MSI GS60 Ghost Tweak Information

I thought I’d produce a guide for some of the tweaks for the MSI GS60 Pro as they are hidden deep within the massive owners thread. A lot of these tweaks can also be applied to the non pro model and the GS70.

CPU Overclocking and Undervolting

The Intel i7 4700HQ (in older models) and 4710HQ in the GS60 doesn’t tend to run particularly hot but it’s always nice to save some power (and potentially battery life and heat) by underclocking the CPU. Intel have produced a great program which can be downloaded from HERE:

The program is simple to use and different profiles can be saved and applied for different uses.
I generally only use two profiles. An underclocked and undervolted profile for use on battery and an overclocked and undervolted for use when plugged in and gaming.
I will give a brief explanation on how to create a new profile and how to overclock the CPU.
Once installed (using administrators rights) on the left hand column you can see the various options. Select the “Manual Tuning” tab. On this page you have access to many sliders and tools for tweaking your CPU. I’m only going to play with a few of the settings. The first is the multiplier for Turbo boost. You will see 4 sliders relating to the core multiplier of the CPU. The chip can attain different speeds depending on how many cores are under load. E.g. If only one core is active you can actually overclock the CPU to use a frequency of 100FSB x 37 multiplier resulting of a clock speed of 3.7GHZ, this drops down to 100FSB x35 multiplier clock speed of 3.5GHZ when all 4 cores are loaded. For this profile I’m going to set the multiplier on all for cores to 18 resulting of a large underclocked core speed of 1.8GHZ .
Next up were going to by using the “Dynamic CPU Voltage Offset” slider. For my Underclock and Undervolted Profile I use a voltage reduction of -104mV. This will vary from CPU to CPU as not all silicon is equal. Some people will be able to underclock more others less so. It is essential you stress test the system to check for stability. Luckily for us Intel provides a tool within the program to stress the CPU. Apply the settings and then click on the “Stress Test” tab on the left hand side. I recommend setting a voltage of -90mV and stress testing for 15mins, if it passes bump it down some more and keep testing until you find a voltage that doesn’t pass the stress test. Once you find this bump the voltage up between 5 and 10mV and stress test again for 30mins or so. If all passes ok you can now save this profile. Click on the “Manual Tuning” tab and look for the save button on the right hand side. Give the profile a name which is relevant.

For reference here are my settings and profiles
Default – Stock Clocks and Voltage
Quiet Time – 18 multi on all cores with a dynamic voltage offset of -100mV
Undervolt Overclock – 37,36,35,35 multi and dynamic voltage of -45mV

GPU and Fan Tweaks
We’re all well aware of the potential heat issues with the 870m GPU. It’s not really surprising considering the amount of power the 870m packs in such a thin chassis. I’ve implemented all the tweaks that follow some are more advanced than others but I have no temperature issues anymore and haven’t seen 93C in a long while as well as having better than stock performance.

Modded VBIOS
A good way to reduce temperature is to use less voltage. The stock Vbios is locked and will not allow any voltage changes.
Please see below for my modified 870m VBios’s. They all use different settings and voltages for different results and are all unlocked and can be tweaked to your taste using Nvidia Inspector or MSI After Burner. (I have included the latest stock 870m Vbios)

PLEASE NOTE I CAN NOT GUARANTEE THESE SETTINGS OR VOLTAGES WILL WORK ON YOUR LAPTOP OR TAKE ANY RESPONSIBILITY FOR DAMAGE



Mardon's 870m VBios's - View attachment 870m Moddified VBios Files.zip
Here is an 860m VBios with boost logic disabled (uses turbo at all times under full load) and unlocked Core limit, with slightly more voltage for those that wish to experiment with overclocking - View attachment Unlock860.zip

The following links will be required to flash the Vbios:
RUFUS Bootable Pen Drive
NVflash VBios Flashing and Recovery Tool

The VBios can be flashed following the steps outlined in my video:



