MSI GE63VR / GE73VR Raider Laptops

My hinges began to crack the plastic within a few months of purchase but I ignored it as I didn't want the hassle of a warranty return. Over the course of 2 years the cracking extended to the point where the plastic bottom base cover was cracked (including a vent disintegrating and breaking off), the red plastic bit which I think the motherboard attaches to was broken, the plastic screen covers were cracked (front and back) and the right hinge was entirely detached. So the screen was only hanging by one hinge and unable to open unsupported. Over the course of that time I had tried various repairs like epoxy, drilling holes and adding nuts and bolts which temporarily fixed it but I'd run out of fixes.

So I had no choice but to send it away to MSI for repair. Technically it was still under warranty (2 years + 3 months) but I was expecting to pay the full cost as my repair attempts were incredibly obvious and the plastic damage so extensive. But I was very surprised to have it returned to me within 6 days with no cost whatsoever. Courier picked it up on a Tuesday and Courier delivered it back the following Monday (no cost to me). All the broken plastic bits had been replaced. My warranty expired 2 days later.

The hinge mounting is a design fault and destined to fail. I had decided never to buy an MSI again however their amazing warranty service has to some extent changed my mind. Perhaps while not officially acknowledging the design fault, they nonetheless are very willing to accept it exists and thusly more generous about repairing damage which otherwise they could put down to user carelessness.

I have loosened the hinges now as much as possible (while still keeping the screen upright when open) but l suspect the cracking will start again in a year or 2 as the problematic design remains. However if it will last another 2 or 3 years, that will be enough and time for a new laptop anyway.

 

FYI. The hinge failure happens to many brands as it's caused by wear and tear. The proper way to open the LCD screen is from the middle so the force can distribute evenly to both hinges. Some older models may have common issue with hinges but happens less on the newer models.

 

Before buying the MSI I had always bought DELL and never had a problem with hinges. In fact my 8 year old DELL is still working without issues. The MSI hinges began to fail within 4 months of purchase. I have subsequently researched and discovered this appears to be a common issue with some of the MSI models.

Everything wears out eventually. However, the mounting of the hinges in my MSI is poorly designed as it places too much stress on too little plastic to sustain long term usage. (Not that 4 months constitutes long term).

Anyway, the above whinge notwithstanding, I am impressed with the MSI service department.

 

This issue was with your GE73VR?

 

Hi all. Its been a year and 7 months since I purchased my GE63VR 7RE. I am still using the original gpu driver from MSI website. Is there anything to gain if I update with the latest driver from Nvidia? MSI support doesn’t update their drivers anymore

 

Does it have 388.16? My findings are that 430.97 is about 6% faster. The latest ones tend to be optimized for 2.xxx RTX cards and are a little slower.

 

Mine came with 388.16. I think its MSI only version since I cant see it in Nvidia website.

 

I always use Nvidia WHQL drivers, haven't found any need for MSI ones. So far tried 24 versions after 388.63 (my original), missed some as they were just bugfixes etc: https://forums.laptopvideo2go.com/topic/32247-benchmark-results-for-nvidia-geforce-gtx1080laptop/

 

Definitely recommend Nvidia driver since MSI doesn't update their driver that frequent.

 

Hi guys, is there any useful benefit of having modded/custom bios? I asked Svet from MSI forums and he said the bios can be modded. However, Optimus cant be disabled completely to allow nvidia gpu to directly render to the laptop screen instead of the igpu.

 

Here is the communication

 

I have the GE73VR 7RF which I bought in early February of 2017. Hinge broke, peeled the plastic off and was cracked (babied this laptop). MSI said it was my fault despite me showing them a ton of similar complaints all over the web, flat out refused to pay for the fix. Cost me $100 at my local shop after a ton of back and forth, they replaced the ENTIRE back of the screen. Moving on.

I have a question. I play games like Cities skylines which I mod to death, my asset count is stupidly high and my 16g of ram isn't enough. I have two 8 gig sticks in dual channel mode and I know the laptop can handle 2x16 gigs. Can this particular build handle more than that? I expect this laptop to last me a couple more years and am hoping more ram will prolong the life a bit. (I already upgraded both drives). Anyone have any current recommendations for quality dual channel ram @2400mhz or is simply find one on sale kind of deal? I read some thread on some forum (don't remember where) and the person was claiming 64gb was possible with this model, but per usual, I am skeptical of much that doesn't come directly out of this thread.

