The Official MSI GT70-2OD Owner's Lounge

I have it installed on an extra drive inside a caddy in the optical bay.

W7 x64 is still my primary OS but I don't want to fall too far behind the curve and play catch up later so I'm giving it some prime time now.

At 70,I need to exercise the Cerebellum and Hippocampus as much as possible.

 

That's the whitebook price. w/ no CPU. Bassically the machine, and Graphics Card. That's it.

 

OEM i7-4700MQ costs $378.00, so the price matches up exactly.

otoh, I'm 90% sure I'll be joining you guys with the GT70-20D as soon as I can get the money together.

 

Tried it out (Windows 8.1) on my desktop.. (my laptop gets here tomorrow 'Barebone 1763 from GentechPC (4700MQ & GTX780m) Tiled resources feature on DirectX 11.2 sounds very interesting. There's always been this debate regarding the need for large ram on laptops. Anything above 12GB was seen as waste of money for gaming purposes.

DirectX 11.2 changes that doesn't it? Being able to store larger, higher resolution textures directly to system ram? As is, I'm not sure if this resource allocation feature is automatic for all games, or the games have to patched to leverage that resource. But as of now, I'm not seeing a reason to jump to 8.1 just yet, especially in this "Preview" mode. When my lappy gets here tomorrow, I'll be loading a fresh copy of Win 8. But, if by chance some games I'm planning to play (Crysis, Bioshock Infinite, Far Cry 3: Blood Dragon etc..,) releases DX 11.2 patch, then I'm definitely jumping on!

Now I need to plan and save for maxing out the ram slots in the near future. Perhaps 32GB of 1866 sticks? One can only dream... In the mean time, I'm stuck with 12GB ram which I've pulled out of my old G74 (which died..)

It's going to be a fun gaming year! Can't wait to get the lappy tomorrow afternoon! My only concern is transferring the ram onto the new lappy. With the heat pipe in the way, looks like I'll have to remove the heat sink in order to add the ram. In which case, I like to re-paste (arggg, what a waste of IC 24-karat applied by GentechPC). But since I don't have any extra compounds here, I may just have to use the compound as is (applied). I hope that is OK.. I'm just paranoid that way...

 

I was planning to install 1866Mhz RAM in my GT70, but Ken from GentechPC cautioned me that the Corsair Vengeance 1866Mhz kit's didn't work for him when tested in this laptop.

That's not to say that other 1866Mhz RAM won't work.... but I'd use caution, or buy from a retailer that you can do an easy no-hassle return with in the event that the faster memory doesn't work.

I ended up going with ken's suggestion of 32GB Kingston HyperX 1600Mhz CL9 (low-voltage), and that has worked out well!

The stock ADATA CL11 RAM isn't bad.... But the HyperX CL9 is noticeably faster at the same clock speed.

 

Anyone tried these? Kingston HyperX Model KHX1866C11S3P1K2/8G Laptop Memory - Newegg.com (1866 Hyper-X SODIMM)

I hope they work, because when I am ready to upgrade in the future, I'm planning on maxing it out to 32GB. I don't they have these in 8GB sticks just yet...

I think my 12GB from my old machine will suffice for now, but just wondering if anyone's tried these and got it to work for future 'planning' purposes...

 

Deleted.

Discussion belongs somewhere else (regarding wireless cards...) Sorry...

 

Well, NVidia released the 320.49 - WHQL drivers today. I haven't tried to install them yet, but I'm still concerned they won't work. The Release Notes again do not list the 780M as a 'Supported NVIDIA Notebook Product'.

We'll see.......



EDIT: NOPE..... seems it still does not recognize our 780M's...... geez, I hope we do not have to wait another month for the next WHQL release, but most likely. UGH! I also notice the Release Notes say NVIDIA no longer supports Hybrid Power technology. WHAT? Wasn't this an exclusive feature of this notebook when it was released? UGH, AGAIN!

 

I'm pretty sure they don't, will need to stick to the modified infs for now.

