The Official MSI GT70-2OD Owner's Lounge

Nice, thanks!

What's your take on the fan noise?

 

I wish there were more resources about this laptop online!

I'm looking at ordering mine from Xotic PC, still deciding what upgrades to add.

What bottlenecks the 780m more? Temp issues or the CPU?

I'm wondering if I should go with the 4800/4900mq or just get IC Diamond Thermal paste + Copper Heatsink improvement.

What do temperatures hover around?

 

It really depends on the game. For less demanding games, without turboboost expect the CPU to hit the mid / upper 70's, and the GPU to hit the upper 70's. For demanding games (e.g Crysis 3), my GPU will end up around 89/90c after about 15-20mins. Of course all these temps are without coolerboost on. With coolerboost - even in Crysis 3 my GPU does not go above 78-80c. Oh, and thats all on the stock paste btw.

 

Would you say the 4900 is worth it over the 4800?
I'm thinking it's worth getting IC Diamond Thermal Compound, but I don't know if I can justify getting the Copper Cooling. Wondering if it's truely worth it.

Those temps arn't too bad. I'd really like to know who this laptop runs with a heavily modded skyrim! That'll probably be the most demanding game I have. I'm getting this laptop for more than gaming- I do a lot of multitasking, programming, editing and I'm looking at trying out 3D modelling and graphic design.

I'll be coming from a Dell Latitude D630 (Intel Celeron Core 2 Duo - T750 @ 2.0ghz with 2gb ram, OH and a Intel X3000 Integrated graphics. Yeah, I can run minecraft at lowest possible settings at around 8 FPS)

 

For a gamer? Probably not unless it really is going spare.

3.9 ghz will be plenty.

 

Hi There,

As others have posted in here I'm extremely interested in the MSI GT70 2OD series. I was trying to decide between MSI and ASUS. Since I don't upgrade my system every 3 years (I'm still rocking a Core 2 Quad 6600) I want something that will keep up with future gaming titles.I was going to go with a 770M model until I realized that the 780M is ~30% faster. I would've gone ASUS as I've heard they are cooler and quieter but I noticed that they do not have any 780M models.

What I'm interested in is the cooling capability of this system when it's being pushed. Since I don't upgrade very often I don't want my system cooking itself to an early death. I was looking at reviews and this article at AnandTech got me a bit spooked: MSI GT70 Dragon Edition Notebook Review: Haswell and the GTX 780M. To take some quotes from that article:

"So the MSI GT70 Dragon Edition was supposed to be our flagship Haswell and NVIDIA GeForce GTX 780M review. On purely CPU-centric tasks, it didn't disappoint, but whenever the GTX 780M was invoked it started having serious problems. So what happened?"...

..."At this point, the problem is pretty evident: MSI is trying to cool both a high performance mobile CPU and a high performance mobile GPU with a single fan. The cooling system has one fan with a pair of heatsinks around it: cool air comes in through the back of the GT70 and through the GPU's heatsink array, and then the hot air pulled off of that is used to cool the CPU's heatsink array behind the GT70's exhaust."...

..."The CPU is throttling. Noise levels remain reasonable during gaming, but that's because the CPU is essentially cooking itself. And keep in mind that the GPU is getting cooled first, so the GTX 780M's boost has a healthy amount of headroom to play with."...

..."All you have to do to get these thermals is push a touch-sensitive button above the keyboard that toggles the system fan to maximum. Of course, in the process the noise levels wind up being obnoxious and well over 50dB, and performance improves minimally. The fact remains: the MSI GT70 Dragon Edition's thermal design simply isn't enough."...


So to summarize I'd like to get a consensus from multiple users on heat and noise output when the GPU and CPU are being pushed. Is it loud? Is it hot? Is it throttling? I'm sure I'm not the only one wanting to know. Thanks.

 

Just look at the comments on that review, there were problems with thier unit that were unique to it.

 

Can you point me to the comments you're referencing?

