~GX660(R) Owner's Lounge~

Hi there,

Would anyone be kind enough to tell me the part number for the gx660/gx660r's Gpu heatsink? I know it's on the sticker on the grill but I don't have mine with me at the moment. Thanks a lot!

 

Hey all,

tried searching for this, but couldn't get any results, so I hope I am not reposting a question from earlier.

For some reason, my gx660 will not turn on anymore. The power is plugged in, battery is plugged in, but when i press the power button, it doesn't come on.

If I press really hard, i hear a additional click and then sometimes the computers comes on for a few brief seconds, shows the msi screen splash, then the machine turns off again as if it was unplugged from the power socket.

any ideas or similar issue faced by anyone here?

my machine setup (I think) is 6 gigs of ram, an i7 quad (lowest model one), the ati 5870, two hard drives (an SSD drive and a 7200 rpm drive), 1080 screen.

 

First off, that doesn't sound good.

But let's try to troubleshoot. Prior to this problem, was there anything unusual? Did you, for example, overheat your laptop somehow?

Have you upgraded any parts or opened up the laptop in any way?

 

Hey there,

No issues prior. I just came back from a short trip, so the laptop has been off for the last couple of weeks.

I have not opened the laptop in anyway, or done any physical upgrades myself. I think when I got it I asked the vendor to put on thermal paste, but to be honest I dont remember. Also the laptop has not been dropped or damaged as far as i know.

The laptop has worked fine before this without issue. Actually thats not entirely true.... last time I went on a short trip and the laptop was off for a couple of weeks, when I came back to turn it on it had the same issue of not turning on, but then eventually it just turned on after several attempts so I thought nothing of it.

It is very weird to say the least.

 

It seems to be Power Jack damage . It`s typical damage for MS-16F1. You have to send your NB to ERC - power jack needs to be repaired.

 

Well guys, I finally got my RAM running at 1333Mhz thanks to Xonar and his unlocked BIOS for the GX660R!!!

I have tested it myself fully and it's made of win, get it here: http://forum.notebookreview.com/msi/616823-comprehensive-msi-unlocked-bios-xmp-support-thread.html

http://img845.imageshack.us/img845/2561/wina.png

Look at Clock and Timing - 9-9-9-24. This is the RAID version also

 

Ok thanks.

I appreciate the help .

 

Hello guys!
I recently bought a GX660R and I found some issues when using it in some situations.
When I use only the battery as a power source, some green pixels appears in the screen when I watch videos on youtube. If I keep on watching videos, these green pixels starts appearing in static images too.
If I connect the notebook to an AC adapter, the screen gets instantly back to normal.
I already reinstalled and updated the video drivers, disabled CPU core parking, but I got no success.
Does anyone know what can it be?

ps: sorry about my english

 

Is the card Overclocked at all? What are your clocks at when watching these videos? Is this laptop new or did you buy it used? Could be your vbios as well. When I first bought my GX660 I got random green screens of death when gaming, but these went away after a vbios update from the MSI website.

You say you updated the drivers, but which version are you using? The latest from AMD website or the ones on the MSI website?

 

It's a brand new NB. A friend bought it from bhphotovideo and brought it to me from US few months ago.
It's running all hardwares in stock, from CPU to videocard. The drivers updates I said in the other reply were from both websites, MSI and AMD, and right now I'm using the up-to-date amd catalyst.
Following your advice, I did the vbios update, but the problem is still there.
I did a search focusing on vbios problem and I found a video on youtube showing a problem similar to mine:
MSI GX660R-092NE Crash - YouTube
Sometimes I experience the same crash as in this video. The green pixels becomes a green screen and then a BSOD.
Reading the comments, I saw a guy which edited his vbios to a mod bios, changing the memories clocks from the original one. He said he used a software called ATIRBE and raised the memory clock to 500mhz. I tried to do the same, but there's a lot of fields which can be raised, as you can see in this screenshot.
Do you know which field I have to change?

I believe (and also hope ) it is a problem with the vbios.
Thanks for help!

