have much to complain about overall .


I played Crysis 2 this morning with the fan at 70ish% and i dont think i broke 76 with it propped up which is pretty darn good. Id prefer not to have to blare the fan but it is there for a reason and MSI's fan profiles are just way to laxxed for people who are focused on temps.


About the RAM i did not need to removed the heatsink to insert the RAM either nor did i need to move the black block you spoke of, all i had to do was angle in the RAM carefully and seat it in.


Will be interesting too see if you pull better numbers with Hybrid power on.

 

I am glad you got it sorted it. I've updated the test results to include the hybrid-power. Hybrid-power doesn't do anything while 3DMark is running. It actually reduces the performance a click here and there.

Enjoy your laptop and best of luck. Take care!