I also notice your signature; you guys wouldn't happen to ship to Canada eh?

 

Just read through the comments, not that much, you'll find them...
(You can start here: AnandTech | Comments for MSI GT70 Dragon Edition Notebook Review: Haswell and the GTX 780M)

 

I read through the comments and it looks to degrade into one guy slandering the reviewer and everyone else backing up the reviewer. I'd call that a wash.

 

Alright. I went back about 30 pages (man my eyes are sore!) and read through everything. Now I hope some people can give me some info on customization questions.

1. Most vendors seem to provide customization with these systems but all of the pictures I've seen of the insides do not show a 2nd 2.5" HDD bay. Are these systems able to handle 2 HDDs? I'd like to go 256GB SDD primary and 1TB HDD secondary but I don't know if you can do that?

2. Going from GenTechPC they currently have a "16GB PC3 1600 Dual-Channel (4GB x 4)" promotion on the 12GB model. Does anyone have any thoughts on the 'generic' memory that they provide versus something like Kingston HyperX 1600? Is there really any improvement using a branded memory when it's running at the same speed? Going to 16GB (8GB x 2) Kingston HyperX is a $150 touch.

I may have more questions to follow. I'm upgrading from an Core 2 Quad Q6600 with an GTX 560, 8GB OCZ performance memory and 1.5TB of storage over 2 - 7200 RPM HDDs. As you can tell I don't have the budget to upgrade very often so I want to make sure I build this thing exactly right without straying too far from the $2500 mark. Any manufacturers or suggestions about customization are appreciated. I hope to soon join the ranks of proud GT70 owners.

3. Speaking of GenTech, who would you recommend: GenTech or XoticPC and why?

4. So what would be a more noticable upgrade: Upgrading the memory from 'whatever brand their generic brand is' to Kingston HyperX (same amount, same speed) or going from a 5400 rpm HDD to 7200 rpm HDD?

 

Thanks for the answers, looks like I'll stick it out with the 4800.

Unless I'm able to be flexible with our budget. Will probably get Diamond thermal compound and Copper piping.

 

Hi, I just joined the MSI GT70 club =)
So far laptop is working great, but I just have one question. It seems that this new version of the laptop I have has ditched the turbo touch button above the keyboard and replaced it with a shortcut to a media (bluray) player. So does that mean the turbo will automatically activate or is there some application somewhere that I need to open and activate manually? Thanks ahead of time ^^

 

Honestly Turbo was a pretty useless button anyways. If every single game I tested, hitting turbo actually caused my FPS to DROP a few FPS. I literally never used it again after I noticed this by using fraps to test. Today you really don't need to worry about setting you system up for any games. The GTX 780m already overclocks itself or turbos itself if you are within thermal limitations, and the 4700MQ likewise will turbo itself to max turbo clocks across all cores if within power and thermal limits as well.

If you need extra power or just feel the need to overclock you can download MSI Afterburner for the GPU. A fairly sure OC of +135core and +400-500memory should work. But all cards are different. Keep an eye on the temps as well and use cooler boost. You can also download Intel Extreme Tuning Utility or XTU version 3.2 for the CPU, and overclock the CPU by adjusting the turbo multipliers to max available settings. This will yield you 200mhz gain when using all 4 cores maxed out.

 

Anybody care to offer an opinion about this:

Amazon.com: MSI Computer Corp. MSI GT70 2OD-064US;9S7-176312-064 17.3-Inch Laptop: Computers & Accessories

I'm a little hesitant as no warranty info is listed but I am a super fan of Amazon's customer support and return policy.

Thanks.

 

As I have mentioned before in other threads, I recommend going over with a reseller like GentechPC or many others that even participate on these forums, over newegg/amazon. Not because amazon is bad or anything, it's a great way to buy stuff, but because it won't have the personalized customer service you might need, rather than fighting it out in case you have an issue you require to fix.