Thanks in advance

 

hey there
check this post hopefully it will help u out.
http://forum.notebookreview.com/thr...ge73-raider-8rf-options.825986/#post-10823870

 

guys hi again,
i just noticed there is a Vbios update on msi website for GE73VR 8RF...
https://www.msi.com/Laptop/support/GE73-Raider-RGB-8RF#down-firmware
can be the bios modified before flashing it? will it be safe to flash?
i found they put some guide how to flash it, and now i wounder if it will work with modified bios

 

Thanks a bunch

 

Has anybody tries upgrading RAM to corsair? Is there any noticeable improvement by changing brand?

 

Max official supported frequency is DDR4-2666, but with XMP you may be able to hit 3000MHz.
https://forum-en.msi.com/index.php?topic=328280.0

 

But the bios of this laptop does not have an XMP option

 

Sorry, looks like you have the 7RE but not 8RE so that won't work then.

 

I have a 7RE - with an Unlocked bios it will do 2666 at least with XMP. Speak to Svet.

 

Does having xmp have noticeable benefit in gaming? Like is the 50USD donation to svet worth it for adding xmp in the modded bios? Also is flashing the modded bios just the same as flashing the official bios from MSI?

 

It helps to increase system performance due to higher bandwidth. Svet definitely can help you to achieve that.

 

Hi. Another question. Will it make a difference if I buy a 230W power brick with the same output voltage (9.25V). Will it increase performance? I am noticing power limit throttling in gpu for about a split second during heavy games. Or will the bios limit the powerdraw to a maximum of 180W?

 

Hi, I'm getting around the third year with my GE63VR 7RF bought on GentechPC in August-17 and I'm starting to see what I think its the time factor affecting its performance, to be more precise I've been getting thermal throttling (mostly) on the CPU. So, I'm looking for solutions to this and I'm very keen to do a re-paste because I imagine the Liquid Metal is probably dried for a while already.

The temps I'm getting currently, if I use COD Warzone to measure, its 93 (mostly) and spikes to 97 Celsius on the CPU, and GPU stays around 90 degrees.

So, questions:
1. As its liquid metal and I've never did a cleanup of such type of paste/liquid, is there anything that I should be careful when cleaning it before placing the newer one?
2. What would be the best option on the market for thermal paste currently? Considering longevity and efficiency? Im think on Artic mx4 as the Kryonaut I've seen too many people complaining of dryness (maybe they are wrong?).
3. BIOS, I'm currently on E16P1IMS.10A and I've seen there is a newer version of the BIOS, is there any good on updating to the new one?
4. As for the XMP, I couldn't find the option even doing the R_CTRL + R_Shift + L_Alt + F2 trick, I've found something similar called memory profiles, but the default profile already shows as if the memory was running on 2400mhz, am I looking on the right place?
5. Might be a dumb question but, would undervolting be something to consider to reduce the thermal throttling?

Thanks

 

In short, I'm tired, sorry.

1) Static, follow precautions- wear grounding strap and place laptop somewhere sensible. I killed a GE62 not doing this Keep screws in a dish of some sort, so you don't lose them. Wear some sort of nitrile gloves, thermal crap is nasty on your hands.

2) Preference ... I used Kryonaught but this was 6 months ago.
3) Yes - you will need to upgrade Bios in order to do 4)
4) You will need a Custom/unlocked bios to set XMP. The bios is based on parts saved from your own machine, preserving the windows key etc. So upgrade to most current BIOS first, then speak to Svet over on https://forum-en.msi.com/index.php?board=51.750
I've now got mine running 2666 Mhz DDR4

5) Yes - the 7700 isnt the coolest running, and with a 1070 it will be toasty. Repaste, undervolt and even a cooling stand with fans underneath (I use mine on a desk) anything you can do to lower temperatures.

I did it on my machine without issues and am very happy with the results.

 

Thanks for the reply, I've ordered the mx4 (along with a new nvme ) and already updated the BIOS, I will have a look on the XMP later (thanks for the link though).

Have you also updated the vBios? is it worth it??

 

VBIOS. If you can, and there's one available, do. I've only got a 1060 in mine for which there doesn't seem to be any upgrades.

 

Actually, there is a recent VBIOS released on 31/03/2020 for your model too, if you go to the support page on the firmware tab you will find it.
But it only says "Fix Oculus Rift S HDCP error." which is the same as mine, I'm just not sure whether its worth it or not (sure is risky).