 

Well you are indeed running the stOck msi vbios. I recommend updating to some vbios on this website. MSI has unbolted stock vbios @ 1.05 max. The 5870m orig. specs called for 1.15 @ max. This might fix your problem. Maybe you got unlucky and got a less stable card for those lower voltages. I would either try and reflash the card with those modified bios ( they work great by the way, I used them without any issues for 7ish months) OR I would try and RMA the laptop for repairs.

I will look for the link and post it here.

 

I think this is the one: http://forum.notebookreview.com/msi/561860-incresse-voltage-msi-gx660-5870m.html#post7250514

 

That's the one, thanks for that Geo.

 

Thank you, guys! I thought I would never solve this problem!
I modified the original bios and changed the minimum memory clock on battery from 400 to 500. It's working perfectly!! But I don't know if it is safe or if it can damage my hardware...
Now I don't know if I stay with the bios modified by me or change it to the one with 1.15 V.
What do you guys think I should do? Is the 1,15V one more stable?

 

That's great news, glad you figured it out. What you did is perfectly safe and will only slightly raise the idle temps. The main reason I would eventually upgrade to the 1.15 vbios is that voltage is set to what AMD spec'd for the card. This will allow you to get higher stable overclocks. If you're not looking to OC the card I wouldn't worry about it. If you're happy, and it works, I would just leave it be.

Also the 1.15vbios will slightly raise your temps. But depending on your ambient temp that shouldn't be much of an issue as the laptop runs very cool.

 

and wehey! had to rma my laptop last week

back 8 days later ...despite having to be sent up north to then be sent to the netherlands.
am genuiely suprised on how smooth it all went considring msi reputation on the rma side of things.

 

@TalonUIUC
What's the temp of your 6990M inside GX660 when playing games without Turbofan? I'm considering to upgrade to 6990m card but I don't like fan noise (and I have a 2 pipe heatsink for the GPU)... Still under the 90°C?

 

I was getting to 92 max I think, both furmark (after a few mins) and bc2/bf3 with turbo fan + 2 heatpipes and a 920XM at 3.2Ghz on 4 cores (will probably by less for you if you're not using an XM).. Bear in mind the fan is controlled by the CPU so if your CPU gets really hot - 80+ (not sure of exact number but it's apparent on bad company 2 and bf3) that's the turbo fan switched on automatically pretty much since the fan is spinning at the highest. If its not at the highest it still gets pretty damn hot - about 80-90 on Skyrim. It's loud and very hot, and the reason why I decided to switch. I was very uncomfortable with temps, whilst the 6990M is achievable it's not practical for a dedicated gamer in the long run

 

92°C it's a good temp, after all...

That's true.

What are you using now? Switched from GX660 to Clevo 6990M (with a better cooling system)?
My doubt are also about heat/noise. 6990m is a temptation at 300€ but next gen 28nm architecture should lower power consumption and heat too... so the dilemma is: worth waiting or worth buying?

 

The 6990M only became available on eBay for an affordable price a few weeks ago, so you're gonna have to wait at least a year until the 7000M series does

I was a bit of a traitor and got myself an M17x R3

 

im halfway there like you geocake only because the HDMI input is so tempting (i game on ps3 also) but dont know yet whether to pull the trigger.

 

Can't believe you guys going to AW from MSI...

 

Take a bit of times reading around and you will find out like me that there are occasionally 25% off coupons with another $100 off that you could stack up. And a outlet machine as a last piece of the puzzle and you got a machine with 2860QM and 6990M for $1350. Is it madness yet?

 

I like tiny powerful laptops, then I'd rather get a P150HM with 6990M/580M instead of the M17x R3 with same cfg.

 

the only reason I wouldnt trade is because of the sound system haha. I love my speakers!

Performancewise I see no reason to switch because I can still use high end GPUs and the CPU performance is not even a bottleneck. I doubt the 920xm will be a bottleneck anytime soon compared to the mobile GPU solutions.

 

I'll double that. Even mobility 5870 is still capable to run highly demanding games on high settings. Battlefield 3 runs 30-50FPS on high settings on my config.

 

So... are you still tempting me? Mumble mumble....

Exactly! Sound system with Dynaudio is another planet compared to competitors! If you enjoy watching also movies and playing games immersively it's a must a MSI!
I've also changed the mediocre original display with an amazing matte B156HW01 V.4, so it's a feast now!
GFX performance are still "good" but could be improved though.... mmmh....