Modded EC File
The stock fan is quite noisy on idle so i've moddified the EC profile so the stock speed drops from 47% down to 44%, the high end fan now boosts to 100% over 90C unlike the stock EC so hopefully this will lower temperatures further when gaming. You'll notice this is an older 504EC. Unfortunately the latest EC is not working for fan speed changes. If a solution is found i'll update this post.
To flash run "winflash" as an administrator and browse to the "16H2EMS1.504" file. The fans will spin up to max while this is being installed. Turn the laptop off, remove the AC adapter cable then push the little reset button using a pin on the right hand side of the laptop (next to the LAN port). Plug the AC adapter in (dont panic if you forget and the laptop doesn't start like I did first time round) and turn the laptop back on and enjoy the quieter stock fans!

Official MSI EC Flashing Guide found HERE

View attachment 504 - Modded.zip
Here is the same fan profile but with a 45% fan speed at idle as some people have had issues with 44% View attachment 504 - 45.zip

Useful Links :thumbsup:

The following are some more useful links I have used on my laptop:

Use GS60 PRO Download Page Assembly Guide Must be registered and logged in Disassembly Guide AS ABOVE Tear down video Colour Profile from Kazoul ModRQC Vbios Modding Guide (free method) Intel Tuning Utility Core Temp CPU Monitoring NvidiaInspector Afterburner Start Is back Alternative Elan Driver

Link http://www.msi.com/support/nb/GS60_2PE_Ghost_Pro.html#down-bios https://forum-en.msi.com/index.php?action=dlattach;topic=179184.0;attach=12935 https://forum-en.msi.com/index.php?action=dlattach;topic=179184.0;attach=12936 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rsF0Bpuj8ss http://forum.notebookreview.com/msi/742589-msi-gs60-ghost-ghost-pro-thread-211.html#post9664193 http://forum.notebookreview.com/msi/747505-msi-gs70-stealth-pro-theard-51.html#post9698771 https://downloadcenter.intel.com/SearchResult.aspx?keyword=%22%22extreme+tuning+utility%22%22 http://www.alcpu.com/CoreTemp/ http://www.guru3d.com/files-details/nvidia-inspector-download.html http://www.guru3d.com/files-details/msi-afterburner-beta-download.html http://startisback.com/ http://goo.gl/Uwhgvj

Intel Wirelss AC-7260 tweaks
After fiddling with the wireless settings some more where I was previously limited to 30/40Mbps and would get 102Mbps through the ethernet port. I can now achieve pretty much the same speeds via wifi or LAN.
Here are my settings used in the Intel Wirelss AC-7260 Advanced Tab in the device manager:

802.11n Channel Width for 2.4Ghz 802.11n Channel Width for 5.2Ghz Ad Hoc Channel Ad Hoc Qos Mode ARP offload for WoWLAN Bluetooth Fat Channel Intolerant GTK rekeying for WoWLAN HT Mode Mixed Mode Portection NS offload for WoWLAN Packed Coalescing Preffered Band Roaming Aggressiveness Sleep on WoWLAN Disconnect Transmit Power U-APSD support Wake on Magic Packet Wake on Pattern Match Wireless Mode

= Auto = 20Mhz Only = 1 = Disabled = Disabled = Enabled = Enabled = Disabled = HT Mode = CTS-t-self Enable = Disabled = Disabled = 5.2Ghz band = 1.Lowest = Disabled = 5.Highest = Disabled = Disabled = Disabled = 6. 802.11a/b/g

If you wish to add or edit anything please send me a PM and i'll get it sorted.

I hope you all find this useful!

Massive shout out to Svet over at the MSI forums for creating the EC and BIOS turner, You can download his program and create you're own VBIOS's HERE.

 

Thanks for this awesome guide!
Just to be totally sure: The EC is the same for Pro and nonPro version? So far my notebook is a nonPro"virgin", meaning i never flashed anything. If I want quieter fans I just download 504- Modded.zip. Run winflash as Admin. This istalles the EC version 504 ? and then I will be able to choose to flash the "16H2EMS1.504" file (still in the winflash program). Shut down- remove AC- press pin- AC back - start.
So I do not have to flash something BIOS like first right?

