MSI GS63VR Stealth Pro Owner's Lounge

Time to get this thread going!

Cross posting from another thread my thoughts so far:

I picked up the GS63VR from Best Buy tonight and the first thing I noticed is the high pitched sound coming from the CPU fan (right side when looking at the notebook).. That's pretty much a deal breaker for me. If they aren't supposed to be like this, I may exchange this one.. Because I do a lot of video encoding which will peg the cpu to 100% for hours at a time and I can't deal with this high pitched sound (I have sensitive ears).

I'm creating backup media using the MSI software to a 32gb USB drive.. After that I will be doing a fresh Win10 install to get rid of this bloat.

If anybody has any questions, i'll be on for the next 4ish hours.

Edit 1:
Machine feels heavier than 3.9 lbs.. finding this spec to be hard to believe.
It's thinner than a MacbookPro 15 and a little lighter. It also has a SLIGHTLY more footprint when comparing dimensions to a MBP15 Retina (It's almost an inch longer wide and like barely deeper). Pretty amazing that a 1060 is in the size of the MBP but also being lighter!

Very strong overall device.. Loving the build quality, feels like a black MacbookPro. Almost no keyboard flex too!

Edit 2:
No PWM dimming! Good news, this is a DC fed display! Good and easy on the eyes when dimming.

Fan is still annoying under load (CPU, haven't used the GPU yet).

Notebookcheck Review: http://www.notebookcheck.net/MSI-GS63VR-6RF-Stealth-Pro-Notebook-Review.179761.0.html

Confirms the fans are "unpleasant" and the speakers are "disappointing."

 

Well I am loving mine, and no that doesnt sound normal to me. It has a normal woosh sound when coolerboost is enabled, but no whining sound. My only complaint is the god-awful FHD screen (also got mine from Best Buy). I'd love to replace the panel with something alot better because it is way too dim even on brightest settings and the ghosting is horrible on it. I'll be glad when MSI offers a panel upgrade, perhaps even a 4k touchscreen version in the future. Aside from the awful screen I have no complaints and it plays games as well as my main rig with trifire R9 290x and a 4790K @ 5.0ghz. Obviously it's not as powerful as my desktop but there were many "Gameworks" games that I was never able to get running before trying them on this laptop.

 

Been waiting for someone to star this thread, thanks! I'm hoping to pick a G63VR up when they are in stock at amazon, hopefully by then there will be a comparison between the 1080p and 4k screen, although I'll probably go 1080p even if it's subpar - I've just had too many scaling issues with legacy programs.

 

I agree, as for me, it's been the opposite. I love how the 4k displays work extremely well for 1080p...lol. Witcher 3 everything ultra (hairworks off) all post-processing maxed out with a fluent 60fps even in the cities when not loading things in. Dying light all ultra in 1080p 60fps. Fallout 4 all ultra 60fps. the truth is, this thing is a thin beast of a machine. Basically a desktop GTX 980 in a laptop.

 

Its great for games, 1080p looks crisp on a 4k screen - but it can be hell with some programs. Adobe CS6 is unusable because the ui is so small, and adobe refuses to fix the bug and simply asks you to upgrade to the creative cloud (why would I pay per month when my version is totally sufficient?). You can try to do a workaround by running a custom manifest file - but that makes your images blurry as a result : / Well, we'll see, if the 4k screen is vastly superior to the 1080p on the gs63 I could be persuaded....

 

Interesting.. I have a very audible high pitched sound from the cpu fan but not from the GPU fan so far.. I will likely need to replace this unit and since BB is out of stock this sucks! I don't want to wait for another one to get shipped! Lol.. But for me, as far as the screen goes, I find it to be very warm compared to my Asus (in signature) which is obviously also a far superior screen in terms of contrast and clarity. However, at brightest setting mine is BLINDING bright.. Maybe they are using a panel lottery on these things? The screen on it sort of reminds me of the Samsung PLS they used on the GS60 but it seems definitely different.. I'm trying to see if I can find a panel code somewhere.

