***The MSI GT60/70 Dominator 970M Owner's Lounge***

It's about time!

I can't be the only one going for this beast.

 

My GT60 comes in today.

 

Can't wait to check your review.

My main concern : is there still this 'in dumb 180w limits ?

 

I'll pick it up mine next week only, when it comes to my retailer ): make a review for us! Give us some gaming bemchmarks, temperatures, changes on the chassis if it had one!

 

The chassis looks the same honestly.

I'll make a video later today but last night when I unboxed it the back panel was not in all the way, one clip was still lifted up so I had to push that in. Threw in my 240GB M500 and currently has W7. Using the HGST 1TB 7200RPM as a storage drive.

Idle the laptop seems quiet, can hear the fan though easily with no other noise in room though.

More to come guys! Yes it still has 180w power brick.

 

Hi a15g,
gtx970m 3gb in this laptop is mxm version or onboard? Is it possible to upgade this laptop with new gpu in future?

 

It would not be MXM, the 6GB versions are. The GT60/70 models are not designed to have the GPU upgraded later, at this time just the GT72 are designed that way.

 

Deleted a post.

No need to be rude to other users, everyone is just trying to help and provide information. Retailers, like other users, have the best intentions and there is no excuse to mock other users when trying to help.

 

I didn't know the GTX 970M 3GB is not upgradeable. That alone will probably make me return the laptop. I hate the G72 for no CPU upgrade as well. Damn it!

 

The card is an MXM one unless there are drastic changes now (we are talking about a chassis that used them since 2011), it comes down to bios issues and heatsink fit.

 

It is understandable, although a GPU upgrade brings far more performance than a CPU upgrade when dealing with hardware of this caliber.

As for the GPU being non upgradable I think right now it is more of a "not officially" upgradable, but that hasn't stopped several users and retailers from experimenting and finding out that indeed you can upgrade GPUs.

 

When you make the video, provide us the link! About the gpu, I already saw a lot of videos of people upgrading it. Should not be a problem.

 

I'm sure is upgradeable. A quick "MSI GT60 GPU Upgrade" search on Google brings up a lot of into, and it turns out it is.

The laptop is running good right now, i'm just making sure all drivers are installed and then will start to load some games. However, the only issue I have left is I cannot register my laptop. I've entered my serial number in correctly and it keeps telling me it's wrong, somewhat frustrating...

 

Update.

Just installing League of Legends, doing a scan on MSE and browsing the internet CoreTemp is showing that my CPU is at 80'c. That's just complete BS right there. I'm going to try re-pasting in a bit, but regardless of that I don't think it's going to help drop it 30+c like how I would like it do. Turbo boost is like a jet as well..


EDIT 1.

Turbo Boost it fluctuates from 60-64'c.

I'm scared to even play league.

EDIT 2.

Playing league maxed out, cpu at 74'c.

 

The CPU runs hot. Lower end games you might get arond 70 C degrees, but higher end ones definitely are around 80 to 90 degrees celsius. Unless you use turbofan. Nothing to be worried about. Hell, on other machines, you can see the CPU getting up to 100 degrees, specially on tiny enclosures.

 

Repasted using AC MX-2.

LOL now at 62-62 load cpu, 60-61 gpu.

Will try BF4 tomorrow and Crysis 3.

Laptop stays VERY quiet, I wish the fan control would bump up RPM a bit to drop it down while keeping noise subtle.

 

Does this model still have the NOS feature? I hope not. I really hope MSI doesn't still require the battery to be installed for the machine to run at full power.

 

you had to repaste the thermal compound? Really? That's disappointed.

But I was actually waiting for 80c during full load actually, and about 65-70c with turbo fan. I really think 80c CPU is very acceptable on a gaming laptop, don't you?

 

I came from using Asus G series, I am not used to 80c+ cpu temps.

NOS is still active. I'm quite happy after re-paste, however i've yet to try graphic intensive games. I still have 30 days to return so hopefully it doesn't disappoint me.

 

You dropped the temperature in 10c only by repasting ?

