*** The Official MSI GS63VR STEALTH PRO/GeForce GTX 1070 Max-Q Owner's Lounge ***

I found benchmarks on the 7RG with 1070 max-q on notebookcheck (still no review)
https://www.notebookcheck.net/Nvidia-Max-Q-WhisperMode-Information-Initial-Benchmarks.230426.0.html

 

Interesting...35% better than nVIDIA GeForce GTX 1060 and 7% less than nVIDIA GeForce GTX 1070.

 

There are a lot of 1070 laptops that will do better than that lowest performance 1070 on that chart

The other 1070 laptop on that chart, near the top, is a full 21% faster than the Max-Q 1070, the Eurocom Sky MX5 R3

 

Right, but it also has the Intel® Core™ i7-7820HK and Samsung 960 EVO M.2 PCIe 3.0 x4 NVMe Solid State Drive.

 

But, you can denude it of the expensive options and make it more affordable, first priority is GPU, then CPU, then RAM, then Storage, NVME is for those with more money than time

 

Yes, but we aren't talking about comparing affordability, we are talking performance. The faster CPU and SSD in the Eurocom Sky MX5 R3 will contribute to its higher score.

 

Hmm, I don't think that NVME SSD speed contributes to that game benchmark score even in the smallest iota of a fraction of a whisper of an FPS, and neither do you.

NVME SSD's are a waste of $ unless you have a specific task that you do *all the time* that actually makes a difference to your productivity. Otherwise it's just an expensive hot spot in the laptop.

 

Have you noticed any longer battery time without the HDD when not gaming?

 

Haven't run down the battery yet. When I did run it on battery while on the road, it was on for 2 hours. I was rdp'd using vpn to a client site. When I checked, battery had 48% remaining. It started out at 98%.

 

Going to assume that chart has the systems completely fillrate/video card limited, because I can't even see what speeds the CPU's are running at.

 

Whats the fan noise like on these laptops? I have one in my cart and trying to decide between this and an aorus x5 v7. I thought since they have the maxq label the laptop has to adhere to the 40db sound limit that nvidia specified with maxq.

 

I don't have equipment to objectively compare sound levels. But compared to my old Sony Vaio Flip 15, the GS63VR is less noisier.

Read somewhere that "Whisper Mode" is only possible if you cap the FPS to 60 using Nvidia spyware (GeForce experience) which requires you to create an account with their (spyware) service.

 

Still toasty - 90+ on CPU (temps show around 8mins in the video below)

 

Keep viewing for another minute. Those first temps are out of the box with normal fans. Cooler Boost and undervolting brings them down considerably, then add IC Diamond or Coollaboratory Liquid Ultra thermal paste and you are down into the 80s.

 

I want to fresh install my windows. Where can I download the gtx 1070 max q driver? Is it the same on the site of nvidia gtx 1070 (notebooks) ?

 

All the drivers you need are on the MSI support site: https://www.msi.com/Laptop/support/GS63VR-7RG-Stealth-Pro.html#down-driver

The graphics driver is under the VGA dropdown.

 

I've just purchased this laptop. It seems like it's in short supply in the UK so mine should be here mid-September. Obviously before I turn it on I'm going to re-install windows but do you all think the 1tb included drive is quick enough to drive games from or is it a given that I should change it to an SSD?

 

I don't think it's the latest nvidia driver but anyway I will download it. I'm looking for the updated is it the same on the website of nvidia? Only the gtx 1070(notebooks) drive are only available and not the max q driver or is it the same? just asking..

 

I changed mine to firecuda 2tb sshd for about less $100 but its up to you if you want to spend extra $ on the ssd then get a 1tb that would be nice. The 1tb included in the laptop is only 5400rpm. I wish that they included a 7200rpm out of the box.

 

Not sure on that one. It may be best if you use Nvidia's driver auto detect. I've found in the past that it works pretty well when I've been unsure.

 

Yeah that is annoying. I may install GTA 5 on it first and give it a test drive before I spend the money.

Out of curiosity, was it pretty easy to change out the HDD? I know its one of the things you can do before you take out the motherboard but could still be a bit fiddly.