That being said, if the amazon listing is for a brand new laptop, you should have the stock MSI warranty which I think is 1/3 years? You can look for info of that model in the global msi page. You should not have any problem warranty wise buying from them!

 

I ordered mine off of Amazon, great price and ships instantly... I received mine in two days. You still get the standard MSI warranty, these are brand new in box machines, just like from any regular store. Plus, as mentioned, you get Amazon's awesome return policy if there is an issue with the machine for easy exchanges on the odd chance you get a lemon.

 

Thanks to both of you ryzeki & be77solo. @ ryzeki - I did check the GenTech Website but unfortunately their same system was almost $120 more than the Amazon listing. I believe this is the correct URL - MSI GT70 2OD-064US NV GTX780M, Intel 4th Gen Haswell CPU - GenTech PC.

I am curious though - how much upgrade room does this MSI layout offer - am I stuck with the GPU or CPU forever or are they user-friendly replaceable parts?

Also, I'm not crazy about WIN8 - has anybody successfully downgraded to WIN7?

 

They are very upgradeable machines, RAM, SSD's, HDD's, OPTICAL DRIVES, CPU, GPU, and even screens can be replaced or upgraded with basic computer assembly skills. Never any guarantee on the GPU that a faster compatible card will be available for any laptop, but it's easy to access if you find one down the road.

Definitely very easy to work on and service machines.

I'd go Amazon without thinking twice if you are competent with upgrades and think you might want something tweaked down the road. Otherwise, Ken at Gentech seems to be very active around here and people love him, so can't go wrong if you want the upgrades now.

EDIT: Just saw your note about Win8... I'd stick with 8 as the newer machines are really setup for them, ie UEFI instead of BIOS etc. With a few tweaks 8 can be setup to have the Start menu and appearance of 7. Under the hood I've been very happy with the OS improvements/optimizations they've made over 7. Having said that, yes guys have successfully downgraded to 7.

 

Thanks alot be77solo. I'm less than 30 minutes from pulling the trigger on the Amazon offer + SquareTrade x 3 yrs.

 

As be77solo mentioned it works like that. You can try pricematch if you want but anyways as be77solo suggested, stick to windows 8, just use additional software like Classic Shell or the other numerous Start Button program that will help you transition to a Win7 style of use.

But sure you can downgrade if you want. I think it's just a matter of tweaking bios settings and all.

 

Hi Talon, thanks for the input. I used the MSI Afterburner software and increased my core clock +135 and memory +400 as suggested and used the MSI Kombuster software. The highest temp I reached after 6 minutes of testing was 83 degrees. Is that good or bad to leave the settings like that and play games for a longer period of time? Also, cooler boost was on during the test.

 

Is it True there's no more turbo fan

 

No it's not. I said turbo mode, not cooler boost. Cooler boost (the one that increases fan RPM) is still there.

 

:¢ now I'm confused I never saw "turbo mode" on mÿ 2oc

 

Turbo mode, not cooler boost was incorporated on older G series MSI laptops. It was a button labeled "turbo."

Here is an excert from MSI laptop description of it for the GX660

I'm not sure when MSI stopped using the "feature" but obvioulsy wasn't incorporated into the MSI GT60/70 series laptops.

 

That's a good temp right there. But 6 mins is too little. As long as you keep yourself under 92 C to avoid throttle, you are fine. Tho if you are running that hot, you should reduce the heavy OC.

 

Yea I figured that 6 minutes was too less, I will conduct a longer test in actual gameplay. I just ordered a Cooler Master SF-19 laptop cooler so we'll see how much it helps in addition to cooler boost mode.

 

While 6 mins is short, it is still around enough time to reach max temps, provided you ran at 100% those 6 mins. I doubt you will increase much, unless you tax hard both CPU and GPU.