Greatings

 

Yeah you got it. No bios etc needed. You'll see I've included a modded 860m file if you want to overclock that later down the line as well.

 

Great guide! and that ulv vbios is mighty aggressive. Do you recall if nvidia inspector was suppose to allow for changing of the voltage offset after a custom vbios was flashed? I thought I read that a couple months ago, but when I tried, it didn't seem to work (it let me change it and hit apply, but when I actually monitored the voltage, it always stayed at w/e it was set to by the custom vbios).
I'm also curios how much extra effort would it be to add roms with the remaining ~12.5mV steps (-137mV, -142mV, -154mV) while keeping the clocks the same.

Update/Edit: nm on nvidia inspector, it seems if I hit apply enough times it starts to work.

 

Ok i tried that now. But when runing winflash there are only 2 Buttons (Start and Stop) and after starting it it did something but there was no option to choose the specific modded file! Now my fans spin up and down every 5 sec which is super anoying ofc =) what did i do wrong? Thanks

 

I flashed the 247ulv but my GPU clock still says 967Mhz in GPU-Z. Am I looking in the wrong place?

 

I'm still new to this clocking business, so I was wondering about the custom VBIOS choices. 247 seems to keep most stock performance while lowering voltage. Is there a big performance difference between 247lv 247ulv? I realize -37 versus -62 seems big for the 3D Max Performance, but is that pretty drastic when compared to actual real-world use? And what approximately are the max temperatures for all of these? Excuse my ignorance

Also, is the fan profile (and these custom VBIOSes, for that matter) still usable with the newest BIOS?
EDIT: Well, considering the VBIOS has not been updated, I assume that the VBIOS is fine with the new BIOS. The EC, though, not sure.

 

Xentar712 I've double checked the vbios and it's definitely set at 954mhz. Perhaps you spelt something wrong so it didn't flash or you have an overclock applied at start up?

13mhz is a tiny drop and with boost logic removed your probably gaining performance. Try a before and after benchmark and see how you do.
The larger numbers differences between the different vbios's is the voltage. That doesn't affect performance directly, but it will affect the heat generated.

You can always bump the mem clock 200/300 mhz and gain quite a bit if performance that way.

 

Thank you for this ! I have had my gs60 pro for a couple months now and i love it, was getting ready to dig in the owners thread to find this info on some tweaking. You read my mind and made it much easier!

 

mardon, thank you for your effort with this contribution. It is done with lots of time and labor spent, and it is informative.
It would be nice if you can also include Svet in the post to give him credit because the firmware and VBIOS were modified using his tool.
I believe he made an extraordinary support for you to verify the firmwares.
Svet - MSI Forum

Thank you.

 

Kevin you're completely correct. All this wouldn't be possible without him. I shall credit him tonight when I do some updating.

 

Hi mardon, I tried to use your profiles and build them myself. Is it somehow possible to activate a profile when the laptop is in battery mode and when it its plugged ? So it change automatically?
I only found app pairing, but i have to specify apps for that. Should I specify the explorer.exe, that the laptop change the profile automatically ? Or does I have to change them manually on each boot ?

 

I've added another fan profile with 45% fan speed. Please see OP.

 

So just to clarify, all of these VBIOSes are stable, correct?

I also noticed that the Ad Hoc Channel = 802.11 b/g, but my options shows Ad Hoc Channel 802.11 b/g = 1. This can be increased to 2, 3, etc. Might be a small error. All of the changes you made to your adapter, it seems like a lot of different things from the default. I'm trying your setup now, I just hope that nothing is disabled or enabled that shouldn't be.