 

Right about now, @Meaker 's 330W PSU mod looks very attractive (no need for hybrid power)

 

Posted this in the GT60 lounge, but will post here too:

Curious of what you guys think - I don't mind the size of the 17" or 15". I own a 17" laptop now and don't mind the size one bit, but I'm not attached to it. So given that, if you guys had the choice of the 17" GT70 with a 256 840 Pro SSD or the 15" GT60 with 3x Plextor PX-M5M mSATA SSD (128GB x3 Super RAID 2), which would you go with? Would the 3xmSSDs be faster than an 840 Pro in the real world?

Or would you go with a single SSD and nothing fancy and bump up the processor?

 

Just got my MSI GT70 2OD-064US from Best Buy. So far I like it but I'm having a huge issue with the touchpad / trackpad. The issue seems to be when I attempt to use the trackpad, it seems to just hang and not do anything. I thought it might just be a driver or setting issue but that doesn't seem to help at all when I went looking.

I can see in the bottom right corner with the synaptic driver that it's still getting an input as it's lit up green. Anyone else have an issue or should I just call Best Buy and get a new one sent out ASAP!?!?!?

I just ran the 3dmark the scores were quite high so I'm happy with that. Not at all thrilled with Windows 8, but I can adjust to it.

 

So I just got my GT70 2OD-064US, keyboard is going to take a little getting use to but happy with the system overall. I'm having an issue with the track/touchpad whatever you want to call it. So far about half the time I go to use it, it has issues where it won't do anything when I go to move the cursor. I can tell it's receiving input as the Synaptics icon in the task bar has a "Green" like it is getting information, but the cursor just stays right where it's at.

This is the first time I've used Windows 8, so I'm not sure if it's not something from there, but wanted to check and see what the others on the board can tell me.

 

When looking at SSDs don't be blinded by the big Sequential numbers flaunted by SSD manufacturers,it's the small file read and writes where you should be looking.

It had been establish a good while back that small 4K blocks are accessed more than any other disk access size.This can be varified in Microsoft's Diskmon.

Whichever configuration yields the better 4K performance at all Queue Depths is IMO the one that should be at the top of your purchase list.

For a 2.5" SATA III 6GB/s SSD I'd look at the new SanDisk Extreme II.

The Plextor M5M mSATA are very good and much cheaper than the Intel 525 mSATA SSDs.

With almost all SSDs write performance improves as capacity increases.

 

I can't say for sure, but they do have the same voltage requirements as the Vengeance 1866Mhz CL10 memory (1.5v).
So I'd say chances are very iffy that they will work.

All I know is that the HyperX 1600Mhz CL9 1.35v memory works just fine in the GT70.

 

Nevertheless, builders are offering it as an option.. I wonder if they just haven't tested it yet... Exotic for an example is offering them. It doesn't mean it works though I guess (they may not have tested them fully, or perhaps they did. It may be just an issue with Vengeance set.

I'm set for what I need for now, so not worried. But I do hope that they do work for future upgrade option. With these machines being so new, I'm sure it'll all hammer out as people buy / try many different variations. At the least, hopefully future bios update will fix the issues and provide more hardware compatibility.

 

Oddly enough Exotic doesn't offer that same Ram on the 039US Dragon 2 model?
In fact they only offer 1600Mhz ram options. - Interesting...


Would be nice to see a comparison between 1600Mhz CL9 and 1866Mhz CL11 memory.

 

That is interesting. It is offered however, on the barebones.. The plot thickens...

 

Perhaps NVIDIA is losing it... On the download page, "Supported Products" tab (scroll down), GTX 780m is clearly listed.

 

Can't wait to start tinkering with my new 1763 tomorrow

Thanks Ken!!!

 

GT70 2OD-064US Got mine today, not bad, but I think quite a bit of the issues stem from Windows 8... programs run fast, but they take a bit to open up. Also having some issue with my track pad. I hope I didn't make a mistake going with the MSI....

 

I know the 780M is shown on the download page...... but not in the Release Notes. My thought is NVIDIA didn't add the 780M's HW ID (for whatever reason) to the driver's INF file. As to Hybrid Power, I now question if NVIDIA's obsolete Hybrid Power, is the same as MSI's Hybrid Power. Though they seem much the same, I think they are most likely two different animals with the same name.

