MSI GT83VR 6RE - Novice Setup Help!

Hi all,

Just received my GT83VR 6RE. I was wondering if anyone has any tips regarding how i should set this up?

The system has come installed with a lot of bloatware making me want to do a fresh install - but I have a few questions regarding the process:
- Is this done via recovery?
- Will this do anything to the Raid 0 installation?
- Should i download the drivers from the internet instead of the materials provided (i.e. 3d card)

I have also read that i should be undervolting my CPU before anything else and will do that after the clean install.

Thanks in advance!

 

I'd say you should play with it for a while before doing anything else. A lot of the bloatware can easily be removed, and some of the MSI built in apps are actually useful so you can check them out before full wiping out the system.

You will be prompted to create a restore media, so if you have a handy USB drive you can use with sufficient space to create the recovery media, it is very recommended. The recovery media will return your laptop to factory conditions, including any preinstalled software. This is different than a clean install.

If you do a fresh install, it won't wipe your RAID 0 setting, it will merely wipe your OS. The RAID configuration will remain as the hard drive option. If you clean install windows, it will be over the virtual volume (Raid volume).

As for downloading the drivers from the internet, I do recommend going to the MSI support page for your specific system and download the latest drivers for all your machine, and save them elsewhere. They will come in handy if you do decide to do a clean install, or if you need to remove something and get it back again. Keep in mind some MSI apps require other apps to work, such as the SCM, and as such, SCM should be installed first.

All in all, go enjoy your laptop

 

Thank you for the help!

I will do as you recommend.

Regarding downloading the drivers from MSI's support page - some of the drivers i.e. nvidia are old - am i better off just downloading straight from nvidia 3d card drivers or should i stick to the MSI website?

 

@qiin
I 2nd ryzeki's advice, and strongly suggest purchasing a fast USB 3.0 32GB flash drive to keep as a dedicated recovery media in the original box, and make a couple of backups, one with the MSI BurnRecovery and one with Macrium Reflect ongoing - create a 4GB USB 3.o recovery boot recovery Macrium Reflect drive and store the Macrium images on an external USB drive (flash or HDD):

$15 - Patriot Stellar Series 32GB OTG USB 3.0 External Storage For Android Smartphones/ Tablets- PSF32GSTROTG
https://www.newegg.com/Product/Prod...atriot_flash_drive-_-9SIA1K62YR6004-_-Product

It's nice to have an Out of the box OS recovery boot drive in case of RMA, or just backing up to a known good working state for a sanity check for hardware vs OS issues.

Macrium Reflect images are good to take when you get to a point of stable operation with your favorite apps, games, tools, configuration, and then take them weekly or monthly so you can restore to it if an app install or a Windows Update goes wrong and ruins your OS install.

 

I often format my computers - probably twice a year. I just like to have a clean install. This is my first gaming laptop though and i have been told there are a lot more drivers that are required to make a laptop work properly?

 

Yup, it's a good idea to save / backup the original OS configuration for reference, sanity check, RMA configuration, eventual sale configuration to the next owner.

There are often unique versions no posted online at launch for some apps / drivers, and there are more things installed in that original out of the box OS image than available for download from the support page. Usually only updates from the versions available in the out of the box image are uploaded, which leaves out things that don't change and are only available in the pre-loaded OS.

It's easier to disable features installed, startup, services if any, and to update from that working base, than to try to replicate it by installing fresh from media and trying to find everything to install based on what is available on the support site.

You can inventory what is installed, what versions are used, and compare against what is available for download to see what you are missing, *before* doing a fresh from media install

 

Sounds good.

Say i do a complete clean install of Windows and remove everything that comes installed on the laptop. Do you think i would run into any troubles even if i download all the drivers/programs recommended on the MSI page for the GT83VR? i.e. mobo drivers / system control manager etc

 

IDK, I did a Windows 8.1 clean install for a GT80, but that was after 2 years and several model releases.

Maybe the GT83 might be ok - except Windows 10 sucks, I'd play it safe, and get the 32GB USB 3.0 first and run MSI BurnRecovery.

Otherwise formatting the boot drive and losing the recovery volume along with the OS that can restore it would be like throwing away your restore DVD's as soon as you opened the box.

Maybe watch a movie or two, get some sleep, and wait until the shops open in the morning

 

haha wise words - thanks for the help!

 

Which is better, the MSI Factory Image of Windows 10 then update it, or a clean install of Windows 10?

 

Clean install FTW.

 

If i clean install, wouldnt windows 10 download half of the necessary drivers needed? I would only need to install the nvidia drivers?

And do i need to have the intel storage drivers on a USB to detect the raid during windows installation?

 

Use the drivers from either MSI's website, or component manufacturers' drivers for best results.
You do not need USB flash drive to load storage driver for your system if you are sticking with Windows 10.

 

Whenever i try to do a fresh install with a windows 10 cd - the raid 0 ssds do not show up - ontop of that the regular hard drive is unable to have windows installed on it for some reason?

Not sure whats happening

 

NBR Windows 10 Clean Installation Guide

You need to put the on the RAID Driver v15.2.0.1020 (extract it) Windows 10 USB Flash Disk, then when you get to the partition selection wizard, click on load driver from the bottom left, then browse to that folder which contains the RAID Driver on the USB flash disk then load it, be patient as it will take a long time then you will see the RAID Array so you can format it and install Windows on it. I recommend you delete the C: Partition off it and the preceding system partitions so the Windows 10 installer will recreate them