Official MSI GX640 Owner's Thread

don't have beta key. sorry :/

 

yea, can't really ask for benchmarks in SC2 since most of us don't have a key. Trust me, it'll run fine and the difference between high and ultra aren't exactly huge.

I ordered mine from gentechpc this morning. Upgrades:
i7-820qm, ICD 24 Thermal, Intel 6200-N wireless.

 

Great choice!
Not sure which way to go i7-820 Is awesome but for gaming I think maybe the i7-620 would be a better choice.
Opinions?

 

wow ok, yea I here people say they got a bad one there is a 50 percent chance u get a good one, I had the 450 coupon which makes mine the same price as the gx, hmmm I will order a gx but i won't open it untill I see if I like the envy.

 

I decided that the best way to make the laptop last is get a 820qm. 720qm/620m is really good but they're not far enough above the i5s to make it feel worthwhile to upgrade the processor. Also, I thnk the 820qm will stay competitive against other high-end processors for extra year or so compared to the others.

What "they" say:
i5-430m -> i7-620m/i7-720 qm = difference of 10-15%
i7-620m -> i7-820qm = diffence of 10-15%

For gaming, it's kinda a wash though since most games don't need near to 4 cores at 1.73Ghz right now. Loving the 2.6 for dual in the 820qm.

 

The way I look at is you get a faster CPU even though it's a dual core but you get can use virtual threading and use 4 when needed.
I think that's how it works...lol

 

Hyperthreading doesn't magically turn a dual-core into a quad-core; it only provides a slight performance increase in some situations. Besides, since both the dual-cores and quad-cores have hyperthreading, they're pretty much on even ground in that regard.

The i7-620M is around 20% faster on two cores than the i5-430M, whereas the i7-820QM is halfway between them in clock speed, though the lower memory latency will help in some circumstances.

On the other hand, the i7-820QM could be as much as 30% faster than the i7-620M for something like video encoding, but the extra cores don't help anywhere as near as much for video games.

In either case, I'd rather save the money. Having extra money is the best kind of futureproofing there is.

 

Not talking about encoding where a real Quad core would come in handy just for gaming.
Like you pointed out very few games are CPU dependent these days.
RTS and GTA4(which was a bad port) only can benifet from true Quad's for other games a higher clock would be ideal.
It's better to have a good GFX card than the best CPU.
Just my humble opinon, I could be wrong but like you stated the way tech is going there is no thing as "future proofing".

 

Can I put, in a near futur, a i7-820QM in the GX640 to replace the i5-430m?

 

Yes.

The HM55 chipset supports all i5's and i7's.

 

Yes you can. As a side note, might wanna just upgrade your cpu through your reseller now to maintain the 3yr warranty. Cpu and gpu seem to be the only things you can't upgrade yourself without voiding the warranty.

 

Actually you can you just have no coverage on the replaced component.

 

Really? I thought it would void both the cpu/gpu and heatsink/fan? You would need to remove the heatsink/fan to do it and break the seal of any thermal paste on the gpu

 

Does it have a reseller in Canada that can upgrade hardware?

also, upgrading the wifi card from the intel 5100 to 6300 would void the warranty?

 

If the reseller does the upgrade , it won't void the warranty.

 

Sadly, there aren't. Not sure if you upgrade the wireless card yourself if it voids your warranty, I would lean to saying it would void it though

 

Naa doing it yourself doesn't, always email MSI first to confirm what you are doing, then you have proof of permission.

 

Don't forget that the Envy is almost a full pound lighter than the GX640 and thinner too.

I must be one of the lucky ones where my Envy runs cool while idling or doing stuff EXCEPT for gaming.

When gaming (BFBC2), it maxes out at 67*C CPU (both cores) and 70*C GPU. While it does get extremely hot while gaming (too hot to put in my lap), I never game on my lap while playing first person shooters, so it's not a problem. Also, the Envy's cooling system is quite amazing, as it cools the bottom of the laptop in just 3 minutes. Then I can put it on my lap.

Since I do a bit of traveling via airplane, the thin form factor and light weight of the Envy's powerful configuration works best for me. The extra pound that the GX640 has vs the Envy makes a difference as you're going through check in and going from one airplane gate to another.