 

Someone knows if it's possible a GTX 580M inside GX660?

 

^ Be the first to try?

You might need to make some additional changes to your 5870M heatsink and you will need to remove the backplate safely, but I don't see why it shouldn't work.

 

look for bar-code's attempt in my last upgrade thread. He tried a dell card and it got some throttling issue. Otherwise it seems to be just plug and play.

Also try to get a Clevo card.

 

That's true, the 580M will throttle quite badly at 77C, and the only way of treating that is keeping the temps down and below that point.. It can also throttle in the 60s but that can easily be fixed by updating the vbios.

My Clevo 6990M has gone to hell and back and I love it so much, not a single problem or signs, or even close to one. It's like the Rambo of GPUs.

 

yeah that may or may not be fixed with a vbios flash but its kinda risky to brick a $600+ card. I dont think i would have done it either if i were him.

Now I'm looking for a M17x R3 outlet with coupons while waiting for news of the R4 and new generation.

theres a M17x R3 with 2670QM and 6870M right now for $1135. I'm on a vacation so I couldnt buy it though.

 

those who are still using 5870 on their gx660, what are your idle core clocks and memory clocks as well as temps?

Mine's at 450mhz and 1000mhz core and memory, then temps at 59c... though room temperature at my place now is about 26-28c I'm using the 11.11a drivers by the way.

 

Better search for radiator fom 570m . No problem for me to get one.

 

Really? I've been trying to get one, where can you get them from?

The 570M heatsink will fit the 580M just fine.

 

Are GTX 580m temps lower than 6990m at full load?

 

No one has tried yet.

The GTX 570M heatsink will fit perfectly since the card is identical to GTX 580M layout save having 2 vram less.

And yeah im curious too as where can you get those heatsinks easily?

If i still pursue this i would wait for the new revision with GTX 580M to come out first and compare price.

 

For those asking...
the GX660 3 pipes heatsink part number should be the same E310405761Y3100B27000154 :
http://forum.notebookreview.com/msi...-amd-radeon-hd-6990m-succeed.html#post7994151 (thank you dragon290513).
Google returns nothing about it... I'll try to contact MSI...

 

Hey, that part number will be for the 570M heatsink.

All the undersides are different.

5870 3 heatpipe = E310405022TA902A42000821

 

Thanks for the part number's Meaker and Hexaae! I can't say for sure which one is correct right now, but at least I have somewhere to start .

I've seen a lot of different heatsink mods online and some of them have made me wonder: which parts of a mobile gpu actually require cooling via heatink contact?

In the attached pic, I've circled the core and vram in yellow and the other parts (not all of which I can identify) in red. Do the red parts actually require cooling? or I be okay as long as my heatink contacts the core and the vram?

 

Just remember msi are using 2 different types of hetpipes for 570m - 1.5 Gb and 3 Gb, and we are talking ebout 2 different part numbers.

 

The heatsinks should be identical, the 3GB 570M layout will be identical but use double density chips.

You can probably leave the capacitors, but the grey inductors and the flat square chips round them should be cooled.

 

BTW in January there will be avaiable 580m from msi .
@Maker
Take a look at PM.

 

I know the trubo button aka TDE overclocks the bus speed which in turn OCs the CPU and RAM. But does it really OC's the GPU too? I dont see increase in clocks for the GPU.

I have seen other people say that it also OCs the GPU...

It may increase the PCI-E freq because it OCs the base bus speed but really, these mobile GPUs arent really maxing out the PCI-E bandwidth even a desktop 590 or 6990 doesnt max a PCI-E 2.0 x16 bandwidth.

 

Yeah i think you do need to cool those too. Just looking at the heatsink design for a 5870m those are being cooled by the heatsink too. Those are VRMs which needs cooling.

 

To give you an idea, VRMs can often run hotter than the core itself.

 

one question
is it possible to install Core i7 990X on GX660R?

 

No as the 990x is a deaktop CPU.

 

Thanks
One othe question
What is the most powerful CPU that can be installed on gx660?

 

Its the 940xm. But most of us have the 920xm as its alot cheaper than the 940xm.