- The Official MSI GT60 & GT70-2OC (770m) Owner's Lounge -

A tech savy friend advised me to avoid customized laptop because BIOS/Kernel/Electrical issues can arise if factory specifications are altered, I told him 3rd party Customizing retailers (Gentech/Hidevolution...) are certified by MSI, but he told me it is not worth the risk even if they do severe testing..What do you think?..If I buy factory settings I have to choose between 16gb ram +7200 rpm
or 12gb ram +5400 rpm+128gb msata ssd. Is the 5400 rpm and 4 gb loss a step backwards or does the msata ssd make that 5400 way faster?

 

You would still be covered under warranty in the event that anything does happen. This is also why it is important to do a lot of research before hand and if you read the forums, and hear about the experiences of others, the good and the bad, you can then make an informed decision.

I personally have bought all my laptops and pc's from Amazon up to this point and I have always been burned(currently stuck with a less than a year old HP laptop that has an annoyingly grindy fan noise that no one knows how to fix). I am currently waiting on my new beast that I ordered recently but that was done after about 2 months of research and 1 month of talking to the support at the reseller's end. They have satisfied me to the point where I am confident that they will take all steps to minimize the failure rates and even in the event that something does happen, I can RMA it and have it sorted.

The latter option would be a step backwards if you intend to keep it that way. The mSata slots could be upgraded with i think 2 more 128g mSata ssds and ram is cheap so you could always upgrade to 16gbs at a later date. The beauty of MSI's are in the fact that you can customize them pretty easily and hdd's are not expensive so you could buy a 1TB 7200 rpm drive and install it later. The 128 msata and the 12gigs of ram would be quite good for right now and you'll have the option of upgrading later.

 

I am very frustrated with the HDD's downgrade to 5400RPM but I do not fully understand how Msata works..and I can not find the average differences between the read/write rates of Msata/7200/5400 because everyone keeps saying depends on alot of things but what is the common answer..In addition, representitives keep telling me 32 gb is more than enough on an Msata to support nearly all games or apps then why do they increase to 125gb and how does the 6mb cache of the processor relate to msata..This is extremely frustrating I am really torn if anyone is great at this tech please link your skype or facebook as live chat will make finding a solution a lot easier and smoother thanks

 

Do you have a budget in mind?

 

1600$ is my budget it can either buy me a
GT70 with 16gb ram +7200RPM but No SSD
Or
Gt60 with 12gb ram+5400RPM+128GB msata
Heartless please link me your facebook or skype so finding a solution can be smoother thank you very much for caring to begin with...I have been waiting for a laptop since the 580m in 2011..so I really would appreciate direct chat with you..

 

I PM'ed you but I still think you should take a look at GenTech's site, if you require more info, Ken is very knowledgeable and can answer pretty much any question you can throw at him. You can even call him toll free and talk to him directly. At the very least you should try it and get all your questions answered.

 

Hey again guys! I've noticed that the brightness of the laptop seems to change automatically and it's VERY annoying. Is there a easy way to turn this feature off?

 

Check out your nvidia control panel.

 

msata is just the formfactor of the sata connector. It gives you full SATA speeds so far, and the advantage is using less space to install several msata devices where only 1 standard 2,5 msata would fit. 5400rpm is not that bad depending on what you intend to do with it. msata/sata etc are the comunication protocol and physical connector, the actual HDDs would be 128GB SSD and the 5400rpm (I assume 1TB) drive.

I recommend the GT60 unless you need the bigger display. with 128GB is enough space to install windows and your main applications so they can run fast and load quickly. Games, pictures, videos etc you can put them in the 1TB HDD.

A lot of people including me, and most resellers that do post here, tend to be also tech savvy. I can assure you that buying through resellers is a better deal, as they not only allow you to customize your laptop, but cover it with full warranty, and help you out with treating directly with MSI.