Are those temps with turbo fans activated or not ?

 

The GT60/GT70 with 970M still use NOS, the change is done on the GT72 since it has a higher wattage of AC adapter of 230W.

 

I'm sorry but what is NOS exactly and why is it bad?

 

The GT60 draws more than 180W from the wall under long periods of HIGH usage.

Power Brick = 180W, to give more power it slowly drains from the battery. That drainage % varies on the game or however much more power is needed to feed the GPU/CPU. You'll need to ride at 100% on both gpu and cpu for quite a while for NOS to come on. Once battery hits 30% nos turns off, and gpu/cpu downclocks till battery goes over 80% again then nos starts again.

All of this could have been avoided rather easy if MSI just gave us 230W power bricks.. I really don't know why NOS is even necessary.

Yes, easily.

I took pictures of the pasting job done by MSI, i'll upload those tomorrow. The paste jobs are horrible, I didn't believe it but when I yanked off the heatsink, oh lord...

 

and what happens if you are using the laptop without battery, only plugged ?

 

Simple, it's the cost reason.

 

You will not gain full performance during gameplay since the system isn't getting the power it required.

 

I've never repaste it before, but is it hard? Can I do it easily only watching some videos?

 

Yes, and there are many videos for this specific GT60 model, so you will be fine. Take your time. OR you can ask a reseller to repaste it for you before it is shipped.

 

Yep, the quiet fan is the reason we get high temps. You can manually change the speed of the fan though, specially if you mess with Pherein's tool or other versions around. I have mine customized to run at up to 75% fan speed when gaming so I rarely reach even 80°C on demanding games for hours.

Since it still uses 180W, then yes. I fail to see how this is a con or a bad thing, considering I have used mine for around 1.4 years and my battery wear is non existent (still at 4%) and it rarely uses hybrid power despite being overclocked. This means that rarely does a game use 100% of both CPU and GPU. And even when it does, you can play for hours before it drains.

Yeah, stock temps should be adequate enough, but they are not the best. Temps are of no concern unless they make you drop performance, which happens at 100s C for CPU and 93°C for GPU (780m, dunno for 970m).

Stock paste is done with a bit too much paste on both the CPU and GPU which results in higher than desired temps.

 

I'm buying from Canada Computers, because I prefer getting in from a physical store and I'm pretty sure they resell exactly what MSI ships them. So I'd most likely have to do it by my own, which shouldn't be a problem, as you said.

Does MSI provide a software to setup the fan speed or you have to do it manually by a 3rd party software?

 

Anyone know if I could upgrade the 870m to 9xxm in my GT60 Dominator?

 

I am not aware if they offer any software other than the turbofan button. We use pherein's tool that is posted a lot here. There should be several versions and you can probably ask any of the GT owner forums for the software and maybe include it in your own thread for your machine. Among the versions, there are some tools like the one I use, that directly write values to the EC fan control, so I create a table of temperatures to ramp up and down the fan. Other available tools are sliders that control the % of fan speed to your desired level, so you can keep it at a constant, lets say, 60%.

You should definitely test heavy gaming without the tools firs tthough, because 780m/880m run quite hotter than 970m and perhaps you don't even need this after repasting. For repasting I advise to take it slowly and be calm, and you can do it as many times as you think you need before getting it right. A good paste job will keep you issue-free.

it seems 970m GT60 already runs cooler with a good pastejob, than my best pastejob so far on my 780m OC hehe.

Also! I think Ken from GentechPC found that you have even better temps if you remove the thermal pad between CPU/GPU bridge and replace it with IC diamond paste.

We don't know yet, but so far the attitude is rather positive. We will find sooner or later, once more GPUs are circling around.

 

Does this card overclock well? Since Maxwell is very energy efficient, it should, but I heard nobody managed to unlock Maxwell vbios.

 

It takes time. 780m was the same story as was the 680m and every new GPU give it time, these new cards have just released. Even though they are still vbios locked, you can do a +135mhz core clock and more from memory. That is a nice boost in performance.

