Official MSI GS70 2013 Owners Lounge

Interesting, I only tried and had issue with two on the left side, try to disable USB 3 in BIOS to see if this is Windows driver or hardware related.

 

I guess this is not a big issues, but when I change the keyboard light to purple its still the same color as the dark blue. Does anyone else have this issue? What are the possible solutions?

Thanks,

 

That's pretty funny because the two ports on the left side of mine have never had issues, the two on the right are the problem for me. I'll disable it in BIOS and let you know what happens,

 

Yes I have this issue as well, I was also pretty disappointed when I found out. There are a lot of different colors to choose from but when you test them out you will see that a lot of them are actually the exact same. Small issue. but the LED keys are part of what makes this laptop unique and it seems like a pretty big fail for such seemingly simple feature.

 

On MSI's website there are a lot of drivers you can download. I was wondering if anyone knew whether or not there is an actual performance upgrade after updating the BigFoot Bluetooth Driver from 8.0.0.222 to 8.0.0.224? Same question with the Killer N1202 Wireless from 10.0.1.222 to 10.0.1.242?

Just wondering if either of those driver updates are worth getting, thanks again!

 

Hey, just about to sort out my fan tables with the firmware update, just want to quickly clarify, do I leave the power cable plugged in throughout the entire process and even when I perform the ec reset. Bit of a novice on the whole flashing thing. Thanks

 

I just got my gs70 back from MSI for the frequency sound I was hearing. Took about 21 days to get it back from when I shipped it. They replaced the mother board . haven't turned it on yet so I will report back. I missed it!

Edit. . well the noise is still there :-/
Does anyone else hear it if they put their ear to the power button. .( sometimes its loud enough to hear standing away)

 

make sure you have installed SCM utility MSI Global GS70 STEALTH

 

Does anyone know if I can install / upgrade the Killer Combo to an Intel Wireless-AC 7260?

 

Yes you can.

 

So it doesn't break the Wired networking? Thank's for the response. Is it under the 17 screws or whatever, or do we have to go deeper?

 

MSI GS70 Stealth Gaming Laptop Review - Internal and Components

Top pic there shows the placement of parts under the main cover. Notice to the left of the mSATA SSDs

 

19 screws and the plate comes on pretty easy. two of those 19 screws will be longer than the rest. note which ones it is when you take them out

 

Hi guys,

Just bought the GS70 and notice that the GPU cooling fan is making this buzzing noise when running games. Not sure if this is considered detective product. The noise is really noticeable especially when running games. Any ideas or suggestions?

 

Will do the BIOS and firmware update, wish me luck LOL

btw if the fans annoy you, go to energy options in windows, somewhere there you can choose whether the cooling system is "active" or "passive". Passiv is actually a lot less noisier.

 

But it affects CPU performance...the only way to reduce fan speed I found is to install FanControl for the GT70 model,and set the fan speed to 40% (2200rpms) (<40% results in a start and stop behaviour,which is more annoying than a almost inudible continue 2200rpm)

 

Just swapped in wireless-AC 7260. No issues. Very easy to get the bottom cover off. Easily snapped off after removing all the screws. Windows 8.1 installed a driver when it booted up but was getting low speed readings. Installing the latest driver from Intel has it reporting 866 Mbps.

 

Hey Guys,

Just got my GS70-2OD the other day and can't stand windows 8. I bought it with the intention of downgrading to win7 but after going through this thread and using google it seems it's not the best choice with having to flash bios and everything it takes to make it work. I was wondering how many here have installed win7 and are happy with it?

 

Well you have the update soon to improve things and you can put in a start menu now if you like.

 

good point, are you referring to the update to 8.1 for the start menu? I thought that was still in development. I do know about classic shell which is what I was looking into doing.

 

Hi - my first post here after a few months lurking while deciding whether the GS70 was for me or not and this forum has been massively helpful so thanks all for that! Just wanted to jot a few thoughts down, part of which answers this question, as I finally pulled the pin and got one on a good open box deal just a few days ago.

Being a certified meddler, as I always do with new laptops one of my first actions was to completely format the thing (after taking necessary precautions and backups) and have a play.