 

So where are we at on Firestrike scores? Here is my humble submission.

http://www.3dmark.com/fs/9975611

I am very sorry to hear about the whine bro, hope MSI fixes you up proper. As for the screen, yeah mine is a little on the warm side too, no doubt the Asus screens are superior. It must be a panel lottery, and I just got one from a mediocre supplier's batch, no biggy, I'll just replace it or hook it up to the big 4k Screen in the Living room if I'm that desperate. It's just the low brightness that bothers me, and probably why it appears to be ghosting. Maybe my screen controller is defective, or perhaps the light panel is.

 

Here's a video of my cpu fan whine.

 

Welps, had to say goodbye to my GS63VR based on the CPU fan issue.. Unfortunately Best Buy was unable to order, cross ship, transfer, etc. another unit from a warehouse or store. They tried figuring something out for 20 minutes to no avail so I was refunded.

I will be keeping an eye out on another unit until then.. So far I still believe the GS63VR is a great unit so far for the money compared to the other choices out there. Hoping more people pick this machine up and talk about it to keep me busy until more stock come in!

 

I'm not sure if it's the sound from my PC ot my hearing after 25 years of flying loud airplanes but I could barley hear it, Is it an air noise or an electric noise?

 

Is that at stock speeds?

 

Absolutely not! I just pushed the memory further and beat my own score. I'm waiting on more people to push these things. There is still more room to push the memory, and I will push as far as it will go until scores start dropping.

http://www.3dmark.com/fs/9981619

 

I'm impressed. What's it like gaming with those clocks? Beats my heavily oc'd 980m!


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How do you like the keyboard? I saw one video where the owner didn't like how close the spacebar was to the lip of the palm rest (he kept hitting his thumb on the lip) but it hasn't been mentioned otherwise.

 

Thank you! As for gaming I'm sure like most overclockers, you and I have different OCs for different tasks. My top OC is stable while playing The Witcher 3 (which is well known to break stable overclocks), but when even the bottom OC can hit 60fps with vsync, whats the point? I have so far not ran into a game that couldnt be maxed at 1080p except for the Hairworks nonsense in the witcher and fallout 4, but that still works better on the laptop than on my main rig with Intel/AMD setup. Also, your 980m is not a slouch by any means, great job with the OC by the way! The thing that i find most impressive is how small the the cooling system's footprint is and yet it's up to the task of keeping Pascal cool and overclocked. Reminds me of the old GTX 260s I had with Twin Frozr II.

I'm dreaming of a bios mod with voltage scaling. Thats all that is needed to go further on the core. Well a PSU mod would help alot too.

 

So far, I agree with your friend about the keyboard partition being too close to the mousepad, however, I like the pseudo-mechanical feedback that the keys have, and I love how they are so much better supported than the Dell 15 7559. That Aluminium body really eliminates the squish.

 

FYI:



Great review. Concerning the display, looks like the 4k unit doesn't turn any heads with contrast either - would love to have someone compare them (1080p and 4k) side-by-side.

 

Ill be picking up mine on 17th hopefully.
@Diversion thank you for letting us know of the issue. Sad you had to let go of it. Ill keep that in mind when purchasing.

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I don't think it's a widespread issue, my unit was probably unlucky.. If it didn't have the high pitched sound and sounded more like the GPU fan, I would deal with it! I'm sure you'll get a good one!

 

@Diversion so are you considering getting another notebook now? What are you looking to get if so?

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Based on fan noise, etc.. Even if I got a GS63 that didn't screech I think the overall fan noise would still be too much for me under load/gaming. I think I may pick up a MSI GT62VR although it's a little chunky at 6~ lbs it apparently is super quiet and i'll be stepping up to a GTX1070 as well..

Unsure really, another machine on my radar is the Sager N8153-S1 with 6820HK + GTX1070 15" at 5.5 lbs.. Afraid it won't cool well enough and or be loud.

 

I just received mine the other day. After I cleaned out 90% of the installed programs (I left the dragon center, nahimic, and steelseries center on there) it seems like it's running really good. the only concern I have is the 512gb ssd may not be a m.2. I couldn't find anything on the model online, but it still runs pretty damn fast. (I got the pro-68 model for those wondering btw)

 

Dave Lee video review is up:



He also put one up for the GL502 for those who are interested in comparing the two.