 

I've been concerned about what the long terms effects would be on the battery. Without knowing what kind of power draw, load, or recharge cycles the battery is being subjected to, I've always been worried about it. Thanks for stating that you've had next to no wear on the battery. It puts my mind at ease a little.

My main hope for them removing it is I have a 230w adapter that I use with my GT60 2OD-261US. From what I understand, it can't use my 230w adapter to the full capacity because the EC blocks it from doing so, because of the NOS feature.

 

Hopefully they would enable us to use higher PSUs, but considering 970m draws less power than 780m, and 780m even OC rarely enables hybrid use (meaning it doesn't surpass the 180w PSU), I don't think you will even need a higher PSU at all. Not even overclocked.

GT60 is a model that greatly benefits from the reduced thermals from 970/980m, making it still a relevant choice for gamers.

The good thing is NOS hasn't negatively affected my battery and I still get near 6 hours of use when doing some homework or office work while browsing etc.

 

Thanks! Hopefully we'll find out soon enough.

 

This really the gtx970m will need a lot of overclocking to worry the power adapter.

 

I've successfully updated my bios to 51x latest T18 ec firmware for my MSI GT60 (16f3) plus upgraded my ac adapter to 240 watts.. And what @likezero (msi engineer) told me in another forum that the latest bios version can read 780,880 or 980M videocards. Just waiting for some people to attempt to put it on their GT60. but i dont know the compatible gpu heatsink with this one though...

 

guys what is the maximum safe temps under full load for the cpu( i7-4710mq) and gpu (970m) for the gt70?????

 

normally 100°C but by experience, 94° C is the limit you should never surpass.

you should not really worry about a 970m inside a GTx0 i don't think it would reach more than 83°C since that's the case in the less well cooled gs60 970m version

 

Edit......

 

Looks like a fairly standard factory paste job.

 

I gave up trying to attach files on here. There was enough paste for everyone on the GPU.

http://i.imgur.com/f8FLtq7.jpg

http://i.imgur.com/0sfnfO4.jpg

 

jesus, how long did you take to remove that?

 

Since it was failry fresh, just a handful of wiping with a small towel. I repasted using dot method and that method has always given me positive results.

 

Thank you so much for the pics. As I can see from the picture of GPU, there is no doubt that it is an MXM card, not soldered one. So I assume we can confirm that the new gen GT60/GT70's GPUs are replaceable/upgradable. This gives me hope that even the old GT60/70 (870M, 880M) can upgrade to the current gen GPUs because it uses the very same chassis. Maybe some modifications need to be done but it is possible. I'm very glad you didn't cancel your order because of some misguided comment... I hope you enjoy your laptop.

 

The laptop has been fine so far. Temps after repaste has been a dramatic change and for anyone who will be receiving there's, dont wait to repaste. I guarantee you you're going to need to anyway.

 

has anyone here already got a 980m or 970m installed on their GT 60 (16F3) and updated with the latest 51X bios? I hope there's a good news with this one...

 

I would imagine the 970M/980M to be rather costly if bought as an upgrade kit. I don't know of a place that currently supplies the cards for sale alone for upgrade purposes, but I am almost positive they will work with the older chassis's just fine with the new bios. People have upgraded the GPU successfully in the past on the GT60 chassis since the GPU's location and design has been the same with minor changes. There is a video on youtube showing the GT72 getting a Maxwell upgrade and the guy in the video said "Upgrade Kit". Maybe XoticPC would sell you a kit/card if you were to send them a message and ask if they have that option.

Until then, you may have to wait awhile. I really think these 9xx cards are the cause of the lower temps vs 8xx/7xx series. My GT60 has given off audible fan noise, but with my speakers on 45-50% it rarely bothers me at all nor do I really notice it since i'm mostly likely enjoying the game and am not aware of my surroundings and sounds. For $1,499 I don't regret buying the GT60 one bit, I love MSI's 3 year warranty and this being my first MSI gaming laptop i'm quite happy with the customization options and room for future improvements.