~GX660(R) Owner's Lounge~

As much as I tease Forge, getting some holes around the GPU slot should do wonders. I'm contemplating it myself. Not because of my temps being high, simply because a few degrees cooler on average just helps the wear and tear of the notebook for longevity.

I also recommend a thermal paste re-application. When I did that myself (AS 5) I saw a 3-5 degree drop on average, and I'm sure it's the same if not better with IC Diamond. (Hell I still had an old tube of AS 5 laying around, why not use some of it, right? Right).

Despite the high amount of screws, and thus paper cups to put them in, getting into all parts of this notebook is pretty easy. Well, after I upgraded my RAM, so now I hope I never, ever have to get back under the keyboard ever again.

 

So I was wondering: How many people own the GX660R?

Also, has there been any developments re: backlight kb mod?

 

Well, im really excited, after a 2 month search i finally took the plunge and have just bought my new laptop

I just (less than 2 hrs ago) picked up the MSI gx660r with 1TB HD, 6GB ddr3, and 5870 I also got a cooler, a bag, a copy of black ops and a copy of napolean totar war, and still have change from £1000

Any advice on things i need to do from the start, updating etc would be appreciated, and also anything you guys think will help my new baby run to the best of her ability!

Im going to start ripping the wrapping off right now

 

all that for under 1000 euros? ?

Don't tell me it's the i7 version cuz then bricks will be shat.

 

If it came with the the WD blue drives rip them out and put in at least decent 7200k drives. I recommend the WD blacks and maybe an SSD as OS drive. If you have the blues you will get awful freezing in games. I dont know WHY the hell they ever came with these joke drives. (The newer versions seem to come with Hitatchi 72k drives.)

Do a fresh reinstall of windows7 so you dont get all the OEM crap from MSI and a nice clean instalation.

If your educated enough remove the heat sink from cpu/gpu and switch the chewing gum paste they use for some AS5 or TX-4 or other decent thermal paste.

Thats about it really. You can also drop in a more powerful CPU and more RAM if you like but the setup it comes with isnt bad tbh.

 

cheers guys, its the i5 460m BTW, and i paid £1000 (sterling) not euros

 

Just ran Windos experience test, my scores are:

Processor: 6.9
RAM : 6.9
Graphics: 7.2
Gaming Graphics: 7.2
Hdd: 5.9

gave me a 5.9 overall?

 

it's based on the lowest score, which is your HDD. Windows experience index is a piece of crap and does not tell you anything that is relevant to the use of your computer. Do not use it.

that being said, 6.9 is awfully high for a i5-460m.

 

im in a cold office at work at the moment and its -7C outside so maybe that helped a bit

 

temperature has nothing to do with performance though... I'm not sure what you mean.

 

sorry mate, im pretty new to computers, but i thought that cpus worked better the cooler they are?

 

No that's incorrect. They work the same unless they get overheated, in which case it will throttle down to minimize damage.

 

Speaking of heat, has anyone noticed that it gets a bit warm sometimes under the left part of the palm-rest? From what I understand, that's where one of the hard drives is. Should that be reason for concern?

 

Use HWmonitor to check the HDD temp. If it's going over 45C then there may be problems.

 

I downloaded it and it's not giving me information on my hard drives except for my external. This is all that I'm able to see: screenshot_12-7-2010_8-22 PM.png

Would the default RAID configuration prevent the hard drives from showing properly (total noob question lol)?

Thanks

 

Most drives are rated up the 60C. I'm sure you'll be fine with anything under 55C.

 

Yeah but something's amiss if it's going past 40C.

My Scorpio Black 320GB 7200RPM is 30C, Scorpio Blue 640gb 5400RPM is at 27C.

 

Bump for an answer to help us noobs

 

Yes, RAID configuration prevents HDDS from being seen in HWM.

Also, the newest IRST drivers do the same.

