~GX660(R) Owner's Lounge~

@debianik: yes I am I have there few cool ideas for it already... in other hand I prefer to have BUILT - NOT BOUGHT sort of equipment, this way making own signature to it... I will see what will I do to this machine next

I know one for sure I will go 2 x 256GB vertex4 RAID0

I dont know what wlan module have this machine got, planing on intel 6300 ultimate-N, have 32GB DDR3 ram for it here... if gaming demand will arise in future I will up the GPU.. but I think for general usability I will up the CPU first to something XM
Have 16 pcs cooper sticky heatsinks, which I will get soldered on to heatpipes of CPU heatsink... and will see what will I do with fan mod... I have some nice ideas on that too

I will surely keep yous posted here

 

Ultra I am pretty sure that even if you get an XM CPU, you won't be able to overclock it. I might be wrong but I thing I read guys weren't able to overclock their 2920xm on MSI due to it being locked down? Maybe I'm wrong.

 

XM/QM CPUs can't be o/c in GT680/780 HM65/67 based laptops.

 

crap.... why? I got to talk to svl7 maybe he can drop his eye on to that otherwise highest QM will do...

aha but there's the thing called MSI Turbo Engine which allows up to 25% OC via whole mobo... I suppose highly experimental

Why is that non OC'able? Lack of hardware capability or BIOS issues?

 

need xtu support or through xtu from intel - it some chipset blockade .. only some alien model can do this
bclk only 3-4 mhz and nothing more from what i heard
but sandy bridge is good fast procesor that not really need XM like 1gen where you have lot lower than 3ghz on 3-4 cores

 

Mate i bought 2 vertex 4 SSD drives and slotted them straight in And they worked perfectly no problems. Hdd are the easiest mod imo
The drive case needs no mod to fiit a standard ssd drive. They slot straight in. No issues.

 

weird, for me these did not work right away I was must load modded bios to enable proper detection of my vertex4 256GB SSD's... maybe your bios was already patched... or are you runing your SSD's in IDE mode?

 

No modded bios. But they were not vertex 4's sorry that was my brothers laptop. I have crucial m4 's in mine. Apologies.

 

Yeah, crucial works without any issues. Had a couple of those on my machine, and also use 512GB versions of them on my new one. They work like a charm!

 

cool ryzeki! I see you got yourself GT70 nice, would be nice to see this beauty review from you

So your GX660R 7970m wont happen?

 

Yeah! I am working on the review still, but it should be finished soon. I noticed I was writing too much comparison needlessly when I had to focus on the new machine more. I hope I can get it up with photos and benches by this weekend.

As for the GPU upgrade from the GX660R, it is still an option I am considering. I don't have the money right now but I kinda want to do it, since I really loved my machine and performing such upgrade would keep the laptop as a relevant choice in gaming. I haven't sold it, I actually have it and will most probably use it as a comparison between HD5870m and 680m, even if it's not fair haha.

The new MSI is quite good, the looks are great, build quality is great and the only downside is still the flex on the screen bezel which I am already acustomed to from 99% of all laptops I have owned haha.

Performance is not too shabby. Small OC and I am already around 6600 3dmark11.

 

yea 5870m vs 680m is totally unfair! but do it!

6600 3Dmk11 ... If I remember correct I was approx 5800-59xx 3Dmk11 with very soft OC on GPU only on my old GX660R 940XM (stock) + 7970m ~ 900MHz, and not to complain I must admit it was a really good score when later I have compared my M18X R2 with 7970m CFX score of ~10k 3Dmk11 and SLI 680m if I remember correct approx 98xx 3Dmk11 ... I really regret the day I sold my GX660R... it was the one... ... well Im getting this week I suppose GT683R it basically should cure my pain for Dynaudio sound and nice all-rounder laptop untill I grab M18X R3 or cheapish project related M18X R2 ...

 

I know how you feel. This GX660R has been my longest lasting, most successful and reliable laptop to date. I have no complains from it, worked through and through and with those upgrades in CPU and GPU, it still is a monster today!

Yeah these new GPUs are so powerful it's not even funny. It does give a certain sense of power, and also a bit of fear... Whenever a game comes that I can't run fluently, I remember that there is no step up to go other than dual GPUs. We are at the top of the current mobile GPU tech huh.

I also felt your pain with the release of Core i7 3630qm and those updated versions. While I don't mind it much, it does suck to see new tech come out basically the day you buy your stuff.

As for the GTX680MX, I doubt we will see it yet, will we? Plus it's nothing you can't currently achieve with a 680m OC, and both should have a similar ceiling regarding performance, if we learned anything from GTX680 vs GTX670 desktop.