 

Has anyone tried the 326.01 NVIDIA GeForce driver from the Microsoft Update Catalog?

You must use Internet Explorer to access the catalog.

Microsoft Update Catalog

Type NVIDIA GeForce GTX 780M in the search box(or the name of the card you have)

Add the 1385.1 MB driver

View Basket

Download

Open the downloaded folder and extract the cab file to a new folder.

There's no exe so the update needs to be done manually through Device Manager>Update Driver>Browse>Let Me Pick>Have Disk

Point the installation to the new folder where the driver was extracted

 

Is this for Win 8, or the 8.1 preview?

 

I want to say that I read somewhere back in the forum that Ken (I think, mighta been someone else) tested the Vengeance RAM and it didn't work at all on the Dragon Edition 2, hence not having that option.

EDIT: Found it! "Be ware about the 1866Mhz RAM, we tried the Corsair Vengeance CL9 8GB stick and it doesn't work. The Kingston 1600MHz HyperX with 1.35v works fine."

 

I have it installed on 2 Windows 7 x64 SSDs and 1 Windows 8.1 SSD.

 

AWESOME! thanks for the tip. Will be starting off with this driver tomorrow. Already downloaded. TYVM!

 

I hope it works well on your GTX 780M

I don't have a GTX 780M to test it on.

 

I'll report back tomorrow evening!

 

Don't worry about HybridPower guys. It was a feature, combined with Geforce Boost, used in early desktop motherboards. Hybrid SLI they called the tecnology. Previously, on motherboards with nvidia chipsets (and nvidia IGPs), if a game demanded a lot of processing power, some of the calculations done on the discreet GPU was offloaded to the motherboard's IGP (like Physics calculations). This was called Geforce Boost. When not gaming (or any demanding GPU operation), the compatible motherboard would switch to the IGP for lower energy consumption and lower noise (Hybrid Power).
It doesn't concern us GT60/GT70 owners so no problem if they discontinue it
We have Optimus

@Bullet2300

A single SSD will yeld better 4k speeds because there isn't any overhead on the bits written. As WTP said go with the Sandisk for perfomance consistency or with the 840 Pro for a bit more performance and lower power consumption if you plan on using a single SSD configuration. Either of them won't disappoint
Even the M5Ms are great if you'll be going the RAID route. DEVSLP helps with lower power too. Intels? They are great but a bit expensive right now and performance starts showing on the 180/240 models

 

326.01 driver doesn't work for 780M. Does not install. 320.49 whql doesn't work either.
Can somebody post a modified inf for the 320.49 drivers that works???

 

Hybrid power is needed when using the 780M and 4700/4800/4900 on the GT70. Without it on when wattage used goes to about 160 watts the framerate in games drops from 60fps to 25fps because the 180w power supply starts to give up. The framerate is only stable when hybrid power is on. I have checked this with a power meter. Also applies to 3dmark11. Low score with hybrid power off because when it gets to the combined cpu/gpu test everything slows down. With hybrid power on 3dmark11 works as normal.

 

What you say is correct and applies to what MSI calls "Hybrid Power"
What nvidia means with HybridPower in its drivers is different and only correlates to desktop motherboards with an nvidia chipset. The 780m doesn't use the 4600HD iGPU for physics calculations or any additional 10-20% boost. MSI went with a less powerful PSU and to compensate the lack of additional peak power, came up with this solution.
It's like comparing apples to oranges

 

why are we even discussing desktop hybrid power when this thread is for msi gt70 laptops??

 

We were not discussing
I just explained how things are
Anyway back on topic. 320.49 does not work on the 780m. Also if you want to install it I'd recommend cleaning previous 320.18 beta.

 

So to install it u would have to modify the inf file but do u add the msi 780M entry to the clevo file or copy the clevo 780M entry into the msi inf file and modify it for the correct hw id

 

I would add, this thread is for the discussion of MSI GT70 2OD laptops!