 

The HDD is very easy to change if you know what you're doing, but that will void your warranty because before you open the back cover their is warranty sticker above the screws. There's some online retailers that will do it for you before you buy it, plus it won't void your warranty if something went wrong.

 

When I installed those GTX 1070(notebook) drivers from the nvidia site, they did recognize the GTX 1070 max-q card.

 

What do you suggest download from the msi site or in the nvidia site drivers?

 

It's really up to you. In my case, I've gotten used to grabbing the latest drivers, in this case, from Nvidia (my previous laptops also had Nvidia graphics). Fingers crossed, I haven't had issues yet.

 

What kind of battery life are you getting out of these? Would removing the hdd have any real effect?

 

Yes, completely removing an HDD will reduce power usage on battery, replacing it with a low power SSD will also be a move in the right direction for not just power but also for performance.

The NVME SSD's seem to burn a lot of power, probably as much or more than HDD's, but I haven't done the leg work to check this out - maybe you can do that and report back what you find?

Removing the HDD, leaving the 2.5" space empty will also save weight and reduce noise - that HDD head makes noise unparking and parking and seeking.

A 2.5" SATA SSD or M.2 SATA SSD would be a good replacement, check the power specs of the specific models you want to be sure

 

Has anyone undervolted yet? If so how much are you guys doing before loosing some performance?

 

Typically undervolting doesn't loose any performance. The CPU becomes unstable as you drop the voltage too far, but backing off +10mV solves that and there is no performance loss at a stable undervolt.

When you could split undervolt between Core and Cache for CPU voltage offset there was a point of diminishing returns for undervolting the CPU Cache, so you'd stop increasing the undervolt with the Cache but keep undervolting the Core, a small difference.

Now with the CPU Core+Cache voltage offset locked there doesn't seem to be a need to back-off further from a stable undervolt, the stable point is good enough to get stable and maximum performance.

Test it to be sure if you like, set the undervolt at stable setting - benchmark CPU test - and then back off +10mV and test again.

 

Any update on battery length without a hdd? I'm trying to decide between this and the new Raider but I really need to 3-4 hours out of it. I think the Raider can accomplish this but it's twice the thickness.

 

Question about undervolting do I need to reopen/reapply XTU everytime I shutdown my laptop or is it permanent?

 

After you Apply the new XTU settings, Click Save and give it a name. You can set up as many Named Profiles for different operating modes - or just for testing - and XTU will load the last selected Profile at next boot.

When you change Profiles Click Apply.

If you crash - for any reason - XTU doesn't know if it's settings caused the crash or something else did so it doesn't load a Profile.

You need to go back into XTU after a crash to select a Profile and Apply. Or set up new settings, Apply, Save and that new profile will load.

There is a Default Profile you can select if you want to go into a stable operation while still trying to find a stable set of settings. You don't want to be doing real work on an unknown set of settings.

Have fun

 

So if I found the stable settings and saved it will load automatically as soon as my pc turn on/boot up? Not tried the XTU yet what is the normal undervolt settings in gs63vr?

 

Yes, as long as you don't crash XTU will load the Profile selected at each boot. If you crash or power off with the power switch, shutdown in anyway other than through shutdown, XTU won't load the profile at the next boot you need to go back in and select a profile, apply and then the next boot XTU will again load the selected profile.

Generally the undervolt is unique to the CPU, but Kabylake in general is good for -100mV to -150mV at stock speeds. I'd start at -100mV and test for stability at load and idle, then add another -10mV test and repeat until unstable and then back down +10mV and you should be good, if it crashes at idle with that "final" value add another +5mV and that should be good.

The last test is usually to test the idle stability, when the CPU drops power and frequency to the minimum the offset can be too much, so if it was stable at gaming / active load, and crashes at idle add +5mV and test again.

You can select the "Default" profile at any time you get tired of testing and get back to stable operation for gaming, movie watching, work, etc.

 

I set my core voltage -0.100v save the profile and tried to restart many times if it will load on startup, and yes it does load on startup. I also run prime95 if it was stable and play some games but my problem was this morning when I power on my laptop it reverts back to 0.00v. How to set the profile I saved that it will always run on startup?

 

How did you shutdown? Some have reported this, and I don't use Hibernation or Fast Startup (not the BIOS setting, the Windows setting).