 

hi guys, finally i get myself a gx 660r too

now i tried to format it and want to use my ssd, but when i recover it, it will always say missing operating sytem when i use the non raid option and/or used only 1 hdd.

those who have formatted and changed the hdd, when you turned the laptop upside down, the top and bottom. which is for the main installing hdd/ssd?

for the camera, is there better software? since the factory setting software only allowed me to take photo but not video, i mean it i did record but i cant seem to find the video file to replay it.

i also noticed the fn key do not have the option to turn off the lcd, or did i miss it out?

 

It doesn't matter what port you use.

Out of curiosity, are you using a Sandforce-based SSD?

 

I don't have the answer to your other questions, but for turning off your monitor, you can search for a program called m_off.exe and program it to your P1 button. That way, when you press your P1 button button is pressed, your monitor cuts off. It turns back on as soon as you move your mouse, trackpad, or press a key . I made this suggestion a while back and apparently it was appreciated, since I saw it mentioned in a review on another site lol.

 

Thanks, Forge . I suspected, but I wasn't sure.

I know you possess the "holey one" (lol), but would you think it's unusual to feel any warmth or heat under the palm rest from a laptop hard drive? I guess, unless I disable RAID, I won't be able to get a temp read to make a more calculated assessment.

 

Try other monitoring programs, like CrystalDiskInfo, or HWInfo. Dunno. I know with the new IRST drivers my HDD doesn't appear on HWM, but it does on CDI.

 

lol !!! that m_off.exe is a mallware, i cant seem to download it.... any idea where can i download it?

ok found i, thanks for the reco!!! now still doing the reinstall into my ssd

cant they just give us the windows cd and the driver cd separately, that way i could choose which prog not to install like the norton internet security -_-

 

ok managed to install everything done correctly, except for 1.

how to install without partition the ssd into 2 drive

i mean, after the recovery, my 160gb intel sdd, is divided into 2, drive c and d. i want them to be combined together, any idea how to do that?

 

even with the new firmware, sandforce ssd still are sometimes not detected on boot.

 

I actually already tried CrystalDiskInfo and it comes up with no info : /. If I click on Function>Open "Disk Management", it will list the hard drives, but I can't figure out a way for either of them to show up in the GUI.

.....and since I typed that, I just tried HWInfo and it looks like I got some good info! Thanks!

I clicked on Monitoring>Sensor Status and it read the hard drives. It says [right now] that they are at 31C, which i guess isn't too bad. I'll have to check again the next time I feel the heat from the palm rest.

Thanks again, Forge! Kicking @$$ as usual

 

It's detected as malware, but I haven't had issues. I suspect it comes across that way because it's an independent program that affects system configurations.

 

I had the same problem with another Sandforce drive, a 1200-powered OCZ Vertex LE EX 240GB. Apparently, some chipsets and some Sandforce drives just don't play nice together.

I ended up selling it, and the new owner hasn't had problems on his own computer. I haven't had any problems with my Intel G2 or my Samsung HM660JJ, so the problem was with compatibility.

 

OK i will be getting this laptop soon been reading stuff all over this thread already got the V bios Ready and Drivers downloaded.

Got a new Cooler and 5.1 Surround Rocccat Headphones.

Just now waiting until my pay day !!.

 

Hey guys.

I'm prospecting on this laptop for my upgrade (hopefully soon) but I have one question.

The GX660 that is available in our country (the Philippines) is configured with i5-460M, and the GX660R comes with the 740QM. Now I'm aiming for the most RAM that I can put into the machine and as far as I've seen all the i5's come with 4GB, while I saw a posting in Singapore where the i7's have the full 12GB.

So I searched, and what I found out was that the 460M can handle a maximum of 8GB of RAM, so that's that. What I found confusing though, was that in the Intel Ark webpage the quads are also specified to have a max of only 8GB. I'm not sure what's up but I'm pretty sure the 12GB quads are legit.