I'm not a massive windows 8 fan either, so first off I decided to install windows 7 and give it go. You don't actually need to (nor should you, according to the MSI website) change the BIOS to the Win 7 one if the laptop you've got came with the Win 8 Bios. I just updated to the latest Win 8/8.1 BIOS and fan table and left it at that. Got Win 7 installed using the Legacy boot option (after some initial messing about re-configuring the drive to get rid of the GPT partition table), got all the drivers in etc - all seemed OK, no issues at all. Left it on for a day, but.....I then decided I really wanted to use the latest and greatest Win 8.1, and I also decided I wanted to use my 1TB Crucial M500 drive as primary in place of the 128GB Msata as it benchmarks much better.

Rather than re-installing the supplied Win 8 and upgrading it (I'm one of these 'clean install' types), what I did was find an ISO of the very latest RTM patched version of Win 8.1, and created a bootable USB drive from it. Installed that with no hassle whatsoever using a generic key as you can't use the one that comes with your laptop. As an aside, I've never had a full OS install as fast, it literally took around 10-15 minutes - then I put in all the 8.1 drivers and utilities in off the MSI website. Once all installed, I then activated it without any trouble at all (using the laptops existing Win 8 key which I pulled out of the BIOS using the RWeverything tool). I then immediately installed startisback which pretty much makes it feel like an enhanced Win7 anyway.

The 8.1 seems very slick, the boot times with the crucial drive are stupendously fast and AS SSD benchmarks are great, so I'm definitely sticking with it and see no need to hang on to Win 7 with startisback installed.

So, having got mine all to my liking, what do I think of this machine?

First impressions are its fantastic - I've never owned a laptop with this much power, and this thing has also pretty much also eclipsed my desktop and made it redundant. It will be used predominantly for work - for me gaming is secondary but as I'm on the road a lot it will be nice having the capability to finally play some decent ones while away.

I did have some concerns that the keyboard might be flawed from what I read on here - but happily my spacebar seems to work just fine so happy with that and find it pretty good to type on. My escape key seems to be leaning to the left a little, but it works fine. I wish the touchpad was located a little bit more to the left under the spacebar as most other laptops are - but to be honest not a big deal as I have a mouse plugged in 95% of the time and its disabled while that's plugged in.

Another concern I had was over fan noise, which is why I immediately updated the fan table firmware on receipt, so I can't really compare a before and after. But I'm pretty happy - seems consistently low to me while doing normal work, and I can live with the odd spin up when using processing power in work apps. Gaming - sure it gets some revs on then, but pretty much drowned out by the audio and so no big deal.

Screen - I like the screen, I've got one greyed out pixel unfortunately, but I can live with that as I did get a good price on the computer.
Audio - Not the best I've heard to be honest, but still really not bad considering the slim form factor and I'd sooner put headphones on/use my external bluetooth speaker for anything more serious than casual sounds.
Wifi - this killer wifi seems pretty darn good to me, not having had anything like it before - seem to be getting consistently high speeds, nice and stable.

Now the new model is out I reckon there will soon be some very good used/old stock deals on these, so might be a good choice for anyone who would sooner save a little over having the latest cutting edge. Early days so far, but I'm very happy at this point.

 

Firstly, sorry for the cross-post - I think I posted on a pretty much dead thread

bit late to the party I know, but looking at this laptop with keen interest.

The model which seems to be available in the UK at the moment is the one with 1x128 msata, 1x5400rpm 1tb hdd and 8gb ram (2x4gb)

The mSata I'm fine with, as I'll move my 256gb mSata into the second slot, and I'll probably replace the HDD for a 2.5 SSD as well (my current laptop only has a 256 msata, so any storage over & above is a bonus). This should help with heat & noise.

How easy is it to get the the underside of the main board? I want to move my 16gb ram into the machine from my current machine

On the keyboard, is there a context menu key? Always use it, so bit of a bummer if there isn't

One site (OCUK) states: - DO NOT re install the OS or upgrade the OS on these notebooks.
Any ideas why? Just down to driver support?
I use Win 8.1 Pro, and would absolutely want to move my license over.
Does it have a TPM? Not essential as I don't use it currently, but with 3x storage drives, could be a pain constantly entering the keys.

Thanks!

 

Its easy to remove the bottom cover - there are around 17 screws (one under the warranty sticker), then it just pops off. From there you have direct access to the drives.

Context menu key - Never use it, I always use right click myself so had to look - but now that you mention it there doesn't seem to be one, you'd have to map your own.

The OCUK advice - I think they are preaching to masses there, as per my above post its no hassle to reinstall and/or upgrade the OS if you know what you are doing. The must do thing is to use RWEverything to get your product key from the BIOS.