I was thinking of OCing to reach 7k 3dmark11 even for gaming, but then I realized that's probably just 2 more fps in general, so it's not worth it. I am happy with my performance

Crysis 2 in Extreme, dx11, high res textures, near 60fps most of the time, some drops here and there but mostly fluently. Ultra is another story... 30+fps but I see very little visual gain.

 

Ultra, i was very kindly supplied with your old modded 3 pipe heatsink with thermal pads from a polish gentleman on this forum. 2 questions.
1. I wanted to see how you modded your heatsink for the 7970. Was the mod succesful? Could i just copy what you have done?

2. Could i technically just put your modded 3 pipe heatsink into my 2 pipe version 660r. Will it fit?


Im thinking i could keep my heatsink incase all goes wrong so atleast i can put my 5870 back in?

 

Yes mod was alright, I cant locate my photos of the mod progress right now but I should have them somewhere, I will look in to that later...
That is already modded for 7970m, yea heatsink will fit. The difference between 2-3 pipe heatsinks is very minor, it is only noticeable in few degree difference on usual use, and 3 pipe only benefits higher heat dissipation capacity over prolonged stress times

I wonder why did he not used it... or maybe he bought it with intention of selling it on to you?

 

Hello,

I bought a Vertex 4. Does Majster_msi's bios will work with it ?
And in this case, where can I find it ?

Thanks

 

Hi, yes it does work. So does mine bios.

What system are you using exactly?

 

Maybe either way worked out well for me. Yeah if you could send the pics that would be amazing.
So gpu should arrive next week and i will attatch you heatsink and post on here if it was a succes or not. Next month cpu .

 

very cool next month is just around the corner... you will have one beast of machine with that combo

 

I have a GX660R with i7 740Qm, 5870m, 16F1 Bios, 2 HDD and no RAID.
Where can I find your Bios ?

Thanks a lot for your help.

 

I have did use it. The heatsink was great. I wanted to sell my 2 heatpipe heatsink and old 5870M. But nobody wanted my old 5870M. So I have decided to put my old 5870M inside and sell the whole notebook with it. It was no sense to sell MSI GX660 with 5870M and 3 pipe modified heatsink, so I remove it and sold it to a guy who really need modified heatsink for his new 7970M. You know, there will be no advantage with 5870M and modified heatsink for next owner of GX660. I have also attached therm pads for the heatsink for savier1 and gave him spare therm pads. I am still writing on my GX660 but Clevo P150HM is on the way from UK. If eveything with the new notebook will be OK, than I will sell GX660, 180W PSU and 940XM. The reason to choose Clevo over MSI was Sandy Bridge. And I can not buy another newer MSI cause they do not have FireWire or EpressCard. This is bad, cause I really love Dynaudio on MSI and those flashing leds on the side moving up and down to the music.

 

Yes and i cannot thank you enough! I would be very interested in the cpu and psu mate.

Is the heatsink lapped?

 

My modded unlocked GX660R Bios:

photos from archive:

http://imgboot.com/thumbs-large/INSANE/20120705010.jpg
http://imgboot.com/thumbs-large/INSANE/20120705012.jpg
http://imgboot.com/thumbs-large/INSANE/20120705014.jpg

 

Thanks a lot. I'll try it .

 

If you told me lil earlier I may have considered just buying the GX660R of you well its a very good machine no matter what

 

Thanks for the photos Ultra, thats a very shiny smooth copper plate! Excited.

NEW Intel Quad Core i7 920XM Mobile 3.2Ghz 8MB CPU QS Q3B8 | eBay


Whats the difference between an 'engineering sample' AND a normail 920xm?

 

I did have lots of notebooks in the past. And I never feel sorry selling any of them. But I do feel sorry with GX660. I still have it, but I know that eventually I will sell itcause I can not have 2 notebooks at the same time. And I really do not know if I am doing the right thing. I am starting to do a lots of video editing and I need powerfull CPU now, and I think I will gonna need more powerfull CPU in the future, maybe 2820QM or 2860QM.

In Poland we have got ebay, and we do also have got a site something like ebay but it is 1000x more popular in Poland than ebay. And guess what ? You can not find used GX660 on it. People rarely wants to sell it. And the same thing is with GX740.

 

thanks make sure you will use pre-test setup of the heatsink with play-doh and then measure every gap for the exact amount of pads needed to use on every area, just to be 150% perfect

ES/QS tend to be extra 10w more on power consumption but weirdly my was still reading 55W and I had 940XM QS. QS is basically the same as OEM, QS=qualification sample, these chips being sent to manufacturers as last prerelease for testing the hardware with the QS chip which should be exact same performance/stability/power rating as OEM, so if you have a choice between ES and QS only, go QS

I can imagine, well, there will always be the day you may regret selling yours, so I suggest you keep it at least for a few months just as a spare tire for emergency in case you experience insane agony not having your Dynaudio, and presence of GX660R

 

I know it is an irony, but I have never had a notebook with such a sound. Two weeks ago my brother in law came to me and I showed him GX660 and he asked me is this a sound from external speakers ? This is how good speakers are on MSI.