EDIT: Weird, my downloading speed dropped from about 40 Mb/s to 14 -20 Mb/s. My 2 GHz tests at 23 Mb/s, for comparison. Could be the timing of it, and I'll try again, but doesn't seem to work for me
EDIT2 : I disconnected and reconnected from the 5GHz, tried, and I'm back at my normal range for speed (29-39 right now, but I blame the changes on time).
EDIT3: Nope, keeps dropping randomly, a few hours later now at 11 Mb/s. Darn. I reverted back to default and I'm still fairly slow at about 22 Mb/s, so it may be my ISP currently.

 

amazing guide - thanks.

If you could add how to flash your firmware it would be just awesome!

 

Well spotted, I've corrected that, mine is indeed set to 1. Yes there is a significant difference from the stock settings but in my fault finding I tried so many combinations. This is the first one I've fount that give my a massive 50Mbit jump in speed. I will go back and gradually start turning them back on until I find the culprit. I'm just happy since I was very close to purchasing a new £100+ AC router. I get near on exactly the same Internet data speeds and ping as I do via cable so i'm happy.

Regarding the VBios's I can't guarantee any of them will work on your laptop. Every single part of your laptop will have different tolerances to mine. Depending on the quality of the micro chip and where it was in the manufacturing wafer it will require more or less voltage. Some will overclock better or worse than others, that the silicone lottery for you. This new motherboard I got different results from the last. My new CPU doesn't undervolt very well at all in comparison to the first, but the GPU LOVES low voltages (two steps lower on Svets Bios Tuner), the offset is I can only get around +470Mhz on the mem compared to the old one which could go +580mhz.. The strange thing is it get better benchmark scores and runs cooler due to the less voltage. Overall I think I was lucky.
Try the 247.rom first, play some stressfull games Crysis 3 is best if you have it. If all is ok give the 247lv.rom a try.

I've given a description in the OP. What are you after a video? It really is simple and there is a PDF describing the process found HERE.

 

I want to make sure i did the fan speed flash correct? I have a gs60 with 870m. I ran winflash as admin, it didnt ask me to browse for file, just gave me the option to flash and shutdown. I did, pushed in pin and restart.

Fans are much quieter, watching twitch, and browsing the internet, not getting the constant spin up and spin down of fans.

 

That's correct then hope you're pleased

 

Very pleased! Thanks for this.

 

Thanks for the guide. I'm a new ghost pro owner and just flashed your EC mod and I'm very pleased
One question for the GPU tweak: I mainly play DOTA2 which is a not that GPU intense game. During my first few hours game experience the highest GPU temperature recorded was about 80C. For my case do you think it's necessary to do the GPU tweak? How much temp can be expected to be lowered with the tweak?

 

have a question. from your vbios files there are 3 files. may i know which one has the best performance to temperature? thanks

 

can someone help me pls .. ?
i have a problem with nvbios .. everytime i open this program it's Tell me It does not comply with my laptop " msi gs70 860m "

 

The VBIOS is for 870M but not 860M therefore you cannot use it at all.
If you force flash it the GPU will be bricked and requires flashing back of original.

 

but my problem with vbios 860m from msi website

MSI Global - Computer, Laptop, Notebook, Desktop, Motherboard, Graphics and more 64

it's still tells me It does not comply with my laptop .. i can't update the vBios Because this problem

 

Lowering temps can't hurt, give it a go. I can't tell you exactly how much it will drop. If you go for it post back, it'd be good to know.

 

Wow. thank you.

My issue is like all other ghost pro 3k user's i imagine, considering the wifi instability. as far as bare minimum tweaks to fix the wifi (as i'm not completely familiar with all of this), what would yo urecommend as core tweaks to fix the issue?

 

Try all the settings for the wifi from my guide, if that works gradually start turning things back on until it doesn't work.
I've still got mine set as per the guide and it's working great now. Only thing I've noticed is my ping can go from 31 to 62 after some heavy gaming. I think the wifi card is crap, Intel have updated the hardware on it apparently.

