GT628 thoughts

Specs:
Windows 7 Pro x64
1680 x 1050 rez
Qx9300 @ default 2.53ghz
GTS 160m @ 725/925/1625 (125mhz oc on everything) with 186.91 drivers
G.Skill falcon 128gb
Intel 5300 wi-fi card
32GB sdhc internal card
4gb G.Skill Ram
9 cell battery

OC: MSI's newer bios with the turbo button will put in place a hard lock. If you want to OC beyond what msi wants you to, you must use the default bios and setfsb. However, setfsb is unpredictable and sometimes doesn't work.



I use zotac firestorm to OC the gpu.



It's a nice laptop, but I suggest the asus g51 or the sager for hard-core gaming. But get the gt628 for those who want battery life. I am happy with it.



*Everything installed*


Upside down/flipped pci-e slot


Conclusion: I can game now.... that's all that matters I recommend the gt628 to any who wants a portable gaming laptop with a decent battery life.

Massive update:

3dmark Vantage default test:


3dmark06 1280 x 1024:


3dmark06 1280 x 800:


MSI puts a sticker thing to block one of the vents, I took it off **Thanks to RK for pointing this out to me**


I had to reconfigured my heatsinks due to clearance issues. I also took out the tv tuner and replaced it with more storage via sdhc card.





9cell vs 6cell


Idle Temps: In the low 40's for the CPU and anywhere from 48-58 for the gpu.
Load Temps: Max 80 degrees for both the cpu and gpu.

 

It's for an IR module card.

The eSata port on the right side of the notebook is the third USB port.

 

It's still one less then the gx720, and i prefer "true" usb ports over the eSata ones that's always a pain to plug in.

And according to the picture's on msi's site, the pci-e should not be upside down, which is why I am mad about it. But oh well.

Overall, I am happy with it, I'm just sick of buying/selling laptops. Unless this dies on me, I don't want to buy another laptop for at least 5 years....

 

Nice mini-heatsinks you applied on the GFX card and CPU!
Are they glued on or self adhesive?
How much cooler does run with them?
Looks easy to do, might have to try them myself if they cool that much more?
What are your temps when gaming?

 

I don't know how many times I've told myself that, but end up contradicting in the end. I'll say this though, the 1651 was the closest in being the ideal laptop for me; only if that chassis material could be of better quality and MSI would redo the keyboard. Otherwise, I love the open MXM compatibility and excellent heat management. Enjoy it.

 

I actually like the fn + ctrl keys swap. What wrong with the quality? Are you referring to the cracks that people are getting?

 

I have no clue what "before" temps would be because I placed them on when I assembled it. They come with adhesive pads. Temps vary from game to game. Right now, when i game for an hour on "the haunted" mod for unreal 3, it gets to 84C (but I OC my card).

 

I didn't have any issues with the Fn and Ctrl keys, the issues with the keyboard for me was the small right shift key and the feel in general. I've had the notebook for exactly a year, and yet I keep on hitting the up arrow key instead of the right shift key often. Even though I did not experience any noticeable keyboard flex, the keys just feel too springy and doesn't confide in speed typing.

The composite material in these notebooks are just cheap, and gives too easily under moderate force. Push on the LCD bezel, in the bottom part and near the middle and you'll see what I mean.

 

LOL, i didn't have to use any force and i saw the screen flex, but it only does it at the bottom.

 

Mine flexed all the way around, just the bottom was the most noticeable. I can grab the LCD bezel at any point, slightly squeeze it, and can hear the double-sided adhesive tape being pressed against the LCD frame.

 

That's bad!
tried it on my system and it's not bad at all.
It does flex a little but I would suggest you not do that

 

Thats a great cooling setup you have Darth..

 

Haha, dude you so have to post the inside of your machine on project freeze.

Could we have some screenshots of temperatures in different activities? Im eager to see if its worth me pimping up the 1722 like that.

 

@ Darth Bane
I saw your TV tuner Aver Media. Does it come w/ the laptop?

 

No, it is a barebone, so I have to get everything separately. I got it off ebay.

 

Does it work well?
Never tried one.

 

it works good. But I might be taking it out and replacing it with 32gb of extra storage.

 

@Darth Bane
Can you post some temps during gaming?
Both OCed and not just to see how it handles temps with a QUAD.
And if you don't mind a 3DMARK06 score to compare against my T9900.
Just to see if It's worth it for me to update to a QUAD.
Thanks

 

yea, give me a week Still installing/updating stuff.

 

Cool!
Can't wait just 1 last request(OK maybe 2 ) can you run 3DMARK06 at both the default res and at 1280x800 for me.
Thanks

 

Will do 10char.

 

First of all, I think if you want a high 3DMark score or high frame rate in game, improve the GPU rather than CPU.

Second of all, 3DMark 06 is an old application, it was not optimized for multicore CPU. That means a high speed 2 core CPU might have better score than a low speed 4 core CPU.

 

Bump for update

 

I think you have the wrong idea.
I'm not going for the highest score in 3DMARK06 E.
Just looking for a comparison and see the + and - of each one.
And thanks Dark Bane!

 

cant wait for the pre configured model to come out. thanks for the updates darth looks damn sexy

 

newbie question, but what are those spiky things, the blue and the green one, that's on top of you gpu and cpu?

 

aluminum heatsinks.

 

Mmmm, give me... cookie!!! am numnumnum!!!

 

Do they help? Heatsink on a heatsink.

 

i hate usps, i still haven't received the touchpad things

 

where do you get those, how do you install them and how much do they cost?

 

ebay or newegg, they have adhesive pads on the bottom, you just stick them where you want them.

 

That sucks darth. Unless they got stopped by customs... The dude at the post office was pretty suspicious. Apparently "vinyl stickers" are a cover for anything they don't want coming into the country.

 

Hey darth, do you by chance know if the ppl for the gt628 is the same for the 1651. If I try the ppl you used to test and it doesn't work will hurt my system? I haven't used setfsb for a long time =/.

 

If I don't receive them sometime this week, expect me to come a raging

It is the same. The worse it will do is freeze up and make you reboot.

 

Cool thanks Darth

 

tell me how it turns out

 

lol, I blame usps then too...

 

I probably won't test anything till I get my hands on some better ram, my system crashes after a while while being overclocked, I know its not my temps because they only get up to 75-80c for the cpu. I plan to get some better ram and then pin mod to undervolt the cpu.

 

I see no point in OC the qx9300. Temps already go up to 80C and there is practically no difference in performance in the games I play.

If I ever needed to OC it to run something, then it would mean time to upgrade!

Oh, and setfsb will only work with certain bios for msi. If you a "turbo-button" bios, then you probably can't use setfsb. For the gx720, you had to go back to the 1.0S bios. I haven't check what bios version I have yet.

 

Got them today, they are the coolest things ever! money well spent!

 

Phew! Thats good. So how do they look? What did you want two for anyway?

 

No go on setfsb working with the ppl you use. It seems like it might not be working with the newest version, anyone have the 2.2.129.95 version?

Edit: ok well I found the version you are using and it's still not allowing me to change anything....

 

What bios version are you running? If you are running the newest one, then it probably will not work.

 

Well I just gave up on setfsb working, I tried using bios .0s and .0z. Nothing worked, I also tried clockgen and the ppl isn't even available in it. messed around with bios version S and managed to tweak my ram timings to get my system stable, so I don't care anymore about setfsb. Just need to do the pin mod to undervolt the cpu now.

Darth I was taking a look at my motherboard this morning and I just realized I have the same mini pcie slot missing. Could you by chance check cpuz and post a pick of what it says under the mainboard tab?

 

I wish my bios had ram timings. It doesn't even have an "alt-insert" menu. And the pcie isn't missing, it's just flipped upside down, so you would have to take apart the laptop to get to it (RK confirmed this for me).

 

Ok well now I don't know what to think about these laptops....everything appears to be the same about our motherboards. So why does every reseller say I can't use quadcore lol. Here is a pic of what it shows in my mainboard tab.


As for you not being able to change ram timings you need to use the 1.0S bios. Your laptop is using a really old version lol. I Have the v bios, so I'll try that next with setfsb. I'm really thinking everyone was just blowing smoke about there being different versions about these laptops. I think just like gx720 red version the gx620 red version is the same across the board. I guess I'll just have to put it to the test and break down and buy a quadcore to test. Theres no reason the .0s bios would not work in your laptop.
The pic I posted is using version Z bios to test stability with overclocking with the turbo feature. When you put your laptop together, did you see a white looking slot underneath your gpu? Thats the only other thing I haven't been able to verify is there or not.

 

they aren't 100% the same. For example, mine uses ddr3 ram, while yours uses ddr2.

I would love to update to the newest bios so I could tweak the memory, but I am not going to do it until someone confirms it's okay.

 

Latest version for your system would be bios z, which you can get directly from the msi website, perhaps you can get Justin or Paladin from xoticpc or and powernotebooks or whoever you purchased the system from test the bios version .0S for you. >.> Also I forgot about the memory for the systems being different, but the gx 720 and gt 729 also use ddr2 and ddr3 and they are completely the same in that regard. A few people have tested gpu's now and they seem to mostly work for the gx620. I'm really just interested in making my system more efficient.
A quadcore upgrade or being able to even use a downclocked 9800gt would do that for me. More powerful cpu or a cooler running gpu would be awesome. Suppose I'll just have to get more into working with laptops again instead of my projects.

Edit also, what are the timings for your ram? Mine are running at 5,5,5,15 and seems to be pretty stable using bios version z, with a 15% overclock to around 2.6ghz.

 

Wow @ 11,000 certainly makes me want to update my FX...