 

Hey, sorry for the delay in response, but this week I had a lot of work :/

I downloaded the XTU program and the score range from 830 to 870 points without OC, usually more close to 840. In 35 minutes of Furmark, the CPU reaches 4099MHz manteined about 1 minute (temps reach 93º), then the clocks down to 3,4GHz for 2 minutes (85-86º), during the rest of the test the CPU keeps 88-90ºC and 3,2-3,4GHz (with CB ON)

I heard that the new bios fix these stability problems, and I've also read that the CPU can be overclocked to 4,4GHz, but dont know if the cooling system can keep the laptop in a good temp range and if the AC Adapter + battery can give enough power.

The fan noise is very very low at idle, even during long gaming seasons (without CB) works too slow, with the CB ON is more louder, but the temps improve about 10-12º (mínimum).

Compared with my old GT683DXR, the new CB 2 (and the GT70 in general) it´s much better.

P.S Sorry if my English is not perfect, but it´s not my main language

Some picks during 1h gaming

BF3


Sleeping Dogs


Tomb Raider


Furmark + Prime95 (OC in CPU and GPU) - 35min


Toshiba´s SSD´s



System Info


CrystalDiskMark




Love it ^^

 

Hi mates !

First post for me here :hi2:. I discovered the forum/thread while searching for information on the MSi GT 70 20D.

I'm not familiar with forums so feel free correcting me if anything wrong.

I've read all pages of this thread and I'm still enjoying reading new ones. Reading you all really decided me to take this one !

Here's the thing, I want to buy the MSI-GT70 20D -256FR (a french one) at 2100 euros.

Specifications :
Intel® Core i7-4700MQ
16 Go RAM
2x 64 GoSSD
750 Go
NVIDIA GeForce GTX 780

What do you guys think of this config ?

There is one year warranty but I can extend it to 3 years. This warranty give me a voucher equal buying price if something is broken or dysfunction. My last *ty* laptop died while warranty and now I have this 1000 euros voucher to use. This is a great way to come next gen for a good price !

For this laptop the warranty 3 years extended is 550 euros (1/4 price of the laptop ! ). Do you guys think it could be a better deal taking the laptop without warranty and eventually upgrade/fix it if needed or would it be better to take the warranty extended and take a laptop next gen if mine's broken ?

550 euros is clearly out of my budget and this machine looks resistant but it's my first real gaming laptop and I'm a bit worried...

Thanks to you all !

 

Hey everyone,

Been using my dragon for about month now and it is so amazing. Unfortunately one problem turned up yesterday where when I tried to open Hybrid Power it would not load. I tried it several times to no success. I uninstalled and re installed it using the download link on the MSI download site for the GT70 but the same thing keeps happening. Has anyone experienced this or have any ideas on how to fix it or what might be wrong?

 

The general spec looks good, but I would advise against 2x64GB SDDs. Once the OS is installed you are going to have very little space left for games etc. The minimum really I would consider is 2x128GB SSD's. Use the SSD's for games and the mechanical HDD for all other data/files etc.

Also don't worry about the warranty. What companies don't like to tell you is that under EU law you are automatically entitled to a 2 year warranty, even if the item in question only comes with a manafacturers 1 year warranty. On that basis, 550 euro for one additional year of warranty is stupid. Take some of that money and use it to upgrade to 2x128SSD's.

 

Hi Quokka !

Thanks for your reply.

After a quick check, indeed in UE there is 2 years warranty but as it's one year warranty declared for this laptop, it means that I would have to go to justice, paying a lawyer and analyze of computer for proving that the issue is from a bad built product. It needs time and money that I can use to fix/upgrade the computer or having a big voucher (2100 euros !) if I take the warranty extended.

The thing is I don't know if this product has a 3 years lifetime, I'm thinking that it's a strong product and I can upgrade it but in another hand I'm still worried...

Anyway, I guess you're right. I have to upgrade those SSD ! 2x64GO is short...

I have another question. I read a lot of comments about noise of the fan on cooler boost mode. I'm not really annoyed by noise, I used to play with sound loud and my last laptop was loud just before it get broken. But do you think I can play with cooler boost on, with my girlfriend sitting on the same couch but looking tv ?