 

which vbios should i flash for lower gpu temperatures. there are 3 files showing in the zip. not sure which one to flash as im quite new to this...

edit: flashed the 247lv rom and rebooted. however nvidia inspector doesnt detect the changes. also i cant reduce the voltage as it is set at 0.0mv and theres only an option to increase it but not to decrease

 

It won't let you decrease anymore because that's as low as it'll let you go. Check it's stable with some games and benchmarks.

 

i see. okay. if my laptop hangs while playing a game does that mean its not stable? i can still alt tab and stuff just that the game hangs. should i try the lower version of the vbios u provided? (i.e the 247.rom one)

 

Any sign of instability usually means the voltage is too low for your chip. The 247.rom should do the trick.

 

okay. also is it possible for me to flash the 247lv.rom one and then increase the voltage via nvidia inspector as it only has an option to increase. will that cause any potential damage to my card?? and also is it okay for me to keep re flashing the vbios ? will it cause any potential damage?

 

By doing all of the above tweaks, i was able to significantly improve my wifi stability.

 

Hello,

For Vbios I have version A2 instead of 21, is this a problem?
Thank you in advance.

 

No worries, A2 is newer than 21.

 

hello,
Okay, so I can use the 247.rom without problem, right?
What difference are there between these versions?

 

There is a table in the first post that lists the differences (voltages and clocks) between the different ROMs.

 

I'm having this same issue, kind of; I notice it's only when the laptop is at idle (not touching it at all) that it spins up every five seconds. When I start using it it's fine.

 

It seems the newer models can't support the lower fan speed. It'd be best to flash back to the latest version of the MSI website.

 

Is there any compatible EC file with lower fan speed for 2QE models? If there aren't any, would someone edit the EC version 504 for GS60 2QE? I don't have experience to tweak something like that.

 

There was a 15 page thread on dragonarmy.msi.com forums where people complained about the wifi instability and shared information to try to fix it - it was deleted within the past two weeks.

http://dragonarmy.msi.com/forum/showthread.php?t=64718&page=1

Figured I'd post somewhere to say that I noticed.

 

Talk to Svet at MSI forum as he made such tool to modify EC firmware.

 

Hello,

so i have the MSI GS60 GhostPro-052, had everything updated, used the custom EC and vbios just before you made this tweak info and until now everything has been golden.
I have really had no issues and kept all drivers up to date and recently updated the bios as well. (all from either intel, msi or nvidia homepages)

However today I realized that strange noises are coming form the gpu when gaming. It sounds a bit like sparks. I ran furmark and from about 80 degrees upwards it starts.
I am not experiencing any issues, lags, crashes whatsoever, but the noise is troubling me a little.

Can this happen from overclocking or having updated the bios after or anything? I am a bit concerned if it will break if I dont change anything.

Here are the settings from Nvidia Inspector.


Would be great if someone can help me out!
Thanks

 

It's possibly coil whine that you heard from the chokes for the GPU.
Try tuning down the clock frequency and listen for the noise again to see if it persists or not.

 

Thanks for the quick reply.

This is the first time I have ever overclocked anything and I used one of the profiles that mardon had posted back in september.
As I wouldn't know how to turn down the frequency myself, could you recommend which one from the first page might work?

 

Your clocks are stock in the screen shot above. Try one of the underclocked vbios's and see if that helps. You'll barely loose any performance and oc the memory to make up for it.

 

okay will have a look at it tomorrow (asian time zone here).
Any recommendation which one is ideal?

 

Hard to say as each chip is different. Try the 247.rom

 

Okay so I flashed the 247.rom. Followed your video instructions to the detail, however I saw no change in nvidia inspector.
So I decided to flash the 247lv.rom. Again did all and it said that the firmware was updated etc.

Now I get the following values in nvidia inspector. Am I reading it wrong or are these values different than the ones you state on the frontpage?
Just to be sure i redownloaded nvidia inspector and it shows the same.

 

Well it seems that it might have worked. I hear no sounds like sparks or crackling anymore...