All drivers are available on MSI website and some can also be updated via component manufacturer website. As I don't have it I'm not sure how it would go with your pro licence and therefore can't comment - but I'm sure there would be a way to do it.

On my initial foray with Win7 I was able to activate it with my product key (I did set the BIOS to Legacy boot though).

It does not have TPM sadly, I'm a bit bummed about that because I was wanting to make use of my drives self encrypting function in Win 8.1. To add insult to injury, there is also not a BIOS function for an ATA/HDD password either (only Admin and User passwords can be set). Because I really like this machine, I can live with it - but a really e oversight in this day and age if you ask me....

 

as motoxer said, taking the bottom cover off is straight forward. to get the the RAM, takes a little more with unplugging cables and ribbons and such. but it can be done and it is pretty simple once you see it and do it. i highly recommend keeping your screws for the bottom cover in one cup, and another cup for the other step. also take notice of what screw comes out of where.

as for the context menu key, there isn't one

for the warrenty, in the US you're able to replace replace drives and such. i am not sure for where you are tho.

 

Hello guys,

I have my backup ready in my E: drive, do you know if I use Burn recovery it will delete my raid 0 ?

Thank you in advance

 

Thanks for the replies - does surprise me a little than TPM isn't more widely available - does seem to be a business-laptop only feature at the moment - perhaps there's a licencing cost to consider. Never mind, bitlocker it is.
Context menu I guess I can live with - perhaps creating a custom keyboard mapping as you suggested will get me round it, and doens't sound like doing an 8.1 pro upgrade will be an issue, not upgrading the ram.

The only question left for me to answer is whether I want a 17" machine (pretty fundamental one though!). My current machine is a 15" (in a 14" footprint) Samsung 900x4c. I'm under no illusion this'll be a different beast, but can't decide if it's right, or bit too much! (Did once had a HP HDX16 Entertainment laptop - it was too much (heavy & hot), but with this machine being lighter and cooler (hopefully!) I think it'll be more manageable, and means I can play Sim City 2013!)

 

For what it's worth, I have an HP Envy 15 (i7-740QM and ATI 5830M) and this MSI runs at lower temps, both idle and under load, than my HP with a cooling pad. And it weighs about the same, too.

Sent from my Nexus 4 using Tapatalk

 

I agree with the poster above - I'm coming from a 1366x768 14" laptop to this - when I first got it, it seemed huge - but now when I jump back on my 14", it seems like a postage stamp with low res screen - I certainly have quickly come to appreciate the extra screen real estate! The great thing about this one is the low weight - provided you've got a big enough backpack/bag, its not really that much of a deal to carry around. There again I just generally go from place to place and leave the laptop set up as a sort of desktop replacement for a couple of days at a time rather than constantly move around with it to multiple locations in a day, say, which I suppose could potentially be a factor.

For day to day business, I'm finding the GS70 runs quiet and cool, either at lowest fan settings or sometimes even shutting off. The fans and heat ramp up when gaming, but I'd never play games with it on my laptop or without an external mouse anyway so no big deal.

 

When I put my computer to sleep, the battery typically exhausts itself after a day or so. Is that normal?

My previous computer could hibernate for days, but I've read that hibernate is discouraged because of frequent read/write wear & tear on SSDs.

Also, I'm hoping someone has figured out how to adjust the LED blink rate when it is in sleep mode (maybe a BIOS tweak?).

 

Hello, I'm currently looking at that same deal. I know this is a bit off topic, but my question is actually about the tv that the gs70 was bundled with. I was wondering what the gaming performance of the tv is like. As in, have you hooked up the msi laptop and used the tv as a larger display for gaming? If so, did you ever notice any serious ghosting or poor picture quality? Also, was it able to play in full 1080p resolution? I heard a few people complaining that the hdmi wouldn't go past 720p.

 

Hey guys!

Dunno if many of you know, but the new GS60 Ghost and I think the GS70 Pro use SteelSeries 3 engine to manage the keyboard illumination. Has been any update that lets us manage they keyboard on our GS70? Would be great since PCM is so slow and buggy.

EDIT: Even if the keyboard from our original GS70 is the same as the one used on GS60 and GS70 Ghost Pro, the SteelSeries software doesn't detect it. Maybe they have some differences, but I guess MSI/SteelSeries could update the software for our laptop.

 

Hello guys, I bought this laptop back in November 2013 and for about 1 month now it has been showing this constant fan noise, even if I'm not running any high performance applications. I've tried cleaning the fan vent without opening it and updating the BIOS and the EC but it doesn't seem to do any good. I'm worried this might be a manufacturer issue. Can you provide me with some support to find out what's wrong, please? and the possible issues that may cause this to happen.