If I didn't do much traveling, I would definitely consider the GX640 (especially if I didn't have access to HP's $450 coupon).

 

so I take it u love your envy, never had any problems yet

 

Hello . . . it's been a while since I've been on (like a few years), but have been following the development of the MSI GX640. I have an Asus A8Js, which is now 3.5 years old . . . so I'm due for a replacement. The gx640 is by far my leading candidate, but I have a few questions before I configure + purchase.

First of all, I'm looking for solid gaming performance AND some professional productivity capabilities in the 3d-modeling realm. It doesn't need to be amazing, but I often need it to run rendering programs, and other things. So:

1) Is it worth upgrading the CPU? Going from the 430m to a 520m is $250+ bump in price, and the 540m a little more yet ($300). From the performance benchmarks, it doesn't seem like it's all that worth it. Any advice or suggestions on that? Is the CPU a bottleneck at all for the graphics card?

2) How much performance gain could be expected from replacing the 1066 mhz ram with 1333 mhz ram, keeping it at 4gb.

3) Does upgrading the CPU and/or Ram void the 3-year MSI warranty?

Thanks!

 

1. No, the performance difference from 430 to 520 would be 10-15% tops, so not worth it IMO

2.1066 to 1333, again NOT much difference. In fact in your normal use, you woudnt even feel the difference.

3. Upgrading the ram does NOT void warranty. for cpu, i am not too sure. But i think if the reseller (like xotic) does it, it SHOULD NOT.

cheers!

 

wishmaster.dj answered the questions very well; to add to what he said -

1. 430 - 520 won't be a huge performance increase. I upgraded to the 540, I had extra money to spend and wanted the fastest i5 I could get (going beyond the i5 increases temps, whereas the 430 and 540 are almost exactly the same). For gaming I'm guessing the video card will become limiting before any of the processors.

2. 1066 -1333 should show no performance difference. I've seen a few tests at toms hardware looking at different types of ram and they saw absolutely no difference in fps while gaming. If the choice were between upgrading ram or processor, I'd definitely dump the cash into the processor (or bump up to 6g or 8g).

3. As stated above, you can upgrade ram yourself. As for processor, what I've been hearing is that if a retailer upgrades it for you then you are still covered under warranty but if you do it yourself the warrant is void.

 

To the people worrying about...I'm in the Beta and trust me, this laptop will crush it. My CW27 runs it perfectly fine with a 330m @ 1600x900 with everything maxed out.

 

What does yours idle at? Mine would idle at 45 for the GPU but be really warm on the bottom anyways.

 

Great . . . thanks for the replies! Well . .. . the decisions continue

I'm now at a point where I'm deciding between the MSI GX 640 at a stock config (~$1,100) or spending a little more and getting an ASUS G51-Jx (stock ~$1,400). The MSI's video card is a little more future proof since it's DX11 capable. At the same time though, for $300 more you're getting an i7-720QM and 8 gb of ram. Granted the Asus is ugly as hell (the lid anyway), weighs nearly 1.5 lbs more and is a bit clunkier.

I know the owner's groups aren't really for discussing model comparisons, but any insight would be appreciated. Thanks again!

 

Hey yea i am between this an a envy because, msi has a good warranty though there lcs is only one year, the rest is cool, also he cheep plastic kinda sucks but the card is nice

 

Granted, an upgrade to the i7-720QM and 8GB of RAM for $300 is relatively cheap, but it's not worth it considering you're downgrading the graphics card (in performance as well as DirectX 11 capability) to get it. The G51JX will perform worse for most games than the GX640, and it has to push more pixels at its native 1920x1080, which doesn't help things.

In my opinion, the only worthwhile upgrade from the GX640 is one that will get you an HD 5870.

 

Well, you may just have up my mind then That was the excuse I needed, as other than the CPU + more ram, the looks were a really really big turn-off. I do occasionally bring my laptop along on business work, and the Asus's lid is flashy in an entirely non-professional sort of way. Plus it's heavier, so that's an issue when I'll inevitably go lugging it around airports. Thanks.