Try disabling Hibernation so when you do a shutdown it does a full shutdown and not a hybrid shutdown.

Start a cmd Window As Administrator

powercfg /h off

Then reboot, and go into XTU and select and Apply a profile, then reboot it should work, then try shutdown and power up and see if it applies.

You must use shutdown or XTU will think you crashed; you can't power off without shutdown.

Turning off Hibernation disables the Fast Startup and Hybrid Shutdown, and removes the C:\hiberfil.sys file which is 1x the size of memory, which is a nice space savings on the C partition

 

I just click the shutdown on windows and not the physical button of the laptop. I'm pretty sure that I shutdown the laptop properly and it isn't in hibernate/sleep mode. The revert happened when I shutdown the laptop and not use it for 8 hours but it doesn't happen when I shutdown my laptop and turn on again. I will try the powercfg /h off later if I get home. One quick question if I want to turn back on again powercfg I'll just change it to "/h on" ?. It does saves me a lot of time and battery whenever I left my laptop screen on.

 

Yes, "on" turn's it on

Unless you turn off Hibernation when you "shutdown" it won't actually shutdown, it does a Hybrid Shutdown. To do a full shutdown turn off Hibernation; for a single shutdown you can force a full shutdown:

shutdown /s /t 0

That's a pain to do every time by hand, you could set up a short cut, or disable hibernation as I suggested - solves many issues and saves space.

This also might be a Windows 10 bug, I don't use Windows 10, so maybe that's why I don't see the problem

 

@Quezacot - I recalled @ThatOldGuy posted a powershell method to set XTU settings at boot, I didn't need it myself so I haven't tried it, perhaps it will work for you and let you use hibernation / sleep too under Windows 10.

http://forum.notebookreview.com/thr...-under-volt-in-xtu-without-opening-it.802143/

Here is that post:

 

Thanks I'll report back later and see if it does work.

 

XTU has always had problems with randomly resetting profiles for no reason whatsoever, despite working an umpteenth number of times.
The best way to solve this is to do what HMscott said and use a powershell script, or better yet, just use Throttlestop. If you're using the newest windows build, TS will have problems due to Winring0 or whatever it's called, which can be temporarily avoided by using Open Hardware Monitor and then running Throttlestop. You can also pay Svet to unlock the Bios for you, so you can get the undervolt (negative offset) option and have it done through your Bios.

 

Any idea how well the 1070MQ in this will drive VR? I've decided against the 1060 because I hear it's just not enough.

 

I did create new profile and applied it, for the past 2 days I always check the voltage if it will revert back to the default and luckily it didn't even in sleep/hibernate. It seems its running good for now, I had'nt turn off the hibernation yet. Thank you.

 

I really want to adjust the offset into the bios, Do you have a guide about unlocking the bios? How much? Can I revert back if in case I want to go back to stock bios?

 

Adapt SirGeorge's post to your own Bios and have a HW Programmer handy if something goes wrong.

 

Can you link the post of SirGeroge? It will be much appreciated. I also pm'ed Svet and waiting for his reply..

 

Its in the GT73 thread. I'm not exactly keen on telling people how to brick their laptops...The RW Everything mod is through RAM. Unlocking Bios options...um....

Now if you have a HW programmer, now we're talking.

 

That's great news, sorry you had to go through that uncertainty for a while. XTU has worked for me for many years and for many others, I'm glad it's working for you now too

 

@Donald@HIDevolution

Any chance I can get pictures of a side by side comparison between the GS63VR Stealth and Raider? I'm racking my brain on which one, and the Raider wins on everything but size and design. I'm hoping its not that huge compared to the Stealth.

 

Have you looked at the size and dimension specs? The Raider is far from huge!

Raider:
Dimension & Weight
15.08" (L) x 10.24" (W) x 1.08" (H) (383 x 260 x 27.5 mm)
4.85 lbs (w/ 6 cell battery) (2.2 kg)

Stealth:
Dimension & Weight
14.96" (L) x 9.8" (W) x 0.69" (H) (380 x 249 x 17.5 mm)
3.96 lbs (w/ 3 cell battery) (1.8 kg)