 

Thanks for the update, that's the same model I'm looking at. Let us know what you think about fan noise, screen quality, keyboard, etc. Congratulations on your new machine!

 

Fan noise is what you'd expect, it's gonna get decently loud under load. It's not horrible, but you're probably gonna want headphones. The keyboard is amazing. The laptop that I upgraded from was an Alienware 15, so I was worried about how the change would be, but I'd say it's actually a cut above its. I'm very happy with the screen so far. I uninstalled msi's true screen tech since all the bloatware was slowing my laptop down to a crawl, so I'm just on the stock settings, and I'd say its at least at the same level that the alienware was at. Speakers are pretty good, they're not gonna blow your socks off, but the sound quality is good. I haven't really tried out any heavy gaming yet, and the only game I plan on playing for the next week or so is wow, but I'll let you know how it handles that as far as heat goes in a couple days.

 

Also if anyone knows anything about it, or has better google powers than I do, heres the name of the ssd when I looked it up from the device list. KINGSTON RBU-SNS8152S3512GG2. I'd love to know more about it speedwise.

 

Any of you guys having the issue with the wifi keeps on dropping off? Mine keeps disconnect and reconnect etc. I have tried to use many different drivers to no avail. I'm thinking if trying to do a fresh install if the win 10 anniversary to see if it can fix it. This happen on 2 machines!

When I plug in a USB Wifi Dongle and disable the built in one, it works perfectly so for sure it's not the router problem.

 

Hi! Just got mine from best buy while I was in US. My first laptop gamer in my life (back to my childhood) I just wanted to get into VR since I work in the industry...

Can u check which panel has your version? (looks like you bought it in Amazon for the Ssd config)
My screen was kind of a disappointment for a 1.600 laptop. And looks like best buy version is non-IPS
My model is LG LP156WF6-SPK1. There is another thread with the topic and we are waiting for someone who bought a non best buy model.
Best regards!

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No problem on my side (best buy sku) ... I read in some reviews that uninstalling the msi killer network software helped some people with the same problem.

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Mine is from Best Buy too, first one had the problem, exchanged to this one and same thing. I have tried to uninstall the Killer Software but it doesn't fix it. I probably going to fresh install win 10 today to see if that will fix it.


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Have u tried to use it with different routers?

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Not yet because I only have 1 router available and when I use the USB Wifi Dongle then it works perfectly so I assume that it's not the router problem.


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Ok, I'm a bit rusty from not having done this so if I messed up and gave you the wrong info let me know. I went to the device manager and checked the hardware ID for the monitor, and what it gave me was LGD046F. If that helps, awesome. If not, let me know where to go and I'll get the correct info for ya.

 

I miss my GS63VR :/ Someone messaged me directly to say their GS63VR is also high pitched and loud.

 

Mine is loud in the right side more than the left side and High pitched. In gaming is bearable with headphones in my opinion and that is what I do but for a 17mm laptop with a core i7 with 45W tdp and an gpu with 80w is a great cooling solution and what I expected....
In not gaming mode (eco) is pretty quiet.. (with the proper configuration)

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You can use an small software call HWinfo.




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Yep, mine was loud (high pitched tone would come in in medium to high fan speed) on right side (cpu side) as well and only a wooshing/non-high pitched fan sound on GPU side (left). But it almost sounded like the fan was faulty on mine, I would expect the CPU fan to sound more like the GPU fan in a normal unit.

And you are right, the ECO mode was very quiet because it doesn't let the CPU go over 1100mhz so therefore never really generating any heat to cause the fan to spin up. But I noticed the OS stuttering really bad on ECO mode and lengthy load times based on the locked CPU clock speed. I would guess ECO is a good mode to be on when watching movies and or just doing some light office work.

I still might try another unit just incase mine was worse than others. Too bad it's out of stock everywhere!

 

I too think it maybe a faulty fan. So the GPU fan was running normally right? I mean the sound? I would assume that both the cpu fan and gpu fans should sound similar.

Loud noise is expected i guess sadly in this thin a chassis...

But the good thing is, the GS63VR is able to keep the temps in check during gaming which im most happy about as that was the aspect that i was the most worried about since it is pascal.