 

You sir, are truly a godsend. Finally someone who can answer my request with substance that a non-techy person can understand (that's me ). I looked up the Vaio cw27fx's specs, and surely enough if I reference that through notebookcheck's benchmark list, 5850 is way above. And if your i5-520M (which people say is only ~10-15% faster than the 430m) can "crush" SC2 on ultra settings, then I am now officially satisfied. If you have any screen captures to share, that'd be extra awesome. And if you have any videos you could share, I'll never post about Sc2 again, I promise

 

Sounds like yours is defective.

My GPU idles at 39-40* C. Very cool on the bottom and both palmrests. CPU idles at 32*C.

That's at OC my GPU at 575/1100 (but with laptop idling). Room temps at 76*F.

 

If looks are important to you from a business perspective, the bare-bones version of the gx640 should be out within a month and uses a very basic black and silver frame:


I'm not sure on the exact availability or price yet.

 

Hmmm thats beaut,

Almost like my advent, but just more compact.

 

Ah, thanks for posting about the bear bones. It might be worth waiting for that actually . . . I was contemplating getting the current barebones at one point with the nvidia 250m, but the price was not worth it at all.

Would the barebones still have the ATI 5850?

Is the warranty generally less (or through the reseller) with barebones?

Thanks again,

 

A few questions I don't know the answer to. The system does come with the 5850, the only company I've seen the barebones listed at is RKcomputers:
http://www.rkcomputer.net/rkcnotebooks/index.php?l=product_detail&p=258

I would shoot them an email asking about warranty information.

 

Barebones will come with the 5850. I think the warranty is less...

How do you play daed? never heard of it.

 

Well, configuring the barebones to match the stock gx640 pushes the price over $1500, with only a 1-year warranty. Granted, the prices will probably adjust a bit when it's released, but I can't imagine it getting as cost-effective as the stock gaming model.

I'd prefer to not have the red trim, but honestly, it looks quite nice and is tastefully done, so I'm not bothered about it much at all. I'm starting to get excited. I haven't bought any hardware in three-years . . . . toyz R fun.

 

It shows a 1 year warranty as default.

I specced out a machine from RKcomputers to match the GX640. It came out to a whopping $1526 bucks and that's WITHOUT the 3 year warranty and 1 year accidental protection.

I'm all for paying a premium to get a notebook without the red trim but that's WAY too much for my blood.

 

Yeah, the barebones is mostly for people who aren't happy with the i5-430M; the various resellers are pretty much charging the full price of the new CPU if you upgrade it.

 

Exactly. The barebones is not aimed to please those who just want a different look. It's for people who would pretty much change everything from the stock config and don't want to eb charged for the cpu/ram/hard drive/wireless card that they would swap out anyways

 

Yea RK computers said they don't ship that barebones till late april. Unfortunately, its actually like $300 more for same config.

 

Question on the screen for the GX640. How much does it or will differ from an LED backlit? I'm asking since I'm considering it as an option for light gamining, video, and photoshop work. Thanks to all in advance for your assistance.

 

Think I described the screen in my review http://forum.notebookreview.com/showthread.php?t=474857

 

also 3 year warranty woot

 

Do we have any of you who have already gotten this laptop have any comments to share with us?

I'm interested primarily in knowing how hot does this laptop get while gaming (does it get too hot to put in your lap or touching your legs' skin) and how does the keyboard and mouse touchpad feel and work?

Thanks.

 

read the review that min did. the link is two posts above your post.

 

Hmm, you taken a look at my review? hehehe

 

why do so many people here, for some reason, want to use their notebook on their lap while not wearing pants? Just put on a pair of shorts

 

Not necessarily that, just hot on the legs. I want to be able to use the laptop on my lap while sitting on my couch doing every day tasks, not gaming. My Envy would get uncomfortable doing normal tasks on my lap... which kinda sucked. It sounds like you can use the GX640 on your lap, you just have to be careful not to block the fan intake.

 

...your Envy got that hot? Mine doesn't. Were you blocking the front or side air vents?

 

No backpack. got this email today: