***The Official MSI GT80 Titan Owner's Lounge***

mason2smart, the GT80 touchpad works great, and the keyboard is awesome too - try to bring the MSI provided wrist rest with you - it helps to lift your hands over the keyboard.

The razer sounds heavy, but it is 2 lbs less than the GT80, plus the GT80 power adapter is another 3+ lbs. The dimensions of the GT80 are greater as well. The red lights stand out a bit more than the green, or blue.

Should all be fun, keep us up to date on how it all works out for you

 

I also was wondering has anyone ever done the custom backlight option offered by xoticpc? Is it bright and everything?

 

I was drunk at the moment I started to upgrade, and I had already upgraded my work computer.

Like a grumpy grandpa, I already disabled a lot of stuff like cortana etc. I will try it out for a month and decide if I like it.

But I'm not worried because I actually have a windows 8 pro key I bought for 20dlrs back when it was launching, so I do have a windows to fall back to.

Does windows 8 upgrades for free to 8.1?

Sent from my Nexus 9 using Tapatalk

 

Yes, 8.1 is free upgrade from 8

 

More than ok. Power is equal from both sides of the power adapter, but the current you are drawing from the outlet is lower than the one you are sourcing to your laptop, because of the voltage difference.

Since the laptop input wire doesn't change, only the cord to the outlet, you need a wire that can stand 4amps, which is just about everything even small awg18 wires haha

Sent from my Nexus 9 using Tapatalk

 

Awesome thanks so now i am not worried about using win 10.

Sent from my Nexus 9 using Tapatalk

 

Are you talking about these lighting effects?

http://www.xoticpc.com/custom_lighting.php#LOGO

It looks like the only order option for the GT80 263 is the MSI lid logo, which looks great stock, I wouldn't change it. There are also 2 long red illuminated bars on the lid. Looks nice

The keyboard keys are individually lit with red LED's, it would be a heck of a job swapping them all for a different color, and then you would want to change out all the red light accents for a matching color.

What other options are you configuring?

 

I was thinking of changing the color to red or orange for the lid backlight instead of white


MSI GT80 Titan SLI-253
- No Back-to-School Special
- No Back-to-School Special
- FREE! - Mystery Gift
- No Back-to-School Special
- XOTIC PC Global Anti-Theft Protection [Installed] (globally track your PC if it is stolen) (O.S. Required) (XPC Service) [Was: $49.00]
- No Back-to-School Special
- No Back-to-School Special
- No Back-to-School Special
- No Back-to-School Special
- No Back-to-School Special
- No Back-to-School Special
- FREE! – FEDEX Ground SHIPPING (Use Coupon Code "FREESHIP" in Checkout) [U.S. Lower 48 ONLY / Restrictions Apply]
- FREE - Metal Gear Solid™: Phantom Pain w/ purchase of GeForce GTX 970M or above Notebook [must be requested during checkout / limited supply]
- 18.4" (60Hz) WideFHD WLED (1920x1080) Matte-Type Screen
- Standard No Dead Pixel Policy
- NO Professional Monitor Color Calibration
- 5th Generation Intel® Broadwell™ i7-5700HQ (2.7GHz - 3.5GHz, 6MB Intel® Smart Cache)
- Stock OEM Thermal Compound ( IC Diamond Thermal Compound - CPU + GPU ProvidedFREE with Processor Upgrade!)
- SLI (2x) - NVIDIA® GeForce™ GTX 980M (16.0GB total) GDDR5 PCI-Express DX11 (Maxwell) (SKU – GPU001X)
- No Copper Cooling Upgrade
- No Video Adapter
- No External Mobile Display
- 16GB DDR3 1600MHz [SKU-824P] (Dual Channel Memory (2x8GB SODIMMS)) - Default
- Standard Laptop Finish
- No Laptop Laser-Sketch™
- No Custom Laptop Painting
- No Custom Laptop Painting
- MSI Logo [White] - Stock
- M.2 Option: Operating System Installed [Default] w/ M.2(s) selected below
- 250GB Samsung 850 EVO Solid State Drive [M.2] SSD (Read 540MB/s - Write 500MB/s)
- 250GB Samsung 850 EVO Solid State Drive [M.2] SSD (Read 540MB/s - Write 500MB/s)
- 250GB Samsung 850 EVO Solid State Drive [M.2] SSD (Read 540MB/s - Write 500MB/s)
- 250GB Samsung 850 EVO Solid State Drive [M.2] SSD (Read 540MB/s - Write 500MB/s)
- 1TB 7200RPM (SATA III - 6GB/s) - Default (SKU - HDD025)
- Raid 1 Mirror Enabled (Requires 2 Hard Drives. Copies data from primary drive to secondary drive)
- Slim - Blu-Ray Burner + DVDRW/CDRW Super Multi Combo Drive (SKU - ODD712)
- No Extra Optical Bay Hard Drive Caddy
- No Back Up Hard Drive
- NO External USB Optical Drive
- Bluetooth Included *With select wireless cards only* (See “Wireless Network” Section Below)
- Bigfoot Networks Killer™ Dual Band Wireless-AC N1525 - 802.11 AC/A/B/G/N Wireless LAN Module + Bluetooth 4.0 [M.2 Chip] - Default (SKU - WIFI74)
- No Network Accessory
- Internal 2-in-1 Card Reader (XC/HC)
- Integrated FHD Digital Video Camera (30fps@1080p)
- No TV Tuner
- Sound Blaster Compatible 3D Audio - Included
- No Carrying Case
- No Car Adapter
- No Spare AC Adapter
- Standard US Power Cord
- No Dock/Hub/Adapter
- No Fingerprint Reader
- No Headset
- No External Keyboard
- Stock MSI SteelSeries™ Red back lit Keyboard /w Mechanical Cherry MX Brown Switch
- No External Mouse
- No Notebook Cooler
- No Thanks, Please do not Overclock my system
- No Operating System Redline Boost
- WINDOWS 8.1 - 64-Bit (Pre-Installed)
- Keep factory installed operating system
- No thanks, do not create backup recovery DVD's
- No Antivirus Essentials Software Bundle
- No Back Up Software
- No Unlimited GB Cloud Backup
- No Office Software
- No Software Bundle
- No Global Anti-Theft Protection (Options below require an operating system)
- None
- 2 Year MSI US/Canada Parts & Labor 1 Year Global Warranty w/ Lifetime Tech Support
+ 1 Year Accidental Damage Warranty (Requires Registration within 30 Days from Ship Date)(SKU - WTY007)
- No Certificate & Binder
- * 24/7 LIFETIME U.S. based technical support
* Extreme QA testing by dedicated technicians
* 24-72 Hour stress testing and benchmarking to ensure top performance and stability
- Standard Production Time
- No Outside of US Shipping Coverage
- No thanks, standard double boxed packaging is okay with my order
- No XOTIC PC Gear
- No XOTIC PC / GEEK FUEL

 

mason2smart, I have only seen 1 laptop with the lid logo back-light modified and it was the most distracting thing you can imagine - it was a blinding light coming out of the laptop lid. WTH good is that?

The guy lifted the lid, booted up, and this blinding blue light came out, and I had to go over and tell the guy it was bothering me, and everyone else. He said yeah, he ordered it with his Alienware laptop, and he said he wouldn't do it again knowing it was so bright... YMMV.

The red bars + red/white MSI lighted logo looks nice, not subtle, but not glaringly bright.

I see what you are trying to do with ordering the less expensive 253 model and then upgrading the GPU's to save $, but you are downgrading the one thing you can't upgrade later, the CPU.

It wouldn't be a big deal normally as you would upgrade the whole laptop when a new GPU series comes out, but in this case the GT80 is designed to upgrade through 2 GPU series, as promised by MSI.

You will want to be able to live with your CPU choice for 2 more GPU upgrade cycles... something to think about.

FYI, the 2133mhz memory does make a perceptible difference in performance, at least to me. Consider upgrading to 2133mhz, now or later.

These are the 4x 8GB 2133mhz SODIMM's set I have installed:

G.SKILL Ripjaws 32GB (4 x 8G) 204-Pin DDR3 SO-DIMM DDR3L 2133 Laptop Memory Model F3-2133C11Q-32GRSL
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820231776

The Evo 850 SSD is a good choice, but consider getting 2 x 500GB now, so you can upgrade the RAID0 to 4 x 500GB later. It might be difficult to find a home for all 4 of the 250GB M.2 SATA drives later if you want to upgrade to 4 x 512GB.

Also, the scaling of performance for the RAID0 stops at 3x for the GT80, at least that is my experience. The 4th SSD added storage size, but it doesn't increase the speed further. It might even make it slower - I am going to try a 3 x 512GB RAID0 sometime soon to see if it improves throughput, downgrading from the 4x 512GB M600 Micron SSD's I am using now.

4 x 512GB M600's, with Write Back cache enabled.


Note, the 2.5" bay runs at 3gbps, SATA 2, but even an SSD will outperform an HDD at SATA 2 speeds, up to 300MB/sec. I wouldn't waste the 2.5" slot on an HDD. Get a mid-range 1TB SSD instead. You can upgrade this yourself later.

If you get the model 263, you get the Blu-ray burner...

As you have it configured it is an awesome set up

 

I am trying to keep the price below $4K
XoticPC seems to charge a lot for ssd's and RAM but I have never upgraded a laptop before... I probably will never do the GPU upgrade either.

Skylake seems to be coming out soon and im really torn between waiting for a skylake model or getting one now as school starts in like 2 and 1/2 weeks...

 

Have you checked prices and talked to the people at Gentech and Power Notebooks to compare to Xotic?

I'm a Gentech fan but you must make your own choice.

Yes,IMO it's worth waiting for Skylake as long as you don't need something right now.If you have an old notebook or tablet that can get you through the next few weeks until Skylake notebooks are shipping then waiting may be the best choice.

 

Yes but i did not like Gentech's restocking fee with any customizations whatsoever...
I do not know if skylake-H will be out before school starts... It seems highly unlikely. Many people say it wont be out until september but my parents wont buy me a laptop DURING school so im stuck with my current one until Winter Break and right after that the new Nvidia cards will be released... That and they dont like how big the GT80 is they want me to get something more portable but the GS series probably overheats like my Razer does...
Thats why im so torn between getting one now or waiting...

 

Thank you very much for the help incynr8 and ryzeki!

I suspected so, but couldn't find this info anywhere. Better safe than sorry

 

http://techreport.com/news/28381/killer-slays-wires-with-its-wireless-ac-1535-nic

Does anyone know anything about the new killer 1535 ac card? Msi still does not list it.

 

I have a GS70 and so far I love it. It does get hot after two hours of borderlands 2, but the weight and size make it worth while. You will know when the fans kick up a notch.

 

For college, personally, I would totally go for the GS30. Though back in my day, I used heavier laptops, in the same category and size of the GT60 and I did fine. I used to have many Asus models with basically the same size/weight and even design was strikingly similar. I mean, even nowadays you could confuse my old Asus G51J for an MSI

 

mason2smart, tough choice...

Let us know what you decide. Either way, be happy with what you get, it's going to be awesome +-10% either way

I recommend considering an Asus G751JY or MSI GT72 G-sync model, they are sturdy and cool really well, but the G751 audio has been problematic - everything else seems fine.

Otherwise not much else has the same pizazz as the GT80.

You really don't know just how fast an SLI 980m is until you run your games/apps on it, it's faster than a desktop 980 / Titan X - amazing.

No worries about needing G-sync

You know you don't need to purchase from a boutique shop. You are smart enough to get help locally - teachers, adults of some technical experience - to add SSD's and memory.

You can buy the GT80 263 stock for $4000 w/tax from Fry's, BestBuy, any number of places - you might need to special order/pre-pay - most places won't stock such a high end laptop.

Fry's Campbell, CA has the GT80 263 in stock, as does Fremont, CA, the 253 is in stock a bunch of locations - you can do a store to store transfer... act fast

I built my first electronics, transmitters and receivers, transceivers, and eventually computers when I was your age. One step at a time, it really helps perspective on life to be able to build things yourself. Adding memory and SSD's is very easy.

 

The GS30 with a 980ti would be a potent combination too, i'm hoping we get a slightly larger model designed for the dock too.

 

Do you plan on returning a customized notebook before you even get it.

Why worry about a restocking fee,do your homework before buying

Restocking fees are meant to deter free rentals.

If the notebook you order works as it should why would you want to return it.

EDIT:Skylake Notebook News

Waiting for a Skylake notebooks?

Skylake Xeon processors are coming to notebooks.

No release date has been given, though it's a safe bet that Intel will talk more about Mobile Skylake and its mobile Xeon line at IDF15 in San Francisco next week.

http://blogs.intel.com/technology/2015/08/bringing-intel-xeon-to-notebook-pcs/

 

I know this has been asked to death, but will the 4720hq bottleneck the 980m SLI?

My country only has 2 models, the 4720hq one and the 4980hq one, the price difference between the 2 is a staggering $650(converted) not to mention i have to wait a month or mOre for the 4980hq compared to the 4720hq one, which will take 2 days at most.
I don't live in the US so i don't have access to alot of resellers, not to mention i have to pay mark up for it.

 

No, you will be fine. If 4980HQ can play a game, so will the 4720HQ. For gaming you won't have problems. 4980HQ will be faster in short bursts, but other than that, they should be rather similar performing on most games.

If we had a way to control TDP regulation, I would definitely suggest 4980HQ but as it stands, I think any will give you plenty performance.

 

I've swapped out the 4x Micron M600 512GB for Evo 850 500GB 3x RAID0.

Here are the Evo 850 1x, 2x, 3x results, all drives in the first 3 M.2 slots, the only ones integrated into the RAID device, with the 4x M600 for comparison:

1x 2x 3x 4x M600

I might try 4x Evo 850 500GB at some point, but for the extra 100MB/sec READ, it doesn't seem important - I would rather save the 4th M.2 6Gbit/sec SATA for a 1TB SSD when they ship.

Too bad the 2.5" slot doesn't support SATA III...only does 3Gbit/sec, seems like a waste of a place for a 2TB/1TB SSD, and who wants a SATA II slot for an internal HDD anymore?

I used Macrium Reflect to do a full backup of C/D partitions from the 4x M600 RAID0, and saved it to a Seagate 2TB HDD in the 2.5" slot I have been trying out - it's going back, it took 2hrs 1 min to restore about 535GB:

Seagate 2TB HDD


I first restored to 2x RAID0 Evo 850's, then used the Windows Intel RST application to Add the 3rd Evo 850 - that took 2 hours to migrate, rebooted, and got the expected 3x scaling. The nice thing was I could work on my laptop while the 3rd SSD was integrating into the RAID0.

(can only attach 5 images, see next post)

 

(continued)

I first restored to 2x RAID0 Evo 850's, then used the Windows Intel RST application to Add the 3rd Evo 850 - that took 2 hours to migrate, rebooted, and got the expected 3x scaling. The nice thing was I could work on my laptop while the 3rd SSD was integrating into the RAID0.

Add Disk to RAID0

After 10 minutes

After 1 hour 40% done

2 hours, completed

 

So which is faster in raid?

 

If I decide to upgrade the laptop myself, don't I break seals? What implications May that have in the warranty and accidental damage warranty?

 

mason2smart, the sticker protects the shared screw for getting to the top and bottom panels, MSI says if you open it and you break something, they aren't responsible - but if you are only changing memory/storage options they don't care - just be careful:

[Official] Questions for the MSI Rep! - answered in this thread many times.
http://forum.notebookreview.com/threads/official-questions-for-the-msi-rep.761676/

 

mason2smart, it's a toss up, both run to the limits of the interface, but interact differently - I would go with whatever is on sale locally.

 

I just noticed the SLI-263 was reduced in price at NewEgg, hopefully this is an indication something new is arriving. <Cough> Skylake <Cough> hopefully with the HK unlocked CPU <Cough>. Nothing confirmed here I just have my hopes up.

 

Yeah I have my hopes up too. An unlocked skylake CPU would be great, but they would really beed to add a third fan for the cpu haha. I have been tinkering with the idea, and I think I might have a possible mod to add a third fan. When I get some free money I will attempt it.

 

The intel chipset only supports up to 4x SATA III max

 

Meaker, maybe it's time to start adding more IO throughput into our laptops through additional controllers

Why go through all the trouble of providing a physical hole for the 2.5" drive, lots of space, run th e wires, cables, and not give you SATA III speed?

Add a controller, so even if it can't provide simultaneous 100% SATA III throughput for the 4 Intel interfaces and the 1 or 2 add-on SATA III interfaces, you can get that throughput from the single device when needed.

MSI isn't the only one that has done this, ASUS did too, providing that PCIE x4 took away the Intel controller port used for 2.5", but again, stick in another controller, it doesn't cost that much, and these are all high end laptops, it shocks a lot of people that they are getting SATA 2 throughput in their 2.5" bay in such a high end laptop.

 

I just checked newegg I did not see any sale on the 263 model...

 

Ya it changed again, before it showed the original price with a mark through it and said to check price in cart which was like set to 3299 if I remember correctly but I didn't take a pic.

 

Odd... Maybe they made a mistake?

 

Could be,The 253 model still shows it but the 263 doesn't any longer. Hopefully they honor the ones that snagged it up. I recently purchased 50 X100 dollar best buy gift cards for 15 a piece and didn't end up with nothing. I was bummed like several others.

Yes I knew my chances were slim but I couldn't resist.

 

Man, I just rolled back to windows 8.1.

Windows 10 started acting up. Steam wouldn't finish downloading games, my network connection would switch to public or act very slow, and steam games today wouldn't even launch. All in all, it seems it needs to be polished a lot still. I will stick to 8.1 as it works great.

 

I have good news and bad news. The good news is that a 990m is supposedly in the works and is due to be released in Q4, BUT the bad news is it won't be MXM compatible. The 990m is supposed to be more powerful than 980m's in SLI. (Source: http://wccftech.com/nvidia-geforce-mobility-gtx-990m-q4-2015-faster-than-gtx-980/)

 

Any issues with placing things, such as cellphones, on the surface between the keyboard and the monitor?

 

I don't blame you, I rolled back as well

 

That section of the computer does heat up a bit, since that is where everything is located in the computer really. I don't know if I would recommend it. Plus, the off chance of forgetting your phone and closing the lid would probably not end well.

 

lol... I don't really see that happening, closing the lid with the phones there, i'll keep the heat issue in mind if that area ends up getting hot, thus far haven't had anything hot enough to be able to feel, I have the 263 version and have a decent laptop cooler underneath.

 

chronoshift, I would be more concerned about marring/scratching the finely grained surface - there is a nice Dragon etching in the surface and the rest is nicely finished.

The center section gets warm - CPU / SSD's, and when I had the 2.5" 2TB spinning HDD installed the right section got warm too.

Maybe put down the provided black cloth folded double across that section, keeping the keyboard open, to protect the nice Dragon

 

GTVEVO, I saw the $400 discount right when you pointed it out.

newegg does this, discounts items for a short period, reduces stock to levels pre-programmed, and then raises the price again.

Some people got a great deal

 

SizeDrip, it's likely that won't be the only upgrade path, there are a lot of MXM slots to place upgrades, Nvidia will come up with something that will fit SLI/single MXM

 

Attaching something that produced that much heat directly to the motherboard is probably a really bad idea

 

Yeah, I don't see how attaching a nearly 200 watt GPU to the motherboard is a good idea.

 

Guys, I don't want to double post, but thought you might be interested in some performance posts for the GT80-263 I made in another thread.