The discussion of 'Hybrid Power', I believe was my fault, due to confusion with brand terminology...... and would have been relevant if MSI's 'Hybrid Power' were the same as NVIDIA's obsolete Hybrid Power (also dubbed Hybrid SLI, and predecessor to Optimus). If they were one and the same, present MSI notebook owners would be in deep doo-doo. I spent yesterday discussing this with both NVIDIA and MSI, and to my relief, the two technologies are not synonymous with one another.

Anyhow guys, sorry for the stink!

 

For anyone with a new GT70 20D are you having issues with the Trackpad when you go to use it, and if you start from the top/bottom/sides it doesn't register your input until you lift your finger off and start somewhere in the middle?

If it's just mine I'm going to contact support but if it's by design I'll live with it.

Typing on this puppy is quite nicer over my last laptop the keys don't click as loud so I'm happy about that.

 

the official 320.49 or beta contains an inf called nvcvn.inf which lists several 780M hardware ids. I modified it with my hardware id and it did let me install the driver (with digital driver signing disabled) but I got blank screen on reboot. Had to boot into safe mode and re-install the old driver. Does anybody know what needs modding. Here's the untouched inf

My hardware ID:

PCI\VEN_10DE&DEV_119F&SUBSYS_10EA1462

Unmodified inf:

https://www.dropbox.com/s/zvml1bzcadcbdjv/nvcvn.inf

 

Man, I wish I could contribute to this... My lappy still isn't here.. (usually the last stop on my UPS guys' route list LOL!) 4 more hrs. Max...

Getting uncontrollable shakes...

 

You're lucky 3 weeks later and mine still hasn't even shipped!

 

I didn't realize that was true, but looking at benchmarks it does seem to be the larger the disk the better the performance, very good to know. I think I will go 17" route with 4900MQ and then purchase a 256 840 Pro once I get the system. The SanDisk Extreme II is nice, but looking at benchmarks its only slightly beat by the 840 Pro in the majority of tests. If I am feeling crazy I may try to get the 512 version, but I think my work will get upset ha.

 

LOL! This happens to me with each new notebook, and I have been known to hunt down the UPS guy. He doesn't mind, because my bulldog wants him REAL BAD!

 

I have a problem with the scm game mode. I have 4900MQ CPU. when I select game mode it goes to 3.7ghz. but when i'm in a game it drops to 1.6ghz - 2.6ghz. Temps are ok and hybrid power on. Fps seem ok. Is it something to do with low cpu usage so its lowering the clocks?. only at 20%-30% when in the game?. I thought it should stay fixed at turbo mode no matter what % is being used when game mode is set. When I had a 4700mq in it seemed to stay always at turbo.

 

Many games are not CPU intensive. What game? I haven't tested my 4900MQ for game performance yet, but it sounds like your suspicions are correct. If game play is smooth and solid frame-rates, I'd chalk it up to efficiency. Again, I don't know what game you are playing, but I suspect the CPU is only under slight workload.. Not sure you really have a problem..... sounds fine to me, but something interesting to look into nonetheless.

 

3 weeks? wah???

 

I bet your driver gets the shakes whenever he / she sees a Gentech box.. "Dang it, that bulldog guy again... You go!, no you go! " LOL!

 

does it on metro last light and tomb raider, heaven benchmark (goes as low as 0.7ghz)

stays at max turbo on crisis 2.

Strange thing is when on the desktop and game mode is set it stays at 3.6ghz all the time even though 1% cpu is being used.

 

I know desktops are prob a bit different, but my 2500K doesn't boost to 4.3Ghz (OC-ed) unless it needs to. It is constantly changing based on performance need, so I would bet it's the same deal here. You could run some benchmark programs to test CPU and you will probably find it on turbo mode the whole time. As long as gameplay and everything is smooth, then I don't think there is any cause for concern.

 

My laptop is here!!!! First thing I noticed, MS-1763 has the identical touch pad as the branded (Independent Buttons!!!!)

Also, Myth debunked. I did not have to remove the heat sink to install the ram. There is a rubber bumper by the ram slots and heat pipes. Lightly glued on. Moved the bumper temporarily (glue isn't even dried yet lol!) lay the ram down flat, slide it in. Just confirmed and the ram modules posted on bios. More to come....