Just as Mr. Heartless suggested, go ahead and Pm. Ken from gentechpc with any doubts you have. It's good to have questions so make sure you are certain before you buy plus! make sure you configure your laptop with a repaste with IC diamond to improve tems as there seems to be a bit of too much thermal paste with stock factory laptops.

 

could be the power management set to dim the screen after 5 or 10 miniutes.

Or check the nVidia Dynamic Contract settings.

 

Finally have my Rig. It did take a long time to get here, but I am pretty dang happy at the moment.

Really like this Keyboard, I haven't found a reason to notice the fans being too loud - they pretty quiet actually, and the 95% Matte Screen is a really, really nice. And booting is really fast.

 

From what I understood the Msata is an invisible SSD that caches applications/games while the 5400 1TB merely stores them?Is that true or is it just a normal SSD where I have to copy from the 5400 to the SSD to get the benefits of SSD? and is there a difference between read/write between msata and normal SSD?

 

There is a very important determinant in the GT 60 2OC msata version, does the Msata help in rendering the environments inside, during gameplay like in Skyrim or does it just make the game load faster? Because gameplay matters the most thank you for your reply

 

Just makes it faster. Doesn't affect the quality.

 

3D rendering depends on your GPU. mSATA is just a form factor. Its a shrinked down SSD intended primarily for thin and light ultrabooks. It will make the game load faster because everything gets copied to RAM and VRAM faster.
GentechPC, XoticPC, PowerNotebooks all these resellers will help you customize and configure your notebook with whatever hardware you want. And will also preserve the warranty.
The mSATA will get you faster boot times, faster loading of games and software and lower power cunsumption during light tasks. Use the 5400 HDD as storage. I have the GT60-2OD with a 128GB mSATA as my primary drive and a 2TB HDD as storage on the second slot.
GT70 vs GT60 is only a matter of screen size preference. On the inside they are the same. Let me know for further assistance.

 

As I mentioned, msata is a form factor, a physical size. It is an actual hard drive, not a cache. You can use it as a "cache" in the sense that you install the important things there. It is a 128GB solid state driver with msata form factor and connector. It uses full speed sata. Read/write depends on the controller. If an msata and a standard 2.5 inch SSD use the same controller, they will have the same performance. The benefit is that you can fit 3 of those drivers in the size of a single 2.5inch SSD. Look for pictures and the actual devices on Amazon to get an idea of the size.

 

And as felix mentioned, it mostly helps to load things much faster, not give extra performance in game in the form of fps or anything like that

 

Flexi3650,ryzeki can you please give me your skype/facebook...I am so unbelievably frustrated because half the people say Msata is not an actual drive that you see, it is just cache through Intel Smart Response Tech. for your 5400 1TB RPM..and others say Msata is just a smaller SSD that is an actual drive maybe a little slower but can be seen in My Computer

2)Normal SSD helps in textureloading during gameplay in Skyrim but does the msata do the same?I am just lost because dell AW told me msata is a boot drive that you can't see...

 

Hi all, havent been here in a while, good to see that many new users are finding this thread useful.

As Ryzeki mentioned, the mSATA is a form factor of the SSD. Its just like a regular SSD. A quick google search about mSATA, and you'll see its physical size. You can install your windows and applications most often used to the mSATA, as this will help with loading up apps and the OS much faster than a regular mechanical HDD.

 

...............

 

It can be used as a cache, but that doesn't mean that it always is. It really depends on how the computer is configured.

In the case of the MSI it is a separate drive by default.

 

Hi all,

Ordered my GT70-2OC a few days ago and have been going through the discussion, the forum has got me a bit worried about the cpu/gpu paste (as I did not order IC)
Does the GeForce experience not work with these laptops? If not, ive checked MSI's website and they only have the V 311, how do you guys get the newer drivers?

 

In MSI gt 60 2oc Is Msata placed in Primary or Secondary Bay? and approxmately how long does it take to copy data from 1 TB 5400 RPM to Msata?

 

Can someone here point me to a HDD caddy that will fit the MSi GT60? If I'm correct its a 12.7mm universal caddy. But somehow I think that it wont fit because of the shape the CD-ROM drive has. The left side is straight while the right side of the bezel is in an angle. wonder if the universal will fit.... as both sides of the bezel is straight on this. Can someone comment on this? Maybe some reseller will ship it to me the correct one?

 

Don't be frustrated, look mSATA is called that only because it is a different size out of a standard SATA connector. This means that a hard drive or SSD that uses a form factor size that is smaller than standard 2.5 inc or 3.5 inch can opt to make it an mSATA drive.

First things first: A hard drive is nothing more than a storage device coupled with a controller that can comunicate with your computer. The controller administers data that is written or read by your storage device. You can have physically huge Hard drives that can only be externally connected, or smaller single units to fit a machine. Standard laptop size are 2.5 inch drives. Standard desktop size is 3.5inch. You will notice a lot of SSD, if not all of them, only come in 2.5 inch. This means that usually using an SSD on a desktop means buying a 2.5 to 3.5 mounting kit, such as this one

Due to the advent of even smaller designs, ultrabooks and many other computers with very thin form factors, and the fact that SSDs are basically flash memories with good controllers, they popularized mSATA as a viable form factor. This is an mSATA SSD. When you buy a standard 2.5 SSD it is basically like an MSATA inside except it fits a 2.5 inch standard case size to use on any 2.5 slot on computers.

This is the bottom of my laptop, the mSATA SSDs connect on the top left corner, you can see one installed on my GT60. On the bottom right there is a standard 2.5 inch Hard Disk Drive. Picture of my laptop!

If you squint a bit you can see my mSata is a Sandisk SSD of 128GB capacity. And there are a total of three slots to accomodate SSDs of such form factor. I can hook up 3 of those SSDs and even RAID them.

Here is some wikipedia for you Serial ATA - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia and they even provide a nice pic of an msata drive on top of a 2.5 inch drive.

Want to make things more confusing!?! There are more sizes such as 1.8 inch drives and half height 2.5 inch drives etc etc.

Anyone else that keeps telling you it is a cache and all those things..... should immediately become, to you, ignorant people.

now now, mSATA is just the connector/form factor. The actual device hooked to it is your SSD. And as an SSD, it will work with loading things if you install them to that drive. If you install games to your 5400rpm drive, then it won't help at all since information is located elsewhere.

please DO NOT confuse it with a hybrid hard disk. Hybrids contain a standard magnetic disk drive coupled with a cache of SSD to help speed things up. Such hybrid is still a regular HDD and it is embedded into the same device, not separate, so it is not an SSD you can manipulate but indeed a cache. I suspect people were confusing you with hybrid drives instead of an actual SSD device.

 

Does anyone know any good 2.5'' ssd caches for the gt60? (Preferbly 24-32gb) I want to speed up my system a little (with intel smart response tech.) but buying a 128gb ssd is out of my budget. I'm looking to spend around $50-$60.

 

hi guy, is possible can post frequency your overclock rock solid 770m gtx ? please

 

Hey guy´s i just got my GT70-2OC (770m) i was wondering if the bios has been unlocked yet?

 

Hi, I am still waiting for mine to arrive - just wanted to know what your first impressions are? Is it what you expected it to be?

 

I wanted to start off by thanking those who have posted in this forum helping us less savvy people. I purchased a gt70 065us and absolutely love it except for the windows 8. I could not believe how bad this was and am at a loss for words to how much I hate it. Saying that I will be switching to windows 7 ultimate and wanted to ask if someone could give me a general step by step of what I need to do here. I've read some things about an updated bios and i will need drivers but do I get them from msi or the individual company? Also what about the stock msi programs like hybrid power what would be the ones to keep and download? Thanks in advance guys I hope you can bear with me here.