I think using cooler boost could extend lifetime of the laptop (whle playing demanding games of course), what do you think ? Buying a cooler pad could play too, no ? I'm not gonna OC CPU, do you think it could stand 3 years if I'm careful with temps ?

I'm trying to plan every little thing that can extend lifetime of the laptop if I don't get the warranty extended...:thumbsup:

Thanks again, really nice to see this strong community here !

EDIT : And what about 3 SSD 128GO ? There is 3 slots, right ? 384GO could be nice too ! But of course it will be for next year, time saving a bit.

 

Regarding extended warranty; I'm still using a 18 inch DV8 laptop that is still under warranty till June of 2014 because I bought an extra 3 years...Think cost me $349

I have had several issues ranging from a bad power adapter (2 times), wireless card (2 times), touchpad (3 times), motherboard (1 time 1st year) and these are issues I can think of just off the top of my head...

A luxuery laptop of this high price point should always have an extended warranty in my opinion, at least 2 extra years...I have never owned a perfect laptop that has never had problems and your extra investment into extended warranty is well worth the money in the long run...

Another BIG POINT I want to add is maintenance; This laptop is going on 4 years and still looks brand new and I clean it twice a week with a micro fiber cloth and a mild solution and a can of air once of month into air holes...Most people don't do this and they are the ones I find there laptops die sooner and or have more issues...Can of air is cheap and really really important for laptops!!

My 2 cents of advice...

I want to buy this model as well but haven't yet because I'm also saving up for a new car and that is my priority at the moment...I saw a sale last week for the MSI GT70 20D-064US for just under $1700 (without extended warranty) and almost pushed the buy button...I have until June I keep telling myself...

 

3x128GB is certainly nice. Its the one I wanted to get here, but it was just not available, so I went with the 2x128GB. I did not want to go lower than that.

As for the cooler boost - yes it is rather noisy when on. If you wear headphones of have the volume up high you won't notice it too much, especially when gaming, but I can imagine it will annoy your girlfriend. I tend to play less demanding games in the evenings when my wife is sitting on the couch next to me (without cooler boost). Once she is in bed then I'll play the more demanding games with cooler boost on and wearing headphones.

I have an aluminum laptop cooler that I always have my laptop on. I do this mainly to ensure good airflow in the bottom vents. My cooler does have two active fans in it - but to be honest with them on I don't notice that much of a difference in the temps. Certainly don't consider putting this laptop straight onto your lap or the carpet though, as the airflow will not be good.

My previous MSI gaming laptop is still going strong after 2 years. I only got this one as I wanted something faster Personally I have never paid for extended warranties as I think they are a waste of money. After 2 years there is a good chance I will be upgrading anyway. My 570M MSI laptop will go to my wife at the end of the year for her to use for her home business (translating).

As the poster above says, keep the thing in good condition with regular cleaning. It will help the temps in the long run. As with any consumer electronic product, some people will have problems and some won't. I had all sorts of trouble with my previous Sony laptop, but no issues so far with either of my MSI laptops.

 

Hello guys!

Today i received my new GT70, because my first one was DOA. It took MSI 3 weeks to sort this out (the HDMI wasnt working) and they promised me a new Unit.
Well at least im getting a new one....i THOUGHT!!!

Today i got the notebook delivered: WIthout the second brown box, just the Black GT70 box with plastic foil around. The GT70 Box was obviously in used condition. I unboxed the notebook: what do i find: fingerprints and "dirt" (signs of usage) almost everywhere.
Okay i thought..maybe they checked my unit at the factory if everything was alright.....so i booted up windows and noticed that the fan makes a funny noise: it sounds like if somebody would hold a piece of paper into the moving fan and it is really annoying. My original unit was completely silent. Additionally, Windos went straight to the desktop: so obviously this unit was in use before.