First XTU / Passmark benchmark results:
http://forum.notebookreview.com/threads/i7-4980hq-vs-i7-5950hq.779654/page-2#post-10061581

Matching tunings with a GT72 with a 5950HQ
http://forum.notebookreview.com/threads/i7-4980hq-vs-i7-5950hq.779654/page-2#post-10062270

Cinebench r15 results
http://forum.notebookreview.com/threads/i7-4980hq-vs-i7-5950hq.779654/page-5#post-10064069

 

No one's helping me out in the MSI forums so I'll post this here.

After upgrading to Windows 10, Skype wasn't working and most webpages were not working. So i rolled back to Windows 8.1. Then a day later, Windows explorer crashed. I hit "End Process" and the computer restarted... and booted into BIOS screen. Tried restarting again and booted to BIOS again. Put in the USB recovery tool and went into Command and did "bootrec /scanos" and it said 0 versions of Windows installed or something like that. Went back into BIOS and went into the Advanced tab, Intel Rapid Storage Technology and it said my Kingston SSD RAID0- failed. My gaming computer savvy friend suggested i Unraid it so i did and my 239GB SSD went down to 119GB for some reason. So one of my 2 SSDs is just gone and not recognized! 1 SSD and my HDD are both recognized but one is just gone.

I reinstalled Windows 8.1 on my other SSD, without Raid. I'm now able to logon and use the computer like normal but its only on 1 SSD. So what could've happened during the upgrade to Windows 10 that can wipe out an SSD? I'm guessing that's what did it because i haven't used the computer since rolling back from Windows 10, and it hasn't moved at all from my desk. Is there any way to salvage it, or diagnose it without sending it in? I'd be highly lying if i said i wasn't completely pissed off my $3500 state of the art laptop is f'ed up. I lost all my game data, saves, programs, pictures, etc and I'm on the verge of punching something and crying and i don't cry >o<

IDK what to do. I'm decent with computers but not great with this high tech computer. Never worked on SSDs or gaming computers before so I'm out of my league here. Someone please help!

 

Please be aware I don't mean to sound harsh just being blunt because there is no way to put any sugar on it.

Sorry to hear about your troubles but understand if you did not back up your data then your data is most likely lost if stored on your SSD partition/array (Disk labeled C . Remember backups are key, if you do not own a backup look into a backup solution such as Acronis and live by it to prevent this in the future. Save your backups off system to always allow an easy recovery and make new when trying to upgrade major software.

As in your games I would think you can re-download and or reinstall most of your games since most are digital.

In stock form the GT80 uses 2 x 128gb M.2 ssd sticks in a raid 0 configuration which binds the disks together to look like 1 x 239gb (size might vary slightly) C Drive/Disk. When you destroyed the raid 0 in Intel Rapid Storage you separated them into individual pieces from 1 big chunk. The reason he probably stated to remove/destroy the raid is because your system was reporting a failure in one of the two M.2 ssd sticks and this would allow you to get the system up and running on 1 ssd hence your report of one 119gb disk now. He was on the right track to get you moving again.

Windows 10 or anything from MSFT that you are upgrading for that matter, it is always recommended to first have a complete backup of the system and second never install anything unless you have a plan and understand the upgrade and downgrade process with impacts completely. We are only human and to be honest the MSFT direction has always been to release now and fix later, this is just how they operate.

A. First don't do anything more until you are sure of what data you have and don't have, if you find some back it up and store it on USB so you know where it is.
B. Second think about how you want to proceed with your failed SSD. Do you wish to send the system in and have the SSD submitted under warranty or do you just want to purchase one or bigger SSDs? You can not just send the SSD in for warranty you will have to send the entire system.
C. Third depending up on your second, put the system back to stock using the recovery and leave win 8.1 until you have backups that will allow you to recover from your next win 10 install attempt.


I am sure others will have suggestions that I have not mentioned here as there are many well educated individuals in this thread but hopefully this helps some.

 

I'm planning on ordering this model in the next few days, as an upgrade from my current GT70-20D:

https://www.4launch.nl/shop/#p-4-productid-360959

Anything I need to know before ordering, or the most important things to do / check once it arrives?

I'm using the excellent GT70-20D fan control by DP at the moment. Does such a thing exist for the GT80, or is it not needed anymore?

Cheers!