 

i'm waiting for this cpu
should be beginning of next week i think then i test it if it's really worthy spending money or maybe simple cheapest 720qm can do near the same job in gaming

 

You will feel the difference , everybody felt, you will also. run FRAPS in the corner of your screen while gaming with 720QM and then run same scenes same games same settings and see the FPS difference with stock 920XM, then try overclock just tiny bit lets say all to 21x multi and see the difference and let us know if its noticeable

 

Savier - How has it gone with the 7970m from Laptop monkey? I take it you got one marked up as Alienware fitment?

Im looking to get one myself, and just wanted to make sure that it is the correct one before i order one ;-)

i bought an i7 840QM from them some time ago, and its been fine, so more than happy to use them again.

going to order this PSU at the same time to power it: Genuine LI SHIN 0415B19180 Laptop AC Adapter Charger | eBay Anyone have experience of this psu?

 

that PSU should be just fine 180W FTW I dont have any experience with this type of PSU but should be OK and price is good too!

I have had this idea when I had my GX660R but never got around doing this, now I may have some spare time in close future I may do this at last.

The idea is about changing all the backlit SMD LED's from ORANGE to something different...

Blood red
Cherry red
Neon blue
Arctic White
Nvidia Green
Nuclear Green
UV Blue...

hard to decide... what do yous think?

 

Better yet, mod it so that instead of lighting the surrounding LEDs, it lights up the keyboard

And I think Red would fit the GX660R looks.

 

^^ yea I dont really want throw 100eur basically just on keyboard mod, I can live with that and I will, just earlier today bought black non backlit US layout brand new keyboard for just 30eur incl shipping ... but If I still had my good old GX660R I probably would have done this already

Yea I was also thinking RED ... also like the idea of UV Purple, should reflect very nice on white colours around when lit... maybe I should do multiple colours...?

front grill and back MSI logo + back lid horizontal line in UV Purple, front corners and lid sides in red, and indicators under the touch pad could be also red while making touch panel indicators ... I dont know what colour.. this drives me to big dilema... too many LEDs!!!! Maybe I should stick with one and same colour..? ...

Love the idea of UV LEDs, like money notes checker UV light, it only shines on brighter white surfaces, otherwise is visible as a spotlight

 

Yes it Arrived yesterday very well packed and mint. Its got dell written on it so yes good to go.

 

Does it have the mounting posts for the heatsink fitted to your card, or does it just have the holes there like we need for bolting through the card?

 

just the holes

 

beauty Best of luck with it now! dont forget to post benchmarks with old CPU and new GPU and later new CPU and new GPU combo benchmarks

 

Sure Ultra Which benchmarks do you guys like to see?

 

3dmark11 & 3dmark vantage

P-Scores

 

Cool. Thank you!

 

Does this version of bios work on my MSI GX660(not raid)?

 

^^^ some reported working and some reported bricked their laptop, I call it experimental. Give me a day I will upload non raid version unlocked

 

Thanks! I hope that youre unlocked version bios solve the problem with ssd recognizing...

 

Which SSD are people having problems with? Ive had an Intel G2 X25-M SSD (sata2) fitted to my GX660R for around 1.5years, and it worked fine as soon as i fitted it. I have recently upgraded my 2nd drive to a Sandisk Extreme (Sata3) drive, and it was detected fine, and worked straight away with no issues (albeit only at Sata2 speeds due to only having a sata2 controller in the laptop) running standard MSI bios. not sure which version until i check. drives are in AHCI mode

I took the plunge yesterday and bought a 7970M, 180w PSU, and new thermal pads pads. PSU arrived today, got the one i posted a link to further up. Super quick delivery!! :-o Just waiting for the GPU now.. ordered Dell alienware version from LaptopMonkey :-D

 

Known SSD's not fully or improperly detected/undetected are OCZ Vertex4 / Samsung 830 / Samsung 840

There may be more , uncertain which

Yes unlocked bios allow to tinker with certain setting so it does fix this issue to 100%

 

OCZ "Agility 4". I see one only in IDE mode(AHCI is off).

 

Try RAID mode see if its detected (but I doubt) tonight I will upload nlocked non-R bios

 

Thanks, UltraGSM! I'm in no hurry. Better just try nlocked non-R bios?! I think so...

Hi, UltraGSM! What's about unlocking non-R ver. BIOS?