Im getting really pissed now, and while i am typing this, i just notice that the backspace key is broken (the "key" itself pops off the mechanics underneath.

im really really sad right now, and angry. This is the second unit i get and it is faulty again. and used....what should i do now? Is the DOA period over? Honestly im not sure if i want a MSI Notebook again ((

 

I don't have any personal experience with MSI but from what I've read their Support is horrid. That's why I'm going to go through a 3rd party company (asked in the forum here whether I should go Xotic or GenTech with no responses =( ...) so I can get better support on the unit; they can deal with MSI if it needs to get back to them.

 

i can just recommend you to do that! i had hoped that MSI has decent support but thats just a joke.
I think you cant go wrong with either Gentech or Xotic...but i dont have any experience with them.

i will call MSI on Monday and claim my Money for the Notebook and teh Warranty extension back, including the interest, as they had my money for one month without giving me a working Notebook.

 

Is there a thread or guide for installing WIN7 on a GT70 2OD-064US? I just got mine today and am not going to use WIN8. Or is it a simple matter of wiping the HDD, installing WIN7, and then the drivers from MSI?

 

Hey guys. I want to update my BIOS to the latest version.

On the downloads page of the MSI site, there are two versions: 70C and 50C both dated August 2nd. I have the 2OD-057AU model. Which one is it that I need to download? I tried downloading the 70C to try, but all that happens is a new tab opens in my browser and doesn't load anything.

Also is there an automatic update utility (Live Update??) installed that checks and does this automatically on my system? I have tried searching but can't find one.

 

I've heard that Win8 is actually a better performing OS than Win7. I personally hate the 'Metro' part of Win8 (I work for a Computer Sales and Service company so I've had hands-on with many Win8 systems and 'Metro' sucks) but when I get my system I'm going to use those 'mods' that people have released so that it boots direct to the Win8 desktop and has the Win7 Taskbar and Start Menu. That way I get the desktop the way it should be with the improvements of Win8.

As far as your question though, you will need to wipe and reload to get Win7 on it and as long as MSI has Win7 drivers for your model you should be fine.

 

Downloading the WIN7 drivers right now. WIN8 officially sucks - locked up three times as I tried to copy a 1.5mb file to the desktop! Comically when I moved my mouse to the top-right corner to activate that silly taskbar, then clicked on the start button, there was the WIN7 type desktop. What a joke!

Had to CTRL-ALT-DEL Norton as it tried to force install. Overall what a mess of an O/S.

 

hi guys, is there a chance you can help me. the killer network manager is actually killing me, i have set the application to work according to my preferences, however every time i boot up to windows i need to set it again, it starts doing the speed test, i need to check on the "no dialog" option also. Is it possible to stop or prevent the application from resetting itself every time i boot into windows? Thanks in advance.

 

Yep, It's that simple. Only one thing is annoying, the radio switch driver is not available for Win7 only for Win8.

 

I thought the more recent Nvidia drivers were meant to install OK on the 780M. Just tried the beta 326.80's, and the install program still says that it can't find any compatible hardware

Still stuck on the 311.83's as a result.

 

I've installed the 326.80 beta on Win7 without any problems.

 

Of course it installs OK - but just with this ID: NVIDIA_DEV.119F.10EA.1462 = "NVIDIA GeForce GTX 780M"
Yours must be different.

As a matter of fact the driver supports now 780M for 2 Asus IDs, 6 Clevo/OEM IDs, 4 Dell IDs and one MSI ID.

 

Hmm well its not installing under Win8 for me. I just get the no compatible hardware found message. The latest drivers (311.83) from MSI install just fine though. Am I doing something wrong?

I've not modded any .inf files - should that be necessary in this case?

 

Just downgraded to WIN7 and all drivers successfully installed except NVIDIA - I keep getting "You must install an Intel driver first."

Odd because in Device Manage the 780M shows up along with a standard VGA adapter. What am I missing???