 

I did it even with the slight mismatch I had Correct card, something odd about firmware I was running. But then I had custom drivers installed. Lived to tell the tale, internal and 2 external displays running fine...

 

So, the artic mx-4 paste and nvme arrived, did a clean up internally, there was a bit of dust on the coolers but I managed to remove all after opening them up as well.
After all the cleaning and the nvme installed, the temperatures dropped to 71 degrees on the GPU and 76 on the CPU, which was fine. Then, I also did the undervolting, which I managed to get 69 on the GPU and 71 on the CPU on ultra settings for COD:Warzone and Killing Floor 2.
I will test GTA 5 and RDR2 later because I'm still fine tuning the GPU undervolt, which the scan of the Afterburner was pretty aggressive on both undervolt (0.950mv) and core clock (2200mhz) and I saw there was a lot of power and voltage limit showing on the monitoring (which I don't think is safe), so now I have managed to get stable on 1.025mv with 2000mhz on the core clock without any sort of limitation.
I'm pretty happy with the results, not only the thermals are pretty good as well as I managed to get more fps out of the games, egg. warzone went from 46-50fps (with drops to 20fps) to 65-78fps stable.
I saw that I have only one 16GB memory stick, is it fair to say that I'm still not using full potential as the memory is not dual channel? Would I be able to get, say, 10fps+ increase out of dual channel? that would make the buy of another stick valuable, but for less than that, I don't think I would consider.

 

Well, I went ahead and bought another 16GB 2400mhz memory stick and it was game changing! 20+ fps gain on Warzone, Killing Floor 2 topped at 120fps...lol

 

Wow nice, why did this make such a big difference?

 

Possibly less thermal throttling due to paste and undervolt. VBIOS update could have tweaked the 1070 card a bit as well. Plus less smashing of pagefile/windows crap... and maybe a bit quicker read/write.

Not Gamed much on my laptop recently so yet to see if the VBIOS has done anything for my 1060.

 

20+ fps gain is just amazing.

 

I havent updated the VBIOS yet, that was just the repaste + undervolt + dual channel really.

Also, I had to limit the fps to 60fps on warzone as the temps went high again (between 85-90C) not as much as before but still, also I started to stream on twitch and the CPU was not handling well all the load without the fps limit, so I gave up those 20fps gain in order to have stream quality which also brought the temps down a bit again as the CPU is not being pushed 100% of usage all the time.

 

Lack of dual channel in online multiplayer games is notorious, on CS:GO it makes even more difference, you can go from 120-130Fpss to over 200Fps just due to having dual channel or not.

 

Last one I promise, did you noticed fps gain/boost after you enabled XMP on your GE63VR? On mine, as you might know already, the memory sticks are 2400mhz but they actually run at 1068mhz so I was just wondering if the boost would be good enough to backup the investment/hassle of enabling the XMP?
My major problem is that on COD Warzone if I set textures to high (even when not streaming) there are some ms kinda freeze randomly and I noticed that it comes due to the CPU spiking at 100%, although I found some possible fix for this, I was just wondering if the extra mhz on the memory would help on this. What do you think?

 

1068Mhz is 2133MTs, your CPU suports natively 2400MTs(will show up as 1200Mhz in some monitoring software).

Your RAM should be able to do at least 2933Mhz(its the next RAM clock multiplier) and it usually helps in online multiplayer games.

 

So, in my case both memory sticks are 2400mhz, I dont know if I can/should push to 2933mhz as you said, also if I'm calculating correctly, I would only gain something around 540mhz out of the XMP on both sticks, I don't think that would give me some considerable/visible improvement then...

 

On my older GT72 with an i7-4720HQ just going from 1600Mhz to 1866Mhz was enough to bump my Cinebench R15 score from around 680 to 720.

In online games all the performance that you can squeeze will be helpful because current games really do need more than 4 cores.

 

is anyone keyboard led dead or defective? some of mine just remain on even if i turn the lights off, with a permanent color on them (some stay blue and some stay red) and it's not a software thing for me....i did a few tricks like restoring/upgrading firmware/software etc but none worked.

 

Oe

Perhaps you got hardware issue. I dont have problems until now. Mine is 2years 7months and still working like day 1. Just do not update windows. Mine is still 1803.

 

Mine is 3 years and 5 months old and everything's working perfectly since day 1. Maybe it's time for third party maintenance / replacements if you're outside the warranty period (which I assume so)?