Thanks in advance.


The noise sounds similar to this:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AAtRecMGUeU

 

yeah ive been messing around with it trying to get it to work. i think its built in. if you look at the download page for the gs70 pro, the firmware has an update
Firmware
description Patch SSE driver issue (sometimes keyboard and mouse fail condition).

so unless someone can pull that and make it so we can use it, or MSI makes it compatable... i think were stuck with the nifty KLM

 

Hi. I'm looking for a GS70 full color backlit US keyboard to buy. Someone can help me? I need to it be shipped to Brazil. Thanks.

 

I bought my GS70 about two months ago used, and just about everything's great with it. Space bar is a bit unresponsive at the right hand end which is annoying.
I have it set up as an extended display with a 28" 1920x1200 monitor via HDMI. What I've noticed is that the power button LED is always red when the external display is active (is this because the NVidia card powers the external display?) but also, when I go onto a webpage which includes a video, the external screen goes off for a couple of seconds then comes back on, as if re-syncing or something.
Even if the video is being played on the laptop panel, it's always the external monitor that flashes off and on. Anyone else experienced this?

 

I've nearly made up my mind about the gs70 - to the point where I've even written up my migration plan in prep.
Need to read up on the gs60 to see if that's worth considering, but the only other question I had was around the keyboard.
My last couple of machines have been samsung series 9's (900x3a & 900x4c). The x3a had a brilliant keyboard with really responsive keys which only needed a soft tap to register an entry. In contrast, the keyboard on the x4c is woeful - really spongy keys where you have to hit noticeably harder to get an entry, making it quite uncomfortable to use for prolonged periods. How is the keyboard on this machine? Given it's a SteelSeries keybaord, I expect it's a good keyboard, but everyone may have a different idea if what 'good' means.

 

So you need all uper case because keyboard is sticeked with it.

 

I've found that I have to, for lack of a better word, pound on the keys. My guess is that it is a gaming keyboard and meant to withstand abuse.

Sent from my Nexus 4 using Tapatalk

 

Tapatalk can't delete a double post?

 

Hi. Sorry, but i didn't understand. My keyboard began to fail a few keys and I need to replace it. Do you know where I can find one to buy? The fail keys is S, Z, space bar, 6, 7 and Home. Very annoying...

 

Thanks bubzers - that's a shame - would make sense of course, but would certainly be a shame.
I'll have to see if I can find anywhere in the 'real world' that stocks this laptop perhaps, to try it out. (Live buckinghamshire, so visiting OCUK is probably out of the question!)

 

Hey guys, can anyone tell me if your Battery level is SLOWLY draining while Gaming even tho the Power is plugged in??

I'm using the Ghost Pro, and my Battery level drops from 99% to 79% after 2 Hours of continuous Crysis 3 gameplay.

Can anyone help double confirm on this before I make a trip down to service center?

Thanks a bunch!

 

Having read this entire thread, I've seen several references to the possibility of this being the case due to the power pack being slightly under-rated (to keep size down) - but that it should be exception rather than the rule. to drop 20% in 2 hours does seem a tad excessive to me personally though

 

Hybrid power (I think its called that) uses the wall plug and the battery at the same time. I have mine switched off. Maybe try turning it off on yours and see if the problem goes away?

Sent from my Nexus 4 using Tapatalk

 

I keep getting a Driver Power State Failure message followed by a blue screen with a frowny face on my GS70. I have no idea what to do.

 

Just ordered the Samsung 4K monitor. Will the GS70 be able to drive the 4K resolution at 60 Hz?

 

Which OS are you using?
Did you update anything software?

HDMI @ 30fps.
DisplayPort @ 60fps.

 

As bubzers mentioned, this is hybrid power tech at work to boost more power to the entire system when needed.
It's automatic, however it may cause more wear to the battery unit due to intermittent discharging/charging behavior.

 

How have people found the integrated webcam on the GS70? The product specs indicate it's supposed to be 720p but it looks like VGA to me, not great quality. Is there any way of finding out?

 

Well, I've bitten the bullet an ordered the gs70, along with a Crucial M500 480 sata drive to replace the HDD (and will be adding my 256 msata from my current laptop also)

I was going to use the 256 drive as the OS & Programs drive, but I might just stick with the 128 drive for it, and save myself the hassle!