 

If you dont like all the tile rubbish then I suggest you have a look at Start8 - Windows 8 start menu returns with Start8 from Stardock! - this allows you to boot straight to desktop and get the start button back - along with the search where we are all used to! this version costs 5$ - and in my opinion is worth it - I have been using it for quite sometime now.

Your other option is Classic Shell - Start menu and other Windows enhancements - this is free

Give them a shot before removing the os completely - might save you a load of time

 

I appreciate the feedback. I did get my start menu back which made it usable in the meantime. But just having all that clutter from the apps and the little menus that pop up all over the place is annoying to someone who is ocd like me. I already pruchased windows 7 for like 30 bucks and I dont mind making the change and spending time on it but I refuse to have this os shoved down my throat by Microsoft just because they can.

 

Good luck then! I am not so sure on the bios stuff - as I have not received my notebook yet - however my Asus is on win 8 at the moment - so I know how you feel.

On another note - have you tried updating the graphics drivers? installed nvidia geforce experience yet? let me know if you were able to use the drivers directly from nvidia etc and if geforce exp works. As I do not like to keep going to msi's website to find new drivers - auto updates are much better

 

No I haven't. I will update tomorrow as today is almost gone and it will take the rest of tonight (I get up at 3am) to erase this hdd and do the install.

 

I thought both HDD slots in the 20C are suppose to be SATA III? I installed a new SSD in upper slot where the 750gig was and a 1TB in the lower slot. The lower slot says that the drive is a SATA II. The SSD slot is SATA III.

Just wondering if I am missing a setting or something. I thought the newer GEN 4 boards have SATA III on both HDD bays.

Thanks

PS Yes both drives are SATA III - 6 gig

 

well i got mine with little extra stuff 256ssd hd and 12gb ram. Reason why i got it was of lack of space for a desktop and so far its performing great.

 

That is the exact spec that I have ordered as well 240gb crucial m500 and 12gig ram. What graphics driver are you currently using? also no one seems to be answering my question if nvidia geforce experience works or not!

 

Im currently on the 326.41 beta drivers.

 

Great, they work flawlessly I assume? Also no GeForce experience or?

 

Sorry I don't even use Geforce Experiencie so I try to uninstall asap hahaha. Currently using 326.58 beta but haven't tested enough yet.

 

Does the driver install straight away or are some modifications required before installing it? I already have it downloaded and ready - will install it once my laptop finally arrives :S, still waiting 4th day

 

Hello, could someone tell me what BIOS version is the newest and how can one install gpu drivers from nvidia, when i try to update mine the wizard tells me that i don't have an nvidia gpu, yet all of my games and nvidia control panel can recognize it. Thank you

 

Version 50C if you are running a single drive, 70C for RAID.

Which version are you trying to install? I've been able to install every Beta release thus far without having to modify the driver (Currently on 326.41).

 

Try the latest beta set.

 

I've tried ver 320.49.
Also what MB BIOS are we using, messed up(more like didn't know undervolting would have an effect) on bios update and am now trying to figure out a fix before the company doing warranty near me wakes up(currently it's 9pm and they will start work at 8am or so)

 

To that, does it make a diference if you use leagacy instead of uefi?

 

Pull the CMOS battery out for a minute and put it back in, that will wipe your BIOS settings back to default.

Yes, it could prevent your OS from booting up. If you are on Windows 8, leave it on UEFI. For installing Windows 7 or older or Linux, you will need to switch it to Legacy.

 

Thanks but it looks like i'll have to bring it for warranty service tomorow(there is a damn sticker that i can not break for 2years).
I'm on 7 so switching to legacy was the main job when i got mine(took me an hour or so to figure that kind of stuff out)

 

Another way you may be able to wipe the BIOS settings is to disconnect the laptop from the AC plug, pull the battery, press the power button repeatedly for a minute and that should be enough to drain the power completely. Plug it back in, power it on and see if the BIOS has been set back to factory default.

 

Try the 326.41 beta.