Also, can the 460M handle the three memory slots? i.e. if the processor can only handle up to 8GB of RAM, can I put in two 2GB sticks and a 4GB stick in it?

 

where do you download the v bios and the the drivers from?

 

Long story short, you can put up to 12GB of RAM into a 460m-packing machine.

 

Great. That takes care of it, I guess. Thanks, Forge! +rep

 

In the GT/GX660 chassis the i5 CPU's will only support 8GB max memory and ONLY in the 2 lower stacked slots.

 

I thought maximum RAM was limited to mobo, and not the CPU?

Unless the onboard DDR3 controller of an i5 can't handle it, but I haven't heard of that.

 

You have to download the Bios and drivers from MSI main website .

And i would not recommend the I7 version of the 660R it gets more hot I5 is better quality CPU IMO not keen on the I7 mobile stuff.

You can clock the I5 really nice to just a heads up.

.

 

hehehe i have spare es 940xm to try out and my 180w psu finally came.

i wanna see how cool can this laptop be compared to my current laptop with the same settings.

 

This laptop with a 940 in is very cool indeed. General running of windows seems more fluid especially with several things going at once and apps that are multicore fly along. Loving it.

Be warned the temps go up a fair bit but putting some decent thermal paste on the cpu brings them to acceptable levels.

 

Holy crap guys the chipset is not even suppose to handle the 940 How do you keep it so cool ?

Also has anyone tried running furmark GOOD TIP DONT!!!.

Also Furmark burned the Thermal diode to 126C and kept running and my friend burned his 5870 out and now has to replace his whole laptop because he fked the clocks up and voided his warranty total nob sack.

 

Anyone know if you can remove the touchpad button without having to take apart the laptop?

 

I stressed with Furmark just for fun, and the max temp I measured after a good 20 minutes or so was about 84C. (+/- 3 degrees for accuracy sake).

I've never even HEARD of temperatures getting that high unless someone was intentionally trying to burn out their system.


Maybe later tonight I'll stress without the Zalman, see if that makes a huge difference, but I don't suppose it will.

 

D:<

Awesome goodluck.

I use the NXZT cooling Pad for my Acer and after the 14th will be using it for my new 660R.

I wanted to ask if there any real massive difference between the core I5 UK version and the Core I7 US version ?

 

84C is pretty normal. With 10.11 I think you can get it even cooler.

 

Rob can you confirm if the i5 GX660 (non-R) supports the i7-720QM? The i5 and the i7 apparently share the same socket type, but I'm not sure if the mobo or chipset on the GX660 non-R supports it.

If anyone else can confirm I'd really appreciate it. Thanks!

 

It appears the mobile Core i5 450M processors use the same µPGA-988 socket as the 940XM, so that shouldn't be a problem. Your GX660 uses an HM55 chipset, which is compatible with the 940XM ( http://ark.intel.com/Product.aspx? [...] odes=SLBSC click "Compatible Products" on the left).

Therefore, I'm going to say you could put pretty much any mobile Core i processor in that machine EXCEPT you have to worry about power and cooling issues.

The 450M is a dual-core 35W TDP product. The 940XM is a quad-core 55W animal (and lesser quad-cores are 45W, only dual-cores go 35W or less). You could put a quad-core mobile processor in there, but it might have to throttle-down to maintain its cooling and power requirements.

I can't really answer if that's a problem for your laptop or not, but it very well could be.

 

The GX660 and GX660R are the same chassis and both will support i5 and i7 Mobile CPU's including the 720QM. Both models use the PM55 chipset as the HM55 does not support raid. The only difference is the screen resolution, and bios which has support for raid in the "R" version. Also the i5 CPU's will support max 8GB and the i7 CPU's max 12GB memory.

 

I tried furmark on `1080p last night, i ran three benchmark runs, all in the mid 2000's and honestly the highest my temp got was 47C LOL (turbo fan mode)

 

yeah................................ not possible.

Use hwmonitor or msi afterburner's on screen display to capture temps.