@Diversion are you thinking of having another go at the GS63?



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Yep, it's literally impossible to find one now though, kind of wish I kept my "faulty" because now I might have to wait 30 days or more before they are more available. I think it's fair that I give a second one a chance because if the CPU can sound like the GPU, I could deal with it.

 

I will test both fans running at the same Rpm.. But remember that this product has 2 fans for the Gpu and one for the Cpu... So I am guessing is always more aggressive Rpm for the Cpu... So always right will be louder the right side in normal conditions.
The high pitched sound appears when you hit roof in Rpms.



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Im sure if you do end up getting the GS63VR again, itll be all good with no problems.

Im having a a funny thought now too the shop im planing to go to just put up a huge sale on all laptops. Most laptops i would say would be the correct way to say it hehe. Now the thing is, the GS63VR im planning to get, and a GT62VR with 1070 with huuuge discount is abt the same price... So... Yeah... although i think im still going to go for the GS63VR, the GT62VR is way too bulky and huge. I use to have the GT60 though

Also, abt the GS63VR, is there a special type of DAC in it? I dont know much about audio stuff... so does that mean audio through the 3.5mm jack would sound much better than if im using a headphone that uses usb? The thing is im planning to buy a mouse and headphone too along with the laptop. So have been looking around local shops. Currently ive a Gamcom 388 headphone and logitech performance mx. After looking a bit, im liking the Razer Man O War headset. And for mouse i dont know, hehe, razer deathadder is really good, have used one before loved it, also, MX Master is really cool, and the G502 proteus. Any thoughts on this guys?

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Yes the GS63VR has a ESS DAC to improve the quality of the analog audio to headphones.. A lot of people wouldn't notice the difference but if you're an audiophile you would notice it.. Better stereo separation and punchier audio. You would only get the DAC advantage by using the 3.5mm plug only to headphones. I mostly use wireless headphones so I think the feature would mostly go unused for me.

I would go with the G602 wireless over the MX Master any day of the week.. It's way faster and has 500hz wireless tracking.. I believe the MX Master is limited to 100hz (too slow).

 

I got yesterday the g602... Love it... I researched a lot and decided for that instead of the g502... And to avoid more clutter...



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Thanks for clarifying. Much appreciated.

Will check to see if the G602 is available. Thanks.

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Agreed.. Best wireless mouse i've EVER used.. It feels exactly like a wired mouse to me and I game pretty hardcore with it and it still amazes me that's wireless.

 

Ok, so that's a really handy software. I went ahead and downloaded it and these are the results I got.
Monitor Name: LG Philips LP156WF6
Monitor Name (Manuf): 156WF6 [DELL P/N: 3874Y]

I went and looked it up and it looks like it's the same IPS monitors that Dell uses, which explains why I thought it was comparable to my alienware lol.

 

@gbenedetto thats a GS63VR right?

Moving the power cable around, and to the back would put it into the exhaust of the cpu vents right? The heat would be a problem right?

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To you GS63VR owners, is the portability worth the compromise for a 1060 instead of looking at heavier 1070 laptops? I look to play Battlefield, Overwatch, and be prepared for future VR releases. Likely will use this laptop for 4 years at least. I am also a marketing student with classes 2 times a week.. will be spending 7+ hours at school for each of those days. I'm not sure how often I will use my laptop on campus yet, but that's just a little background.

 

Just bought it to replace my main laptop basically for portability... Is just awesome... If you plan to play full HD max setting is more than enough. The 1070 is like in the middle... Big + bulky but not powerful enough for 4K... So I think this value prop is the ideal for a main laptop for students and to work... If I go for sth bigger will be a 1080

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Basically the card breakdown is like this. 1060 is for full HD gaming, 1070 is for resolutions qhd, wqhd+, and some 4k gaming. 1080 is full blown 4k. They all more than meet the requirements for VR. Also as a pharmacy student who also travels around a decent amount, I can say that the weight difference between that and my alienware makes a pretty big difference as far as strain on my back goes. I'm going to be using this until I'm finished with pharmacy school, or it dies on me, whichever comes first.